June, 2021

Chapter Three Recap

As has been the pattern all season, we saw some wildly different -- in some cases exactly opposite -- performances by the same exact players and teams in Chapter Three than we saw in Chapter Two. For reasons that we will likely never understand, the same players using the same player cards on the same software performed in completely opposite ways from one chapter to the next.

The Cleveland Rocks, who were dead in the water in Chapter Two, saw their fortunes reversed in Chapter Three. The Joplin Miners, who were "cutting their losses" two chapters ago, continued to excel for the second chapter in a row. The Highland Freedom, who were just playing out the string last chapter, suddenly went "all-in" after a decent chapter. Gerrit Cole, who owned one of the worst ERA's in the BDBL in Chapter One, has pitched like vintage Pedro Martinez ever since. Rafael Devers, who looked like an early MVP candidate in Chapter One, has now experienced a two-chapter slump.

Up is down, black is white, and left is right in this dizzying topsy-turvy 2021 season. It seems that consistency and realized expectations are a quaint remnant of the past.

Players of the Chapter

The Allentown Ridgebacks continue to run roughshod over the rest of the league, thanks in large part to Chapter Three's Hitter of the Chapter, Giancarlo Stanton. He has already reached 30 home runs on the season, at the halfway point, which means he could very well become the third player in league history to reach 60 homers twice, joining Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. Stanton hit .311/.357/.767 last chapter, with a league-leading 12 homers and 28 RBI's.

The Great Lakes Sphinx made headlines a chapter ago by pulling off the trade of the season, acquiring Clayton Kershaw, Josh Donaldson, and Carlos Santana from the rebuilding-then-not-rebuilding Joplin Miners. What have Santana and Donaldson done for the Sphinx so far? Oh, just lead the entire Eck League in runs created! Santana (32.4) and Donaldson (27.6) ranked #1 and #2 in the EL last chapter, hitting .352/.454/.769 and .375/.490/.650, respectively. Combined, Santana and Donaldson created roughly 60-percent of the total numbers of runs created by their former team in Joplin.

Despite a costly, high-profile, blown save against the Allentown Ridgebacks last chapter, Salem's Max Scherzer bounced back from his disastrous Chapter Two performance to go 4-0 in Chapter Three, with a league-leading 1.27 ERA, and a top-five ranking in the three triple-slash categories: .150/.213/.300. Speaking of bounce-backs, Los Altos ace Gerrit Cole posted a butt-ugly 9.08 ERA in six starts in Chapter One. Since then, he has posted a sparkling 1.75 ERA, and has gone 9-1 in 12 starts. Same exact guy, two completely different sets of performances. Go figure!

Normally, I ignore the "wins" stat, as it is a generally poor indicator of a pitcher's performance, but I can't ignore it when a pitcher wins six games in a shortened 24-game chapter! That is exactly what Highland's Trevor Bauer did in Chapter Three, with help from one clutch five-inning relief performance against Joplin, which the Freedom won in the twelfth inning. For the chapter, Bauer went 6-1 with a third-ranked 2.06 ERA, and a .188/.280/.257 batting line.

Top Stories of the Chapter

Story #1: Eck League Wins. Again.

Seriously, Ozzie League. This is beyond embarrassing.

This marks the second year in a row the Eck League has pummeled the Ozzie League in interleague play, and the tenth time in thirteen years since interleague records were kept. What the hell, guys?

To their credit, the Las Vegas Flamingos (12-4), Joplin Miners (11-5), Salem Cowtippers (9-7), and -- get this -- North Carolina Iron Spider Pigs! (9-7) all did their part. But the Ravenswood Infidels (4-12), South Loop Furies (5-11), and Lake Norman Monsters (6-10) should be ashamed of themselves.

On the Eck side, the Cleveland Rocks (12-4), Great Lakes Sphinx (11-5), Buckingham Sovereigns (11-5), and Chicago Black Sox (10-6) all kicked Ozzie League ass, while the Niagara Locks (5-11), South Philly Gritty (6-10), Charlotte Mustangs (6-10), and South Carolina Sea Cats (6-10) all did their best to throw the OL a bone.

Story #2: Best Record in Chapter Three Goes To...Cleveland?

Who saw this coming? The Cleveland Rocks finished with the best Chapter Three record (18-6) in the entire BDBL. Not only that, but they led the entire BDBL in Chapter Three with 150 runs scored and a +56 runs differential.

Prior to last chapter, the Rocks were six games below .500 and owned a -28 differential. What on earth changed from one chapter to the next? Quite simply, the worst hitters in the Cleveland lineup suddenly began to hit in Chapter Three.

