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

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2050 Championship Series - Christchurch Cowboys vs Brisbane Bandits

Preview: A David vs Goliath series if ever there was one. Written off before the season even began by all and sundry, Christchurch responded by posting the 3rd-best record in the league, and then disposed of Sydney and Newcastle in the 1st 2 rounds of the playoffs while hardly breaking a sweat.

They’d done this on the back of the league’s best rotation (3.64 ERA) and 5th-best bullpen (3.88 ERA). They’d allowed the 2nd-least runs (648) and the 2nd-least hits (1401), while having the 3rd-best defensive efficiency (.696). Offensively they were only middle of the road, their .264BA placing them 8th in the league, and their .323OBP 11th. They hit 195HRs during the season, 4th-most.

They were up against Brisbane, last year’s Champions, and a team chock full of young farm talent plus some superstars in Aguirre, Lee and Backhouse. To call them Goliath was perhaps an understatement. They’d hit the most HRs of any team, smashing 241 during the regular season, only 1 shy of the AUNZBL season record, and 36 more than any other team this year. They had the best SLG (.466) and most XBH (563), as well as having scored the 2nd-most runs (879). They also boasted the 2nd-best BA (.279) and OBP (.345), and had drawn the 3rd-most walks (560).

But they weren’t just menacing offensively. Defensively, they’d conceded the least runs (635), allowed the least hits (1378), and struck out the most hitters (1259). Their overall ERA (3.71) was the 3rd-best in the league, while their bullpen (3.13 ERA) was ranked 2nd-best.

While this year the Cowboys had the groundswell of neutral fan support, and a win would complete their fairy tale, it took a brave person to bet against the Bandits, who most pundits thought would take it out in 5, especially as they’d dominated the regular season matchups 8-4.

Christchurch were led by veteran Luke Bodkin, arguably in the form of his career, while Ed Geoghegan, Bartolo Gonzales and Angelo Rankin formed a formidable middle of the lineup. Geoghegan had hit 32HRs, Gonzales and Rankins 24 apiece.

It was thought Brisbane would go with a 4-man rotation for the series, with Ralston and Aitcheson a great 1-2 punch, though Lara and Marcos Gallo were no slouches either, having both won 15 games during the regular season, Gallo’s ERA of 3.33 the best of all 4 starters. Of Brisbane’s available 1st-choice lineup, 8 had hit 15+ HRs.

Brisbane would be without Norman Ladds for the series, but would welcome back Vince Hudswell. Christchurch had no injury concerns.

Game 1

Nathan Beckett (19-7, 3.27 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 1.10 WHIP), who’d had a topsy-turvy playoff campaign so far, would take the mound for Christchurch. Clint ‘Grave Digger’ Aitcheson (15-7, 3.68 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 1.18 WHIP) would do so for Brisbane.

The scores stayed at nought through 3 and a half before Brisbane went single, double, 4-3 rbi-ground out, BB, rbi-single, BB, rbi-single with 2nd runner thrown out at home plate to end the inning. 3-0 Brisbane.

Nobody would’ve predicted the carnage that was to come. Aitcheson had looked good through the 1st 5, and induced a 5-3 ground out from Kent Dwyer to record the 1st out of the 6th. Then Ben Zorn slapped a solo HR over left. Dylan Creswell went down on strikes and Aitcheson looked to have got things back on track. Geoghegan singled and Gonzales fought his way to a 9-pitch walk. Rankin singled to load the bases and Aitcheson got pulled. Out came Yu-hsui Chin, who’d had a poor season, operating mostly out of the bullpen. He worked Bert Maggs to 2-2, then gave him a sinker that didn’t sink. Maggs put it into the gap between left and centre and the bases cleared. 4-3 Christchurch. Next up, Norman Stone crushed a 1-1 fastball 423 feet over left centre for a 2-run HR. Terence McLaren singled and Chin headed to the showers. Midseason acquisition Paul Colenutt, who’d operated as an SP all season and hadn’t thrown any innings yet this postseason, gave up an rbi-double to Kent Dwyer. Ben Zorn was up again and he singled wide of 2nd. Dwyer rounded 3rd and slid home safely, Zorn advancing a base. Creswell singled, Geoghegan walked, and Gonzales hit one deep, deep to right. But only as far as the warning track and the inning was finally over. 8-3 Christchurch.

Beckett struck out Aguirre to start the bottom of the inning, but then left the game injured. Brisbane took advantage, scoring twice (a Vince Hudswell HR one of those runs), but Stone quickly restored the 5-run advantage with his 2nd HR of the night. Lee, Aguirre and Hudswell combined to get 1 run back in the 7th, but the Cowboys had more than tamed the broncos in the Brisbane pen, piling on 3 more runs in the 8th and 4 more in the 9th.

Final score: 17-6 Christchurch. Aitcheson (5.2IP, 4H, 4ER, 2BB, 8K) was left ruing what might’ve been, while Beckett (5.1IP, 4H, 3ER, 2BB, 6K) got the win, but would be hoping his injury wasn’t too severe. Catcher Bert Maggs equalled the Christchurch playoff game record with 4 runs scored, while Brisbane reliever Alan Aitcheson (no relation to Clint) also left the game injured.

Game 2

Carlo Avery (15-9, 3.33 ERA, 3.89 FIP, 1.26 WHIP), who’d been in great form this postseason, would start for Christchurch, while Wilson Lara (15-5, 4.13 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 1.36 WHIP) would do so for Brisbane.

Christchurch scored 1 in the top of the 1st, Ben Zorn hitting his 2nd HR of the series, but Brisbane immediately equalized thanks to Aguirre’s solo HR. Aguirre drove in a run in the 3rd to give Brisbane the lead, but Gonzales’ solo bomb in the top of the 4th put it back at even pegging. Harrison Jackson led off the bottom of the 4th with a double, and Cong Chaim drove him home with a single past the shortstop. Domenic Grinter flied out, but Timothy Browne made sure the advantage was pressed, pulling a fastball over the leftfield fence for a 2-run HR.

It looked as if Christchurch still had Brisbane’s measure in the 5th when Maggs led off with a single and Stone had a HR stolen thanks to a few centimetres of fence. The end result was an rbi-triple, and Stone would come home thanks to McLaren’s follow up sac fly. Lara recovered though, fighting his way to an 11-pitch ground out, then striking out Zorn to end the inning.

Thereafter it became a battle of the pitchers, both teams managing only 1 more baserunner each. Final score: 5-4 Brisbane.

Lara (6.1IP, 5H, 4ER, 0BB, 5K) showed remarkable control to not walk a single batter, while Avery (3.1IP, 8H, 5ER, 1BB, 2K) took an early shower as it was obvious he didn’t have his best stuff today.

Off Day

There was still no word on Beckett’s injury, with Christchurch fans now expecting the worst.

Game 3

In an eagerly anticipated matchup, veteran Luke Bodkin (16-12, 3.13 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 1.08 WHIP), who was arguably having his best season since 2043, when he went 19-7, would take on young strikeout machine Lance Ralston (18-10, 3.71 ERA, 3.30 FIP, 1.14 WHIP).

Dark clouds were hanging around Christchurch Stadium, with everybody hoping the weather wouldn’t ruin this contest.

Christchurch got an early run, Geoghegan doubling with 2 outs in the 1st and coming home on Gonzales’ shallow fly single to right. Aguirre put Brisbane ahead in the 3rd via a 2-run Aguirre HR. Christchurch had the opportunity to equalize in the bottom of the inning but a sharp throw from the CF saw Rankin tagged out at the plate to end the threat.

Amid drizzle, Brisbane were retired on 3 pitches in the 4th and the game was halted mid-inning for 34 minutes as the drizzle turned into a downpour. Once the rain lightened Christchurch found themselves back in the field after only 5 pitches at the plate. Bodkin got the 1st 2 outs of the 5th before allowing consecutive singles as the rain once more made conditions impossible to continue. This time 53 minutes passed before play could resume and when the Cowboys came back out, Bodkin was not among them, sitting in the dugout with his arm wrapped up in hot towels. His replacement, Carlo Rowlands, walked Aguirre to load the bases before Vince Hudswell drove an 0-1 fastball 447 feet over right centre for a Grand Slam (the 5th of the postseason thus far). 6-1 Bandits.

Lance Ralston’s night was also over thanks to the rain delays, but while reliever Jorge Gallardo allowed 2 baserunners (single, HBP), Christchurch couldn’t press the advantage. A run of single, single, rbi-double, 2-rbi double to begin the 7th put Brisbane even further ahead and they added another in the 8th. Christchurch finally got going in the bottom of the inning, scoring 4, but it was all a bit late and the game ended with Brisbane 10-5 victors.

Bodkin (4.2IP, 6H, 4ER, 0BB, 5K) took the loss, while Ralston (4.0IP, 6H, 1ER, 0BB, 3K) didn’t throw enough innings to get the win, that going to Gallardo (2.0IP, 1H, 0ER, 0BB, 0K). Aguirre was 3-4 with 3 runs and 4RBI plus 1 walk, while Hudswell was 3-5, scoring once and driving in 6.

Game 4

In a blow to the Cowboys, though management would also be breathing a sigh of relief that the injury wasn’t too bad, Beckett wouldn’t be available for the rest of the series thanks to a sore back. While the response of some fans at the news went something like, “Harden up, take painkillers and be a man,” team doctors said if Beckett were to do such a thing he could end up seriously injuring his back and probably shortening his career in the process.

What this meant immediately was that Jerry Fitchett (12-10, 4.59 ERA, 4.81 FIP, 1.33 WHIP), who’d made 4 relief appearances this postseason, would get the Game 4 start. He’d be up against Marcos Gallo (15-7, 3.33 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 1.17 WHIP), who’d made 2 2-inning appearances from the pen against Adelaide.

Aguirre hit his 3rd HR of the series in the top of the 1st, a 2-run affair, to give Brisbane the advantage. The Cowboys clawed 1 back in the 4th, and then went ahead in the 7th thanks to Dwyer’s 2-run HR. Follow-up back-to-back doubles scored them another run to put them 2 ahead.

Christchurch used 5 pitchers in the 8th and managed to secure a scoreless inning, even though Brisbane put runners on the corners with nobody out. But if the Cowboys thought this one was in the bag, they thought wrong. Yue-jiu Chin, who was yet to allow a postseason run in 5 previous appearances, came out to the mound in the top of the 9th, hoping to register a playoff save. His 2nd pitch got away from him, hitting Lee just above the knee. Next up, Axel Wakefield tripled into the gap between centre and right, bringing Lee home. Jackson followed up with another triple, this time into the corner in right.

Suddenly the scores were tied and an out had yet to be registered. Chin got yanked, replaced by Jayden Norris. Cong Chaim nubbed one up the 1B line. It stopped fair, Chaim stopped safely at 1st, and Jackson dived in safe at home for the go-ahead run. Timothy Browne hit a regulation fly to centre for the 1st out. Adam Guiney doubled past 3rd base and Chaim scrambled home to add an insurance run. Aguirre singled into the hole at short, advancing Guiney to 3rd, and Hudswell’s sac-fly gave Brisbane a 3-run lead (if the throw from RF had been on target Guiney would’ve been well out). Appleby doubled to put Aguirre at 3rd, but Lee ground out in his 2nd AB of the inning to put Brisbane back in the field.

McLaren beat out the throw for a 1-out single in the bottom of the 9th, but Backhouse was too good for Dwyer and Zorn and the Bandits had stolen victory, to put themselves 1 game away from a repeat Championship. Final score: 7-4 Brisbane.

Fitchett (7.0IP, 4H, 2ER, 2BB, 3K) had a right to feel cheated after a great outing. Gallo (7.1IP, 9H, 4ER, 1BB, 9K) had a mixture of ‘wow’ and ‘damn’ moments in his performance, and it might’ve been a small pleasure for Fitchett that Gallo didn’t pick up the W.

Game 5

Avery would take onto his shoulders the task of keeping Christchurch’s Championship dream alive. He would be up against Aitcheson.

Zorn hit his 3rd HR of the Championship to open the scoring in the 1st, and then scored Christchurch’s 2nd run in the 3rd, coming home off a Gonzales single. He was in the thick of it again in the 5th, singling with 1 out, stealing 2nd then advancing to 3rd on the following single, then scoring off a Gonzales ground out.

Meanwhile, Brisbane looked sluggish, Avery hitting his spots brilliantly to choke the vaunted offense. They finally got on the scorecard in the 7th, Aguirre leading off with a double, and Hudswell bringing them both home with a 420 foot ripper over right centre. In the bottom of the inning, with 1 out, Zorn drew a walk to end Aitcheson’s evening. Creswell and Geoghegan both singled to load the bases. Gonzales got a 1-1 fastball over the heart of the plate and absolutely crushed it, putting it 448 feet back over dead centre. It hit the bottom of the 2nd tier and dropped back into the field of play, Brisbane’s outfielders studiously ignoring it as 4 runners came home. The 6th Grand Slam of the playoffs, and with it Brisbane’s spirit broken. They offered little resistance for the remaining 2 innings, the final score 7-2 Christchurch.

Avery (6.0IP, 2H, 1ER, 2BB, 5K) was in great touch, while Xadreque Neiva (3.0IP, 4H, 1ER, 0BB, 2K) gave the rest of the Cowboys’ bullpen some needed rest. Aitcheson (6.1IP, 6H, 4ER, 3BB, 6K) looked tired on the mound, collecting his 2nd loss of the Championship series. Zorn scored 4 runs to tie the Christchurch postseason game record.

Game 6

Back with a sniff, Christchurch would send Luke Bodkin out in the hope of pushing the series to Game 7, while Brisbane would start Lara.

Brisbane struck first, in very un-Brisbane-like fashion. Timothy Browne led off the bottom of the 1st with a 1st-pitch single. An out later, with Aguirre at the plate, Browne stole 2nd on the 1st pitch of the AB, then swiped 3rd on the next pitch. The 2-2 pitch was wild, rolling all the way to the backstop, and Browne came home.

Harrison Jackson led off the 3rd with a double into the gap at left, and came home 2 outs later off a Guiney double down the 1B line. 2-0 Brisbane. Hudswell continued the trend of Brisbane lead-off hits, going the distance over right centre to make it 3-0. Aguirre scored in the 6th off a 2-out Lee single over the head of the shortstop.

Christchurch, after getting 2 hits in the 1st, had been quiet, only managing 3 more baserunners (2 walks and a single). They woke up in the top of the 7th, though, going single, single, rbi-double, K, rbi-single, rbi-single, F7, 3-1 ground out to pull within 1 of the Bandits. Brisbane loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th and for a few moments Wakefield thought he’d hit the 7th Slammer of the postseason, only to see typically below-average RF Gonzales climb the wall and snatch the catch.

That play would’ve given the Cowboys a real lift going into the top of the 9th. Backhouse came out to pitch, the prospect of a 4th ring in 9 years awaiting him if he could hold out the Cowboy menace. He froze up Stone for the 1st out. Jordan Blackford hit a sharp grounder directly to 1st and Aguirre didn’t need any assistance to step on the bag for the 2nd out. Dwyer refused to chase 4 consecutive pitches in the dirt and walked.

Backhouse muttered to himself as Zorn took his position in the batter’s box and then fixed his steely glare on the lean LF. Zorn swung lustily at the first pitch, a 157 km/h fastball, and failed to make contact. He made contact on the next pitch, another fastball, but only to foul it off to the backstop. The 0-2 pitch was a curveball in the dirt and Zorn laid off it. He fouled a fastball off to keep the count 1-2, then swayed out of the way of an inside fastball to see it to 2-2. The next pitch was a curveball that appeared to bend time itself. Zorn looked like he knew it was coming, but it was too good a pitch to leave and he almost overbalanced as he swung through the line.

A clear miss. Catcher Chaim tagged him just to make sure of it, before hurling his mask behind him and charging to the mound to embrace Backhouse.

Final score: 4-3 Brisbane, and they’d done it! Consecutive Championships! They became only the 4th team to record back-to-back victories, after Adelaide, Newcastle and Auckland.

Lara (8.0IP, 8H, 3ER, 2BB, 8K) took his 2050 postseason record to 3-0, while Bodkin (5.2IP, 6H, 4ER, 0BB, 7K) was left, in his words, “rueing if-only’s. If only I’d been able to put that fastball on the outside corner, like I meant to. If only I’d thrown a forkball instead of a slider. If only, if only.”

Hurler of the Series: Nobody really stood out for this one, with it going to Wilson Lara (2-0, 14.1IP, 13H, 2BB, 13K, 4.40ERA) in the end.

Slugger of the Series: Vince Hudswell (.348/.385/.913, 4HR, 12RBI), though he was certainly helped by Aguirre hitting .440/.462/.880, with 3HR, ahead of him.

