A brief history of the Australia-New Zealand Baseball League (AUNZBL, 2019-2119)

[Izz]

2036/2037 Season - January

Notable Performances

11 Jan: Pi-ao Ming of the Cavalry became the latest player to record a 20-game hit streak.

13 Jan: The Blue Sox humiliated the Crocs 16-0, with Rhys England shutting Cairns out on the back of 4 hits, 1 walk, and 4 Ks.

13 Jan: Over in Auckland, Edward Bebbington helped the Thunder tame the Metros 11-1. He was 5-5.

17 Jan: Ming’s hit streak reached 25 games. It would end the next night.

17 Jan: Bruce Acheson went 5-5 to help the Crocs squeak past the Thunder 6-4. He would go 3-4 the next night, too.

19 Jan: 20 y/o Roos SS Young-tae Lee was 5-7 (including 2 doubles) as Newcastle succumbed 6-7 to the Thunder in extra innings.

19 Jan: In the same game, but on the other side of the ledger, and looking a bit happier when interviewed after the match, Blair Ottaway went 5-6, also including 2 doubles.

23 Jan: Joel Hewitt of the Crocs allowed only 1 hit (in the 4th inning) and 3 walks, striking out 5, to see Cairns shut out the Heat 4-0. He threw only 89 pitches.

23 Jan: Jorge Juarez notched up win number 13 with a 4-hit, 6-strikeout shutout performance, helping the Cowboys spank the Roos 11-0.

24 Jan: Sluggers’ catcher Wesley ‘Rodeo’ Waterson was 5-5 in Whangarei’s 8-7 extra innings victory over the Metros. Waterson not only hit 2 doubles and a solo HR, he finished the game in the 10th with a walk-off single.

29 Jan: Roger Wood went 5-6, including 3 doubles and a single that drove in the go-ahead run, to help the Prospects get up 13-12 in extra innings over the Venom.

31 Jan: Lachlan Aitcheson went 5-5 for the Prospects, but it wasn’t enough to get them over the line in extra innings against the Venom.

Notable Injuries

3 Jan: Kelvin Anderton (.278/.349/.479, 13HR) would miss another 2 weeks of the season, this time while lacerations on his hand healed.

5 Jan: The Fury were struck a cruel blow, with Bailey Sweeny (10-3, 2.58 ERA, 3.94 FIP, 0.99 WHIP) gone for the rest of the season with a ruptured finger tendon.

6 Jan: Gareth Cobb (.272/.341/.492, 9HR in 214PA) strained his hamstring (hamstring injuries were all the rage in the 2036 season) and faced 2-3 weeks on the DL.

10 Jan: HR leader Bill Buffey (.276/.354/.533, 24HR) would miss 3 weeks with plantar fasciitis.

11 Jan: Sterling Caporn (7-9, 3.67 ERA, 4.59 FIP, 1.30 WHIP) had possibly played his last game for the Cavalry. A free agent at the end of the 2036 season, he would need 4-5 months to recover from a torn rotator cuff.

11 Jan: Wally Laing (.275/.329/.437, 6 triples, 11HR) would miss 2 months with a sprained ankle.

11 Jan: Rex Rees (.272/.385/.478, 16HR) would be out for 2 weeks with a concussion after being hit by a pitch (this was the 2nd time he’d been hit in a head by a pitch in the 2036 season). Truth was, he was probably glad of the rest, as he was really struggling to adapt to being the sole threat in a lineup. His frustration at the fact opposing teams were happy to pitch around him had been plain for all to see over the few weeks leading up to his injury.

12 Jan: Mario Martinez (.294/.357/.437, 11HR) joined his Sluggers’ teammate Rees on the DL. He would also miss 2 weeks with a hamstring strain.

15 Jan: Brad Dalley’s injury-tormented season came to an end after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. Estimated recovery time: at least 6 months. Dalley had suffered 3 major injuries between October and January and only managed 44 games for the Heat, hitting .306/.347/.444, with 5HR.

20 Jan: The day after his 5-hit game, Young-tae Lee tore a thumb ligament and would need 6 weeks to recover. The rookie call-up had only played 19 games for the Roos, and was hitting less than .200, even with his 5-hit performance.

28 Jan: The Fury lost another starting pitcher for the season. Caspar Greenway (7-10, 4.31 ERA, 3.78 FIP, 1.24 WHIP) would be on the DL 4 months with shoulder inflammation. The Fury held an 8-game lead in the wildcard, but still had a right to be nervous after they’d dropped the division lead early in the month.

Notable Trades/Signings

27 Jan: 36 y/o Neil Okolita’s resurgent season (8-3, 2.10 ERA, 3.66 FIP, 1.07 WHIP) paid dividends for him, as the Heat traded him to the league’s best team, the Thunder, in return for 28 y/o 2B Dermott Lawson (.317/.399/.512, 14HR) and some cash. Okolita was all grins when media caught up with him. “I haven’t pitched in the postseason since 2030,” he said, “and I’m keen to strut my stuff on the big stage again.”

30 Jan: The Thunder had traded Arthur Sproule (.278/.366/.458, 15HR), now 28 y/o, to the Heat in January of last season, but now they wanted him back. And they got him, plus a whole lot of cash, in return for 29 y/o MR Jason Colenutt (1-2, 2 saves, 3.08 ERA, 4.91 FIP, 1.59 WHIP) and a prospect. Colenutt had an off-the-charts fastball and an elite circle change, but he struggled to throw strikes, walking more than a batter per inning in 2036.

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: Ashley Snijders. 27-89, with 6 doubles and 7HR. Stat-line: .303/.337/.607.

Hurler of the Month: Finally a starter picked up this award in 2036. Edward Delaney had a 5-1 January, with a 1.19 ERA, a 1.94 FIP and a 0.99 WHIP. He fanned 47 in 45.1 innings pitched.

Slugger of the Month: Russell Puckeridge. He had the HR lead by the end of the month with 27, and hit 11 of those in January. His stat-line was .390/.439/.810, 39-100, with 7 doubles, 1 triple, and 10 walks to go with his homers. He also equaled the all-time HR streak, hitting HRs in 6 consecutive games. The only other player to do this was Jason Deas in 2028.

Media Watch

Elliot Wilkins: Sadly, Wilkins was beginning to quickly decline as a hitter. His season stat-line was .248/.315/.438 at the end of January. But his 16HRs meant he only needed 3 to reach the fabled 400. Whether he would then go on to overtake Jarrod Guerin at the top of the tree was yet to be seen. He did have 1 thing Guerin didn’t have, though: over 2,000 hits.

Russell Puckeridge: See Slugger of the Month, above. Puckeridge was certainly proving the media segment who’d doubted his ability to make the transition wrong. His CERA was 3.96, so not especially great, and he was throwing out 31.0% of base stealers.

Kelvin Ackland: Analysts realized at the beginning of January that Ackland was poised to jump a few places on the all-time hits leaderboard. And he passed Allan Lloyd in January, finishing the month on 2176 hits, 9 clear of Lloyd to have 4th place all to himself. He needed 20 hits to pass Stewart Warwick and make 3rd place his own. After that, it was nearly 300 hits more to 2nd place. For the season, Ackland had 132 hits, and a stat-line of .310/.350/.469. He was also 21st on the all-time HR list, with 226.

Last Year’s Top Player Watch

How were the award winners and runners up from 2035 performing so far in 2036?

2035 Rookies

2035 Rookie of the Year, Beau Trew: Traded to Hobart in the offseason, he’d spent the majority of 2036 at 1B, and was having a sophomore slump. His stat-line for the year was .224/.265/.397. He was 100-446, with 56 runs, 20 doubles, 19HR, 61RBI, 21BB, and 471PA. He’d struck out 105 times and been caught stealing both times he’d attempted it.

Cody Wood: Also having a tough time of it. 5-10, 5.59 ERA, 5.03 FIP, 1.68 WHIP in 22 starts. 81 Ks in 111.0 IP. Allowing 1.4 HR every 9 innings.

Kelvin Anderton: Had been hit with a couple injuries in 2036. .296/.372/.479, 100-338, 62 runs, 19 doubles, 2 triples, 13HR, 45RBI, 37BB, 382PA.

2035’s Top Pitchers

2035 Hurler of the Year, Joshua Cheadle: 8-2, 28 saves, 1.57 ERA, 2.37 FIP, 0.75 WHIP, 46 games, 59 Ks in 51.2 IP.

Brendon Vernon: Going well in a struggling side. 10-7, 2.76 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 1.12 WHIP in 24 starts. 112 Ks in 156.2 IP.

Edward Delaney: Would probably already be considered future HoF material if he was pitching for a better team. 10-8, 2.62 ERA, 2.91 FIP, 1.09 WHIP in 23 starts. 152 Ks in 158.0 IP. Only allowing half a HR every 9 innings.

2035’s Top Hitters

2035 Slugger of the Year, Bill Bransington: Missed all of November with a partially torn labrum, but the injury didn’t appear to have affected him at the plate. .314/.404/.617, 87-277, 48 runs, 21 doubles, 21HR, 67RBI, 41BB, 9 stolen bases without getting caught once, 324PA.

Alastair Mildren: .314/.417/.527, 133-423, 57 runs, 22 doubles, 1 triple, 22HR, 67RBI, 76BB, 503PA.

Beau Tyson: Like Rex Rees, struggling being the only big bat at his new club. .269/.326/.437, 120-446, 52 runs, 18 doubles, 19HR, 67RBI, 33BB, 487PA.

Other Notes

The Venom (15-13) had extended their lead in the Southwest to 18 games while the rest of the division fizzled and faltered.

The Thunder (18-10) maintained their lead in the Northeast, and would’ve seen it increase if not for the Bandits also going 18-10 to climb above .500 and even perhaps cast an eye at the wildcard berth.

The Fury (16-12) dropped to 2nd in the NZ, and even though they’d had a winning month, the injuries they’d sustained to their rotation would’ve been worrying them. The Cowboys shot ahead and found themselves with a 6-game lead on February 1st, thanks a remarkable 24-4 month.

There were plenty of debates on the baseball sites as January wound up as to whether the league expansion had been good or bad. Those in the ‘bad’ camp pointed to the fact only 5 of the 15 AUNZBL teams were above .500, saying that the talent levels had been diluted league-wide and that teams had been inadequately prepared to deal with the expansion draft. The All Star Game debacle was a favourite point for the naysayers, too. Those who thought league expansion was positive took the long term view, arguing that talent levels would even out, perhaps even improve, over the coming years, and that it just so happened the expansion had taken place when some of the normally contending teams like the Metros were in full rebuilding mode, and that the Roos’ drop off in form was hard to explain, but certainly not a result of the extra teams being added.

Kelvin Ackland led the league in doubles with 37.

Ramiro Madrigal (.275/.415/.501, 22HR) had a league-high 93 walks, but teammate Maurice Downes (.251/.388/.476, 23HR) was the odds-on favourite to be the 1st, and probably only, player to reach the runs-walks double-double. He had 89 runs and 90 walks.

Richard Lewis (.346/.460/.501, 8HR) had 40 stolen bases, 14 more than next best Edward Bebbington (.322/.372/.400, 3HR).

Rowan Kalman (7-5, 3.75 ERA, 3.16 FIP, 1.20 WHIP) had taken the strikeout lead with 159, and continued to have the best K/9 (10.65) and K/BB (7.00).

Brendon Vernon was the only pitcher to be walking less than 1 batter every 9 innings (0.92).

Ian Naismith had jumped into the save lead again, with 35.

Standings, Feb 1

[Izz]

2036/2037 Season - February

Notable Performances

5 Feb: No-hitter! Logan Neilson walked 2 batters in the 2nd, watched a runner reach on an error in the 8th, and walked 1 more in the bottom of the 9th on his way to a superb no-hitter against the Bandits. He struck out 8. The Heat won 4-0.

6 Feb: Randolph Anderson allowed 6 hits and 0 walks, striking out 2, to shutout the Metros 10-0.

7 Feb: The Cowboys continued their incredible run of form, winning their 10th straight game.

11 Feb: The Metros continued their woeful year, submitting to a 15-1 drubbing at the hands of Newcastle. More noteworthy, though, was Andre Maybury’s 5-5 performance, which included 3 doubles. He also hit 2 sacrifice flies.

12 Feb: Alan Pye went 5-5 as the Prospects got up 6-5 over the Crocs, winning with a walk-off 2-run HR in the bottom of the 9th. Pye was the tying run in that instance, and also hit 3 doubles.

12 Feb: The Cowboys’ win streak ended at 13.

16 Feb: Patrick Gulledge had won 2 consecutive Player of the Week Awards to start Feb (2nd Feb, 9th Feb) and while he missed out on a 3rd one on this date, he did hit in his 20th straight game. 11 of those 20 games had been multi-hit affairs.

19 Feb: Elliot Wilkins had a 2-HR game, driving in 5 and drawing 2 walks in a 3-3 performance to see him get to 399 HRs.

20 Feb: In a 4-4 performance, Kelvin Ackland leapfrogged Stewart Warwick’s mark of 2195 to sit on his own in 3rd place on the all-time list with 2198. He would have 3rd for a while, too, as he needed 277 hits to reach Vinnie Egan’s mark of 2475, and his closest competition was a fast-declining Elliot Wilkins (2140 hits as of this date) and an aging Wendell Baxter (2065).

21 Feb: Patrick Gulledge kept on hitting, making it 25 straight games with a hit. He brought up the milestone with a solo HR.

21 Feb: Even though the game was in Hobart, the crowd stood and applauded for at least 3 minutes after Elliot Wilkins rounded the bases for HR number 400. He had to come out from the dugout twice to wave his cap. Wilkins had a great all-round game, too, going 3-6, scoring 3 and driving 3 in.

After the game, Bill Bransington was asked what it meant to him, one of the game’s up-and-coming power hitters, to have Wilkins on the team. “He’s more than just another guy,” Bransington gushed, “he’s like a big brother to us young blokes. The way he carries himself around the club, he’s just got an aura of respect about him, y’know. Everything he does is professional, and he’s always got time to help anybody, whether they’ve been on the roster 5 minutes or 10 years. Plus, he’s not only hit 400 homeruns, he’s also got over 2,000 hits, and done it all for one club. He’s a legend, mate, pure and simple.”

23 Feb: Bruce Radford allowed only 3 hits and a walk, punching out 8, to lead the Cowboys to a 4-0 shutout victory over the Prospects. It was also Hobart’s 10th straight loss.

24 Feb: The Roos won their 10th straight, taking them to a .500 record, and giving them an outside sniff at a wildcard. They were currently still 10 games behind in that race.

24 Feb: Gulledge hit in his 27th straight game, to reach the #2 spot on the all-time hit streak leaderboard.

27 Feb: The Roos win streak was snapped at 12.

27 Feb: Gulledge extended his hit streak to 30 games. It would end with an 0-4 performance the following night.

Notable Injuries

1 Feb: Harley Puckeridge (.227/.282/.449, 24HR) would be absent from the Wellington lineup for 3 weeks. The power hitter had chronic back soreness.

6 Feb: Bailey Pugsley (.339/.367/.425, 1HR) hurt himself again, this time fracturing his foot in a collision at base. He would be sidelined 3 weeks.

8 Feb: Roger Wood (.278/.326/.440, 14HR) would miss 2 weeks with an inflamed knee.

15 Feb: Pi-ao Ming (.306/.351/.427, 11HR) sprained his thumb and was set to miss a month of game-time.

15 Feb: Rookie Constantino Gandaral (.258/.316/.430, 12HR) would not play again this season after he tore ligaments in his ankle.

21 Feb: Blue Sox 1B Pablo Tavares (.289/.339/.503, 22HR) suffered a fractured wrist after he couldn’t drop his hands quick enough on an inside pitch. He would miss the rest of the season.

27 Feb: Bao-qing Ling (.287/.360/.480, 21HR) strained his back and would be out the next 3 weeks.

28 Feb: Gavin Dethridge (.287/.325/.419, 11HR) had his season ended prematurely after he strained a hamstring.

Notable Trades/Signings

2 Feb: The Thunder signed 31 y/o Charlie Sheelah (42-38, 216 saves) to a 2-year extension.

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 23 y/o Thunder C Jesus ‘Hands’ Galindo. .320/.349/.526 in February, 31-97, with 9 doubles, 1 triple and 3HR.

Hurler of the Month: Cowboys closer Dan Vankrimpen. A quiet achiever, he had moved to 7th on the all-time saves leaderboard in the 2036 season, and while he didn’t have an amazing February, it was strong enough to win the HotM. He went 2-1, with 8 saves in 12 appearances. His ERA was 1.35, his FIP 2.90, and his WHIP 1.35.

Slugger of the Month: Bill Bransington. .320/.455/.732, 31-97, with 2 doubles, 1 triple and 12HR. He also drove in 31 and drew 25 walks. From out of nowhere, it seemed, he found himself 3rd on the HR leaderboard, and tied at the top with Patrick Gulledge on the RBI leaderboard.

