BNN Report
News from the CBO, Minors, CCBL, CYL, and CBA
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
31 August 2314
CBO Regular Season Ends
Commonwealth Baseball Organization has put the wraps on another season. In a few days the playoffs will launch in grand style with the league's elite clubs going up against one another for the ultimate payoff -- the Sole Survivor Series crown. For the baseball fan it doesn't get any better than this -- a time of tense duels, where the outcome of the season hinges on one pitch, one play, one hit -- or one break. There is nothing quite like the playoffs.
There was no last-day drama with Lexington and Quincy clinching their leagues on Saturday, as well as Oberland clinching the 6th spot over Glowing Sea due to the tiebreaker advantage (6-4 vs the Radscorpions in the regular season). Glowing Sea needed to sweep the T-51s in their late series but got a split.
Playoff baseball is a special time of year. General managers who have struggled all year to steer their club to the promised land love it as they make those final, pivotal roster selections going into the Wildcard Round. For them, this is an elusive, exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win the Commonwealth Baseball Organization Sole Survivor Series. The playoff docket begins with these games today:
#1 The Slog Ghouls (BYE), #5 Salem Witch Hats vs #4 Bunker Hill 75ers, #6 Concord Radstags vs #3 Fort Hagen Silver Shroud, #2 Lexington Synths (BYE), #1 Vault 81 Dwellers (BYE), #5 Atom Cats vs #4 Diamond City Swatters, #6Oberland T-51s vs #3 FHE Yao Guai, and #2 Quincy Gunners (BYE).
The Ghouls and Synths are celebrating their first full CBO Brotherhood League and Institute League titles, respectively. The Gunners have clinched their second Minutemen League title (2310). Vault 81 is celebrating its fourth Railroad League title and second-straight.
Atom, the defending champions, have a harder road to climb after finishing the 2314 season as Minutemen League champions and the 2nd seed in the SCA. The Silver Shroud, the 3rd seed, champions two seasons ago, seem to be the most likely team to emerge from the NCA based on recent success and playoff experience.
CBO Playoff previews will begin tomorrow when the NCA matchups begin. The SCA matchups start on Wednesday. The Wildcard Round is a Best-of-Three matchup. Also, tomorrow, we will give a final results covering of the NEBL and MML leagues. Game 7 of the New England Series between Clifton and Providence will be tonight.
Looking at the draft order, at 47-83, the Sunshine Tidings will have the first-overall pick. Full order of Top 6:
1. Sunshine Tidings
2. Nahant
3. Spectacle Island
4. Roxbury
5. County Crossing - Went 0-3 versus the Red Rockets in regular season
6. Jamaica Plain
CBO Standings
CBO Playoff Tree
CBO Players of the Week
August 24 - Red Jay Jones demonstrated his potential to be a star in the game last week and today he took home the North Charles Association Player of the Week Award.
The Sunshine Tidings catcher wreaked havoc on opposing pitchers last week, pounding them for a .522 average (12-for-23) with 5 home runs and 11 RBIs on his way to claiming the honor.
This year, Jones is batting .347 with 40 home runs and 92 RBIs.
The South Charles Association has selected its Player of the Week and the honor went to Kinsella Birdwatcher, Quincy's fine catcher.
For the week he batted .650 (13-for-20) with 2 home runs, 6 runs and 10 RBIs.
This year, Birdwatcher is hitting .300 with 109 hits, 16 home runs, 78 RBIs and has scored 54 runs.
August 31 - None selected, but we're not sure why. We will take a stab at naming a couple of people even though we do not have all the stats. Based on top daily players, these are our picks:
NCA - RF Orcin Cardinal, Fort Hagen - 12/25 (.480), 2 HR, 2 BB, 5 R, 7 RBI
SCA - LF Gremlin T. Squearfish, Atom - 13/27 (.481), 4 2B, 2 HR, 6 R, 9 RBI
CBO Noteworthy News
August 18 - The County Crossing Bloodbugs defeated the Atom Cats 2-1 yesterday in a game that featured Babs Rooth's 500th career home run.
In the clubhouse, the Bloodbugs right fielder spoke about the milestone achievement. "To be honest, I don't even remember my first home run," he said. "But this one I don't think I'll forget. Who knows if I'll hit another hundred, or fifty, or even ten?"
On his historic day, Rooth banged out 1 hit in 3 at-bats and scored 1 run with 1 run batted in.
His all-time numbers show Rooth has compiled a .337 batting average and collected 2136 hits, 500 home runs and 1399 RBIs.
August 19 - Teams across Commonwealth Baseball Organization are now permitted to carry up to 40 players until the start of the playoffs, offering both the club and fans a sneak peek at future talents and extra help off the bench.
August 22 - Fans at Gwinnett Brewery Park got a rare gift today as Cohort Williams of the Brews tossed a no-hitter against the Goodneighbor Hancocks.
Although Williams did not appear to have his best stuff in the early innings, he turned masterful as the game went on, ultimately striking out 7 and walking 0 in a 6-0 Southie victory.
"We had our chances in the first few innings when he was hittable, and we couldn't capitalize on them," Goodneighbor manager Justin Salvage said later. "In the last four or five innings, he totally shut us down."
In all, Williams faced only 27 batters. While getting into his groove, he was helped by several defensive gems.
"I don't remember a better-pitched game," Brews manager Ray Pratt said. "And how about our defense today?"
In 28 starts this year, Williams has crafted a 9-7 record and a 4.04 ERA.
August 24 - Which rookie is leading the Commonwealth Baseball Organization in home runs?
Charles Towner, DC, 30
Topher Spark, ET, 28
Jannar Arbor, CON, 26
Sheedy Smith, JP, 25
Sergio Higgins, STAR, 24
August 24 - History was made today at The Stone House -- Beachboy Nut won game #250 to seal his name in the league record books. The Nordhagen Beach ace downed the Quincy Gunners 1-0 to gain entrance into the elite 250 Club.
"I was wound up at first. I think I threw too hard," remarked Nut, "I had to calm down and go out there and pitch... not just throw. I think I got better as the game wore on. I started to think less about 250 wins and more about doing what I had to do."
During his career, Nut has registered a 250-124 record with a 3.08 ERA.
August 29 - The Fort Hagen Silver Shroud have lost the services of Nuke Laloosh for the rest of this season. He suffered shoulder inflammation in a recent ballgame and the follow-up report from the medical staff is not good. Laloosh is out for the year.
Laloosh has made 32 starts so far this year and put up a 12-8 won-lost record with a 4.46 ERA. In 200 innings he has allowed 225 hits, walked 41 and struck out 126.