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2050 Championship-winning Bandits

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2050 Season Leaderboards

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Alastair Mildren

Mildren announced his retirement on Monday the 17th of April. The superstar said, "My only regret is not winning a ring, but I've accomplished far more than I'd ever dreamed of doing when I started my pro career in 2027, drafted as the #1 overall pick by Hobart."

He'd made his major league debut as a fresh-faced 21 y/o in 2030 and played as a Prospect until midway through 2034, when they traded him to Canberra. At that stage, there'd been little indication of the superstar he would become, though that season he hit 30HR and racked up a 6.6 WAR. He also led the league that year in PA, with 728.

He would play in Canberra until 2038, forming a formidable batting partnership with Ashley Snijders and Pi-ao Ming, as well as a long-lasting feud with the former. In both 2037 and 2038 he led the league in HRs (40 & 45).

But it was his 2039 season that would be the season most remembered. Both he and Richard Lewis were unsigned at the conclusion of Spring Training before both signing on the morning of Opening Day with the Sluggers, amid claims they were holding the league to ransom. This was hotly disputed by both players as well as Sluggers' management who said they couldn't believe the bargain they'd got.

That season, on his way to nearly leading the Sluggers to a maiden Championship, Mildren would hit 50HRs, the first, and still only, player to do so. He would also drive in 159 runners to become the first, and still only, player to record 150RBI. His .330BA was 2nd in the league, and so he fell short of a Triple Crown.

Next season he was at Adelaide (where he hit his 300th HR) before heading home to Newcastle, the city of his birth, to play out the remainder of his career. In 2043 he struck HR#400 before claiming #1 on the all-time leaderboard that season. Still with an insatiable appetite for the longball, Mildren continued to produce, and in 2046, at age 38, came runner-up in the SotY proceedings.

It was during the 2045 season, though, that he became the 1st AUNZBL player to reach 500HRs. And he just kept producing, even if his swing was slowly declining. In 2048 he recorded hit number #3000, another AUNZBL first, and later that season cracked HR #600 over the fence.

Mildren won Batter of the Year only once, a shock, really, though he'd been in the mix for many a season, and also won 3 Gold Gloves, the last 2 when he was 38 and 39 y/o. He went to 12 All Star Games, and on one stretch went nearly 9 seasons without missing a game.

He would retire with the season HR, RBI, and TB records (407), and had played the most games, had the most ABs, recorded the most hits, scored the most runs, driven in the most runners, rounded the most bases (5710), and crushed the most HRs. Somewhat surprisingly, he'd been overtaken by Brock Wakely during the season on the career WAR board.

His famous teammate of 2039, Richard Lewis (.314/.413/.433, 119HR), also retired at the end of the season, having played 1 year in the NABA and this season for a brief time in Wellington's AAA-affiliate. Lewis would retire having hit the most triples (103), and stolen the most bases (407) of any AUNZBL player. His retirement got very little coverage compared to the accolades thrown Mildren's way.

Newcastle were proud to announce 42 y/o Mildren would stay within the organization, as skipper of their short-A team.

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2050 Awards

Gold Gloves

Pitcher: Clint Aitcheson (Brisbane Bandits)
Catcher: Jacob Lindner (Central Coast Thunder)
First Baseman: Ismael Aguirre (Brisbane Bandits)
Second Baseman: Owen Delaney (Hobart Prospects)
Third Baseman: Andre England (Newcastle Roos)
Shortstop: Kent Dwyer (Christchurch Cowboys)
Left Fielder: Martin Boston (Canberra Cavalry)
Center Fielder: Terence Mclaren (Christchurch Cowboys)
Right Fielder: Glen Lock (Newcastle Roos)

Rookie of the Year

There had been an expectation Norman Ladds would walk his way to winning this award. However, to the surprise of many - judging by the moment-too-long silence before the applause began - 2050’s RotY was won by 25 y/o Thunder corner outfielder/DH Manuel Alou (.306/.366/.519, 28HR, 4.8 WAR, 56.0 VORP).

Of course, this sent everybody scrambling for the rule books as Alou had racked up exactly 2 years of major league service time. It was discovered, though, that the judges hadn’t made an error, as last season Alou only saw 120 plate appearances.

Still, 26 y/o Ladds (.278/.387/.481, 25HR, 34SB, +12.2ZR at LF, 5.7 WAR, 44.0 VORP) could feel aggrieved as, at first glance at least, it appeared as if he’d had the better all-around season.

26 y/o Blue Sox 1B Gilbert Boyson (.270/.353/.472, 22HR) came a distant 3rd.

Skipper of the Year

Cisco Ferreira had a dream AUNZBL managerial debut year. Not only did his Bandits go 102-60, they also won the Championship, and Ferreira tonight capped it off with a Skipper of the Year gong. The former Belo Horizonte pitching coach had little to say when accepting the award, but did make mention of how easy his job with the squad at his disposal, saying, “These guys, they could manage themselves. All I can do is stuff things up.”

Hurler of the Year

Lance Ralston was the player favourite to win HotY in 2050, but somehow he didn’t even get near the podium.

Nathan Beckett, tragically injured in his 1st start of the Championship series, won the award. He’d gone 19-7 on the year, with a 3.27 ERA, 3.67 FIP, and 1.10 WHIP. In 217.1 IP he’d struck out 206 batters and had finished with a WAR of 4.3.

Central Coast closer Rhett Thurley (10-4, 43 sv, 2.28 ERA, 2.51 FIP, 1.03 WHIP) snagged 2nd, while Al Dunlop (18-9, 3.18 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 1.10 WHIP) completed a successful transition from the BL back to the AUNZBL with a 3rd-place finish.

Slugger of the Year

In the break between Hurler of the Year and Slugger of the Year being announced, Alastair Mildren sidled up to one reporter and said, “Must be a rookie voting panel this year, eh? None of this makes much sense. But, if Ash (Snijders) doesn’t win SotY I might laugh my way to a heart attack.”

As it turned out, there would be no need for any hasty funerals, as Snijders took the podium to receive his 3rd SotY award. On the year Snijders had gone .328/.454/.607, with 46HR, a 9.8 WAR and a 96.7 VORP. Both the WAR and the VORP were career highs for the Manukau-born 1B.

Aguirre (.338/.397/.607, 44HR) came 2nd, making that 4 times in 5 years he’d been on the finalists’ podium, and Brock Wakely (.299/.403/.585, 38HR) came 3rd, making this the 5th time he’d come within cooee of, without actually getting his hands on, the big award. He was realistic after the ceremony, saying “I’m probably out of chances now, to be honest.”

When asked his thoughts on whether Snijders was a deserving winner by the same journalist he’d spoken to prior to the SotY winner being announced , Mildren responded, “Can’t argue with the stats, can I? But what do you reckon, would he rather have another SotY on his shelf or Aguirre's Championship ring on his middle finger?”

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2050 Career Leaderboards

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9 May 2051

In terms of the history of the settlement of the Solar System the 9th of May 2051 is possibly the most important date of them all.

The colonies on the Moon and on Mars were ticking along, with rumour beginning to circulate that the ASN would open up both locations to commercial enterprise soon. There were even hints in the government-sanctioned space program media releases that a research outpost had been set up on Phobos, the larger of Mars' two moons, and that plans were underway to begin mining in the Belt.

While exploration and colonization of the Solar System was still right at the top of the government's priority list and huge money was going into that sector, meaning massive growth in cities like Kununurra, the general public had lost a bit of interest.

Anxiety over the turf wars constantly erupting in Europe, the African refugee crisis (this had dominated the media-waves for the last 3 years - essentially the reformed African nations had put up a united front to bar entry of any refugees from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, which had led to a steady stream of terrorist attacks on the continent, and therefore a constant Australian military presence), as well as matters closer to home (Indonesia now appeared to be the disease capital of the entire planet), as well as business opportunities in the Lower Americas (for the most part, the Upper Americas was still considered too volatile - both economically and physically - for commercial appeal) had distracted people from what was happening outside Earth.

Today's news didn't initially change that, but it would have a huge impact in years to come.

While the exact date of the discovery will never likely be known, today was the day the Australian government made the announcement, hijacking the nets in their typical fashion. A Dr. Vitaly Brosinski and Dr. Roger Jeffrey Olivesbridge had made a fundamental breakthrough in space travel. They'd designed an engine that could not only handle far greater acceleration in a much shorter period of time than any created previously, it was also more fuel efficient and only needed a few seconds between acceleration bursts. Previous engine designs had needed anything from an hour to several hours between bursts of acceleration, so as to preserve engine integrity.

Simulations of flights with crew in gel-packed work-stations had been carried out successfully and the next step was production and live trials between the Moon and Mars.

It would be another year before these engines were in regular use, but once they were a new era in space exploration and colonization would begin.

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Offseason

2050 Notes

ERA dropped for the 2nd year in a row, to 4.26. BA also dropped, to .265.

BL Wrap-up

The Cali Destructores won the BL, defeating the Havana Toleteros 4-3 in a tight-fought series. Game 7 came down to the bottom of the 9th. With the scores tied at 6-6, Ronald Roneberg led off with a triple and Bailey Herbert hit a walk-off single to win the series for Cali. It was the Destructores 1st BL Championship win.

Hidekazu Tashima (288/.355/.529, 25HR) won both Novato del Ano and Bateador de Oro. He’d led the league in HR, RBI (101), XBH (58), and total bases (243) in his rookie BL season.

Another rookie, 29 y/o Jose Aguilar, discovered while playing in an independent Venezuelan league, took out Jarra de Oro on the back of an excellent 16-5 season. He had a 3.02 ERA, 3.74 FIP, and 1.12 WHIP.

League News

The regular offseason rumblings from the Player's Union gave the baseball shows something to chew on over the offseason, though talk of a breakaway competition was certainly new. According to PU representatives, even some of the existing owners were considering the concept as they didn't like the apparent involvement of the government/military in the competition. The Commissioner's Office brushed off rival league talk, saying it was "fanciful and not thought out."

Towards the end of the offseason, the PU clarified its position, saying, "We neither endorse nor condemn talk of a breakaway competition, but we are of course interested in vigorous discourse that will better the game and the welfare of the players we represent." In other words, they were doing some old school trolling.

The idea did indeed start discussions, with several expansion bids, including the ones from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, weighing in on the topic. The big question, however, was finance, and no one currently had any solutions to all the problems that entailed.

Notable Club Happenings

Auckland: Warren Leeder served possibly the shortest managerial stint in history, today getting the heave-ho from his job as interim Metros’ skipper. He’d been in charge for 3 games, with the team 2-1 in that time. Bench coach Fraser Edlich, who was yet to manage in the bigs, got a promotion to skipper.

Kununurra: The Pioneers had a cleanout at the top, firing both GM Jordan Hurlson and skipper Mike Bolitho.

Hobart: As expected, skipper Yeong-sam Pak didn’t have his contract extended. To the surprise of a few, Si Chin held onto his job, getting a new 2-year contract, despite Hobart falling from Championship winners when his tenure started in 2045 to 71-game regular season winners in 2050. Oliver Chambers, who had skippered Hobart to 4 successive playoff appearances and 1 Championship between 2040-2043 before getting the flick, and had then been hired back as bench coach by Chin in 2046, would take the reins once more as manager.

Melbourne: Lou Blenkhorn lasted just 1 year in Melbourne. His Aces had gone 68-94, and that wasn’t good enough. The former minor league pitcher, now 48, was ambivalent about his future plans. “Sure, I’d like to give managing another shot. But maybe I wouldn’t mind giving pure coaching a go. Or even something outside of baseball. I got a degree in business in the period between playing and managing, so maybe it’s time to move in that direction. I’ll have a long think about, I guess.”

Wellington: GM Hector Rodriguez got his marching orders. Many felt that was a stiff penalty for Rodruiguez to pay for 1 poor season, as the Fury had made the playoffs each of his previous 5 years in charge, getting to the Championship round twice during that time. Manager Juan Gallegos (435-376 in his major league career, all with Wellington) retired at 63 y/o, citing the desire to head back to the Lower Americas and spend more time with his grandchildren - the clan numbered in the mid-20s, according to Gallegos. Benjamin Stennings, who’d made it to the bigs as a relief pitcher with Christchurch and Hobart from 2020-2023, and who’d been BC at Wellington for the entirety of Gallegos’ tenure, would become manager.

Whangarei: Jose Guerrero, who’d led Whangarei to their 1st Championship in 2048, the season he won Skipper of the Year, got the boot today. In what amounted to a clear-out, GM Keith Shanahan, who’d sat in the big chair for the last 8 seasons, didn’t have his contract renewed. The 60 y/o said he was still hungry for new challenges and would be “actively applying for open roles.”

Notable Free Agent Signings/Player Contract Extensions

30 Mar: Auckland extended 25 y/o SP Jeremy Challinor (28-34, 4.63 ERA, 4.23 FIP, 1.30 WHIP) for 4 years, meaning he might spend the 1st 7 years of his ML career in a Metros jersey.

30 Mar: 25 y/o Yong-jun Chu (.292/.326/.397, 24HR) signed on the dotted line with Whangarei, agreeing to a 5-year contract extension. Chu had 2 1/2 years of major league service time already.

31 Mar: Newcastle, readying themselves for their round 2 entrance into the AUNZBL playoffs, today extended 27 y/o 2B Daniel Wise (.283/.337/.383, 17HR) for 4 more years. The young fellah, acquired off waivers from Brisbane early in the 2049 season, had a strong campaign in his 1st year as an everyday player and was one of the trio of young infielders (Andre England, 3B; Bradley Courcha SS, the others) who Newcastle fans were sure would be vital cogs in a record-extending 7th Championship in the next season or 2.

2 Apr: 26 y/o Bryce ‘Neighbour’ Rice (.258/.317/.399, 38HR) signed a 5-year extension with Wellington. Bryce had a career-best season in 2050, hitting 32 doubles and 22HR, while driving in 80 runners, leading the Fury in both HR and RBI.

12 Apr: Whangarei loved 28 y/o catcher Jerry Skuse (.284/.363/.488, 129HR), even though he hadn’t reached the lofty heights of Zachary Woollett, the player who they'd moved on to make room for Skuse. At any rate, the Sluggers had signed 3-time All Star Skuse to a 6-year extension, thus stopping him going to market and perhaps ensuring he’d spend his entire career in Whangarei colours.

11 May: This year’s free agents included:

31 y/o C Zachary Woollett
36 y/o 3B Brock Wakely
28 y/o CF Christos Hutchinson (there was no word on whether his reality TV series would continue if he left windy Wellington)
27 y/o LF Rhett Morrow
27 y/o C Carlo Gadsden
33 y/o CF Terence McLaren
34 y/o 3B Norman Stone
28 y/o C Cong Chaim
37 y/o RF Bartolo Gonzales
39 y/o LF Beau Riseley
29 y/o CL Robert Bywaters
35 y/o 3B Adrian Walsh
34 y/o 1B Dean Warner
37 y/o 2B Craig Hardy
31 y/o SP Jesus Rodriguez
35 y/o 1B Axel Wakefield (who was presenting his preferred position as CF, where he’d played all of 18 innings his entire career)
30 y/o 1B Adrian Bonaddio
40 y/o SP Logan Neilson
34 y/o MR/CL Brendan Sheppard
35 y/o CL Brodie Backhouse
34 y/o SS Jack Mulholland

Sydney were the biggest losers, if WAR was anything to go by, shedding 10.2 WAR. Kununurra actually gained 2.5 WAR after the free agency dash.

19 May: The 1st big signing of the offseason was Zachary Woollett (.313/.384/.528, 227HR). ‘Specs’ had opted to sign with Sydney on a 2-year deal, though he admitted there had been a few other tempting offers. “The reality, though,” he said, “is that I think Sydney is going to win a Championship in the next couple years and I want to be part of that.”

21 May: Darwin snared Rhett Morrow (.301/.408/.492, 146HR) on a 5-year deal. Many analysts thought Morrow’s 30HR season in 2050 was an aberration and that he’d return to his previous 3-year average of 20 going forward.

23 May: The Diggers made another big move today, signing Christos Hutchinson (.315/.368/.404, 13HR) to a 4-year deal. Hutchinson was happy to tell media his reality TV show would be travelling across the Tasman with him, saying, “I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to present my behind-the-scenes take on baseball life from a new city and within a new team.” It seemed a few of his new teammates, surveyed anonymously, weren’t so keen on the idea.

25 May: Brock Wakely (.283/.392/.498, 457HR) was heading to Brisbane for the next 3 seasons, ostensibly replacing Axel Wakefield, though Wakely would likely play 3B and Young-tae Lee move into the DH role. In a pun that drew groans from the attending media, Bandits’ GM Victor Leseberg said, “Yeah, we like guys who are always alert.” Once the jeering had died down, he said, “Seriously, though, Brock not only brings a great bat and good glove, he’ll also add a cool head and excellent veteran leadership as we look to become the 1st team to win 3 in a row.” They certainly had the pieces to do it, too.

