July Madness - Game Under the Spotlight

[Cuss16]

FLB and IPB's game finished in dramatic fashion as FLB goes on and wins the last playoff spot. Be sure to check out the log and the boxscore, very good finish.

With the playoff almost on the way, I'll be the first to make my predicitons for the all the "Elite Eight"series. Feel free to post up your call of the series here. (best of 5 starting Wednesday)

FLB (1) vs NBL (3)
XBL (1) vs C2C (3)
NBA (2) vs NLB (3)
TPL (2) vs MaxLB (3)

[potatoman]

Heilman pitches a 5 game shut out....

C2C better win 3 games in a rwo for ur prediction to be rite

[Cuss16]

Right!

[Cuss16]

Sorry guys I haven't gotten the time to do any write ups, but according to all of the game 1 scores, the Elite Eight playoffs look to be in good shape. The biggest margin was XBL beating on Fan Favorite - C2C by 5 runs.

Here is the scoreboard:
Pool A.....XBL (5) @ C2C (0).....FLB (1) @ NBL (2).....Pool B.....NBA (3) @ NBL (0).....TPL (1) @ MaxLB (3).....

[Muppetus Galacticus]

The Elite Eight Begin Battle

The World Cup Baseball playoffs got under way last night, but not before one final twist in the final league standings. The FLB and IPBball teams each had a record of 4-6 in their division so they had to play a deciding match to see who stays and who goes.

A pitching duel soon got under way between FLB's Jared Howton and IPBball's Bust Alexander. Howton (1-0) did not give up a single base hit although he walked 6 batters in his 6.1 innings. Robert Garvin then came in to relieve until the 8th where the score remained 0-0.

Bust Alexander (1-2) stayed in for the whole 9 innings, throwing 86 of 125 pitches for strikes. But it was not enough. In the 8th inning, LF Jimmy Hurst hit a 2 run double to help take the FLB to a 4-0 lead where Andy Morrison (0-0 14.54ERA) came to the mound and with the score 6-0 he saw a Grand Slam by "King Kong" Hill sail over the fence to make a thrilling finish where Chas Nees came in for his first apperance and collected the save.

The FLB go into the playoffs thanks to a 6-4 win where they will face the NBL.

The full matchups are
FLB v NBL
XBL v C2C
NBA v NLB
TPL v MaxLB

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We start our playoff round-up what should be a close contest - the XBL versus C2C.

In the round robin the two teams had a 1-1 record, both 1 run games and both finished 7-3. With all that in mind it is time to throw it out the window. When it comes to this part of a competition statistics and records mean little where anything can and will happen.

The starting pitchers were Aaron Heilman (1-1 2.20ERA) of the XBL and Whipper Will Anderson (1-1 1.62ERA) of C2C. After 2 innings the XBL bats started to find answers to what Anderson was throwing. With RBIs from the likes of 2B Weeks and LF Cust, after 4 1/2 the score was 5-0 in XBL's favour.

The score would remain that way with Heilman pitching the full 9 innings, giving up 5 hits and striking out 8 to pick up the win and player of the game award.

Tonight the scheduled pitchers to start will XBL's James Stone (1-0 5.54ERA) and Benjamin White (2-0 3.94ERA) of C2C.

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We return now to the FLB and see if they can continue winning ways versus the NBL or come down after an epic and very tense affair against the IPBball team. In the round robin stages, the NBL won both matchups between the two teams, both by 1 run. The FLB team will be hoping that their win against IPBball was the start of things to come after struggling with consistancy throughout the round robin.

Lincoln Mikkelsen and Jake Nahgler started on the mound with both going 8 innings in a very tight game. The NBL took the lead in the 4th thanks to RBIs from Ingram and Rozway to make the score 2-0. In the 6th, the FLB replyeed with a run of their own when MacLeod brought home Wilson to halve the scoreline.

Player of the game Nahgler (1-0 7.88ERA) was pulled in the 9th for Marc Germaine (6saves) to close out. The teams clash again tonight in what should be another very close series when pitchers "Crazy" Thomas (0-2 4.97ERA) of the FLB and NBL's Grag Rymon (2-0 0.53ERA) are scheduled to go head to head.

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Moving over to the other half of the playoffs we take a look at division rivals the NLB and the NBA where they continue in what is proving to be a bitter rivalry. They started the World Cup with a huge 4 game battle where the NLB won 3-1.

