[Izz]

2057/2058 Season - March

Notable Performances

1 Mar: Fernando Contreras used an extra-innings game against Darwin to hit for the cycle, a reverse natural cycle, even. He homered in the 1st, tripled in the 3rd, doubled in the 5th, got out a couple times before singling in the 12th. Wellington won the game 5-4.

1 Mar: Ismael Aguirre’s 2-run HR were the only scores Christchurch could muster in a 3-2 loss to Adelaide. It was Aguirre’s 32nd homer of the season, and the 597th of his career.

2 Mar: He was almost there! Not only did Aguirre hit his 598th HR, it was also a Grand Slam, part of a 7-run 2nd that took the game away from Adelaide before it had begun. It was his 2nd slammer of the season and the 14th of his career.

3 Mar: Central Coast defeated Darwin 8-5, Justin Auger hitting his 40th HR of the year in the process.

3 Mar: Aguirre’s solo shot in the 1st was the first scoring act of a game Christchurch went on to narrowly win 5-4 over Canberra. 599, and a 3-game HR streak to boot! The next morning Aguirre was awarded PotW, having hit .536/.606/1.179, with 5HR, in the last 7 days.

4 Mar: Clint Aitcheson notched up win 21 for the season, throwing 8 innings of excellent shutout ball in a 1-0 victory over Darwin. He allowed 4 hits and walked 1, while striking out 7.

5 Mar: Boom, boom! With his 6th-inning solo shot, Aguirre joined the 600 club. He’d cracked one deep to right in the first and stood and watched for a moment, thinking it might be the one. It wasn’t, dropping behind the retreating RF for a double. In the 3rd he lofted one deep to left, but only as far as the leftfielder’s glove. But he didn’t miss out his next at-bat, in the 6th, the ball flying 444 feet over left and into the upper tier. He singled in the 8th to celebrate, Christchurch eventually beating Canberra 4-1.

Was it bittersweet getting 600 against his old club? Aguirre shrugged, “I guess. I’ve played a few places though, haven’t I, so odds were it’d come against one of them.” Did it feel any different to his 599 other home runs? “No, not really. I knew it was gone as soon as I hit it, but most of the time you know. I certainly wasn’t out of my body observing from above or anything like that.” Will you watch this one over and over? “I’m not a guy to sit and watch myself play, unless it’s for technical reasons. I wouldn’t mind buying the ball back off the fan who caught it, though. It’d look all right in a frame.” Are you sure you won’t watch it, at least one more time? A smile. “Yeah, you’re right, I probably will. By myself and maybe with my wife and son, too.”

6 Mar: Beau Snell wanted that batting crown. He didn’t do his chances any harm today, going 5-6 in Melbourne’s 6-4 extra-innings win over Auckland.

6 Mar: Isaac Russell brought up win number 20 in one of the best ways possible: via shutout. He allowed just 3 hits, walked none, and struck out 4 to see Newcastle defeat Sydney 3-0.

8 Mar: Christchurch became the first official team in the 2057 playoffs, securing their spot and the division pennant with a 6-1 defeat of Wellington.

9 Mar: Richard Moore reached 40HR for the year with a solo effort in Brisbane’s 21-12 demolition of Newcastle. A total of 9 homers were hit in the game.

9 Mar: In an 11-1 walloping of Whangarei, John Foreman cracked his 45th roundtripper of the season.

10 Mar: Clint Aitcheson turned in another strong showing, this time against Whangarei, throwing 8.0 innings for 3 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts and 1 earned run. Central Coast won 3-1 and Aitcheson had his 22nd win of the season. This was good enough for a tie of 3rd-best all-time, but if Aitcheson kept up his winning ways he could find himself a lone ranger in 2nd spot.

11 Mar: Fei-hsien Chang cracked his way to PotW with a .520/.536/.880 stat-line over the last 7 days.

12 Mar: Beau Snell went 4-4 as Melbourne destroyed Canberra 14-2. He now had 237 hits for the season, putting him 2nd-best all time. He needed 7 more hits to break Bailey Pugsley’s 2041 season mark of 243.

12 Mar: Central Coast secured the East-West Division with a 2-0 win over Newcastle, who at 75-76 were 4 games back in the wildcard.

