National League Leaders

American League Leaders

Sim 8A Complete

Maddux fails to record an out in his first Lakeview start

Power Alley Great 8

Week 7

Best Run Producing Lineups of All Time

The other day we talked about lineup optimization and it got me thinking on the best ATB lineups of all time.  Last year we talked about best overall lineup, including defense.  This post is simply about producing runs and what type of lineup order the best of the best had throughout ATB history.

Turns out there isn't much there.  The great lineups already used the techniques discussed last week.  So, no commentary, but here are the lineups that have scored 900 or more runs. The dark bold boxes are platoons.

Maddux Moved in Another Blockbuster

To Lakeview
Greg Maddux (Rd 1)- 4-10, 3.79 ERA, 121 IP, 132, 18 BB, 66 K
Allan Trammell (Rd 8) - .222 / .259 / .268 in 194 AB
Pete Rose (Rd 18) - .266 / .319 / .341, 13 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR

To Chatanooga
Dan Haren (Rd 5)- 8-8, 3.66 ERA, 150 IP, 149 H, 44 BB, 90 K
Luke Appling (Rd 15) - .299 / .362 / .321, 6 2B, 27 R, 31 RBI
Ken Singleton (Rd 14) - .350 / .430 / .487, 18 R, 18 RBI in 117 AB

Here is another trade that will undoubtedly cause much discussion.  

The pessimistic view:  Chatanooga traded the second best pitcher in baseball for a league average pitcher, slap hitting infielder and a back up outfielder.

The other side:  Chatanooga has to do something to kickstart their 30-58 team, and trading their underpforming start for three players who can step in to strarting roles immediately.

As always, please be civil in the comments

Power Alley

Week 7

+4 Denver RoidBoyz

-4 Albequerque Heisenbergs

-3 Jeff Blausers

Players of the Week

Joe Jackson (HEL): .548 / .531 / .903, 8 R, 6 RBI

Chris Carpenter (SPH): 2-0, 1.06 ERA, 17 IP, 4 H, 9 BB, 6 K

Standings Summary - American League

American League East
Let's call this the best division in baseball, and I don't think it is particularly close.  The two teams with the best records in ATB are currently tied for 1st place, and the third place team has the third best run differential in ATB.  Poor Helena.

What's happened so far this season?  Willets Point jumped out to an early lead, opening a 5 game advantage on May 27th.  Since then, Spanish Harlem has slowly but surely whittled away the lead, especially over the last 30 days where they've won 17 out of 26.  During this time their offense has batted .300 / .354 / .443 while the pitching staff has been slightly better than average (3.69 ERA).

Willets Point should have concerns about hanging close.  While Spanish Harlem was busy trading for Turkey Stearnes, Hank Aguirre, Chipper Jones, and Darren Holmes, the "Mechanics" stood pat and have played .500 over the past month.  Any team can have an average month, but a team .319 OBP will not cut it going forward.

Lost in shuffle is Oasis, who keep waiting for Nip Winters (10-6, 3.99) and Randy Johnson (10-9, 4.03) to be the elite starting pitchers they were drafted to be.  Helena, despite showing signs of life as of late, is 15 games back and out of the playoff picture.  Fans will be resigned to watch Willie Mays try and track down Al Simmons and Willie Wells for the home run crown.

American League Central
Perhaps the strangest team in baseball are the Ankhana Adventurers.   With the most raw wins  in ATB they look like a great team on the surface, however, their underlying run differential is still absurdly low at +14.  Their entire success is apparently based upon one-run games where they have an insane 23-11 record, and odds are it's not sustainable.  Owner Lou Poulas disagrees, and states his bullpen management style is so good, the 11 losses are actually unlucky.

Hudson and Rochester are battling for second, 6 1/2 and 8 games back respectively.  Madbum has been in a funk ever since they dealt Mickey Mantle for some help with the pitching.  So far, no good as their return on investment has been awful.  New team members Eddie Cicotte is mired in a 6.56 ERA slump while Tris Speaker is batting .186 with a .222 OBP.  (Meanwhile, Mantle is blazing away the NL batting .365 / .414 / .577).

The Clown Punchers were hanging tough for a while, but have lost 7 of 10 and are now 12 games out of first.

American League West
The tale of the AL West begins and ends with the fortune and misfortune of the Denver RoidBoyz.  On May 27th, Denver was 32-21 and enjoyed a 5 game lead; since they've recorded the worst record in the American League (13-23) and have been outscored by an incredible 51 runs.  Their offense seems average, batting .283 / .319 / .421 during this time frame, but in the extreme hitters park of Fenway this just isn't good enough.  The pitching is a disaster, with the stat line littered with 5.00, 6.00, and even 8.00 ERA results.

This opened the door for Dharma, who put up a .556 wpct during the same time period Denver was crashing.   It was their offense, which led the league in HR's, that led their recent charge.  Barry Bonds caught fire, finally, and has batted .344 / .481 / .592 in his last 36 games.  Jason Giambi and Hugh Duffy were almost as good.

