With the final sim of the season in place at last the playoffs are set!

In the Socratic League Brooklyn won it’s last two against Jersey City to claim the wildcard slot and will face Hall 9000s Winnipeg team for a trip to the series!

In the Platonic League Maryland won all three games to beat Stockholm for the wildcard by two games. They’ll go up against Seattle for the Platonic League title.

At the other end of the spectrum New York and Cairo ended up tied with 57 wins each. How that first pick gets awarded is a mystery! Helena gets the third overall pick and Pittsburgh the fourth! Good luck with that draft, people!

In games of note Seattle’s John Toy closed out his regular season by throwing a no-hitter against Sylva! Well done, John!

In injury news three players who don’t matter Jersey City’s Tomas Folch (Season), Cairo’s Mark Kiker (5 days), and Stockholm’s Charles Hicklin (3 weeks) all suffered injuries of one sort of another. However, playoff bound Brooklyn has an injury to relief pitcher James Coddington. He’s day-to-day for 1-2 weeks!

I’ve simmed the off days in the schedule so Mack can start the playoffs with game one of the wildcard series on Monday! Playoff teams get your rosters down to 25 and let’s get this thing on!

With three days to go in the regular season, only one playoff berth is firmly decided.

Seattle now holds a 15-game lead and has clinched the Platonic title. (Is that a title one really wants? The “Platonic” title? Sounds like someone who can’t close the deal.)

Maryland and Stockholm are TIED for the wild card berth, with three to go. Stockholm plays fifth-place Pittsburgh in the final series. Maryland sees that and raises it by playing last-place Cairo. Who will be the spoiler? Will there be a one-game playoff? Time will tell.

In the Socratic League, Hal’s Winnipeg team has clinched a playoff berth, but not yet wrapped up the division title. Brooklyn is on the cusp of clinching the wild card, and hopes to win the division, resting just two games behind Winnipeg. Marietta retains an outside shot, although they are three full games behind the Bombers. In the last series, Winnipeg feasts on last-place New York, Marietta travels to the wilds of Helena, and Brooklyn faces off against Jersey City in a cross-town match-up.

No significant injuries.

In a notable individual game, Pittsburgh’s Donald “Missing” Parson is missing no more, as he put in the fourth-best hitting performance of the year on September 26 against Seattle, no less. He went 4-5 with a double, two home runs, and six RBI. His .326 average and .895 OPS in September give the Pisces some hope for the future.

I’ll let everyone peruse the box scores by themselves, but the most significant game may have been the 5-4 11-inning victory by Stockholm over Maryland on September 26 that pulled the Sluggers into a wild card tie. The two teams went on to split the remaining two games of the series, setting up the furious finish.

One final note. Cairo and New York are tied for the first pick in next year’s draft while Helena and Pittsburgh are tied for the third pick. Jersey City and Sylva are tied for the fifth pick. Some significant draft positioning to come. Please try and avoid deliberately throwing games though, as it’s rather unseemly.

League file is posted. Web pages en route. Good luck to all on Friday, as everyone has something to play for with the sole exception of Seattle.

At the request of one of the owners, Nate and I are considering changing the schedule for the final two sims. Rather than simming five days Wednesday and one day Friday, we’re considering simming three days at a time. The regular season still ends Friday, but this provides a natural break between series and a better opportunity for anyone fighting for a playoff berth to make tweaks to their team.

Unless someone objects either in the comments or by email to Nate and me, we’ll sim three days tomorrow and the final three Friday.

PC McHenry holds on to his lead this week maintaining a 2 game lead in the Socratic League with six games to go. Brooklyn still has the wildcard and Marietta is 3.5 games out of the playoff picture.

In the Platonic League Seattle runs off four straight to break the 100 win barrier while Maryland hangs on to the wildcard by one game over Stockholm. It’s still anyone’s to get, that wildcard, and the first two games of the next sim feature Maryland visiting Stockholm! Talk about a nailbiter!

In standout performances this sim Brooklyn starting pitcher Trevor Canela faced only 29 batters in giving up 1 run over nine innings against Jersey City. That’s good for the sixth best game of the season! Well done, Trevor!

Injuries were light this week with only Helena and New York suffering two day-to-day injuries.

