MEN WIN SERIES!!!!!

The Minnesota Men won their first World Series in their three year franchise history. The Men disposed of the distracted and then disinterested 'Topes decisively in five games. Minnesota went undefeated in the Mennen Dome this playoff season (6-0). Logger and Fremont ownership were on hand to enjoy the series. Read the full article by Bob Wojknowski in today's edition of the Detroit News (I hope the story makes the cut).

The Men Down Thunder

It was a cold and snowy night, but BW3 Livonia was alive with championship fever as the Minnesota Men took on the Toronto Thunder in the Friendship League Championship Series. I was only told after the series was over that I would be in charge of the write-up. Some of this might be totally wrong due to multiple Miller Lite tall boys, but here it goes.

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Game 1 - Toronto Thunderdome The Men came out strong scoring three runs in the first two innings. The Thunder came back strong, methodically chipping away at the lead given to F. Hernandez. By the sixth inning, we had a tie game. It would stay that way through 9 innings....on to extras. Top of 10, T. Flowers leading off against J. McGee.....Boom...gone...Toronto left in shock. W. Davis comes on to dispose of the Thunder. Game one in the books. Final score - 4-3 Men.

Game 2 - Toronto Thunderdome Over before it started. Veteran M. Texiera turned back the clock and belted two HR's along with seven RBIs. Men manager Scott Mallon left D. Hutchison out to dry. After giving up nine runs in four innings, Hutchison was sent out to pitch four more innings. "We need to save our staff," said Mallon. "Hutchy took one for the team today." After the victory, BW3 asked manager Steve Tufte how he was doing. He responded, "fine, thank you...I'll have another." Final score - 11-0 Thunder.

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Game 3 - Minnesota Mennen Dome In an unusual move, Scott Mallon told starting pitcher C. Young that he had a very short leash. With that sparkling bit of motivation, Young proceeded to implode in inning one...giving up three. He made it only two innings and was relieved by H. Santiago. Santiago steadied the ship, and the Men plugged away at the Thunder lead - taking the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth after a V. Martinez HR. The Men bullpen didn't give up a run to close it out. Final score - 8-3 Men.

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Game 4 - Minnesota Mennen Dome Ace F. Hernandez took the mound for the Men to face off against R. Porcello. Tufte told reporters before the game, "I've already written off this game." He was correct. Porcello lasted just one inning, giving up a couple of runs. The Men took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of 7th....and then Thunder struck. Walks and hits piled on. F. Hernandez was pulled from the game. The Men bullpen was able to throw some water on the flame, giving up only two runs. Tufte's Thunder was unable to muster up anymore offense the rest of the way. Final score: Men 4 Thunder 2.

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Game 5 - Minnesota Mennen Dome The scene was wild in Minnesota. Minnesota legends Kent Hrbek and the corpse of Kirby Puckett were in attendance. The announced crowd of 15,881 were loaded for bear....wait....15,881? WTF Minnesota? This game might vault you to the World Series!!! I digress. With this being what might end up being the last game in Derek Jeter's storied career, Men ownership offered up paternity law consultations in concourse A to all women that may have birthed a Jeter baby. Now...on to the game. J. Ellsbury gets the Men going with a HR in the bottom of the 1st. J. Donaldson knocks in V. Martinez for another score. Inning one ends with the Men up 2-0....the few people in the dome go nuts!! The game settles down until M. Prado blasts a HR in the top of the fourth. The Thunder add another run in the top of the seventh. Tie game!! This is when the butt cheeks clenched up - it was a tight one. 8th inning, no runs....9th inning, no runs....10th inning, no runs....11th inning, no runs. We go to the 12th inning. Manager calls down to the bullpen to get the next man up....guess what, nobody answers!! The entire pitching staff for the Men are drinking Buds and playing video games. Mallon turns to infield Y. Solarte and says, "Can you pitch?" Solarte turns to Mallon and says, "vete al infierno!!!" Since Mallon's Spanish is a bit rusty, he takes this to mean, "I'll walk through fire for you coach!!" The true translation is "Go to hell!!" Solarte takes the mound.....and pitches a gem! No runs, no hits and one strikeout. Bottom of the 12th now...T. Flowers leads off....with a double!!! M. Saunders moves him to third with a base hit. Ellsbury is given the intentional walk. Kinsler comes up and delivers a single to win the game! The Men are going to the World Series!!! Derek Jeter exits the field for the last time in his career - netting a double, a HBP and 483 paternity suits

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Solemn celebration ensues..