Gary Sanchez (.957 OPS before Chapter Three, .990 after), Gleyber Torres (.822/1.041), Tommy Pham (.916/.835), and Ketel Marte (.789/.813) all hit well before and after Chapter Three. But huge gains were made by Luke Voit (.708/.866), Avisail Garcia (.622/.819), Trevor Story (.599/.760) and Hunter Renfroe (.515/.776). Justin Turner owned the lowest Ch.3 OPS of any Cleveland hitter at .740! Hell, even the Cleveland pitchers improved from .358 to .577!

The gains were almost entirely on the offensive side of the ball. Cleveland's ERA prior to Chapter Three was 3.99. In Chapter Three, it was 3.94.

Will the real Cleveland Rocks please stand up?

Story #3: Allentown Adds to Their Cushion

It is somewhat jarring to see the Los Altos Undertakers in second place at the midway point of the season. Normally, at this time of year, they would be looking at a double-digit lead and Jeff Paulson would be pre-emptively "awe-shucksing" his odds of winning another trophy in November. Instead, Los Altos went just 13-11 in Chapter Three, which opened a window of opportunity for Allentown to add to their division lead.

For the second chapter in a row, the Ridgebacks posted a .600+ winning percentage for the chapter, finishing with a Chapter Three record of 15-9 (.625). In a year when consistency is the rarest of rarities, the Ridgebacks have been among the most consistent teams in the league. They simply keep winning and winning and winning.

At the halfway mark of the season, Allentown owns the second-best record (48-32, .600) in the Ozzie League, with the league's best runs differential (+89), and a slim three-game lead over the Undertakers in the Griffin Division.

The difference-maker for Allentown has been the acquisition of Chris Sale from the Ravenswood Infidels prior to Chapter Two. Sale has gone just 3-3 as a Ridgeback, but owns a 2.39 ERA in nine starts (52+ innings), which is the best ERA in the starting rotation by far. Allentown's 3.63 team ERA ranks third in the Ozzie League. Their offense ranks #2 in runs scored, behind only Los Altos.

Los Altos has yet to counter that Sale trade with a mega-deal of their own. With only one chapter remaining to trade, it appears that Jeff Paulson is content with playing with the hand he was dealt. If Allentown remains as consistent as they have been, that could spell trouble for the Undertakers. As it stands, however, Los Altos would still get their shot in the postseason Tournament of Randomness, as they currently lead the OL wildcard race by two games ahead of the Bear Country Jamboree and Salem Cowtippers.

Story #4: The Loss-Cutting Train Continues to Roll

Two chapters after Jim Doyle famously declared that he was "cutting his losses" by trading away three of his best players in the middle of a pennant race, and then performing a 180-degree pirouette, the Joplin Miners inexplicably enjoyed another successful chapter (15-9), and hold a four-game lead over the Salem Cowtippers in the McGowan Division.

Joplin's standing is due almost entirely to their pitching. Their 3.11 team ERA leads the BDBL by a comfortable margin. They have allowed 37 fewer runs than any other team in the league. This, despite the fact that they either traded or dumped their most effective pitchers. In fact, the pitchers they traded owned a lower ERA for the Miners than the ones they have on the roster today:

How on earth have the Miners continued to pitch so well after jettisoning so much of their best pitching? Despite what you may suspect, this hasn't happened because of the recent trades made by Joplin. Madison Bumgarner (6 IP) and James Paxton (9 IP) have barely played at all for Joplin so far. Instead, Joplin managed to go 15-9 in Chapter Three with Vince Velasquez (4.54 projected ERA), Trevor Rogers (4.31), Eduardo Rodriguez (4.28), and Tanner Roark (4.43) starting 19 of their 24 games. Those four shitty pitchers, combined, posted a 9-3 record in Chapter Three, with a 2.22 ERA in over 113 innings.

The absolute absurdity of Joplin's pitching over-performance this season came to a head when Roark officially became the shittiest pitcher to ever pitch a no-hitter in BDBL history. That ridiculous game was pitched against the Carolina Saints -- in a game that Joplin won by a score of 1-0 with a run in the ninth inning. If Joplin ends up winning the division by one game, we can all look back on that bullshit game as the defining moment of the 2021 season.

It makes me wonder why I bothered to assemble a starting rotation filled with all-stars. All I can do is shake my head at the laughable absurdity of a fantasy world where Vince Velasquez, Trevor Rogers (the projected version), Eduardo Rodriguez, and Tanner Roark comprise the league's best starting rotation.

Joplin's winning streak has only emboldened Doyle's single-minded, head-on-fire, mission to win the 2021 division at any cost. This past chapter, he added Marcell Ozuna and Daniel Murphy to a lineup that ranks just nine out of twelve in the OL in runs scored. If the Salem Cowtippers (ranked #8 in that category) don't ever pull their heads out of their asses and start scoring runs again this season, then it will hardly matter.