We’re coming up on the end of the season! There’s still some drama left to go! The next sim in Wednesday by Mack then I’ll finish up the regular season on Friday! Be there!

With nine games to play according to the schedule (although we should have 10 for a full season, hmmm), it looks like we finally have some separation.

In the Platonic League, Seattle has clinched the division title and leads by 13 games. Maryland still leads Stockholm by three games. Sylva, thanks to an eight game skid, is now three games behind Stockholm and a full six behind Maryland. Meanwhile, the hottest team in the league is the Pittsburgh Pisces, who have inexplicably won eight of the last ten.

In the Socratic League, Winnipeg has won five in a row and leads the division by two games. Brooklyn has won three in a row and holds the wild card spot. Marietta, thanks to a losing streak until the last day, is now four games behind Brooklyn and Jersey City is six games behind Brooklyn and eight games out of first. Helena meanwhile has ridden a terrible month into position for the third pick of the draft. New York faded upwards into a tie with Cairo for the first pick overall.

In miscellaneous news…

Sylva’s Raymond Bullington and Brooklyn’s Donald Mansfield took home Player of the Week honors.

In the most important injury news of the sim, Seattle basically lost starting pitcher Stephen Hawn for the rest of the season as he is out 5-6 weeks with back spasms. New York also lost outfielder Bill Boss for a week.

On September 16, Pittsburgh beat Maryland 1-0 in a ten-inning thriller. Stockholm scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to top Sylva 3-2 and Cairo scored four in the top of the ninth to beat Seattle 6-2. Five pitchers for Helena combined to shut out Jersey City 2-0.

On September 17, Maryland rebounded with two in the bottom of the ninth to top Pittsburgh 3-2. Winnipeg shut out Marietta 7-0. Seattle’s Devin Largent continued his spectacular debut by throwing 8.1 shutout innings in a 2-0 win over Cairo.

On September 18, Winnipeg continued its stellar pitching with a 5-0 victory over Helena. Seattle and Maryland blew out Stockholm and Sylva, respectively. Pittsburgh scored two in the tenth to collect a 7-5 win over Cairo.

On September 19, New York scored eight runs in the eighth and ninth innings to take a 10-6 lead over Jersey City; the Skeeters rebounded though with five in the bottom of the ninth to win 11-10, featuring a walk off grand slam by pinch hitter Brendon Townsend. Sylva and Maryland also had a back-and-forth contest finally won 5-4 by Maryland in 13 innings.

On September 20, Winnipeg threw its third shutout of the sim (giving up just one run over its last 39 innings pitched), this time in a 2-0 win over Jersey City. In other games, Brooklyn pounded Helena 12-3, Stockholm outscored Cairo 10-9, and Marietta scored in the bottom of the ninth to top New York 2-1.

The next sim will be by Nate on Monday. Check out the main web page for the sim schedule for the rest of the regular season and the start of the playoffs. The league file is updated and the web pages are en route.

Among the playoff contenders, here’s who’s playing who in the next sim:

Platonic League
Seattle: All but clinched. Who cares?
Maryland: 2 vs. PIT, 2 vs. SYL, 1 vs. SEA
Stockholm: 2 vs. SYL, 2 vs. SEA, 1 vs. CAI
Sylva: 2 vs. STO, 2 vs. Maryland, 1 vs. PIT

Socratic League
Winnipeg: 2 vs. Marietta, 2 vs. HEL, 1 vs. JC
Brooklyn: 2 vs. NY, 2 vs. Marietta, 1 vs. HEL
Marietta: 2 vs. WIN, 2 vs. BRK, 1 vs. NY
Jersey City: 2 vs. HEL, 2 vs. NY, 1 vs. WIN

Some very big games down the stretch. Good times.

In this week’s chapter of the OEL Soap Opera we find little changed in the Socratic League as Winnipeg is still on top with Brooklyn one game out and Marietta one behind them. Jersey City is still mathematically alive at four games off the wild card pace.

In the Platonic League, Maryland is beginning to define some space by being three games up on the challengers for the wild card position. Stockholm and Sylva are still out there but odds are piling up against them.

Seattle, of course, maintains the magical twelve game lead.

In injury news Marietta lost star catcher Broderick Hooker for a week to a muscle strain, cuss the luck.