28 May: The Bandits signed Carlo Gadsden (.277/.326/.454, 66HR) on a 4-year deal.

31 May: Darwin continued to set the pace in the early offseason, swooping on Jesus Rodriguez (88-84, 4.75 ERA, 4.17 FIP, 1.42 WHIP) with a 3-year deal. Again, the experts weren’t sure this was a good move for Darwin, even though reports were the 31 y/o had signed for peanuts.

1 Jun: Adrian Walsh (.250/.322/.434, 229HR) signed on the dotted line with Christchurch, agreeing to terms on a 3-year deal.

1 Jun: Apparently there’d been a betting pool at OotPB TV as to who would end up in an offshore league next season. Jack Mulholland (.256/.334/.421, 165HR) had been an odds-on favourite, but it wasn’t to be. He’d be playing in Cavalry colours the next 2 seasons.

1 Jun: The Cowboys announced their 2nd signing of the day, though this player wasn’t a new face: Terence McLaren (.258/.320/.408, 146HR), who’d put up a +25.6 ZR at CF last season on his way to a 2nd consecutive Gold Glove, had re-signed with Christchurch for 2 more seasons.

14 Jun: Cong Chaim (.269/.309/.428, 101HR), who’d become a pivotal player at the bottom of Brisbane’s lineup over the last 3 seasons, was packing up and moving to Melbourne. He’d signed a 5-year deal. A few analysts started calling this a ‘free agent trade’ as Melbourne’s everyday catcher in 2050, Carlo Gadsden, had signed with Brisbane a couple weeks prior.

17 Jun: The Cowboys had a reputation of being loyal to their veterans. They’d already re-signed one this offseason after letting him test the market, and today they re-signed another one, Bartolo Gonzales (.240/.329/.458, 200HR), for 2 years.

19 Jun: Craig Hardy (.292/.357/.382, 63HR) was returning home. After 4 seasons playing for the Heat, Pioneers and Metros, Hardy today was announced as having signed a 2-year deal with the Blue Sox, the team he’d played his 1st 10 seasons in the majors with.

21 Jun: In a move that shocked everybody, Brodie Backhouse (50-49, 401 sv, 2.66 ERA, 2.52 FIP, 1.08 WHIP) headed to the BL. He’d signed a 3-year deal with the Cali Destructores as their marquee player. The AUNZBL’s all-time best closer, who many thought was still an outside chance of being the 1st pitcher to 500 saves, said he’d accomplished everything he’d ever dreamed of in the AUNZBL, and “now was the time to explore the world a bit. And to do so playing baseball, well, isn’t that still a dream come true?” Initial indications were that Cali planned to use Backhouse in their rotation. The 35 y/o hadn’t started a game since his college days but he was up for the challenge if that’s what his coaching staff wanted.

28 Jun: Robert Bywaters (26-25, 149 sv, 3.36 ERA, 3.11 FIP, 1.27 WHIP) had a few suitors but in the end settled for the Roos, inking a 3-year contract.

7 Aug: Canberra snared Brendan Sheppard (32-25, 60 sv, 3.29 ERA, 2.97 FIP, 1.12 WHIP) on a 2-year deal. It was likely he would slot into the closing role, where he’d played his 1st season of major-league ball, racking up 43 saves for the Blue Sox in 2045.

10 Aug: Dean Warner (.273/.334/.435, 222HR) signed with Newcastle for the next 3 years.

17 Aug: Norman Stone (.285/.332/.458, 107HR) had a late introduction to the AUNZBL. Born and raised in Melbourne, the stocky 3B/LF had wandered his way through several of Australia’s independent semi-pro leagues until, at age 28, he signed a minor league contract with the Roos. He was decent in his rookie season, hitting .268/.311/.452 before Newcastle traded him to Christchurch in the offseason. When fit, he was an everyday player for the Cowboys and had an outstanding debut postseason in 2050, hitting .353/.400/.725 with 5 doubles, 1 triple and 4HR amongst his 18-51. Having filed for free agency, the 35 y/o took a long time to make a decision on where he’d play in 2050, even though news reports were Christchurch was keen to keep him in the fold, and another team or two appeared interested as well. Finally he signed with Adelaide for the 2051 season, simply saying, “It felt right.”

18 Aug: Axel Wakefield (.250/.320/.420, 223HR), who’d won 2 Championships with the Bandits but had never reached the heights many thought him capable of, had signed with the Piratas for the next 3 years. He was quoted as saying he “couldn’t wait to check out the nightlife” in Georgetown and the rest of the BL cities.

26 Aug: Beau Riseley (.297/.347/.468, 352HR) would go around for another AUNZBL season, signing a 1-year deal with the Aces.

7 Sep: The Metros extended their hand to 40 y/o, injured SP Logan Neilson (188-190, 3.75 ERA, 3.91 FIP, 1.31 WHIP), signing him for the season. If sources were to be believed, Neilson had taken a more than 90% pay cut just so he could play.

Notable Trades

14 May: The Thunder sent 25 y/o 1B Stefan Lock (.252/.312/.490, 68HR) and cash to Sydney in return for 32 y/o SS Bradley Trew (.240/.306/.375, 102HR) and a gun pitching prospect. At first glance this might’ve seemed like a trade very much lopsided in Sydney’s favour. Lock, in each of his 2 full seasons so far, had hit 30+ HRs, while Trew’s fielding ability was nowhere near good enough to make up for his BA. However, the Thunder felt 24 y/o 1B Justin Auger (.294/.372/.559, 29HR over 2 part seasons) was going to be big news and they didn’t want him sitting behind Lock come next season. Plus, they also felt 19 y/o Alwin de Lange, the Curacaoan pitching prospect who was the 2nd player acquired from Sydney, would fit into the top half of their rotation within the next 2-3 years.

Notable Injuries

16 Sep: Ian Northard had torn an UCL near the end of the 2049 season and missed the entire 2050 season, bar a rehab stint in AAA in March. Now he was set to spend a sizeable portion of the 2051 season on the DL, having been diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff. Medical estimates were he would be 4-5 months on the sidelines.

25 Sep: Terence McLaren was set to miss the 1st month of the season after fracturing his thumb.

25 Sep: Jack Mulholland was also looking at a month or so on the DL after cracking his rib.

NABA Wrap-up

The Warwick Reds claimed the NABA title, marking them the 1st team to do so outside of the Jamestown Originals. Jamestown finished in 8th and fired their manager midway through the season.

Montreal rookie Axel Dingle (.266/.333/.515, 20HR) won the North Cascades Award as well as the Yellowstone Award. The 27 y/o had made it as high as AAA in the AUNZBL (in 2048) before heading to the Americas this season. This season he led the NABA in HR, RBI (66), ISO (.249), XBH (35), and total bases (157).

2-time AUNZBL All Star William Colcott (10-5, 2sv, 2.11 ERA, 3.46 FIP, 1.15 WHIP) won the Yosemite Award. He had last been spotted in the AUNZBL in 2047 with Melbourne. This was his 1st season in the NABA after 3 years in the BL.

Other Notes

17 Apr: 30 y/o Baden Moore announced that he was intent on making the switch from pitcher to position player, and would do so with the blessing of Hobart management. His plan was to train the entire offseason at 3B and try to win a spot in the major-league squad during spring. If he were successful he would be the 2nd player to make the switch. Many of the experts felt he’d left it a bit late.

30 Sep: Moore was still hoping to nail down the regular 3B spot for Hobart, but a dismal spring (.172/.273/.241, 0HR) had hampered his efforts. Hitting coach Declan Warren commented, “I keep telling him to just relax, but the lad’s stiff as a plastic toupee out there. See the way he’s bunching his shoulders? No chance of a good swing if you’re at the plate like that.”

#

Darwin had the biggest offseason WAR gain, picking up 9.5 WAR, while Wellington didn’t have any money to make big moves and finished the offseason with a net WAR loss of 9.4.

[Izz]

2051 Preseason Predictions

Coastal Division: Adelaide and Darwin would go at it for a playoff spot, with neither Cairns nor Perth offering much resistance.

East-West Division: Much as they'd been picked to do last year, the experts felt the Bandits would crush it all season, possibly even breaking records for games won. The Roos and Thunder would again be good, but would be battling it out for wildcard berths rather than the pennant.

NZ Division: The Sluggers would bounce back this year, staying enough ahead of the Metros and Fury to win the division. Christchurch would have the terrible season they'd been picked to have last year.

Southern Division: This would be the weakest of all the divisions and, because of that, would be the 1st division to ever supply a playoff contender with a sub-500 record.

Slugger of the Year: The majority choice was Ashley Snijders to go back-to-back, meaning he'd become the oldest player to lift the SotY crown. Aguirre would be in the mix as per usual, and Norman Ladds wouldn't have a sophomore slump, instead having an even stronger 2nd season.

Hurler of the Year: Auckland's Jeremy Challinor was expected to announce himself as having come of age this season, and would be in the HotY mix along with 4 of Brisbane's rotation (Ralston, Aitcheson, Lara, Gallo).

Play ball!

[Izz]

2051/2052 Season - October

Notable Performances

1 Oct: Baden Moore didn’t make Hobart’s Opening Day top 24, instead finding himself in AAA. He tried to present an optimistic front when media found him, saying, “It’s a long season, and if I play well here I’m sure I’ll get a chance to show my stuff in the bigs.”

1 Oct: Bob Davies had an as-close-to-perfect start to the season as you could get, shutting down Whangarei on the back of 5 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 3 and Sydney made their way to a 2-0 victory, thanks to a Gilbert Boyson 2-run HR in the 5th.

2 Oct: Matt Hanscombe lost 21 games pitching for Perth in 2050. “This year has a much better feel about it already,” he said after his 1st start of the season, wearing a huge grin, having just completed a 3-hit, 1-walk, 4-strikeout shutout of Cairns. Perth cruised to an 8-0 win.

3 Oct: Brad King had been promoted to Darwin’s big-league rotation midway through 2050 and most felt he’d been overmatched. He seemed a whole lot different in 2051 though, stopping Melbourne to the tune of 7-0 in his 1st start of the year. He still had some issues, giving up 5 walks to go with his 6 hits, but the 21 y/o had a great arsenal of pitches and the ability to keep the ball down in the zone. He struck out 5 in the win.

9 Oct: Teammate Sterling Bull said young Justin Auger made up one-half of the Thunder’s crazy-eyed duo. The other half was Sean Carr, though Bull said his crazy eyes were probably more a case of staying out too late for too many nights, while Auger looked “like he just might go unhinged at any moment.” Auger had rights to glare at Bull as much as he liked for the next 7 days, though, having won this season’s 1st PotW award. He hit .613/.613/1.290 over the last week, including an astonishing 3 triples (plus 3 doubles and 4HR) from 19 hits. He also scored 13 runs and stole 2 bases, and didn’t draw a single walk. The fans loved Auger’s new nickname, already turning up at games with bobble-eyes attached to their Thunder caps.

10 Oct: Craig Hardy spanked the Crocs today, going 5-5 in Sydney’s 7-3 win.

10 Oct: In all 10 games so far this season, Justin Auger had recorded at least 2 hits. His BA was .581. He would break the streak the following night with a 1-5 performance.

11 Oct: Sean ‘Music Man’ Carr might’ve been squinting a bit thanks to being seen out in the Central Coast nightspots at 3 a.m. this morning, but the late night certainly didn’t affect his hitting any. He went 5-5, including a HR and a double, to help Central Coast edge out Darwin 8-7. It was only Carr’s 2nd game back from an injury suffered during ST.

16 Oct: Antony Mansfield swiped PotW, even though he’d only played 2 games. Called up from AAA for Hobart, he was 6-7 from 8PA in those 2 games, going .857/.875/1.857. 3 of his hits were of the extra-base variety (2 doubles, 1HR). When notified he’d won the award, all the chunky SS could respond with was, “Huh?” A near-perfect echo of how most in the media felt, too.

22 Oct: Daniel Wise went 5-5, including 2 doubles, to help Newcastle rout the Thunder 10-2.

23 Oct: 35 y/o Adrian Walsh had won a single PotW back in 2046. Today he added another to his collection, thanks to a strong .522/.607/1.261 effort. His 12-23 included 5HR, one of those a Grand Slam.

24 Oct: Mike Wurfel was 39 y/o but, despite a career injury list as long as his arm, showed no signs of slowing down. He went 5-5 this day, including a 3-run jack and a double, in Darwin’s 16-0 slaughter of Kununurra. In other news from the same game, Brad ‘The Wizard’ King went to 4-0 with a scoreless 8 inning performance, striking out 10 and allowing just 4 hits. When asked if he felt he had enough in the tank to go for the shutout, he slowly replied, “Yeah, I reckon I did. But Skip said I threw 120-something pitches last start, so he wanted to save my arm. But yeah, I probably could’ve.”

30 Oct: Mike Wurfel was quoted during the week saying he saw no reason why he “couldn’t play until 45.” Winning PotW today(.522/.577/.783, 1HR) wouldn’t have dampened those aspirations any.

Notable Injuries

2 Oct: Burt Bargenquast would miss the next month of the season with a strained oblique.

7 Oct: The Roos were off to a 2-4 start to the season, and wouldn’t have enjoyed hearing that Bradley Courcha would be unavailable for 4-5 weeks while he recovered from a strained shoulder.

11 Oct: Wan-ling Tan (.360/.385/.440, 0HR) wouldn’t turn out for the Metros for at least 5-6 weeks after spraining his thumb.

24 Oct: Adelaide (6-17) would have to do without dependable 3B Norman Stone (.294/.326/.471, 3HR) for the next 4 weeks after he strained his PCL.

27 Oct: The Venom were dealt another blow today, with news that Benjamin Ziersch (.286/.327/.429, 5HR) had also strained his PCL and would be out of action for 5-6 weeks.

Notable Trades/Signings

25 Oct: 28 y/o Trent Allan’s career average dropped below .300 on the 24th, and the next day Sydney signed the CF to a 1-year extension. The deal had probably been in the works for some time, but Allan’s slow start to the year (.245/.315/.388, 1HR) wouldn’t have helped his bargaining power. He was in his 7th year in the majors and had played his entire career in a Sydney uniform.

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 23 y/o Cairns’ SS Paddy Shearer played AA in 2050, but found himself as the Crocs’ everyday SS to start 2051. He was in no way overawed by the jump, winning the season’s 1st RotM with a .377/.417/.688 performance. He was 29-77, with 14 runs, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 5HR, 19RBI, 5 walks, and 2SB.

Hurler of the Month: Kade Clark made the move to Melbourne in the offseason, where he was promised the closing role. And he was making a great fist of it so far, going 3-0, with 9 saves, in October. His ERA was 0.66, his FIP 2.32, and his WHIP 0.59. He’d struck out 9 in 13.2IP.

Slugger of the Month: This could only go to Crazy Eyes. Justin Auger had a mammoth opening month, going .416/.468/.788, 47-113, with 30 runs, 12 doubles, 3 triples, 8HR, 27RBI, 12BB and 2SB. The season leaderboards were all Auger. He had the league’s best BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA (.519), most hits, doubles, and runs, as well as the best ISO (.372), most XBH (23) and bases (89), and the best WAR (3.0). He was also tied for 2nd in the triples standings, 3rd in the HR race, and 3rd on the RBI chart.

Media Watch

Baden Moore: Had a good start to his AAA career as a hitter, though he admitted heading back to the minors was “a bit of a culture shock.” In October he hit .311/.393/.405, 23-74, with 14 runs, 4 doubles, 1HR, 4RBI, and 10BB. He’d played most of the month at 2B, where it was fair to say he’d struggled. He’d looked okay in the 3 games he’d spent at 3B.

Other Notes

30 Oct: The league decided to get tough after the 3rd all-in brawl of the month took place today in a game between division rivals Christchurch and Wellington. The 2 previous fracases had resulted in 2-game bans to each instigating player. However, for this fight, Wellington SS Rory Budd and Cowboys SP Carlo Avery both got 9 game suspensions, with the Commissioner’s office providing this soundbite: “While we understand that tensions can rise while playing this great game of ours, fighting is not something that we can, or will, tolerate. Our players inspire countless children to better themselves; we don’t better ourselves by resorting to violence.”

#

Coastal Division: Darwin shot out to an early 6-game lead. The Crocs were in 2nd spot, 3 games below .500, with Perth a game behind, and preseason favourites Adelaide in dead last, though 11-18 looked a lot better than 2-12 did halfway through the month.

East-West Division: As predicted, this division was a slugfest, though Newcastle weren’t yet in it, down the bottom of the division, 3 games below .500. The Thunder held the early lead, ahead of Brisbane by 1 and Kununurra by 2.

