Lets get the last of the betting out of the way.....
Sons of Pitches @ Dodge City Rounders At first blush, they're only separated by 3 wins and don't seem too dissimilar. But the difference in their plus / minus is 111 runs.
Got this one, 9 run margin for DCR.
Tap Masters @ Sliders The Tappers suddenly have 10 wins. How did that happen? The Sliders suddenly took a loss, albeit after only only 4 1/2 innings, but a loss is a loss and they have to show rebound now.
Predicting the demise of the Sliders was apparently a tad premature. A tidy 20-16 win in this one.
Master Batters @ Grisslies. The Master Batters have won 19 out of their last 25 (funny eh?). They are 1st overall, they've been measured for their jackets, planned the parade route. Only thing left to do is beat the Grisslies, win the Beer Cup, reel off 7 more wins and call it a season. I think this game is bigger for the Grisslies.
Well, the Master Batters have now won 19 of their last 26. The game did mean more to the Grisslies I think.
Rusty Rebels @ Dusty Cleats. The Cleats just bead us by 19 Thursday night, how can I go against them? The only thing harder than winning a blow out is following that game with another win.
Hmmm. Not to smart on this one. Cleats by 2.
Week Record: 2-2
Total Record: 37-21
Money: +$160.00
So there will be no game by game predictions for the playoffs, but I'll have more "general" predictions of course. I piss enough people off without giving them specific reasons to beat up on the Grisslies. But I think I might bring this back next year.
On to the stats. So one thing that you will notice is that for the 1/2 season stats, you need 39 ABs to qualify. 13 games multiplied by 3 abs per game is 39. I realize for league averages we use 2 ABs per game. While I acknowledge that going 20 / 26 (.769) is awesome, my personally belief is that someone with double the at bats (and double the opportunity to fail) is more impressive even if they are hitting .720. Just my opinion, but I keep these stats so I can do it.
1st Half Stats
The Barry / Tanner twins were all over this one. Keep an eye on the Feehely kid too, he's all over this edition.
Scotty we know. But at the half way point we had a lurking Cameron Clark, a resurgent Sandy Bell and a couple of other story lines.
1. Frig, Stike is on fire. Good think Chuck isn't in the top 10 too.
2. Dude, Wolfe, Behan, Greenfield, are they for real is it just a hot start?
3. Beech, Hollmann, McGovern, Dickson, Richards, Clouthier, Piellusch, Hollmann, Hagar, Keogh, Sagert, McCarron, here we go again.
4. Hicks, Blowes, Ross, Kolsen, Olliffe. Did we screw up the ratings????
Total hits is always an indicator for me. Limited at bats and a high average don't impress me much (doesn't impress Shania Twain either - think about that). But Scott was leading the league in total hits after the 1st 13 games....and not by a little. What a fantastic start.
Despite really nice starts by a hand of full people I was ready to declare this one over at the half way point.
And if you look back at averages you'll see some interesting things. The first four in this list were prominent in the average list. That would lead you to believe that they either wouldn't be able to keep it up OR had made a significant change.
The rookie pool is smaller than last year. But they are also constrained by the 39 at bats as well, so not as many showed up. But all these guys were major contributors to their teams.
Anicete and Darrell led the way here with 32. Double it and they take out Doucet's record for runs in a season. Same for Jerry and Scott. Through Beechey and McGovern into the mix as "close". Scoring at this pace is near impossible to sustain, but maybe one of them could give it a run.
And your 1st half standings that you've seen a million times. I just realized while typing that the Grisslies are shown as 6-1. Clearly that should have read 6-7. It doesn't change the standings, just looks stupid.
What did we learn in the 1st half? Well, the Sliders sucked (and they probably would all year). The Gruesome Devils were giving up an IMPOSSIBLE 20.38 runs a game (but no one can stay that bad for a full season, they'll come out of it), The league's new squad, the Master Batters were off to a great start (which is cute and nice and cuddly, but it'll never last), the Beer Bros. were looking like the class of the league (Probably 1st overall), the Dog Catchers were being the friggin' Dog Catchers again, The Draft Kings were rocking a great defense again but so-so offense and everyone else looked 500ish.
2nd Half Stats
Lookie here....did I mention Feehley before. Year 2, no missed games, atta boy. Overall, ABs are pretty much the same in the 1st half as 2nd.
But not average. Average is decidedly different. After a great 1st half in ABs, Hits and AVG, Scott got hurt and didn't get enough at bats to qualify for the 2nd half stats.
