Injuries Taking a Toll

Only a month into the season, injuries are already critically impacting several teams. Eyes tend to focus on the standings more in September than April, but every game counts and it's difficult to win in an extremely competitive league when you can't put your "A" lineup or rotation on the field each day.

To the right is a table depicting the total number of days lost, either already accumulated or projected out into the future based upon the predicted days lost calculated by the Diamond Mind game engine.

Incredibly, the Black Diamonds are easily "leading" the league in Days Lost with 60. With a record of 16-7 they lost lefty setup man Al Grabowski for 39 days in Sim 2C, and the pressure for the pen to perform has already increased.

Two other critical injuries immediately jump off the report. The 1st place Downsouth Brews lost Steve Carlton (2-0, 1.01 ERA) for over three weeks. Replacing him in the rotation is Whitey Ford who, in one start at least, picked up where his predecessor left off. In his first replacement start Ford gave up just 2 runs, 1 earned, and pitched into the 8th.

The league leading batter and on base man, Hughie Jennings, was sidelined for 24 days thanks to a bench clearing brawl on April 23rd. Jennings is infamous for his ability to take a pitch in his back or shoulder - in ATB XI he led the league in HBP, an astounding 76 times, three times more than the second most hit batter. In real life, it was much of the same, in 1896 the year the All Stars selected for the shortstop, Jennings was hit 51 times, more than twice as great as the second most hit batter.

It finally caught up with him though. In the top of the 1st in a 0-0 game, Jennings was plunked in the wrist. Despite his proclivity to get in they way of 90 mph pitches, Jennings took exception to Lefty Grove's toss and charged the mound. Benches cleared, a brawl ensued, and Jennings emerged with a 24 game injury.

The All Stars lose their best player. Jennings was an "Ex" defender who was in the midst of a career best start - .441 / .548 / .475 and 7 SB in 17 games. The injury particularly hurts the All Stars since their #1 pick, Babe Ruth, continues to start slowly (.156 / .305 / .377).