[Nick Soulis]

Season 2
June



Awards
Batter of the month AL: Dusty Baker (1972 Braves)
Batter of the month NL - Shawn Green (2002 Dodgers)
Pitcher of the month AL - Phil Niekro (1972 Braves)
Pitcher of the month NL - John Denny (1983 Phillies)

Injuries
Guillermo Mota (2002 Dodgers) - Hamstring (3 weeks)

Simmons Chasing .400
Young A's Star has 121 Hits Sitting At .402



Team Notes

American League East

1925 Philadelphia Athletics - Connie Mack has his team in a comfortable spot with a 6 game lead over Atlanta. Al Simmons has all eyes on him as he enters July with a .402 average. Rube Walberg and Slim Harriss have both won 11 games. The club leads the league in strikeouts with 553.

1972 Atlanta Braves - The Braves had both the batter and pitcher of the month in the league. Dusty Baker has been brilliant with both him and Henry Aaron sitting on 70 RBI a piece. Phil Niekro had a 1.69 ERA for the month making up for a slow spring. Can the Braves make a real run at the Athletics?

1977 Chicago White Sox - Stuck in neutral the Sox can seem to get on a roll. The starters have been good with a 3.73 ERA but the pen has not with no one really dependable. The Sox are 15-26 away from the South side and in truth don't really have good team chemistry or an obvious lead voice.

1995 Detroit Tigers - The Tigers offense has sputtered hitting just .234 as manufacturing runs has been an issue. The pitching has not been much better as Tiger Stadium has played like a sandbox for the rotation and their team defense has looked old and slow.

American League West

1924 Washington Senators - A losing month for Washington has made the division tight. Last in home runs makes big innings rare although the club rarely strikes out. The Senator defense has been excellent keeping them in games with Muddy Ruel especially strong behind the plate. The Senators have allowed the fewest runs in the league thus far at 331.

2015 Boston Red Sox - The Sox really believe they can win this thing. They are tops in steals and have a 17.1 batting WAR lead by Mookie Betts who has a 138 OPS+. Koji Uehera has won the close ones saving 18 games already as John Farrell has pulled the right strings to win close games.

1987 Philadelphia Phillies - It has been pitching for the Phillies behind the bat of Mike Schmidt that has them only a half game out. The Phils are 10-2 in extra inning games and have yet to have a losing month. Mike Maddux is 11-3 and Bruce Ruffin in 8-1; can they continue that kind of production?

1929 Boston Braves - Fewest runs in the league and the lowest wOBA the Braves arnt scaring anyone. The defense lead by veteran Rabbit Marranville has helped a pitching staff that has been betrayed by a poor bullpen. The Braves can only hope for respectability going forward.

National League East

1942 Cincinnati Reds - Paul Derringer heated up in June and will likely be an allstar as the Reds are holding on in a weak division. The team has hit just 50 home runs in three months but they put the ball in play and play opportunistic baseball.

2002 Los Angeles Dodgers - Eric Gagne leads the best pen in the league while Hideo Nomo and Kevin Brown headline a rotation that lacks depth beyond the top three. Still the Dodgers are ready for a race hitting .268 with a .327 wOBA as a club.

1912 St. Louis Cardinals - After a decent April, the Cardinals have really come back to earth. They lead the league in steals with 167 and do have a good run total but the obvious issue has been pitching. A winning record the club is 15-29 away from home and 9-17 in one run games.

2012 Toronto Blue Jays - Nine wins in June was anchored by the worst FIP in the league at 4.43 and a real lack of getting on base. There are some bopers in the lineup in Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista who have combined for 32 home runs, but in between long ones are big droughts. The starters have a 5.20 ERA and the pen cant close a game to save their life with 6 saves combined for the season.

National League West

1983 Philadelphia Phillies - Kiko Garcia is hitting .486 in his last 11 games and John Denny took home pitcher of the month honors upping his record to 12-4. The Phils lead in most offensive categories with even lead off man Joe Morgan driving in 52 runs while scoring the same number. Philly has really had a dream season thus far and their lead in the division is a healthy 8.5 games.

1968 New York Mets - Tom Seaver is 12-6 and pitching like you would expect and the Mets defense is tops in the league in most counting categories. Still the Mets cant keep pace as the offense has been average despite Cleon Jones hitting .350. It will have to be a red hot summer for the Miracles to put pressure on the Phillies.

1931 Pittsburgh Pirates - After a disaster in May, the Pirates played the ball they expected in June but the damage has already been done. Adam Comorosky has 13 home runs and a .305 average and the Waner brothers are hitting again. The team is last in strikeouts with 362 and first in errors with 74.

1907 Boston Americans - Cy Young is 7-10 with a 3.06 ERA but Joe Harris had a tough month as the rest of the rotation has fallen off. The rest of the club is stumped by a weak offense that has a .673 OPS. The Americans are 13-29 on the road.