Media Watch

Elliot Wilkins: Now that he’d reached the 400HR mark, all eyes were on whether he would get to Guerin’s 408HR this season, or whether he’d have to rely on a team signing him for 2037 to do it. It seemed like he wanted to get there in a rush, as he hit 2HR the night after he hit #400, but he didn’t hit anymore in the month, finishing on 402 HR, and 21 for the year. His year’s stat-line: .271/.342/.469. He had a great February, going .382/.463/.618.

Russell Puckeridge: After his huge January, Puckeridge came down to earth a bit in February, hitting just .221/.280/.384 for the month, only managing 3HR. However, his stat-line for the year still looked very healthy: .301/.345/.551, and his 30HR had him placed 4th on the leaderboard, still with a chance to snatch away the title if he had a good March.

Kelvin Ackland: Even though Ackland had secured 3rd spot on the all-time hits list during the month, the media were still following him closely, speculating on how long it would take him to reel Vinnie Egan in. A few thought that with his compact swing, and his contract running until 2040, he was a good chance of being the first AUNZBL player to reach 3,000 hits. He had 163 hits on the year, 31 of those coming in February, to see him on 2207 for his career. He needed 269 more hits to surpass Egan.

Other Notes

The Venom (15-11) continued to hold sway atop the Southeast, their closest rivals, the Cavalry (11-15), 22 games back and fighting to reach .500 for the season. Adelaide needed only 1 more win to wrap up the pennant.

In the Northeast the forecast continued to be Thunder with a chance of not much else, as they went 16-10 in the month, to see the Bandits (12-14) fall 20 games back. Central Coast needed to win only 3 more games to secure the Division title.

The Cowboys (19-7) continued their hot form to leave the Fury (12-14) in their dust. The Fury still had an 8-game lead in the wildcard.

After his sensational month, Patrick Gulledge suddenly found himself in Triple Crown territory (.327/.368/.586, 34HR).

Stefan Ballard (.323/.348/.386, 191 hits) had overtaken Edward Bebbington (.310/.360/.396, 188 hits) at the top of the hits leaderboard, but Gulledge also had 188 hits, making the race to 200 an interesting one.

Despite have a poor month, Richard Lewis (.325/.437/.467, 9HR, 43SB on the season) still led the league in batter’s WAR with 8.1.

Logan Neilson (8-9, 3.66 ERA, 2.96 FIP, 1.28 WHIP) was the only qualified pitcher with an FIP under 3.00. He was also allowing the least HR/9 with 0.49.

Edward Delaney (11-11, 3.02 ERA, 3.18 FIP, 1.16 WHIP) led the league in pitcher’s WAR with 5.5.

With 44 saves, Naismith had every chance to break the 50 barrier and get himself an all-time season record.

Standings, Mar 1

[Izz]

2036/2037 Season - March

Notable Performances

1 Mar: The Venom wrapped up the Southwest.

2 Mar: The Thunder won the Northwest, a game earlier than the end of February projection thanks to the Bandits losing a couple.

3 Mar: Metros’ fans might’ve been grousing most of the season, calling their team a rabble, but they had reason to cheer today, as Jerry Meehan struck out 16 batters in 7.1 innings, helping the team to a 9-3 pounding of the Blue Sox. Only Tyler Silk had struck out more batters in a game (twice).

4 Mar: The Thunder won their 10th game on the trot. The streak would end the next day.

5 Mar: Damian Neill conceded just 3 hits and 1 walk as the Aces shutout the Bandits 4-0. He struck out 6.

8 Mar: Edward Delaney tossed a 6-hit, 0-walk, 8K shutout against the Crocs, helping Sydney to a 4-0 victory.

9 Mar: The Cowboys reached an unassailable lead in the NZ.

11 Mar: Kyle Pratly allowed 5 hits and 1 walk, fanning 3, as the Bandits shut out the Prospects 5-0.

14 Mar: 18-game Aces loser David Ladd had something to feel good about today, as he collected win number 9 on the back of a 1-hit, 7-0 shutout victory over the Venom. That 1 hit (in the 2nd inning) was the only baserunner Ladd allowed, and he also struck out 7.

19 Mar: The Fury secured the wildcard slot after some late scares.

21 Mar: Alan Pye went 5-5, but couldn’t stop his Prospects falling to the Fury 9-5.

23 Mar: Lian-wei Chua went 5-6 as the Heat gutted the Crocs 15-1.

Notable Injuries

9 Mar: Bruce Pickford (.249/.306/.371, 13HR) would miss the rest of the season with a fractured thumb. He was on 1,915 career hits, but would be back in 2037 for a run at 2,000.

10 Mar: Pete Ottaway (.279/.357/.467, 19HR) of the Metros had his season ended a couple weeks early when he fractured his rib.

10 Mar: Calvin Anderton (.301/.379/.482, 17HR) would miss the rest of the regular season and potentially all of the postseason thanks to a torn quad.

13 Mar: Alan Delaney (.308/.356/.416, 9HR) fractured his foot. Early holiday for him.

15 Mar: On the verge of the playoffs, the Thunder and Cooper Ahernfeld (13-6, 2.50 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 1.03 WHIP) received bad news. Ahernfeld wouldn’t be available for 2 months thanks to elbow inflammation.

18 Mar: The Thunder were struck another blow, with regular 2B Vaughan Lockrey (.224/.328/.387, 22HR) suffering an intercostal strain that would keep him out until the postseason had finished.

21 Mar: Elliot Wilkins would have to come back in 2037 if he wanted to overtake Guerin at the top of the all-time HR leaderboard after he tore the meniscus in his knee. He was .271/.345/.470 on the year, with 23HR, leaving him on 404 career dingers.

25 Mar: The regular season ended on the 24th and the playoffs began on the 26th. In between, the Fury got the news that Bao-qing Ling (.288/.361/.483, 21HR) would miss the playoffs thanks to a quadriceps strain.

Media Watch

Elliot Wilkins: See injury notes for the 21 March, above.

Russell Puckeridge: Puckeridge had nearly the perfect start to his hitting career, charging through March to take the HR crown with 39. He also drove in the most runners (111) and had a stat-line of .305/.349/.579. He had to be in the SotY frame, and even if he never played another game, he would still be remembered as something special. His CERA had risen to 4.03 by season’s end, but he was still throwing out over 30% of basestealers (30.2%). However, his ZR of -5.1 showed that he still had a long ways to go on the defensive end.

Kelvin Ackland: Finished the season with 183 hits, and a stat-line of .303/.346/.474. He led the league in doubles with 46, as well as hitting 17HR. At season's end he had 2227 career hits, 249 shy of 2nd place on the all-time leaderboard. Interesting note: Ackland's only recorded injury was a stomach virus that kept him out for 4 days in 2033. If he continued to stay injury-free and didn't have a rapid form decline, he would reach 2nd place in the first half of the 2038 season.

Other Notes

Alan Pye (.328/.373/.409, 4HR) snuck in from somewhere to win the batting title by a couple of decimal points from Stefan Ballard (.328/.354/.385, 2HR). Richard Lewis (.321/.434/.478, 12HR) had slipped somewhat to find himself in 3rd spot, though his batter’s WAR (9.3) was still by far the best in the league. He also finished with the most stolen bases (47).

Maurice Downes (.236/.372/.450, 31HR) got the runs-walks double-double, finishing with 111 runs and 123 walks. He was the only player to do so.

Ballard’s 192 singles (out of 223 hits) set a new season record, surpassing the mark of 183 set in 2022 by Allan Lloyd. 2 other players broke the 200-hit barrier, Bebbington (.301/.353/.383, 8 triples, 4HR) with 208 and Gulledge (.316/.363/.560, 36HR) with 204.

The HR race intrigued throughout the whole month as Bransington (.294/.404/.594, 36HR) and Gulledge both stuttered, hitting 3 and 2HR in March, respectively. This allowed Puckeridge, who hit 9, to run away with it in the end.

Ramiro Madrigal (.288/.432/.513, 9 triples, 29HR) had possibly his best season. He led the league with 136 walks, 1 less than he managed in 2035.

Bernie Limeburner (20-10, 2.90 ERA, 4.54 FIP, 1.24 WHIP) made the 20-win mark on the back of great Thunder defense.

Jerry Meehan (16-13, 3.83 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 1.29 WHIP) ended up striking out the most batters in the season, racking up 226 Ks, 6 ahead of Rowan Kalman (14-6, 3.09 ERA, 3.00 FIP, 1.08 WHIP). Kalman still had the best K/9 (9.98) and K/BB (6.11).

Naismith’s 51 saves set a new season record, surpassing Trent Courcha’s 2024 mark of 50.

Standings, EORS

[Izz]

2036 Division Finals - Adelaide Venom v Christchurch Cowboys

A rematch of one of the 2035 Division Finals, but with home advantage reversed. The Venom had fallen 1 short of 100 wins in 2036, the Cowboys 1 short of equalling the all-time best 108 wins the 2024 Roos had put up. Both teams were appearing in their 7th straight postseason, breaking the record they had both equalled in 2035.

Defensively, the Venom were below average, tied for 7th in runs allowed. Offensively, the only team better than Adelaide were the Cowboys, by a margin of 3 runs (880-877). The Cowboys had also allowed the 2nd least runs (611), 112 less than the Venom.

However, the Venom had won 8 of 12 regular season matches between the 2 teams. Tristan Dryden had hit 5 HRs across those 12 games.

Mitch Cornell apparently expected the usual press barrage about whether his team had the ‘mental fitness’ to win the Championship this year, and turned up to the pre-match Game 1 presser in a fighting mood. However, all of the journos’ questions were standard fare about player fitness and match preparations. Cornell almost looked disappointed when the press conference finished.

Game 1

Stephen Snell (9-10, 3.86 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.25 WHIP) would start for the Venom, Randy Coulton (8-1, 2.39 ERA, 3.94 FIP, 1.13 FIP across 14 starts) for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys got the scoring underway in the 1st, thanks to a 2-run Raul Gomez HR.

Coulton, who’d returned from a damaged elbow ligament in the second half of the season, struggled, allowing 8 hits and walking 5 in 5 innings. He struck out 4. The Venom scored 4 in the 2nd to take the lead, 3 of those coming courtesy of a 404-foot Gareth Cobb blast. It was a lead they never relinquished and that the Cowboys never threatened. Puckeridge signalled his arrival as a postseason hitter with 2 solo shots (5th inning, 8th inning). Final score: Venom 6, Cowboys 2.

Snell got the win, getting through 5.1 innings of work for just the 2 earned runs, though he did concede 5 hits and 4 walks, for only 2Ks.

Game 2

Adelaide put Angelo Roberts (15-12, 4.17 ERA, 4.12 FIP, 1.53 WHIP) on the mound to face off against Bruce Radford (16-8, 3.28 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 1.10 WHIP).

A Trent Cashmore solo HR put the Cowboys up 1-0 in the bottom of the 1st. Jack Sen evened the score in the 5th with a solo HR of his own, but the Cowboys scored 2 to go back ahead in the bottom of the inning. They added 2 more in the 6th and held the Venom scoreless for the rest of the game. 5-1 Cowboys.

Both starters went all the way, but Radford was by far the better. He allowed only 3 hits and 1 walk in 9 innings, fanning 5. Roberts gave up 6 hits and 4 walks in 8 innings, striking out 2.

Game 3

Joshua Farrell (13-9, 4.49 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.33 WHIP) to represent the Venom at home, Jorge Juarez (18-8, 3.60 ERA, 3.92 FIP, 1.15 WHIP) to carry the torch for the Cowboys.

Raul Gomez got the scoring underway in the 1st with a 2-run HR. The Cowboys scored another in the top of the 2nd to make it 3-0, but Timothy Bright made it 3-2 with a 2-run longball.

However, that was all the offense the Venom could muster, managing only 2 more baserunners (2 singles) all game. The Cowboys scored another brace in the 5th, and the final score was 5-2.

Juarez allowed just 3 hits and 1 walk through 8, striking out 3 and only throwing 75 pitches. In contrast, Farrell could count himself lucky to only concede 5 earned runs, after he allowed 12 hits through 7, whiffing 4.

Game 4

A Snell-Coulton rematch. If the Cowboys won, it would be the 1st time in 5 years the Venom hadn’t made the Championship round, and the 1st time the Cowboys had progressed past the Division Finals since 2032 (when the Venom swept them 4-0 in the Championship).

Both pitcher’s duelled through 4. In the top of the 5th the Cowboys got on the board through 3 successive singles, but the Venom would strike straight back in the bottom of the inning, thanks to former Cowboy Gareth Cobb, whose triple brought Jack Sen (who’d walked to lead off the inning) home. Cobb thought he had an opportunity to round 3rd and go for an inside the park homerun, but his 3B coach shouted him back to the bag. Unfortunately, in so turning Cobb twisted awkwardly and immediately called for medical assistance. An out later, Dryden would single home the substitute runner to give the Venom the lead.

Timothy Bright continued his strong series (he was a low-contact, high-walk, average-power guy who fitted the Adelaide mould of patience before power) with a solo HR in the 6th. The Cowboys got 1 back in the 7th, and the score was 3-2 heading into the top of the 9th.

Cheadle came out to pitch. Arnold Tipping hit a dribbler off the end of his bat up the 1st base line that somehow stayed fair and he got to 1st without a throw. Clancy Rankin singled wide of 2nd to put the go-ahead run on-base. Ming Sun worked the count to 3-2, then hit a grounder straight back to Cheadle who got a 1-4-3 double play started. Backup catcher Cameron Wearne came out to pinch hit and swung at the 1st pitch, a fastball at the knees. He managed only weak contact towards 2nd and was easily thrown out at 1st to end the game. 3-2 Adelaide to take it to a Game 5 back in Christchurch.

Coulton was again not his reliable self, allowing 6 hits and 2 walks, striking out 4, in 5.1 IP. Snell only threw 4.2, allowing 5 hits and striking out 4, but the Venom bullpen was strong enough to get it done.

After the game, the Venom were notified that Cobb would be out for the rest of the playoffs with an oblique strain.

Game 5

Roberts v Radford, and the media were once again out in full force decrying the Cowboys for letting it get to Game 5.

"It will take a miracle for them to get themselves up for this game after not being able to finish the business in Game 4." - Australian Pulse, Sports Zone

"The Venom have to be favourites here. The Cowboys blew the opportunity 2 nights ago, and they've probably already got that familiar tingle on the back of their necks: that losing feeling." - an analyst on a Sports Sentinel Web TV discussion panel

For the 1st time all series the Venom scored 1st, in the 4th, thanks to a Puckeridge single, followed by him advancing to 2nd on a balk call, and coming home on a Downes single. But a Trent Cashmore 2-out walk in the bottom of the inning sparked a rally, and the Cowboys hit 3 consecutive singles to score 2 and take the lead. They would score 2-more 2-out runs the next inning, thanks to a 2-run Gomez double to make it 4-1.

Timothy Bright hit HR#3 for the series in the 7th to make it 4-2, but Radford recovered his nerve after walking the next batter to record the last 2 outs of the inning and then retire the side in order in the 8th. In the 9th, Dan Vankrimpen walked Timothy Bright with 2 outs to give the Venom an ounce of hope, but he then struck out Jack Sen to end the game. 4-2 Cowboys, and a well-deserved Championship appearance.

Radford allowed 7 hits and 1 walk through 8, striking out 8, in a fine performance. Roberts wasn’t terrible, allowing 7 hits and walking 2 in 7.2 innings (2 Ks), but the Venom offense struggled to put more than 1 runner on-base at a time.

Radford won Hurler of the Series, allowing only 10 hits and 2 walks across 17 innings, striking out 13, for an ERA of 1.59.

Raul Gomez was awarded Slugger of the Series. He’d had a quiet season by his standards (.246/.341/.452, 26HR), but was dominant in the Division Finals, going .412/.500/.941, with 3 doubles, 2HRs and 3 walks. He struck out only once in 20PA.

After his Game 1 efforts, Puckeridge was disappointing, hitting only 2 more singles across the series, to be .222/.263/.556.

[Izz]

2036 Division Finals - Wellington Fury v Central Coast Thunder

The Fury broke their league-record 12-year postseason drought by winning 92 regular season games, 8 better than closest wildcard rivals, Newcastle. It was the Fury’s pitching and defense that got them past the regular season. They’d only scored the 10th-most runs in the league, and were ranked 11th in batting average, and 8th in OBP. However, they’d allowed the 4th-least runs, and had the best defensive efficiency. Their pitchers also had the 2nd best control in the league, only walking 422 batters all season.

In many ways, the Fury were a similar team to Central Coast, who’d rebounded after a poor 2035, winning 105 games in 2036 to completely dominate the Northeast Division. The Thunder had improved their offense this season, scoring the 3rd most runs. They had the best overall defense, conceding the least runs, and 2nd behind only the Fury in defensive efficiency. Opponents hit a puny .238 against them all season, and the 123HRs they’d allowed was the lowest in the AUNZBL.

The last time the Fury reached the playoffs they won it all. This time around the experts predicted a close series, but most went with the Thunder to win in 4 or 5.

