First Trade in 2020

Pittsburgh Phantoms and Lake Erie Commodores agree trade before the cards are delivered!!!!

Pittsburgh will send SS Willy Adames 
 Lake Erie  for 3rd round pick 

Mammoth Raise Stakes and Win Big Against Fremonts

The Michigan Mammoth are on their way to their first World Series in seven years, after downing the Las Vegas Fremonts in six games.  Michigan led the Friendship League regular season in wins with 48 and continued their winning ways in their opening playoff series.    

The Fremonts started off Game 1 with a single by Jose Ramirez and a double by Marcus Semien and a run knocked in by Robinson Cano.    The Mammoth stormed back with 4 in the bottom of the first and never looked back.    The Fremonts added 1 in the 4th and the Mammoth countered 2 in the 6th to take a 6-1 lead.   Michael Fulmer (1-0) went 6 strong innings for the victory, giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, along with 3 K’s and 1 earned run.   Alex Heaney (0-1) takes the loss giving up 6 runs on 9 hits over 5 2/3 innings.  The Fremonts added 1 in the 7th and mounted a comeback in the top of the 9th with another run and runners on the corners when Blake Treinen closed the door.   This was standard for the Fremonts as they left 12 on base during the game.

In Game 2, the Fremonts again started off strong with a pair of doubles in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.   Alas, it was the last run that Mammoth starter Mike Minor would give up.    After a single by Mitch Haniger and a double by Dee Gordon, Mitch Garver drove home the tying run in the bottom of the 4th against Masahiro Tanaka    Minor continued through 8, giving up 1 run over 5 hits and 3 walks, along with 6 Ks.  Tanaka gave way to Nick Vincent (0-1) to start the 8th inning.  Vincent downed the Mammoth in order.  Ryan Tepera (1-0) came out in the top of the 9th and retired the 6, 7, and 8 batters in the Fremonts lineup.   Vincent was able to get Manny Machado and Dee Gordon out on grounders before Justin Upton launched one out into the left field seats with 2 outs to give the Mammoth the walkoff victory.  This monster shot is one that will be remembered in Mammoth history for a long time.  After it left Upton's bat, the ball started veering foul, but came back fair as it neared the foul pole.   The crowd looked in anticipation at Home Plate Umpire Enrico Palazzo.  As he gave the home run sign to signal the end of the ballgame, the crowd erupted.  

Game 3 was a pitcher’s duel with Daniel Mengden (1-0) going seven strong innings scattering seven hits along with a walk to go with 4 strikeouts for the Mammoth.   Las Vegas started Trevor Bauer who went 6 1/3, giving up no runs until the seventh.    In the top of the 7th, Dee Gordon singled and stole second base.  Justin Upton was HBP and with runners on first and second, the Mammoth pitch-hit Willians Astudillo for Mitch Garver. Astudillo hit a double to bring Gordon home and leave runners at second and third.   After getting Francisco Lindor out, Keven Kiermaier singled to bring home Upton and Merrifield singed to bring home Astudillo to give the Mammoth a 3-0 lead.   Ryan Tepera had a quiet 8th inning.  Blake Treinen was called on for the 9th inning.   After getting Robinson Cano to ground out, the Fremonts began their attack with a pinch-hit single by Tony Kemp and Rex Grosssman added a double to move Kemp to third.   Kemp was brought home by a Trey Mancini sacrifice fly and Jackie Bradley Jr. brought home Grossman with a single.   Max Stassi grounded out to end the ball game and Treinen earned his second save of the series.

In Game 4, Trevor Cahill (1-0) took the mound for the Fremonts against Nathan Eovaldi (0-1) for the Mammoth.   Cahill promptly was tagged for a run after a single by Merrifield, who was caught stealing, and then doubles by Joey Wendle and Machado.   Las Vegas tagged Eovaldi for 3 runs in the bottom half of the third with a home run by Robinson Cano.   The Mammoth added a run in the 7th on an RBI by Mitch Garver.    The Mammoth may have scored more if not for the strong and accurate arm of Luke Maile.  After Maile threw out Merrifield in the first, he nailed Kiermaier in the 8th and Marisnick in the 9th.   Ryan Pressley closed out the game and first victory in the series for the Fremonts.

