[Izz]

2037/2038 Season - March

Notable Performances

2 Mar: Bailey Pugsley went 5-6 (including a HR), and scored the winning run in the bottom of the 13th to give the Roos a 6-5 victory over Brisbane.

4 Mar: Mike Wurfel was 5-5 (4 singles, 1HR) as the Roos battered the Cavalry 12-3.

10 Mar: Bernie Limeburner taught the Crocs a few lessons, allowing only 2 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7. The Thunder won 11-0.

11 Mar: Harley Puckeridge put together a 20-game hit streak. It ended the next night.

16 Mar: Bruce Radford helped the Cowboys put more space between themselves and the Metros by blanking Auckland on the back of 4 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 7 in the 6-0 victory.

18 Mar: Two teams wrapped up their divisions. The Roos became unbeatable in the Northeast, and the Cowboys clinched the NZ.

19 Mar: Either the Heat or the Cavalry would pick up the wildcard berth, depending on the outcome of their division tussle.

22 Mar: Raul Gomez went 5-5 (3 singles, 1 double, 1HR), helping the Aces defeat the Metros 7-3.

23 Mar: The Cavalry beat the Prospects, and the Heat lost to the Thunder. The net result: Canberra won the division title. Heat fans weren’t too worried, though. Their team was still playoff-bound!

23 Mar: Bill Buffey went 5-6, including a HR, as Brisbane overcame the Crocs 13-10 in extra innings.

Notable Injuries

9 Mar: Bruce Pickford (.292/.348/.522, 11 triples 26HR) would sit out the rest of the regular season with a sprained elbow. The Bandits would miss his help over the rest of March as they chased the Heat for the wildcard slot.

10 Mar: Joshua Farrell (12-7, 3.04 ERA, 3.36 FIP, 1.10 WHIP) faced a long stint on the sidelines after he tore a flexor tendon in his elbow. He would be at least 14 months on the DL.

12 Mar: 2036 Rookie of the Year Oliver Sharp (.247/.317/.405, 13HR) would miss 2 weeks with a hamstring strain.

22 Mar: Blue Sox SS Jason Brice (.220/.303/.339, 12HR) herniated a disc in his back after he fell out of bed while having a nightmare. A few fans posited that he’d actually finally realized he’d signed for the perennial cellar-dwelling Blue Sox after playing last season with the Championship-winning Fury and before that with the always-contending Cowboys.

Notable Trades/Signings

25 Mar: The Heat slipped through a waiver wire trade just before the playoffs. They acquired 25 y/o C Henry Gosselin (.308/.344/.538, 9HR in 209PA) from the Blue Sox in return for 31 y/o LF Lian-wei Chua (.250/.306/.477, 9HR in 196PA). Gosselin would not be eligible for the Heat playoff roster.

Media Watch

Elliot Wilkins: Retained on the Roos’ playoff roster, Wilkins would get another chance at contributing to a Championship. If the Roos got up, this would be his 5th ring, all with the same club. Through the regular season he had 229PA, going 39-202, with 8 doubles. He drew 19 walks, but hit 0HR, to end the season still needing 5 to get the record. His stat-line: .193/.265/.233.

Kelvin Ackland: Only started 10 games in March, as the Metros tried out their talent once they figured they weren’t in the running anymore. He pinch-hit in 3 other games, and was .341/.400/.610, 14-41, for the month. He hit 30 doubles, 4 triples and 18HR across the season, for a stat-line of .294/.334/.457. He would start the 2038 season needing 84 hits to reach #2 on the all-time ladder. His season tally of 165 hits was his lowest since 2032, when he only started 115 games. If he continued at this pace until his current contract expired at the end of the 2040 season he would finish around 200 hits ahead of Dermott Ford at the top of the ladder, but would be over 100 hits short of 3,000.

Russell Puckeridge: Slumped big-time. Hit .241/.324/.417 for the year, 103-417, with 18HR. By the end of Feb and through March he was only playing every 3rd game, behind 24 y/o up-and-comer Danny Goodwin. A free agent at season’s end, it remained to be seen where he’d end up.

Other Notes

The Bandits had a right to feel aggrieved on missing out on the postseason, as they had the 4th-best record in the league, 2 wins better than the playoff-bound Cowboys. When asked his thoughts on the matter, manager John Sanderson, in his 3rd year skippering the club, said, “Rules are rules. We just gotta make sure we win the Division next year. That takes all the ifs, buts, or maybes out of the equation.” 2037 was the 2nd time Sanderson had led the Bandits to 90 wins.

Alistair Mildren (.319/.385/.566, 40HR, 126RBI) might’ve topped the HR and RBI leaderboards, but it was teammate Pi-ao Ming who came so close to stealing the show, and somehow did so without the media noticing until the middle of March. Ming finished hitting .348/.400/.609, with 37HR and 119RBI. That put him 2nd on the average leaderboard, though he led for a good portion of the month, and only 3HR and 7RBI off the top of those ladders too. It would’ve been a remarkable triple crown, especially given the leap 24 y/o Ming made from the 2036 to 2037 seasons. In 2036 he hit .296/.341/.422, with 13HR in 578PA.

Cavalry teammate Ashley Snijders did his best to continue the form he’d had before injury, finishing the season with a stat-line of .317/.407/.602, and 36HR.

While Mildren was looking likely to file for free agency in May, the future looked bright for the Cavalry, with Ming and Snijders still under club control for at least a couple more seasons, and Zachariah Hutchinson (who’d only hit .271/.344/.487, 18HR) there for 3 more years.

Mildren and Ping both had 201 hits, while Bailey Pugsley (.325/.364/.417, 7HR, 52SB) topped the league with 209. Nobody else got above 200.

The batting title was won by rookie Jeremy Gillorn (.352/.372/.463, 3HR), who seemed a near certainty to win Rookie of the Year.

Bill Bransington (.312/.416/.582, 38HR) came agonizingly close to getting his 2nd runs-walks double-double. He scored 103 runs and drew 98 walks.

Michael Paterson broke the 20-win barrier, finishing with a 21-7 record. His 2.53 ERA was a league-best, and his 3.29 FIP 2nd-best. His 1.09 WHIP was ‘only’ 3rd-best. Surprisingly, his 5.0 WAR was 7th-best in the league.

Rowan Kalman (12-9, 3.71 ERA, 2.82 FIP, 1.11 WHIP) struck out 236 batters in 196.1 IP, by far the best in the league. This gave him a league-leading 10.82 K/9, and his 6.05 K/BB was also easily a league best. He led the league in FIP and pitcher’s WAR (6.9), too.

Paddy Ivory notched up 44 saves, to top that leaderboard by 2 over Brisbane's Axel Kent.

Standings, EORS