[trman73]

As we hit the halfway point in the 2025 season, it looks like once again we’ll be involved in post-season baseball.

And it’s the Hammers in Gold 304. This team’s been quite good, and is sitting at 51-32, with a 7.5-game cushion for a Wild Card spot. It’s been the pitching, specifically the bullpen, which is first in our conference with a 3.09 ERA. We were given a boost by our first good pack pull in a while, 1990 CL Rob Dibble (94), who slotted into the 8^th-inning role and has been excellent, posting an ERA under 2.00 and a WHIP under 1.00 before a tough mini-stretch. I hate the 61 control rating, but the overalls of 127-82-61 are fine. This allowed us to transition Ken Giles to middle relief and replace Todd Jones. The bullpen of Dave Smith-Dibble-Osuna-Giles-Burgmeier-Jeff Nelson-Ian Anderson is getting it done, and the starting staff has held its own, anchored by Noodles Hahn (10-4, 3.64) and Justin Verlander (10-5, 3.69). This may, just may, be a Diamond team next season.

The Warlocks and Frogs will not be. The Warlocks are 34-50 in Gold 302, and are just a half-game from relegation in this 20-team league. We are awful. Wainwright and Caldwell are having their second straight miserable seasons in Gold and I am scouring the AH for SP upgrades. I thought I had pieced together a decent Gold lineup but was wrong, as we’re 9^th in runs in our 10-team conference. Ugh. I really need to devote more time to this team.

The Frogs started off well enough but have cratered and are now 30-51 in Gold 314. As of right now we’re in the relegation zone. We’re just not scoring runs. Randy Johnson is 2-7 since joining us despite decent stats. Our mostly Silver bullpen is getting destroyed. On the plus side, we’ve completed 20 missions without spending a cent on the team, although it appears I’ve hit a wall there as well. There are just no bargains out there for live guys and I can’t spend 400 PP on the likes of Devin Smeltzer. It’s been a depressing week for my two non-pack teams.