See below for a table showing current in-season salary cap information for each team:
Edmonton Trappers – 2017 BLB Champs!
Congrats to the Trappers for winning their first Boot! Series recap below:
Game 1 – Nickel City 12, Edmonton 4
Edmonton jumps out to an early 2-0 lead but Nickel City storms back with 5 in the 4th to take a lead they wouldn’t give up for the blowout victory.
Game 2 – Nickel City 1, Edmonton 0
Scherzer gives up a HR to Altuve on a deep drive in the first… and that was it for offense for either team as Maeda/Osuna shut down Edmonton’s bats to give Nickel City a commanding 2-0 lead heading back to San Diego.
Game 3 – Edmonton 6, Nickel City 4
Edmonton gets out to a 5-0 lead, but Nickel City clawed back forcing me to use Chapman and Miller (who I had been hoping to save for games 4 and 5) to close out the win to avoid going down 3-0.
Game 4 – Edmonton 7, Nickel City 2
Pomeranz gives up 2 runs early but settles in and doesn’t give up much else, striking out 13 over his 7 innings as Edmonton evens up the series at 2.
Game 5 – Nickel City 5, Edmonton 0
Edmonton felt like they had some momentum on their side after 2 solid wins… and then they ran into Tanaka who throws a CGSO allowing only 3 hits to push the Trappers to the brink of elimination.
Game 6 – Edmonton 6, Nickel City 5 (in 14 insane innings)
I don’t know if I can do this justice, but here it goes. Nickel City was up 2-0 until the bottom of the 7th when I took a bit of a risk that paid off: I PH Schimpf for Cain, but Dave had a lefty up and I was hoping he’d go to him which would allow me to immediately PH Jose Reyes (lefty killer) who Dave would have to either walk or pitch to. It worked out and Reyes hit a 2 run HR to tie the game, at the cost of burning Schimpf (which did cost me later in the game; read on).
In the bottom of the 8th, Lucroy hit a solo HR off of Ziegler to give the Trappers a 3-2 lead. With Miller on the mound, should be safe right? Nope. Ender Inciarte hit a game tying single with 2 outs to tie the game and send it to extras.
Top of the 11th is when shit gets really crazy. First play is a bizarre where Jackie Bradley crashes into the wall for a triple. He’s hurt, I have only Butera on the bench and the game forces me to lose the DH and put belt in the OF (and to add insult to injury – Thornburg would lead off the bottom of the 11th). I’m cursing the game up a storm figuring the bizarre would cost me the boot here. Next play is a bizarre where a dropped third strike could have resulted in a runner reaching first; he’s thrown out but luckily the runner from third does not score. My joy is short lived though as Inciarte (again) doubles to give Nickel City a 5-3 lead that looks like 50-3 from where I’m sitting.
I should note that it is at this point (I believe) that Mike Stockhaus texts Dave and says “Don’t blow it. Congrats”. Remember this in a bit…
Bottom of the 11th. I PH my only bench player, Butera, who’s good against RHP but he’s facing Roberto Osuna who is nails vs RHB. Butera gets a single and Ryan Goins (??) also gets a single to put the tying run on base. Ichiro singles off of buddy boshers to score one run and I’m getting my hopes up here. Otero gets a groundout with the infield in so it’s 2nd/3rd with one out for Belt who gets a deep fly out sac fly to tie the game up. On to the 12th we go.
Bottom of 14th is where we pick it up again as Chapman has kept me in the game to get me to this point, where back to back doubles by Donaldson and Pedroia give Edmonton the improbable win to even the series.
Game 7 – Edmonton 4, Nickel City 3
Here we go. This game is a doozy too, overshadowed by game 6 but a classic in its own right. Aaron Sanchez vs John Lackey. We’re tied 2-2 going into the bottom of the 6th when Ichiro, Cain and Donaldson contribute to 2 runs being scored to give Edmonton a 4-2 lead. I should note that the rally that lead to those 2 runs was started by an “error” result to the RF, where a 0 was rolled meaning he slipped on a wet field allowing Bogaerts to reach base. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that happen, and it happend in a key spot. Crazy but fitting for this series!
A leadoff HR by Duvall (who was Nickel City’s MVP I’d say with 4 HR) cuts it to 4-3 in the top of the 7th before Thornburg and Andrew Miller shut the door to preserve the 1 run win.
BLB Home stretch
The BLB playoffs are about two weeks away from beginning, so I thought I’d take a look at how the races and matchups are shaping up:
Ale
Edmonton (1) vs Newcastle (4) – Newcastle can still catch Narragansett for the top wildcard slot but they are 3 games back with 6 games in hand heading into the final few weeks of the season. Assuming this matchup holds it should be an entertaining first round, as Ron has played me tough all season even though I’ve taken the season series 13-5. Of those 18 games, 11 of them were decided by 2 runs or less, and I managed to go 10-1 in those 11 games. Needless to say, it should be a close and fun series if the standings hold.