Game 5 was a rematch of Game 1 starters, Fulmer and Heaney.   Las Vegas got on the board first with RBI’s Robertson and Grossman in the bottom half of the third inning to take a 2-0 lead.    Michigan stormed back with 1 in the top half of the fourth and added 2 in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead, knocking Heaney out of the game. Fulmer (1-1) exited the game in the bottom of the fifth with runners on first and third.   Miguel Castro came in and promptly gave up a 3-run shot to Robinson Cano.  The Fremonts added another run to take a 6-3 lead.  The Mammoth were unable to do anything productive the remainder of the game.  Joe Jimenez (1-0) tossed 1 2/3 innings of 1 hit ball to earn the win.   John Axford came on in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning to earn the save and put the Fremonts down 3-2 in the series.  This game will also be remembered for the delay prior to the game as the public address announcer requested that the crowd assist in looking for Officer Nordberg.   The suspense ended when it was discovered he was already in Detroit and the game began shortly after. 

The series returned to Rocco Park for Game 6.  Michigan had Mike Minor (1-0) on the mound and Las Vegas started Masahiro Tanaka (0-1).  The Mammoth started the scoring with 1 run in the bottom of 2nd off of a single by Dee Gordon and a triple by Mitch Garver to bring him in.   Tanaka ran intobig  trouble in the 3rd inning, giving up 5 runs before the Fremonts were able to record an out, and capped by Manny Machado’s 3 run HR to give the Mammoth a 6-0 lead all but ensuring Tanaka’s departure.   The Fremonts ran into trouble again in the fifth giving up another 5 runs, this time all runs were scored with 2 outs off of hits by Garver, Lindor, and finally a triple by Kiermaier to bring home the final 2 and extend the Mammoth lead to 11-0.  Robinson Cano got the Fremonts on the board with their only run in the 6th with a solo shot.  The Mammoth tallied eleven hits in the game, led by Garver’s 3 hits.   Garver and Machado each had 3 RBI as well.  The Mammoth had a paltry turnout with only a paid crowd of 20,443 showing up for a cold October night game.   By the time the fifth inning was over, you could hear the fans cheering in the streets of Detroit, just waiting to bring the World Series title home to Michigan. 

It was a true team effort in this series for Michigan and the voting proved difficult to determine the MVP.   Mike Minor had a strong series giving up just 2 runs over 13 2/3 innings along with his series clinching victory.  Dee Gordon hit .348 with 5 runs, and Manny Machado and Justin Upton both hit game winning HR’s against the Fremonts.   In the end, backstop Mitch Garver ended up earning MVP honors after leading Michigan’s offensive attack hitting .375 along with 7 RBI’s in the 6 games.

  

Maine Loggers Survive Battle of Willni

The Maine Loggers are headed back to the World Series for the first time in three years, after surviving a series of brotherly love that didn't include a team from Philadelphia.  The Loggers came in with a slight advantage, after beating Boston 5 of 6 in the regular season, and had the home field advantage.

In Game 1, 46,869 screaming Logger fans cheered Maine on to a 3-2 victory, led by seven strong innings from Friendship League wins leader James Shields.  Shields held Boston to 2 runs on five hits, while Avisail Garcia hit a two-run homer, and JD Martinez drove in another run with a base hit after a Jed Lowrie double.  Maine used four relievers over the final two innings to hold Boston in check, and Diego Castillo closed it out with a perfect ninth.

Game 2 was an instant classic, with the Loggers grabbing a seemingly insurmountable 7-2 lead after 4 innings, only to see Boston come storming back to tie the game at 7 in the sixth inning.  Neither team came close to scoring in the 7th, 8th or 9th, so we headed to the 10th all tied at 7.  Yan Gomes promptly untied it with a bomb to left, and then Matt Olson followed that up with another homer to make it 9-7 before there was an out in the 10th.  Steve Pierce then went deep for Maine to lead off the bottom of the tenth, and there was hope in Maine, with the deficit cut to 9-8, nobody out, and Luke Voit and Tommy Pham coming up.  Alas, Mychal Givens and Xavier Cedeno closed it out for Boston, and we headed for Beantown tied at a game apiece.

