TCWBA NEWSLETTER
March 1, 2021
NEWS
Time to see who is going to start selling playoff tickets. The party is over for eight teams and mighty small chances for a couple of others. Nobody has claimed a pennant yet. Looking closer at our divisions.
PRINCE DIV: 
Great Lakes stumbled a bit last month and saw it's lead shrink down to 3 games. The Mashers won 16 (10h) of their 28 games last month, they are undefeated in home series play at 18-0-1 (visitors hate their ballpark) and are +16 wins at home vs away. Manhattan closed up the chase with 20 (9h) wins last month. The Marauders are +1 win at home and are 13-5-1 in home series play. Curtis is holding down third and are 8 games out of first. The Engines picked up 18 (11h) wins in February and are +6 wins at home with a 13-6-0 series home record. Fourth place is Virginia still in the hunt but in trouble being 16 out of first. The Blue Sox won 11 (5h) last month and are -2 wins at home with a 10-9-0 home series record. In fifth just barely still in it is Ohio now 22 out of first. The Buckeyes won 11 (4h) in February and are +4 at home on their 9-9-1 home series record. Kentucky at the bottom of this group at 32 games behind. They posted 14 (9h) wins last month. The Red Vultures are +2 at home along with a home 8-10-1 series tally.
SKOVRAN DIV: 
Rochester now all alone in first by 6 games. The Parrots won 20 (10h) of the 28 games in February and are +3 in home wins along with their 17-2-0 home series record. Maryland slipped to second after a 14 (9h) win February. The Musketeers are +9 at home and have a 13-6-0 home series marker. The rest of the division has been eliminated from this pennant. Buffalo in third is 35 out of first. The Blizzard won 12 (6h) last month and are -2 in home/away record which shows in their 4-14-1 in series play at home. Fourth place we have a tie at 38 out of first. Bloomington won 9 (3h) in February. The Mitts are -11 at home wins plus a more disgusting 1-17-1 in home series play. Visitors have been seen partying hard when arriving here. Durham also fourth won 10 (5h) last month. The Bulls are +5 at home vs away 6-12-1 at home. In the cellar we find Iron City now 45 out of first. The H'Rockers had 11 (6h) wins in February and are +0 wins at home along with a 4-14-1 home series record.
HAMILTON DIV: 
Welland increased their lead to 7 games in this race after winning 21 (11h) of 28 last month. The Mustangs are +13 in home wins and 15-4-0 in home series play. Second place is still Leland who lost ground after winning only 18 (10h) in February. The Giants are +8 at home along with a 15-3-1 home series mark. In third, 11 out, is Philadelphia who picked up 16 (7h) wins last month. The Quakers are -4 at home vs away and 10-8-1 in home series. Fourth place and just about to be eliminated from the pennant is Laurel Highlands. The Stallions won 13 (8h) last month, are +11 at home and have a 10-7-2 home series record. Reedley holds fifth and 39 out of first. The B'grooms only won 7 (4h) last month but still +4 at home with a 6-12-1 home series record. Basement belongs to Oviedo who are 42 out of first. The Orcas won 11 (3h) in February, are +1 at home and have a 6-12-1 home series record.
WILDCARD RACE: 
A five fight for these five playoff slots. Manhattan holds the #4 spot but only barely. Leland is #5 and just a game back. Just a game back of them is Maryland. Philadelphia and Curtis are hot after those three. Both are only 3 back of Maryland. Still with a shot is Virginia but 11 out with only 24 games left. It's gonna take a miracle but Laurel Highlands is 16 out and Ohio is 17 out of a slot. Lottery thoughts only for the rest of the league in this chase.
TEAM STATS: Two teams have 1300 hits. Manhattan (1302) and Welland (1300) while three teams haven't got to 1100 yet. Manhattan has the most extra base hits at 594 (352/26/216) but just one less for Kentucky (318/19/256) while Durham has about 150 less. Great Lakes has put 1876 runners on base. Durham still in the 1400's. Two teams have hit 260+ dingers (Laurel Highlands plus Curtis) while three are only in the 180's. Over 500 walks drawn by Manhattan plus Welland but Oviedo is just passing 320. Great Lakes the whiff champs by a lot with 1300+ and those Orcas along with not walking much haven't whiffed much either with less than 1000. Stolen bases galore from Great Lakes & Buffalo while the Mitts are trying to understand how that happens. Philadelphia is real good at getting drilled. We see that the Stallions like to hit into double plays and the Mashers avoid it pretty good. Great Lakes also sports a stellar defense that Maryland plus Laurel Highlands wishes for..... On the mound we have three teams with team ERA under four. Maryland the best and Kentucky is not one of the three. Yikes! Bloomington (aka Rubber Arms) now with a spectacular 80 complete games. Oviedo hasn't even considered the idea even during their six team shutouts. Great Lakes pitchers have the most complete game shutouts but Rochester & Curtis just one less. Four teams have less than 400 walks allowed and Kentucky is the lone team with 500+. Might have something to do with that ERA. Virginia hurlers have racked up 1400+ K's with a 10+ K/9 average..... All the team stats are below the Top 10 listings.