"Red" Powell (3-0 3.96ERA) took to the mound for the NBA and lasted 7.2 innings giving up 5 hits and picking up the win thanks to homeruns from Nerya and Davis in the 4th and 8th innings. A sac-fly from Vega made up the other run in a 3-0 win. Kapoor (0-1 2saves) picked up the save.

Jason Cisco (1-2 6.00ERA) also lasted 7.2 innings giving up the 3 runs off 5 hits. He also struck out 8.

Look for a lot of passion in this series as it is personal and a matter of pride as well as a chance to go into the finals.

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The final series is between the TPL and MaxLB. In their only previuos encounter the MaxLB team hammered the TPL 12-1 and with a 4 game win streak MaxLB will be coming into this series quietly comfident.

TPL's "Butch" Fulcher (2-0 2.66ERA) went 6 innings and struck out 9 in his sides 3-1 defeat where they were out hit 9-5 and had trouble finding a way to make good contact with Sperling's stuff. Jeff Sperling (1-1 1.80ERA) went the distance thanks to a good performance from Les Lamoreaux Jr. The shortstop who picked up 2 RBI's including a solo homer in the 2nd inning which gave MAxLB the lead.

Tonight "King Fish" COstas (2-2 3.14ERA) will be looking to help his side even the best of 5 series when he faces off against MaxLB's Cliff Hass (1-1 3.28ERA).

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Each team has a very good chance of making it through to the semi-finals and it is all to play for in these best-of-5 series'. And it all begins again tonight. Tomorrow will we have the reviews of all the Game 2's.

p.s. i'll try and keep this going but i'm not feeling too good so if they seem a bit shortened/full of typos/delayed then its because i'm completly knackered. but i'll try

[potatoman]

XBL proves that they deserve to be in the Elite Eight

In game one of the playoffs versus C2C, XBL proved to many doubters in the world that they CAN play against the best and have as much a chance as anyone in the EE. C2C was the best team for the 1st half of the round robin but then was taken over by NBL and finished tied with XBL with a 7-3 record. XBL had to fight their way to the top, starting out 2-2 and then winning 4 straight, losing once more and winning the final game. There have been many surprises in this tournament also.

XBL is also the only team to beat NBL this season, crushing them 12-0 but lost 3-0 to NBL the next day.

Heilman pitched a tremendous 5 hitter yesterday and tonight Stone will be on the rubber for XBL.

"I believe we can win, this team isn't unbeatable and i don't know why the odds are again'st us. The odds have been against us since the start of the round robin. I didn't think it was such a surprise that we made it to the Elite Eight. We now have to prove skeptical fans that we are for real..." says Aaron Heilman, who will pitch in either game 4 or game 5 if nessesary.......

[Cuss16]

Thanx for the write ups guys! and Muppetus Galacticus that first game summary is perfect! Cant' wait for game 2!!

[Cuss16]

World Cup Site moved. I now have enough room for all the players pages!! Check it out, link is in my signature!! The Cup has just gotten better!!

[Cuss16]

Wow, every serie is now tied at a game a piece except for the NBA and NLB seires. Two of the most offensive teams the World Cup has ever seen have actually been keeping each other's runs down. Especially NBA, they have only allowed the NLB to score 1 run so far in the series. They will look to be the first one to advance to the Final Four tomorrow.

MaxLB agaisnt TPL seires is now tied up at 1 also. TPL took control today with "Candyman" Snyder who went 2-4 with 2 homeruns and drove in 4 despite a great pitching outing for Hass from the MaxLB. Hass struck out 18!! but allowed 6 runs as TPL evens the seires 6-3.

The "unbeatable",(well almost, with a round robin record of 9-1), NBL lost today to the wild card team FLB 7-4. 9 total pitchers were used in the game. Brent Wilson and Karl Rhodes wach had 3 hit and 2 runs driven in as FLB pours in on the NBL pitchers. Tomorrow FLB will look to take the "cinderella run" 1 step further as Cutter "Spider" Fleming (1-1 4.96)takes the mound.

C2C crushed XBL today in responce to XBL's upset yesterday. 12-4 was the score. C2C had two players with 4 RBIs, Woody "Seaweed" Winthrop and Mungo Reed. Stone of the XBL only lasted 2.1 innings as he got pulled after 7 earned runs. C2C will look to keep on the punding as XBL is the big time underdog in this series.

Good Luck tomorrow guys!

[Cuss16]

Potatoman gave me an idea today, I can't really give anything to the team that finishes first place but I can however make a desktop wallpaper, I know it's not much but it's something. Plus you know you get bragging rights and pride if you win.

