BNN Weekly Report
This Week in the CBO
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
14 May 2300
News from Around the League
8 May 2300 - Hill Thwarts Sunshine Tidings, 12-0
David Hill was dynamite at ArcJet Systems Stadium today, blowing away the Sunshine Tidings Chemists in a shutout victory. The Easy Town Assaultrons starter had everything working as he held the Chemists to 2 hits in the 12-0 win.
"He was pure nasty out there today," said Sunshine Tidings skipper Webster Builder. "I don't think any team in the league would've had a chance against what he was bringing."
Hill finished the game with 4 strikeouts and 3 walks.
To date this season, Hill has a record of 3 wins and 2 losses and a 4.88 ERA. He has appeared in 7 games and struck out 19 in 48 innings.
Cats Taguchi Tames Roxbury
Atom's Scruffy Taguchi dazzled the Atomatoys Stadium at Roxbury crowd with a fine display of pitching. From the start, Taguchi dominated the Roxbury lineup en route to a sparkling 7-0 shutout. He finished with 4 strikeouts and no walks.
In 7 starts this year Taguchi has recorded a 2-3 record and a 3.81 ERA.
11 May 2300 - Fort Hagen Blanks Abernathy, 4-0
It wasn't easy but the Fort Hagen Silver Shroud made it look that way.
Starter Derek Green shut out the Abernathy Adamantium despite having what he later called "sub-par" stuff, and the Fort Hagen Silver Shroud cruised to victory, 4-0. Green allowed only 4 hits and rang up 7 strikeouts but insisted later that he did not deserve primary credit for the win.
"It didn't feel quite right today, but I got a lot of help to get through," he said. "I trusted my catcher and the guys behind me bailed me out more than once when I screwed up."
His record this year is 3-1 in 7 starts and Green has a 2.29 ERA.
12 May 2300 - Witch Hats Bertha Stops Party Boys
It wasn't easy but Tony Bertha made it look that way.
Bertha silenced the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys, 16-0, in a Salem Witch Hats triumph at Vim! Park of Salem today. Despite the appearance of dominance, Bertha said later that he felt like he was struggling all game. He gave up 3 walks and 7 hits.
"It didn't feel quite right today, but I made the decision to bear down and work through it," he said. "I made a few mistakes but it goes to show what you can do with grit and not much else."
In 8 starts this year Bertha has recorded a 3-2 record and a 2.55 ERA.
Teddybear Deals Hancocks 4-0 Shutout
Relying on pinpoint control and a good array of pitches, Chris Teddybear of the Jamaica Plain Red Rockets held the Goodneighbor Hancocks scoreless today. He scattered 6 hits over 9 innings and fanned 7 on his way to the 4-0 victory.
So far this season Teddybear has a record of 4-3 with 52 strikeouts and 9 walks in 55.2 innings and a 2.91 ERA.
13 May 2300 - Erb Stretches Hit String to 20
Dan Erb ran his hitting streak to 20 straight games today at Nuka Park, when he collected 1 hit in 4 at-bats. The feat came, however, as the Concord Radstags dropped the game, 6-0, to the Starlight Lady Killers.
"Hey, the streak is great -- I hope it never ends," Erb said later. "But I'm not happy to lose the game."
Dan Erb flied out in the 1st, grounded out in the 4th, singled in the 7th and flied out in the 9th.
For the year Erb has hit at a .385 clip with 34 RBIs, 8 home runs and 25 runs scored.
Scores
Tue 8 May
Con 3 at FF 1 / FtH 7 at CC 5 / Sal 2 at Star 5 / ET 12 at ST 0 / NB 2 at Lex 11 / Abe 6 at Slog 2
Good 9 at Egr 2 / Atom 7 at Rox 0 / JP 2 at V81 4 / DC 2 at Qui 8 / Obe 4 at War 3, 12 inn / FHE 6 at UP 7
Performance of the Day: SS Burtie Cuttooth, Goodneighbor, 3 for 5, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI
Wed 9 May
Con 1 at FF 6 / FtH 10 at CC 3 / Sal 7 at Star 3 / ET 5 at ST 2 / NB 8 at Lex 5, 12 inn / Abe 3 at Slog 4
Good 8 at Egr 3 / Atom 1 at Rox 4 / JP 3 at V81 2 / DC 4 at Qui 5 / Obe 6 at War 4 / FHE 3 at UP 16
Performance of the Day: RF Tomas Jones, University Point, 4 for 5, HR, 3 R, 3 RBI
Fri 11 May
Slog 4 at CC 2 / FtH 4 at Abe 0 / FF 10 at ET 1 / NB 3 at Sal 2, 12 inn / Lex 8 at ST 5 / Star 4 at Con 11
Qui 8 at UP 5 / War 4 at Atom 3 / JP 7 at Good 10 / V81 6 at Rox 4 / Egr 1 at Obe 8 / FHE 4 at DC 5
Performance of the Day: 2B Jumper Hayes, Goodneighbor, 4 for 4, 2B, HR, BB, 3 R, 3 RBI
Sat 12 May
Slog 9 at CC 8 / FF 3 at ET 1 / Star 4 at Con 7 / FtH 2 at Abe 5 / NB 0 at Sal 16 / Lex 4 at ST 7
JP 4 at Good 0 / V81 5 at Rox 0 / Egr 8 at Obe 6, 13 inn / Qui 1 at UP 2 / FHE 9 at DC 4 / War 6 at Atom 2
Performance of the Day: LF Danny Honeycutt, Salem, 3 for 4, 2 2B, HR, 3 R, 5 RBI
Sun 13 May
Slog 7 at CC 10 / FtH 1 at Abe 2 / NB 6 at Sal 2 / Lex 5 at ST 4 / Star 6 at Con 0 / FF 3 at ET 5
Qui 5 at UP 4 / War 2 at Atom 4, 10 inn / JP 3 at Good 9 / V81 5 at Rox 6 / Egr 13 at Obe 8, 10 inn / FHE 2 at DC 1
Performance of the Day: CF Earthbound Bussey, Atom, 4 for 5, 2 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
Players of the Week
NCA's Top Player Named: One of the league's most exciting young players, Sean Samuels of the Easy Town Assaultrons earned himself North Charles Association Player of the Week honors with a standout performance in last week's games.
