Down the Stretch - Season 29:

Top Playoff Races:

National League: NL South

Team Owner Record Remaining Opp Record Remaining Home Games Louisville Arfy 89-60 0.493 4 Texas erichanville 88-61 0.473 10 Season Series Tied 5-5

National League: #6 Seed

Team	Owner	Record	*Remaining Opp Record	Remaining Home Games
Jackson	bobbyj7	78-71	0.482	10
Iowa City	tk21775	76-73	0.491	3
Toronto	sgmedia	75-74	0.549	3

  

 *Calculated with 14 games remaining

Magic Number to Clinch Division

The Magic Number represents the total of additional wins by the front-running team or additional losses by the second-place team after which it is mathematically impossible for the second-place team to capture the title in the remaining games

AL North: Milwaukee - 7

AL East: Boston - 0

AL South: Nashville - 1

AL West: Salem - 2

NL North: Scranton - 6

NL East: Wichita - 4

NL South: Louisville - 13

NL South: Texas - 15

NL West: Seattle - 0

Magic Number to Clinch Wild Card Birth

AL: Vancouver - 2

AL: Durham - 4

NL: Texas - 2

Individual Accolades

Batting Average: Fred Inge (Dur) - .375

Inge’s .375 BA would rank him 5th for a single season in Pine Tar history.  The record is .398.

Earned Run Average:  Tim Daubach (Sea) – 1.95

Daubach’s 1.95 ERA would rank 2nd for a single season in Pine Tar history.  The record is 1.79.

Catcher Earned Run Average:  Rickie Lawrence (Sea) – 2.79

Lawrence’s 2.79 CERA would rank 4th all-time for a single season in Pine Tar.  The record is 2.39.

Saves: Juan Sierra (Sea) – 48

The Pine-Tar record is 54.

Pitchers who already have, or have a shot at reaching 20 wins:

Tim Daubach (Sea): 21-3

Yoshinori Zhou (Vanc): 21-6

Eddie Plant (Wich): 19-7

Lonny Gonzalez (Sal): 18-6

Homerun Race:

Keith Williamson (CSP): 47

Phil Yamamoto (Nash): 46

Dicky Stanley (Tex): 44

Longest Hitting Streak:

Julio Silva (OK): 23

Most Plus Plays:

Alex Alomar (Hou): 27

Lefty Twitchell (Sal): 26

Stolen Base Runs – Top 5 Teams:

A sabermetric statistic that estimates the number of runs generated from stolen bases.  Formula = (.3 x SB) - (.6 x CS)

Team	Owner	SB	CS	Stolen Base Runs
Boston	kjmulli	172	35	30.6
Fresno	dlmose	215	66	24.9
New York	skuff730	214	75	19.2
Seattle	ghutton9	160	49	18.6
Wichita	jibe	194	67	18

Playoff Droughts & All-Stars

Playoff Droughts:

The postseason could contain some unfamiliar faces, as the following franchises are on the verge of ending long playoff droughts. 

The AL North is up for grabs with Dover (7 consecutive division titles) currently sitting 14 games behind first place.  New York was picked as the pre-season favorite and currently holds a 2 game lead.  Milwaukee used a 15 game winning streak to propel themselves back into the race, and Kansas City has been quietly lurking a few games behind. 

Three teams with loads of young talent are in contention for the postseason, probably earlier than expected.  Nashville and Wichita are currently leading their respective divisions, and Indianapolis is sitting a few games back in the wild card race.  Wichita has the longest drought of these teams, as they haven’t made the playoffs in 18 seasons.

Jackson is still in contention for the NL South title, in what many thought would be a two team race between Texas and Louisville.   They have an 8-2 record in division play.

New York Damage Controllers (skuff730)

AL North – 2 game lead

Playoff Drought: 11 seasons

Milwaukee Magnitude (horvie78)

AL North – 2 games behind

Playoff Drought: 10 seasons

Kansas City Yardbirds (holleybard)

AL North – 5 games behind

Playoff Drought: 6 seasons

Indianapolis Valhalla Varauders (qtip32)

AL East – 2 games behind in wild card race

Playoff Drought: 8 seasons

Nashville Merchants (blapo21)

AL South – 8 game lead

Playoff Drought: 7 seasons

Wichita Dwarf’y Mojados (jibe)

NL East – 3 game lead

Playoff Drought: 18 seasons

Jackson Juggernauts (bobbyj7)

NL South – 5 games behind, 4 games behind in wild card race

Playoff Drought: 5 seasons


All-Stars:

Teams with the most All-Star selections:

Boston Pilgrims (kjmulli) – 7

Seattle Strikers (ghutton9) – 7

Salem Volcanoes (jkenned) – 4

Scranton Red Barons (reggie988) – 3

Colorado Springs Night Watchman (toe64) – 3

Rochester Retards (wylie715) – 3

Dover Dinklebergs (tmfran) – 3

Vancouver Canucks (skplayer07) – 3

Teams with zero All-Star selections:

Fargo Wood Chippers (starbuckdc)

Cincinnati Firestorm (jbburner)

Milwaukee Magnitude (horvie78)

Florida Retirees (soxfan_9)

Tampa Bay Thunder (rxw1)

Fresno Grizzlies (dlmose)

First Time All-Stars – American League

P – Alex James (Merchants)

P – Phil Linton (Canucks)