NZ Division: Every NZ team was slow to start 2051. Christchurch and Wellington were tied at the top of the division to end the month, 1 game above .500 and 1 game ahead of Whangarei. Auckland had started the month strong (7-2 on the 9th) but went into freefall over the last two-thirds of the month to end it 3 games below .500.

Southern Division: Melbourne and Hobart were both hot to begin the season, jostling for the lead, with the Aces in front by 1 on the morning of November 1. Canberra was 4 games back, while Sydney were just plain awful, finishing the month 7-22.

#

Auger was dominating the hitting boards, for sure, but teammate Manny Alou (.327/.427/636, 9HR) wasn’t going too bad either. He led the league in RBI (40) by 11, and was tied for the HR lead.

Alou was tied with new Bandit Brock Wakely (.297/.403/.614, 9HR), who’d hit 9 homers but only driven in 16 runners.

Fellow Bandit Norman Ladds (.243/.388/.364, 2HR) was finding hitting a bit more difficult this season, but his patience at the plate was better than ever. He’d drawn 25 walks, best in the league, and he’d also stolen the most bases, swiping 9 so far.

Alan Sneddon (.303/.439/.444, 1HR) was experiencing something new this season: being caught while stealing. So far this season he’d been caught 7 times, while only successfully stealing 5 times (in 2050 he’d stolen 52 bases and only been caught 16 times, a pattern matched in the rest of his career). While he didn’t even feature on the steals leaderboard, and was only 2nd in walks drawn (23), he did lead the league in triples, with 4.

Clint Aitcheson (3-2, 3.99 ERA, 2.78 FIP ,1.30 WHIP) currently had the league’s best FIP.

Kununurra’s Eddie Vance (1-1, 3.03 ERA, 4.27 FIP, 0.89 WHIP) led the league in WHIP.

Teammate Sterling Dunlop (2-1, 4.74 ERA, 4.15 FIP, 1.05 WHIP) led the league in strikeouts, having sent 46 batters back so far. He also led the league in K/9 (10.89) and K/BB (7.67).

Allan Spear (3-1, 2.01 ERA, 2.79 FIP, 0.91 WHIP) had thrown the most innings of any pitcher, 49.1. He also had the best pitcher’s WAR, with 1.7.

Brendan Sheppard (Canberra) and Vince Wilkins (Kununurra) were tied atop the saves board, with 10 each.

Standings, Nov 1

[Izz]

2051/2052 Season - November

Notable Performances

1 Nov: Keiran Pickford recorded his 2nd career 20-game hit streak today, going 2-4 as the Venom paralyzed the Blue Sox 12-5. The streak would be snapped the following night.

2 Nov: The Roos were outclassed 4-0 by the Pioneers, only managing 4 base hits. One of those 4, however, was a milestone. Ashley Snijders’ 1st-inning single was career hit 2500, putting him in elite company, as 1 of only 3 players to so far achieve the 2500 hit-400HR double-double.

6 Nov: 25 y/o Venom utility Owen Wall took out PotW with a .600/.667/1.467 effort. He was 9-15, with 1 double and 4HR.

6 Nov: Brody Cheadle busted out with 5 hits in Newcastle’s 12-6 defeat of Whangarei. His 5-5 included a HR.

6 Nov: Marcos Lopez was the main man in Wellington’s 7-1 victory over Canberra, slugging 3HR. He started with a solo HR in the 1st, followed that up with a 2-run shot in the 3rd, and finished up with another 2-run blast in the 8th.

6 Nov: Poor Perth. Melbourne came from behind to win 7-5, thus seeing the Heat lose their 10th straight.

9 Nov: Sean Carr picked up his 2nd 5-hit game of the season, doing so with a 5-5 effort in Central Coast’s 11-8 win over Kununurra.

11 Nov: Marcos Lopez made it 20 consecutive games with a hit.

12 Nov: The hapless Heat lost their 15th in a row, going down 8-5 to Newcastle.

13 Nov: Keiran Pickford won PotW with a .462/.462/.962 effort. His 12 hits included 4 doubles and 3HR.

13 Nov: Lopez’s hit streak ended at 21 games.

16 Nov: Kununurra’s Arthur Lee became the 1st player in 10 years, and only the 2nd major-leaguer ever, to drive in 9 runners in a game. He did so in the Pioneers’ 18-6 whipping of Brisbane, going 4-5 on the night, with 1 double and 2HR. His 1st homer of the night, in the 4th, was a Grand Slam.

17 Nov: The Heat finally won one, defeating the Thunder 6-1. All Perth’s runs came in the 7th inning. Having already set a record for the longest ever losing streak, Perth’s management and players were just happy to get the W, though 1B Matt Panther added, “19 is pretty bad, but 20 would’ve been unbearable.” To put the 19-game losing streak in an even broader perspective, today’s win was Perth’s 1st of the month, and 1st since 26th October. Still, bad as they’d been, they were only 1 win behind the next-worst team in the league, the Blue Sox, who’d staggered to a 14-31 record.

20 Nov: Young-tae Lee scooped PotW. He hit .524/.667/1.143, with 1 double, 4HR and 8BB.

21 Nov: Crazy Eyes went nuts today against the Blue Sox, going 5-5 in the 15-11 Thunder victory. Auger hit a double and a HR, and scored 4 runs. 2 of his singles came in the 4th inning, when Central Coast piled on 11 runs and 16 hitters came to the plate. The 5-hit night pushed his BA back up towards the .400 mark, to .399.

27 Nov: Auger picked up his 2nd PotW award of the season. In the last 7 days he hit .480/.567/.800, with 2 doubles and 2HR.

27 Nov: Rick Clohessy, one of the most disliked players in the league amongst fans thanks to the 80-game PED suspension handed down to him at the end of the 2049 season, homered in his 5th consecutive game. He was 1 game shy of equaling the AUNZBL record. Unfortunately, while he did get a hit the following night, it wasn’t of the home run variety. The last player to hit a HR 6 games in a row was Carl Bristcoe, back in 2048.

27 Nov: Adrian Walsh went 5-5, including a double and a HR, but couldn’t do enough to stop his Cowboys falling 8-7 in 10 innings to Melbourne.

Notable Injuries

2 Nov: Kununurra and Ignacio Guzman (3-0, 2.97 ERA, 4.61 FIP, 1.29 WHIP) received bad news today. The SP had a torn triceps. Recovery time was estimated at 3-4 months.

7 Nov: Ismael Aguirre (.297/.358/.497, 5HR) suffered the 1st notable injury of his pro career: a concussion when he collided with the SS while diving into 2nd to complete a double. He would likely be on the DL 3 weeks.

12 Nov: Andre England (.295/.364/.369, 0HR) would miss the next 5 weeks with an oblique strain.

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 23 y/o Aces’ RF Will Glasson won November’s RotM. He hit .274/.328/.340, 29-106, with 13 runs, 4 doubles, 1HR, 13RBI, 8BB, and 2SB.

Hurler of the Month: Young Wellington SP Dan Pankhurst. While he was 4-2 from 6 starts in November, he had an excellent 2.47 ERA, 3.68 FIP, and 1.08 WHIP. He recorded 26 Ks in 43.2 IP. It is important to note at this juncture that league-wide ERA was up to 4.50 for the season which, if sustained, would be a new season record.

Slugger of the Month: It had never been a better time to be a hitter, and Alastair Chapman was certainly thankful for that. This month’s SotM had a sturdy .388/.440/.689 offering, 40-103, with 26 runs, 10 doubles, 7HR, 29RBI, 11BB and a stolen base. Chapman was hitting .350 on the year, putting him at 3rd on the BA leaderboard.

Media Watch

Baden Moore: Moore’s strong AAA-form saw him get the call-up to the bigs partway through November. He was doing well so far, having started 13 games and appeared in 15, with a stat-line of .305/.359/.508, his 18-59 including 4 doubles, 1 triple and 2HR. Speaking to a reporter on the 25th, after going 3-6 in Hobart’s extra-innings 9-8 win over Newcastle - and having been intentionally walked in the bottom of the 12th - Moore said, “Y’know, I really wish this was a switch I’d made years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m stoked I have at all, but I can’t help but think about what I might’ve accomplished had I switched at, say, 27 instead of 30.”

With the Prospects riding high in the Southern, Moore was asked if he’d given much thought to the possibility of becoming the 1st player to win a ring as both a pitcher and a hitter (he’d won a Championship in 2046 with the Blue Sox). Moore gave the reporter a shocked look. “Hell, isn’t it too early in the season for talk like that? I think I’ll just concentrate on holding my spot on the roster, thank you very much.”

Other Notes

Coastal Division: Darwin (18-10) continued to hold sway at the top of the Coastal. Their closest rivals were Cairns (13-15), 11 games back. Perth had an astonishingly bad month, going 4-24.

East-West Division: Central Coast (15-13) still had a 1-game advantage over Brisbane (15-13), with Newcastle (17-11) moving to just 3 games back. Kununurra (8-20) had a dreadful month to drop to their expected position, at the rear of the pack.

NZ Division: The Sluggers (17-11) had risen to the top of the NZ, their lead a slim 1 game over the Cowboys (15-13), and 2 games above Wellington (14-14). The Metros (15-13) had clawed their way back to be just 1 game below .500.

Southern Division: Hobart (17-11) took the lead in the Southern, the Aces (13-15) dropping to 3 games back.

Wildcard: Brisbane and Melbourne held these slots for now, with the Cowboys and Roos 1 game back from the Aces, and the Fury 2 games back. Auckland and Canberra were both 1 game below .500 but only 3 games out of the wildcard race.

#

Auger (.378/.443/.684, 14HR) was still dominating most of the major leaderboards, best in the league in BA, SLG, OPS, wOBA (.470), hits (85), doubles (21), runs (50), ISO (.307), XBH (38), TB (154), and WAR (5.0).

Rick Clohessy (.235/.256/.500, 19HR) was 3 clear atop the HR board, but was pretty terrible if he wasn’t clearing the fence.

Alan Sneddon (.314/.454/.505, 4HR) had been moving from the top of Whangarei’s lineup to the middle and back so far this season to cover injuries (primarily to 1B Patrick Maggs - .327/.394/.522, 5HR from 127PA). Sneddon was beginning to find his groove though, now leading the league in OBP, BB (48), and triples (7).

The pitching leaderboards were a lot more varied. Ashley Barry (5-5, 2.46 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 1.10 WHIP) led the league in ERA, BB/9 (1.01), and K/BB (5.67).

Young Brad King (6-4, 3.12 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 1.37 WHIP) had jumped to the top of the strikeout board, registering 85 so far this season. Unsurprisingly, he also had the best K/9, at 10.20.

Wilson Lara (6-1, 2.78 ERA, 3.31 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) had the best FIP, and was tied with 4 pitchers atop the WAR board, with a 2.0 mark.

Allan Spear (5-3, 2.83 ERA, 3.61 FIP, 0.97 WHIP) was 1 of those players with 2 WAR. He also had the best WHIP among qualified pitchers.

3 players were grouped at the top of the saves leaderboard: Jose Diaz (DAR - 3-3, 17 sv), Rex Herbert (CAI - 0-1, 17 sv), and Randall Zorn (CHR - 2-4, 17 sv).

Standings, Dec 1

[Izz]

2051/2052 Season - December

2050 #1 Draft Pick

Perth had this year’s 1st draft pick and they went with 21 y/o OF Josh Gladstone. The LH hitter projected to be all-around decent at the plate, with power and the ability to hit for average. Gladstone had a reputation in his college team of being an introvert, a guy who sometimes appeared lost in his thoughts in the outfield. Perth would slot him into their short-A team.

A quick look at how the previous 4 #1 draft picks were doing:

2050, SP Zachariah Pond: Darwin’s scouts still had huge wraps on this kid, which saw him promoted to A-ball this season. In short-A last year he’d gone 4-4 from 17 starts, with a 2.98 ERA, 3.64 FIP, and 1.09 WHIP. So far he was holding his own in the higher grade, with a 3-5, 3.44 ERA, 4.13 FIP, 1.22 WHIP record.

2049, SP Brad King: Already in the bigs, and making a good fist of it too. 6-4 so far on the season, having struck out 91 hitters in 81.0 IP. He still had control issues, which some in the game thought he’d never completely iron out thanks to his less than fluid style, but perhaps it was that wildness that was causing so many batters to go down flailing.

2048, C Mitch Donahue: Donahue was the Diggers’ everyday catcher in 2051, batting cleanup. He was struggling a bit though, putting up .240/.325/.402 so far, with 5HR. Most outside of Darwin now thought he could grow a bit more power yet, but wouldn’t hit consistently.

2047, Gordon Appleby: Injuries had seen him miss 2 weeks of the season so far, and while his 1st 2 months (.236/.315/.430, 7HR) could only be labelled as slow, Appleby was ensconced in Brisbane’s powerful lineup. He’d also shown he could come up with the big hits in the postseason, registering his 1st career Grand Slam in the 2049 playoffs, as Brisbane went on to win the whole thing.

Notable Performances

4 Dec: Marcos Lopez won PotW with a .552/.567/1.000 effort. His 16-29 included 4 doubles and 3HR.

4 Dec: It’d been 2 months since the last shutout, so baseball outlets were understandably all over this one. Angelo Spear allowed Christchurch 6 hits and 1 walk, only striking out 2, but got the game done on just 92 pitches. The Thunder won 6-0, breaking a 6-game losing streak.

10 Dec: 25 y/o Cowboys’ mustachioed LF Adam ‘Champagne’ Krajancic wasn’t setting the league alight on a regular basis, but he certainly did so today. He was 5-5, including 2 doubles and a HR (his 1st of the year), in Christchurch’s 10-3 mauling of Auckland.

11 Dec: 23 y/o Will Glasson went .565/.583/.870 over the last week for the Aces, winning PotW as a result. His 13-23 included 4 doubles and 1HR.

13 Dec: Logan Neilson had been moved from Auckland’s rotation to their bullpen, a move he said he “could understand,” even if he didn’t like it. This day, he came on in the 10th with Adelaide having just scored the go-ahead run, with runners on 2nd and 3rd and nobody out. He immediately induced a 4-6-3 double play ball before getting the last hitter to ground out to 1st. In the bottom of the inning, Aaron Durrington cracked a 2-run walk-off HR to seal a 6-5 victory for Auckland. Neilson got himself a W for his efforts, giving him 192 for his career. This moved him into #3 on the all-time wins list.

14 Dec: This year’s offensive barrage continued unabated, with 24 y/o Venom SS Gary Young walloping 3HRs in a tight-fought 11-10 victory over Auckland.

15 Dec: Brendon Knopp got 1 back for the beleaguered pitchers in the league, shutting down the vaunted Brisbane offense. He allowed only 3 hits and 1 walk and, while he only recorded 1 strikeout, completed the game on 79 pitches. The Venom didn’t have much offense either, taking until the 7th to score the solitary run that would separate the 2 sides.

18 Dec: Angelo ‘Warrior’ Rankin won PotW with a .519/.531/.963 effort. He hit 4 doubles, 1 triple and 2HRs during the week.

21 Dec: Stefan Lock became the latest player to hit 3 jacks in a game this season, doing so in Sydney’s 13-4 demolition of Wellington. He hit a 2-run HR in the 1st, a 3-run bomb in the 5th, and a solo HR to cap the night off in the 8th.

21 Dec: In the same game rookie Andre Moy went 5-6, including 2 doubles.

22 Dec: Christchurch beat rivals Whangarei 6-3, giving them their 10th win on the trot. The run had put them 3 games clear at the top of the division. Whangarei would break the streak and pull a game back the following night.

25 Dec: Manuel Alou cracked an impressive .522/.607/1.043 on his way to PotW. 6 of his 12 hits were XBH (3 doubles, 3HRs).

25 Dec: Lance Ralston had started the season off poorly, with a 6-9 record and a 5.16 ERA. Today, though, he looked at his dominant best versus Darwin. The lead runner reached on an error in the 2nd, but a double-play ball up the middle stopped that. Ralston walked a batter in the 5th, but again produced a double-play ground ball to preserve his 1-2-3 record. The no-hitter was broken in the 7th, but another double-play kept him in with a chance of only facing 27 hitters. He gave up his 2nd hit in the 8th, a 2-out double, and finished the game facing 28 batters. He struck out 5 and Brisbane sashayed their way to a 5-0 victory.

29 Dec: Jayden Pye was the next cabbie to launch 3 dingers in 1 game, doing so in Auckland’s 12-10 extra-innings victory over Newcastle. He hit a 3-run blast in the 2nd, a solo HR in the 9th to tie the game up, and a walk-off 2-run shot in the 11th to seal the win. He also hit an rbi-double in the 7th in a monster game.

30 Dec: Lance Ralston made it two 2-hit shutouts in a row. He gave up his 1st hit of the night in the 4th, and his other in the 7th (a runner reached as a result of an error in the 3rd, too). He walked none, and totally dominated the Aces’ lineup, striking out 11. That number was also the Bandits’ winning margin as they pulled out the whipping stick, hitting 6HR in the 11-0 pasting.