13 Mar: Arnold Dethridge was in a rich vein of form. Having recorded his 1st ever major-league shutout on the 21st of February, he now went and threw another one. This time he allowed 5 hits, again walked none (he’d walked 1 hitter in his last 5 starts), and struck out 2 more than last shutout, 8. Hobart beat Christchurch 5-0.

14 Mar: Okolita led the way from the mound as Whangarei unleashed on Darwin, romping to a 13-2 victory. He was out there for every out except the last, striking out 13 in the process. He now had 231 Ks for the year, still 7 strikeouts outside the season top 10.

14 Mar: Aguirre was coming good at the pointy end of the season, his 2-4 in Christchurch’s narrow 3-2 win over Hobart including his 601st career HR, and also his 200th hit for the season, meaning he’d reached that mark for the 5th season running. He was only the 2nd player to 200 so far this season.

14 Mar: Clint Aitcheson turned around on 4 days rest to throw 7.2 no-run innings against Newcastle, Central Coast winning 3-0. He gave up just 3 hits while striking out 9. It was his 23rd win of the season. He was only the 3rd player to win that many or more games in a season, behind the redoubtable Hayden Foreman (26 wins in 2023), and the slick Randy Coulton (23 win in 2033).

15 Mar: The Thunder went down 9-8 to Newcastle in 10 innings. John Foreman’s 2-run HR tied things up in the 9th but wasn’t quite enough to win it for his team. It was HR #46 for the year.

15 Mar: In that same game, a Mildren made headlines. Newcastle’s 28 y/o catcher Paddy Mildren (no relation to Alastair) was 5-5, driving in 3.

15 Mar: Melbourne might’ve been playing Canberra in Canberra, but the hometown fans gave Beau Snell plenty of applause after his 2nd inning single. It was his 2nd hit of the game, and his 243rd for the year, tying Pugsley’s record. He got no more hits on the night, Canberra winning 8-4.

17 Mar: Snell went hitless yesterday, but cracked his 39th double of the year in the 3rd inning of Melbourne’s 15-11 hit-fest win over Wellington. Hit number 244, meaning he had the season hits record all to himself!

17 Mar: A walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th saw Darwin seal a 6-5 win over Christchurch and keep them just in front of a fast-finishing Perth in the Coastal Division race. A bright spot for Christchurch, though: Marshall Hooks slugged HR #40 for the year in the 1st.

18 Mar: Melbourne’s Will Glasson hit .577/.625/.769 over the last week to win PotW. Amazingly, the 1B didn’t go deep once in his 15 hits, but did hit 5 doubles.

18 Mar: Christchurch got pumped 18-5 by Darwin, but it was still a memorable night for Aguirre. His first hit of the game, an rbi-double in the 3rd, pulled him equal on the career hits board with Brock Wakely, who had 3079 career hits. In the 5th Aguirre led off with a solo HR over left, thus putting him alone at 3rd all-time on the hits list. The HR also put him alone 3rd all-time on the HR board, overtaking Snijders who’d finished his AUNZBL career with 601 dingers.

19 Mar: Christchurch turned it around today, squeaking out a 2-1 win over Darwin to give them their 100th W for the season.

20 Mar: Heading into the final series of the season, both the Coastal and Southern Divisions were yet to be wrapped up. Darwin and Melbourne held 2-game leads respectively, with Perth and Sydney on their tails. Sydney had a 3-game advantage in the top wildcard slot, while Perth and Wellington were locked up in the 2nd.

Darwin’s series was against Newcastle, who at .500 were 4 games back in the wildcard and effectively out of the action unless something miraculous/disastrous happened.

The biggest series was Perth versus Wellington, the winner of which would likely wrap up a wildcard. If the series was split, a 1-game playoff between the 2 teams for postseason rights was the most probable outcome.

Melbourne played Hobart, who were also at .500, so 4 games behind in the wildcard. Sydney were up against Canberra, and would fancy their chances of overtaking Melbourne in the final few steps of the regular season.

21 Mar: Hobart handed Melbourne their 3rd loss on the trot, the 1 run they scored in the 5th enough to buy victory. The bright spot for Melbourne was once again Beau Snell, who recorded 3 of Melbourne’s 6 hits. His 2nd hit, a single in the 5th, took him to 250 for the season, making him the first ever player to reach that mark.

