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Monday, October 9, 2034
(AP)
Miami goes 5-1 in the final week of the season to take the #1 wildcard seed in the DL. Baltimore goes 4-2 in the final week while Batavia goes 3-3 and the Bulldogs secure the #1 wildcard seed in the IL. For a 162 game season it's almost always guaranteed even the final week is meaningful. On the flip side Pawtucket, New Orleans, and Montreal all went 1-5. Denver secures the #1 pick in the 2035 draft but Montreal and New Orleans finish with 60 wins each. The Exports hold the tiebreaker though after winning 49 games last season and therefore will have the #2 overall pick.
Power Rankings
| 1st (1st) | Washington | 120 | o | 107-55 | .660 | .270 | 3.11 | 106-56 | 1 |
| 2nd (2nd) | Seattle | 117 | o | 104-58 | .642 | .276 | 3.35 | 104-58 | 0 |
| 3rd (3rd) | Baltimore | 112 | o | 98-64 | .605 | .280 | 3.92 | 96-66 | 2 |
| 4th (10th) | Miami | 111 | ++ | 90-72 | .556 | .255 | 2.98 | 91-71 | -1 |
| 5th (5th) | Batavia | 106 | o | 98-64 | .605 | .255 | 3.15 | 99-63 | -1 |
| 6th (7th) | Indianapolis | 106 | + | 89-73 | .549 | .274 | 3.56 | 95-67 | -6 |
| 7th (6th) | Hartford | 105 | - | 94-68 | .580 | .252 | 3.61 | 88-74 | 6 |
| 8th (11th) | Philadelphia | 103 | ++ | 88-74 | .543 | .272 | 3.82 | 90-72 | -2 |
| 9th (4th) | Wilmington | 101 | -- | 87-75 | .537 | .262 | 4.08 | 86-76 | 1 |
| 10th (8th) | Maine | 100 | - | 89-73 | .549 | .254 | 3.91 | 82-80 | 7 |
| 11th (9th) | Santo Domingo | 99 | - | 92-70 | .568 | .270 | 3.33 | 97-65 | -5 |
| 12th (12th) | Pittsburgh | 92 | o | 84-78 | .519 | .265 | 3.61 | 87-75 | -3 |
| 13th (14th) | Windy City | 92 | + | 78-84 | .481 | .245 | 3.92 | 74-88 | 4 |
| 14th (18th) | Syracuse | 90 | ++ | 82-80 | .506 | .264 | 3.77 | 83-79 | -1 |
| 15th (13th) | New York | 85 | - | 77-85 | .475 | .263 | 3.76 | 83-79 | -6 |
| 16th (17th) | California | 81 | + | 70-92 | .432 | .257 | 4.40 | 63-99 | 7 |
| 17th (15th) | Pawtucket | 78 | - | 74-88 | .457 | .242 | 4.19 | 73-89 | 1 |
| 18th (16th) | Phoenix | 78 | - | 71-91 | .438 | .252 | 4.17 | 71-91 | 0 |
| 19th (19th) | Carolina | 73 | o | 70-92 | .432 | .248 | 4.35 | 79-83 | -9 |
| 20th (22nd) | Toronto | 70 | + | 61-101 | .377 | .250 | 4.69 | 62-100 | -1 |
| 21st (23rd) | Los Angeles | 66 | + | 66-96 | .407 | .247 | 4.04 | 64-98 | 2 |
| 22nd (20th) | Montreal | 61 | - | 60-102 | .370 | .250 | 4.71 | 59-103 | 1 |
| 23rd (24th) | Denver | 60 | + | 55-107 | .340 | .236 | 4.81 | 52-110 | 3 |
| 24th (21st) | New Orleans | 58 | -- | 60-102 | .370 | .261 | 4.56 | 61-101 | -1 |
Performance of the Week
C Alex Santiago - It's not often the best batting performance of the season comes on the last day of the year but Santiago put up a game against Pawtucket on October 8th. Alex had five at bats where he recorded five hits, one home run, seven runs batted in, and scored three times himself in a 18-6 Wilmington victory. On the season the 29 year old catcher hit .278/.317/.535 with 22 HR's and 52 RBI's in only 83 games.
Injury of the Week
P Sandy Perez - He left the game on October 6th against Carolina after giving up seven hits and five runs in only 3.2 innings pitched and was diagnosed with a dead arm. Since the Bats earned a bye he will be ready in time for the Divisional Series but the Washington management has to be a little nervous just throwing him back out there. On the year Perez was 17-11 with a 3.49 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in 30 starts.
Prospect of the Week
C Shandon 'Buckeye' Czarnomski - The 16 year old Polish prodigy signed a $7,000,000 contract with Maine in August and played in 13 games for their Rookie League team. Right now scouts doubt his work ethic and intelligence and he's very raw but his potentials are All-Star caliber. Only time will tell and we all know GM's around the league have spent $7 million on worse gambles.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. Playoff time! The five game Wildcard series kick off with Maine playing Indy (season series 7-4 Indy), Wilmington playing Miami (season series 7-4 Miami), Philadelphia playing Batavia (season series 8-4 Batavia), and Windy City playing Baltimore (season series 8-3 Baltimore). Congrats to all the postseason contenders and enjoy that playoff revenue!
2. Washington led the league with 107 wins and will hold home field advantage as long as they are in the playoffs. They also hold the record this season for most wins against another team as they went 11-1 against the New York Knights. Did we mention the Knights missed the playoffs by one game?
3. Jaime Rush of Wilmington finished with 81 stolen bases, 33 more than runner up Johnny Berry of Philadelphia. That also ties Jerry Daly of Virginia for second in the single season record book. Sonny Fulton's unreachable record of 89 in 1978 might not be completely out of reach anymore.
4. Even though Pittsburgh blew a chance to make the playoffs by going -12 in August and September and plan on firing everyone they at least still have RJ Kapper. The 27 year old led the league with a .366 average and finished the season on a 35 game hitting streak, which ties the all-time record held by four other players. When the streak started September 6th he was hitting .342 and he ended up beating out second place by 27 points.
5. There were no Triple Crown winners this season as Santo Domingo's Sheng Jong finished 1st in the DL in Wins and ERA but second in K's. Meanwhile Seattle's Jacob Stokes finished 3rd in the IL in Wins but first in ERA and K's. Seattle and Santo Domingo...linked forever. On the batting side Ron Hutchison of Hartford lead the DL in home runs and RBI's but was over 80 points off the average lead while Rory Elia of Carolina led the IL in home runs and RBI's but was over 80 points off the average lead as well.
Bonus: Our hopes on Seth Blankenship reaching the 40/40 club comes to an end as he finished the season with an astounding 47 home runs but 'only' 34 stolen bases. If he could get his OBP back to .315 like 2033 where he stole 42 bases the dream will finally come to reality in 2035.
Stat of the Week
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| Most Frustrated Playoff Teams | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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