It's a case of too little too late. The Puerto Cabellas Pandas were a pre-season favorite for the NL West title but instead of struggled to stay above .500 all season long. With a 10-3 record this week, Brad has shown just how dangerous his team could have been. The Pandas batted .301 / .340 / .341 as a team with Phil Caveretta (.380 / .415 / .480) and Tip O'Neill (.373 / .389 / .686) enjoying notable success.
Their bats helped Puerto Cabellas in sweeping both Helena and North Valley, and taking series from DC, Shamokin, and the Pretty Ladies.
Noodles Hahn and Babe Adams anchored the rotation, going undefeated in 5 starts with a combined 2.50 ERA. The bullpen was key for the entire week however - Steve Reed, Steve Bedrosian, BJ Ryan, Ellis Kinder, and Jonathan Papelbon combined for 30.2 innings of 3-run ball.
It was a ho-hum week in the American League, with no single team catching fire to claim "Team of the Week" status. Ball Four ended up with the best Run Differential (a quite good +29) so they get the honors.
Justin Duchscherer started two games and gave up just 1 run while a quartet in the pen shone above the rest. All Grabowski and Kenley Jansen didn't give up a run in 10 innings and Mariano Rivera and Frankie Rodriguez allowed just 2 runs to score in 20 innings.
The offense powered the team on most nights, smacking 21 home runs in 15 games. Jim Edmonds had a 1.232 OPS thanks to 6 homers, scoring 16 in the process. Heavy Johnson added 5 shots batting .387 / .433 / .629 in the process. The team batted .294 / .358 / .460.
There were no major changes to the Wild Card race. Both the Wildlings and Fishbiscuits have a 4.5 game lead with their magic numbers down to 9 games.
Elsewhere, the Red Eagles and Shadows clinched playoff births with the Hoplites on the brink, sporting a magic number of 1. The Beaters, Fanclub, and Miners all have at least a 6-game lead for the divisional crowns and barring disaster will head to the playoffs as well.
If the playoffs ended today:
- Wildings @ Red Eagles
- Fanclub @ Hoplites
- Fishbiscuits @ Shadows
- Miners @ Beaters
I've been short 2 players all season...a quality #2/3 SP and a CF. Hahn and Van Slyke have worked out nice in the past 2-3 sims, but I needed them from the start. Not even going to mention my disaster at C in Buster Posey (WTF?!) Back to the drawing board for ATB XVI.
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