21 Mar: Sadly, Sydney couldn’t make the most of Melbourne’s loss, falling 2-1 to Canberra, who only went ahead in the 7th thanks to a Tommy Hillson solo HR.

21 Mar: Wellington and Perth went hammer and tongs, though it was mostly Wellington until Perth piled on a 6-run 9th. Even so, the Fury were comfortable 15-9 winner to take a 1-game advantage in the 2nd wildcard slot.

21 Mar: Darwin and Newcastle were tied at 2 after 9 innings, but then the Diggers broke through into softer ground, scoring 5 in the 10th to see the final score an uneven 7-2. 1 more win would net them the Coastal Division for the 7th year running.

21 Mar: Central Coast got up 7-2 over Auckland. Included in their runs was John Foreman’s 47th HR of the year and Justin Auger’s 45th. Both were solo affairs.

21 Mar: In a game where every inning saw at least 1 run, and was only decided in the bottom of the 9th, Brisbane beat Adelaide 8-7. Richard Moore had a great game, going 3-3, with 2 walks. 2 of his 3 hits were of the HR variety, taking him to 45 jacks for the season.

22 Mar: Melbourne fought their way to a 5-3 victory over Hobart, while Sydney conceded 3 in the bottom of the 9th to lose 9-6 to Canberra, thus meaning the Aces, hitting .298 for the season, were division winners 2 years in a row.

22 Mar: Rookie of the Year candidate Elijah Lutz went 5-5 in Canberra’s win over Sydney. His hits included a walk-off 3-run HR, as well as a solo HR in the 6th, and doubles in the 2nd and 4th. All up the 5’10” catcher scored 4 runs and drove in 4 runners.

22 Mar: Snell was 2-4 in Melbourne’s victory, boosting his season BA to .3799. The current season record was still held by Stewart Warwick, who hit .3796 in 2022. Could Snell hold on and claim another record as his own? When asked if he might sit out the last 2 games to ensure his name would feature at number 1, the 2B looked shocked. “Of course not. That’d be like kissing your sister and then telling everybody you’d snogged a supermodel.” A reporter fired back, “What if your sister was a supermodel?” To which Snell looked even more disgusted, saying, “Get some help mate.” Warwick had 612 plate appearances in 2022, while Snell had already recorded 736 this season, so an argument could be made that sitting out the last couple of games wasn’t really like kissing your sister at all.

22 Mar: Wellington and Perth were all locked up again in the wildcard, Perth getting up 7-4.

22 Mar: And Darwin didn’t quite have their hands on the division trophy yet. Newcastle held them scoreless for the last 7 innings of their game to win 4-2.

22 Mar: The Thunder beat Auckland 6-1, Auger slugging his 46th HR of the year in the process. He’d gone deep in 4 of his last 5 games.

22 Mar: Adelaide gave Brisbane a 15-3 belting. Richard Moore was one of the few bright spots for the home team, hitting his 46th HR of the year.

23 Mar: Newcastle kept Perth in with a shot at the Coastal Division by virtue of a bottom of the 9th 5-4 win over Darwin. Isaac Russell went the whole game for the Roos, picking up his 21st win of the season.

23 Mar: Perth did their part, too, overcoming Wellington 5-3, snatching the lead with a 3-run HR in the top of the 9th. This moved them 1 game clear in the wildcard.

23 Mar: Sydney tied up the top wildcard slot with a 3-1 win over Canberra. This would be their 1st postseason appearance since 2050.

23 Mar: Beau Snell’s BA dropped to .3791 after a 1-4 performance in Melbourne’s 2-0 win over Hobart.

23 Mar: Auger clobbered 2HR in Central Coast’s 10-8 win over Auckland, including the winner, a 2-run walk-off shot in the bottom of the 13th. His efforts saw him leapfrog Foreman to the top of the HR tree, with 48.

24 Mar: Darwin lost again, their bullpen unable to handle Newcastle, who came from behind to win 6-4. However, Wellington scrapped their way to a 7-3 win over Perth, meaning Darwin won the division, and the Heat and Fury were headed to a 1-game playoff to see which of them would get some playoff action this season.