Story #5: Highland Goes All-In

Perhaps the most surprising story of Chapter Three happened in its final closing minutes when, 19 minutes before the trading deadline, the Highland Freedom announced a blockbuster trade with the Akron Ryche.

It was jarring enough to see Akron fold its tent. Remember, this was the team that the plurality of the league believed would win the Benes Division. (Oddly enough, 15 out of the 16 votes that were cast when to Akron and Ravenswood, both of whom dropped out before the all-star break.) At the halfway mark of the season, Akron has outscored their opponents by eight runs and yet they own a mind-boggling record of 34-46. A few days prior to the Highland blockbuster, Akron GM D.J. Shepard officially waved the white flag by trading longtime Ryche mainstay Mike Clevinger to the Salem Cowtippers.

In the Highland blockbuster, Shepard sent Patrick Corbin, Keston Hiura, and Andres Munoz to Highland in exchange for prospects. For the Highland Freedom, this represented a Doyle-like pirouette. The Freedom experienced a disastrous 9-19 Chapter One, followed by a respectable 16-12 second chapter. Despite the improvement, they headed into Chapter Three with the worst record in their division, and a seven-game deficit behind the first-place Carolina Saints.

Then came Chapter Three. Highland split with three of their four interleague rivals, but managed to beat the Joplin Miners, of all teams, three games to one. They lost three of four to Charlotte, but then swept the lowly Myrtle Beach Hitmen. In the end, they were looking at a 12-12 record for the chapter, but thanks to a disastrous 10-14 chapter by the Saints, their deficit in the division race shrunk to just five games.

A division championship for the Freedom still seems like a long shot. They are ten games out of the EL wildcard race, with four teams ahead of them, so that seems like even more of a long shot. Corbin (6-7, 4.39 ERA) did not pitch like an ace for Akron, but perhaps Highland's pitching coaches can straighten him out. Hiura's (.258/.334/.446, 12 HR) acquisition will allow Highland to shift Yoan Moncada to third base, which will end the dreadful platoon that existed there up to now.

This may be a long shot, but it's good to see another contestant enter the battle to win this year!

Story #6: Trout-less Sovereigns Doing Okay

Is there anyone in the league who is breathing freer than Tony Badger right now? He deftly avoided a self-deployed nuclear blast when he lost the bidding for Mike Trout. Trout, as we all know, was placed on the 60-day DL during this MLB season on May 17th when he strained his right calf while running out a pop-up. The good news is that he's now out of his walking boot and believes he can begin jogging soon. The bad news is that he's nowhere near returning to the big leagues, and his current BDBL team, Darien, is on the hook for his full $26.5 million salary next season.

As inconsolable as Badger was on the day he lost the Trout auction, it could not have worked out better for him. In addition to dodging that 2022 bullet, Badger used the $26 million he bid on Trout to purchase Charlie Morton (6-6, 3.71 ERA in 89+ IP), Taylor Rogers (3.08 ERA in 38 IP, 23 SV), Kyle Freeland (8-1, 2.94 ERA in 85+ IP), Jorge Soler (.287/.384/.577, 62.7 RC), and Aaron Hicks (.275/.365/.596, 36.4 RC) instead.

Spreading the wealth around seems to have worked as a winning strategy. Buckingham finished with a 16-8 record in Chapter Three, with the league's second-best runs differential (+42). They cut into the Great Lakes Sphinx's division lead a little bit, and are now "only" six games back in that race. Let's face it, however: the Sphinx, with the league's best record at 53-27 (.663), are running away with that division.

Instead, Buckingham's focus should be the EL wildcard, where they currently lead by a comfortable four games over the Cleveland Rocks, with no other team within reasonable reach.

Story #7: An Actual, Meaningful, Chapter Four FA Draft

It was so nice to have a draft where we actually had some new numbers and performances to consider when drafting our new players. The last time we had that luxury was in January of 2020, just before the entire world blew up.

Just as it always was in those pre-Armageddon days, the players acquired in this midseason draft were a mixture of useful pieces for next year, minor leaguers having breakthrough seasons, college and high school kids expected to be chosen early in the MLB draft, and 15-to-17-year-old punks who each have a one-in-a-million shot of becoming the Next Great Thing.

The most interesting part about the first round were the FOUR players selected that were all dumped by Jeff Paulson last chapter! Jose Urquidy (8th player chosen), Austin Gomber (9th), Logan Webb (14th), and Dan Vogelbach (19th) were all dumped by Paulson at the Chapter Three deadline to make room for Tyler Naquin, Kendall Graveman, Guillermo Heredia, and Jason Castro. I have to say, it was very nice of Jeff to spread all of his wealth around! Thank you, Jeff!