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.

In the Stout, Shiner is hanging on to the division lead by 2 games over Narragansett who hold the top wildcard slot.

At the moment the first round playoff matchups would be Newcastle at Edmonton and Narragansett at Shiner.

As far as individual performances, Bridgeport’s Starling Marte leads the Ale league with a .347 batting average.  Shiner’s Joey Votto is having a great year, leading the league in SLG (.628) and OPS (1.054).  Edmonton’s Josh Donaldson leads the league in OBP (.427, tied with Bridgeport’s Mike Trout) and runs (73).  Newcastle’s Kris Davis has hit 27 HR to hold a commanding league lead over New Glarus’ Jedd Gyorko (22).  Edmonton’s Jackie Bradley Jr leads the league in RBI (71).

As for pitching, Edmonton’s Aaron Sanchez leads the league in ERA (2.25), while Shiner’s Carlos Martinez leads the way in wins (12).  New Glarus’ Chris Sale is 2nd in ERA and leads the league in IP (144) and strikeouts (179).  Rick Porcello of Edmonton leads the league in WHIP (1.07).  Alex Colome of Shiner and Hector Rondon of Narragansett lead the league with 19 saves each.

Lager

In the Bock division, Ottawa holds a 3 game lead over Dakota for the division, with Rolling Rocks 5 games back.  Neither Dakota or Rolling Rocks hold a wildcard slot so it’s division or bust for them to make the playoffs.

The Pilsner has the closest division race in the BLB this year, as Nickel City holds a 2 game lead over Woodbury and a 2.5 game lead over Sudbury.  Both Woodbury and Sudbury hold wildcard spots at the moment, with Woodbury 4 games up on Dakota for the 2nd wildcard.

If the playoffs started today the first round matchups would be Woodbury at Nickel City and Sudbury at Ottawa.

As for individual performances, Naptown’s Trea Turner leads the league with a .357 batting average and 37 SB.  Nickel City’s Kris Bryant leads the league in OBP (.424), SLG (.651) and OPS (1.075), as well as runs (69), HR (25, tied with Vermont’s Mark Trumbo) and RBI (63) as he’s putting up an MVP first half.

As for pitching, Rolling Rocks’ Justin Verlander holds a slim ERA lead (3.02) over Sudbury’s Kyle Hendricks (3.03).  Nickel City’s Masahiro Tanaka leads the league in wins and is 2nd in IP.  Toronto has managed to keep Clayton Kershaw relatively healthy and he has responded by throwing the 3rd most IP in the league and leading the league in strikeouts (156) and WHIP (0.93).  Woodbury’s Cody Allen and Nickel City’s Roberto Osuna both have 19 saves to lead the league.

Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments on your own team’s performance, or any individual performances (good or bad) on your team that you want to highlight!