13 May, 1920
Dustland's Jaxon Darnall has been on an absolute tear lately. It was only on the 8th that he pitched the league's first no-hitter and he followed that up with a complete game shutout against the Saffron Turtles. He actually hasn't conceded any runs (earned or unearned) in the last 30 innings.
Well, he's just locked in his future with the Dustland Sharks by taking himself out of the upcoming free agent market with a $95k/5yr deal. That'll make him the highest paid pitcher in the land when it takes effect in 1921. That final year does have a vesting option: requiring 200 IP in 1924. He's 32 now so probably a smart move from Sharks management.
So far this season, Darnall is 10-1 over 11 starts. He's got 1.01 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, and 2.08 FIP. His ERA+ is an insane 402. He's already got 4 complete game shutouts under his belt, including the no-hitter from last week. The slash line against him looks like .160/.221/.209.
14 May, 1920
The Amelia City Metros picked up a rare win on the back of a 16K performance from Jeremiah Hinton against the Hadestown Broncos.
I thought this was a record but it turns out Max Steel also got 16K for the Roosters in a loss to the Northlands Polar Bears the same day that Jaxon Darnall got his no-hitter and I missed it. Sorry Max!
15 May, 1920
We had two games go into extra innings today, both with a player getting three home runs.
The first between the Sharks and Polar Bears saw the Sharks take a 7-1 lead by the end of the 2nd. But Sharks Catcher Kian Lehn isn't one to give up so he hit a home run in the 3rd, 4th, and in the 9th to tie it all up at 10 runs apiece. Lehn was also on base when 3B Carl McNutt sent a home run into the stands in the 11th. The Polar Bears got another run at the bottom of the inning but it was too late.
The second game was between the Port Magnolia Dolphins and the Spice District Roosters which needed 15 innings to come to a winner. Roosters RF Roman Karabanov was in the right place at the right time for each of his home runs. His first in the 6th helped the Roosters keep pace with the Dolphins, his second in the 10th forced more innings and his final blast in the 15th was the walk-off.
16 May, 1920
The Spice District Rooster's hold on the East Division just got tenuous as they confirm they'll be losing their big hitting CF Johnny Pfeifer for the rest of the season with a broken kneecap. The 30 year old has been on a tear this season, slashing .305/.387/.695 over 38 games with 17 home runs. Good enough for second place in the home run charts.
He was actually projected to hit 57 at that rate.
His biggest game of the year was his 3 home run/7 RBI haul in a 8-1 victory over the Crimson Forest Falcons at the start of this month. His efforts overshadowed by Max Steel, who picked up 15 strikeouts that game.
His replacement, Camden Jones, will be an improvement defensively but he doesn't offer much with the bat.
17 May, 1920
Slightly more than a month until the All-Star game and we've just got the first batch of voting results in. Voting stations have been set up across Amelia, from the coffee houses to the whiskey houses.
Whiskeytown Catcher Joel De Vries is dominating the voting with 26,323 votes so far. The next highest is his teammate, 1B Vladik Zavalin with 20,863.
19 May, 1920
Speaking of catchers. Dustland's Kian Lehn is putting up a strong claim as the best catcher in the game. In fact, he's currently on a 20 game hit streak. The 23 year old is currently slashing at .413/.489/.716 with 10 home runs and 15 doubles doing wonders to that slugging.
22 May, 1920
Big blow to the Sugar Factory Elephants as they lose their #1 starter, Connor Kyle to elbow ligament reconstruction surgery. He'll be out for 14-15 months. Kyle is only 25 years old so plenty of time to bounce back.
His numbers haven't been great, a 6-5 record with a 4.11 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. That's good enough for 105 ERA+ but his FIP has been outstanding at 2.69 with a FIP- of 62 so it's likely the ERA numbers aren't telling us the whole story of what's going on with the Elephants.
Here's where the standings sit before the games of 22 May. The Roosters have a small lead in the East Division over the Elephants but then there's a fair bit of daylight before the next set of teams. Over in the west, the Saffron Turtles lead has diminished among strong performances from the Sharks and Penguins.
