The 2072 Daily Keg - Week 23

September 12, 2072

Last week was mostly separation at the top and bunching at the bottom, with five teams tied for the league's best week at 5-2 or better and four teams sharing its worst at 2-5. Syracuse was the runaway top team at 6-1, and Bill Williams (.387, 12-for-34, 1 HR) and Keith Friday (.480, 12-for-25, 1 HR) both turned in two of the league's best batting weeks behind that streak, even with the Ale race long since decided. Wilmington's 5-2 week is the most consequential of the bunch since it trimmed the Lager gap to New Orleans down to just 2 games, powered by Eamon Hakki's 8 shutout innings with 11 strikeouts on just 2 hits, the best starting pitching line of the week. Seattle also went 5-2 behind Samuel Ferone's .483, 2-homer, 7-RBI week, the second-best batting week in the league, while Montreal matched that mark and added a pair of milestones, Cole Bogue reaching 500 career hits and Tommy Dunham reaching 400 extra-base hits, and Los Angeles rounded out the group with reliever Mitch Walczyk turning in 4 shutout innings and 4 strikeouts.

On the other end, Hartford, New Orleans, Toronto, and Baltimore all sat at 2-5, and three of them, Hartford, New Orleans, and Baltimore, didn't place a single player among the week's top performers, a fairly clean read on why they lost as many as they did; Toronto is the exception, with James Carter posting the single best batting week in the league at .500 with 2 home runs, 9 RBI, and a 1.312 OPS, and Regis Bryant adding a .440 week with 2 home runs and 7 RBI, proof that two of the league's better individual weeks can still sit on a team that goes 2-5 when the pitching and the rest of the lineup don't hold up their end.

1) Phoenix Roadrunners (111.3, +)
2) Wilmington Sorcery (110.5, +)
3) Pittsburgh Millers (109.5, ++)
4) Philadelphia Freedom (108.8, +)
5) New Orleans Voodoo (106.0, -)
6) Montreal Exports (105.1, +)
7) Washington Bats (103.5, --)
8) Baltimore Bulldogs (100.9, -)
9) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (92.8, +)
10) Seattle Sasquatch (92.3, +)
11) Windy City Blues (91.0, -)
12) Batavia Muckdogs (89.5, -)
13) Denver Bulls (89.5, +)
14) Pawtucket Patriots (89.3, -)
15) Carolina Tobs (85.4, -)
16) Los Angeles Sharks (84.9, +)
17) Syracuse Snappers (83.8, ++)
18) Indianapolis Clowns (83.4, +)
19) New York Cyclones (77.2, +)
20) Maine Guides (76.5, o)
21) Hartford Whalers (74.6, --)
22) Toronto Canadians (73.4, --)
23) Dallas Drillers (61.1, +)
24) California Kodiaks (60.6, -)

Performance of the Week

P Eamon 'Jaws' Hakki, WIL - Hakki delivered the signature start of Wilmington's stretch run on September 6, throwing eight shutout innings against New Orleans with just two hits allowed and eleven strikeouts, working around a pair of walks to keep the top of the league's best lineup off the board all night. Raine Johnston closed it out in the ninth for the save, and the 3-0 win pushed Wilmington's streak to eight straight and Hakki to 14-10 on the season. Wilmington manager Galina Mattair said the left-hander was in attack mode from the first pitch, and the line backs that up: 102 pitches, 72 for strikes, and a game score of 87, the best of any start logged in the league that week.

Prospect of the Week

P Leon Blevins, MON - Blevins has had one of the faster rises in the system this year. Montreal took the right-hander 20th overall out of Clemson in June, and he has climbed from Rookie ball to AAA in a single summer, throwing a 10-hit shutout in his pro debut on July 16 and posting a sub-1.00 ERA during a stretch at High-A along the way. He's settled in at AAA Quebec with a 2-0 record and a 2.84 ERA over his first two starts, striking out eight over 12.2 innings. What stands out most is the strike-throwing: four walks in those two starts, and just two walks total across three appearances at Double-A before the promotion. At 20 years old with that kind of feel for the zone already in place, he's a name worth tracking as he keeps climbing.

Five Things We Think We Think

1. Pittsburgh and Phoenix are locks, sitting at 100.0% in the Ale and Bock. Philadelphia is nearly there too in the Stout, at 98.4%, with only the smallest of margins left before that one is locked as well. The real battle left in the Domestic League is the Lager, where New Orleans is the favorite at 86.5% but Wilmington is still very much alive at 13.4%, a race that should stay live into the final week. The other genuine fight is for the Import League's final two wildcard spots, contested among four teams: Seattle at 67.4%, Denver at 57.0%, Windy City at 40.8%, and Batavia at 32.6%, close enough that the final week could easily shuffle who gets in and who doesn't.