Sadly, other than that injury little of note came to pass this sim. The tension remains in who will will the Socratic League. Three (or four) teams are vying for two playoff slots. Who goes on and who stays home? Only the future will tell.

Files are uploading now. Next sim in Friday by Mack! Don’t miss it!

Sorry I missed the opportunity to respond to Jeremy’s blog entry, but the Pisces continue to provide their fans with a taste of the future in an otherwise dismal season.

The first part of the future is Donald “Missing” Parson, who has started at second base and shortstop since his promotion mid-season.

The second promotion was Alan Williams, who has been with the Pisces since the start of September, also starting in the infield. Alan had a tough year in AAA this year, but has swung a good bat in the Steel City.

Now, the Pisces are calling up this year’s first round pick George Marcano, who will be given the starting position in centerfield for the remainder of the season.

However, the anticipated future star of the Pisces, Gary “Tiny” Croce will not be promoted this year. Instead, the Pisces’ now fading star of the past, Bruce Bremer, will be given the opportunity to start every day as the season winds down, allowing the hometown fans to celebrate his illustrious career in style.

We’re nearing the end of the 2003 season, having played up through September 10.

Seattle maintains its death grip on a 12-game lead atop the Platonic League. Maryland has opened up a three-game lead over Sylva for the wild card. Stockholm stands a game back of the Black Bears, and four out of the playoffs. (By the way, the magic numbers in the standings are blatantly wrong because they’re based on 154-game season instead of the 162 games used in this year’s schedule.) Pittsburgh remains comfortably in fifth place, seeing its five-game losing streak basically matched in futility by the other teams in competition for the top picks, including last-place Cairo.

However, for the first time in a while, there has been a major upheaval in the Socratic League. Marietta, who had held the top spot for weeks, lost five straight and slid into third place, out of playoff position. Winnipeg has won five in a row and now holds the division lead. Brooklyn is a game back and has taken the wild card position by two games over Marietta due to its own six-game winning streak. Meanwhile, Jersey City has moved back into playoff contention, four behind the division leader and three behind the wild card. The Helena Handbaskets are chasing down the Pisces, exceeding Pittsburgh’s fall with a six-game losing streak of their own. New York is one game below Cairo, tenuously clinging to the top pick in next year’s draft.

Miscellaneous notes:

No significant news beyond day-to-day injuries to a member of the Sylva and Seattle teams, although Sylva’s starting pitcher Robert Gaertner is at 85% for seven weeks.

On September 6, Winnipeg’s Reinaldo Salerno hit for the cycle against Helena. Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s Stephen Hyer drove in seven RBI against Marietta.

Seattle’s Darren Schmeltzer and Winnipeg’s Jerry Brasher took home Player of the Week honors.

In notable games …

On September 6, Stockholm hammered Maryland 13-1, in the last really good news for Stockholm this sim. Sylva scored three in the top of ninth to beat Cairo 4-1.

On September 7, New York defied owner Eric Lent’s orders to “Lose, lose, lose” and beat Jersey City 6-3 in 12 innings.

On September 8, Brooklyn’s Thomas Fleenor and Joseph Maul combined on nine-hit shutout of New York, as the owner’s instructions took hold. Jersey City scored one in the eighth and two in the ninth to top Helena 3-1.

On September 9, Winnipeg beat Marietta 6-4 in 10 innings. Seattle blew out Cairo 12-1. Jersey City beat Helena 1-0 behind a four-hit shutout thrown by Tomas Folch, Wilfredo Solares, and Alfred Wickline.

On September 10, Seattle and Cairo played a classic game. Seattle scored in the top of the ninth to take a 2-1 lead but Cairo scored in the bottom of the ninth to extend the contest. Then, when Seattle scored in the top of the eleventh to take the lead, Cairo scored two in the bottom of the frame to win the game. Oh yeah, Brooklyn and Jersey City shut out New York and Helena too.

The next sim will be Wednesday by Nate. The league file is up and the web pages are en route. Good luck all!

Anyone making any big call-ups for the Fall????

Mine are mainly the maintenance type. 1B prospect Derek Pesante who saw some action earlier this season and former closer for the Bombers (before he lost his stuff) Steve Corner will be helping the team make their playoff push along with a few other AAA old-timers who deserve their chance for a cup of coffee at the big league level.

Who are you calling up that we should look at????