Cam did. He was lights out. Derryl Gaudet and I joined him at the over .800 mark but it was really no contest. People who rebounded from poor or average 1st half's to make a statement in the second half included Short, Lahey, Hayward, Argue, Cragg, Moon, Skip and Doucette.
You should consider this a "hot" list going into the playoffs....everyone on this list is pretty much in a groove right now.
So here's what I'll tell you. I felt like I was never out in the 2nd half of the season. Apparently I was 10 times over 13 games. Cameron 7 times. I would say we both did well (in different ways of course) and for me, WAY above my normal play. I say this because Cam and I were both 3 hits short of the 52 that Scott had in the 1st half. He had a WOW half.
This isn't a surprise. I had the best run I've ever had as is evident in a .271 uptick in average over 1/2 a year. This is everyone who improved by 100 points. Brian not withstanding, the second half's by Stiff and Conforti tell the story of the Sliders season.
and add Glenn's production to the Slider list. Ryan Marshall has withstood Hugh Armstrong and rumour has it that he'll come back to any other team next year. :)
I got this one pretty handily when you think of a gap of 4 after only 13 games. That sounds like bragging but its not. The real honest truth is Duggan, Goodin, Ford and Hodge hitting behind me.
As I look through the list, I can only assume Hugh got a lot of pinch runners. (I'm glad he doesn't read this)
And what did we learn in the 2nd half?
Well, the Sliders apparently don't suck and have the best record in the league. The Gruesome Devils were giving up an IMPOSSIBLE 20.38 in the 1st half and reduced it to 19.69 in the second half (I guess they never came out of it), The league's new squad, the Master Batters weren't just nice and cute and cuddly, they were the real deal getting 10 wins in the 2nd half as well. The Beer Bros. were no longer looking like the class of the league. 5-8, just another middle of the road team. The Dog Catchers were being the friggin' Dog Catchers again, The Draft Kings were rocking a great defense again but the 2nd best offense of the 2nd half. Everyone else looked 500ish.
Season Stats.
And Feehley (did I mention him?) was consistent all year and reeled off an incredible 116 ABs. Richards, Barry and I finished in a tie for 2nd, but in all fairness, Adrian would have been in 2nd alone or perhaps tied for 1st or in 1st had he not had a ZERO stats night caused by a forfeit.
Overall we had 52 of our 168 players with 100 at bats!
Your top 25 in average is a little different than the website version. Here's what we learned.
Cameron Clark was lurking and the resurgent Sandy Bell hung around the top 25 all year.
1. Frig, Stike stayed on fire and Chuck did join him in the top 25. Dammit.
2. Dude, Behan, and Greenfield's hot starts WERE for real!
3. Beech, Hollmann, McGovern, Richards, Clouthier, Hollmann, Hagar, Keogh, and Sagert, were consistently in the top 25 all year.
4. Olliffe screwed up our ratings. Enjoy being a #4 next year.
91!!!
We had Brian and Cam both break previous records! Well done lads. The actual record is near 98 (I think) and held by Scott Barton. But I don't have complete stats for that season so what you see listed is what we have.
Again, Mr Richards!!! Sweet Lou and I added some heat to him, but Brian was consistent from front to back this year. Lou, Sagert, Stiff and Dude all 100 points or more better. Anyone else figure out the Sliders yet?
I kind of buggered this up in the this week to last week column. So ignore the "last week" column. What is striking here is that the Draft Kings are 1st defense and 4th in offense. The last team that pulled off that combo was the 2011 Grisslies and I have a jacket to remind me how that year ended.
People like this stat when it works for them. When it doesn't, they don't care.
Here's what I look for....consistency. Teams tend to trend to who they are. ie...the Master Batters offense isn't terribly good. Not that its awful, but lets be realistic, there's 9 better. However, their defense is absolutely elite, so the offense really isn't that much of a factor.
The same can be said for the Sliders who have an even bigger disparity. There's MAY matter more because it leans to offense which will matter less every day until a week from Sunday. Teams who's offense and defense are reasonably close together with middle numbers work for me. Close together at 13 and 14, not so much.
A few have fallen and will come back next year. Our replacement guys didn't get enough ABs to qualify, but the feedback I have is that they'll be coming back too.
Behan's .817 is safe until next year's rookie crop.
Congrats to Jerry and Brian. You guys got within one of Lahey's monster year last season.
To score 52 runs you need to score twice a night. Every night. No breaks. Its seems damn near impossible to me. And we had 9 guys do that. Incredible. And we had 14 guys score 50 or better.
It'll be a long winter gang. Here's the last of your standings.
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