The 2056 Daily Keg - Week 7

[Matt]

05/29/2056

It was a 6-1 week for two teams as New Orleans dominated the Domestic, and Seattle dominated the Import. The Voodoo, the darling of last years playoffs, are now 24-22 and back in the early season playoff hunt. Meanwhile Seattle beat up their relatives to move to 27-20 and take a one game lead over LAD in the Bock. On the other side of life Maine went 1-6 and fell out of the top spot in the Ale, while Carolina, Batavia, Dallas, Indy and Montreal all went 2-5.

ELO Rankings
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1	Washington	IL	30-16						-7.4	1580.1
2	Santo Domingo	DL	29-16						8.1	1552.0
3	Seattle	IL	27-20						8.5	1542.6
4	Los Angeles	IL	25-20						5.5	1538.0
5	Baltimore	IL	26-19						-1.5	1534.2
6	Dallas	DL	26-20						-12.2	1530.7
7	New Orleans	DL	24-22						10.6	1527.6
8	Hartford	DL	24-22						-3.3	1520.1
9	Pittsburgh	DL	25-21						14.2	1513.4
10	Carolina	IL	26-21						-9.3	1507.0
11	Maine	DL	24-21						-14.3	1504.1
12	Indianapolis	DL	24-21						-10.8	1502.9
13	California	IL	20-26						4.8	1498.5
14	Pawtucket	DL	23-24						1.0	1496.7
15	Syracuse	DL	20-25						-2.9	1493.4
16	Windy City	IL	19-26						2.9	1490.7
17	Wilmington	DL	21-24						8.2	1488.0
18	Phoenix	IL	22-23						8.3	1484.1
19	Denver	IL	20-26						0.6	1473.1
20	New York	IL	17-28						-3.9	1464.1
21	Batavia	IL	22-23						-1.2	1453.2
22	Philadelphia	IL	19-27						-7.3	1444.5
23	Montreal	DL	17-30						-3.9	1435.8
24	Toronto	DL	18-27						5.4	1425.2

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Performance of the Week

3B Colby 'Mirror' Hullinger - The ageless 38 year old turned in the ninth best hitting performance of the season on May 25th against the Muckdogs. In four at bats he had two home runs, four RBIs and three runs scored as Seattle beat up Batavia 12-2. The future first ballot Hall of Famer is currently hitting .272 with 10 HRs and 31 RBIs.

Prospect of the Week

CF Adrien Mondragon - The senior is high on some draft lists thanks to a college career where he hit .288/.384/.492 with 38 HRs, 115 RBIs, and 31 SBs over 192 career starts. He also played all 192 games starting at center field where his ZR went up every season. Scouts aren't too keen on his smarts, but they do think he can be an elite center fielder on a contending team. Sounds like high praise to us.


Five Things We Think We Think

1. We'd like to welcome Nathan 'Missing Link' McKelvey to the 2500 K club, the 48th player to join it in the history of the league. On May 22nd against California he came into the game with 2,499 strikeouts and faced a Kodiak squad that was struggling at the plate. It didn't take 'Link' long to reach the milestone as in the bottom of the first he got Brad 'Scooter' Pendolino to strike out swinging. The game was briefly stopped as the home crowd gave a standing ovation. McKelvey was a second round pick by New Orleans back in 2039, and has been one of the most consistent pitchers over the last 15 years in the league. He's a 5x All-Star, 2x Pale Ale winner, and helped lead New Orleans to a championship in 2045.

2. Santo Domingo has shot to the top of the Power Rankings after putting together a 16-9 month to date. On the hitting side they aren't doing great (8th in the DL in average, 4th in runs scored), but pitching they have been lights out. Led by Tom 'Horseface' Lemings and Ken 'Baseball' Burns, they are first in the Domestic in ERA, starters ERA, and runs allowed, and second in home runs allowed and strikeouts. They have built a 3.5 game lead on the Drillers and currently have a 90% chance of making the playoffs. Looking at their minors they aren't in bad shape either as every single team has a winning record and they have the 13th ranked farm system.

3. LAD is already doing their thing as they lead the league with a +15.25 ZR. Syracuse is second at +11.99, while Montreal is third at +8.00. On the other end of the spectrum is poor Batavia (or poor Batavia pitchers) who comes in at -16.15. To be fair though they are bad defensively across the board as short stop, third base, center field, and right field are all at -3.64 or worse. Last year Seattle ended up taking the ZR crown with an amazing +75.67, while Batavia was last at -80.46.