24 Mar: Central Coast scored 5 across the 7th and 8th to hand Auckland an 8-7 defeat. Auger was responsible for 2 of those runs thanks to his 7th-inning HR. He finished the season with 49HR. Sadly, Clint Aitcheson didn’t make it to 24 wins, getting beat up in his 5.1 innings.

24 Mar: Snell went 2-5 in Melbourne’s 10-6 loss to Hobart, but needed a 3rd hit or one less PA. He finished the season with a .3793 BA, .003 points behind Warwick. He had to settle for 3rd on the all-time season BA list, as Manuel Salinas had a .3794 campaign in 2048.

25 Mar: There were plenty of sweaty palms on both sides of this encounter, for sure. Perth, led by a troop of exciting youngsters, hadn’t tasted the postseason since 2048 and had never been regulars in that arena. However, the only rested starter they had was 22 y/o rookie Alan Gallard, who’d spent most of the season in the bullpen and had been uninspiring in his last start, a 7-1 loss to Canberra on the 19th of March. In their favour, though, was that they had the game at home, both teams having made the long trek from Wellington as soon as yesterday’s game concluded.

Wellington, on the other hand, could send out their #1 guy, Clint Kline, who hadn’t had an outstanding season, but was a pitcher who looked so good on the mound one commentator described him as “smoother than a vanilla ice-cream cone.” Wellington had missed the postseason in 2056 after 4 straight appearances, and were eager to get back their again.

Perth went ahead in the bottom of the first, but a sloppy fielding display saw Wellington go ahead in the 5th. They recovered well, though, fighting their way back ahead in the 7th. With the score 3-2 in the top of the 9th, Heat closer Rex Herbert gave up a leadoff single, before recovering to strike out the next 2 and induce a regulation fly for the final out. Perth were off to the postseason, while Wellington would retreat to lick their wounds and plan revenge next season.

Notable Injuries

2 Mar: A blow for Christchurch. Sean Carr (.369/.420/.551, 23HR) was done for the regular season. He had plantar fasciitis. He himself wasn’t ruling out a playoff return, though team medical staff deemed that “highly unlikely.” Carr led the league in WAR, with 8.1, and wOBA, with .421, as well as being on top of the BA boards.

4 Mar: Another injury for Christchurch. Regular catcher Yin-ti Zhuo (.285/.455/.459, 12HR), the lineup’s “link man” according to Sean Carr, would likely miss the rest of the regular season with a strained ribcage muscle.

7 Mar: A training accident would sideline Perth’s Carlos Aguilar (.275/.337/.419, 8HR) for the rest of the season. According to his skipper, Aguilar was trying to outdo some teammates on the bench press and went a little bit heavy. “The shoulders quite inflamed,” Chapman said, “and the kid’s pretty cut up about what happened.” Perth were tied with Sydney and Wellington at the top of the wildcard.

7 Mar: Prospects’ SP Bradley Boston (15-9, 4.15 ERA, 4.97 FIP, 1.34 WHIP) was done for 2057 after sustaining a sore shoulder in his side’s 1-0 loss to Wellington yesterday.

11 Mar: Perth’s Willem Birss (9-9, 4.52 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 1.39 WHIP) had a partially torn UCL which would keep him out of action until sometime next season.

13 Mar: The Blue Sox, 2 games clear in the top wildcard slot, would have to do without Dean Brewster (.313/.405/.404, 4HR) for the rest of the season, regular and post, thanks to a torn meniscus in his knee.

19 Mar: On the 14th Alan Sneddon (.303/.469/.443, 11HR, 157BB) couldn’t quite drop his wrists in time on an inside pitch and left the game. Immediately fans and teammates began worrying about his health. Today the verdict was in: Sneddon would miss 2-3 weeks with a bruised bone in his wrist. Depending on if the Diggers made the postseason, and how they progressed, he might return to play some part in their fortunes. At the time of his injury Sneddon led the league in OBP, BB, and runs (119).

23 Mar: Sydney qualified for the postseason today, but would have to do without their closer Wes Blenkhorn (4-5, 33 sv) who left the game with a sore shoulder, medical staff saying it would keep him sidelined for the entire postseason.