Game 1

Carlo Schwer (9-11, 4.30 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 1.21 WHIP) got the Game 1 nod for Wellington, while Bradley Lundgren (16-7, 3.46 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 1.19 WHIP) would take the mound for the Thunder.

Jesus Galindo got the scoring underway in the 3rd with a 422-foot rocket over left centre that scored 2. The Fury evened the score in the 4th. The scores would remain tied until the top of the 8th. With 1 out, Fury catcher Danny Goodwin reached on an error by the shortstop, Wendell Baxter came out to pinch hit and was intentionally walked, and Marcos Dolgonos, who’d played all of 3 regular season games, singled past 2nd to load the bases. Lou Stapleton would strike out, but Simon Calleson didn’t let the chance go, doubling down the left field line and into the corner to clear the bases. 5-2 Fury.

Galindo would hit his second HR of the night to lead off the bottom of the inning. Arthur Sproule doubled and Bernie Baker singled to put runners on the corners. Trent Parsons hit a sharp one back to the pitcher, who bobbled and ended up throwing late to 1st. Sproule scored, and the Thunder now had the go-ahead run at 1st. An out later, Logan Stanley’s single would load the bases, but the Thunder couldn’t take advantage.

And that was all the scoring in the game. Naismith would retire the side in order in the bottom of the 9th to record the save and see the Fury to a 1st-up 5-4 victory.

Schwer got the win, though he was less than stellar in his 7.1 innings. He allowed 10 hits and walked 2, with 4 Ks, for 4 earned runs. Lundgren left the game in the 6th, throwing 103 pitches in 5.1 innings. He conceded 7 hits and 3 walks, striking out 6, for 2 earned runs. Brock Humphries, a 30-game regular season starter, would cop the loss, allowing 3 relief runs in 1/3 of an inning.

Game 2

24 y/o Tim Thurgood (5-8, 3 saves, 4.78 ERA, 4.33 FIP, 1.44 WHIP, 15 starts), who had been moved permanently into the starting rotation in February would be Wellington’s SP. Thunder mid-season acquisition Neil Okolita (12-6, 2.68 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 1.15 WHIP) would be Thurgood’s opponent.

The Thunder got the scoring started in the bottom of the 1st, putting 2 runs up, 1 of those courtesy of an Arthur Sproule solo HR. The Fury loaded the bases with 0 outs in the top of the 2nd, and brought 2 home to even the score up, but could manage no more. The Thunder would go ahead again in the bottom of the inning, making the score 3-2, but the Fury would strike back the very next inning, scoring 3 (BB, double 9LS, sac-fly, rbi-single between 1st and 2nd, rbi-double 8LD). Arthur Sproule’s 2nd solo shot of the night in the bottom of the inning made it 5-4 through 3 innings.

The run-scoring would dry up after that until the 8th, when the Fury manufactured another run to go up 6-4. Ian Naismith would again go through the Thunder 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th to notch up another save.

Okolita struggled his way through 4.1 innings, giving up 9 hits and walking 5 for 5 earned runs. He struck out 4, and threw 111 pitches for a 10.38 ERA. Thurgood got over his early nerves to throw 7 innings, allowing 8 hits and 1 walk for 4 earned runs. A groundball pitcher who didn’t have a pure fastball, but could throw a 150 km/h cutter, a good sinker and a nasty knuckle curve (plus a poor changeup), Thurgood didn’t get a single strikeout in Game 2.

Thunder MR Luigi Kinnear left the game at the end of the 5th with a dead arm. He wouldn’t be available for the rest of the series.

Game 3

With a surprise (to the commentators, at least) 2 game lead in the series, the Fury had a chance to complete a sweep in front of their home fans.

The Thunder would finally unleash 20-game winner Bernie Limeburner, while the Fury elected to also go with their winningest starter of the season, Mitchell Gallagher (16-7, 3.30 ERA, 4.80 FIP, 1.14 FIP).

Both pitchers were tight through 5, before the Thunder scored 2 in the 6th to take the advantage. The Fury would hit back in the bottom of the 7th, scoring 3 (BB, single, rbi-single, F7, 2-rbi double).

The score would stay 3-2 Fury until the top of the 9th. Naismith strode out to the pitch, with the opportunity to make it 3 straight saves and a series sweep. Blair Ottaway, leading off the inning, had other ideas and when Naismith hung a 2-2 curveball over the plate he launched it deep over right centre and into the stands to even the score. Naismith would recover and finish off the inning with no further damage, and pitch a scoreless 10th as well.

Top of the 11th, and Blair Ottaway was leading off the inning again, this time facing reliever Karl Murphy. On the 2-1 count, Murphy threw a fastball at the outside corner. Ottaway, crowding the plate, got good contact, pulling it deep over right field. It stayed fair, for his 2nd pivotal HR of the night, to put the Thunder ahead 4-3.

The Thunder couldn’t add any more, but they didn’t need to. Andres Romero clearly enjoyed his opportunity to close out the game (Sheelah had thrown the 9th & 10th), and induced weak contact on all three Fury batters (fly, groundball, groundball). 4-3 Thunder to keep them alive in the series.

Limeburner threw 6.1 innings, surrendering 5 hits and 4 walks, striking out 6, for 3 earned runs. Gallagher went 7.2, walking none and allowing just the 7 hits for 2 earned runs. Sheelah got the win. The Fury had yet to hit a HR in the series.

Game 4

Lundgren v Schwer again.

The Thunder scored 3 in the 2nd (a Bernie Baker solo HR, and a Bryan Redelius 2-run blast) and never relinquished their lead. Edward Bebbington even hit a homer, in the 5th, to make the score 4-1. They added another 3 in the 7th, and while the Fury led off the bottom of the 9th with back-to-back doubles, making the score 7-3, that was all they could muster. Series locked at 2-2 and heading back to the Central Coast for the deciding game.

This would be the 1st time since 2028 both Division Finals had gone to 5 games.

Schwer threw 5.1 innings, giving up 7 hits and striking out 2 for 4 earned runs. Lundgren got the win, with 6.1 busy innings. He conceded 6 hits and 2 walks, fanning 4, for 2 earned runs.

Jason Brice hit Wellington’s 1st HR of the series in the 5th.

Game 5

First-year Thunder GM and former AA player Gordon Swan helmed the pre-match press conference. Gareth Torley and his coaching staff were “busy with last minute strategy stuff,” he said. What that ‘strategy stuff’ was, he wouldn’t reveal, though a few analysts on pre-match discussion shows quipped that he was trying to find a way to convince the team's medical staff that Limeburner could handle starting 2 games in 4 days.

However, Okolita started, and the Fury sent out Thurgood.

If Torley had been wanting Limeburner to start, he might’ve been cradling his head in his hands in the top of the 1st after Okolita loaded the bases with no-one out (bunt hit, single 5D, BB). Okolita took a few moments to compose himself, and then struck out the next 2, including power-hitter Harley Puckeridge. But he wasn’t out of the woods just yet. Wendell Baxter showed great patience, watching the 1st 4 pitches of his AB whizz past. With the count 2-2, he finally got a pitch to pull, and launched it into the right-field bleachers. Grand Slam! 4-0 Fury.

The lead wouldn’t stay with the Fury for long, though. The Thunder brought 9 batters to the plate in the 2nd, scoring 4 to tie it all up. The Fury got the lead back in the 4th, Jason Brice doubling Puckeridge home, and scored 2 more in the 5th, neither of them earned, to make it 7-4. Sproule’s 3rd HR of the series made it 7-5 in the bottom of the inning, but while both teams had opportunities, that was how the score remained.

Naismith had recovered from his blown save in Game 3, and needed only 9 pitches to finish the bottom of the 9th.

Okolita allowed in 7 runs (5 earned) in 4.2 innings, off the back of 7 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 5. Thurgood was also wayward, conceding 10 hits and 2 walks in 5.1 innings for 5 earned runs. He struck out 4 and got the W, but it was the Fury relievers who deserved the credit, 4 of them combining to throw 3.2 scoreless innings, only allowing 2 hits.

Despite the blown save, Naismith picked up Hurler of the Series. He threw 5.0 innings across 4 appearances, allowing only the 1HR, and 2 other hits. He notched up 3 saves.

Arthur Sproule was awarded Slugger of the Series. He was on the losing side, but hit .409/.435/1.000, with 3HR, 4 doubles and 6RBI.

[Izz]

2036 Championship - Wellington Fury v Christchurch Cowboys

Before it even started, the 2036 Championship Series made history, with this year marking the 1st time 2 New Zealand-based teams were playing each other. While Australian media worried the series’ broadcasts wouldn’t rate well as a result, they needn’t have. Both teams boasted enough Australians to keep the nationalistic Australian-based fan happy, and fans in general were as excited as they always were to watch the Championship.

If Mitch Cornell thought he and his Cowboys would get off as quietly at the beginning of this series as they had in the Division Finals, he had another thing coming. The media barrage in the 2 days leading up to the 1st game was brutal and relentless.

The Fury had won only 2 of 12 regular season games between the 2 sides. If the best offensive team, and 2nd-best defensive team, couldn’t knock off the Fury, a “team at the end of its fairy-tale,” according to one commentator, then they “needed to spend the entire offseason hiding in Bottle Lake Forest Park, learning how to be men again.”

Declan Considine, in his 5th year as manager of the Fury, was not happy with how the media were presenting the situation. At the Game 1 pre-match presser, he said, “Look, if you guys want to rip up the Cowboys, be my guest. I doubt they’re watching you guys anyway, and to be honest, I think Mitch likes the attention. But listen, my lads have worked their arses off this season. They’ve fought and scrapped and scraped to get here, and they deserve some credit for that. So you need to stop the stupid comparisons and the insults. Not for their sake, because they don’t watch you either. But for your sake, because this is all just juvenile.”

Immediately, one of the journos replied, “Hey, at least we can tie our own shoes.”

It was a reference to a story earlier in the year, in which 20 year-old Fury rookie Adrian McHugh was quoted as saying he wore velcro cleats because he always had trouble getting the “over-under shoelace thing sorted.”

Considine, 55, looked at the ceiling, shook his head, and left the room. Word was relayed a few minutes later that the Fury would hold no more press conferences for the duration of the Championship, and no players would be available to talk to the media.

Game 1

Gallagher v Juarez.

Wayne Schmidt’s 2-run dinger in the top of the 2nd put the Fury up 2-0, and from there until the 8th it was both pitchers trading punches. The Cowboys got on the board in the bottom of the 8th thanks to 3 consecutive no-out singles. Oliver Sharp then walked to load the bases, giving the Cowboys a real opportunity to take the lead and possibly the game away from the Fury. Harry Leseberg struck out swinging on 3 pitches, and then Jarod Atkins ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning and end the threat.

The Fury scored a 2-out insurance run in the top of the 9th to make it 3-1, and it was just as well they did. Naismith came out to close the game, and gave up a leadoff single to Trent Cashmore. Gomez’s ground out advanced Cashmore to 3rd, and Arnold Tipping’s single put runners on the corners and the winning run at the plate. Clancy Rankin thumped 1 to deep center and for a few moments the home crowd thought it was gone, but it hit the wall, and only brought Cashmore home. Still, with runners at 2nd and 3rd, with 1 out, the Cowboys had to be liking their chances. Ming Sun popped up to 2nd. 2 out. Bailey Johnston walked to load the bases, but rookie Oliver Sharp hit the 1st pitch of his AB firmly to 3rd who made no mistake with the regulation throw to 3rd.

3-2 Fury in a nail-biting finish for their fans (and manager).

Juarez threw 7.2 innings, allowing 5 hits and 3 walks, K’ing 4, for 2 earned runs. That was enough to get him the loss. Gallagher was great in his 8 innings, allowing only 5 hits and 1 walk for 1 earned run. He struck out 6.

No Fury players could be reached for comment after the game.

Game 2

Schwer v Coulton. And Schwer was fantastic, dominating through 8 innings, allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7.

Harley Puckeridge got the scoring underway in the 1st with a 2-run HR. And that was all the run production until the 8th, when the Fury went single, sac bunt, IBB, (pitching change) rbi-single, rbi-single, K, popup F4, to make it 4-0. The Cowboys managed to get runners on 2nd and 3rd in the bottom of the 8th with 2outs, but couldn’t bring either of them home.

Just to make sure there was no doubt about the outcome, the Fury batted around in the top of the 9th, scoring 5 (double, single, rbi-double, BB, sac fly, BB, (pitching change) rbi-BB, popup F4, 2-rbi single, K).

9-0 Fury and they were up 2 to nothing in the series.

Coulton wasn’t terrible, just outclassed by Schwer. In 7.1 innings, Coulton allowed 7 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6, for 4 earned runs.

Game 3

The series went to Wellington, and the Cowboys were deep in a hole. The Fury still weren’t talking to the media, but their performances were plenty loud, so the journos had nothing to do but keep bringing up the old Cowboys’ lack of mental fitness chestnut. It was an awkward time for media, fans, and the AUNZBL.

Thurgood would face off against Radford.

Once again, a 2-run HR was the first scoring act of the game. Drew Geoghegan was the hitter this time, in the bottom of the 1st. The Cowboys offense clicked into gear in the 3rd however, as they batted around, scoring 7. Everything happened with 2 outs, too, and Thurgood stalked off at the end of the inning looking both bewildered and angry. Oliver Sharp singled, then stole 2nd. Harry Leseberg battled 11 pitches for a walk, then Jarod Atkins doubled over the head of the leftfielder to bring both runners home. Trent Cashmore singled, and a wayward throw from the RF saw Atkins come home and Cashmore move up to 2nd. Gomez walked on 9 pitches, then Arnold Tipping loaded the bases with a single over the head of 2nd base. Clancy Rankin made sure the damage was irreversible, lofting the 1-0 pitch down the right field line and just over the wall for a Grand Slam! 7-2 Cowboys.

And then, just like that, the Cowboys’ offense sputtered to a halt again. But the Fury couldn’t find their way back into the game either, a Harley Puckeridge 437-foot solo shot in the 7th their only addition to the score. 7-3 Cowboys.

Thurgood stayed in for an extra inning after his beating, but no longer. He gave up 5 hits and 2 walks for 7 earned runs, striking out 3. Radford got the win, restricting the Fury to 5 hits and 2 walks in 7 innings, fanning 4, for 3 earned runs.

Cowboys reliever Blair Bansfield came out of the game complaining of a sore back. Medical staff said the extent of the injury wouldn’t be known until after they’d run a battery of tests and scans.

Game 4

The Cowboys would start Juarez for this one, while the Fury went with 21-game starter Karl Murphy (10-9, 3.66 ERA, 4.24 FIP, 1.35 WHIP).

The Fury got on the board in the bottom of the 1st with a Danny Goodwin solo HR. The Cowboys evened it up in the top of the 2nd with a Ming Sung solo effort, and then added 2 runs across the 4th and 5th to go ahead 3-1. In the bottom of the 6th Wayne Schmidt hit a 2-out, 2-run HR to even the scores, and then Brice, Simon Calleson, and Dolgonos hit consecutive singles to make it 4-3 Fury.

Trent Cashmore belted a solo HR in the top half of the 7th to make it 4-4, and that was all the scoring through regulation innings. The Cowboys loaded the bases in the top of the 11th with 1 out, but had a runner thrown out at home off a nubber back to the pitcher, and limply ended the inning with a regulation groundball to the shortstop.

In the bottom of the 11th, Geoghegan led off with a 1st-pitch single, advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch, then to 3rd on a ground out. The next batter was intentionally walked to set up the double play. Richard Lewis came up to bat and hit the 2-2 pitch softly towards the hole at 2nd, forcing the 2B to run onto the infield grass. Geoghegan took off with the contact and as there was no chance of the double play, the 2B fired it home, but Geoghegan beat out the throw with a foot-first slide to win the game. 5-4 Fury, and a Championship was just about in their grasp.

Juarez gave up 9 hits and a walk in 5.2 IP, sitting 7 down on strikes. Murphy allowed 7 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3, in 7 innings.

Harry Leseberg strained his oblique and would miss the rest of the series. The Cowboys also found out that Blair Bansfield had a ruptured disc in his back and would be out for 8-9 months.

Game 5

The media were certainly singing the Fury’s praises now, but still neither manager nor players would give interviews or appear at press conferences. Word was the AUNZBL had issued a half-hearted demand to Fury management that the media agreement be honoured, but they said nothing publicly, and the Fury didn’t back down. GM Dean Warren, who’d been overseeing the organization since 2025, was doing interviews, but they appeared purposefully vague and generic. Owner Jeremy Wilcox was “out of the country on business.”

On the mound, it was Gallagher v Joe Turton (12-9, 3.99 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 1.21 WHIP), who’d had a tumultuous time out of the bullpen for the Cowboys in the postseason.

The Cowboys’ offense busted out in this one, as they scored 6 unanswered runs through the 1st 3 innings, sending Gallagher to an early shower. They scored another in the 5th to make it 7-0, before the Fury hit back with 3 in the bottom of the inning, 2 coming via solo HRs (Brice, Baxter). But any thoughts of a comeback were quickly snuffed out, as the Cowboys scored 4 in the 6th to make it 11-3 and beyond doubt. A couple more runs were traded, the final score: Cowboys 12, Fury 5.