Quick check for Brain and Nerve Tonic.......The Isotopes are in the World Series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The real deal behind the Isotopes. 

The Springfield Isotopes have secured a spot this season in the World Series after a 4-1 series win over Wichita.

Glad I drafted this guy last year. 

Game 1 featured a hitting display by the home team Isotopes to lead eventual series MVP and all around nice guy Collin McHugh to his first (and the team's first) playoff win. This would be the only game that most of the Springfield Big Hitters Club would show up and enjoy some time at the plate as the rest of the series (with the exception of Game 3) would be a grind out battle for runs.

Knowing Wichita would be hungry for a win, Springfield put Brandon McCarthy out on the bump to see if he could secure a 2-0 series lead. 2 1/3 innings in and a ground ball to first (and some Hal logic) somehow led to McCarthy being injured. (Whaaaat?) To be fair using eye for an eye logic Kyle Calhoun was knocked from the game with a K + inj. soooooo. In from the bullpen stumbled (anything but) Big Game James Shields who felt the series lacked drama and decided to pitch like it was just a regular season game. This led to Todd Redmond who thinks you get paid by number of baseballs used. The Springfield offense sprang up briefly and limped along nursing a 2-1 lead hoping to wrap up a win. Springfield turned to Fernando Abad. Yes, he is bad. Game 2 turned into a 12 inning affair with the later innings featuring Miguel Cabrera hitting the HR 1-19, fly LFb 20 and what does he roll? 20. It was pretty funny for someone until Wichita loaded the bags with no outs and then promptly went: K, K, po. In the end it would be John Jaso who would step to the plate and uncork a walk off HR to send the salty fans into a mob like drunken frenzy 3-2. Dreams of a World Series berth only 2 wins away.

If Wichita was hungry in Game 2, then they would be famished in Game 3. Playing a Jim Leyland style hunch it was Iwakuma time and the insertion of Enrique Hernandez would begin.....in the lineup. Mistake 1 was having some guy named Enrique playing the field, if that's what you would call it. Mistake 2 was leaving Iwakuma in to pitch the 8th while "keeping an eye on him and pulling him if he looked shaky". Good plan in theory, but doesn't work after giving up a walk and HR does it? The floodgates opened and the Bandit faithful basked in the glow of a win and only trailing 2-1 in the series. This proved to be another game that the Big Hitters Club of Altuve, Mauer and Cabrera would again be held to scraps as Wichita pitching had them baffled.

Springfield turned to Roenis Elias to stop the bleeding and get a Game 4 win. Okay, okay stop laughing I really did put Elias in the rotation. Look he beat Wichita twice this year so there. And just to back up my confidence he delivered in a big way with 7 big innings leading to Danny Farquahar and Fernando Abad closing things out. Yeah I shouldn't have trusted Abad, but people do need second chances....ask Chris Brown. I was still trusting in the Altuve, Mauer, Cabrera monster even though they were nowhere to be found this game either.

Game 5 and the ball was back in Collin McHugh's hand. Stressful game? Check. Plenty of attempts at getting the lead by Wichita? Check. Jump out to an early lead and chase Kyle Gibson? Check. Watch Wichita claw its way back going into the bottom of the ninth down two? Check. Trust Abad again to close out a game? Check. Wait, what? Watch Abad give up a single and a walk? Check. I should have kept McHugh in for one more out...what was I thinking about with Abad? Bring in Todd Redmond who after resting for games 3-4 came out chipper, fresh and ready to close out a 4-3 game 5 win. Cabrera 0-5 this game......someone needs to get out of the funk or up on the funk if a Series title is to come through Springfield town.

Never appeared. Still smokes victory cigar. 

Thunder announce protection list

Pretty straight forward list. However we are protecting a non carded player for this first time in a long time. Sale,C* SP Richards,G SP Betances,D RP Britton,Z* RP McGee,J* RP Perkins,G* RP Porcello,R SP Cruz,N RF Gardner,B* LF Beltre,A 3B Teixeira,M+ 1B Miller,B* 2B Gonzalez,M+ 2B Young,C RF Zunino,M C Lind,A* No Card

Aoki,N* Aoki is the "Yu Darvish" for the team this year.

