BNN Report
News from the CBO, Minors, CCBL, and CYL
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
4 May 2314
CBO Analysis
Four weeks into the 2314 campaign, we are starting to see a few teams emerge. Three of the four leagues are tight, while one team, the Brotherhood League, is currently dominated by one team: #1 The Slog. With an 8-game lead over 2nd place, the Ghouls lead the 2nd place team by more games than most of the other leaders lead the 7th place team. Here are the current team power rankings for Commonwealth Baseball Organization:
Teams (Total Points, Tendency):
1) The Slog Ghouls (147.4, o)
2) Vault 81 Dwellers (131.6, +)
3) Concord Radstags (125.7, +)
4) Oberland T-51s (125.7, ++)
5) Fort Hagen Silver Shroud (112.7, +)
6) Bunker Hill 75ers (111.7, +)
7) Quincy Gunners (99.8, ++)
8) Diamond City Swatters (97.8, +)
9) Glowing Sea Radscorpions (97.8, ++)
10) Lexington Synths (96.8, +)
11) Southie Brews (94.8, --)
12) FHE Yao Guai (94.0, ++)
13) Cambridge Coursers (92.8, --)
14) Goodneighbor Hancocks (91.0, o)
15) Malden Grognaks (84.2, o)
16) Atom Cats (82.1, ++)
17) Egret Ninjas (80.2, -)
18) University Point Deathclaws (80.2, ++)
19) Starlight Killers (77.1, ++)
20) County Crossing Bloodbugs (75.1, --)
21) Nordhagen Beach Party Boys (75.1, ++)
22) Easy Town Assaultrons (74.2, --)
23) Salem Witch Hats (71.1, -)
24) Jamaica Plain Red Rockets (65.3, ++)
25) Sunshine Tidings Chemists (63.3, --)
26) Nahant Celtics (61.3, --)
27) Spectacle Island Reapers (57.3, -)
28) Roxbury Rad Sox (52.3, --)
Brotherhood League
The Ghouls are up by 8 as we mentioned. The other six teams are within two games of each other with Malden and Easy Town tied for 2nd, County Crossing, Nordhagen Beach, and the Salem tied for 4th, and Nahant alone in 7th place.
The Slog looks as though they are true championship contenders to start the season. At 20-6, the Ghouls are winning with ease, currently 1st in runs scored (160) and red in runs allowed (106). Six of the eight in the lineup are hitting above .300, led by the efforts of SS Gavin Deux-Gas (.383/3/24), 2B Puddle Norman (.362/3/16), and C Silvam Fourteen (.361/3/16). The one outlier on the team is cleanup hitter, 1B Baktu DaWell (.175/2/11) with an early-season slump. The Slog expects the .324/29/80 on average slugger to turn his troubles around. All four starting pitchers have an ERA below 4.00: Klement Thodberg (1-2, 3.58), Flirt Perez (5-2, 3.99), Scott Fuhr (3-0, 2.35), and Isaiah Swindler (4-0. 3.00). In the bullpen, The Slog has the 5th-best Bullpen ERA (4.41) with RPs Quincy Jones (1-0, 2.84) and Keon Boykin (1-0, 2.84) doing the most to keep those numbers down.
Institute League
Concord is currently in control of the IL, one game up on both Bunker Hill and Fort Hagen. Lexington and Cambridge are tied for 4th, Starlight is in 6th, and Sunshine Tidings brings up the rear with a 10-16 mark.