Game 3 brought us to Boston and the Green Monster, and featured the two team's worst pitchers, Sonny Gray and Marcus Stroman -- and neither survived more than four innings.  The game was tied after 4, by the score of 4-4.  Nick Castellanos went 2 for 2, including a homer, scored a run, and drove in three runs, before having the leave the game with an injured hamstring in the 7th.  The Loggers, who had perhaps the best bullpen in the league, trotted out seven relievers in all, and they were able to piece together enough outs in pressure situations, to hold Boston scoreless over the final five innings, allowing Maine to escape with a 6-4 win.

Game 4 Boston brought out lefty Marco Gonzales to start, and he held Maine in check for three innings, while James Shields did the same for Maine, and we went to the fourth tied at zero.  In the top of the fourth, after getting two men aboard, Maine hit two routine ground balls to third baseman Yandy Diaz.   Diaz booted the first one for an error, then booted the second one for another error for good measure, opening the door for Maine to simply put on an onslaught that Gonzales could not contain, scoring 7 times in the inning (only 2 of which turned out to be earned runs).  Shields cruised from there for his second win of the series, as Maine was one win away from the World Series, after winning 8-4.

Game 5 was another nail-biter, featuring Maine's Tyler Glasnow, who had fanned 17 Bobcats in one regular season start, against Boston's Luis Severino.  Avisail Garcia again went deep for Maine, and the Loggers held a 2-0 lead heading to the bottom of the 6th, as Maine fans were starting to count down from 12, the number of outs they needed to win the series.  Boston would have none of it, scoring one run in the sixth on an RBI by Edwin Encarnacion, and one in the 8th on an RBI single by Mr. Everything Mookie Betts -- the final run coming off Maine closer Diego Castillo, to knot things up at 2 apiece.  Severino had 12 K's in 8 innings, and held tough to keep his team in the game.  We again headed to extra innings, and in the bottom of the 11th, Isiah Kiner-Falefa doubled with one out, and then with two down, Andrelton Simmons singled him home to the delight of the hometown Boston fans, and the Bobcats had life, down 3 games to 2, heading back to Bangor, Maine.

In Game 6, Maine brought out Carlos "CAW" Rodon and Boston countered with Lance Lynn.  Maine Manager Steve Willnus announced that first round draft pick Luke "I am your father" Voit still had nine AB's left for the series, and would be starting the last two games.  The Loggers took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 2nd on a JD Martinez triple (totally realistic, as he had 2 in real life).  Then, as if the Star (Wars) aligned, Voit came to bat in the bottom of the third with two out and the bases loaded.  When the rocket left Voit's bat and landed in the Boston bullpen, making it 6-1 Maine, the clones Stormtroopers laid down their weapons, and the Ewoks celebrated.  Rodon turned a 6-3 game over to the vaunted Maine bullpen in the 7th, and they brought it home from there, winning it 6-3, and taking the series 4 games to 2.

Avisail Garcia earned MVP honors after hitting .421, getting at least one hit in all six games, and smashing two important HR's.   JD Martinez was outstanding as well, hitting .440 in the series, and also hitting in all six games.   James Shields, who led the league in wins, earned two wins in two starts, and was also outstanding in the winning effort for Maine.  Police across Maine are on high alert, as the Loggers now await their opponent, and look to win their second World Series, and first in 25 years, in the long, illustrious history of Maine Baseball.

Montreal Grizzlies Hibernating for the Winter

Well, after a very disappointing Campaign in 2019, the Grizzlies have some bright spots for the future in Gleyber Torres and Roberto Ozuna leading the way on this young-ish team. Also playing all 81 games before September 30 was a league record as I have found a new career in Dallas, Texas. Also I'd like to think my team may have matched a league record for most singles and attempted steals, as Mallex Smith, and Michael Brantley were killing opposing teams, but not with the long-ball, but with singles. GM Mike Walter is excited for the upcoming draft and hopes he can capture some of that Toronto Thunder luck and secure the 1st overall selection with some considerable top heavy talent in this years draft coming up.