Turton looked much more comfortable starting than he had coming on in relief. He allowed 7 hits and walked none in 7 innings, striking out 2, for 3 earned runs. Gallagher conceded 9 hits and 1 walk for 6 runs (5 earned) in 2.2 innings.

Oliver Sharp went 4-4, and tied the AUNZBL playoff record for runs scored with 4. Rankin hit a solo HR in the 3rd.

Harley Puckeridge limped out of the game in the 5th inning. His ankle, while not sprained, was bruised enough to sideline him for the rest of the series. A real blow for the Fury, who would miss the threat of his power.

Game 6

Schwer and Coulton to duke it out again. And both pitchers came to play.

Neither team scored through 5. In the 6th, Lou Stapleton led off with a triple to deep center. Danny Goodwin popped out to 2nd base, and Richard Lewis was intentionally walked to set up the double play. Not the right move, as it turned out, with Rich Bannon doubling into rightfield to score both runners. Ming Sun got 1 back in the bottom of the inning with a massive 443-foot solo blast over straightaway centre.

Then the pitchers’ resumed dueling. Coulton retired the side in order in the top of the 7th, Schwer likewise in the bottom of the inning. Okubo came out to pitch the 8th, struck out the 1st batter, and got the 2nd on a ground out. Richard Lewis beat out the throw from 3rd for an infield single, but was caught stealing 2nd to end the inning. With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, Oliver Sharp doubled, then Arnold Tipping’s single just beyond the edge of the infield put runners on the corners. Ming Sun then cracked a sharp groundball to 1st and the Fury turned a 3-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Vankrimpen came on for the Cowboys to pitch the top of the 9th. With 1 out, Drew Geoghegan hit a line-drive single to right centre, but Wayne Schmidt struck out and Jason Brice hit a regulation fly to right to stop any chance of the Fury adding an insurance run.

If Naismith was feeling any nerves in the bottom of the 9th, he didn’t show it, striding out to the mound with head held high. Antony Backhouse led off the inning and hit his 1-0 pitch along the ground straight to 2nd for a regulation out. Jarod Atkins hit his 1-0 pitch firmly to 3rd, and was thrown out by half a step. Trent Cashmore could only make weak contact on his 1-2 pitch, the shortstop making no mistake with his throw to 1st.

2-1 victory to the Fury, and a 4-2 series win.

Naismith was mobbed by his teammates, and the celebrations on Cowboys Ballpark lasted more than half an hour.

Schwer was once again on top of his game, conceding 5 hits and 3 walks through 8, striking out 6, for 1 earned run. Coulton allowed 4 hits and 3 walks through 7, striking out 3.

An announcement was made to media that Considine would front the aftermatch press conference. When he did walk in, 5 minutes late, it was standing room only. Immediately a barrage of questions fired, a volley of hands raised, and a mess of recording devices activated.

Considine raised both hands and the noise quieted. With a large smile, he said, “I bet you lot haven’t learned a thing from all this, have you?”

Then he turned and marched out of the room.

The same quick-witted journo who’d made the jab about McHugh at the beginning of the series was first out of the blocks here, too. To Considine’s back, he said, “What is there to learn? That the Cowboys are still chokers?”

It should’ve come as no surprise to anyone who’d followed the series that the majority of headlines across news-sites that evening and the next looked something like: Fury, Least Deserving Champions Ever?

Carlo Schwer was the very deserving winner of the Hurler of the Series. He threw 16.0 innings across 2 starts, allowing only 8 hits and 4 walks, the only run scored off him being a solo HR. He had an ERA of 0.56 and struck out 13.

Slugger of the Series was a more difficult pick. In the end it went to Jason Brice, who put up a .333/.333/.500 stat-line, with 1HR.

[Izz]

2036 Leaderboards

[Izz]

Retirement Class of 2036

Some of those who retired during the 2036 season:

Matthew Flynn. 38 y/o, SS. 2020-2035. In the end, Flynn was more widely known for a domestic violence incident committed against him than for his baseball. However, he did carve out a respectable career on the diamond. .262/.328/.431, 1614 hits, 860 runs, 205HRs, 881RBI, 547BB. 3-time Gold Glove, 2-time All Star, 2 Championship rings, both with Newcastle (2029, 2034).

Brendon Baker. 35 y/o, SS. 2024-2035. .293/.330/.461, 1472 hits, 713 runs, 167HR, 661RBI. 4-time All Star, 1 Championship with the Aces in 2025. Led the league in doubles in 2026.

Steven Worsfold. 35 y/o, LF. 2023-2035. .262/.318/.414. 1419 hits, 671 runs, 55 triples, 161HR, 746RBI. Retired 8th on the all-time triples list. Went to the All Star Game twice, and won 2 Championships, both with the Venom, in 2032 and 2033. Led the league in triples in 2028.

Rick ‘Wildcat’ Fallon. 34 y/o, RF. 2024-2035. .285/.342/.407, 1304 hits, 633 runs, 97HR, 567RBI, 209SB. 8th on the all-time Stolen Bases leaderboard. 4-time All Star. Led the league in steals in 2028, and in intentional walks that same year.

Paul ‘Steely’ McKinna. 40 y/o, SP. 2019-2035. 180-132, 3.68 ERA, 3.88 FIP, 1.19 WHIP, 1940 Ks. Retired 2nd on the all-time wins list, 3rd on the all-time complete games list (41), and 6th on the all-time shutout list (7), as well as having racked up the 5th most strikeouts. A 5-time All Star, McKinna won 3 Championships, with the Blue Sox in 2020, with the Bandits in 2028, and with Cowboys in 2030. He recorded 20 wins in 2030 to lead the league, and won the Hurler of the Year that same season. In 2030 and 2032 he led the league in BB/9, with 1.06 and 1.22 respectively. He struck out 10 or more batters in a game 11 times.

[Izz]

2036 Awards

Gold Gloves

Pitcher: Rhys England (Sydney Blue Sox)
Catcher: Arnold Tipping (Christchurch Cowboys)
First Baseman: Blair Ottaway (Central Coast Thunder)
Second Baseman: Dermott Lawson (Perth Heat)
Third Baseman: Brock Wakely (Auckland Metros)
Shortstop: Andre Maybury (Newcastle Roos)
Left Fielder: Maurice Fowler (Canberra Cavalry)
Center Fielder: Marcello Stuart (Melbourne Aces)
Right Fielder: Pi-ao Ming (Canberra Cavalry)

Rookie of the Year

26 y/o Oliver Sharp of the Cowboys. He hit .328/.386/.527, 104-317, with 15 doubles, 9 triples, and 10HR. His WAR was 3.5, his VORP 37.2.

Thunder 1B, 27 y/o Blair Ottaway (.240/.353/.405, 139-580, 32 doubles, 20HR, 91 runs, 95BB), came 2nd, and 25 y/o Prospects C Angelo Brewster (.262/.328/.424, 142-543, 33 doubles, 17HR, 55BB) came 3rd.

Skipper of the Year

Given the brawling nature of the media-manager relationships during the Championship series, fan interest was high as to who would win this award, given media votes made up nearly 50% of the overall vote. Cornell and Considine both had ardent supporters, and the majority opinion was that the media would put away its feud for at least the duration of the awards night and give one of those 2 the gong.

Majority opinion was wrong. It appeared that the journalist community, bar a few outsiders, was very tight nit, and closed ranks just as effectively as a baseball team could.

In the lead up to Awards’ Night, the only media mention made of who might win Skipper of the Year came from a fairly new, independent net-station devoted to baseball. It was called Out of the Park Baseball TV (yep, the same OotPB that dominates the baseball broadcasting community today) and was staffed almost entirely by former players, with the objective to “provide impartial and objective coverage and analysis of the world’s greatest sport.” OotPB’s opinion was that Skipper of the Year wouldn’t go to either of the managing participants in the Championship Series.

They were right. Gareth Torley, who’d skippered the Thunder to a 105-57 record, but hadn’t made it past the Division Finals, got the award. It was the 4th time he had won it. He kept his acceptance speech brief, and actually looked a little embarrassed as he trotted off the stage. While his pedigree and record were certainly not in doubt, it seemed obvious to most that he was a media grudge pick.

Considine didn’t appear too bothered. When asked for comment by some smirking reporters, he made a point of rolling his Championship ring around on his finger and said, “I’m sure Gareth would much prefer to be in my shoes tonight. But congrats to him! The way he helms that team is definitely impressive.”

Hurler of the Year

Nobody was quite sure who was going to win HotY this time around, with Bernie Limeburner being the slight favourite, though a sizeable portion of the fanbase thought a closer might scoop it for the 2nd year running, seeing as how they’d scooped so many of the HotM awards during the season.

Limeburner did take the award, his 20 wins too hard to ignore. He struck out 165 in 217.0 innings, and earned a result (20-10) in 30 of his 33 starts. His WAR was only 2.0, however, and his VORP 49.9.

Edward Delaney, who had consistently high WARs (once again leading the league in pitcher’s WAR in 2036), but played for a poor team, didn’t even make the final vote. Indeed, it was 2 closers who finished 2nd and 3rd. Ian Naismith (7-5, 51 saves, 1.99 ERA, 2.97 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 81.1 IP in 75 games) came 2nd, and Joshua Cheadle (11-2, 37 saves, 2.02 ERA, 2.33 FIP, 0.99 WHIP, 89 Ks in 80.0 IP, 67 games) finished 3rd.

Slugger of the Year

The overwhelming favourite for SotY was Richard Lewis. His 9.3 WAR was 2.7 better than his closest rival, and while he lacked true HR power, he still hit 12 on the year, while creating runs in every other way, and saving a fair few too in LF.

A few fans thought the media’s shunning of the Fury manager might also extend to the Fury players, but it wasn’t to be in this case. Accepting the award, 24 y/o Lewis made a point of thanking Considine for “being an awesome skipper,” and said “the Fury would be real good again in 2037.”

Lewis hit .321/.434/.478 for the year, 174-542, with 33 doubles, 8 triples, 12HR, and 109BB. He stole 47 bases and scored 83 runs, with a WAR of 9.3 and a VORP of 80.3.

Ramiro Madrigal (.288/.432/.513, 9 triples, 29HR, 136BB, 95 runs) finished 2nd, and Patrick Gulledge (.316/.363/.560, 44 doubles, 36HR, 107 runs) came 3rd.

Russell Puckeridge was reportedly very disappointed not to make the final ballot.

[Izz]

2036 Career Leaderboards

Interesting to note that Stewart Warwick was once again atop the career batting avg. leaderboard.

[Izz]

Out of the Park Baseball TV Broadcast Excerpt

The early years of Out of the Park Baseball TV were interesting, and quite different to what we might expect of the solar system’s biggest baseball-dedicated enterprise. While they covered nearly every game, their budget limited them to 1 fixed camera (not the hover models that were so popular post-War). Often that camera’s positioning was less than optimal as OotPB was low down the media & broadcasting pecking order.

What set them apart was their commentary and match analysis. It was streets ahead of any other station, and much of this was to do with the calibre of the commentators and analysts, to a man all former players who were articulate and insightful.

While nothing conclusive can be found in the archives, and certainly no mention of it is made in the oft-played, OotPB-produced biopic, Four seams and grass stains: From the diamond to the stars, it appeared that OotPB was formed on the back of a casual agreement with players who wanted to pursue media careers post-retirement. OotPB was to be their 1st port of call, a broadcaster run by former players who knew what it was like to live and play in the baseball fish bowl, a broadcaster without the attack mentality of the typical press.

While objectivity was certainly lacking amongst the rest of the journo pack, who instead favoured sensationalized stories and seemed to spend as much time attacking the sport and its players and managers as they did talking it up, OotPB’s directive had potential to push it to entirely the opposite end of the spectrum: where anything that didn’t paint baseball in a positive light was swept under the carpet.

In fact, many today think of OotPB TV as an over-enthusiastic fan, rather than a neutral reporting body. However, a history book is not the venue to discuss that. Certainly, OotPB’s overall game coverage cannot be questioned, and neither can their love for the game. In any case, in the early days OotPB TV did, in this writer’s opinion, do a very good job of presenting objective analysis.

The following is a transcript of an excerpt from a weekly offseason discussion panel titled Two-Platoon, chaired by Ye ‘Stallion’ Zhuo, who’d played with Wellington and Sydney from 2019-2026 and retired at age 29 to go into the media. His panellists were Carl Spruijt and Vinnie Egan. This particular panel was broadcast Thursday the 30th of April, 2037, the week after the Awards Dinner and the week before the free agent filings. We begin with them discussing the recently completed Championship series.

#

Ye Zhuo: So, with the season having been over for three weeks, and the headlines still doing the rounds that the Fury are the least deserving champions ever, I guess we have to ask: are they?

Vinnie Egan: Any team who wins it all is deserving. 162-game regular season, occasionally more if there’s a tie at the end, then 2 playoff series. It’s pretty hard to call a team undeserving if they get through all that to take the Championship. And it wasn’t like the Fury scraped into the playoffs, either. They won the wildcard by 8 games.

Carl Spruijt: Yes, agree totally. Very deserving. And possibly the windiest place on the planet to play baseball, right Rip?

VE: *laughs* Yeah, that was obviously the reason I hit so bad the year I played there. Seriously, though, I’m surprised they haven’t gone the covered stadium route. But that’s a discussion for another day.

YZ: Yes, yes it is. Okay, now we’ve got the Championship chat out of the way, let’s discuss something much more important: Russell Puckeridge.

VE & CS: *laughter*

YZ: In all seriousness, how big of a deal is he?

CS: Well, he’s certainly special, no denying that. He’s the 1st player to play in the AUNZBL at the top level as both a 1st-choice member of the rotation - remember, he started 32 games in the 2035/2036 season - and an everyday position player.

VE: As a catcher, too!

CS: Yep. He’s obviously still got a ways to go defensively, from blocking balls to framing pitches to calling a game, but the Venom won 99 with him behind the plate for most of them, so he’s certainly not terrible on the defensive end.

YZ: You look like you’ve got a ‘but’ coming, Carl.

CS: I do, and this will sound funny coming from me, but I think he’s made the transition too late.

YZ: Too late? Hang on just a sec. *pauses and waggles finger in Spruijts direction while grinning widely* At the beginning of the season you were the one telling everyone how good he was going to go. And just last week you were picking him to come 3rd on the SotY ballot.

VE: This should be fun.

CS: Yes, I picked him to get a runner up in the SotY. And to be honest, he actually exceeded my expectations over the season. I would never have picked him to win the HR crown. What an exceptional achievement for someone who is, essentially, a rookie.

YZ: So explain yourself, then.

CS: It’s precisely for that reason I think he’s made the switch too late.

VE: Ah, I see where you’re heading with this.

YZ: I don’t.

CS: How old will he be at the start of next season? 30? *nods all around* Don't hitters typically peak in their late 20s? Well, everybody apart from Rip over there, who could probably still hit .280 against top-flight pitching. So we may have just seen Puckeridge’s best season as a hitter.

YZ: Okay, now I see where you’re heading. Late to the party, as usual. Not sure I agree, though.

CS: He’s already had several major arm injuries through his career. The position he’s chosen to play is a hard one on the body, too. On top of that, he’s about to enter his sophomore year as a batter. The novelty factor has worn off, pitchers will have plenty of data about where to pitch him, any psychological weaknesses will be probed. I can’t help but wonder what might’ve been if he’d made the switch, say, 2 years ago instead.

VE: Yeah, sure, he may drop off a bit. But personally I think he’ll continue to be great. I don’t think his power will diminish; I can see him hitting 35-40HRs for the next 4-5 years.

CS: Fair enough. I hope I’m wrong. But even if does hit well for another 4-5 years or even until he retires, will we think of him as great? Or merely special because of the mid-career switch he made?

YZ: Good point. Rip?

VE: Yeah, okay, I’ll give you that one. He hasn’t given himself enough time to carve out a hall-o-fame worthy career. In 20 years, to a casual observer, I’d say his stats as both a hitter and a pitcher will suggest he was merely above-average. Maybe only average as a pitcher.

YZ: Okay, fair enough. But looking at the here and now, what is Puckeridge’s best move?

VE: Stick with the Venom. They’ve allowed him to do what he’s done and supported him the whole way. Some of us weren’t quite sure how they’d go this year with Beau Tyson moving on, but Puckeridge filled that power-hitting role beautifully. Having guys like Madrigal and Downes around him, who tire pitchers out with their patience but can still hit it out of the park, can only improve the great numbers he’ll put up over the next few seasons.

