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APBL & NBBO JULY RECAP

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (August 1, 1870) – It is now the Dog Days of Summer and the baseball season is nearly over. Here is how the two competitions look with days remaining before the postseason:

APBL STANDINGS (75 of 90 games played)

COLONIAL CONFERENCE

		 W	 L	GB	  RD
St. John’s	51	24	--	+180
Flour City	37	38	14	 -49
Shamrock	35	40	16	 -20
Alleghany	35	40	16	 -37
Mass. Bay	34	41	17	 -43
Niagara		33	42	18	 -31

METROPOLITAN CONFERENCE

		 W	 L	GB	  RD
Orange		53	22	--	+152
Knick		40	35	13	 +52
Gotham		39	36	14	 +10
American	36	39	17	  +5
Kings Co.	31	44	22	 -96
Excelsior	26	49	27	-123

St. John’s & Orange have their conference pennants all but wrapped up with fifteen games remaining, which isn’t how anyone saw the season unfolding. St. John’s has mastered the Colonial with dominant offense, while Colonial has taken down the Metropolitan with dominant pitching & defense.

APBL MONTHLY AWARDS

BotM: Nelson Townsend (OF, StJ) – .396, 1.077 OPS, 38 R, 44 H, 16 XBH, 2 HR, 28 RBI, 10 BB, 12 SB, 2.68 WPA, 1.6 WAR
PotM: Raynard Cordell (ORA) – 6-2, 2.68 ERA, 9 K, 94.0 IP, 6 CG, 0 SHO, 1.11 WHIP, 0.8 K/BB, 1.8 WAR
GotM: Lambert van Erp (P, ORA) – 7-3, 2.58 ERA, 4 K, 90.2 IP, 7 CG, 0 SHO, 1.18 WHIP, 0.4 K/BB, 1.5 WAR

Townsend takes APBL Batsman of the Month for the second time and looks certain all but certain to win its first Batsman of the Year award. Townsend has an outside chance to become the first batsman to reach 6.0 WAR in a season.

Similarly, Cordell has won APBL Pitcher of the Month for the second time, and with him almost guaranteed to lead the APBL in Wins and likely to lead it in ERA he seems a shoo-in for the first APBL Pitcher of the Year award.

Van Erp has been a midseason revelation for Orange since usurping 150-win veteran William Titus (16-8, 3.79 ERA) for their #2 pitcher slot. The 23-year-old has done almost nothing but good since becoming Cordell’s pitching partner.

APBL STATISTICAL LEADERS

Average: .403 by Nelson Townsend (OF, StJ)
OPS: 1.087 by Nelson Townsend (OF, StJ)
Runs: 101 by Nelson Townsend (OF, StJ)
Home Runs: 7 by William Busby (1B, AME)
RBI: 81 by Franklin Petty (ORA)
Stolen Bases: 73 by James Burke (CF, SHA)
Batsman WPA: 6.46 by Werner Verstegen (3B, AME)
Batsman WAR: 5.0 by Nelson Townsend (OF, StJ)

ERA: 2.80 by Reynard Cordell (ORA) over 318.2 IP
Wins: 25 by Reynard Cordell (ORA)
Complete Games: 25 by Reynard Cordell (ORA) & Peadar Daly (KNI)
Strikeouts: 125 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
WHIP: 0.99 by Reynard Cordell (ORA) over 318.2 IP
Pitcher WAR: 7.1 by Jim Creighton (EXC)
Pitcher rWAR: 9.0 by Peadar Daly (KNI)

NBBO REGIONAL LEADERS (65 of 70 games played)

BROOKLYN: Atlantic at 47-18 (clinched)
NEW YORK CITY: Metropolitan at 42-23 (Union 4 GB)
UPSTATE NY: Syracuse at 44-21 (clinched)
COASTAL: Quaker St. at 53-12 (clinched)
INLAND: Susquehanna at 42-23 (Pioneer 3 GB)
NEW ENGLAND: Portland at 43-22 (clinched)

No surprises in the New York Metro, as Atlantic has taken the Brooklyn pennant and Metropolitan remains the very likely New York City champions. However, Syracuse used an incredible 20-2 July to launch themselves from 2 GB of Minuteman to seven games clear ahead in Upstate New York – one of the greatest late-season flourishes in NBBO history.

The only thing left for Quaker State to figure out is if they can win their last five games (v 23-42 Olympic) to surpass the 1865 Knickerbocker team for the best record ever. Merrimack was 7-15 in July, and Susquehanna took advantage of the slump to go several games ahead for the Inland championship. Portland continued to keep everyone else at arm’s length in New England, and that saw them clinch their first pennant.

NBBO BATSMEN OF THE MONTH

NYL: Isaac Kelly (3B, ECK) – .468, 1.133 OPS, 23 R, 51 H, 14 XBH, 1 HR, 29 RBI, 5 BB, 2 SB, 2.52 WPA, 1.6 WAR
NEL: Herb Verrett (CF, MLD) – .416, 1.094 OPS, 30 R, 42 H, 15 XBH, 1 HR, 23 RBI, 7 BB, 2 SB, 2.34 WPA, 1.4 WAR

NBBO PITCHERS OF THE MONTH

NYL: Ashley Atkins (SYR) – 12-1, 3.24 ERA, 11 K, 111.0 IP, 10 CG, 0 SHO, 1.14 WHIP, 0.9 K/BB, 2.1 WAR
NEL: Elmer Seabold (SUS) – 12-2, 2.55 ERA, 24 K, 116.1 IP, 11 CG, 1 SV, 1.23 WHIP, 1.5 K/BB, 2.2 WAR

NBBO GREENHORNS OF THE MONTH

NYL: Nicholas Banfield (P, MUT) – 7-7, 2.86 ERA, 14 K, 113.1 IP, 8 CG, 0 SHO, 1.50 WHIP, 0.6 K/BB, 1.8 WAR
NEL: William Latham (P, NEW) – 7-6, 3.93 ERA, 15 K, 105.1 IP, 5 CG, 0 SHO, 1.46 WHIP, 2.1 K/BB, 2.7 WAR

NBBO STATISTICAL LEADERS

Average: .439 by Troy Oberst (OF, MET)
OPS: 1.080 by William Valentine (OF, NYAC)
Runs: 100 by Ned Morganti (CF, QS)
Home Runs: 6 by Adam Allen (2B, QUI)
RBI: 77 by Cormack Alexander (1B, QS)
Stolen Bases: 71 by Walter Williams (CF, ATL)
Batsman WPA: 5.60 by Troy Oberst (OF, MET)
Batsman WAR: 3.9 by William Valentine (OF, NYAC)

ERA: 2.52 by Richard Frazee (MET) over 317.1 IP
Wins: 30 by Ross Gill (QS)
Complete Games: 31 by Elmer Seabold (SUS)
Strikeouts: 53 by Bubba Mack (LE)
WHIP: 1.14 by William Potteiger (MAR) over 300.0 IP
Pitcher WAR: 7.3 by Charles Rhodes (FRO)
Pitcher rWAR: 11.5 by Ashley Atkins (SYR)