Notable Injuries

11 Dec: Vince Hudswell (.289/.358/.478, 11HR) would be on the DL at least 4 weeks with chronic back soreness.

13 Dec: Adelaide would have to do without Carl Bristcoe (.296/.364/.517, 12HR) for 6 weeks after he was diagnosed with an oblique strain.

13 Dec: Arthur Lee’s (.288/.351/.568, 16HR) season was over. The Kununurra slugger had fractured his ankle.

13 Dec: 27 y/o Zach Barlow (.304/.368/.615, 12HR) fronted media today, flanked by Cavalry management. He’d just been diagnosed with a torn labrum, but he had still sadder news to convey. “This is a very hard decision to make, and it’s not one I’ve made lightly. The boys have been very supportive, as have team management. But I’ve been thinking a lot about this, even right back when I strained my quad in spring. What I’m trying to say is, I’m giving it away. I’ve been injured so much already and I don’t know how much more my body can take. So, effective immediately, I’m retiring from the game.” He went on to talk about his future aspirations, primarily his dream of becoming a sports psychologist. Barlow’s major league career had spanned parts of 6 seasons, though he’d only accumulated 3 years and 123 days of service time. He would retire having hit .312/.359/.542, with 85HR.

17 Dec: Sterling Bull (.335/.407/.545, 10HR) had been diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and might struggle to make it back onto the field this season, though he was optimistic of his chances.

17 Dec: Darwin currently had the best record in the league, to the surprise of all and sundry, with both their hitting (.286 BA) and their pitching (3.67 ERA) rated number 1. They’d have to do without veteran Mike Wurfel (.306/.356/.415, 4HR) for the next 6 weeks, though, as he’d fractured a finger.

18 Dec: Rob Lane (.321/.382/.532, 9HR) would miss the next month with a torn thumb ligament.

26 Dec: Darwin’s Norman Lawless (.299/.323/.393, 4HR) faced 5 weeks on the DL after tearing his hamstring.

31 Dec: The Bandits would have to do without Gordon Appleby (.258/.336/.471, 12HR) for the rest of the season after he was diagnosed with a fractured ankle.

Notable Trades/Signings

5 Dec: Brisbane traded 2 prospects to the Venom in return for 29 y/o SP Karl Lang (4-3, 3.83 ERA, 4.79 FIP, 1.30 WHIP) and a suitcase of cash. Southpaw Lang would slot into the bottom of Brisbane’s rotation.

5 Dec: Last year’s 3rd-place RotY, 27 y/o Gilbert Boyson (.243/.317/.405, 6HR) was heading from Sydney to Melbourne in exchange for 2 prospects. Boyson would begin his Melbourne experience in their AAA-affiliate.

15 Dec: The Metros and Cavalry agreed to a straightforward player swap: 30 y/o LF Jayden Pye (.313/.389/.455, 7HR) would head across to Auckland, while 28 y/o Dermott Downes (4-8, 4.15 ERA, 4.90 FIP, 1.51 WHIP) would call Canberra his new home.

26 Dec: Darwin signed 31 y/o UI Brodie McCarthy (.291/.346/.412, 3HR from 182PA) to a 6-year extension. By all accounts, the Diggers certainly weren’t overpaying McCarthy, who said he was just “super-stoked to have secured his playing future.”

2051 All Stars

The big All Star news this year was that no place could be in found in the NZ & Overseas All Stars for Ismael Aguirre. The NZ&O selectors also left out Rick Clohessy, who currently led the HR race by 3, with 25, but there wasn’t nearly the furor among fans at his missing out as there was at Aguirre’s not making the cut.

Australian All Stars

SP Allan Spear - WHA - 8-4, 2.80 ERA, 3.68 FIP, 1.00 WHIP
SP Brock Casey - NEW - 8-4, 3.84 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 1.28 WHIP
SP Brad King - DAR - 8-5, 3.20 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 1.37 WHIP
SP Jeremy Challinor - AUC - 8-6, 3.97 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 1.31 WHIP
SP Justin Trembath - ADE - 7-4, 3.98 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 1.28 WHIP
SP Marshall Whiffin - AUC - 8-5, 4.05 ERA, 3.99 FIP, 1.33 WHIP
SP Ted Murray - CAI - 8-5, 3.65 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 1.29 WHIP
MR Brodie Sweeny - BRI - 1-0, 1 sv, 3.56 ERA, 3.00 FIP, 1.05 WHIP
MR Bronson Rees - HOB - 4-1, 5 sv, 1.85 ERA, 3.41 FIP, 0.76 WHIP
CL Rhett Thurley - CEN - 3-3, 18 sv, 1.85 ERA, 2.82 FIP, 0.97 WHIP
CL Robert Bywaters - NEW - 2-3, 20 sv, 1.50 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 0.86 WHIP
CL Randall Zorn - CHR - 2-4, 24 sv, 3.03 ERA, 4.42 FIP, 1.55 WHIP
C Jacob Blanksby - CAN - .293/.389/.535, 15HR
C Sterling Brear - CAI - .302/.346/.542, 17HR
1B Justin Auger - CEN - .358/.423/.620, 17HR
1B Ed Geoghegan - CHR - .318/.399/.540, 17HR
1B Stefan Lock - SYD - .273/.324/.553, 22HR
1B Quentin Stennings - KUN - .308/.366/.514, 10HR
2B Ryan Wie - AUC - .270/.349/.461, 12HR
3B Alan Dulihanty - WHA - .303/.376/.491, 11HR
3B Brock Wakely - BRI - .277/.401/.498, 15HR
SS Cody England - MEL - .316/.348/.442, 5HR
LF Alan Sneddon - WHA - .315/.452/.469, 5HR
LF Brendon Stennings - AUC - .320/.359/.457, 6HR
CF Christos Hutchinson - DAR - .315/.386/.389, 0HR
CF Trent Allan - SYD - .314/.385/.500, 11HR
RF Alastair Chapman - HOB - .323/.382/.611, 21HR
RF Sean Carr - CEN - .307/.367/.462, 7HR

NZ & Overseas All Stars

SP Wilson Lara - BRI - 11-1, 2.75 ERA, 3.26 FIP, 1.17 WHIP
SP Marcos Gallo - BRI - 7-3, 3.59 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.28 WHIP
SP Angelo Pagan - NEW - 4-7, 3.34 ERA, 3.09 FIP, 1.21 WHIP
SP Walter Anglesey - WHA - 6-6, 4.02 ERA, 3.61 FIP, 1.28 WHIP
SP Clint Aitcheson - BRI - 6-5, 4.46 ERA, 3.49 FIP, 1.34 WHIP
SP Angelo Spear - CEN - 9-6, 4.18 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 1.22 WHIP
SP Jerry Fitchett - CHR - 8-5, 3.32 ERA, 4.19 FIP, 1.16 WHIP
MR Vern Durrington - ADE - 3-2, 1 sv, 3.24 ERA, 2.77 FIP, 1.08 WHIP
MR Jim Wills - DAR - 2-0, 0.62 ERA, 2.89 FIP, 0.69 WHIP
CL Jose Diaz - DAR - 3-4, 26 sv, 1.70 ERA, 3.25 FIP, 0.99 WHIP
CL Rex Herbert - CAI - 0-2, 24 sv, 2.23 ERA, 3.47 FIP, 0.84 WHIP
CL Kade Clark - MEL - 4-1, 14 sv, 2.14 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 1.10 WHIP
C Jerry Skuse - WHA - .282/.344/.504, 11HR
C Tyler Pratly - NEW - .286/.336/.495, 14HR
1B Ashley Snijders - NEW - .337/.441/.570, 16HR
1B Marcos Lopez - WEL - .337/.371/.558, 17HR
1B Justin Blake - AUC - .311/.376/.532, 17HR
1B Matt Panther - PER - .289/.405/.433, 8HR
2B Yong-jun Chu - WHA - .362/.402/.525, 8HR
2B Young-tae Lee - BRI - .288/.382/.512, 16HR
3B Nigel Pinney - SYD - .274/.367/.441, 9HR
SS Angelo Rankin - CHR - .332/.372/.521, 12HR
SS Sam Stubbs - DAR - .303/.329/.520, 15HR
LF Rhett Morrow - DAR - .298/.402/.496, 11HR
LF Esteban Madrigal - KUN - .251/.320/.512, 20HR
CF Keiran Pickford - ADE - .335/.368/.614, 22HR
RF Manuel Alou - CEN - .354/.446/.584, 17HR
RF Glen Lock - NEW - .265/.346/.482, 12HR

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 29 y/o Dan Miners could’ve been forgiven for thinking he’d never make it out of the AAA-wasteland. He’d managed a few cups of coffee each of the last 3 seasons, getting the call-up from Sluggers’ HQ to cover injuries to Patrick Maggs, but he’d always wind up back in AAA sooner rather than later. In 2051 he won a spot in the 24-man ML roster, even though his spring was horrific (.105/.190/.132). And as it would turn out, Patrick Maggs would have 2 separate stints on the DL in the 1st 2 months of the season, giving him more playing time than he could’ve hoped for. Maggs was back in December, but Miners still found himself in the lineup more days than not, DH’ing or demonstrating utility value in the infield. He went .369/.386/.738 in the month, 31-84, with 17 runs, 7 doubles, 3 triples, 6HR, 28RBI, 3BB, and 1SB, to win RotM.

Hurler of the Month: Wilson Lara dominated everybody in December, going 6-0, with a 2.17 ERA, 2.77 FIP, and 1.04 WHIP to win the starting pitcher spot in the NZ & Overseas All Stars team. During the month he struck out 45 batters in 37.1 IP, and generally looked too good. He led the league in ERA (.258), wins (12), H/9 (7.17), and OAVG (.217). He had the 2nd-best FIP (3.13), and the 3rd-best WHIP (1.13), as well as the 2nd-best WAR (3.3).

Slugger of the Month: Ashley Snijders was .330/.418/.617 in December, on his way to SotM. His 38-115 included 12 doubles and 7HR. He scored 26 runs, drove in 22 runners, and walked 17 times. Snijders’ big month saw him rocket ahead on the runs scored board. He’d touched down safely on home base 73 times so far this season.

Media Watch

Baden Moore: Moore was just playing against lefties by the end of the month, his stat-line reading .267/.309/.400, with 2HR, from 97PA.

Alastair Mildren: Mildren’s tenure with the short-A Mudgee Colonials started at the end of December, and after a 1-5 week, Mildren would no longer be harbouring any illusions about managing. Still, he was upbeat, saying he was sure some of his “guys would play big-league ball one day,” and that it was “refreshing” to be actively involved at this level again.

Other Notes

Venom fans could be forgiven for a confused glance or two at the mound during the month of December, when newly-called up reliever Joshua Cheadle came out to pitch. The 26 y/o, who’d been labouring in AAA for more than 3 seasons, was no relation to Adelaide fan favourite Joshua ‘Pee Wee’ Cheadle, who’d been a regular part of their pitching staff from 2029 to 2044 before he retired to enter the political arena - where he was going very well, having recently won a seat in the Senate. Many Adelaide fans were of the view the elder Cheadle could’ve joined Phil McLaren in the 200 wins club if he hadn’t been switched to the closing role for 4 seasons in the middle of his career. Even so, his 165-97 record, with 155 saves, was very impressive.

The younger Cheadle, who hailed from Takapuna in Auckland, New Zealand, possessed 4 pitches and had designs on a Venom rotation spot. It was fair to say, though, that he was struggling to make the transition from the minors to the bigs. Unfortunately, Cheadle would have to put his dreams on ice, as midway through the month he was diagnosed with radial nerve compression, which would keep him out for the rest of the season.

#

Coastal Division: Darwin (20-9) just kept getting better, which couldn’t be said for anybody else in their division. The Diggers had tunneled their way to a 15 game lead.

East-west Division: Brisbane (19-10) snuck ahead of the Thunder (17-12) by month end, finishing 1 game in front. Newcastle (13-16) slumped to 8 games back and an even .500 record.

NZ Division: Christchurch (20-9) and Whangarei (18-11) continued to trade punches at the top of the NZ, with Christchurch a nose in front on the morning of January 1st. Wellington (9-20) slid down to the bottom of the division after an awful month.

Southern Division: Hobart (14-15) weren’t great in December but Melbourne (10-19) were much worse and the Prospects found themselves with a 7-game advantage heading into the final half of the season.

Wildcard: The Thunder and Sluggers held the 2 wildcard slots comfortably at the moment, with Newcastle 6 games back and everybody else below .500.

#

The batting leaderboards were looking a lot more evenly spread at the end of December.

Whangarei’s Yong-jun Chu (.357/.399/.519, 8HR) had forged his way into the BA lead.

Manny Alou (.356/.444/.584, 18HR) was hot on his heels, and also led the league in OPS, wOBA (.436), and RBI (79).

Crazy Eyes (.353/.417/.601, 17HR) had dropped into 3rd place on the BA board. He still led the league in SLG, hits (121), doubles (28), and WAR (5.4).

Alan Sneddon (.306/.445/.458, 5HR) led the league in OBP, BB (72), and triples (8).

Brad King (9-5, 3.26 ERA, 4.19 FIP, 1.37 WHIP) was on track to rack up 250+ Ks. He’d fanned 136 so far, nearly 30 more than anyone else. His K/9 was 10.80, nearly 2 higher than anyone else. He’d also walked the most hitters of any pitcher, giving up 60 free passes so far.

Angelo Pagan (4-7, 3.21 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 1.19 WHIP) was the only pitcher with an FIP below 3. He also had the best HR/9 (0.45), and pitcher’s WAR (3.8).

Jose Diaz’s 27 saves led the league.

Standings, Jan 1

[Izz]

2051/2052 Season - January

Notable Performances

1 Jan: Even without Aguirre and Clohessy, the NZ & Overseas All Stars ran away with this year’s engagement, decisive 10-2 victors.

3 Jan: There was apparently nothing Justin Auger couldn’t do. Today he joined 2051’s 3HR-in-a-game club, clubbing 3 solo jacks in Central Coast’s 5-3 win over Auckland.

4 Jan: 30 y/o Roderick Graham was only making his major league debut this year. He’d played 4 seasons of AAA before filing for minor league free agency and heading to the NABA. After 3 years in the Upper Americas, Graham wasted no time after becoming a free agent on the 20th of September, signing a minor league contract with Hobart on the 27th, thus taking no part in Spring Training. Nonetheless, Hobart wanted a left arm in their rotation and slotted him in as their #5 starter. He’d outdone all expectations so far, putting up a 9-4 record to date. This day, though, against Cairns would be a career highlight for him. Not only did he throw a shutout - only allowing 5 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 5 - it was an extra-innings shutout, Graham pitching all 10 innings of Hobart’s 1-0 victory. The Prospects finally won it with a Hal Burrows walk-off HR in the bottom of the 10th, the only scoring act of the game.

When asked how he’d held his nerve through the tight encounter, Graham gave credit to the experience he’d picked up - baseball and non-baseball - playing in North America. “Y’know, over there, y’know, I guess I learned that you’ve got to, um, hold it all together. Not just pitching, y’know. Even going to the shops some places over there is like a panic attack.”

5 Jan: Canberra livewire Martin Boston went 5-5 as the Cavalry cantered to a 9-3 victory over Perth.

6 Jan: Gary Young was playing with a sore back, but that didn’t appear to be hampering him any, the rookie going 5-5, with 2 doubles. It wasn’t enough though, his Venom surrendering 10-6 to Wellington.

8 Jan: Auger went .476/.560/1.238 over the last week to earn PotW. His 10-21 included 2 doubles, 1 triple, and 4HR.

9 Jan: Rory Budd stroked 5 hits from 6 at-bats, including a monster 3-run HR down the RF line, to help Wellington out punch Adelaide 14-12.

11 Jan: 29 y/o Whangarei SP Jason Rawnsley had never thrown a shutout in his career. After today’s game against the Roos, he’d still never thrown a shutout. However, he could say he’d thrown a no-hitter. The damage was done in the bottom of the 1st. Rawnsley walked leadoff hitter Joshua Moore, who stole 2nd with 1 out and advanced to 3rd on that hitter’s ground-out. Then 3B Alan Dulihanty muffed a regulation grounder, seeing Moore score to give Newcastle a 1-0 lead. Rawnsley walked the leadoff hitter in the 2nd too, but recovered to leave that runner stranded at 1st. No other hitters reached base until the 7th, when Rawnsley threw inside to Brian Waddington and rapped him on the forearm. He hit another batter in the 8th, thanks to his slider not sliding, and only seemed to realize he was on a no-hitter when the ground announcer bellowed it out in the bottom of the 9th. He kept his head, struck out Snijders to begin the inning, and quickly retired Tyler Pratly and Waddington to see Whangarei to a 5-1 win. He struck out 7 in the win, and unleashed a string of jubilant profanities to sideline media after the game before realizing what he’d said and finishing with a sheepish, “Oh.”

