Just when I'd given up hope of catching Emmetts Maulers, we sprinted right past them in September. Barely. Ended up with the best overall record at 110-52. That's a full 30 game improvement over last week. Finished some heavy-hitting collections and also had much better luck/strategy this week. Kind of a perfect storm that I wasn't really expecting. Scored 60 more runs and allowed 282 fewer runs. The pitching staff is basically the same. Go figure! Teh ballpark factorzzz.
Our prize for top overall seed is to face the eventual Wild Card RNG champ, so Frogs and Maulers could continue the rivalry if the Maulers can get by the Salt Potatoes. Frogs ended up 12-7 vs the Maulers and 4-2 vs the Salt Potatoes in the regular season. Clearly, we're on track to be swept in the Division Series! That's how these things work.
I laugh looking at H2H records and noticing that the team we had the most trouble with (1-5) ended up a 60-102 team. lol
100 Satchel Paige is a strong contender for Cy Young/Pitcher of the Year with 19-8, 2.68 ERA, and 233 K. Paige led the NC in ERA, K/9 (10.2), and WAR (6.4). Was 2 off the pace in wins and 5 off the pace in K's for a Triple Crown.
Lots of stars on the offense, but 98 George Sisler (.296, 54 2B, 28 HR, 132 RBI, 46 SB) and SE Ichiro (.336/.373/.472, 41 2B, 10 HR, 63 RBI, 68 SB) put up two of the prettier stat lines on the team. SE's Appling and Jackie Robinson combined for 8.9 WAR even though they both played half of a season a piece. 98 Roger Connor continues to laugh in the face of whale-caliber pitching (.316/.401/.478).
Perhaps the best sight of all was 99 Trevor Hoffman rebounding from his drunken slob 2026 season. Hoffman saved 42/46 with a 1.98 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. Those numbers last week? 18/24, 6.12, 1.52.