P – Yoshinori Zhou (Canucks)

P – Lonny Gonzalez (Volcanoes)

P – Heinie Green (Pilgrims)

P – Hipolito Owen (Pilgrims)

P – Esmerling Gil (Valhalla Varauders)

3B – Cristobal Izquierdo (Volcanoes)

3B – Thom Blair (Dinklebergs)

SS – Lefty Twitchell (Volcanoes)

CF – Lyle Rapp (Merchants)

RF – Vicente Feliz (Canucks)

RF – Roger Byrne (Valhalla Varauders)

DH – Calvin Pecina (Arch Angels)

First Time All-Stars – National League

P – Howard Tartabull (Juggernauts)

P – Ralph Young (Juggernauts)

C – Rickie Lawrence (Strikers)

C – Alan Pierce (Phantoms)

2B – F.P. Gentry (Red Barons)

2B – Scooter Leslie (Juice)

3B – Neal Hartzell (Komodo Dragons)

SS – Rafael Santana (DwArf’y Mojados)

LF – Eugenio Canseco (Red Barons)

Highest Number of All-Star Appearances (current All-Stars only)

P – Alex Martis (Dinklebergs): 9th appearance

1B – Armando Mota (Dinklebergs): 8th appearance

P – Brandon Taylor (Strikers): 8th appearance

P – Dusty Lindsey (Pilgrims): 7th appearance

2B – Fred Inge (Doormats): 7th appearance

P – Sticky Farquhar (Yardbirds): 6th appearance

P – Juan Sierra (Strikers): 6th appearance

American League All-Youth Team

Below is my All-Youth Team of 25 American League players currently on MLB rosters who are 25 years-old or younger.  These are based on my opinion.  I looked at both ratings and statistics.  I valued both offense and defense, but usually tend to favor offense over defense.  If you think somebody got snubbed, feel free to point it out on the message board.

C:

Cesar Santos (Boston) - .302 BA, .362 OBP, 10 HR, 39 RBI, 37% CS, 3.16 ERA

Daniel Acosta (Tampa Bay) - .298 BA, .405 OBP, 14 RBI, 30% CS, 4.59 ERA

1B:

Willie Tarasco (Vancouver) - .268 BA, .353 OBP, 19 HR, 64 RBI

Valerio Martinez (St. Louis) - .288 BA, .366 OBP, 19 HR, 52 RBI

2B:

Rubby Prieto (Salem): S28 MVP, .270 BA, .340 OBP, 17 HR, 61 RBI, 19 SB

SS:

Lefty Twitchell (Salem): .303 BA, .349 OBP, 17 HR, 41 RBI, 17 SB, 6 plus plays

3B:

Cristobal Izquierdo (Salem): .333 BA, .405 OBP, 26 RBI, 27 SB, 11 plus plays

Yamid Lee (Florida): .286 BA, .351 OBP, 20 RBI, 11 plus plays

CF:

Lyle Rapp (Nashville) - .354 BA, .411 OBP, 1.026 OPS, 11 HR, 46 RBI

LF:

John Martin (Milwaukee) - .316 BA, .386 OBP, 32 RBI, 21 SB

Michel Pena (Salem): .276 BA, .361 OBP, 9 HR, 46 RBI, 23 SB

RF:

Roger Byrne (Indy) - .311 BA, .401 OBP, 1.118 OPS, 20 HR, 58 RBI, 18 SB

Marvin Rose (Nashville) - .296 BA, .356 OBP, 22 HR, 58 RBI, 5 plus plays

Hugh Paterson (Kansas City) - .304 BA, .360 OBP, 19 HR, 69 RBI, 5 plus plays

DH:

Harry Gibson (Salem) – S28 ROY, .266 BA, .349 OBP, 18 HR, 55 RBI

SP:

Yoshinori Zhou (Vancouver): 10-3, 4.13 ERA, .245 OAV, 1.19 WHIP

Wilt Sizemore (Fresno): 3-time All-Star, 5-8, 4.70 ERA, .267 OAV, 1.28 WHIP, 3 CG

Kevin Leonard (Nashville): 5-6, 5.43 ERA, .272 OAV, 1.53 WHIP, 18 wins in S28

Lonny Gonzalez (Salem): 12-3, 3.61 ERA, .251 OAV, 1.26 WHIP

Willis Reynolds (New York): 8-3, 3.01 ERA, .218 OAV, 1.21 WHIP

RP:

Ben Boyer (Milwaukee): 2.70 ERA, .185 OAV, 0.95 WHIP, 43.1 IP

Al Gonzalez (Nashville): 5-3, 3.54 ERA, .177 OAV, 1.34 WHIP, 48.1 IP

Sandy Banks (St. Louis): S28 All-Star, 3.41 ERA, .218 OAV, 1.08 WHIP

Douglas Bibby (Rochester): 4.30 ERA, .218 OAV, 1.17 WHIP

Alex James (Nashville): 3.50 ERA, .232 OAV, 1.28 WHIP, 17/17 Saves

Honorable Mention (in no particular order):

LF Bubbles Conger (Nashville), DH Ron Atkins (Tampa Bay), CF/RF Avisail Martin (Salem), 3B Skeeter Mottola (St. Louis), SP Clint Buddie (Kansas City), RP Tex Wagner (Milwaukee), RP Lou Lomasney (Salem)