For the week the 22-year-old center fielder had a lofty .450 average (9-for-20), collecting 3 home runs, 6 RBIs and 6 runs scored.
Presently Samuels is batting .390 with 48 hits and 9 home runs. He has knocked in 29 runs and scored 34 times.
Rathmann Picked SCA Player of the Week: Joe Rathmann has the tools to stick in this league for many years. The 21-year-old right fielder of the FHE Yao Guai had a hot bat in the South Charles Association over the past seven days and won the Player of the Week honors.
Rathmann batted .588 with 10 hits in 17 at-bats, 2 home runs and 7 RBIs.
This season Rathmann is hitting at a .429 pace with 9 home runs, 30 RBIs and has scored 30 times.
Transactions
Monday, May 14th, 2300
FHE Yao Guai: Placed SP Papa Bush on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to 05/13/2300.
Sunday, May 13th, 2300
Goodneighbor Hancocks: Activated RP George Cincinnatus from the injured list.
The Cherry Ghoulrillas traded 20-year-old reliever Two Shoes Jackson and 20-year-old first baseman Chris Shields to the FHE Yao Guai, getting 21-year-old minor league reliever Khalil Brite in return.
Saturday, May 12th, 2300
University Point Deathclaws: CL Cricket McGuire returns from his rehab assignment.
Abernathy Adamantium: Activated SP Gerald Jerry from the injured list.
FHE Yao Guai: Placed LF Po Greenzone on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to 05/09/2300.
Diamond City Swatters: Activated RP Nick Via from the injured list.
Friday, May 11th, 2300
Oberland T-51s: RF Crops Gerdenheimer returns from his rehab assignment.
Wednesday, May 9th, 2300
Starlight Lady Killers: Activated 2B Ray McMillen from the injured list.
Nordhagen Beach Party Boys: Placed SP Julian Shed on the 7-day injured list, retroactive to 05/06/2300.
Standings
Team Power Rankings
Weekly Team Power Rankings: Here are the current team power rankings for Commonwealth Baseball Organization:
Teams (Total Points, Tendency):
1) Vault 81 Dwellers (121.0, o)
2) Easy Town Assaultrons (119.0, o)
3) Nordhagen Beach Party Boys (117.0, +)
4) Quincy Gunners (115.0, ++)
5) Fort Hagen Silver Shroud (112.0, -)
6) Concord Radstags (111.0, -)
7) Oberland T-51s (110.0, -)
8) Abernathy Adamantium (106.0, o)
9) Goodneighbor Hancocks (105.0, ++)
10) The Slog Ghouls (101.0, +)
11) University Point Deathclaws (99.0, +)
12) Jamaica Plain Red Rockets (91.0, -)
13) Diamond City Swatters (90.0, --)
14) Egret Ninjas (90.0, o)
15) FHE Yao Guai (88.0, +)
16) Salem Witch Hats (87.0, --)
17) Lexington Synths (85.0, +)
18) Atom Cats (71.0, -)
19) Starlight Lady Killers (67.0, +)
20) County Crossing Bloodbugs (65.0, -)
21) Finch Farm Four Leafs (55.0, +)
22) Sunshine Tidings Chemists (55.0, -)
23) Warwick Mirelurks (53.0, -)
24) Roxbury Rad Sox (47.0, o)
Analysis
With the top two—Vault 81 and Easy Town—remaining in their spots, the 2300 season is starting to shape up with fewer deviations from week to week. There were some teams that had good weeks and some that had bad, but not a single week included a 5-0 or 0-5 week.
Nordhagen Beach (#3), the featured team below, had a 3-2 week to remain at pace with the Assaultrons and move up a spot in the Power Rankings. However, they did have two bad losses. In splitting at Lexington (#17), they lost the first game 11-2. They won the weekend series at Salem, but lost the midgame 16-0. The Boys’ pitching also got worked with two 12-inning games, both wins.