PLAYER STATS:
Anthony Rizzo (Man) not only is leading the batting average list, he's top man in OBP too. On the power side Alex Bregman (Lel) tops in Slugging plus the OPS marker. "Boom Stick" Cruz (Mar), Anthony Rendon (Ken) and Ronald Acuna (GrL) can be found on all four of those stats. Quite a good battle going on between Jorge Soler (Cur) & Eugenio (Roc) for the Homer and RBI crowns. You just don't expect to see Jonathan Villar (Mar) as the hit leader but there he is. Where you expect to see him and he's there leading, is stolen bases. Rhys Hoskins (Wel) & Juan "Ted Williams" Soto (Vir) are just a touch from triple digit walks. Wil Myers (Ohi) is not walking but he is quite good at doing the slow walk back to the dugout. There is just one man, qualified to win a batting title and hitting under 200, Hunter Renfroe (Ree)..... On the hill, Gerrit Cole (Mar) almost in the two's with his ERA, second in wins, tops in K's along with K/9. His only competition for Cy crown appears to be Hyun-Jin Ryu (GrL) who leads in WHIP, K/BB ratio and third in ERA. No offense to Zack Greinke (Roc) who has the most wins but his ERA is almost in the fours and no where to be found in K's. At the other end of the scale no one is better than Julio Teheran (Iro) at losing games. Amazing to see five pitchers with ERA's over 7.00 but we have five of them and Jacob Junis (LHi) is most horrific. Not forgetting relievers, Taylor Rogers (Roc) has won a game, lost two and saved 52 of the 57 games he's been in.
PAGE TWO:
We still have two guys hitting over 400. Matt Beaty (Ken) is at 419 (13/31) but Tyler O'Neill (Wel) is better at 500 (2/4) and at the bottom of the pile Harrison Bader (Mar) is 000 (0/8)... Top dog in extra base hits is Nicholas Castellanos (Ken) with 90 (58/2/30) and still as the worst of those at zero is Brian McCann (Blo) after 34 at bats... Anthony Rizzo has scored 120 runs with Alex Avila (Mar) at zero after 37 games... Kevin Kiermaier (Ken) has never been caught stealing in 16 tries & Tommy Pham (Vir) has been caught 8 times... Anthony Rizzo (Man) jeez he's everywhere, has been hit 28 times and Ozzie Albies (Buf) is at 0 after 629 PA... Josh Donaldson (Mar) has 9 sac flies and David Fletcher (Wel) has laid down 4 bunts... Jorge Soler (Cur) & Rafael Devers (Man) have hit into 20 doubleplays while Keston Hiura (Ken) has never done that with 332 PA... Xander Bogaerts (Blo) booted 31 so far and Corey Seager (Man) is close with 29..... We're down to 24 undefeated pitchers with Adam Cimber (Ohi) at 4-0 and at the other end we got 27 winless guys and Kyle Ryan (Ree) is 0-5... Best in ERA in town with over two innings is Taylor Rogers (Roc) who's at 1.30 after 55.3 innings and not to be missed is Caleb Ferguson (Iro) who has an 18.01 after 30.0ip... Matt Strahm (LHi) has been in 85 games and just 11 still with 0 games... Tyler Mahle (Blo) leads in complete games with 16... Yusei Kikuchi (Ken) & Zack Wheeler (Blo) have thrown 4 shutouts... Jacob deGrom (Ohi) plus Kyle Gibson (Dur) have given up 16 unearned runs... Mr Kikuchi is also the top man in giving up bombs with 49 of em in 218.7ip... Julio Teheran (Iro) is not only leading the league in losses he's top man in handing out walks with 104 in 169.oip. Connection?
IMPORTANT DATES
- April 1 (Thu): Playoffs begin
- June 21 (Mon): Free agent draft begins
THAT WAS THEN
Mel J Queen 1942-52 (8yrs): 27-40 WL%/5.09 ERA.. 556ip/567h/328k.. 1944: 6-3 & 3.31 ERA... His son is below.. HOF no
Mel D Queen 1966-72 (7yrs): 20-17 WL%/3.14 ERA.. 389ip/336h/306k.. 1967: 14-8 & 2.76 ERA in 195ip.. HOF no
Jamie Quirk 1975-92 (18yrs): 240/298/347.. 43HR/247RBI/5sb/16cs.. 1979" 304avg in 51g.. HOF no