CS: That’s certainly an option, but not the one I think he’ll take. Around the traps, Puckeridge has the nickname ‘Cabfare,’ but without sounding harsh, I really think it should be ‘Big Show.’ Who was the guy who everybody went to for sound-bites when the All Star thing was playing out? Who was the guy who stated publicly after the Awards Dinner that he was disappointed he hadn’t been, to quote, “more seriously considered for Slugger of the Year?” And he’s a smart cookie too, even with all the talk. He’ll know this is probably his only chance for a big payday, and he’ll want to cash in on this season. Yes, he could stay with the Venom, but I’ve heard nothing out of their camp to suggest they’re negotiating.

YZ: Okay, so assuming he doesn’t stay in Adelaide, where will he end up?

CS: Wherever he can be the face of the team.

VE: If I was Larry Diprose and Sterling Okolita at the Sluggers, I’d throw a fair bit of cash his way. They paid big money for Rex Rees, but didn’t really put any other hitters around him. And the result was he had his worst hitting year since 2029/2030, his sophomore season. But imagine if they had Puckeridge to support him in the middle of the lineup. 2 power threats, and they’d have to pitch to at least 1 of them most of the time. But whether Puckeridge would agree to share face-time with Rees, a genuine superstar, who knows?

CS: The Cowboys are an option, if Raul Gomez goes to free agency. They have Tipping, though, and the value he brings is pretty enormous. Though I’m sure Puckeridge could learn 1B easily enough.

VE: True that!

YZ: So if Puckeridge does file in a week, what does that mean for the Venom? Not that 1 player would make all that much of a difference, surely.

VE: No, one player doesn’t. However, I think the Venom have reached the apex of this success curve. Their pitching is still good, and will continue to be, but the core of their lineup is around 30 and will only get older, they have no obvious talents coming through their farm system, and their primary focus at the plate is patience. Which is okay as long as they have a guy who is aggressive enough, without swinging at everything, to take advantage of tired pitchers. That was Beau Tyson, and then Puckeridge, by design or accident, filled that role last season. But I can’t see they have anybody up to that in 2037/2038. And if anybody’s hit their peak and will decline, I think it’s Ramiro Madrigal. So, yeah, they'll head downhill over the next couple of season, in my opinion.

CS: Unless they sign Zachariah Hutchinson.

VE: Yeah. Unless they sign Speedboat. Then it's vroom, vroom all the way to the playoffs.

[Izz]

Offseason

2036 Notes

ERA rose a touch in 2036, to 4.04. Batting average rose also, to .261.

League News

10 May: It was announced that the All Star Game would return in 2037, under a slightly different guise. It would be called Origin All Stars, borrowing shamelessly from the Rugby League concept. The Australian All Stars would consist of players born in Australia, and the NZ & Overseas All Stars would be made up of players born in NZ & the rest of the world. Some of the performance criteria had changed too, though the AUNZBL didn’t specify exactly what, as nobody outside the selection committee actually knew what the performance criteria were. They did announce that the strength of the fan vote had increased, but that the selection committee retained the right to veto that vote if they saw fit. From 2037 onward, the All Star Game would be held on January 1st, rather than December 25th, while the Home Run Derby and Celebrity All Stars would be held on December 19th.

On top of that, players were retroactively selected as 2036 All Stars, though based on their whole season’s performance rather than half a season. Postseason performance wasn’t taken into account. The list is below. Most players canvassed for comment didn’t have a strong opinion on the new setup, but agreed that “recognition of performances was always nice.” Russell Puckeridge felt that the players’ selected should be entitled to “extra remuneration direct from the league’s pockets.”

Fan response was mainly positive, though some worried that not all players on the NZ & Overseas All Stars would be as deserving of their caps, as there was a much smaller pool of Kiwi- and overseas-born players than there was of Australian-born.

The biggest criticism of the new setup was that it would now be split into 2 one-day events rather than 1 three-day event. Calls that the AUNZBL were just trying to make more money were quickly responded to, the league making the point that while the events were now taking place separately, 2 days was always shorter than 3 days, and ticket prices would not be raised to compensate. Plus, they stated cryptically, tightening the schedule was a necessary part of their 10-year plan. What their 10-year plan was, they declined to say, but most were of the opinion that it involved more expansion, possibly even into Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

2036 Australian All Stars

SP Randy Coulton (CHR) - 14-8, 2.39 ERA, 3.94 FIP, 1.13 WHIP
SP Brendon Vernon (NEW) - 14-7, 2.61 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 1.16 WHIP
SP Mitchell Gallagher (WEL) - 16-7, 3.30 ERA, 4.80 FIP, 1.14 WHIP
SP Bradley Lundgren (CEN) - 16-7, 3.46 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 1.19 WHIP
SP Rowan Kalman (NEW) - 14-6, 3.09 ERA, 3.00 FIP, 1.08 WHIP
SP Rhys England (SYD) - 14-14, 3.72 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 1.23 WHIP
SP Cooper Ahernfeld (CEN) - 13-6, 2.50 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 1.03 WHIP
MR Lou Naylor (CEN) - 14-4, 3 saves, 3.26 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 1.26 WHIP
MR Vaughan Lutz (NEW) - 4-4, 2 saves, 3.10 ERA, 3.27 FIP, 1.52 WHIP
CL Ian Naismith (WEL) - 7-5, 51 saves, 1.99 ERA, 2.97 FIP, 1.05 WHIP
CL Joshua Cheadle (ADE) - 11-2, 37 saves, 2.02 ERA, 2.33 FIP, 0.99 WHIP
CL Dan Vankrimpen (CHR) - 7-4, 42 saves, 3.20 ERA, 2.86 FIP, 1.26 WHIP
C Wendell Baxter (WEL) - .263/.315/.420, 15HR
1B Elliot Wilkins (NEW) - .271/.345/.470, 23HR
1B Alastair Mildren (CAN) - .306/.400/.529, 35HR
1B Patrick Gulledge (SYD) - .316/.363/.560, 36HR
1B Kelvin Ackland (AUC) - .303/.346/.474, 17HR
1B Arthur Sproule (PER, CEN) - .282/.369/.510, 30HR
2B Bill Bransington (NEW) - .294/.404/.594, 36HR
2B Kelvin Anderton (CHR) - .301/.379/.482, 17HR
2B Alan Delaney (MEL) - .308/.356/.416, 9HR
SS Andre Maybury (NEW) - .310/.374/.446, 11HR
SS Phillip Tinter (CAN) - .295/.346/.457, 14HR
LF Vaughan Skuse (PER) - .305/.350/.460, 21HR
LF Bill Buffey (BRI) - .268/.337/.509, 33HR
CF Harry Leseberg (CHR) - .301/.334/.468, 22HR
RF Zachariah Hutchinson (MEL) - .288/.362/.510, 32HR
RF Bao-Qing Ling (WEL) - .288/.361/.483, 21HR

2036 NZ & Overseas All Stars

SP Dylan Cully (BRI) - 12-11, 3.16 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 1.19 WHIP
SP Edward Delaney (SYD) - 12-12, 2.86 ERA, 3.18 FIP, 1.12 WHIP
SP Bernie Limeburner (CEN) - 20-10, 2.90 ERA, 4.54 FIP, 1.24 WHIP
SP Jorge Juarez (CHR) - 18-8, 3.60 ERA, 3.92 FIP, 1.15 WHIP
SP Brock Humphries (CEN) - 15-7, 2.91 ERA, 4.29 FIP, 1.12 WHIP
SP Sugimoto Okubo (CHR) - 14-5, 4.29 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.33 WHIP
SP Logan Neilson (PER) - 8-10, 3.51 ERA, 3.01 FIP, 1.28 WHIP
SP Brendan McHugh (BRI) - 11-12, 3.43 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 1.26 WHIP
SP Mario Amaya (MEL) - 10-11, 3.42 ERA, 4.03 FIP, 1.37 WHIP
MR Cain Hackworth (WEL) - 7-4, 6 saves, 1.69 ERA, 2.21 FIP, 1.11 WHIP
MR Andres Romero (CEN) - 4-2, 3 saves, 2.78 ERA, 3.32 FIP, 1.12 WHIP
CL Bryan Chin (MEL) - 3-4, 33 saves, 2.74 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.14 WHIP
C Russell Puckeridge (ADE) - .305/.349/.379, 39HR
C Arnold Tipping (CHR) - .291/.363/.447, 19HR
1B Beau Tyson (CAI) - .286/.334/.486, 33HR
1B Raul Gomez (CHR) - .246/.341/.452, 26HR
1B Ashley Snijders (CAN) - .258/.317/.445, 26HR
2B Ramiro Madrigal (ADE) - .288/.432/.513, 29HR
2B Alan Pye (HOB) - .328/.373/.409, 4HR
2B Stefan Ballard (ADE) - .328/.354/.385, 2HR
2B Edward Bebbington (CEN) - .301/.353/.383, 4HR
3B Rex Rees (WHA) - .275/.379/.502, 30HR
3B Gavin Dethridge (CAI) - .287/.325/.419, 11HR
SS Gavin Liddell (SYD) - .307/.375/.372, 1HR
SS Mario Martinez (WHA) - .284/.347/.414, 14HR
LF Richard Lewis (WEL) - .321/.434/.478, 12HR
LF Vaughan Lockrey (CEN) - .224/.328/.387, 22HR
CF Bernie Baker (CAI, CEN) - .283/.325/.493, 28HR

Notable Club Happenings

Adelaide: Nobody got fired, but the contracts of Adelaide’s GM, bench coach, hitting coach and trainer weren’t renewed. Manager Rory Graham only had a year left to run on his contract, and rumor swirled that the 2037 season would be his last in Venom colours.

Central Coast: The Thunder didn’t renew the contracts of their bench coach or pitching coach.

Melbourne: The Aces terminated GM Sterling Pryor, who’d only lasted 1 year in the job, and didn’t renew the contracts of their skipper or trainer.

Newcastle: The Roos weren’t in a negotiating mood either, and didn’t renew their GM, manager, PC, or trainer. 3-year bench coach Jit-wei Jiang got a promotion to skipper.

Notable Free Agent Signings/Player Contract Extensions

29 Mar: Postseason, rather than offseason, but semantics aside: the Venom signed 24 y/o SP Stephen Snell (41-29 career, 3.56 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 1.25 WHIP) to a 4-year extension, buying out his arbitration years and at least 1 of his free agent years.

1 Apr: The morning of their Game 5 loss to the Fury, the Thunder announced they’d extended 29 y/o SP Bernie ‘Colonel’ Limeburner’s (68-45, 3.20 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) contract for 6 years.

4 Apr: In the midst of Championship fever, the Fury worked out a 4 year deal with 26 y/o SS Drew Geoghegan (.269/.334/.328, 12HR career; he hit over .302/.375/.375 in 2036) that would buy out his arbitration and early free agency.

8 Apr: Perth extended 26 y/o SP Logan Neilson (38-37, 3.47 ERA, 3.84 FIP, 1.29 WHIP) for 3 years.

1 May: 36 y/o Wendell Baxter (.293/.338/.441, 215HR, 977RBI, 2086 hits) would be playing for the Fury for 2 more years.

3 May: The Roos offered Elliot Wilkins a contract for 2037. The fans were ecstatic, and Newcastle got itself a lot of goodwill with the media (who seemed to love them a lot already, in any case).

6 May: This year’s free agent crop included:

29 y/o Russell Puckeridge
30 y/o Rowan Kalman
30 y/o Zachariah Hutchinson
30 y/o Raul Gomez
29 y/o Gavin Liddell
29 y/o Arthur Sproule
29 y/o Jorge Juarez
28 y/o Alan Delaney
29 y/o Ronald DeJong
36 y/o Rhys Jamieson
32 y/o Mario Martinez
36 y/o Damian Neill
34 y/o Arnold Chappell
31 y/o Carlo Schwer
32 y/o Brandon Shearer
33 y/o Dan Vankrimpen
35 y/o Gavin Dethridge
33 y/o Sterling Caporn
38 y/o Fu Lao
29 y/o Bradley Hibbert
29 y/o Rowan Tamblyn

#

13 May: Tristan Dryden (.262/.323/.416, 140HR) announced he’s stay with the Venom for 2 more years.

17 May: 27 y/o SP Bruce Radford (64-33, 3.38 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 1.14 WHIP) finalized a 4-year extension with the Cowboys.

17 May: The Crocs pulled off a great signing, bolstering their rotation by signing 5’9” strikeout machine Rowan Kalman (65-36, 3.37 ERA, 3.18 FIP, 1.10 WHIP, 935 Ks in 899.2 IP) for 4 years.

19 May: Canberra would have a middle of the lineup to rival any other AUNZBL team after they announced they’d signed Zachariah Hutchinson (.282/.352/.462, 177HR) for 4 years.

19 May: Former Rookie of the Year, 28 y/o Roderick Adamczak (.238/.343/.422, 72HR) was thrown a lifeline by the Crocs after the Blue Sox declined to offer him arbitration. Cairns signed him for 2 years.

21 May: Dan Vankrimpen (59-57, 247 saves, 3.35 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 1.16 WHIP) would wear an Aces cap for the next 3 years.

24 May: The Aces were excited to announce they’d convinced Raul Gomez (.278/.353/.505, 248HR) to commit to their cause for the next 4 years.

25 May: Brisbane signed Jorge Juarez (72-71, 3.76 ERA, 4.13 FIP, 1.26 WHIP) to a 6-year deal. Most analysts felt he wouldn’t be there the length of the deal.

31 May: Alan Delaney (.316/.359/.435, 62HR) signed with the Fury for 5 years.

7 Jun: The Sluggers acquired the services of Arnold Chappell (123-108, 3.91 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 1.24 WHIP) for 2 years.

13 Jun: After testing the market, Mario Martinez (.262/.326/.390, 147HR) decided to re-sign with the Sluggers for 4 years. By all accounts, they paid him plenty to do so.

14 Jun: Damian Neill (164-165, 4.00 ERA, 4.15 ERA, 1.24 WHIP) would call Whangarei his home for the next 2 years.

16 Jun: Hobart signed Brandon Shearer (65-81, 4.47 ERA, 4.50 FIP, 1.28 WHIP) to a 3-year deal. Shearer seemed to be one of those guys who showed enough talent to convince teams they could get the best out of him, but rarely played to his potential. His FIP of 4.08 in 2036 was his best since 2029.

22 Jun: 35 y/o Jason McHugh (.266/.333/.466, 252HR) finalized an extension with the Roos that would see him stay in Newcastle until the 2040 season.

30 Jun: Fu Lao (172-174, 3.94 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 1.28 WHIP) signed a 1-year deal with Sydney. The Blue Sox would be Lao’s 5th team in a career heading into its 18th year.

4 Jul: The Bandits agreed to terms with Carlo Schwer (66-65, 3.87 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.12 WHIP) on a 3-year deal.

3 Aug: Sterling Caporn (82-77, 4.16 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 1.34 WHIP) signed with Hobart for 2 years.

4 Aug: The Cowboys signed Neil Okolita (125-112, 3.76 ERA, 4.07 FIP, 1.27 WHIP) for the 2037 season.

7 Aug: In a remarkably low-tempo signing announcement, the Fury presented Russell Puckeridge to the media and fans. He’d signed on a 1-year deal. One wondered if this meant fan favourite Wendell Baxter would find himself at 1B, DH, or as backup catcher.

19 Aug: Gavin Dethridge (.269/.313/.399, 134HR) would wear an Aces uniform in 2037.

25 Aug: The Thunder procured the services of Gavin Liddell (.296/.358/.391, 45HR) for the season.

27 Aug: Brisbane signed Ronald DeJong (59-75, 4.28 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 1.30 WHIP) for 1 year. DeJong had played his whole career to this point with the Prospects, and most analysts agreed he was a better pitcher than his numbers indicated.

2 Sep: Bradley Hibbert (.215/.297/.398, 132HR) joined the Sluggers at ST after having signed a 1-year deal. While not someone who’d hit for average, he had power, hitting 30HRs in 2036, and would provide a valuable foil to Rees, hitting behind him in the lineup.

10 Sep: The Crocs signed Rowan Tamblyn (.279/.323/.381, 65HR) for the season. Cairns would be Tamblyn’s 4th club in the last 3 years.

20 Sep: Joshua Cheadle (90-35, 83 saves, 2.83 ERA, 2.97 FIP, 1.14 WHIP) signed a 1-year contract extension with Adelaide. At the press conference, Cheadle said, “I love this club, and I couldn’t imagine playing anywhere else.”

25 Sep: Arthur Sproule (.262/.335/.466, 138HR) left it a little late, but he would have a team for the 2037 season, after he signed a 1-year deal with the Crocs.

Notable Trades

12 Apr: The 1st trade of the offseason occurred on the 1st day of the offseason, and apparently Fury management weren’t partying as hard as their players. One player who would’ve had his celebrations rudely interrupted was 28 y/o 2B Lou Stapleton (.257/.312/.370, 42HR) who was told he was on his way to the Aces in exchange for 27 y/o RF, and 2034 Rookie of the Year, Zachary Bright (.259/.314/.373, 28HR) and a pitching prospect.

22 May: The Fury made another trade, one which raised a few eyebrows, sending 30 y/o SS Jason Brice (.281/.339/.381, 32HR) and a minor leaguer to the Blue Sox in return for 28 y/o SP Ted Chapman (18-31, 4.71 ERA, 4.47 FIP, 1.49 WHIP).