4. Isaac Bates of the Pilots has taken over the closer role in Seattle and is doing quite well. Over his last nine appearances he has pitched 14.7 innings, allowed no runs, struck out 18 batters, and is 0-0 with six saves. This season overall he's appeared in 22 games and is 0-2 with 8 saves and a 1.26 ERA. He was a 7th round pick back in 2045 by Toronto, but released a year later. He signed a minor league contract with Seattle nine days later, but tore his flexor tendon in his elbow in 2048. After a 13 month rehab no one knew what to expect, but he only got better. In seven seasons with the Pilots he has appeared in 277 games, and is 24-23 with 47 saves and a 2.85 ERA.

5. What's on tap? This week we get Pittsburgh at Indy (are the Millers for real), Washington at Seattle (first series of the year between the two #1's), and Maine at Santo Domingo (is anyone more erratic than the Guides). Streak wise Wilmington and Seattle have four game win streaks, and Lon Leseberg (CAL) has a 19 game hitting streak.


Stat of the Week
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Most Offense Heavy Team Relative To League (Top 25 Teams, SD is number of standard deviations better than league average)

Team Year R R Avg R Std R SD RA RA Avg RA Std RA SD Net SD Seattle Pilots 2046 790 666.1 50.0 2.48 739 667.5 73.9 -0.97 3.45 Virginia Colonials 1984 738 697.2 66.5 0.61 891 705.3 77.3 -2.40 3.02 New Orleans Dukes 2011 780 713.5 69.6 0.96 923 726.5 97.9 -2.01 2.96 Hyundai Dinos 1992 788 758.9 79.4 0.37 1031 750.0 112.0 -2.51 2.88 Pawtucket Patriots 1990 919 807.9 68.6 1.62 926 809.6 93.2 -1.25 2.87 Phoenix Roadrunners 2055 750 686.9 57.0 1.11 876 684.8 113.2 -1.69 2.80 Pittsburgh Millers 1988 836 812.2 55.2 0.43 1129 810.7 143.3 -2.22 2.65 Philadelphia Freedom 2048 777 668.5 50.3 2.16 697 666.7 62.1 -0.49 2.65 Wilmington Wildcats 1984 813 697.2 66.5 1.74 773 705.3 77.3 -0.88 2.62 Montreal Exports 2046 891 725.4 86.0 1.93 781 724.0 87.3 -0.65 2.58 Baltimore Bulldogs 2042 827 721.5 68.8 1.53 818 713.9 101.6 -1.02 2.56 Carolina Tobs 2039 772 789.4 103.5 -0.17 1178 773.9 149.4 -2.70 2.54 Pittsburgh Millers 2024 834 693.4 59.4 2.37 715 705.1 81.6 -0.12 2.49 Washington Yankees 1978 711 652.6 60.6 0.96 736 656.3 53.2 -1.50 2.46 New Orleans Dukes 2009 769 735.2 81.5 0.42 958 736.3 108.6 -2.04 2.46 Baltimore Bulldogs 2048 695 668.5 50.3 0.53 786 666.7 62.1 -1.92 2.45 Baltimore Bulldogs 1990 849 738.1 89.7 1.24 830 728.9 84.6 -1.20 2.43 Baltimore Bulldogs 2038 794 787.8 89.1 0.07 1038 756.3 120.1 -2.35 2.42 Carolina Tobs 2001 736 660.1 88.0 0.86 738 643.5 61.8 -1.53 2.39 Seattle Pilots 2049 696 661.1 42.7 0.82 750 662.5 56.7 -1.54 2.36 Pittsburgh Millers 2002 782 660.4 74.8 1.63 701 669.6 42.8 -0.73 2.36 Pittsburgh Millers 1978 820 794.7 59.2 0.43 982 796.8 95.9 -1.93 2.36 Pittsburgh Millers 1996 878 766.1 55.6 2.01 789 756.2 96.8 -0.34 2.35 Baltimore Bulldogs 1988 797 694.9 72.4 1.41 782 707.4 79.6 -0.94 2.35 Wilmington Clowns 2049 794 729.2 72.4 0.89 853 727.8 88.4 -1.42 2.31

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[Z]

The only Z team on that list is the 1988 Millers. Damn.