The 2072 Daily Keg - Week 24

September 19, 2072

Montreal turned in the best week in the league, going 6-1 behind Tommy Dunham's monster line (.478, 5 HR, 12 RBI) that earned him the Domestic Player of the Week award, with Layne Stroud also chipping in a big week. Pittsburgh and New York both went 5-1, with New York getting a scoreless start from Wyatt McManus, while Philadelphia (5-2) got the league's best individual week from York Goldschmidt (.533, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1.933 OPS) and Denver also finished 5-2. Toronto, Santo Domingo, Windy City, Baltimore, and Dallas all went 4-2, with Toronto's Ben Blackman going 5-for-6 against New Orleans and Dallas getting a shutout from Eric Hendrix.

On the other end, Indianapolis was the league's worst team at 1-6 even with big weeks from Bailey Gray and Alec Ford, and Pawtucket, Los Angeles, and California all finished 1-5. Seattle and Syracuse rounded out the bottom at 2-5, with Seattle still producing two of the league's loudest individual weeks in Import Player of the Week Samuel Ferone (.455, 4 HR, 1.333 OPS) and Joey Ness.

1) Philadelphia Freedom (119.5, ++)
2) Pittsburgh Millers (116.2, +)
3) Montreal Exports (112.6, ++)
4) Wilmington Sorcery (106.0, -)
5) New Orleans Voodoo (105.8, o)
6) Baltimore Bulldogs (104.6, +)
7) Phoenix Roadrunners (104.5, --)
8) Washington Bats (104.0, -)
9) Denver Bulls (95.3, ++)
10) Santo Domingo Rum Runners (94.7, -)
11) Windy City Blues (92.3, o)
12) Batavia Muckdogs (88.5, o)
13) New York Cyclones (87.1, ++)
14) Seattle Sasquatch (83.5, --)
15) Toronto Canadians (83.0, ++)
16) Carolina Tobs (82.1, -)
17) Pawtucket Patriots (80.7, --)
18) Los Angeles Sharks (75.7, -)
19) Dallas Drillers (75.1, ++)
20) Maine Guides (75.0, o)
21) Syracuse Snappers (73.5, --)
22) Indianapolis Clowns (71.7, --)
23) Hartford Whalers (70.8, -)
24) California Kodiaks (58.2, o)

2B Joey Ness, SEA - Ness put together one of the loudest individual games of the season on September 12, going 5-for-6 with two doubles and two home runs as Seattle blew the doors off Los Angeles, 27-2, in a game that was part of a brutal 1-5 week for the Sharks. Ness opened with a double, turned around a three-run shot off Ed Higgins in the second, added a two-run homer off Parker Eblin later that inning, then singled, walked, and tacked on an RBI double before the night was through. He was one of three Seattle players to reach base at a historic clip: Ness, Samuel Ferone, and Grayden Stuckwish all tied Seattle's regular season single-game hits record with five hits apiece, and Ferone's 6-for-7 night pushed him past that mark to also tie the Import League single-game hits record. Ness was named Player of the Game and left that night with 19 home runs and a .306 average; he's since climbed to 20 homers, 71 RBI, and a .308 average with 3.5 WAR on the season.

3B Turk 'Snuffy' Padilla, IND - Padilla has had a whirlwind year. The 20-year-old was a four-year star at Pacific, capping his college run with the 2072 NCAA Platinum Stick Award at third base and a career .333 average before Indianapolis drafted him in the second round (39th overall) after his release. Sent to Rookie-level Norfolk, Padilla has kept hitting, putting up a .324/.421/.521 line with 11 home runs and 35 RBI over 63 games, including a hot August that saw him slug .578 with six homers. He was named the league's #82 overall prospect on July 1, and his track record for making contact against velocity and finding the gaps has carried over cleanly from college to the pros.

1. Pittsburgh and Phoenix have both wrapped up their divisions at 100%, and Philadelphia is right there too at 100% with a 68.8% shot at the Import's top overall seed. The Lager is settled at the top for a playoff spot but not the division, with New Orleans holding an 81.9% edge over Wilmington's 16.7% and Montreal still clinging to 1.3%. The real fight is for the Bock's final two wildcard spots, where Denver (76.1%), Windy City (62.9%), Seattle (35.7%), and Batavia (25.3%) are all bunched together with the season winding down. California, meanwhile, is now a 98.3% lock for the league's worst record.