15 Jan: Vince Hudswell won PotW with a .458/.519/1.083 stat-line. He hit 3 doubles and 4HRs.

22 Jan: PotW again went to a Bandit, with Ismael Aguirre’s .429/.515/.893, including 3HR, netting him the honour.

23 Jan: Perth were on another losing streak. Auckland took them down 5-zip today, handing them 10 straight defeats.

25 Jan: Perth won! They overcame Auckland 4-0, meaning this losing streak only lasted 11 games.

26 Jan: The most exciting team in the AUNZBL this year were the Darwin Diggers, due in large part to young ace Brad ‘The Wizard’ King. Yesterday he fanned 12 in 8.0 IP, keeping him on track to break the 250K mark (every time King struck someone out in a home game fans would jump up and start waving wands around - only $5.99 each at any of the stadium shops!). Today, though, it was veteran Cooper Gerlach on display. He allowed just 4 hits and 1 walk, going the distance against Christchurch in a 6-0 shutout victory. He struck out 6 and handed the Cowboys their 7th straight loss.

29 Jan: Vince Hudswell won his 2nd PotW in January, on the back of a .412/.474/1.353 week. He only played 4 games thanks to injury, recording just 7 hits, but 5 of those hits were of the HR variety, and another was a double.

30 Jan: Chong-yee Zhou whitewashed Sydney to the tune of 5 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts and 0 runs. Auckland won 6-0.

30 Jan: Newcastle got beaten 5-4 by Hobart in 10 innings, but the game would be remembered for Ashley Snijders becoming the 2nd player in AUNZBL history to reach the 500HR mark! He did so with a 2-run shot in the 7th that tied the game up. Snijders was 3-4 on the night, with 4RBI.

30 Jan: Esteban Madrigal was doing all he could to lift Kununurra out of the doldrums, hitting 4HR in his last 3 games, but even his 2HR effort tonight couldn’t drag the Pioneers to victory. They sank 10-4 to Whangarei, marking their 10th loss in a row.

31 Jan: Jordan Blackford quietly went about his business most days as Christchurch’s first-choice catcher. Today, though, he caught himself some headlines, becoming the latest player to clear the fences 3 times in a game. He hit a 2-run HR in the 3rd, a 3-run HR in the 7th, and a solo HR in the 8th, playing a big hand in the Cowboys’ 10-2 thumping of Melbourne.

Notable Injuries

8 Jan: Burt Bargenquast (.349/.427/.467, 4HR from 242PA) had already spent over a month on the DL this season, but he was destined to spend another couple months on it, at least, after tearing a ligament in his thumb.

9 Jan: Newcastle slugger Elliot Cleaver (.234/.304/.493, 21HR) would miss the next month thanks to a fractured wrist.

14 Jan: Bradley Courcha wouldn’t be turning out for new team Auckland (see Notable Trades/Signings, below) for at least 6 weeks after he tore his groin.

15 Jan: Wellington SP Ashley Barry’s (9-7, 3.65 ERA, 4.58 FIP, 1.25 WHIP) season was over. He had a herniated disc in his back.

19 Jan: Gordon Pedley (.224/.311/.320, 2HR, 27SB), currently the league leader in steals, faced 4-5 weeks out of Hobart’s lineup with a sprained knee sustained sliding into 2nd. He said after the game, “Baseball’s funny, isn’t it? 10 centimetres more and the ball goes over the fence and I’ve got me a Grand Slam and I’m floating around the bases. But no, it hits the wall, ricochets hard back to the middle of the outfield, and I’m diving into 2nd to avoid the tag and now I’m on crutches.”

31 Jan: Andre England (.308/.371/.390, 0HR from 177PA) was headed to the DL again. The Roos’ SS had fractured his tibia and would only return for the last week or 2 of the regular season.

Notable Trades/Signings

10 Jan: 35 y/o Norman Stone (.266/.316/.431, 8HR) was heading back to NZ for the rest of the season. Adelaide had traded him and a prospect to Wellington in exchange for 28 y/o SP Cameron Worsfold (8-9, 4.77 ERA, 5.00 FIP, 1.40 WHIP) and cash.

11 Jan: In a move that had Roos’ fans steaming, Newcastle sent 25 y/o SS Bradley Courcha (.333/.400/.507, 5HR in 230PA - 5 weeks on the DL across October & November), just last season signed to a 4-year extension, to Auckland in exchange for 25 y/o 3B Joshua Moore (.230/.303/.348, 2HR in 211PA), and a 3B prospect.

24 Jan: Christchurch were duking it out with Whangarei, and felt they needed another bat to get the business done. To get that bat they went knocking at Adelaide’s door. In the end, they acquired 26 y/o LF Austin Allan (.265/.310/.462, 15HR), and cash, in exchange for 30 y/o MR Carlo Rowlands (4-0, 1 sv) and their 2050 #1 draft pick, a stud pitching prospect.

27 Jan: Newcastle seemed intent on breaking up the infield that just last season they’d been sure would lead them to Championship glory, and soon. Today they sent 28 y/o 2B Daniel Wise (.267/.333/.340, 3HR), a prospect, and some cash to division rivals Central Coast in return for 25 y/o SP Edwin Kerr (9-9, 4.66 ERA, 4.39 FIP, 1.39 WHIP). With the Roos only 1 game back from a slumping Christchurch in the wildcard, fans seemed split on whether the deal was good or bad.

28 Jan: In the tradition this season of clubs trading away fan favourites, Adelaide sent injury-affected, 31 y/o Carl Bristcoe (.296/.364/.517, 12HR in 269PA) and a large sum of cash to Cairns in exchange for 35 y/o SP Vicente Velez (7-9, 4.27 ERA, 4.24 FIP, 1.48 WHIP) and a pitching prospect.

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: 24 y/o Kununurra 1B Edwin Hayes was a star in the making, according to everybody involved with the Pioneers. If he continued like he had this month that would certainly be true. He hit .320/.407/.583, 33-103, with 21 runs, 6 doubles, 7HR, 14RBI, and 11BB.

Hurler of the Month: Brad King charged through January, putting up a 5-1 record, with a 3.12 ERA, 3.71 FIP, and 1.15 WHIP. He struck out 46 in 43.1IP which, while the K/9 number was a bit down on previous months, was still purty darn good. King was tied for the league lead in wins (14), and led all-comers in Ks (182), and K/9 (10.46).

Slugger of the Month: Vince Hudswell only played 17 games in January, but they were deemed good enough to win him SotM. He was 29-66, with 20 runs, 7 doubles, a staggering 11HR, 26RBI, and 8BB.

Media Watch

Baden Moore: If Moore’s bubble was still inflated at the beginning of January, it had surely burst by the end. He hit .195/.283/.268 in the month, only marginally better than his December effort.

Last Year’s Top Players Watch

2050’s Top Rookies

2050 Rookie of the Year, Manuel Alou: Absolutely destroying the league, though overshadowed by teammate Justin Auger. .348/.436/.578, 145-417, 69 runs, 22 doubles, 1 triple, 24HR, 95RBI, 64BB, only 34K from 491PA. Leading the league in BA, 3rd in OBP, 5th in SLG, 3rd in OPS, 3rd in wOBA (.429), 2nd in RBI, and 3rd in WAR (5.6).

Norman Ladds: Not having quite the sophomore season the experts predicted, but not having a poor year either. .268/.365/.482, 118-440, 88 runs, 13 doubles, 3 triples, 25HR, 63RBI, 62BB, 19SB, 510PA. Tied for 2nd in the league for runs scored.

Gilbert Boyson: Traded to the Aces in December, who promptly dropped him to AAA where he’d been ever since. In 209PA for the Blue Sox had gone .243/.317/.405, 45-185, with 22 runs, 8 doubles, 2 triples, 6HR, 29RBI, 21BB.

2050’s Top Pitchers

2050 Hurler of the Year, Nathan Beckett: Struggling along. 10-9 from 24 starts, 4.78 ERA, 4.67 FIP, 1.31 WHIP, 132K in 148.2 IP.

Rhett Thurley: As dependable as ever. 4-4, 29 sv, 1.92 ERA, 3.24 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 60K from 51.2 IP.

Al Dunlop: Average. 9-10 from 23 starts, 4.43 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 1.29 WHIP, 112K from 146.1 IP.

2050’s Top Hitters

2050 Slugger of the Year, Ashley Snijders: Showing no signs of aging. .339/.447/.605, 144-425, 88 runs, 33 doubles, 1 triple, 26HR, 86RBI, 85BB, 517PA. At the top of the league leaderboards in OPS, wOBA (.438), 2nd in OBP, 3rd in SLG, 3rd in doubles, tied for 2nd in runs, 2nd in walks, tied for 2rd in XBH, 4th in TB, and 2nd in WAR (6.4).

Ismael Aguirre: Being sidelined by injury in November for the 1st time in his career had set back the young superstar, but he was recovering well through the second half of the season. .326/.396/.582, 131-402, 83 runs, 38 doubles, 1 triple, 21HR, 67RBI, 44BB, 1SB, 449PA. Led the league in doubles, was 4th in SLG, 5th in OPS, 5th in wOBA (.413), 5th in runs scored, and 3rd in XBH.

Brock Wakely: Loving it in his new city of Brisbane, by all accounts, though injury had affected him this year, too. .276/.397/.542, 102-369, 72 runs, 17 doubles, 27HR, 71RBI, 71BB, 446PA.

Other Notes

Coastal Division: The Diggers (17-11) continued to enthrall, with no other team in the division within cooee. However, Cairns (15-13) had pulled themselves up to a .500 record.

East-West Division: Brisbane (21-7) got bored of keeping step with Central Coast (17-11) and powered ahead, opening up a 5-game lead heading into Killer February. Newcastle (16-12) were still keeping themselves in with a shot at the wildcard.

NZ Division: Whangarei (16-12) overtook Christchurch (12-16), leading by 3 games at month end.

Southern Division: Hobart (13-15) stutter-stepped to keep things interesting in the Southern, as Canberra (20-8) rose from the ashes to finish the month just 2 games below .500 and 5 games back in the pennant race.

Wildcard: The Thunder had a safety net of 8 games in the top wildcard slot, while Christchurch led Newcastle by 3 games and Cairns by 5 in the other slot.

#

Justin Auger (.345/.412/.635, 29HR) may have dropped to 3rd spot on the BA ladder by the end of January, but he was still at the top of several other leaderboards. He had the best SLG, most hits (155), best ISO (.290), most XBH (68), and most total bases (285). He also continued to lead the league in WAR, with a 7.4 mark. He hit 12HRs in the month, moving him into a tie for 4th in that race.

Alan Sneddon (.333/.476/.484, 5HR) now led the league in OBP, walks (102), runs (94), SB (29), and triples (11).

Rick Clohessy (.252/.278/.511, 34HR) was in front in the HR race by 2, and the only player to have driven in more than 100 runners (103).

Angelo Pagan (7-8, 3.15 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 1.18 WHIP) had the AUNZBL’s best FIP among qualified pitchers, and best WAR (4.2).

Central Coast’s Angelo Spear (14-8, 3.93 ERA, 3.93 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) was tied for the league lead in wins, and had thrown the most innings, pitching 183.1 to date.

Rex Herbert had recorded 32 saves so far, 1 better than any challengers.

Standings, Feb 1

[Izz]

2051/2052 Season - February

Notable Performances

2 Feb: The Pioneers pulled out of their nosedive, Sterling Dunlop leading them to a 7-0 victory over Perth with an excellent 8 inning display. The Pioneers had lost 12 straight before this game.

5 Feb: February’s 1st PotW went to Yong-jun Chu. The high-flying Whangarei 2B hit .563/.559/.719, with 1HR, over the last week.

7 Feb: Chu’s rbi-double in the 1st inning of Whangarei’s 10-3 pasting of Perth saw him reach 20 consecutive games with a hit. His .360 BA placed him atop that leaderboard by 13 points.

7 Feb: Logan Neilson, back in Auckland’s rotation, threw a strong 8.0 innings against Hobart, allowing 8 hits for 2 earned runs. Auckland eased to an 8-2 victory, giving Neilson his 195th career win.

10 Feb: Jesus Rodriguez allowed Melbourne just 6 hits and 1 walk, striking out 4, as Darwin gave them a 13-0 thumping.

10 Feb: The Prospects had started the month with a 5-game lead over the Cavalry. Today marked their 8th straight loss, going down 5-3 to Brisbane. This put their record at 62-61 but, more importantly, saw Canberra, who’d won 4 straight, pull level with them at the top of the division.

12 Feb: Patrick Maggs won PotW. He had a stat-line of .542/.560/.958, with 2HRs, over the last 7 days.

12 Feb: Hobart continued their freefall, losing their 10th straight, Brisbane scoring 6 in the top of the 9th to run out 11-8 winners. Hobart would level out with a win the following night.

12 Feb: Christos Hutchinson had plenty of material for his reality show, going 5-5 today for Darwin against Melbourne. Unfortunately, Darwin dropped the game 8-5. Cue plenty of angst about whether to be happy or sad.

13 Feb: Chu extended his hit streak to 25 games. Unfortunately, he would go hitless tomorrow.

16 Feb: Attempts were being made among fans to give Brad King a new nickname, ‘Strikeout,’ as in, ‘Strikeout King.’ King had broken the 200K mark for the season in his last start, and was ahead of his closest rival, Lance Ralston, by more than 50Ks. Today, though, Ralston gained some ground, and reminded everybody that there were other contenders for the title of Strikeout King. In 7.1 innings of 2-hit, no-walk ball Ralston fanned 15. It was the 1st 15+ strikeout performance since 2040, when Xing-hua Ling rang up that same number. Brisbane won the game 5-0 and Ralston said regarding King in the post-game presser, in his best old-West accent, “One day soon, we gonna draw, him and I, and y’all will write it up that night as the best shootout you’ve ever seen. But we all know who’ll come away winner, and it won’t be no guy waving a wand, I’ll tell you that right now.”

17 Feb: Dermott Downes blanked the Thunder on the back of 6 hits, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts. Canberra romped to a 9-0 victory.

17 Feb: Downes’ teammate Rick Clohessy was doing it in 2s. On both the 11th and 12th he’d hit 2 dingers in a game to take him to 38HR. This day, in the 9-0 defeat of Central Coast, Clohessy again went deep twice, driving in 3 runners. He now had 40HR for the year, and was on track to hit 50HR and drive in 150 runners. Alastair Mildren was sought out for comment as to how he would feel if Clohessy equaled or broke his record. Mildren replied, “If he does all power to him. But it would always have an asterisk next to it, wouldn’t it?”

18 Feb: The wildcard was getting hot. Christchurch dropped their 7th straight today, going down 4-2 to Kununurra. This meant Cairns were only 1 game behind, courtesy of their 9-6 defeat of Sydney. Canberra and Hobart were still locked up at the top of the Southern, but were also in with a wildcard shot, only 2 games behind the faltering Cowboys.

19 Feb: Clohessy capped off a fine 7 days with PotW honours. He’d hit .400/.438/.867, with 4HR.

19 Feb: Clohessy’s 2-run HR in the 3rd of an eventual 9-7 win over Auckland gave him 41 homers for the year.

19 Feb: Christchurch lost and Cairns won, putting them in a tie for the 2nd wildcard slot.

21 Feb: The Cowboys slumped to their 10th straight defeat, dropping them to 1 game back in the wildcard race.

23 Feb: Clohessy’s 3-run shot helped Canberra get over Brisbane 6-3. Home run #42.

23 Feb: The Crocs lost 3-2 to Newcastle, meaning the Roos had climbed into a share of the 2nd wildcard slot with Cairns. The Cowboys lost #11 in a row, putting them a game behind, alongside the Prospects.

24 Feb: The Roos’ 5-2 defeat of Cairns gave them a 1-game lead in the wildcard. Both the Crocs and Propects trailed by 1 game, while Christchurch’s 12th straight defeat saw them fall to 2 games back.

25 Feb: Jason Rawnsley finally had a shutout to his name. He allowed Christchurch just 3 hits and walked 3, fanning 5, to see Whangarei beat the hapless Cowboys 3-0.

25 Feb: Clohessy hit #43 today, a solo affair as his Cavalry got drubbed 16-5 by Brisbane.

25 Feb: The Crocs got one back against the Roos to the tune of a 6-0 victory, while the Prospects overcame Perth 6-2 to see a 3-way tie for the 2nd wildcard slot. Central Coast still had a comfortable 8-game buffer in the 1st slot, but might be a little worried as they’d just dropped their 5th in a row.

