March, 2026

Chapter Two Recap

Players of the Chapter

The Ozzie League Hitter of the Chapter was a four-horse race and I could make a race for any of them. But in the head, I closed my eyes and chose Jarren Duran. 20 extra base hits, second in the OL, couple with 18 stolen bases helped Duran lead the OL in runs scored at 30. He also drove in 23 runs as well. He was in the top-five in most every category I look at. Corbin Carroll, James Wood and Shohei Ohtani all had equally impressive chapters and could easily have been chosen.

In the other league, the choice was much simplier for me. Kansas's Junior Caminero had a slugging percentage that started with an '8' which is a good start (.869). 23 of his 38 hits went for extra bases, including 18 homers. He drove in 40 runs. Just a gaudy performance for a month's worth of games. garnering EL HoC honors.

Kris Bubic only posted a 2-2 in five starts, but that wasn't for a lack of trying. He didn't give up more than two runs in any start. His two losses were a 3-1 loss to Gulf Coast where he went eight as was only down 2-1 but his offense couldn't bail him out and 1-0 loss to West Chester where he went six. His 1.97 ERA was second in the OL with less than four runs per start of run support an outing. His OPS against off .511 was good enough for third. Just a consistent and dominant chapter in terms of run prevention in my book to earn OL PoC.

Highland's Yoshinobu Yamamoto posted a second-best 1.60 ERA in his five starts, also keeping opposing teams to two runs a game or less every time out and keeping runners off base with a BDBL-best .423 OPS against. He missed out on going 5-0 when Myrtle Beach manages to rally from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game and steal Yamamoto's decision, despite the Freedom ending up winning the game. A super performance worthy of PoC recognition.

Top Stories of the Chapter

Story #1: Chicago takes command of Hrbek

After trailing the Hitmen by a game after one chapter, the Black Sox put their feet down and took control of the Hrbek Division race. A 22-6 effort made the Black Sox the only BDBL team to crest the 40-win mark after two chapters and put a four-game cushion between them and Myrtle Beach. The won five series outright, including sweeps of Lake Norman and Maarva's and split the other two series against Kansas and Gulf Coast.

The Black Sox are a complete squad as their offense leads the BDBL in most major categories like OPS (.848, .038 better than second), runs created (349.7, 40 better), and runs per game (6.1, 0.6 better). The pitching is also good, second in the EL to Myrtle Beach in ERA (3.47) and third overall in the BDBL. The rest of the pitching metrics are solidly second in the EL and among the four best in the whole league as well.

At this point, I think my preseason prognostications are holding up well, but Myrtle Beach will have to make up ground in Chapter 3 or they'll fall back into the Wild Card and would have to go on the road to face Highland in the ELDS, if things hold. But there is still time and trades

Story #2: Rough divisions

Ravenswood slipped a bit in the second chapter, but still holds a two-game lead over Las Vegas in the Benes at 29-27. The Higueria Division nearly posted a .500 record, all teams considered, and Gulf Coast and Kansas are knotted at the top with 28-28 records. It's not uncommon for this league to have one division that gets won by a .500 team or less, but to have two trending that way feels crazy.

I had to go back to the Encyclopedia to find the 2016 season where we had two teams win divisions with win totals in the 80's (Ravenswood 87, St. Louis 82). The last time a team was under .500 and a division winner was 2009 when Las Vegas won the Benes at 79-81.

Looking back and my season preview, I guess I expected someone to push a little more out front at this point, and there is still plenty of time for a hot streak or a big trade to move the needle a bit. But in looking around the whole lead, there feels like three or four good teams and a bunch of also-rans that could either make races exciting down the road or lead to a very ho-hum playoffs.

Story #3: Glander Division chaos?

The one division that is probably over-achieving as a group in the Glander. West Chester's 16-12 effort this chapter didn't really move the needle any, but still maintains a five-game lead for the Blooms. But every team posted a chapter record over .500 and the Wild Card race may be between the three division non-winners as Flagstaff has 31 wins, barely leading Lincoln and Darien at 30.

All of these teams could certainly improve themselves, but overall the entire league really isn't making an effort to to push any chips into the middle to make a run. Lincoln tried to move Ohtani after saying they were going to wait, but some cross communication wires nixed that deal, but makes it more likely that an Ohtani move could be coming, if someone can meet the price that was posted.

Story #4: Los Altos: Rinse and repeat, redux

Los Altos holds the largest divisional lead with an 11-game cushion. If this were an electoral race, it feels too early to call, but the statisical models would be coalescing around a decision soon. At 37-19, the Undertakers have a one-game lead over West Chester for the OL top seed.

The Undertakers boast the best pitching staff in the Ozzie, posting a team 3.10 ERA, easily topping West Chester's 3.58, and is percentage points below Myrtle Beach's team ERA. But unlike Chicago's team, the bats are a big weakness in Los Atlos. Depending on what metrics you look at, this Undertaker lineups is between the midpoint or encoraching on the bottom third of the league.

One could make an argument that the difference between LAU's and WCB's pitching isn't as great as the disparity in the hitting, giving the Blooms a better balanced team and maybe that top seed, but time will tell. Paulson has never been afraid to trade when needed.