Shiner (2) vs Narragansett (3) – Narragansett is only 3.5 games back of the division and with a sweep of Cincinnati can close that gap to 2 games. These two teams face off one more time this season in the second to last series of the year that could have division title implications. So far Narragansett owns the season series 5-10, meaning that in the event of a tie in Narragansett would take the division (no one game playoff since the loser of the tie still makes the playoffs as a wild card).
Lager
Ottawa (1) vs Dakota (4) / Woodbury (2) vs Nickel City (3) – Unlike in the Ale where the four playoff teams have been known for some time, the playoff teams and seeding is still up in the air in the Lager. Ottawa is a lock to win the Bock division, but could still be passed by either Woodbury or Nickel City for the #1 seed. Meanwhile, Dakota has a 7 game lead for the last wildcard spot over both Sudbury and recently hot Naptown (winners of 7 straight) with 2 series to go to catch up in games played. Dakota can do well in those 6 games and effectively lock up the wildcard, or do poorly and open the door for either team to claw their way back in.
Meanwhile in the Pilsner, Woodbury owns a slim half game lead over Nickel City for the division with a series in hand (they go 1-2 in their games against Dakota and the division is tied). Woodbury and Nickel City (just like Shiner and Narragansett) play one last time this season in the schedule’s second to last series.
Single Season Records Updated
See the link below to the page showing the updated single season BLB records, through the completion of last season:
https://beerleaguebaseball.com/blb-history/blb-single-season-records/
These include pre-online stats for most categories except batting average allowed and HR/9 (we didn’t track this on the previous leaderboard for some reason and it’d be too much work for me to go back and check now).
In reviewing the league leaders for this season I don’t see any of these changing after the completion of this year.
BLB First Half Update
I just sent out an update on my team for the first half of the season, so I thought I’d do a post on here to review the first half results for the league as a whole:
Ale
In the IPA division, the Trappers hold a 13 game lead on 2nd place Newcastle. Newcastle is running a mid-90’s win pace and currently holds the 2nd wildcard, 7.5 games up on Bridgeport.
MLB Predictions
Figured I’d throw together a predictions post of how I think the MLB season will go down, so that in October we can either a) Mock how bad these look or b) Marvel at how accurate they are. I think “a” is faaaaaar more likely than b :).
Anyway, here we go:
AL East:
Red Sox
Blue Jays
Yankees
Orioles
Rays
Comments – I think the Red Sox are still the team to beat in the division despite David Prices’ health issues. The Jays need their starters to be good and healthy again this year to finish 2nd and contend for the wild card.
AL Central:
Indians
Tigers
Royals
Twins
White Sox
Comments – Indians should walk all over this division. The Tigers will make some noise but the other 3 teams are on the outside looking in.
AL West:
Astros
Mariners
Rangers
Angels
Athletics
Comments – This division will be close I think. The Mariners are going all in on pitching and defense (especially in the OF) so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out.
Wildcards – Jays and Mariners
Non-playoff team that could surprise and make the playoffs – Yankees (they have the young talent, their rotation will make or break the season for them)
NL East
Nationals
Mets
Braves
Marlins
Phillies
Comments – Nationals should win the division though the Mets could rival them if their young SP stay healthy.
NL Central
Cubs
Cardinals
Pirates
Brewers
Reds
Comments – Cubs should walk away with this one though the Cards always seem to find a way to win.
NL West
Dodgers
Giants
Diamondbacks
Rockies
Padres
Comments – I thought the Rockies were a bit of a sleeper team this year until recent injuries to Desmond, Bettis and to a lesser extent Murphy. The Dodgers are stacked and should hold off the Giants.
Wildcards – Mets and Cardinals
Non playoff team that could surprise and make the playoffs – Diamondbacks (they had a lot of bad/injured seasons from key players last year; simple regression alone should improve them by a lot of wins not to mention the possibility of some of their young guys taking steps forward).
AL Champ – Boston
NL Champ – I’ll go with a surprise pick and say Mets on the strength of their SP
World Series Champ – Boston (sadly).
Awards:
AL MVP – Mookie Betts (tough to bet against Trout, but Betts is good and will be on a playoff team again)
Sleeper – Josh Donaldson (if the Jays make the WC he’ll likely be the main reason)
Dark Horse – Carlos Correa
NL MVP – Kris Bryant just edging out Bryce Harper
Sleeper – Yoenis Cespedes
Dark Horse – Yasiel Puig (make or break year for him I think; the talent is there)
AL Cy Young – Corey Kluber
Sleeper – Yu Darvish (health is the only question mark)
Dark Horse – Marcus Stroman (Jays fan here, but he legit made some changes in the 2nd half to his arsenal that I’m thinking could carry over into him having a big year)
NL Cy Young – Clayton Kershaw (never bet against him if healthy)
Sleeper – Noah Syndergaard
Dark Horse – Stephen Strasburg (only a darkhorse in the sense of health risks)
AL ROY – Andrew Benintendi
NL ROY – Dansby Swanson
Feel free to share your predictions/comments on my predictions in the comments!
small sample size
Here’s what $116 worth of salary has gotten Newcastle through 9 games.