Also the Almanac will also be downloadable after the cup ends. I'll have to put some finishing touches on it so it will look very unique. It will include everything that happened this cup including stats, mag cover...everything.

Stay Tuned...

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Game 2 - Double the Fun

Last night saw the playoffs continue with some thrilling performances and a fair few balls landing in the stands for souvenir's.

We start by looking at the matchup betwwen XBL and the C2C teams. In game 1 the XBL shutout C2C 5-0 thanks to Aaron Heilman up on the mound. Yesterday. XBL's James Stone (1-0 5.54ERA) faced off against Benjamin White (0-0 3.94ERA).

In the 2nd inning with the game still scoreless, the C2C just exploded on Stone when he gave up 7 runs with just 2.1 innings on the board. Jesse Crain (1-0 3.86ERA) had little luck himself and another 4 runs came home, with help from fielding errors and lacklustre pitching.

After 4 innings it was 12-0 to C2C and the normally vicious bats of the XBL could only muster 4 runs in the rest of the game. Benji White went the distance giving up 9 hits and striking out 5. Woody Winthrop went 3 for 4 with 4 RBIs and a pair of runs. 2B Redd also hit home 4 RBIs with a grand slam in the 3rd.

Being one of the series tied at 1, tonight will prove a crucial days play for these two teams with the chance to come one game away from the semis up for grabs. The bats of the XBL will have to find a way through their opponents pitching the way they can to any team. As for the C2C they need to continue being hot at the plate and look for pitching support.

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MaxLB went into last nights game 1-0 up in the series and looked to the leagues top pitching staff to guide them to another win. Cliff Hass took to the mound for MaxLB but found himself struggling straight away in the 1st when the awesome bat of "Candyman" Snyder hit a 2 run bomb to give his side the lead.

MaxLB tried to answer in the 3rd when Joshua Giglio hit a solo homer to halve the scoreline and the score stayed that way until the top of the 5th. Snyder hit another 2 run shot to help take the score to 6-1. Snyder hit 6 HRs and 15 RBIs in the round robin stage to become one the competitions most feared batters.

Jose Costas went 8 innings for the TPL giving up 2 runs off 9 hits before Roy Cimino came to claim a save to add to his 5 through the early stages. But the real pitching story here is Hass' 18 strikeouts! Getting a K on everyone at least once but still unable to keep them at bay.

Tonight the teams clash again with it all to play for. Paul Klein will most likely get the nod to start for the MaxLB and continue his dominance of this contest. He has 2 starts and 2 shutouts to his credit and will provide a battle not to be missed when he faces Curtis Snyder.

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FLB v NBL - Game 2. FLB have a huge 50 at bats and get 16 hits but just 7 runs. But it proved to be enough against the NBL, going just 6 for 42 with 4 runs thanks to Aldwin and a 2 run HR from Rozway.

The bullpen decided this one in the end after starters "Crazy" Thomas of the FLB and Greg Rymon of the NBL went 7.2 and 8 innings respectavly. With the score tied at 4 the game went into extra innings and in the top of the 12th the FLB found a chinks in the armour of Adam Gillahan and Johnny Yostetson scoring 3 runs to take the win and give Andy Morrison the W. It was a team effort from the bullpen to get the win for the FLB to show they might not have very good stats but they can still burn you if you take them too lightly.

The pitching of the NBL will be looking for a much calmer game and will look to the likes of Aldwin and 1B Cevericks to support them. The FLB need to keep doing what they are doing to squeeze out the wins like they've been doing thus far

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We said yesterday that this series will be full of passion and fireworks and last night NBA catcher William Lahr argued a strike three call and it took several minutes before he let off all his steam and sat on the bench. This is the only series to not be 1-1 at this point as the NBA took a 2-0 lead last night. Clarence Anthony kept the NLB to just 1 run off 4 hits. "Merlin" also struck out 8 batters before the bullpen took over in the 8th and Kappor picked up the save.

The top of the order won this game and had the edge over what Madritsch was throwing.

The NBA have a chance to sweep the NLB and have some vital days off before the next round. They will need their batting to stay sharp and another good pitching outing if they are to do this. The NLB have their backs to the wall and there is nothing more dangerous than a cornered animal, look for them to come out fighting.

[Cuss16]

Thanx fo another great report Muppetus Galacticus! The Cup is successful still because of great write up reports like yours.