The Coursers would be considered in 5th place right now, but they are above .500, something they have set as a goal to keep them in playoff contention. Offensively, Cambridge is there, currently 3rd in the NCA with 150 runs scored. The clear-cut leader is 3B McMack Bingham (.389/11/32) who could be considered to be in the NCA's Nuka Hitter Award contention through the first month. RF Jim Geiger (.330/5/14) and 1B Moktar Wakihuri (.311/5/12) are the other top contributors. On the mound, the Coursers have not been good, currently dead last in runs allowed (168) in the NCA to go with the 12th Starters ERA (5.26) and 14th Bullpen ERA (7.28). For the starters, the top two starters--Hrye Caje (3-2, 5.00) and Jazz Delgado (1-3, 5.26)--have struggled most with Scooter Yaghmour (2-1, 2.75) and Freon McMahan (2-0, 1.69) looking quite better. In the bullpen, CL Monte Ward (6 SV, 4.35) is one of only two relievers with a sub-5.00 ERA.
Minutemen League
Just three games over .500, Southie has a half-game lead on Quincy in the ML. Those are the only two teams above .500 with Goodneighbor at .500. Unviersity Point and Atom are within range with a run, while Spectacle Island and Jamaica Plain are in a three-way tie with Roxbury for the CBO's worst record.
For the Brews, pitching is keeping them in contention, 1st in the SCA with 104 runs allowed. However, the offense, 12th in runs scored (120), needs to find ways to be more efficient to increase playoff chances. Two players on offense not struggling are RF Topher Spark (.385/6/20) and SS Rick Rolled (.393/1/11) with heavy contributions from 1B Fairlane Ford (.320/3/14) and CF Glove Payton (.326/3/15). On the mound, the starters are not as good as the bullpen, 8th in Starters ERA (4.62) and 1st in Bullpen ERA (2.98). The top three starters are all struggling: Air McNair (2-2, 5.05), Buzzcut McDonald (3-2, 5.54), and Tiny de Grande (1-3, 5.29). Fourth-starter Cohort Williams (2-2, 3.81) is helping to keep the team ERA down. In the bullpen, CL Matthew Hughes (7 SV, 1.80) has been the leader with two players holding ERAs below 1.00: Legs DiCocco (1-0, 0.79) and Quintus Navale (0-0, 0.66).
Railroad League
With a 9-1 mark in their last 10, the best in the CBO, 1st place Vault 81 is alone in 1st place in the RL, one game up on Oberland. Diamond City and Glowing Sea are tied for 3rd, both two games above .500. FHE is at .500, followed by Egret and the Rad Sox.
The Yao Guai thought they would be in the middle of championship contention, but at 13-13, questions about the "x-factor" of whether or not FHE can be a winning franchise has been questioned. Last season marked the Yao Guai's third trip to the playoffs, but they are not perceived as a threat to win it all. This season, the team is tied for 9th in runs scored (124) and tied for 8th in runs allowed (134). With the 11th-best batting average (.257), FHE has no one hitting above .300 at this point in the season. Leadoff 3B Slip Knotty (.284/6/13) leads the team in average and home runs. CF Missile Crews (.263/4/15/15 SB) is struggling a bit but does lead FHE in RBI and steals. Two starters are helping the team: Nien Nunb (4-1, 3.92) and Kennett Kentucky (2-1, 2.61), while ace Baker Dozen (2-3, 5.97) and Munyeb Funyun (1-2, 5.19) are getting shellacked regularly. In the bullpen, Agnet Skinner (0-0, 2.61) has been the best pitcher, while CL Ryan Roberson (7 SV, 7.07) has been terrible.
CBO Standings
CBO Players of the Week
April 27 - There's no arguing that 35-year-old Hid Matsumoto has paid his dues and this week he collected. The Fort Hagen Silver Shroud center fielder had one of the best weeks of his career and captured the North Charles Association Player of the Week trophy.
He hit .500 while collecting 12 hits in 24 at-bats, 4 home runs, 7 RBIs and 10 runs scored.
On the season, Matsumoto is batting .369 with 6 home runs and 12 RBIs. He has played in 19 games.
His critics are starting to suggest that University Point's Barker Cocoa doesn't have much left, but the 35-year-old Cocoa prefers not to think that way. He cooked up a remarkable week in the last seven days, topping it off with the Player of the Week Award in the South Charles Association.