17 Jun: 27 y/o Gavin Jiang (36-38, 4.42 ERA, 4.31 FIP, 1.40 WHIP) had a 2-hour motorway trip to his new team, travelling from the Sluggers to the Metros in exchange for a 21 y/o SP prospect.

Notable Injuries

22 Apr: Elliot Wilkins suffered a setback in his rehab from a torn meniscus. When the injury initially occurred, Roos’ medical staff gave a 7 week recovery time. Now it was looking more like 9-10 weeks.

24 Sep: Aces’ hopeful, Damon Loetzsch, trying to win a place in the rotation during spring training, got bad news. He had torn his labrum, and it would be at least 12 months before he could pitch again.

Other Notes

1 Jul: In only the 2nd ever case of its sort at ML-level, Austin ‘Rodeo’ Darke of the Wellington Fury got handed an 80-game suspension for the use of PEDs. The injury-prone Darke was 67-54 lifetime, with an ERA of 3.38, an FIP of 3.74 and a WHIP of 1.20. He had gone to the All Star Game in 2035, in the midst of a 17-10 season. The AUNZBL commissioner was quick to assure all and sundry that illegal drug use was not a widespread occurrence in the league, and that drug testing policies were “effective and stringently enforced.”

Darke’s teammates appeared bewildered by the revelation, saying they had never seen Darke do anything around the clubhouse or locker room that aroused suspicion, and that he not only trained hard but also had a deep knowledge of the game. In fact, one teammate said, on condition of anonymity, “He’s a smart dude, for sure, one of those guys who once he gets started on a topic just goes and goes and goes, and covers everything you probably never wanted to know. To be honest, a lot of the time we don’t know what the hell he’s talking about.”

There was no word from the player himself, or his manager, but supposed inside sources said that Darke had been taking prescribed pain medication that contained a banned substance to help with residual elbow pain from an injury suffered at the end of the 2035 season, but had failed to register the prescription with the AUNZBL.

6 days later, in a strange show of solidarity with their suspended pitcher, the Fury signed him to a big-money 6-year extension. Immediately the media called for a full AUNZBL and Australian Drug Commission investigation into the team, declaring that, as one news-site put it, “this type of signing, at this time, can only be construed as suspicious, and possibly even a tacit admission of guilt on the part of the whole organization.”

The AUNZBL declined to comment on the signing, and no investigation was launched.

#

The Prospects and Bandits were the big offseason winners, gaining 7.6 and 7.2 WAR respectively. The Roos and Venom were the big losers, giving up 7.9 and 7.2 WAR respectively.

[Izz]

Two-Platoon’s 2037 Preseason Predictions

Ye Zhuo: Welcome along, Rip and Carl, to our Opening Day special. And a very special welcome to our guest analyst, the one-and-only Jarrod Guerin.

Jarrod Guerin: Thanks, Ye. Nice to be here.

Vinnie Egan: Don’t worry, we don’t haze the rookie around here.

Carl Spruijt: Though we will try to mention home run records as often as possible.

JG: Hey, at least I hit some.

CS: *laughs* Touché.

YZ: Okay, lads, let’s get into it. Jarrod, seeing as you’re our very special guest -

VE: Emphasis on ‘special’...

YZ: Aim higher, Rip. I’m sure you can do it. Anyway, Jarrod, who are you picking to win the Southwest this year?

JG: Um, okay, right. You told me pre-show you’d come to me last.

YZ: I say a lot of things pre-show.

CS: He really does.

JG: *shuffles through notes* Okay. Southwest, I reckon Canberra. Adding Hutchinson to their lineup has really made them a scary prospect for pitchers. They’ve got Ashley Snijders, who’s only going to get better, Pi-ao Ming, who I think is going to have a .320/.400/.500 season, Alistair Mildren, and we know how good he is. Then add Hutchinson to that list and they’re going to hit a lot of dingers, and get on-base a bit too.

VE: Even Hagerty, if he plays every day, is probably good for 20+ homers.

CS: Low average and OBP, though.

YZ: Thanks, Jarrod. Rip?

VE: While I like the Cavalry too, and reckon they’ll be the most fun hitting team to watch, I don’t know if their pitching will be good enough to take them the distance. For me, it’ll be the Venom in a tight one. I still think Adelaide are in decline, and I can’t see them winning the Championship this year, but I think they’ll win the division and scrape into the playoffs.

YZ: Carl?

CS: While Jarrod makes some really good points about Canberra, I think I’ll have to go Venom as well. I can’t see anybody else in the division challenging, though Perth might surprise, particularly if the young guys at the top of their lineup step up. But I don’t think they have the depth to cover injuries. For that matter, I’m not sure Adelaide does, either, but the core of that team doesn’t ever seem to get hurt.

YZ: Cool. Right, Carl, Northeast?

CS: This will be the liveliest of the divisions, in my opinion. If the Roos stay healthy they’ll take the flag. I think Leo Jiang will finally break out this year, and if Bransington doesn’t get hurt, watch out!

YZ: Jarrod?

JG: I think the Thunder. I don’t know what it is about them, but they’re tenacious. They should change their name to Honey Badgers. It doesn’t matter the size of the opponent, they just rip in. I mean, Limeburner won 20 games last season - off the back of great defense, granted - and he’s named as 3rd in their rotation. And they’ve got this kid who made a handful of starts last year, Luigi Kinnear, who I think will be one to watch. They won't hit that well, but they don't need to. That’s how good their pitching and defense is.

VE: You’re both way off. Brisbane went and bought 3 good starting pitchers in the offseason: Juarez, DeJong, who managed 2 16-win seasons playing in Hobart, and Carlo Schwer. Their rotation is great and their bullpen is stacked with guys who’d probably be starting on any other team. Like the Thunder, their hitting is weak, but I don’t think they’ll need to score lots of runs to win games.

YZ: Jarrod, out of interest, how long until Wilkins hits homerun number 409?

JG: No later than mid-October.

VE: Clock’s ticking, Jay-Gee. You’ll have to stop wearing your necklace with the big gold 408 on it.

JG: But it’s all I have!

*laughter*

YZ: Okay, the NZ. Rip?

VE: Cowboys all the way. They’ve got Beau Riseley hitting cleanup to start the season, which I know has raised a few eyebrows around here, I mean who is this guy, but I think he’ll do a cleanup job.

CS: *groans*

VE: Quiet on the bench. The Cowboys don’t have any pure power guys, but everybody in their lineup can contribute, and their pitching is always dependable. So yep, Christchurch to win the NZ by 10 games.

CS: Not a chance. The Fury are playing Drew Geoghegan, who hit .300 last year, in the 9-hole, which gives an indication of their hitting, and while their pitching isn’t super-strong, it’s good enough to work with their offense.

YZ: Jarrod?

JG: Yeah, I’m going Wellington, too, though I think the Metros will surprise after the last couple poor seasons. I reckon Jerry Meehan will strike out 250 this year.

YZ: Righto. Who’ll win the Championship, then? Start with you, Carl.

CS: Roos, Fury in the Championship, with the Roos to make it number 5.

VE: Cowboys, to finally get that monkey off their back.

JG: Canberra. Just too many hitters in that lineup for even the best staff.

YZ: Thanks, guys. Now, onto the individual stuff. First, Slugger of the Year. Rip?

VE: Bit leftfield, perhaps, but I think Rex Rees will bounce back after his difficult year last year and be hands down the best hitter in the game. Whangarei have put some power below him in the lineup so pitchers won’t be able to throw it outside the zone as much, hoping he gets impatient. Bradley Hibbert should be good for 30 homers again, and I’m interested to see how this guy from Old Canada, or New Quebec, or whatever they’re calling it at the moment, with the name I can’t pronounce so well, will go.

JG: Olivier Despres?

VE: Yeah, that guy. Maybe it’s a lack of depth seeing as the Sluggers are so new, but reportedly they paid good money for him and he’s going straight into top flight, so let’s hope he sets the league on fire.

YZ: Jarrod?

JG: Bill Bransington. I think he can be the 1st guy to break 50 homeruns if he stays fit all season. 50 homers plus 100 walks and 100 runs would be quite something, wouldn’t it?

CS: Richard Lewis again. He was beyond phenomenal last season and he’s only 25.

YZ: So who’s up for Hurler of the Year? Jarrod?

JG: Edward Delaney. He’s so good every year, but because he plays for the perennially underachieving Blue Sox he barely gets a look in. This year, though, I think he’ll get it done.

CS: Brendon Vernon. He’ll finally break 20 wins and be one of the central cogs in Newcastle’s Championship run.

VE: I want to say Dylan Cully, but he’s overdue for another big injury, so I’ll go Jorge Juarez. Don’t know if he’ll win 18 again, but I think he’ll lose less than 5.

YE: Excellent chat, guys. Now let's move onto other things. Like this new All Star format...

#

And that’s where we’ll leave it. The official OotPB TV Preseason Predictions are below.

[Izz]

2037/2038 Season - October

Notable Performances

18 Oct: No-hitter! Luigi Crabtree joined the no-hitter club, but it was almost so much more. In the 7th, Heat 1B Constantino Gandaral dropped a routine throw, allowing the runner on, and ruining Crabtree's chance at a perfect game. Crabtree would allow no other runners on base. After the game, Gandaral was almost in tears, but he said that Crabtree had told him “not to be too hard on himself.” Crabtree struck out 8 and threw only 93 pitches for a game score of 95. The Heat won 5-0.

19 Oct: Beau Tyson slugged HR number 300 in a Crocs 15-6 mauling of the Aces. He hit HR #299 in the 3rd, and brought up #300 in the 6th.

31 Oct: Central Coast’s Cooper Ahernfeld shut out the Venom 2-0, allowing 6 hits and 1 walk, striking out 4.

Notable Injuries

3 Oct: Joe Murray Jr. strained his oblique and would miss 3 weeks.

5 Oct: Jason McHugh also strained his oblique. He would need 5-6 weeks recovery time.

11 Oct: 39 y/o Fu Lao tore a rotator cuff and would miss 4 months of the season.

16 Oct: Oblique strains seemed to be the popular injury in 2037. Vaughan Skuse was the victim this time, and would sit out a couple or 3 weeks.

18 Oct: Rex Rees caught the strained oblique bug. He’d be gone 5 weeks. Rees had started the season hot, hitting .362/.500/.707 with 6HR through 17 games.

20 Oct: In what the media were calling an epidemic, Constantino Gandaral became the latest player to suffer an oblique strain. He would miss around a month of game time.

20 Oct: Jerry Sneddon would miss 2 weeks with a strained posterior cruciate ligament.

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 26 y/o Sluggers’ 2B Gerry Snell. He was 40-127 in the month, hitting .315/.360/.378, with 5 doubles, 1HR, and 8 walks.

Hurler of the Month: Cody Wood. He was 5-0 for the Roos in October, with an ERA of 2.18, an FIP of 3.55, and a WHIP of 0.97.

Slugger of the Month: Ashley Snijders. 38-115, with 8 doubles and 11HR, for a stat-line of .330/.403/.687. He also drew 15 walks.

Media Watch

Elliot Wilkins: Contrary to Jarrod Guerin’s expectation, Elliot Wilkins did not pass his mark of 408HRs by mid-October. In fact, Wilkins hit 0 homers in the month, and was abysmal with the bat, going .149/.219/.172 in 96PA.

Other Notes

1 Oct: Opening Day, and Jerry Meehan and Melbourne’s Vincent Helmrich cleared the benches after a wild pitch from Meehan nearly took Helmrich’s head off. Both players received 5 game suspensions.

#

At month’s end, the Perth Heat were the leaders in the Southwest, with the Cavalry 2 games back. The Venom had a bad month and found themselves 2nd last in the division.

The Roos had a dominating month to lead the Northwest by 5 over the Bandits, with the Blue Sox 1 further game back. The Thunder were languishing 9 games out from 1st equal bottom with the Crocs.

The Metros and Cowboys were locked in the NZ, with Wellington playing .345 ball.

Roos’ LF Bailey ‘Hands’ Pugsley (.380/.406/.455) racked up 46 hits in the month. Trent Cashmore (.383/.431/.701, 9HR) of the Cowboys had an incredible slugging month to led the league in that category.

Auckland’s Axel Bourke led the league with 12 saves. Perth’s 25 y/o SP Michael Paterson, in his 3rd season in the bigs, had the best FIP, with 2.25.

Standings, Nov 1

[Izz]

2037/2038 Season - November

Notable Performances

1 Nov: Bailey Pugsley hit in his 20th straight game, and then left the field with a sore hamstring. The injury was diagnosed as day-to-day with about a week to heal, but would significantly affect his performance. Whether the Roos would sit him or start him remained to be seen.

2 Nov: Damian Neill restricted the Aces to 4 hits and 2 walks, leading Whangarei to a 7-0 shuout victory. He struck out 4.

4 Nov: Beau Tyson crunched 5 hits in 7 at-bats, helping the Crocs overcome the Cowboys 8-4 in 12 innings. His 2-run HR in the 12th put the game out of reach for Christchurch, and also represented his 50th hit of the season.

4 Nov: The Aces, who were 15-8 on the 24th October, were now 15-18, having lost 10 straight. They lost 1 more before getting back on the winning horse... for 1 game.

5 Nov: Arnold Tipping went 5-7 as the Cowboys and Crocs again went to extra innings. This time Tipping’s Cowboys were victorious, winning 10-9 in 13 innings.

9 Nov: Pugsley did get some games off, but because of a sprained thumb rather than the hamstring. However, his hit streak came to an end his 1st day back, finishing at 22 games. He did walk twice.

9 Nov: The Metros, who’d also started the season hot, lost their 10th straight. They would win their next to end the streak.

17 Nov: Wes Liddell was 5-6 as the Crocs thumped the Thunder 11-2.

26 Nov: Roger Wood hit in his 20th straight game. The streak would end the following day.

27 Nov: The Roos continued their impressive start, their 10th win on the trot giving them a 5-game lead over similarly impressive Brisbane.

Notable Injuries

4 Nov: Rich Mawby (.256/.304/.442, 3HR) sprained his ankle while on the basepaths. He would be out of the Metros lineup at least 6 weeks.

8 Nov: 37 y/o Todd Thompson signed a minor league contract with the Aces on the 5th of October. He made 1 start in A-ball and then got called back up to the majors. Triumphant return? Barely, as he injured his elbow after throwing only 2/3 of an inning. He would need surgery to remove bone chips, and would be out of commission for 4 months.

19 Nov: Roos’ SS Mike Wurfel (.322/.388/.422, 2HR) sprained his thumb and would miss 4 weeks.

20 Nov: Jason McHugh managed to hurt himself again. This time he strained a quadriceps and would need 4 weeks on the DL.

20 Nov: The Roos’ injury ward continued to grow. 21 y/o rookie Young-tae Lee (.316/.409/.485, 6HR) hurt himself on a defensive play and would be out around 5 weeks with an inflamed shoulder.

22 Nov: Sluggers’ SS Phil Acret (.293/.348/.341) would miss a couple weeks thanks to bruised bone in his wrist.

22 Nov: Sugimoto Okubo (3-5, 6.66 ERA, 5.97 FIP, 1.73 WHIP) would need 3 weeks to get over a sore shoulder.

26 Nov: Canberra’s lineup wouldn’t look quite so daunting for the next 5 weeks after Zachariah Hutchinson (.250/.324/.453, 9HR) was placed on the DL with a strained hamstring. He was the only 1 of their ‘Big 4’ to be hitting less than .300.

Notable Trades/Signings

4 Nov: The Aces extended 30 y/o SP Adam Quinn (3-3, 5.19 ERA, 4.61 FIP, 1.53 WHIP in 2037) for 2 more years.

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 24 y/o Prospects 3B James Widdison. 29-85, with 7 doubles and 3HR, and a stat-line of .341/.378/.529.

Hurler of the Month: Fury starter Ted Chapman. 4-0 on the month across 7 starts, he had a 1.23 ERA, a 3.16 FIP, and a 0.78 WHIP. He threw 51.1 innings, striking out 26 and allowing only 7 walks.

Slugger of the Month: Snijders continued his hot form and picked up this award 2 months running. 41-107 on the month, his stat-line for November was even better than his October stat-line, reading .383/.468/.720. He hit 9HRs to have 20 on the year, 5 more than anybody else. He also hit 9 doubles and walked 16 times.

Media Watch

Elliot Wilkins: Homerless through the first 2 months and swinging the bat like it was a canoe, some were beginning to wonder if Wilkins would be able to hit the 5HRs he needed this season. His stat-line: .171/.239/.200.

Kelvin Ackland: He also seemed to be having a hangover from last season, going .245/.292/.377 through the 1st 2 months, registering only 54 hits. He now had 2281 career base hits, and needed 195 to surpass ‘Rip’ Egan in 2nd place.

Russell Puckeridge: Also labouring, Puckeridge had a 7-game hit streak going into December. He was hitting .254/.335/.418 on the year, 45-177, with 11 doubles and 6HR. His CERA was 4.34, and his ZR -0.6. He was throwing out 32.5% of basestealers.