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Thanks for the kind words Cuss, much apprec. I enjoy doing the write-ups and it will be strange to not do them in the mornings when the WC is over!

Muppetus Galacticus

[Cuss16]

Game 3 of the Elite Eight playoffs all ended with high scorings, NBL scored 11 runs, C2C scored 9, MaxLB scored 13 and NBA scored 10. The most notable game is probably the NBA vs NLB game. NBA won easily in three etraight games, becoming the first team to advance to theworld cup Final Four. They held NLB to only 2 runs in the entire seires. NLB didn't even have a chance in the series as NBA just seemed too hot to be contained.

After losing their first game since their 9-1 round robins, the NBL recovered and really poured it on today on the FLB allstars. NBL won 11-1 and only allowed 5 hits to FLB. NBL will look to advance to the next round tomorrow as tehunderdog FLB will need to find a way to climb back in the series.

MaxLB came out a winner today after yesterday's loss to TPL. The game was still close until Lyndon Han started self collapsing. He made 3 error throughout the entire game, adn MaxLB capitalized on all or them. TPL is a strong team though, look for them to make a strong comeback tomorrow as they tryto avoid elmination.

C2C won their second straight game in the seires after losing the first game to XBL. They seem to be regaining their confidence back, the same confidence they had when they were rankedas the best team out of the gate in the round robins. XBL on the other hand is losing confidence by the minute. They were just up 1 game on one of the best teams in the tourney and before they kne it they are facing elmination. Ace Heilman will need to pitch tomorrow on a short rest as XBL goes into desperation mode.

*two injuries to report: XBL will be without their third man - Adam Wainwright if they do go on.

XBL: Adam Wainwright was injured while pitching.
Diagnosis: Tender Shoulder.
He is day-to-day, but full recovery will take one week.

*Another injury is even more severe, C2C might lose their ace, Sal Tuisto for the rest of the tourney.

C2C: Sal Tuisto was injured when he was hit by a line drive.
Diagnosis: Blurred Vision Eye.
He will be OK in about 2-3 weeks.

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Glory, Pain and the Great Unknown

Last night saw the first team to make it through to the final four of World Cup baseball as the NBA swept the NLB in a devastating team performance. In the three games, NLB were allowed just 2 runs by the rotation of the NBA who are turning a few heads. In the round robin stages they had some of the worst team pitching stats but they have certainly risen to the big occasion.

Yesterday it was the turn of Bill Fouch as he went 8.1 innings giving up the NLB run off 6 hits. He also struck out 8 and sent 73 of 129 pitches in for strikes.

His adversary, Richard "The Surgeon" Hedberg, was pulled after 5 innings but not before the damage was done. Going into the 6th the score was 5-1 for the NBA when all Hell broke loose. Talmon Kluesnet came in to relieve and keep his team in the game but the NBA bats were more than ready. Davis, Flores and Val hit homeruns to bring in 4 more runs. The final score was 10-1 and the NBA will be looking to take full advantage of their days off with extra training sessions and they will be hoping to bring the top of the rotation back into play straight away too.

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The NBL came one game closer to the joining the NBA in the semis last night when the best team in the competition, the NBL, dished out some punishment to the FLB.

The picthing of the FLB continues to struggle as it has all campaign long and last night, "Spider" Fleming got rocked in his 5.2 inninmgs of work. Off 8 hits and 4 walks Fleming gave up, the NBL scored 8 times including a Rosas homerun.

The FLB bullpen had little they will be happy about either giving up a further 7 hits and 3 runs as the opposing bats went on a rampage, especially catcher Zack Rozway who went 3 for 5 with a homer, 2 runs and 5 RBIs. He now has 8 RBIs in these playoffs with a .417AVG.

Tonight the quality pitching of Cy Mills will take to the mound to try and lead his team through to the semis. He won both his starts in the round robin including a win against the FLB. His opposing number could very well be young stud Jared Howton who has a huge future ahead of him. Will the occasion be too big for him or will he rise to the ultimate challenge?

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This was the game that Mose Stanford won. He hit 3 bombs last night starting with a 2 run shot in the 1st. In the 3rd he went deep again with 1 on before his 3rd HR in the 5th with 2 outs. He brought home 5 runs. The RF is in the C2C team for just this reason and it has taken him a while to get going but now someone has awaken the monster it seems.

3B Craft and SS Brown added their own homeruns in the 6th and 7th innings to give the team the vital 2 runs that were the differance in a 9-7 victory.

