S31 Midseason Blog: All-Stars & Playoff Picture

Season 31 All-Stars
Link to View Season 30's All-Star Blog

Pine Tar's Season 31 All-Star game took place yesterday with the American League defeating the National League by the score of 8-5.  Durham's Bengie Trajano was named the Most-Valuable Player, as his 3-run homer helped lead the AL to a 5-run first inning.  Jose Marquez (Salem) was the winning pitcher, while Babe Conroy (Scranton) took the defeat.  Homeruns were hit by Trajano, Matt Jaha (Boston), and Eugenio Canseco (Scranton).  Nashville's Wendell Werth had an outstanding game with 3 hits and 2 runs.  

Teams with the most All-Star selections:

Seattle Strikers - 7 (ghutton9)
Albuquerque Komodo Dragons - 5 (csudak)
Salem Volcanoes - 5 (jkenned)
Scranton Red Barons - 5 (reggie988)
Wichita DwArf'y Mojados - 4 (jibe)
Huntington Drunkin' BArfys - 3 (nyaggie98)
St. Louis Arch Angels - 3 (Flucie)
Tampa Bay Thunder - 3 (rxw1)
Texas Galveston Wave - 3 (erichanville)

Teams with zero All-Star selections:

Dover Dinklebergs
Rochester ArfArfys
El Paso Arfydillos
Helena Copper Kings
Philadelphia Moneymakers
Jacksonville Juice
Cincinnati Firestorm
Louisville ARF ARF ARF ARF's
Houston Roughnecks
Oklahoma City Prairie Dogs

All-Stars by Division
NL West - 13
AL West - 11
AL South - 8
NL North - 8
AL East - 6
AL North - 5
NL South - 5
NL East - 4

*Links are posted - click on an individual player's name to open their HBD profile

First Time All-Stars – American League

P - Matty Bennett (Doormats)
P - Jose Marquez (Volcanoes)
P - Benito Pizzaro (Arch Angels)
C - Harry Gibson (Volcanoes)
SS - Jesus Esposito (Thunder)
SS - Mark Millwood (Drunkin' BArfys)
LF - Albert Rosa (Thunder)
CF - Howie Osborne (Drunkin' BArfys)

First Time All-Stars – National League

P - Vin Baker (Juggernauts)
P - Mitch Mota (Red Barons)
P - Babe Conroy (Red Barons)
P - Alfonso Puig (Red Barons)
P - Emil Martin (Huskies)
P - Taylor Ross (Hawkeyes)
P - Junior Martin (Hawkeyes)
1B - Eli Cruz (DwArf'y Mojados)
CF - Cliff Gray (Juggernauts)

All-Stars Making Their 5th Appearance or Greater
1B - Sam Slotnick (Drunkin' BArfys) - 10th Appearance
P - Brandon Taylor (Strikers) - 9th Appearance
P - Sticky Farquhar (Yardbirds) - 8th Appearance
P - Juan Sierra (DwArf'y Mojados) - 8th Appearance
C - Bengie Trajano (Doormats) - 7th Appearance
P - Rock Randall (Canucks) - 5th Appearance
2B - Zip Sullivan (Magnitude) - 5th Appearance
1B - Gus Justice (Strikers) - 5th Appearance
3B - Keith Williamson (Night Watchmen) - 5th Appearance
LF - Tony Caballero (DwArf'y Mojados) - 5th Appearance



Season 31 Playoff Picture (if the season ended today)

By Current Record (after 91 games):

AL North Champ: Milwaukee (52-39)

AL East Champ: Boston (57-34)

AL South Champ: Nashville (53-38)

AL West Champ: Salem (60-31)

AL Wildcard 1: Durham (53-38)

AL Wildcard 2: Huntington or Vancouver (52-39)

NL North Champ: Scranton (57-34)

NL East Champ: Wichita (50-41)

NL South Champ: Texas (57-34)

NL West Champ: Seattle (55-36)

NL Wildcard 1: Minnesota (52-39)

NL Wildcard 2: Albuquerque (48-43)

AL Matchups:

(4) Milwaukee vs. (5) Durham

Winner faces (1) Salem

(3) Nashville vs. (6) Huntington/Vancouver

Winner faces (2) Boston

NL Matchups:

(4) Wichita vs. (5) Minnesota

Winner faces (1) Scranton/Texas

(3) Seattle vs. (6) Albuquerque

Winner faces (2) Scranton/Texas

Notes:

-Six of the 8 division leaders are the same as Season 30.  Texas and Wichita did not win their divisions last season.
-Salem would be the #1 seed in the American League, after winning 2 of the past 3 World Series titles.
-Huntington and Minnesota are this season's surprise teams, after winning 66 and 73 games last year, respectively.
-Seattle vs. Albuquerque would be a rematch of last season's Division Championship Series, where Albuquerque upset Seattle and made a run to the World Series.
-Additional teams still in the playoff hunt include Tampa Bay (47-44), St. Louis (46-45), New York (46-45), Louisville (47-44), and Oklahoma City (47-44).

By Exp PCT (Expected Winning Percentage) – determined by run differential:

AL North Champ: Milwaukee (.586)

AL East Champ: Boston (.652)

AL South Champ: Nashville (.600)

AL West Champ: Salem (.678)

AL Wildcard 1: Vancouver (.569)

AL Wildcard 2: Huntington (.515)

NL North Champ: Scranton (.624)

NL East Champ: Wichita (.549)

NL South Champ: Texas (.659)

NL West Champ: Seattle (.711)

NL Wildcard 1: Albuquerque (.570)

NL Wildcard 2: Oklahoma City (.522)

AL Matchups:

(4) Milwaukee vs. (5) Vancouver

Winner faces (1) Salem

(3) Nashville vs. (6) Huntington

Winner faces (2) Boston

NL Matchups:

(4) Wichita vs. (5) Albuquerque

Winner faces (1) Seattle

(3) Scranton vs. (6) Oklahoma City

Winner faces (2) Texas

Notes:

-Vancouver and Huntington would clinch the AL wild-cards, knocking out Durham (.504).  Fresno (.503), St. Louis (.497), and Tampa Bay (.485) would also be on the outside looking in.

-Seattle would move from the #3-seed to having a home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.  They would receive a first round bye along with Texas, leaving Scranton with a division play-in match-up.  Albuquerque and Oklahoma City would win the NL wild-card spots, giving the NL West three playoff teams.  Minnesota (.506) would drop from the #5-seed to watching the playoffs from home.  Louisville (.499) would also fall short of the postseason.