Awards are in! Two new team records set!

Miggy again edges out Mike Trout for MVP

 HAL has weighed in on our award winners, All Stars, Manager of the Year, etc..  You can see all of these at this link....

2014 Award Winners



The Thin Man, Chris Sale, your
Friendship League Cy Young Award winner

Feel free to praise, ridicule, or comment on these choices!

While no individuals cracked the All-Time records this year, two new team records were set.  The Toronto Thunder set new league marks for strikeouts (747) and ERA (2.99).  The Minnesota Men staff made the list as well, with the third highest strikeout total of all time (702).  Only 2012 Monterrey joins those two sets of hurlers in the vaunted '700 Club'!




Don't forget to check you your team's yearbooks,
located on the right side of the league's home page,
right after all of the stats!

Congratulations to our Division Champions!



Pennants will be flying soon in Springfield, Toronto, and Minnesota!  Also, a wild-card showdown between Boston and Wichita is on tap.  Guaranteed to be an exciting post-season, good luck to all teams in the playoffs!!!

I must also point out the scary accuracy of the pre-season simulation, found here...
 

 Pre-Season Simulation



It correctly picked Springfield, Toronto, and Minnesota as the division champs, with Boston and Wichita with the next best records.  HAL knows all!

P.S.  Do want to mention that Minnesota's Drew Hutchison threw a no-hitter during the Men's late season rally!




Jimmy's 'Topes top the Harrah's

Scott Mallon takes The 'D' Division

Tufte's Thunder take Caesar's!

 

 

Men Win The D!!!

The Minnesota Men win the D division!!! Only 8,900 fans came to the Metrodome to witness history.

Jeff "Shark" Samardzija throws no-hitter for Wichita!

 
 
 

Wanted to recognize Bandit ace Jeff Samardzija for throwing a no-hitter against the powerful Boston Bobcats! 

Early peak into next year's cards!

The Ratings Preview is out!  If you haven't seen it yet, here are links for the preview info..

To view the PDF version of the 2015 Range Ratings Preview, click here
To download the XLS spreadsheet form of the 2015 Range Ratings Preview, click here



Spoiler alert for Michigan's Kevin Kiermaier - he's pretty good defensively



Another webgem by the Mammoth Kiermaier

'Tis the season....

Philly's Eric Hosmer gets
into the Holiday spirt

to finish up your games!  106 games remain to be played this year.

There is exactly ONE month left in the season, be sure to mix in your games with all of your other holiday festivities.

Looks like a terrific homestretch with fierce battles in all three divisions.   Good luck to everyone with the rest of the season!

Must be pitching in Hohokam Stadium



New home for PJ!

PJ is starting a new job after Thanksgiving with one of the most iconic minor league teams in the entire country.  He will be an Account Executive for Tampa Bay's AA affiliate, the Montgomery Biscuits! That may be a little far for a league field trip, but I will be scouting it out while we help him move in down there.  Rest assured that the KC Butchers organization will help ensure he can make it back up here for Draft Weekend 2016!




Monterrey ace David Price is showing
support for his boss by rocking the
Biscuit uniform!

Riverwalk Stadium, located on the Alabama River, features
a live railroad track along the left field wall

No Cheeseheads down there, only Biscuitheads

Click here for the website of the Montgomery Biscuits
Review for Riverwalk Stadium





Road Trip Addition

Who could forget the EPIC moment when Dave and Pat went on the field to try and catch TShirts shot from a cannon?  I say EPIC, as in "Epic Fail"......

On the road with the Friendship League!

We are all back from an excellent time in the thriving town of Fort Wayne, Indiana!  Happy to report that much fun was had by all who could go, and we hope to have established a new tradition of an annual League Road Trip.  The stories will be told for a while, the early morning action at Firesetter's, I mean Firekeeper's Casino, the mandatory moonshine shots, the circuitous route from the Dash In to the Hoppy Gnome, the magical repeat appearances all night by a stranger in a Derek Jeter shirt, the less-than-successful efforts of Pat and Dave to snare even a single cannon-propelled t-shirt during our on-field promotion, and much much more.  Big thanks to PJ for hooking us up with tickets AND the on-field stuff! 