The XBL fought well with Alex Romero in the DH spot hitting 4 for 5 with a HR and 2 RBIs and LF Cust went 3 for 5 with a homer and 2 runs. XBL's starter Wainwright lasted 3.2 innings giving up 6 runs and showing signs of being pulled early before injuring his shoulder and having to be taken off anyway. Reliever Bevis and Conwell tried to stop the bleeding but couldn't stop the hot bats of the C2C enough.

MR Volos picked up the W after replacing Tuisto up on the mound. Tuisto went 4.1 innings giving up a whole 10 hits and 5 runs. Both teams will be looking for better starts tomorrow especially the XLB who have strugled the last two games.

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One of the most anticipated battle tooks place last night when MaxLB pitcher, Paul Klein, went face to face with TPL's awesome 3B Curtis Snyder. Snyder was only allowed 1 hit, a double, off Klein's stuff. Klein went on to keep the rest of TPL at bay as well going the full 9 innings conceding 8 hits and just the one run in a 13-1 rout.

The likes of Jimenez and Lamoreaux Jr. just went wild as both went 4 for 5 with Lamoreaux Jr. grabbing 6 RBIs including a 3 run homer.

Tonight, MaxLB will be looking to wrap this series up in what should be a very exciting contest. The TPL will looking to their offense for some help in another battle with the MaxLB pitching staff.

[potatoman]

HEILMAN BETTER WIN!

[potatoman]

Game Time Change benifits XBL
Yeatman pitches, much risk, greater reward...

The XBL management decided to start Yeatman because Heilman looked shaky during warm-ups. Yeatman stated that he felt able to pitch and he knew what he was getting himself into. If he faltered, XBL would be out of the tournament but if he did good, Heilman will be pitching game 5 of the series and Heilman is the guy that everyone would love seeing pitching in game 5. He would have to prove how clutch he is.

Yeatman pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up only 4 hits and allowed 1 unearned run. Yeatman could have pitched longer but his injury began to bother him. Gomez came into to hold the rest of the inning. In the 9th, K-Rod almost allowed C2C to rally back, giving up a homerun to make it a one run game.

The win gives the confidence back to XBL and the two teams will be playing for everything next game. Loser gets a ride home to watch the final four from their TVs.

"This has to be, by far, the most exciting series to watch. It is VERY evenly matched and one mistake could lead to the other teams victory." stated a fan of WC baseball.

"C2C is the favorite but XBL has proven to be tough and will battle hard until the end" said another.

Tommorrow, Heilman goes to the mound to finish up what he started in game 1. He wants to prove himself as this teams hero and wants to get to the world cup finals more than anyone.

Tommorrows game could be the most exciting game in the Elite Eight and one team will come out on top and advance for more challenges and to prove they deserve to be part of it all.

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Time, Gentlemen Please

The doors are closed on the Elite Eight round of the World Cup but two teams get to stay behind and finish their series before joining the others in the final four.

The NBL fans went into last night confident that their team could finish off the FLB by continuing to bat the way they did in Game 3 where they won 11-1.

With the score 3-0 going into the 5th, NBL catcher Mark Rosas hit his 2nd homerun in 2 games, this time with 2 on, to show that he can produce in this competition. 6-0 over the halfway mark and it became 7-0 in the 7th and that brought about the change of pitchers for the FLB.

Jared Howton's highly rated but young shoulders could not keep the bats at bay giving up 7 hits including 2 homers. The offense provided little in the way of support with their run coming off the bat of "Frenchy" LaPierre for his 2nd HR of the ELite Eight.

Cy Mills performance did not help matters has he went the length of the game striking out 5 and giving up 5 hits. The picthing of the NBL is one to be feared and they have proved that they can do it past the group stage too.

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In the semi finals the NBL will not find out who they face until tonight when the XBL and C2C take it all the way. The XBL won round 4 last night to stay alive and give this series one last turn. Last night only 1 run seperated the teams with the XBL hanging on by a thread in the 9th when Mose Stanford hit a homer in the 9th to make the scoreline 3-2. Francisco Rodriguez gave up another hit after but still saved the game.

Matt Yeatman started for the XBL and even through he had a pulled bicep muscle and wasn't near 100% he put in an ironman's performance giving up just 4 hits and an unearned run in 7.1 innings of work.

His counterpart, Arsenic O'Reilly, didn't have a bad day at the office either but the XBL did enough of him and reliever Rocky Volos to squeeze out the win.