2. Teddy Burch became just the ninth player in league history to reach 800 career stolen bases, a milestone that lands in the middle of an otherwise forgettable season for a Maine club buried in the Ale race. At 33, he's the active tail end of a career that once made him one of the game's premier leadoff threats, leading the league in steals twice and finishing in the top five in stolen bases nine times dating back to 2060. He's also just twelve days removed from his 2,000th career hit, so the milestones are stacking up even as the win column isn't for Maine this year. Burch sits at exactly 800 steals, 17 ahead of Jerome Coleman's 783 just below him on the all-time list, and 7 behind Zane Lebron's 807, putting him in real position to climb another spot or two before his career winds down.

3. Phoenix sitting atop the power rankings tracks with everything else about this team right now. They've clinched the Bock outright, own the league's best home record at 49-28, and lead the Import in home runs by a wide margin with 241 as a club. The lineup has real thump beyond the top of the order too: Andrew Kelley has 35 home runs, Andy Thornton has driven in 101, and Israel Elpers is hitting .319 with a .380 on-base mark out of the shortstop spot. Braxton Kanai has been the hottest hand in the lineup lately, hitting .462 with 5 home runs over his last 8 games. On the mound, Franklin Pennell leads the league in wins with 18 and owns a 3.00 ERA, and closer DeAndre Hart has converted 11 straight saves without allowing a run in that stretch. With a soft closing schedule against Windy City and Batavia still ahead, there's little reason to think Phoenix slips from the top spot before the postseason starts.

4. The Lager is oh so close, but the recent form clearly favors Wilmington. New Orleans is 4-6 in its last 10 and has cooled off on the road, going just 34-37 away from home, while Wilmington is 8-2 over the same stretch with the best bullpen ERA in the Domestic at 2.95. Both rotations are showing wear this deep into September, so that’s not really an edge either way. New Orleans still has real advantages: the league’s best offense at 849 runs scored, an elite home record at 52-23, and its two best hitters, Edgar Pollert (home runs and RBI) and Isaac Paulk (average and OBP), both playing at a high level. The schedule cuts both ways too. New Orleans gets a break closing against Toronto and Syracuse, two eliminated clubs, while Wilmington has to get through Santo Domingo first, a club still fighting for its own playoff positioning, before a softer finish at Hartford this week.

5. What’s on tap?

Syracuse (61-84, road 27-44) at Pittsburgh (88-58, home 49-19)

Syracuse rolls into Pittsburgh carrying a 6-game win streak, the longest active streak in either league, even with the Ale race locked up weeks ago. Pittsburgh counters with the league’s best home record and Colton Melchert riding one of the hotter bats anywhere, an .429 average with three home runs over his last ten games. If Syracuse wants to make it seven straight, it will have to do it against a Pittsburgh lineup that has been just as good lately.

New Orleans (86-60, road 34-37) at Toronto (66-80, home 34-41)

Toronto hosts New Orleans on a 4-game losing streak, a rough spot to be in against a club that just clinched a playoff spot and has plenty still to play for in the Lager race. The one bright spot for Toronto is James Carter, who is running the second-hottest bat in the league over the last two weeks, a .400 average with four home runs and a 1.175 OPS. Whether that heater is enough to snap the skid against a motivated New Orleans club is the question.

Phoenix (87-59, road 38-31) at Windy City (73-73, home 38-33)

Phoenix has dominated the season series 7-2, but Windy City gets a crack at redemption with real Bock positioning on the line, sitting 14 games back but still mixed into the crowded middle of that division. Both lineups bring a hot bat into the series: Nigel Torres for Windy City at .361 with six home runs, and Braxton Kanai for Phoenix at .406 with five, giving this one some real thunder even with the standings gap between the two clubs. Phoenix also has Cory Dorman working one of the better rotations spots in the league right now, a 1.26 ERA over his last two starts.

Wilmington’s road trip: at Santo Domingo (76-70, home 45-26), then at Hartford (65-82, home 34-41)

Wilmington (84-62, road 30-39) closes out its set at Santo Domingo before opening a new series at Hartford, and every game matters with the Lager gap to New Orleans sitting at just 2 games. Henry Salter has been arguably the best story in that rotation the last two weeks, striking out 17 over his last two starts, and gives Wilmington a real shot to keep pace no matter which lineup they’re facing. A soft closing schedule against two sub-.500 clubs is exactly the kind of stretch a team chasing a division lead needs to sweep through.

Stat of the Week

Take a guess and check the spoiler on Slack…

Who is the all-time leader in runs scored?