26 Feb: Patrick Maggs won PotW with a .500/.556/1.083 effort. 4 of his 12 hits cleared the fence.

26 Feb: Sam Ross’s 5-5, including a triple, was instrumental in Cairns’ defeating Newcastle 9-3. This put Cairns a game clear of the Roos in the wildcard, though Hobart won their 4th in a row, disposing of Perth 15-2, to see them level in the wildcard and in their division, thanks to Canberra again getting spanked by Brisbane, 14-5.

26 Feb: Meanwhile, the Cowboys finally won a game, beating Whangarei 5-1. They’d lost 13 on the trot. They were 2 games back in the wildcard.

27 Feb: The eagerly anticipated matchup between Brad King and Lance Ralston had arrived. And it didn’t disappoint. Norman Lawless got 2 on the board for Cairns before an out was recorded, his 2-run shot over left bringing the crowd to their feet, a veritable hailstorm of catcalls from the large amount of Cairns fans who’d traveled to the game raining down on Ralston. Ralston responded by striking out 2 of the next 3 batters swinging, the hometown fans getting into the noise-making action.

King notched up a solitary K in the bottom of the 1st, Crocs fans painting the stadium with their multi-coloured wands. Ralston struck out 2 in the 2nd, and King 1 to make the strikeout score 4-2. It became 7-2 in the 3rd as Ralston struck out the side, and Brisbane’s fans were the ones in full roar, even with their team down 2-0 on the scoreboard.

Adam Guiney led off the bottom of the 3rd with a solo HR, and when King lost control of a 2-out 2-2 pitch to Norman Ladds, hitting him on the thigh, the laughter that echoed off the outfield walls had to be demoralizing. But King was made of stern stuff. He induced a 1st-pitch ground-out to the next batter and then bowed to the most vocal sections of the crowd.

Ralston struck out the 1st hitter of the 4th, before Sam Stubbs launched a solo HR to put Darwin ahead 3-1. Ralston gritted his teeth and got back to business, fanning the next 2 hitters. King didn’t strike anybody out in the bottom of the inning, but did surrender a 2-run jack to Young-tae Lee. Even on the scoreboard, but Ralston way ahead in the strikeout race.

Neither team scored until the 7th, King striking out 3 to Ralston’s 2 in that time. Ralston rang up 3 in the 7th, though (to go with 1 walk), while King fanned 1 and allowed the go-ahead run to score. Ralston didn’t come out for the 8th, and while King did, he headed to the showers after 1 out.

The final score was 4-3 Brisbane. Ralston struck out 15 to achieve that rare feat twice in his last 3 starts. He turned up to the aftermatch presser wearing a crown. King struck out a paltry 6 and took the loss. His response, after the game? “See you in the playoffs, hot stuff.”

27 Feb: Both Cairns and Hobart won, yet Cairns gained the outright lead in the wildcard. How? Hobart’s victory put them a game ahead of Canberra, who’d now lost 3 in a row, at the top of the Southern Division. Newcastle and Christchurch also won, to keep them in the hunt.

28 Feb: Craig Hardy recorded a milestone hit today: #2000. He did so with a 3rd-inning single, but couldn’t inspire his team to victory, the Blue Sox getting destroyed 14-5 by Hobart.

Notable Injuries

1 Feb: 3 games behind in the NZ, but holding onto a wildcard, the Cowboys got news this morning they wouldn’t have wanted to hear. Angelo Rankin (.323/.365/.500, 15HR) would be out for the rest of the season after spraining his ankle.

3 Feb: Benjamin Ziersch (.281/.334/.449, 12HR from 293PA) had already spent the better part of 2 months on the DL this season. Now he’d torn the meniscus in his knee and faced another lengthy stint out of the game. It was possible he’d make it back in time for the end of the regular season, but with the Venom so far out of touch, it was equally likely medical staff would give him the extra rest.

13 Feb: Newcastle had dipped below .500 to put them 6 games adrift in the wildcard race. To make an unlikely task even harder, they’d be without linchpin Ashley Snijders (.331/.437/.600, 29HR) for the next 3-4 weeks while he recuperated a strained rib cage muscle.

16 Feb: Metros’ star Brendon Stennings (.299/.343/.444, 10HR) was out for the rest of the season after tearing a muscle in his back.

19 Feb: Fighting for a playoff berth, Hobart would be without the veteran influence of Jing-zhong Ling (7-9, 4.10 ERA, 4.87 FIP, 1.47 WHIP) for the rest of season after he strained a hamstring.

24 Feb: The Diggers would be without Mike Wurfel (.319/.370/.420, 4HR) for the next 3 weeks. He’d strained a hammy.

24 Feb: Rob Lane (.339/.399/.556, 16HR) could book himself an early holiday after tearing the meniscus in his knee.

Notable Trades/Signings

15 Feb: 30 y/o Roger Mangan (15-4, 3.92 ERA, 4.34 FIP, 1.16 WHIP) was having a strong season - with a bit of help from his teammates. His smile would be even bigger now, with news getting out that he’d signed a 6-year extension with the Sluggers. However, there was no word from Whangarei management on the man fans were desperately hoping would be re-signed: Alan Sneddon. Sneddon’s agent wasn’t talking either, fueling speculation that he would head to market at season’s end.

Month Awards

Rookie of the Month: Edwin Hayes scooped his 2nd RotM award in a row. In February he was .330/.383/.547, 35-106, with 13 runs, 5 doubles, 6HR, 18RBI, and 5BB.

Hurler of the Month: Wilson Lara picked this one up, though he was quick to say he felt it should’ve gone to teammate Lance Ralston. Lara’s 5-0 month was good enough in the eyes of the selection committee, and put him only 1 win away from 20 for the season. To go with his 5 wins, Lara recorded a 2.38 ERA, 3.82 FIP, and 1.06 WHIP in February, as well as 30Ks from 34.0IP. Lara led the league in wins (19), ERA (2.93), H/9 (7.15), and OAVG (.217). He was also 2nd in FIP, with a mark of 3.53.

Slugger of the Month: Patrick Maggs battered his way to SotM. The Whangarei Slugger had a .447/.484/.798 stat-line in February, 51-114, with 20 runs, 10 doubles, 10HR, 30RBI, and 5 walks.

Other Notes

Coastal Division: Darwin (13-14) finally had a par month, while Cairns (17-10) put themselves in charge of their own destiny when it came to a wildcard.

East-West Division: Brisbane (19-8) continued to pull away, their lead over Central Coast (13-14) extended to 11 games by the end of February. Newcastle (13-14) seemed to be running out of gas as the final stretch appeared.

NZ Division: Whangarei (17-10) left a crumbling Christchurch (9-18) in their wake, 11 games adrift.

Southern Division: Hobart (13-14) had just pushed their noses in front on the morning of March 1st, 1 game ahead of Canberra (17-10).

Wildcard: The Thunder had a 7-game buffer in the top wildcard slot, while Cairns had battled their way to a 1-game lead in the 2nd slot. Canberra was the team 1 game back, with Newcastle 2 and Christchurch 3 to set up an exciting race to the line.

#

After a February where he was finally just average, the only top leaderboard spots Justin Auger (.330/.399/.599, 34HR) now held were the WAR boards (8.0), and XBH (79).

Yong-jun Chu (.367/.407/.526, 16HR) was having a season most experts called ‘an outlier.’ That was a big call to make with only 2 and a half big league seasons of previous data to go on, but they were probably right. Mechanically, Chu had plenty wrong, often chasing pitches that never looked like hitting the zone while watching other pitches sail over the heart of the plate, and regularly appeared to overbalance as he completed his swing. Still, the Sluggers’ 2B had as much a case for February SotM as his teammate Patrick Maggs did, Chu hitting .450/.475/.685, 50-111, with 18 runs, 6 doubles, 1 triple, 6HR, 28RBI, 2 walks, and 1SB, in the month. He led the league in BA and hits (199), with his WAR of 7.1 good enough for 2nd.

Rick Clohessy (.263/.298/.528, 43HR) was on-base less than 30% of the time, and had a nearly 2:1 HR to doubles ratio. On the upside, he was hitting .297/.333/.599 with runners in scoring position. He was still a possibility to get 50HR, and looked on track to become only the 2nd player to record 150 or more ribbies in a season (137 so far, best in the league).

Jacob Blanksby (.321/.418/.606, 28HR) had appeared from the ethers somewhere to claim the best SLG in the league heading into March, as well as the best ISO (.285).

Alan Sneddon (.320/.463/.462, 7HR) was the only player so far to have reached the runs-walks double-double (112-124), leading the league in both categories. He also had the best OBP and had stolen the most bases (36).

Lance Ralston’s (15-10, 3.90 ERA, 3.44 FIP, 1.03 WHIP) barnstorming month saw him jump to the head of the FIP and WAR (4.9) boards.

Nemesis Brad King (15-9, 3.12 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 1.25 WHIP) had crashed through the 200K barrier, notching up 218 so far. His K/9 was 10.31, far better than any other qualified pitcher.

Jay Cummins (9-17, 3.78 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 1.21 WHIP) was having a season he didn’t deserve. He led the league in losses even though his ERA and FIP were below 4, and his WHIP 7th-best among all qualified pitchers.

Rex Herbert had 40 saves, 1 more than Jose Diaz in 2nd.

Standings, Mar 1

[reds1]

Brad 'The K' King

[Izz]

Originally Posted by reds1

Brad 'The K' King

Ooh, good one!

[Izz]

2051/2052 Season - March

Notable Performances

1 Mar: A new contender for Strikeout King had appeared on the horizon. 24 y/o Thunder SP Ted Heathcote racked up 15 Ks in 8.0 innings of 3-hit, 1-run ball. Newcastle were the unfortunate recipients, going down 10-1.

1 Mar: A 10-2 win over Kununurra took Canberra into a tie with Cairns in the wildcard, the Crocs losing 5-3 to the Fury.

2 Mar: Both Canberra and Cairns lost, leaving them both jousting for the 2nd wildcard slot.

3 Mar: Allen Pyle helped Cairns out no end, keeping the Thunder scoreless. He allowed just 5 hits and 3 walks, striking out 6 to see the Crocs coast to a 5-0 victory. With Canberra dropping their game 7-3 to Whangarei, Cairns moved into the outright wildcard lead.

4 Mar: Gary Young was awarded PotW after a strong .385/.448/.923 display. 4 of his 10 hits were homers, and he also managed 2 doubles.

4 Mar: Canberra beat Whangarei 5-1, while Cairns were beaten 6-3 by the Thunder, putting them both level in the wildcard again. Hobart lost 6-3 to Wellington, meaning Canberra were now also only 1 game back in their division.

4 Mar: Clohessy hit HR #44 in Canberra’s win. The majority opinion now was that he wouldn’t make it to 50.

5 Mar: Whangarei scored 2 in the bottom of the 9th to snatch victory from the Cavalry, the final score line 9-8. Cairns beat Central Coast 4-1 to pull a game ahead. Hobart also won, opening up a 2-game advantage over Canberra.

5 Mar: Canberra might’ve gone down, but Clohessy was making the experts revise their opinions on whether he'd reach 50. His 3-run HR in the 1st gave him 45 on the year. He drove in 1 more runner too, meaning he needed just 5 more RBI to make it to 150. If he kept on at this rate he would break Mildren’s 2039 record of 159RBI.

5 Mar: After his shutout to begin the 2051 campaign, Matt Hanscombe had once again had a horrid year, racking up 17 losses in a Perth team that might go down as 1 of the worst ever (47-98 before today). It was no surprise that Hanscombe, who’d picked up 21 losses in 2050, had rarely been seen with a smile this year. His scowl did lighten a little today, though, as he recorded his 2nd shutout of the season. Hanscombe was impressive, allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 5, to help the Heat grind down Adelaide 6-0.

7 Mar: Canberra swatted aside Perth 10-5, while the Crocs were wrestled into submission by the Prospects in a 10-3 game. All tied up in the wildcard again.

7 Mar: Clohessy was certainly barreling down the home straight. His 6th-inning solo effort put him at 46 and 146.

8 Mar: Cairns once again poked their noses in front, getting it done 8-6 against Hobart thanks to a 2-run walk-off HR from Carl Bristcoe in the bottom of the 10th, while Canberra succumbed 11-8 to Perth.

8 Mar: Clohessy was 3-4 in Canberra’s loss. He hit a solo HR in the 2nd to take him to 47, and drove in 2 other runners, finishing the game with 149RBI for the season.

8 Mar: Angelo Spear beat Wilson Lara to 20 wins, getting #20 in a 5-3 win over Auckland. The Thunder ace allowed 10 hits and walked 1 in 7.1 innings, giving up 2 earned runs. He struck out 6.

9 Mar: Hobart beat Cairns to the tune of 9-5, 7 of those runs coming in the 4th, while Canberra edged past Perth 3-1 (Clohessy went 2-4, but didn’t clear the fence or bring anyone across home plate). Back to level pegging.

10 Mar: Whangarei’s 6-3 win over Darwin saw them clinch the NZ, the 1st team to secure their division in 2051.

10 Mar: 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th saw Cairns beat Hobart 3-2, while Canberra gave Perth a 12-7 slapping.

10 Mar: For Canberra fans and Rick Clohessy, it was both a great day and a sad one. Clohessy’s 4th-inning rbi-double saw him reach the fabled 150RBI mark. Then came the downer. In the top of the 9th, Clohessy hurled the ball to 1st and immediately dropped to his haunches. He came from the field and after the game it was revealed he’d suffered an oblique strain. Best bet on recovery time? 5-6 weeks, meaning he’d have no chance to either equal or break Mildren’s HR and RBI records, or to help Canberra in the postseason, should they make it. Clohessy wasn’t available for comment after the game, or in the days that followed.

11 Mar: In a gesture that was either cruel or kind, depending on who you spoke to, Clohessy won PotW. He’d gone .440/.444/1.000 over the last week, slugging 4HR. For the year, he was hitting .273/.307/.545, with 47 dingers.

11 Mar: Clohessy’s teammates picked up the slack for him, defeating Sydney 3-1. Cairns also tasted victory, seeing Auckland off 3-0 to keep things level in the wildcard. However, Hobart lost their 2nd on the trot, falling 8-5 to Christchurch, giving Canberra a tie of the Southern Division lead, too.

11 Mar: Martin Boston went 4-5 in Canberra’s victory, boosting his current hit streak to 20 games.

12 Mar: The Diggers secured a maiden postseason appearance to go with a maiden pennant by beating Perth 3-2.

12 Mar: Cairns was shut out 2-0 by Auckland, Canberra was defeated 12-6 by Sydney, and Hobart got beat 6-2 by Christchurch.

13 Mar: Brisbane beat rivals Central Coast 8-7 in 10 innings to win the East-West pennant.

13 Mar: Canberra trounced Sydney 11-1, Jacob Blanksby celebrating his return from injury with a 2-6 effort, including a solo HR and 3RBI. Hobart eased past Christchurch 8-3, pushing the Cowboys back to 3 games off the wildcard pace, alongside Newcastle. Meanwhile Cairns tripped up 4-2 against Auckland, putting them a game back.

14 Mar: The Crocs lost 8-2 to Auckland, while both Canberra and Hobart won. Cairns thus dropped 2 games back in the wildcard, though they certainly weren’t out of the race yet, as a win tomorrow and a loss to either of Canberra or Hobart would put them just 1 game in arrears.

14 Mar: While Canberra defeated Sydney 4-2, Martin Boston went 0-4, ending his hit streak at 22 games.

15 Mar: Patrick Maggs was coming home with a wet sail. He’d hit 6HR in his last 4 games, and his 2-4 effort in today’s 9-4 thumping of Newcastle put him atop the BA leaderboard, with .355. He thus displaced teammate Yong-jun Chu, who went 1-5 to see his BA drop to .354.

15 Mar: Cairns couldn’t pull out a win, dropping their 4th straight, the final score of today’s game vs Christchurch 8-5. Canberra and Hobart, however, continued on their winning ways. Now with 3 games between themselves and the Crocs, it seemed likely that whoever lost the Southern Division race would still sneak into the postseason on a wildcard.

15 Mar: The Prospects won their game on the back of a standout performance from Vince Delaney. The southpaw allowed 6 hits and 2 walks, but Adelaide couldn’t score any runs, Hobart running out 5-0 victors. Delaney fanned 6 hitters.

15 Mar: Brisbane made it two 100+ win seasons in a row, marking the century with an 8-2 victory over Auckland.

16 Mar: The Thunder fought off a spirited 9th-inning comeback by Kununurra to win 8-7, thus securing the 1st wildcard berth.

16 Mar: Canberra beat Wellington 5-1, while Hobart succumbed 3-1 to Adelaide. This put the Cavalry a game up in the Southern, while Hobart held the 2nd wildcard slot, 2 games ahead of Cairns, who defeated Christchurch 5-2.