2. Phoenix clinched the Bock for the first time since 2061, closing the book on a division race it controlled for most of the summer. The Roadrunners sit at 89-63 with the league's best power numbers, led by Andrew Kelley's 36 home runs and Andy Thornton's 104 RBI, while Israel Elpers has anchored the lineup at .318. Franklin Pennell has carried the rotation at 18-5 with a 3.13 ERA, and closer DeAndre Hart has been automatic at the back end with 37 saves. "We're still hungry for more and to get ourselves in even better position for the playoffs," Pennell said after Phoenix locked up its postseason spot on September 17. With the division now secured, the Roadrunners turn their attention to playoff seeding and a run at the franchise's fourth Brewmasters Cup.

3. Two teams have run up near-perfect season series: Pittsburgh has beaten Montreal 10 times in 11 meetings, and Philadelphia has done the same to California, going 10-1. Just behind them, Philadelphia has also throttled Batavia (9-3) and Seattle (9-2), while Pittsburgh has piled up 9-3 records against both Maine and Syracuse to go with a 9-2 mark over Wilmington. Pawtucket has a 9-3 edge on Hartford, and Syracuse, for all its struggles overall, has gone 9-2 against Toronto. A handful of other teams have built commanding 8-win series as well: Baltimore over New York (9-3) and California (8-3), Denver over New York (8-3), New Orleans over both Pittsburgh and Syracuse (8-3 each), Montreal over Dallas, Hartford, Maine, and Syracuse (8-3 or 8-4), and Wilmington's 8-4 mark over Santo Domingo among others.

4. Levi Brown became just the fourth pitcher in league history to reach 4,000 career strikeouts, a milestone that's been a long time coming for the 41-year-old right-hander. Brown broke in with Denver back in 2054 and has been a fixture on a mound ever since, piling up his strikeout total across stops in Denver, California, Pawtucket, and now Montreal. He's found a second life in a swingman role this season, posting a 4.74 ERA with 41 strikeouts across 62.2 innings, including a scoreless week most recently. At 41, he's still getting outs long after most of his contemporaries have hung it up, and this milestone caps a career that's spanned nearly two decades in the league.

5. What’s on tap?

• New Orleans (89-64, road 37-41) at Santo Domingo (80-72, home 48-26) — The Lager race sits at just 1½ games, and New Orleans brings a rotation riding real heat into the series: Seth Summitt hasn’t lost in 11 straight starts, and Oscar Kiss has matched that with 10 in a row. The lineup isn’t as sharp across the board, with Noel Menes mired in one of the league’s coldest stretches (.130, 1 HR over his last two weeks).

• Baltimore (85-67, road 35-40) at Philadelphia (95-57, home 53-25) — Two of the league's best teams collide, with Philadelphia carrying a five-game win streak and Baltimore right there with a four-game streak of its own. Baltimore brings real heat into the series with Seth Riddle (.415, 6 HR, 1.382 OPS over the last two weeks), Ethan Burke riding a three-game homer streak, and closer Anton Anthony a perfect 15-for-15 in save chances. Philadelphia counters with Brian Van Hook, who's riding a 13-game hitting streak, though Trevor Fisher has gone cold at .179 with no home runs over the same stretch.

• Philadelphia (95-57, road 42-32) at Windy City (77-75, home 40-34) — With the Bock’s final wildcard spots still up for grabs, this four-game set matters plenty for Windy City. Abel Donnelly has been nearly unhittable in his last two starts (2.25 ERA), but the rotation has a soft spot behind him in Graham Hepler, who’s been rocked for a 5.23 ERA over his own last two outings. Philadelphia brings York Goldschmidt, who authored the league’s best individual week at the plate (.533, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 1.933 OPS), into the series.

• Washington (87-65, road 51-27) at Batavia (76-77, home 41-34) — Batavia has taken the season series 7-2, a lopsided mark for a club that sits well back of Washington in the standings. Gregory Donelson has been Batavia’s steadiest bat of late, hitting .400 with three home runs over his last two weeks, giving the Muckdogs a reason for confidence against a Washington club that’s been the better team overall.