Other Notes

24 Mar: It seemed like a pointless gesture, on the final morning of the regular season, but it still happened. Kununurra fired first-year skipper Paddy Ross, who’d led last year’s favourite team to a 75-86 record. While Ross admitted his debut season as a manager hadn’t been great, he said next season the fruits of his and general manager Ian Graham’s changes would be seen by all. Word around the Kununurra camp was that Graham, who had the less than enviable record of leading Wellington to 2 postseasons while playing less than .500 ball, might be heading out the door soon too.

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Beau Snell (.379/.434/.492, 9HR) might’ve finished just short of the all-time best hitting season, but he finished well in front of the pack, both this season and all-time, in terms of hits. He reached base safely 256 times during the regular season.

Three other players made it to 200 hits. They were:

Ismael Aguirre (.315/.374/.536, 37HR, 209 hits)
Jorge Diaz (.328/.385/.571, 38HR, 206 hits, 146RBI)
Marcos Lopez (.317/.368/.543, 36HR, 204 hits)

Diaz also finished with the most RBI of any hitter.

Auger (.278/.392/.574, 49HR) came storming home to claim the HR crown. He also scored the most runs of any player, with 121. His 116 walks saw him finish 2nd in that category, and his 132RBI 4th. His WAR of 7.4 was 2nd to the injured Sean Carr (.369/.420/.551, 23HR), who said he was hoping the Division Finals took as long as possible to give him every chance of returning to the fray for Christchurch’s first foray into the postseason.

Apart from Auger, the following players reached 40HR:

John Foreman (.283/.337/.531, 47HR)
Richard Moore (.299/.370/.560, 46HR)
Marshall Hooks (.277/.327/.573, 41HR)

Moore also led the league in total bases, with 367.
Hooks had the best ISO (.296) of any qualified hitter.

Fei-hsien Chang (.316/.386/.604, 38HR) might not have reached 40HR, but headed the league in SLG, OPS, and XBH (83).

Only Auger and Alan Sneddon (.303/.469/.443, 11HR, 119 runs, 157BB) made the runs-walks double-double.

Guillermo Julio (.302/.351/.417, 3HR) and Stephane Lecomte (.262/.307/.322, 2HR) ended the season tied for the most stolen bases, with 59 each. Julio stole more bases than he struck out, only getting fanned 52 times in 610PA.

Clint Aitcheson (23-6, 2.94 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 0.98 WHIP) was everybody’s favourite for HotY, no matter what might happen in the postseason. As well as having the most wins, best ERA and best WHIP of all qualified pitchers, he also had the best K/BB (5.10), and BB/9 (1.35), and had thrown the most innings, his 266.0 the 2nd-highest season mark of any pitcher in AUNZBL history, 4 innings behind the 270.0 Tu-an Tseng threw in 2020. Aitcheson also broke the 200 K barrier, striking out 204 hitters, 3rd-most in the league.

The other players to get to 200 strikeouts were:

Marty Okolita (10-15, 4.46 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 1.27 WHIP, 237 strikeouts)
Greg Ahern (8-17, 5.43 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 1.47 WHIP, 206 strikeouts)
Austin Ya (11-14, 3.10 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.15 WHIP, 203 strikeouts)

Okolita’s 10.56 K/9 was by far the best in the league.

Lance Ralston (12-11, 3.73 ERA, 2.96 FIP, 1.37 WHIP) was the only qualified pitcher to have an FIP below 3.00, in a year when pitchers were beaten up like never before. He also allowed only 0.33 HR every 9 innings, and his 6.1 WAR was best in the league.

Fingleson was the only closer to notch up more than 40 saves, finishing up with 42.

Canberra closer Carlos Cassidy (3-2, 26 sv) had an unbeaten 33-save streak going at the conclusion of the season.

The top 3 teams in terms of HR were:

Perth (224)
Christchurch (218)
Central Coast (216)
Nobody else hit more than 200.

Only 2 teams stole more than 100 bases in 2057. They were:

Melbourne (146)
Cairns (140)

2 teams had an ERA of less than 4.00. They were, unsurprisingly, the 2 teams with the best regular season records:

Christchurch (3.76)
Central Coast (3.89)

Standings, EORS