It looks like the Islanders will remain the team to beat the rest of the way.  Here are the Run Differentials for the NL West teams:

+10 - Dharma
-24 - Brooklyn
-42 - Denver
-69 - Downsouth

Brooklyn's Rogers Hornsby is having a tremendous year (22 HR, 71 RBI) but it's not enough to overcome a team ERA over 5.00.  As for Downsouth, kudos to starter Pete Alexander who somehow has a winning record despite a team winning percentage under .400

League Leader Races

Batting Average

.353 - Ross Barnes (SPH)

.343 - Roger Connor (ROC)

On Base Percentage

.427 - Ross Barnes (SPH)

.413 - Barry Bonds (DHA)

Hits

135 - Roger Connor (ROC)

129 - Hugh Duffy (DHA)

Runs

73 - Mel Ott (OAS)

73 - Cupid Childs (ANK)

69 - Barry Bonds (DHA)

69 - Fred Dunlap (ROC)

RBI

77 - Lou Gehrig (ANK)

83 - Jeff Bagwell (DEN)

Home Runs
24 - Al Simmons (DEN)
24 - Willie Wells (WPO)
23 - Lou Gehrig (ANK)
22 - Luis Gonzalez (HUD)
22 - Rogers Hornsby (BRO)

Wins
12 - Harvey Haddix (WPO)
11 - Jason Schmidt (BRO)
11 - Chris Carpenter (SPH)

ERA
2.90 - Russ Ford (ROC)
3.06 - Harvey Haddix (WPO)
3.16 - Cy Blanton (DEN)

WHIP
1.08 - Tex Hughson (SPH)
1.13 - Ted Lyons (ROC)

Strikeouts
150 - Randy Johnson (OAS)
103 - Dutch Leonard (HEL)

Saves
24 - Joaquin Benoit
21 - Tug McGraw

Standings Summary - National League

With the All Star game completed this week, lets spend a bit more time than usual in a mid-season summary.

NL East

A strong start by Grumman and Galaxy was the highlight of the 1st half.  However, the Guardians have begun to slide recently, steadily dropping from a two way tie at the end of May to a 5 game deficit as Week 7 closes (July 14th).  No single particular flaw has held them back, rather, they've simpy been about an average team with some bad luck since May 20th (-5 RD with a 19-27 record to show for it).

Grumman has been the best team in the East, at least on paper.  They have a slightly above average RD at +18 and while they lead the league in Home Runs, their on base percentage is a league worst .278.  They need to be careful and perhaps make a strategic trade as the Hoboken Zephyrs have quietly moved into contention.  Just 5 games out now thanks to a 29-18 run, Hoboken has enjoyed some real success with their pitching staff of late.  Led by Walter Johnson (8-0, 1.65 ERA in his last 10 starts), the rotation has a team ERA of 2.99 and the pen an even better mark, at 2.77.

As for the Lookouts, well, they are planning for ATB 18 thanks to an ATB worst winning percentage of .341

NL Central

Here we have a two team race as well, with Sparta and Flin Flon trading blows all season long.  Flin Flon will open up week 8 with a three game advantage and with both teams having nearly identical run differentials, it may be the difference maker.  

The Arctic Foxes are the league's premier offense while the Hoplites have the league's premier pitching staff.  It's a direct battle of opposite philosophies that holds promise for a great second half.  Who'll prevail with these great matchups?  The Flin Flon big 3:

.266 / .401 / .615 - Babe Ruth

.250 / .374 / .589 - Mark McGwire

.330 / .371 / .563 - Lip Pike 

versus Sparta's top starters and closer:

11-4, 1.69 - Pedro Martinez

5-6, 2.95 - Vern Law

0.59, 10 Sv - JJ Putz

After a hot start, Alberquerque has struggled (27-36 since early May) and found themselves at the bottom of the division alongside Seattle.  Of the two teams, Albuquerque may have the best chance to improve since Nap Lajoie (.287 OBP) and Duke Snider  (.285 OBP) have underperformed considerably and should get better.

NL West

The West is home to the marquee division race of the National League with two 50 win teams are separated by just 1 game.  The Shamokin Miners currently hold the advantage thanks to a red hot May and June where they won 30 of 46 contests to take a 1/2 game lead. The Miners are led by Oscar Charleston (.274 / .375 / .547) and Johnny Podres (9-5, 3.23) while Lakeview counters with Ted Williams (.343 / .423 / .565) and Clayton Kershaw (10-4, 3.90).

Jeff City could have been a third team in this race, but after a stellar 27-17 start of the season, have struggled terribly of late going 15-29 with the worst RD in the National League at -65.  Their rotation has been the main failure - Hugh Daily, Dwight Gooden, and Rube Waddell each have ERA's well over 6.00 during this period.

Planet 10 has been a disappointment all year, failing to record a winning record in any month so far.

League Leader Races

Batting Average

.343 - Ted Williams (LAK)

.337 - Willie Keeler (GAL)

.337 - Ichiro Suziki (HOB)

On Base Percentage

.423 - Ted Williams (LAK)

.421 - John McGraw (JFC)

Hits

119 - Ted Williams (LAK)

118 - Ed Delahanty (ALB)

116 - Ichiro Suziki (HOB)

Runs

72 - Babe Ruth (FFL)

65 - Ted Williams (LAK)

RBI

73 - Babe Ruth (FFL)

69 - Ted Williams (LAK)

66 - Oscar Charleston (SHA)

67 - Babe Ruth (FFL)

Home Runs
31 - Mark McGwire (FFL)
27 - Mike Schmidt (GRU)

Wins
13 - Roger Clemens (SEA)
12 - Joe Wood (GRU)
11 - Walter Johnson (HOB)
11 - Pedro Martinez (SPA)

ERA
1.69 - Pedro Martinez (SPA)
2.09 - Noodles Hahn (P10)

WHIP
0.79 - Pedro Martinez (SPA)
0.98 - Vern Law (SPA)

Strikeouts
129 - Pedro Martinez (SPA)
111 - Vida Blue (CHA)

Saves
24 - Rafael Betancourt
23 - Koji Uehera (HOB)