The veteran first baseman for the Deathclaws rolled to a .571 average (16-for-28) with 4 home runs and 12 RBIs.
For the year, Cocoa has hit at a .361 clip with 20 RBIs, 8 home runs and 18 runs scored.
May 4 - One of the league's most exciting young players, Hillyer Bryan of the Malden Grognaks earned himself North Charles Association Player of the Week honors with a standout performance in last week's games.
For the week the 25-year-old right fielder had a lofty .500 average (15-for-30), collecting 3 home runs, 6 RBIs and 7 runs scored.
On the year, Bryan has hit .296 with 6 home runs, 18 RBIs and scored 17 runs.
This week's Player of the Week was Kinsella Birdwatcher of the Quincy Gunners.
His big bat beat up on South Charles Association pitching for 11 hits in 20 at-bats, 2 home runs and 7 RBIs while hitting .550 and scoring 7 runs.
Birdwatcher currently has a .303 batting average with 23 hits, 2 homers, 18 RBIs, 11 runs scored and a .389 OBP.
CBO Noteworthy News
April 30 - Lexington SP Chase Wede suffered from rad poisoning after swimming in the Cambridge Reservoir despite the reservoir being declared rad-free. A local Institute team is supposed to begin studying the reservoir to see why Wede and others (no other Lexington players) were swimming and all suffered similar rad burns.
May 3 - The Slog is going to hold a fun contest for draftee Brandon Brown, currently with the MML's (AA) Watertown Armorers, was drafted as the 78th overall pick in the 2313 Draft despite many scouts having him as a 1st-round talent. In Watertown, they would like to give Brown a "fun" name moving forward. Fans will pick names and Brown has vowed that he will go professionally by the name selected.
Milestone Watch
There are several milestones about to be reached in May. Here are a few we are keeping our eye on for news stories:
2000 Hits - Earthbound Bussey, Oberland - Just 22 hits shy, Bussey (.250/2/9) should hit the 2000 mark sometime in May. The 2000 Hit Club is made up of just 12 players, so at 13th (1978), Bussey would be in an elite crew. T-51s teammate Good Don Duck is the all-time hits leader with 2376.
600 HR - Barker Cocoa, University Point - As the only member of the 500 Club, Cocoa is just seven home runs short of joining the 600 Club. With 593 career homers, Cocoa (.359/10/25) leads the second-best, Oren Gep (477) by 115 dingers.
1000 RBI - Harry Byrd, Vault 81 - Byrd (.329/3/16) is just eight RBI short of reaching 1000 and could do that in May based on his current pace. Byrd would become the 25th player to knock in 1000 RBI in CBO history. Cocoa is the all-time leader (1602).
200 SB - Rabbit Forest, Lexington - Forest (.273/2/14/3) is just five steals short of 200 for his career, though he is not on pace to hit that mark in May. However, if he gets on base and runs a little more frequently, the 33-year-old could reach 200. Forest would be the 26th player to have 200 steals. Bubb Islander, who retired following the 2313 season, is the all-time leader with 580.
250 W - Beachboy Nut, Nordhagen Beach - It is not going to happen in May, but Nut (5-1, 2.54) is just as good as ever and should reach 250 wins in either June or July based on his current win percentage with just 8 wins to go. Nut is the all-time leader and one of only three players with 200 wins (Derek Green - 220 and Gavin Eviritts - 206). University Point's Tony Bertha is only six wins away from joining the 200 Club, but he is just 1-3 with a 6.30, putting his ability to reach 200 in 2314 in doubt.
2500 K - Digger Vadim, University Point - Vadim (2-3, 4.33) is 21 strikeouts shy of hitting the 2500 mark in his career. Not likely to reach that in two starts, three or four starts in Maty could help Vadim to reach the 2500 mark. Vadim is 4th all-time in strikeouts. His 2500 Ks would join Green of Jamaica Plain (3079), Nut of the Boys (2719), and Sheng Kawolski of Sunshine Tidings (2632).