Other Notes

In the Southwest the Cavalry (21-7 for the month) surged ahead of the Heat (16-12). The Venom (11-17) continued to be horrible.

The Northeast was all Roos (18-10), as they ended the month having won 13 straight. The Bandits (16-12) sat in 2nd spot, 7 games back.

In the NZ, the Cowboys (14-14) only needed to play .500 ball to build a lead, as the Metros (11-17) sank. Christchurch’s offense was built around Trent Cashmore (.332/.366/.602, 15HR) who was hitting in the 5-hole, and the only Cowboy with more than 5HRs.

Perth had a 2-game lead over Brisbane in the wildcard.

The Fury continued to act strangely, primarily playing a 4-man rotation. On any official pitching sheets, Austin Darke was still named as their #1 starter. At December 1, he still had 23 games left on his suspension.

Individually, Snijders was dominating the batting leaderboards. As well as having the best OBP, SLG, OPS, and the most HR and RBI, he also boasted the 2nd-best average, the best weighted on-base percentage (.466), was tied for most runs scored (47), had the most hits (79), the best isolated power (.347), the most XBH (37), the most total bases (156), and the best batter’s WAR (4.5).

Bill Bransington (.295/.408/.557, 15HR) led the league in walks with 39.

Bailey Pugsley (.370/.413/.452, 1HR) not only was atop the league in batting average, but also had stolen the most bases, his 22 six more than Richard Lewis (.297/.386/.366, 2HR).

Bruce Radford (5-1, 2.73 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 0.94 WHIP) had the league’s best FIP among qualified pitchers, the best WHIP, and the best BB/9 (1.03).

Rowan Kalman (6-2, 3.25 ERA, 2.95 FIP, 1.11 WHIP) led the league in strikeouts, with 85.

Perth’s Paddy Ivory had 19 saves, the best in the AUNZBL.

Standings, Dec 1

[Izz]

2037/2038 Season - December

Notable Performances

2 Dec: The Roos' 2-3 loss to Perth ended their win streak at 14 games.

7 Dec: Reports were that 25 y/o LF Beau Riseley wasn’t all that happy at being traded by the Cowboys. But if his performance in his 1st game in a Crocs' uniform was anything to go by, he might’ve been just the opposite. He was 5-5 in helping Cairns beat the Prospects 10-7.

8 Dec: Adam Parsons led the Blue Sox to a 4-0 shutout victory over Canberra, allowing only 3 hits and 1 walk. The most impressive thing about his outing, though, was his tally of 15 strikeouts.

11 Dec: Jeremy Gillorn, the rookie who was behind Riseley in the Cowboys squad, looked to be making the most of becoming an everyday player, going 5-5 in a 9-6 victory over Adelaide.

13 Dec: Melbourne backup catcher Brody Vernon was great against the Crocs, going 5-7. Unfortunately, Cairns prevailed 9-6 in a 13-inning epic.

13 Dec: Adam Parsons made it 2 shutouts in 2 starts, restricting Hobart to 4 hits and a walk, striking out 5, to help the Blue Sox win 5-0. Strangely enough, this feat got nary a mention among the big media outlets.

17 Dec: The Metros got up over the Venom 4-0 thanks to a stellar shutout performance from Gavin Jiang. He allowed only 3 hits and 1 walk, striking out 8.

23 Dec: Carlo Cresswell collected 5 hits in 5 at-bats as the Heat trounced the Prospects 16-2.

25 Dec: Bruce Pickford collected hit number 2000 (!!) doing so with his 3rd hit of an 8-0 win over Wellington. It was very nearly a memorable night for another reason, too. Pickford’s 1st hit, in the 1st, was a 2-run HR. His 2nd hit, in the 3rd, was another 2-run blast. His 3rd hit, and number #2000, in the 8th, looked like it might go all the way too, but was just short, hitting the centerfield wall. Pickford was the 9th AUNZBL player to reach the 2000-hit mark.

28 Dec: Connor Rowling went 5-5 (including 2 doubles and a HR), but his Prospects were edged out 10-9 by the Metros.

29 Dec: Jeremy Gillorn hit in his 20th straight game.

Notable Injuries

5 Dec: Jerry Sneddon (.319/.359/.440, 4HR) sprained his finger and would miss 3 weeks of the Aces campaign.

5 Dec: Metros’ 2B Stefan Blythe (.307/.342/.498, 8HR) would be gone 4 weeks with a fractured foot sustained in a collision at home plate.

8 Dec: Mario Martinez (.253/.318/.364, 4HR) would spend 3 weeks recovering from a strained hamstring.

14 Dec: The Thunder would be without Bryan Redelius (.289/.338/.479, 4HR) for 5-6 weeks after he was diagnosed with shoulder inflammation.

17 Dec: Cooper Ahernfeld (9-3, 3.80 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 1.46 WHIP) would likely be out the rest of the season while he recovered from rotator cuff inflammation.

19 Dec: Melbourne’s Wally Liang (.277/.349/.460, 7HR) was out for the season after rupturing his medial collateral ligament.

20 Dec: The Cowboys would have to do without Neil Okolita (4-5, 5.46 ERA, 5.15 FIP, 1.41 WHIP) until at least the middle of March after he partially tore his labrum.

21 Dec: Roger Wood (.304/.336/.429, 5HR) was placed on the DL with shoulder tendinitis. He was expected to miss 3 weeks.

26 Dec: Harry Leseberg (.302/.342/.445, 6HR) sprained his knee and would miss around 2 weeks.

Notable Trades/Signings

2 Dec: The Blue Sox sent 25 y/o 1B Pablo Tavares (.239/.289/.417, 9HR) to the Venom in return for a prospect.

28 Dec: Hours before the All Star teams were named, the Metros announced they’d acquired 29 y/o Arthur Sproule (.277/.333/.496, 16HR) from Cairns, who’d received 28 y/o 2B Rich Mawby (.217/.278/.357, 3HR in 126PA) and a rookie-baller in return. While the Metros were in with a chance in the NZ, sources said Sproule wasn’t all that happy to be back at the club who’d given him his big break, then traded him away 2 seasons later. Perhaps the news he’d made the All Star Game would cheer him up a bit.

2037 Origin All Stars

Australian All Stars

SP B. Vernon (NEW) - 10-5, 4.33 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.28 WHIP
SP M. Paterson (PER) - 11-4, 2.60 ERA, 3.10 FIP, 1.16 WHIP
SP L. Crabtree (PER) - 10-4, 2.70 ERA, 3.38 FIP, 1.05 WHIP
SP B. Radford (CHR) - 6-4, 3.03 ERA, 3.24 FIP, 0.94 WHIP
SP B. Allomes (CAN) - 10-3, 3.42 ERA, 3.88 ERA, 1.27 WHIP
SP R. Coulton (CHR) - 7-6, 2.87 ERA, 3.46 FIP, 1.17 WHIP
SP J. Farrell (ADE) - 7-4, 2.93 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 1.04 WHIP
SP R. Kalman (CAI) - 8-4, 3.47 ERA, 2.61 FIP, 1.14 WHIP
MR D. Aldridge (PER) - 5-0, 1sv, 3.69 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 1.07 WHIP
MR A. Gillorn (BRI) - 3-1, 2sv, 1.40 ERA, 2.06 FIP, 0.79 WHIP
CL P. Ivory (PER) - 2-1, 28sv, 1.73 ERA, 3.61 FIP, 1.13 WHIP
CL A. Kent (BRI) - 3-1, 21sv, 1.50 ERA, 2.56 FIP, 1.00 WHIP
C L. Jiang (NEW) - .267/.373/.416, 8HR
1B A. Mildren (CAN) - .322/.383/.566, 18HR
1B P. Gulledge (SYD) - .283/.340/.543, 20HR
1B T. Cashmore (CHR) - .298/.327/.529, 17HR
1B A. Sproule (AUC) - .277/.333/.496, 16HR
2B B. Bransington (NEW) - .294/.401/.538, 20HR
2B R. Tamblyn (CAI) - .321/.377/.466, 9HR
2B T. Bethune (CAN) - .258/.372/.414, 8HR
3B A. Maybury (NEW) - .312/.369/.425, 5HR
3B H. Guo (BRI) - .280/.365/.488, 12HR
LF P. Ming (CAN) - .330/.379/.540, 15HR
LF H. Leseberg (CHR) - .302/.342/.445, 6HR
LF P. Ottaway (AUC) - .274/.354/.475, 15HR
LF R. Wood (HOB) - .304/.336/.429, 5HR
CF C. Buckland (AUC) - .306/.356/.472, 7 triples, 9HR
CF R. Bannon (WEL) - .319/.347/.534, 17HR

NZ & Overseas All Stars

SP C. Wood (NEW) - 10-4, 3.29 ERA, 4.32 FIP, 1.18 WHIP
SP J. Juárez (BRI) - 7-4, 3.86 ERA, 4.17 FIP, 1.32 WHIP
SP D. Cully (BRI) - 7-5, 3.12 ERA, 3.20 FIP, 1.04 WHIP
SP L. Neilson (PER) - 7-5, 2.38 ERA, 2.94 FIP, 1.04 WHIP
SP A. Parsons (SYD) - 7-7, 3.24 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.21 WHIP
SP L. Kinnear (CEN) - 5-6, 3.61 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 1.39 WHIP
SP B. Humphries (CEN) - 4-9, 3.45 ERA, 3.61 FIP, 1.27 WHIP
SP D. Neill (WHA) - 8-6, 3.86 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.20 WHIP
MR A. Puckeridge (PER) - 2-0, 1sv, 1.23 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 1.42 WHIP
MR C. Chin (AUC) - 3-2, 2.77 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.17 WHIP
MR I. Zglinicki (CAN) - 3-0, 1sv, 2.64 ERA, 3.56 FIP, 1.10 WHIP
CL B. Chin (AUC) - 7-4, 7sv, 5.89 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 1.23 WHIP
C A. Brewster (HOB) - .314/.383/.551, 16HR
C H. Lee (AUC) - .256/.319/.484, 14HR
1B A. Snijders (CAN) - .335/.420/.639, 24HR
1B B. Tyson (CAI) - .306/.355/.526, 26 doubles, 15HR
1B R. Gómez (MEL) - .261/.360/.438, 13HR
2B M. Bond (PER) - .302/.368/.448, 6HR
2B C. Palmer (NEW) - .332/.365/.416, 3HR
3B S. Ballard (ADE) - .295/.326/.368, 0HR
SS G. Liddell (CEN) - .266/.324/.311, 0HR
SS S. Sheppard (BRI) - .304/.355/.445, 9HR
LF O. Després (WHA) - .290/.352/.492, 11HR
LF V. Lockrey (CEN) - .279/.348/.476, 12HR
LF R. Lewis (WEL) - .297/.383/.382, 4HR
CF B. Pugsley (NEW) - .376/.412/.465, 2HR, 37 stolen bases
RF W. Laing (MEL) - .277/.349/.460, 7HR
RF B. Pickford (BRI) - .282/.334/.535, 7 triples, 18HR

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 23 y/o Venom 1B Clint Gordam. He was 33-96 in the month, hitting .344/.427/.688, with 9 doubles and 8HR, plus 14 walks.

Hurler of the Month: Logan Neilson. The Heat starter was 4-1 in 6 starts in December, with a 1.69 ERA, 2.38 FIP, and a 0.77 WHIP. He struck out 39 in 42.2 IP.

Slugger of the Month: Pi-ao Ming. .398/.425/.778 in the month, 43-108, with 6 doubles, 1 triple, and 11HR.

Media Watch

Elliot Wilkins: Sitting on the bench a lot now, Wilkins still hadn’t hit a HR by the end of December. His stat-line read .191/.260/.229.

Kelvin Ackland: Had a good December, hitting .307/.340/.416, to make him .265/.307/.389 for the year. His 31 hits during the month gave him 85 total, now 164 off taking 2nd spot.

Russell Puckeridge: The media began to lose interest in Puckeridge. On the year he was .261/.333/.428, with 17 doubles and 9HR in his 69-264. In what was big news, but missed by a lot of outlets because the Fury didn’t really seem to be in contention, was that Wendell Baxter got dropped to AAA at the end of the month, to make way for 24 y/o Danny Goodwin, who had been Baxter’s backup last season. Baxter had a vesting option of 480PA for the final year of his contract with the Fury to kick in, so it seemed likely he would be a free agent at the end of the season. If he didn’t retire, hopefully he could find a club in 2038 and go out in the majors.

Other Notes

The Heat (20-9 in December) climbed back into the lead in the Southwest, finishing the month 1 game ahead of the Cavarly (16-13).

Even though they only had a par month, the Roos (15-14) continued their march in the Northeast, with the Bandits (16-13) 6 games back.

Despite having a strong month, the Cowboys (20-9) could only extend their lead over the Metros (18-11) by 2 games.

All 3 divisions had some fight to them this year, but with only 1 wildcard, it looked very likely at the halfway point that the wildcard team would be either the Cavalry or Heat. The Bandits were 5 games back in this race, the Metros 8.

Snijder (.333/.413/.630, 25HR) continued his dominating season, leading the league in OBP, slugging, OPS, wOBA (.433), runs (64), ISO (.297), XBH (47), total bases (206), and batter’s WAR (5.4). He was 4th in batting average and 2nd in hits (109).

Bill Bransington (.302/.410/.553, 20HR) had drawn 57 walks, the best mark in the league, and scored 61 runs, looking set for another runs-walks double-double.

Rowan Kalman (8-5, 3.53 ERA, 2.57 FIP, 1.13 WHIP) had the league’s best FIP among qualified pitchers. He also had the most Ks (134) and the best K/9 (11.00), as well as the best pitcher’s WAR (4.2). He was the only pitcher striking out more than 10 batters per 9 innings.

Paddy Ivory (3-2, 28 saves) had 5 more saves than the next best closer.

Justin Filby (12-4, 3.06 ERA, 4.48 FIP, 1.26 WHIP), considered by many very unlucky not to make the All Star Game, led the league in wins.

Standings, Jan 1

[Izz]

2037/2038 Season - January

Notable Performances

2 Jan: Jeremy Gillorn’s hit streak was ended at 21 games.

2 Jan: Venom CF Blake Willey hit in his 20th straight game.

5 Jan: Willey’s hit streak came to an end. He had hit in 22 consecutive games.

11 Jan: Edward Delaney allowed only 2 hits and 2 walks, while sitting down 2 on strikes, in shutting out the Fury 11-0.

28 Jan: Bryan Redelius went 5-5 to help the Bandits tough out an 11-8 win over the Blue Sox.

29 Jan: Cairns’ SP Randolph Anderson was miserly against the Cavalry, allowing only 1 hit (in the 2nd) and 1 walk in a 5-0 shutout victory. He struck out 2, only faced 28 batters, and only threw 88 pitches.

Notable Injuries

6 Jan: In a massive blow for both the Cavalry and his own SotY chances, Ashley Snijders (.332/.417/.632, 26HR) was to be on the DL for 4-5 weeks while he recovered from a quad strain.

6 Jan: Rhys Jamieson, back at closer for new team Hobart, would be out the rest of the season with shoulder inflammation. He had 18 saves to his name in 2038.

10 Jan: Bandits’ SP Brendan McHugh (5-9, 3.66 ERA, 4.73 FIP, 1.20 WHIP) was gone for the season with an inflamed shoulder.

18 Jan: Trent Cashmore (.277/.310/.506, 21HR) strained an oblique and would be on the Cowboys’ DL 3 weeks.

20 Jan: Bradley Lundgren (6-8, 3.10 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.03 WHIP) would miss 4 weeks with shoulder bursitis.

21 Jan: Rhys England (9-4, 3.02 ERA, 3.60 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) would be on the DL 5-6 weeks with shoulder tendinitis.

21 Jan: Bill Bransington (.315/.421/.607, 30HR) would spend 2 weeks on the sideline with a strained abdominal muscle.

21 Jan: Leo Jiang (.256/.363/.427, 12HR) would miss 3 weeks with chronic back soreness.

22 Jan: The Crocs would be without Bruce Acheson (.291/.338/.396, 4HR) for 6 weeks after he fractured his wrist.

23 Jan: Vaughan Skuse (.263/.335/.398, 8HR) would miss a month with a fractured foot.

26 Jan: Zachariah Hutchinson (.256/.329/.462, 12HR) suffered his 2nd injury of the season. He would be out until the end of Feb with shoulder tendinitis.

28 Jan: Jerry Meehan (9-7, 3.23 ERA, 3.65 FIP, 1.19 WHIP) would play no further part in the Metros’ season after fracturing his elbow. He would need at least 4 months to recover.

Notable Trades/Signings

12 Jan: The Cavalry, desperate to gain traction over the Heat in their division race, and the Bandits agreed to a trade. The Cavalry sent 26 y/o backup 1B Patrick Dempster (.200/.286/.300 in 56PA) and a prospect to Brisbane in exchange for 30 y/o SP Ronald DeJong (10-6, 3.21 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 1.12 WHIP).