Keepers for 2020 Season:

Hitters:

1.) Dawel Lugo -2B/3B
2.) Michael Brantley - LF
3.) Mallex Smith - CF
4.) Jonathan Schoop - 2B/SS
5.) Gleyber Torres - 2B/SS
6.)  Gary Sanchez - C
7.) Austin Romine - C
8.) Franklin Barretto - SS (no card)
9.) Josh Reddick - RF
10.)Carlos Santana - 1B/DH

Pitchers:
11.) Roberto Osuna - Closer
12.) Mike Fiers - SP
13.) Alex Colome - RP
14.) Kyle Gibson - SP
15.) Cam Bedrosian - RP
16.) Hector Rondon -RP

New Yu Darvish - Jordan Montgomery - SP

Cut:
1.) Tyler White
2.) Matt Duffy
3.) Lou Trivino
4.) Brock Holt
5.) Ehire Adrianza
6.) Jason Kipnis


A lot and I mean a LOT of No cards from the 2019 Grizzlies

1.) Ryan Borucki - NC
2.) Jose Iglesias - NC
3.) Bartolo Colon - "Big Sexy" - NC
4.) Alex Cobb - SP (thanks for nothing jerk!) - NC
5.) Franciso Liriano - NC
6.) David Robertson - NC

End of the season Stat-Fest!!!!

We have had several players crack the All-Time Leader Board this season...

Link to All-TIme Individual Records
Toronto's Miguel Andujar belted 37 doubles, tied for 3rd all-time
Pittsburgh's Joey Gallo struck out 125, good (or bad) for 2nd all-time
Mount Pleasant's Mike Trout tied for 2nd all-time in both on-base percentage (.487) and slugging percentage (.789)
Kansas City's Chaz Roe put up the 2nd lowest reliever ERA of all time (0.30 over 30 innings)

Another two-bagger for Andujar

Gallo watches another strike three

Chaz Roe comes from nowhere to 

compile one of the top reliever seasons ever

Mike Trout continues to assault the record books

The free-swinging approach of today's hitters has led to massive team strikeout totals put up by our pitching staffs....

Link to All-Time Team Records
Toronto with 2nd most team strikeouts (768)
Lake Erie 4th most ever (762)
Boston 5th most ever (751)

Team Yearbooks have been updated for everyone.  You can see your all-stars, best performances, statistical splits, etc.  I always enjoying skimming through these...

Boston Bobcats Yearbook
Kansas City Butchers Yearbook
Lake Erie Commodores Yearbook
Las Vegas Fremonts Yearbook
Maine Loggers Yearbook
Michigan Mammoth Yearbook
Minnesota Men Yearbook
Montreal Grizzlies Yearbook
Mount Pleasant Train Wreck Yearbook
Pittsburgh Phantoms Yearbook
Toronto Thunder Yearbook
Wichita Bandits Yearbook

Mike Trout barely has enough room for 

all his hardware!

The League Encyclopedia has now been updated, and contains full stats for the past 11 seasons!!!  It is a massive list of reports, both for the league as a whole and individual teams.  Happy Clicking....
Click here to see reports in League Encyclopedia


Finally, the all-time Award Winners listing have also been updated
Click here to see the Award Winners

There are links to all of these in the League History section you can see far down on the right side of the website.

Wild Wild Card

Las Vegas --- The Las Vegas Fremonts beat the Kansas City Butchers tonight 5-4 in an 11-inning thriller settling the Friendship League’s one game Wild Card playoff. Robinson Cano singled home Shohei Ohtani for the winning run off Butchers ace closer Craig Kimbrell.

The ‘Monts took an early 2-0 lead courtesy of a two-run Marcus Semien long ball off Kansas City starter J.A. Happ in the second. Carlos Carrasco replaced Happ in the third and dueled with ‘Monts starter Trevor Bauer over the next 3 ½ innings. 

The Butchers drew even in the 5^th without a hit after Bauer waked three consecutive hitters. Joe Jimenez replaced Bauer with a walk to Jonathan Vilar driving in a run. Tyler Rodgers replaced Jimenez and Max Stassi's passed ball tied the score.

A George Springer RBI double pulled Kansas City ahead 3-2 the top of the seventh; only to be answered by Stassi’s two run double in the bottom of the frame. Giancarlo Stanton lead off the eight with a game-tying a home run off Fremont reliever Nick Vincent; the last score before the wild extra inning finish.