Francisco Lindor .171/.227/.244
Freddie Freeman .147/.310/.176
Buster Posey .143/.302/.400
Also, Kendrys Morales didn’t wanna feel left out: .167/.231/.278
Thankfully Khris Davis has hit 6 homers in 9 games.
BLB Opening Day – Edmonton @ Newcastle
The Edmonton Trappers visited Newcastle tonight to kick off the 2017 BLB season:
Game 1 – Newcastle 4, Edmonton 0
Newcastle jumps on Rick Porcello early getting 3 runs in the first (including HRs by Posey and Davis), and Arrieta shuts the door for the 4-hit CGSO.
Game 2 – Edmonton 9, Newcastle 7
Wild game 2 as Newcastle jumped out to an early lead again only for Edmonton to come back to take a 7-4 lead. Newcastle didn’t quit though as they came back to tie it on the strength of a 2 run HR by Kendrys Morales off of Jam RP Tyler Thornburg. It stayed tied until the 11th when Edmonton got 2 runs off of Newcastle closer Dellin Betances. Chapman shut the door for his first save of the year.
Game 3 – Edmonton 2, Newcastle 1
Edmonton’s Ian Kennedy was caught scuffing the ball in the 3rd, earning an early shower and a 9 game suspension so the bullpen was strained in this one. Newcastle got a run off of Bowman and the game stayed 1-0 until the top of the 9th when Edmonton scored 2 thanks to a HR by Jackie Bradley (jam turned it into a deep drive, but 92 was rolled) and an RBI double by Schimpf. Andrew Miller closed out the narrow series win in the bottom of the 9th.
Great series to kick off the year, 3 close games. Look forward to hearing more reports about opening week games!
Mike
BLB – Auction Post-Mortem Thread
So, how did everyone feel about their auctions? I’ll kick things off:
I went in needing a starting 1B, 2B, and either 3B or DH (if I got a 3B I was gonna move Jose Ramirez to DH). I also wanted an ace RH RP (jam or very good non-jam), defensive SS to spell off Bogaerts, and other ‘pen and bench pieces as needed.
Donaldson ($33) – I was surprised by this and feeling great about this price until Beltre went for $18 later. I had them both jotted down for $35/40 of my budget. I like Donaldson better for future value than Beltre but Buneta got the better value for this year for sure. Still elated with this pick.
Pedroia ($26) – I was prepared to go into the low 30’s for Pedroia so I’m thrilled with this price too. He fits my needs and park well with his good defense, even splits, and the hit and run rating.
Belt ($28) – After dropping out on Freeman I knew I needed to get Belt. I had him marked down for $30 so while this isn’t a bargain, it’s not an overpay either in my mind.
Thornburg ($19) – Paid a few more dollars than I wanted for Thornburg but I knew I had the room with the savings above. Great opposite jam RH RP card.
Phelps ($9) – Also paid a few more bucks for Phelps than I wanted; I actually wanted Devenski but we saw how that went. Phelps has 5 spot starts too so that took away my need to get a decent #6 SP in the auction as he can fill in for the occasional injury.
Martin ($4) – Needed a solid 4th OF/CF and dropped out on Gardner and Pillar. Would have prefered Martin in the 1-2 dollar range but $4 isn’t too bad.
Reyes ($1) – Surprised I got Jose for a buck. Kills lefties (limited) and plays a few positions, good speed so can be a pinch runner too.
Treinen ($2) – Solid power arm for 2 bucks.
Butera ($1) – Surprised I got him for a buck as well. Limited but good bat vs RHP. With Lucroy I won’t need him much but he could PH from time to time.
Goins ($1) – This was the one guy I wanted from the mid-point of the draft on, as I love his A range at SS and I’ll need that with Bogaerts and his C range. Glad to get him for a buck, would have went a few dollars higher.
Ryan Schimpf ($3) – Ran out of guys to nominate at the end so threw him out as a sleeper/ringer bench card. For some reason I thought he had the % limit so when I noticed he didn’t I threw him out there.
Overall I’m very happy with this draft. A few overpays on the RPs but glad I got slight bargains on elite infielders to fill out my team. Not sure what grade I give myself in the report card but I’m happy nonetheless.
Now it’s your guys’ turn: Grade/comment on your drafts in the comments!
Mike
BLB Draft – Tomorrow, Feb 25 – Info/Preview
Folks,
So the BLB draft is TOMORROW, FEB 25, at 9 AM MST/11 AM EST. Hopefully all of you knew that but if not, surprise!
Please plan to show up a bit early, like 8:45 AM MST. Usually there’s a bunch of us on there chatting away and this way we aren’t scrambling to email a lot of guys trying to figure out if they are running late.
Note that I confirmed with Fantrax that there is no computer bidder (unlike on the CBS site). You can override the $1 minimum bid for players in your queue so that would be your only hope for winning non-$1 players. The only time your team would bid on a player is when you are nominating. So definitely don’t miss the auction!
Draft Information/Key Links
First of all, here is the link to the Fantrax site (which most of you have signed up for already):
Second, click below for the final draft list:
blb-draft-list-final-feb-21-2017
For the new guys I wanted to point out a few things as reminders: Continue reading
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