[StLee]

Analysis

Diamond City became the first team to clinch a playoff spot, and they return to the top spot in the Power Rankings following a 5-0 week to boost them to 65-28 on the season and a three-game lead in the CBO for the top record.

Fort Hagen dropped to #2 after they went 4-1, dropping Game Three versus Starlight (#9) to break a nine-game winning streak. Currently the hottest team in the CBO with an eight-game winning streak, the Quincy Gunner rose to #3 with sweeps over the terrible Roxbury Knuckle Punchers (#21) and Warwick Mirelurks (#23). With the Gunners' recent success, there is almost a guarantee that we know three of the four playoff teams in the SCA with no other team likely to rise in the Minutemen League.

Rounding out the Top 5 are the other two league leaders, Nordhagen Beach, which were surprisingly swept at home by The Slog (#8) for a 2-3 week, and Goodneighbor, which endured a 1-4 week, including being swept by another hot team, Vault 81 (#6) and losing a home series to Atom (#22).

County Crossing and the Mirelurks now make up the Bottom Two of the Power Rankings. Later, we are going to analyze a few Risers and Fallers of the week, including the Dwellers and Ghouls, as well as the Oberland T-51s (#16) and Lexington Synths (#10).

Weekly Team Power Rankings

Here are the current team power rankings for Commonwealth Baseball Organization:

Teams (Total Points, Tendency):
1) Diamond City Swatters (136.8, +1)
2) Fort Hagen Silver Shroud (127.0, -1)
3) Quincy Gunners (126.3, +2)
4) Nordhagen Beach Party Boys (115.0, o)
5) Goodneighbor Hancocks (113.1, -2)
6) Vault 81 Dwellers (108.7, +3)
7) Abernathy Adamantium (107.7, +7)
8) The Slog Ghouls (101.8, o)
9) Starlight Lady Killers (97.7, -2)
10) Lexington Synths (93.8, -4)
11) Salem Witch Hats (92.8, o)
12) University Point Deathclaws (90.0, +4)
13) Egret Ninjas (84.1, -3)
14) Jamaica Plain Red Rockets (84.1, -1)
15) Sunshine Tidings Chemists (82.4, o)
16) Oberland T-51s (82.0, -5)
17) FHE Yao Guai (80.4, +2)
18) Finch Farm Four Leafs (77.5, -1)
19) Easy Town Assaultrons (72.8, +4)
20) Concord Radstags (63.5, -1)
21) Roxbury Knuckle Punchers (62.8, o)
22) Atom Cats (61.0, +2)
23) Warwick Mirelurks (56.7, -5)
24) County Crossing Bloodbugs (50.9, -2)

Risers

Vault 81 Dwellers (51-42, 14 GB, +3)

The Railroad League looked to be certain just a month ago when Diamond City and Oberland were cruising along. Now, in the middle of August, with just three weeks to play, the Dwellers look to be in the best shape thanks to their road sweep at Oberland over the weekend. That puts them five games up on the T-51s with 15 left to play. The schedule may also be in Vault 81's favor, with their remaining schedule including weekend series versus Egret (#13), at Roxbury (#21), and vs FHE (#17). Avoiding both the Swatters and T-51s certainly helps. They also play four of their six interleague games versus Warwick (#23) with a midweek homestand against the Hancocks this week. The T-51s avoid the top two, too, so their schedule is not exactly more difficult, but there is a midweek road trip to Goodneighbor next week. All the Dweller must do is stay at least one game up, and they are in.

The big improvement has been the development of rookies in CF Aesed Hayjen (.309/13/58) and 2B Harry Byrd (.246/3/9). Byrd's marked improvement allowed the Dwellers to make a surprising move in sending Bubb Islander to the Lexington Synths to reload their prospects. The acquisition of 1B Jason Robinson from Concord has paid off. With the Dwellers, he has a .286/.352/.652 line with 11 home runs and 21 RBI. On the season, he is batting .258 with 24 home runs and 72 RBI. His 24 homers ties him for 7th in the CBO. Of course, former MVP Deer Quickwalker (.326/17/71), as well as SS Knud Bather (.262/17/64) and 3B Mark Dombrowski (.261/19/65), provides pop in an offense that has steadily improved as the season has gone on. Manager Jason Personhood has thrown a lot of credit to hitting coach Murder Downey, who he credits with developing the lineup over the course of the season into a formidable lineup.

The Slog Ghouls (49-44, 13 GB, 0)

Despite not moving in the Power Rankings this week, the Ghouls got an important road sweep to put them back in position to make the 2299 playoffs, now tied with the Witch Hats for second place. In a week where they had to face the two top teams in the North Charles Association, they overcame a sweep at Fort Hagen to top their league rivals in Nordhagen Beach. They are now hoping to get revenge versus the Silver Shroud when they host them this week.

The biggest problem all season has been starting pitching. With a 5.48 Starters ERA (11th in NCA), the Ghouls must find their pitching soon to have a chance to outlast the Witch Hats, which have an advantage with Tony Bertha (10-6, 3.58) and Terrence Artman (14-5, 3.04) taking the mound regularly. The Slog has made some changes, with Dan Dozier (9-8, 3.68) as ace where he does not always match up with the best of the best, but Bruce Iddings (11-8. 3.86), Gwinnett Southie (9-9. 4.69), and Bobby Delaune (12-8, 5.55) can perhaps steal enough wins to keep them rising.

Fallers

Oberland T-51s (46-47, 19 GB, -5)

The T-51s have been one of the better teams in the CBO thanks to a dominant pitching staff. That has not been the case in 2299, as the T-51s are middling in runs allowed (6th at 474), Starters ERA (7th at 4.93), and Bullpen ERA (6th at 4.30). Sheng Kawolski (13-7, 3.33) is pitching well but not getting consistent run support, including a 3-1 decision on Saturday against the Dwellers. Gerald Jerry (5-8, 4.49), Matt Udder (11-8, 5.13), and Lennie Landslide (5-8, 6.62) are not helping.

Lexington Synths (50-43, 12 GB, -4)

With the acquisition of Bubb Islander from the Dwellers, the Synths thought they would start to see the production they need to start producing more runs. At #12 in the NCA in runs scored (373), the Synths have been home run dependent to score their runs. They are #2 in homers (103) with three players all currently over 20: Crooked Tostado (21), Mike Pigeonfoot (21), and Justin Daros (20). For the team to improve, Islander and others will need to hit at a much better pace. Outside of Islander, 1B Jeffrey Curatolo has the top batting average with a .278 mark, by far the lowest for a team leader in the NCA, and better by .001 over Warwick's leader in Radio Short.