There are enough games done in the season so far to see some strong teams living up to the hype, and some other teams outperform what may have been expected from them this year. Let's take a quick look around the league, the divisions, and the craft beers they represent...
 |
| Commissioner's opinion - Best name for a beer, who wouldn't want to order a Dirty Bastard?! |
The Dirty Bastard division is led by a somewhat surprising Pittsburgh Phantoms squad. We knew the young Phantoms were just about done rebuilding and getting ready to truly compete, but they may be a bit ahead of schedule based upon their outstanding 13-7 record thus far. Real-life minor leaguer Miguel Sano is pacing Pittsburgh with a solid .381, 7 HR, 15 RBI stat line. Charlie Morton (3-0, 0.65 ERA) and James Paxton (2-0, 2.54) anchor a strong pitching rotation. Rookie manager Michael Walter has his team in 2nd place, and based upon his torrid playing pace, may be soon lobbying for 162 game season! Mike has his Grizzlies performing well, with a solid bullpen (2.36 ERA thus far) making up for a not-so-hot rotation (5.62 ERA). Lake Erie and Wichita are off to slowish starts, but have plenty of time to climb up the standings. Commodore 2B Jose Altuve is hitting at an impressive .380 clip, just .001 behind Sano for 2nd place in the batting race.
 |
Commissioner's opinion - Beer itself, 8 out of 10. The label featuring
a chicken in an Elvis costume? 10 of 10!
|
CAW! I mean, BAWK! Use whatever avian sound you want, it won't distract from just how stacked this division is. Steve Tufte and his Toronto Thunder are off to a blistering 17-6 start, outscoring opponents 132-105. Dylan Bundy and Chris Sale are a combined 9-1! Toronto has four hitters comfortably over the .3000 mark (Tim Beckham, Marwin Gonzalez, the ageless Adrian Beltre, and Brett Gardner). Kansas City is just 2 games out but their all-or-nothing offense (48 homers and 248 K's in 29 games) leads to some inconsistent play. Alex Cobb, back from a year-long stint on the DL, is 4-0 with a tidy 1.98 ERA. Khris Davis leads the Butcher sluggers with 9 homers in 110 at bats. This softball team is last in the league in steals with just 5 over 29 games, but on the bright side, we haven't been thrown out yet! The Loggers take a backseat to no team, and are in contention with an 11-10 start and plenty of time to control their own destiny. JD Martinez is being treated with kid gloves due to low at bats in the AL last year (just 15 at bats so far in the Friendship League) but is hitting an insane .533 and slugging 1.200!!! Haven't seen a bench threat like that since Rudy Pemberton in 1996. And no one will forget the Boston Bobcats are in this division, you can count on them being heard in what should be a compelling pennant race!
 |
Commissioner's opinion - Hops on hops on hops! This is for your
more hardcore beer fans, pass me another blueberry infused fruity light beer
|
I am betting on a team from a city or state with the letter 'M' taking this division! Michigan and Minnesota are off to fine starts, and Mount Pleasant is lurking just below the .500 mark. The Men from Minnesota are well balanced again, and I am struck by the United Nations group making up their top five batting average hitters - Omar Narvaez (Venezuela), Didi Gregorius (Netherlands), Melky Cabrera (Dominican Republic) , Jose Abreu (Cuba), and Shin-Soo Choo (South Korea). Diversity is working in the Land of 10,000 Lakes! Michigan has a sparkling team ERA of 2.61 right now, making up for a somewhat anemic .234 team batting average. Mount Pleasant has been getting strong contributions from Eddie Rosario (.313, 14 runs) and Mike Trout (.302, 5 HRs) with the ancient relic Albert Pujols surprisingly leading the team in RBIs with 15. Most interesting stat of the year so far? Mount Pleasant's 9 wins are all distributed among 9 different pitchers!!! Yep, 1 win is the current record for the Train Wreck staff. Las Vegas is currently leading the battle for next year's #1 draft pick. Jose Ramirez is playing at an MVP level for the Fremonts (.355, 6 HRs, 6 steals, 12 RBIs) and Dixon Machado is actually sitting right on .400 right now, after 25 at bats.
UPDATE: After I wrote this, I got three more games from Doug and PJ. Mount Pleasant won 2 of those games and now has 11 total wins. Amazingly, the Train Wreck now have ELEVEN different pitchers all with just ONE win! Come on, Scott Alexander and Zach Britton, you two are slacking with your zero wins!
No comments:
Post a Comment