Tonight Aaron Heilman takes to the mound for the XBL team and is under intense pressure from his coach and backroom staff to produce. In Game 1 of this series Heilman collected a 5 hit shutout. The C2C will have to have top pitching as well as a big bat tonight.

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Finally last night, the MaxLB side finished off the TPL in style yesterday with Les Lamoreaux Jr. continuing to be THE player to watch right now. Yesterday he went 4 for 5 for the second game running hitting another 6 RBIs and scoring twice himself. in the 12-4 win.

The TPL bats had trouble getting good wood on what the MaxLB staff were throwing. They combined for a total of 4 runs and 13 K's with the highlights being Gladney hitting a 2 run double and RF Delp launching a solo bomb.

Congratulations to the winners
Comiserations for the losers
And good luck tonight

[Cuss16]

XBL has proven themself not to be counted out of this tournament. They have just tied up one of the best teams coming into teh tournament. Congrats to XBL and I rewarded their effort with the front cover of this issue of World Cup Illustrated. Today's game will be one of the most anticipating game of the month! Final Four starts soon, Stay Tuned!

http://cuss.staghost.com/page/headline.html

[Muppetus Galacticus]

Elite Eight Ends in Thriller

No one doubted that Game 5 between the XBL and C2C would be anything less than a tense affair. After Aaron Heilman's shutout heroics in Game 1, he got the nod again with all eyes on him each time he walked to the mound to give his all.

Jason Deveau had to wait until last night to make his first appearance of the World Cup for C2C and he did not dissapoint either. Deveau and the C2C fell behind in the top of the 1st but tied it up 1-1 in the 3rd with both pitchers conceding hits but keeping it at a controlled pace.

In the bottom of the 6th with the teams still tied things started to hot up. C2C took the lead but it was not to last long as in the 7th, 21yr old 1B John Santor tied the game again with an RBI double.

Fatigue then took hold of the starting pitchers in the 8th with Jason Deveau giving up 2 more runs to put the XBL in pole position and 6 outs away from the final four. But another twist unravelled in the bottom of the inning with the bases loaded and veteren Jaybird Wall came in to pinch hit. He hit a bases clearing double that made the C2C fans go wild and the players in the dugout jump for joy.

So with the score 5-4 in favour of C2C, Claudio Sanabria came in to close having got the save in his previous 6 apperances but having struggled in his last outing just two days before where he gave up a hit and walked 2 before closing the game out. Sanabria, 37, gave up a lead off single to J.D. Closser before some stunning tactical decisions were made by the XBL staff. John Santor then stepped up to the plate and added his 2nd RBI of the night with a double.

So with 1 on, no outs and the score tied, Sanabria looked liked he was struggling. With the top of the order round again, Rickie Weeks sac bunted santor across to 3rd base and the electricty in the ground was now rampant. DH Alex Romero got his 2nd hit of the game and gave his team the lead before Sanabria could find his spots and end the inning.

It was now the turn of XBL closer Francisco Rodriguez, who got the save in Game 4, to close it down. Things did not start well here either when LF Biff Baldwin made good contact to put himself as the tying run on 2nd. After catcher Baine went out, drama. Hamilton Craft was intentionally walked to give the chance for the double play and sure enough Rodriguez forced Stanford into a 6-4-3 to save the game and send the XBL into the semi finals where they will meet the hot World Cup favourites the NBL.

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A quick look at how the Final Four looks when it kicks off on Tuesday.

The NBL's pitching was what won them games in the round robin but the bats truly came alive in their series against the FLB. If they can continue to have great patiance up at the plate and on the bag then it is a dangerous combination.

The XBL have an all round great team. But after a gruelling 5 game series will they still have enough left when they face the NBL? Aaron Heilman is the star for this team so far with a 2-0 record and 1 shutout. The bats will need to do more though if they are to support Heilman and the rest of the pitching staff. And they will have to do it with CF Austin Kearns who broke his wrist in yesterdays match and will certainly miss the rest of the championship.

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With their Elite Eight series with the NLB long over, the NBA will be more than ready for their matchup with the MaxLB. The NBA have very good batting stats and always look like bringing runners home. The pitching struggled through the early stages of the World Cup but only limited the NLB to two runs in 3 games last week.

MaxLB have only lost 4 games all tournament and made the highly dangerous TPL look like a bunch of novices in the Elite Eight round. With their tremendous batting and speed, the MaxLB team also have astonishing pitching to back them up. This series could turn out to be a real fight between the pitchers.