17 Mar: Canberra kept their noses at the top of the Southern with a 6-5 win over Wellington. 4 runs in the bottom of the 8th sealed a comeback victory. Hobart also came from behind to beat Adelaide 7-5, tying the game with a 4-run 7th and winning it with a 2-run 8th. Cairns went down 3-2 to Christchurch, putting them 3 back in the wildcard.

18 Mar: Maggs might’ve gone 0-4 in yesterday’s 6-1 loss to Newcastle, but he’d still done more than enough to earn the season’s last PotW. Maggs went .467/.529/1.100 in a monster week, hitting 6 homers.

18 Mar: Brisbane weren’t putting their feet up, despite being assured a postseason appearance. Today they beat Auckland 6-1 to mark a 10-game winning streak.

18 Mar: Canberra hiccupped, allowing Wellington to score 5 runs in the top of the 9th on their way to a 7-4 win. Hobart slid past Adelaide 3-0 to see things tied up at the top of the Southern again.

20 Mar: Hobart’s final series of the season had them up against Canberra in a mouth-watering matchup. Hobart drew 1st blood, cruising to a 7-3 victory. The Roos pulled off an extra-innings 10-9 win over Perth after scoring 7 in the 9th to tie things up, meaning they were 3 games behind, still in with a slim shot if they kept winning and Canberra kept losing.

21 Mar: Canberra scored 4 in the 1st and never relinquished the lead, eventually winning 6-2. All even in the Southern again. The win also ensured both Canberra and Hobart would be heading to the postseason, regardless of who won the division.

22 Mar: Brad King needed 11 Ks to get to 250 for the year in his final start. He came close, notching up 8 to finish with 247 strikeouts for the regular season, the highest any pitcher had climbed since 2028, when Todd Thompson struck out 249. The only pitcher to have ever broken the 250 K barrier was Tyler Silk, who did so 4 times. His best season was in 2022 when he rang up 311 strikeouts. No pitcher had ever fanned as many batters in their 1st full season in the rotation as King had.

22 Mar: Hobart trailed going into the bottom of the 9th, down 4-3. Kent deJong’s 1-out solo HR put the game back on an even keel, but that didn’t last long as Terence Bansfield singled, Atony Mansfield doubled, and Gordon Pedley was intentionally walked, loading the bases. Baden Moore (yes, that Baden Moore) struck out swinging, but 21 y/o Beau Snell slapped his 1st pitch into leftfield for a walk-off single. Hobart had 1 hand on the division crown but they still had to win tomorrow to get it.

23 Mar: The Prospects won the division pennant for the 1st time since 2046, holding off Canberra 8-6. Both teams would appear in the playoffs, and both in the 1st round. This would be Canberra’s 1st playoff appearance since 2040.

23 Mar: Perth finished their season on a nice note, dispatching Newcastle 9-1. It was only their 53rd win of the season, which saw them equal Hobart’s dismal 2022 campaign, tying them for 2nd on the Worst Teams Ever board.

23 Mar: Brisbane’s season had been a polar opposite to Perth’s. They finished with a 10-4 thumping of Cairns, their 14th straight win, and their 107th for the season. This was good enough for 3rd-equal on the Best Teams Ever board. They were a far cry from the team of 2046, who only registered 2 more wins than this year’s Heat.

Notable Injuries

1 Mar: Darwin fans woke to bad news this morning. While their team was virtually assured a maiden playoff spot, they’d have to do without middle of the lineup cornerstone Rhett Morrow (.299/.388/.522, 22HR) who had torn ankle ligament and would take no further part in the season. Christos Hutchinson (.343/.405/.440, 0HR) had been injured in the same game, but no diagnosis was yet forthcoming, prompting plenty of nail-biting among fans, both of the Diggers and of Hutchinson’s reality TV series.

3 Mar: More bad news for Darwin fans. Hutchinson wouldn’t be taking any part in the rest of the season, regular or post. He had elbow tendinitis.

3 Mar: Jacob Blanksby (.321/.417/.602, 28HR) was headed to the DL for a couple weeks with a concussion. Interesting times for Canberra, who were in a dogfight for both the pennant and the wildcard.

9 Mar: The Bandits would have to do with Ismael Aguirre (.341/.404/.601, 30HR) for the next 2 weeks. He had tendinitis in his knee.

13 Mar: Esteban Madrigal (.257/.322/.523, 38HR) wouldn’t suit up again this season. He’d fractured his thumb.

15 Mar: Aces’ catcher Cong Chaim (.285/.329/.509, 32HR) had fractured his fibula and would be on the DL for a good chunk of the offseason.

18 Mar: Adrian Duggan (13-13, 4.27 ERA, 4.13 FIP, 1.29 WHIP) faced a long rehab. He needed Tommy John surgery, and would likely be out of the game a whole year. This meant, of course, that he wouldn’t feature for the Thunder in this postseason.

21 Mar: Brisbane won their 12th straight but it wasn’t as joyous an occasion as they might’ve hoped. Vital cog Norman Ladds (.274/.381/.509, 37HR) was gone for the rest of the season with a strained rib cage muscle. While the Bandits certainly had the depth to cover the loss, it would still be a blow as they looked to become the 1st to win the AUNZBL Championship 3 times in a row.

23 Mar: Thunder fans were holding their collective breath after Justin Auger (.323/.397/.586, 37HR) limped off during the last game of the regular season, a 12-inning 4-3 win over Whangarei. No word was forthcoming on his injury.

23 Mar: Hobart fans were also worried. Alastair Chapman (.301/.348/.546, 32HR) left the field injured in their game against Canberra. Again, no diagnosis was forthcoming from the Prospects’ medical contingent.

Media Watch

Brodie Backhouse: How was the AUNZBL’s best ever closer going in the BL? Well, he had been going great guns, #1 in the Cali rotation, with a 10-4, 2.05 ERA, 2.72 FIP, 1.01 WHIP, record from 21 starts, striking out 140 in 136.1 IP. He’d recorded 10 or more Ks in a game 4 times, and no-hit Asuncion on the 6th of Feb. Then, on the 19th of March, he partially tore his UCL and was looking at 6-7 months on the DL. Even with that injury, though, the 36 y/o had no regrets, saying to Aussie media a few days after his injury, “I’m loving it here. Absolutely, completely loving it. I might never come home.”

Other Notes

Patrick Maggs (.350/.414/.622, 38HR) stormed home during the final 2 months of the season to claim the batting title. He also finished atop the SLG, OPS, wOBA (.428), and ISO (.273) boards.

Justin Auger finished the season with the most XBH (90), and the best WAR (8.9).

Ismael Aguirre (.344/.405/.606, 31HR) had a shortened season due to injury, but still finished with the most doubles (54). He also registered the 2nd-best BA, 2nd-best SLG, 3rd-best OPS, 3rd-best wOBA (.426), 2nd-most runs (tied with 122), 2nd-most XBH (86), 4th-most bases (345), and 2nd-best WAR (8.3). While he hadn’t come into anybody’s SotY considerations for a large portion of the season, he certainly did during March, though some felt his lack of HR would count against him in the final ballot.

Alan Sneddon (.317/.455/.462, 10HR) finished with best OBP, the most runs (129), the most walks (139), and the most stolen bases (44).

Sneddon achieved the runs-walks double-double, as did Manuel Salinas (.306/.425/.376, 6HR) with a 104-111 effort.

Martin Boston (.333/.367/.410, 1HR) hit his 1st major-league HR in 2051. He also recorded the most hits of anyone, notching up 217.

4 other players made it to 200 hits in 2051. They were:

Yong-jun Chu (.343/.384/.490, 17HR), with 216
Marcos Lopez (.323/.363/.527, 31HR), with 212
Keiran Pickford (.322/.353/.584, 43HR), with 210
Justin Auger, with 208.

Of those 5 players, only Marcos Lopez played all 162 regular season games.

Angelo Spear (20-10, 4.02 ERA, 3.99 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) reached 20 wins for the 2nd time in his career. Thunder fans would be a bit worried, however, at the fact he’d given up 10+ hits in each of his last 3 starts. Spear also had the best BB/9 rate (1.30), and had thrown the most innings (248.2).

Wilson Lara (19-4, 3.11 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) didn’t win a game in March, thus missing out on 20 wins. The 34 y/o finished with the league’s best ERA, and best H/9 (7.17).

Teammate Lance Ralston (18-10, 3.62 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 1.05 WHIP) had the best FIP, K/BB (4.70), and WAR (5.8). He’d also broken the 200K mark for the 2nd year running, ringing up 221 strikeouts. Last year he hadn’t even got a podium finish in the HotY Award, but surely he had to come into consideration this year.

Brad King (15-9, 3.13 ERA, 3.95 FIP, 1.25 WHIP) had 5 starts in March, all no-decisions. His 247 strikeouts was clearly the best in the league, Ralston’s late season climb up the ladder notwithstanding. King also had the best K/9, with a 10.04 mark.

Allan Spear (15-11, 3.52 ERA, 4.52 FIP, 1.04 WHIP) had the AUNZBL’s best WHIP among qualified pitchers.

Logan Neilson (9-9, 6.34 ERA, 5.75 FIP, 1.81 WHIP) was certainly showing signs of age. However, the 41 y/o’s 9 wins during the season moved him to 197 for his career. He needed just 3 to become only the 2nd pitcher to reach 200. Neilson had over 19 years of major league service time, and had featured in each of the last 20 seasons. He’d also lost 199 games. Would he do a Dylan Cully and hang around the league for a few years too many in the hopes of snaring those final wins? He wasn’t ruling out another go-around, though he also admitted that he needed to be realistic, too.

The best closer of 2051 was Rex Herbert, who recorded 43 saves, beating out his closest competitors by 1.

Standings, EORS

[Izz]

2051 Division Finals

Game 1 - Canberra Cavalry vs Whangarei Sluggers

After 4 innings it was 4-3 to Whangarei, the tussle tight. But then the Sluggers pulled away, a 3-run Russell Watters HR in the 5th boosting their lead, and a 3-run Tom Doig bomb in the 6th sealing the deal. Final score: 10-3 Whangarei. Roger Mangan (6.2IP, 7H, 3ER, 4BB, 5K) wasn’t at his best, but got the win, while Zachariah Quinn (4.1IP, 9H, 5ER, 3BB, 0K) was about as threatening as his nickname-namesake, ‘Iguana’, in picking up the loss.

Game 1 - Hobart Prospects vs Central Coast Thunder

There was still no word from either camp on Auger or Chapman prior to the game, though both players were listed on the playoff roster. This was the Angelo Spear show, the Thunder ace tying the playoff game strikeout record of 12 in his 8 innings. He also didn’t concede any runs (8.0IP, 6H, 0ER, 1BB, 12K) in a strong performance. Central Coast eked out single runs in the 3rd and 4th (a Jacob Lindner HR 1 of those), and that was enough to win it. Final score: 2-0 Thunder. Vince Delaney (6.0IP, 8H, 2ER, 3BB, 3K) picked up the loss.

Game 2 - Canberra Cavalry vs Whangarei Sluggers

Alan Sneddon got Whangarei off to the best possible start, leading off the bottom of the 1st with a 1st-pitch HR over right-centre. The Sluggers added another to take an early 2-run lead, the scores staying at that mark until the 5th, when Canberra scored 1 and Whangarei 3. But if the Sluggers expected to kick Canberra to the curb as they had in Game 1, they soon found they were in a tougher battle. Canberra scored 3 in the 7th and then tied the game up in the 8th, before Alan Dulihanty slugged a 2-run HR to give Whangarei the lead back. The Cavalry got runners on 1st and 2nd in the 9th, but couldn’t convert. Final score: 7-5 Sluggers. Walter Anglesey (6.0IP, 9H, 2ER, 1BB, 4K) left with the lead but didn’t get the win, while Dermott Downes (7.0IP, 9H, 5ER, 1BB, 4K) also got no letters next to his name.

Game 2 - Hobart Prospects vs Central Coast Thunder

Still no word on either Auger or Chapman, though it was noticed neither player had appeared in the dugout for either team so far this series.

This was another tight game featuring strong pitching. The only scoring act was a Daniel Wise 2-out, 2-on double that gave the Thunder 2 runs on the board. Central Coast only managed 4 hits to Hobart’s 6, but the closest the Prospects got to homeplate was a 1-out triple in the 3rd. Final score: 2-0 Thunder. Connor Chapman (8.0IP, 6H, 0ER, 0BB, 9K) was named Player of the Game, while Zachariah Pugsley (7.1IP, 4H, 2ER, 0BB, 6K) took an undeserved loss. Neither team walked a hitter.

Off Day

It was finally revealed that both Auger and Chapman wouldn’t play any part in the postseason. Chapman had a strained hamstring, while Auger was struggling with back spasms.

Game 3 - Canberra Cavalry vs Whangarei Sluggers

Facing a sweep and in front of their home fans, the Cavalry were expected to rally and fight hard in this one. They didn’t. Whangarei opened the scoring in the 2nd and continued to do so regularly thereafter, while Canberra only managed 5 base hits and finally scored a run (unearned) in the 7th. Final score: 11-1 Whangarei and they were into the Preliminary Finals. Doig, Jerry Skuse and Patrick Maggs all homered for Whangarei, while Allan Spear (8.0IP, 5H, 1R, 0ER, 5K) hit his spots all game. Al Dunlop (4.1IP, 8H, 6ER, 0BB, 5K) threw too many pitches over the heart of the plate. Maggs was 3-5 with 3 runs and 4RBI.

Game 3 - Hobart Prospects vs Central Coast Thunder

Before the game, Hobart announced a 4-year extension for 26 y/o Hal Burrows (.260/.322/.448, 22HR).

Once again, runs were very hard to come by. In fact, the game remained scoreless until the 8th, when Hobart speedster Jarod Baker singled with 1 out, stole 2nd, then went from 2nd to home on Beau Snell’s single into rightfield. The Thunder loaded the bases with 1 out in the 9th and the game seemed destined to slip away from Hobart. Lindner blooped a fly to shallow right and Sterling Bull tagged up and headed home. But the decision to send Larry Nelms out as a defensive sub at the beginning of the inning paid dividends as his throw was pinpoint accurate to the catcher (another defensive sub: Cam Bannon) who held his ground and tagged Lindner out. Final score: 1-0 Hobart and they weren’t heading to the offseason just yet. Ted Heathcote (8.0IP, 9H, 1ER, 0BB, 5K) threw a complete-game loss, while Blair Wurfel (6.2IP, 6H, 0ER, 0BB, 6K) gave his team every chance to win, which they did.

Game 4 - Hobart Prospects vs Central Coast Thunder

The Prospects hit their 1st HR of the series in the 5th (to Terence Bansfield), part of a 5-run inning. Apart from that flurry, scoring was again sparse, Hobart winning comfortably in the end. Final score: Hobart 6-2 and this series was suddenly heading to Game 5. Angelo Spear (4.2IP, 8H, 6ER, 1BB, 2K) didn’t have such a great outing this time around, his 2051 postseason record now 1-1. Delaney (7.0IP, 6H, 1ER, 0BB, 3K), however, looked much more comfortable, his record also now 1-1.

Game 5 - Hobart Prospects vs Central Coast Thunder

From 2-0 up to tied at 2-2, and the Thunder had to be thinking that perhaps they’d missed the boat.

Both pitchers struggled to hit their spots early, the Prospects scoring 2 in the top of the 1st (1 of those via a DeJong HR), and the Thunder responding likewise (both their runs coming from solo bombs to Daniel Wise and Manuel Alou). Jay Keppell’s 2-run shot in the bottom of the 2nd put Central Coast ahead, and then the scoring dried up until the 5th, when Hobart jagged a run back. In the 8th Alou hit his 2nd HR of the night, a shot down the LF line that just held on to bounce off the top of the wall. Rhett Thurley walked 2 with 2 outs in the top of the 9th but struck out Jarod Baker to end the series. Final score: 5-3 Thunder and they were through, if limping a bit.

Pugsley (8.0IP, 9H, 5ER, 0BB, 4K) stayed in the whole game, much to the surprise of the commentators, while Chapman (7.0IP, 9H, 3ER, 1BB, 6K) got the win, 4 Thunder pitchers combining for a scoreless final 2 innings.

ETA: Have just noticed that a lot of the attached images are a heap smaller now. I don't know if that's just me, or a temporary thing, but i might have to redo my season leaderboards as they're now nearly impossible to read. For now, i hope everybody can read these box scores

[reds1]

The box scores look just fine to me. Go Whangarei!

[Izz]

Originally Posted by reds1

The box scores look just fine to me. Go Whangarei!

Thanks, reds1

And yeah, i'm rooting for the Sluggers, too. One of the Prelim Final matchups is Whangarei vs Brisbane. Going to be a blockbuster, i reckon, though sadly i think Brisbane will be too good.