FIRST ever league games played in a moving vehicle!  And first games played across states lines!

Jonny TinCap welcomes the Friendship League to scenic Fort Wayne



Those team index cards don't just appear on draft day, they made
an appearance in "The Fort" as well!

First stop of our pub crawl - JK O'Donnell's "TV less" Irish Pub. 
And yes, league games played here as well! 

Happy Strat-O-Matic players at the Hoppy Gnome,
by far the cream of the Fort Wayne's crop for the bar scene

Pat and Randy take a break from a hotly contested
Kansas City vs Wichita battle!

A happy crew after another TinCaps home victory!

Which of these is NOT a current Friendship League member?

Game on, at the Dash-In bar/coffee shop/general hipster joint!

Cheers!

Great seats for the game!

Will try to add some more pictures and hopefully videos as others can pass them on.  Thanks to all who went and made it such a fun time!  We will try to do a better job scheduling this next time so more can attend, end of summer is so busy for many and was a shame that some just couldn't make this event.  Looking forward to Friendship League 'On the Road 2016'!

Blockbuster Trade Announced

Las Vegas - The Las Vega$ Fremonts announced a major mid-season trade today sending 'Monts fixture Jonny Gomes to Philadelphia for outfielder Carlos Beltran. Gomes is hitting .310 this season in a part-time role and impressed Phog scouts going 5 for 8 against them earlier this season.

Beltran is hitting a brisk .171 in 2014 but looks to have a career renaissance in 2015.

Gomes, the Fremont's third round pick in the 2012 draft, finishes the Las Vegas chapter of his career with a .247 average, 16 home runs and a 1.7 WAR.

In his press conference, Gomes expressed his gratitude to the Las Vegas fans and his excitement to join the Phog in their playoff push. 

The person responsible for this suit, however, remains at-large. 

Vegas Hits 45 Game Mark

Las Vegas - The Las Vega$ Fremonts hit the Friendship League's 40 game deadline this week-end losing an inglorious five straight games to Boston. With a 20-25 record the Fremonts are likely to be sellers at the trading deadline with marketable properties that would help playoff contending clubs; two decent bull pen arms, a 2e5 second baseman, lefty mashing & 17 speed outfielders and so on.

Fremont management has recalled their trade consultant from retirement to aid with negotiations.

Resemblance here to a league owner was not lost

Toronto loaded with All-Stars!

 

Always interesting to see what teams are looking strong for next year.  Judging by the All-Star rosters, Toronto is the clear front-runner for next year's title!  The Thunder own a Kansas-City-Royal-ballot-stuffing load of SEVEN players on this year's AL All-Star Team!  Monterrey is next with five, and Boston and Minnesota have four each.  Maine, Michigan, Springfield, and Wichita all have three.  Philly is the only team with just two.  Kansas City, Las Vegas, and Pittsburgh each have the one 'token' player on the roster.  Russell Martin is not in the Friendship League currently, but will be a high draft pick in 2016 for sure. 

Your Fort Wayne roll is NOTHING compared to the Slow Roll

Springfield which is currently sitting in the Wild Card spot (WOW, I might actually finally for once make the playoffs?) scoffs at a bar/bicycle roll through the urban mecca known as Fort Wayne because THIS is how I roll. 

Look, there I am....next to the tree!

Does Dan Gilbert tweet about your Fort Wayne trip?

More on Pat Venditte

Real newspaper headline...

Venditte Scounting Report

Las Vegas - The Las Vegas Fremont Scouting and Analytics department developed the simulation below showing what will happen when switch pitcher Pat Verditte is inserted into a game against a switch hitter.

Jake McGee is really good at converting saves

Slow Roll

So you don't have a bike to enjoy the Slow Roll?

Steal/borrow a children's bike

Photos from Draft Weekend!

Big thanks to all for a great time and another successful Draft Weekend!!   Special thanks to Dave for hooking us up at the hotel and getting us the very sweet suite that we enjoyed both days!  We saw the birth of the Springfield Isotopes, the first appearance of wine at the Draft, the first Salmon-flavored beer, MSU beating #2 Virginia, and numerous other amazing things.  Great times, wish all the best of luck for a fun and exciting season!!!