In the home half of the 10^th, Mark Canha lead off for the ‘Monts with a double and was advanced to third on a Leury Garcia sacrifice bunt. Semien and Jackie Bradley Jr. drew back-to-back walks but Las Vegas failed to score after Kimbrell struck out Dave Robertson and Jose Ramirez flew out to center.

It seemed to be the end of line for Las Vegas in the top of the 11^th as Kansas City loaded the bases with no outs. Fremont starter Trevor Cahill came on to strike out Xander Bogarts, then retire Alex Bergman and Kris Davis with fly outs to center.

A tired Kimbrell came out to start the 11^th, gave up the winner and the Las Vegas Fremonts advanced to the playoffs for the first time in their 10-year history.

“First, our hats off to a fine Kansas City club and their manager for a great season and a game for the ages,” the drunk and Miller Lite soaked General Manger told reporters after the game, “we didn’t expect much this season, but our team produced down the stretch and we’re able to give our deserving fans a trip to the playoffs.”

 The after game party was delayed until the Tom Jones impersonator arrived

Commuters are encouraged to avoid the Fremont Street area until further notice

Fremont fans continue to celebrate as of press time, dancing around the Moe Green statue outside the ballpark deep into the night. Celebrations are expected to continue until the team makes their first playoff appearance against the Michigan Mammoths.

2019 Season Recap!

What a season!  This unpredictable season has now come to an end, and big thanks to all of you for getting the final games in on time!  This season started with a bang, with hysterical JibJab videos and a bingo ball trade that was literally a 75 to 1 shot! No surprise that this dramatic season came down to the very last games of the year.

The Caddyshack Division was a dogfight to the end but congrats to Steve Willnus and his Maine Loggers.  Steve was able to beat out the entire Carr Collusion, holding on at the very end to win the pennant.

The Naked Gun Division was not super competitive (only one team finished above .500) but you can blame Fred's Michigan Mammoth for a large part of that.   Armed with a bevy of '1' defenders and stud pitchers, the Mammoth have found a different way to excel in a power-heavy era.  Michigan finished with the best record in the league!

The Animal House Division went down to the very wire, as Chuck's Las Vegas Fremonts staged a furious rally down the end to close the gap and run neck-to-neck with Andy's Boston Bobcats.  Boston edged out the Fremonts though, leaving Las Vegas to battle Kansas City in a one-game play-in game for the wild card.

Any discussion on individual performances this year HAS to start with Mount Pleasant's Mike Trout, this season's MVP.  He put together the first Triple Crown season in Friendship League history!!!!  Trout ended up with a hefty .382 average while knocking 30 home runs and driving in 79 runners.   He also led the league in walks, runs scored, on-base percentage, and picked up a Gold Glove with his 1e0 defense!!!  Hard to argue that this may very well be the single greatest individual season in the 40-plus seasons of the Friendship League!

Funny story comparing Babe Ruth and Mike Trout

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/22815467/sizing-mike-trout-sultan-swat-most-unseriously


James Shields of Maine led all hurlers with 11 wins, while Blake Snell took the ERA title at 2.16 and Justin Verlander led the league in K's with 170.  Michigan closer Blake Treinen took home the Cy Young Award with his league-leading 22 saves.  Maine's Jean Segura edged out Michigan's Whit Merrifield to win the Stolen Base Title with 28 steals.

Boston's Luis Severino pitched the only no-hitter for the season.  Fremont rookie Shohei Ohtani, Maine's Jean Segura, and Montreal's Michael Brantley all had five hit games.  Trout had the only three-homer game of this season  Wichita's C.J. Cron and Kansas City's Giancarlo Stanton both had 9 RBI games.  Maine's Tyler Glasnow had the highest single game strikeout total, whiffing 17 Bobcats in a single game.

The pre-season simulation is usually super accurate, and this year it did predict Boston, Michigan, and Las Vegas, but it also saw Kansas City take the Caddyshack Division  :-(    ....

Simulation didn't see The Rise of the Loggers!

We'll try to get the play-in and play-off games in as soon as possible, and will post the latest league records, team yearbooks,  and league encyclopedia early this week.  Thanks all for another great season!!!!!