29 Jan: Still feeling they had a shot at the NZ Division title, the Metros acquired 32 y/o CL Charlie Sheelah (2-4, 23 saves, 2.15 ERA, 2.45 FIP, 1.03 WHIP) from the Thunder in return for 3 prospects.

30 Jan: The Thunder announced another trade, this one with the Metros’ division rivals, the Cowboys. In return for 2 prospects, the Cowboys would receive 27 y/o SP Brock Humphries (6-13, 3.82 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 1.29 WHIP).

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 26 y/o Brisbane 1B Patrick Dempster. Acquired midway through the month from the Cavalry, he relished his opportunity of regular game-time with the Bandits, going 29-93 in the month, with 4 doubles, 2 triples and 5HR. He also drew 9 walks, and had a stat-line of .312/.375/.559.

Hurler of the Month: Cavalry closer Kade DeJong. He was 2-0, with 10 saves in 14 appearances in January, for a 0.55 ERA, a 2.04 FIP, and a 1.04 WHIP.

Slugger of the Month: It was all Cavalry in the hitting department in 2037, with Pi-ao Ming now scooping this award for the 2nd month running. His stats looked very similar to December: .398/.475/.738. His 41-103 included 9 doubles, 1 triple and 8HR. He also drew 11 walks.

Media Watch

Elliot Wilkins: On the 15th Wilkins was optioned to the Roos’ AAA-affiliate. The media were inconsolable. He was recalled on the 22nd Jan, after the team was hit at the same time by 3 injuries. He still had no HRs to his name at the end of January, his stat-line reading .192/.258/.228.

Kelvin Ackland: Had another strong month, hitting .330/.355/.519, with 6 doubles, 1 triple, and 4HR. His 35 hits was his best monthly mark of the year. He now only needed 129 hits to reach 2nd place, and 253 hits to be the 2nd player to 2500.

Last Year’s Top Player Watch

2036 Rookies

2036 Rookie of the Year, Oliver Sharp: Following the trend of most standout rookies, and struggling in his 2nd year. He was 69-288 for the year, with 47 runs, 15 doubles, 2 triples, 10HR, 43RBI, 35BB, 9 stolen bases, and 332PA. His stat-line read .240/.321/.410.

Blair Ottaway: .211/.319/.366, 84-399, with 43 runs, 15 doubles, 1 triple, 15HR, 39RBI, 61BB and 129Ks in 467PA.

Angelo Brewster: He wasn’t suffering from 2nd-year syndrome. 114-373, 67 runs, 21 doubles, 22HR, 65RBI, 56BB in 435PA. .306/.391/.539, and a trip to his 1st All Star Game.

2036’s Top Pitchers

2036 Hurler of the Year, Bernie Limeburner: 6-11, 4.07 ERA, 4.64 FIP, 1.20 WHIP in 23 starts. 108 Ks in 154.2 IP. Had already given up as many ER this season as in the whole of 2036.

Ian Naismith: 1-2, 27 saves in 43 games. 3.54 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.03 WHIP, 26 Ks in 40.2 IP.

Joshua Cheadle: 1-6, 25 saves in 45 games. 3.83 ERA, 3.07 FIP, 1.40 WHIP. 63 Ks in 47.0 IP. Had already walked more batters than he did the entire 2036 season.

2036’s Top Hitters

2036 Slugger of the Year, Richard Lewis: Not at the same phenomenal heights he reached in 2036, but still having a good year. .307/.394/.410, 126-410, 68 runs, 13 doubles, 4 triples, 7HR, 56RBI, 59BB, 27SB, 477PA.

Ramiro Madrigal: Struggling in a struggling side. .255/.372/.371, 103-404, 58 runs, 20 doubles, 3 triples, 7HR, 58RBI, 79BB, 494PA. Leading the league in walks by 10.

Patrick Gulledge: .284/.343/.541, 120-423, 59 runs, 29 doubles, 1 triple, 26HR, 80RBI, 37BB, 466PA.

Other Notes

Austin Darke returned near the end of December and looked a shadow of his former self. At the end of January he had a 0-4 record from 7 starts, with a 6.15 ERA, 4.86 FIP, and 1.37 WHIP. Perhaps the stories about his cold medication weren’t quite accurate after all.

#

In the Southwest, the Heat (17-11) and Cavalry (17-11) traded the lead several times over the course of the month, but the Heat had regained a 1-game advantage come February 1st.

The Roos (15-13) were only just above par in the Northeast, but the Bandits (13-15) were unable to capitalize, and saw the distance between themselves and Newcastle grow by 2 games.

The Cowboys (15-13) also extended their lead in the NZ by 2 games, with the Metros (13-15) having an up-and-down month.

Despite his injury robbing him of 10 games in January, Bill Bransington still hit 10HR to take the lead in the HR race, and hold it until the end of the month.

Perth’s Logan Neilson (12-6, 2.51 ERA, 3.13 FIP, 1.05 WHIP) not only led the league in ERA, he also was allowing the least HR per 9 innings, with a mark of 0.33.

Standings, Feb 1

[Izz]

2037/2038 Season - February

Notable Performances

1 Feb: Kyle Pratly got his February off to a good start, striking out 15 in 7.2 innings, and helping the Bandits defeat the Sluggers 10-3.

4 Feb: Alan Delaney hit in his 20th straight game. The streak would end the following evening.

6 Feb: Andre Maybury slapped 5 hits in 5 at-bats as his Roos defeated the Metros 9-4.

19 Feb: Phillip Tinter, one of the lesser-hitting cogs in the Cavalry’s offensive machine, went 5-5 as they lost to the Metros 5-3.

21 Feb: Brock Chang was 5-5, including a HR and 2 doubles, but it wasn’t enough to steer his Heat to victory against the Crocs in a 10-9 ballgame.

23 Feb: Angelo Roberts allowed 5 hits and 2 walks, striking out 4, as he led the Venom to a 5-0 shutout win over the Roos.

Notable Injuries

4 Feb: Metros CF Charlie Buckland (.301/.352/.460, 13HR) suffered an intercostal strain. He would be out at least 3 weeks.

4 Feb: Harry Leseberg (.306/.351/.462, 10HR) wouldn’t be available for the Cowboys for 5 weeks after he tore ligaments in his ankle.

17 Feb: Damian Neill (10-9, 3.69 ERA, 3.71 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) had his season cut cruelly short after being diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament. He would need Tommy John surgery and 10 months recovery and rehab before pitching again. The 37 y/o had been having a standout year for the Sluggers, making the All Star game, and striking out his 2000th career batter on the 25th of January.

22 Feb: Jason McHugh (.260/.330/.430, 8HR in 224PA) found himself on the DL again, this time with recurring back spasms. He would be out the rest of the regular season, and possibly the postseason too.

23 Feb: Pi-ao Ming (.341/.395/.604, 33HR) would miss 1-2 weeks with knee inflammation.

26 Feb: Nearing the end of his worst season since his rookie year, Edward Bebbington (.231/.275/.266) discovered he could book an early holiday after being diagnosed with a torn abdominal muscle.

27 Feb: Kelvin Anderton (.286/.354/.392, 7HR) would be out 5 months with a partially torn UCL. He would have to go under the knife.

28 Feb: November Rookie of the Month, James Widdison (.263/.301/.400, 11HR) was likely to miss the rest of the season thanks to a sore shoulder.

Notable Trades/Signings

6 Feb: The Fury and Rich Bannon (.295/.333/.482, 20HR in 2037) negotiated a 6-year contract extension.

19 Feb: The Blue Sox may have been consistently one of the worst teams in the league over the last 10+ years, but that was of no concern to 29 y/o Patrick Gulledge (.298/.358/.563, 31HR) who signed a 5-year contract extension with them for a sum that would put him among the highest paid players in the league. Gulledge had passed 200HRs in the 2037 season, and Blue Sox fans were certain he would be at the top of the career HR leaderboard when he retired.

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 24 y/o Cowboys’ CF Jeremy Gillorn, and he certainly deserved it. Leading the league in batting average at the end of February, Gillorn hit .361/.367/.565, 39-108, with 9 doubles, 2 triples and 3HR during the month. A free swinger, Gillorn walked a grand total of 1 time in February, and had only drawn 14 walks in 494PA all year.

Hurler of the Month: Crocs’ SP Randolph Anderson. 5-0 in 5 starts in the month, with an ERA of 1.64, an FIP of 3.65, and a WHIP of 1.07. He threw 44.0 innings, and struck out 20.

Slugger of the Month: And again, a Cavalry hitter picked up this award. Alastair Mildren this time, with a stat-line of .350/.420/.699. He was 36-103, with 3 doubles and 11HR. He walked 14 times. He was 1HR behind Bill Bransington in the HR race.

Media Watch

Elliot Wilkins: He stayed in the bigs all month, but got very limited game-time, and still had no HRs next to his name come March 1st. His stat-line for the year: .194/.267/.234. Sadly, an ignominious end beckoned for this champion player.

Kelvin Ackland: Certainly doing his part to keep Auckland in the hunt for the NZ division. Ackland hit .330/.373/.553 in February, tallying 31 hits from 94 at-bats. He now only needed 98 hits to surpass Vinnie Egan on the all-time ladder.

Other Notes

Nicknamed ‘The Killer Month’ in baseball circles due to its typical extreme heat, February was short and furious, and often did a lot to sort out the contenders from the pretenders.

Surprisingly, in the Northeast, it was the Perth Heat (named for Western Australia’s temperature) that dropped away. They were 10-16 in the month, and had fallen 5 games behind the Cavalry (16-10) by March 1st.

The Roos (16-10) continued to hold sway in the Southwest, though the Bandits (17-9) pulled a game back, and suddenly found themselves in with a more than a decent chance in the wildcard.

In the NZ, the Cowboys (10-16) found the Metros (14-12) closing in. The Fury (15-11), 7 games back, fancied themselves an outside chance of taking the division if both teams above them faltered.

Bill Bransington (.308/.414/.601, 36HR) clung to the HR lead. He led the AUNZBL in OBP and OPS, as well as weighted on-base average (.424), ISO (.293), and runs (88). His 83 walks were 2nd-best in the league.

Pi-ao Ming (.341/.395/.604, 33HR) had the league’s best slugging %, the most total bases (308) and the best batter’s WAR (8.9) by 2 whole points.

Perth’s Michael Paterson (18-6, 2.67 ERA, 3.18 FIP, 1.12 WHIP) looked set to break 20 wins.

Central Coast’s Gary Eichele (9-16, 3.86 ERA, 4.24 WHIP, 1.07 WHIP) was not having a happy year, but somehow the hitters of the league struggled against him. His .208 opponents' average was a league-best.

Paddy Ivory led the league with 38 saves, though Ian Naismith, with 37, was galloping up behind him.

Rowan Kalman (12-8, 3.73 ERA, 2.78 FIP, 1.11 WHIP) had 212 Ks to his name, 38 more than the next best pitcher. He also led the league in K/9 (unsurprisingly, with a 10.84 mark), in K/BB (6.42), in FIP, and in pitcher’s WAR (6.3).

Standings, Mar 1

[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

[Izz]

2037 Division Finals - Perth Heat v Newcastle Roos

The Roos had the best record in baseball, finishing 1 game short of reaching 100 wins for the 2nd time in their history. Theirs was a formidable lineup, hitting .285 over the course of the season, better even than the daunted Cavalry (though Canberra did score more runs). The kingpin of Newcastle's lineup was Bill Bransington, but Bailey Pugsley, Andre Maybury (.317/.388/.450, 14HR), Leo Jiang (.276/.369/.457, 17HR), Mike Wurfel (.313/.383/.451, 11HR), and Connor Palmer (.312/.344/.413, 7HR) were no slobs either.

Their pitching rotation, led by Brendon Vernon (15-8, 4.32 ERA, 3.50 FIP, 1.24 WHIP) was good enough for the league’s 3rd-best ERA.

On the other hand, the Heat didn’t have the strongest offense, finishing 10th among the 14 teams in terms of runs scored. However, they conceded the least amount of runs, and had the AUNZBL’s best ERA, and 3rd best defensive efficiency. While Paterson was the only player to break the 20-win mark, the other 2 members of the Heat’s Division Finals’ rotation weren’t too shabby. Logan Neilson had gone 17-9, with a 2.71 ERA, a 3.32 FIP, and a 1.10 WHIP, while Luigi Crabtree posted his best numbers since 2029, going 16-9, with a 3.11 ERA, a 3.73 FIP, and a 1.13 WHIP.

While the experts were always saying that “defense wins Championships,” nearly all picked the Roos to win in 4.

Game 1

Luigi Crabtree v Brendon Vernon. Two 34 y/o veterans going toe-to-toe.

All the scoring in this 1 was done across 2 half-innings. In the top of the 4th the Heat scored 2 unearned runs (F9; error by Vernon dropping the throw backing up 1st; single 89S; another error by Vernon, this time unable to pick up cleanly, loading the bases; F2; 2-rbi single 89S; F3) to take the lead.

Through the 1st 4 innings, Crabtree was pretty clinical, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk, and not throwing too many pitches. However, in the bottom of the 5th, the Roos made playoff history by becoming the 1st team to hit 3 consecutive HRs. To begin, Connor Palmer led the inning off by swatting the 1st pitch of his AB 394 feet over left field. Then Victor Howell sent a slider 435 feet over dead centre. Following that, Maurice Toohey pulled a hanging changeup 365 feet over the right field wall.

And 3-2 Roos was how the score remained. Crabtree came out of the game in the bottom of the 6th, having allowed 6 hits and 1 walk, striking out 4. Vernon recovered from his errors to throw 8 innings, also conceding 6 hits and a walk. He struck out 8. With regular closer Vaughan Lutz injured, Cody Wood moved into the role for this series, and needed 15 pitches to record the save, striking out 2 in the process.

Game 2

Michael Paterson v Rodney Bannon (12-14, 3.73 ERA, 3.65 FIP, 1.30 WHIP). Bannon didn’t throw hard, only occasionally hitting 140 km/h with his fastball, but got good movement on his pitches and could paint the corners with the best of them. A groundball pitcher, he passed 100 career wins in the 2037 season.

The Roos scored in the bottom of the 1st, after Pugsley led off with a single, stole 2nd on the 2-0 count and came home on a hit-and-run the next pitch. But the Heat would take the lead in the 4th, on the back of single, K, BB, HBP, K, 2-run single, 1-run double, 1-run single. The inning ended with the left fielder throwing out the 2nd runner coming home on the single.

The Heat added another in the 6th to make it 5-1, and then scored 2 more runs in the 9th to take it out to 7-1. Toohey hit his 2nd HR of the series in the bottom of the 9th (429 feet this time) but that was the only shot the Roos could fire. Final score: 7-2 Heat.

Paterson threw 7, giving up 8 hits and 1 walk while fanning 5. Bannon only lasted 5 innings, allowing 9 hits and a walk for 5 earned runs. He struck out 6.

Game 3

The morning after his stellar Game 2 performance, the Heat announced they’d worked out a 4-year contract extension with Michael Paterson that would buy out his arbitration years.

Logan Neilson v Edwin Haynes (12-7, 3.32 ERA, 3.65 FIP, 1.16 WHIP).

Edwin Haynes held court over the 1st 7.1 innings, allowing only 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5. The Roos scored 2 in the 3rd thanks to a Qu-bing Huang 2-out 2-run double, and another run in the 6th to take a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th. Marcello Bond led off the inning with a single. Vaughan Skuse drilled his 2-0 pitch hard toward the hole at third, but Young-Tae Lee made a great play, not only stopping the single, but firing a throw to 2nd with enough time for Wurfel to turn the DP. Constantino Gandaral absolutely belted his 3-1 pitch over straightaway centre for a solo shot (measured at 454 feet!), and Carlo Cresswell walked, but Cody Wood struck out Dermott Lawson swinging to end the game. 3-1 Roos.

Neilson threw 8 innings, also allowing only 4 hits, but also 4 walks. He struck out 5.

Game 4

Crabtree v Vernon, round 2. And Crabtree would only last 4.1 innings, giving up 5 earned runs off the back of 7 hits and 1 walk. The Roos had scored twice in the 2nd, 3 times in the 3rd (Toohey’s 3rd HR of the series - 450 feet - contributing 1 of those), and scored another 2 in the 6th before the Heat got on the board. Perth did manage 1 in the bottom of the 6th, and another in the 9th, but never really threatened. 7-2 Roos, and a chance for them to extend their record number of Championships by 1 more.

Jit-wei Jiang, in his 1st year as a major league manager, looked pleased as punch while trying to deflect the praise at the aftermatch presser. He had been bench coach during the Roos last Championship run in 2034.

Vernon threw 7 great innings, for only 4 hits, 1 walk, and 7 Ks, to get his 2nd victory and the Hurler of the Series award. Not 1 earned run was scored off him all series, and he struck out 15 in 15 innings.

Slugger of the Series went to Maurice Toohey, who hit .455/.455/.1.273, with 3HR.