Quincy (#4) nearly has the only 5-0 week, going 4-1 with only one one-run loss at University Point (#11). That loss broke up a seven-game winning streak. Otherwise, the Gunners also swept Diamond City (#13) in the midweek games.
Fort Hagen (#5) dropped two spots after dropping their last two games of the week at Abernathy (#8) in a 3-2 week. They also won both games at County Crossing (#20). Like the Boys, the Silver Shroud remain consistent and will pose a long-term problem for their current running mates atop the Institute League, the Concord Radstags (#6), who dropped out of the Top 5 despite their own 3-2 week.
Fresh off his SCA Player of the Week award, FHE’s Joe Rathmann is worth talking about when it comes to individual hitters. Rathmann leads the CBO in batting average (.429), OBP (.554), WAR (2.8), WPA (3.18) and WOBA (.537). He has probably surpassed Diamond City’s Oren Gep for the CBO MVP lead 30 games in. Relatedly, the NCA Player of the Week winner is currently our pick for the NCA Nuka-Hitter Award. With a 2.6 WAR, Samuels leads the NCA. He is tied with County Crossing’s Biter trout for the Batting Average lead at .390. He also leads the NCA in hits (48), runs (34), total bases (86), WPA (3.10), and WOBA (.483). The closest in WAR to Samuels is Concord’s Dan Erb (2.0).
The pitching competition is still more muddled than the batting competition. In the NCA, only Salem’s Tony Bertha has above a 2.0 WAR (2.1). He’s been a great pitcher (3-2, 2.55) on a bad team. He’s 1st in rWAR (2.0) and quality starts (7) and only second (2.79) to Nordhagen Beach’s Chet Arthur (2.31) in FIP and secpnd (.204) in Opponents Average to Fort Hagen’s Derek Green (.192).
In the SCA, Egret’s Phlip Wallace (1.9) and Jamaica Plain’s Chris Teddybear (1.9) are tied atop the WAR lead. Oberland’s Sheng Kawolski (6-0, 2.51) is atop the wins lead and has the 2nd-best ERA, though his WAR is low (1.0) compared to the other teams in the league.
Among closers, the Assaultrons’ Aaron Geneva and Abernathy’s T-Bone Heagy (11 SV) lead the CBO in saves. However, the Radstags’ Aaron Still (10 SV, 0.59) has been the most dominant overall. Danny Rocketman (9 SV, 1.64) of Vault 81 has also looked like the best in the SCA.
Team Focus: Nordhagen Beach Party Boys
They have not been able from good to great in their time at the top of the Brotherhood League. But as back-to-back Brotherhood Legaue champions to go with an appearance in the Sole Survivor Series as a wildcard in 2297, the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys are currently sitting in a first-place tie 35 games into the 2300 season. The strange thing about their success of winning almost 6.5 games for every 10 they play is that they have not been playing as well this season as they had in the past two seasons. Last year they won 70 games, but that does not look like it will be the case in 2300, even if they are currently on pace to win 68 games.
The offense has been disappointing in 2300 minus one player: Dustin Mart (.336/13/34). Minus Mart’s production, the Boys are 7th in the NCA in run production (132) with the 6th-best batting average (.259). Four players in all are batting over .300: Mart, C Mike Swift (.325), CF Ryan Combs (.316), and 3B Jon Hitman (.301). RF Jonathan Angelou (.278/6/13) is decently productive in the third spot, but LF Michael Fogcrawler (.234/4/20) has not hit like he usually does though he is knocking in runs. Leadoff batter, 2B Brian Masterson (.248/4/13), is also down on his productivity from the leadoff spot. On the bright side, the Boys are likely to produce better offensively over the course of the season, so their numbers are likely to be in the Top 3 in the end.
Pitching gas been much better for the Boys. They are 3rd in runs allowed (121) thanks to good starting pitching (3.72, t-3rd in NCA). Due to lack of run support, the starters’ records are not following their low overall ERAs. Ace Tommy Beach (3-2, 4.10) has a slightly elevated ERA that brings the average up, but he is also used to the team scoring more runs when he pitches. Chet Arthur (2-3, 2.96) is getting even worse run support. Newcomer Matt Ranger (4-3, 4.98) needs to give up fewer runs, but he is not doing bad as the 4th pitcher. Derek Gist (1-0, 2.57) is forced into a starting role thanks to Julian Shed’s (3-2, 2.70) injury. The bullpen has the 6th-best ERA (3.23). New closer Matt Breakball (8 SV, 2.45) is pitching well. Former closers Sia Abber (0-0, 0.00) and Night Demon Archaki (0-0, 2.57) are also helping in their setup roles. Marc Woodsman (4-0, 1.23) has been great as their extra-innings pitcher. With the best FIP (3.24) and WAR (7.8), the pitching is doing great, despite being 10th in defensive efficiency (.671) and 12th in errors (32).
This team is hard to gauge. Despite our opinion that they are playing lower than their talent, the Party Boys are still tied for the best record in the CBO and only trail the CBO’s best record (Vault 81) by one game. If the Boys get hot, then the rest of the CBO had better just sit back and watch as they role to their first-ever Sole Survivor Series title.