Week 19, part 2: October 10-14, 2023
The title race is over, but there is still much to be determined. With 5 games left to play, there is not a single team guaranteed to be relegated from this year's Elite League. It's gonna come down to so little between these bottom teams - time to take the plunge and see what happens.
As a side note, OOTP25 crashed about 4 different times while trying to simulate this last week, so I'm getting some peeks into the multiverse as well.
The Relegation Race
October 10:
Meka 4, Fampalo 3
Amnanache 4, Sitache 3
Akashemo United 2, Shunna Eagles 1
Kupore 2, Aroketsil Spirits 1
Mighty Oaks 5, Otahel City 4 (10 innings)
I mean, my goodness. All five games decided by a single run, and all except for Meka/Fampalo changing hands in the final innings. Kupore 3B Misote Teshelo, a former Spirit himself and a player who was injured almost the whole season, hit a walkoff home run in probably the most dramatic of the five games.
Akashemo's win, combined with Otahel and Fampalo losses, officially confirms the relegation of both teams. Goodbye to both
Otahel City BC and
Fampalo BC. I'll have more to say about both in the post-mortem.
October 11:
Amnanache 2, Sitache 1
Akashemo United 4, Shunna Eagles 3 (10 innings)
Kupore 6, Aroketsil Spirits 3
Akashemo move ahead of the other two teams here with a walkoff win, this one on a throwing error by Eagles 2B Sawita Pichake. Akashemo's Tseiriki Tushifo hit his 70th home run in this game, becoming the first EL player to hit the mark since Kupore's Kiucha Lopelo in 2017. Lopelo is an everyday starter with Hokrof, so he'll be back next season.
October 12:
Sitache 6, Amnanache 2
Shunna Eagles 7, Akashemo United 5
Kupore 8, Aroketsil Spirits 2
Sitache being the only winner means they pull even with the Spirits, though Aroketsil's run differential is substantially better. They'll need to actually pull ahead of them in the next two days. Akashemo is just one game ahead of the pair, with a run difference in the middle, so one more win will put them surely ahead of Sitache.
October 13:
Sitache 8, Amnanache 6
Akashemo United 3, Shunna Eagles 2
Kupore 8, Aroketsil Spirits 7 (10 innings)
Now Sitache
have pulled ahead of the Spirits, in heartbreaking fashion for Aroketsil - with two outs in the 9th inning, up 6-5, the Spirits' Ireapi Shypu allowed three singles to load the bases, then balked on the first pitch to Hekewi Ruicho, tying the game. Kupore was able to score an extra run in the 10th inning to win on top of the zombie runner.
It was closer than expected thanks to hard charges from the chasing pack, but with their 114th win of the season,
Nokir BC (Tenshemaho, ZA) clinch the third and final promotion place from the Second League. They are one of the EL's historic clubs, so it's right for them to be up here, and it'll be the first time since 2020 that the nation's second-largest city is actually represented in the top flight.
Akashemo United have officially survived relegation - it's either Sitache or the Spirits, with Sitache being ahead by a game. Let's roll the tape:
October 14:
Sitache 8, Amnanache 1
Aroketsil Spirits 4, Kupore 1
The Spirits avoid the sweep, but it's too little, too late. Sitache win their final three games of the season on the road, of which they eventually needed all three! With that, we sadly do say goodbye to the
Aroketsil Spirits, who had been in the EL uninterrupted for fourteen years and finished 3rd just two seasons ago.
With all the games together:
Round 38:
...Pasataki 3-2 Muni - 17-3, 8-9(11), 5-2, 3-4, 6-1
Mighty Oaks 1-4 Otahel City - 5-4(10), 1-7, 1-4, 0-2, 3-4
..A.Spirits 1-4 Kupore - 1-2, 3-6, 2-8, 7-8(10), 4-1
..Sh.Eagles 2-3 Akashemo - 1-2, 3-4(10), 7-5, 2-3, 5-4
.....Semyof 2-3 Tsapna - 6-3, 2-5, 0-12, 5-4(10), 4-6(10)
...Westline 3-2 Lutrul - 8-2, 8-4, 6-7(10), 8-1, 3-6
....Sitache 3-2 Amnanache - 3-4, 1-2, 6-2, 8-6, 8-1
....Fampalo 1-4 Meka - 3-4, 7-3, 4-9, 3-8, 1-2
...National 3-2 Cheshek - 1-2, 6-3, 11-4, 12-8(10), 3-4
..BK Kepmem 0-5 Keleri - 1-6, 3-4(10), 1-4, 2-3, 5-8
Cheshek 4, National 3: With a save on the final day of the season,
Chysho Sofiulo becomes the EL's all-time saves leader! He has 447 of them over 9 years of closing, with plenty more career to go.
Standings..........W..L
-- 
....National.. .128 62
-- 
....P.Galaxy.. .121 69
-- 
....Westline.. .119 71
-- 
.Mighty Oaks.. .112 78
+1 
......Keleri.. .109 81
-1 
.....Cheshek.. .106 84
+1 
......Tsapna.. .102 88
-1 
......Kepmem.. .101 89
-- 
......Semyof.. ..91 99
+2 
........Meka.. ..91 99
-1 
...Amnanache.. ..91 99
-1 
......Lutrul.. ..89 101
-- 
...Sh.Eagles.. ..86 104
-- 
........Muni.. ..85 105
-- 
......Kupore.. ..84 106
+1 
Akashemo Utd.. ..79 111
+1 
.....Sitache.. ..79 111
-----------------------------
-2 
...A.Spirits.. ..78 112
-- 
.Otahel City.. ..76 114
-- 
.....Fampalo.. ..73 117
That'll do it for the 2023 Elite League season. Now, for the end-of-season stuff: a brief recap for each team like I did at the halfway point, then the leaderboards, lower-league results, and awards before we get into the 2023-24 offseason!