BNN Report
News from the CBO, Minors, CCBL, and CYL
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
17 July 2316
CBO Analysis
We have reached the 2/3 mark of the regular season, and some teams are getting close to clinching their standing above or below .500. At 59-29, the defending champions, Vault 81, hold the CBO's best record, while Starlight has gotten better but still has a stronghold on the CBO's worst record at 25-62. Here are the current team power rankings for Commonwealth Baseball Organization:
Teams (Total Points, Tendency):
1) Vault 81 Dwellers (131.6, +)
2) Malden Grognaks (116.5, -)
3) Diamond City Swatters (109.4, +)
4) Glowing Sea Radscorpions (102.2, o)
5) Bunker Hill 75ers (102.1, ++)
6) Oberland T-51s (100.1, +)
7) Concord Radstags (99.0, +)
8) Nordhagen Beach Party Boys (98.2, --)
9) Lexington Synths (97.0, ++)
10) Sunshine Tidings Chemists (96.2, o)
11) Fort Hagen Silver Shroud (93.1, ++)
12) Goodneighbor Hancocks (93.0, +)
13) Quincy Gunners (92.0, ++)
14) The Slog Ghouls (90.1, --)
15) Egret Ninjas (89.9, ++)
16) Atom Cats (88.1, --)
17) Cambridge Coursers (88.1, --)
18) Nahant Celtics (86.9, -)
19) Easy Town Assaultrons (84.0, --)
20) Spectacle Island Reapers (83.0, --)
21) Salem Witch Hats (82.9, +)
22) Roxbury Rad Sox (78.9, -)
23) County Crossing Bloodbugs (77.7, +)
24) FHE Yao Guai (77.6, ++)
25) University Point Deathclaws (76.9, --)
26) Jamaica Plain Red Rockets (71.8, -)
27) Southie Brews (61.5, -)
28) Starlight Killers (53.7, o)
Brotherhood League
Malden had the best 10-game stretch in the BL, going 7-3 to extend their league lead to six games over Nordhagen Beach. The Slog is the last of the teams above .500 and in clear playoff contention. The rest of the BL is below .500: Easy Town, Nahant, Salem, and County Crossing.
The Assaultrons were picked to win the Brotherhood League and claim the CBO's top record. Instead, the Trons have a Nuka-Hitter Award candidate in 2315 winner, Eden Babz (.340/7/36/54 SB). Otherwise, Easy Town is 8th in runs scored (357) with their best offensive category being 1st in stolen bases (118). 1B Albie Cannibal (.303/9/37) leads the team in home runs, while LF Newt Jordan (.265/4/40) leads in RBI. On the mound, the Trons are 6th in runs allowed (339). All three of Lonely Gale (9-8, 3.32), Tarzan Rogers (9-6, 3.59), and Cohort Williams (12-6, 3.20) have ERAs below 4.00, but this is a year where the raised mound has lowered top pitchers to ERAs below 3.00. The NCA average is 3.54. That number would shatter the record-low 4.11 in 2301.
Institute League
There are ups and downs for all teams in the Institute League, but the number of games separating 1st and 6th is just four. That means this league is the most up for grabs league in the CBO. Right now, Bunker Hill has a 1.5-game lead over Sunshine Tidings, two-game lead over Fort Hagen and Cambridge, three-game lead over Lexington, and four-game lead over Concord. All teams are .500 or above, meaning all six teams mentioned are in playoff contention and have the potential to work their way into the #2 seed. The Killers, as mentioned, are in the rear and likely to get the #1 overall pick in the 2316 Draft.
The 75ers are in 1st and may stay there. However, hitting will need to surge for both that to happen and for Bunker Hill to be an actual title contender. On offense, the 75ers are 10th in runs scored (349) with their best category being 3rd in home runs (75). CF Esau Babz (.312/17/51/18 SB) is looking like the 17th overall pick from 2311 before Spectacle Island began to give up on him in 2315 and traded him to the 75ers. The only players topping Babz from the team Triple Crown is star SS Aaron Squire (.290/13/54) who leads the team in RBI. On the mound, Bunker Hill is much better, 2nd in the NCA in runs allowed (316) with the top Starters ERA (2.85). Ace Jalep Temper (11-3, 2.07) and Pokey Chatman (6-4, 2.44) have been excellent. In the bullpen, it could be better. CL Cleveland Heep (11 SV, 3.00) has been OK.
Minutemen League
Despite going 3-7 in their last 10, the Atom Cats are atop the Minutemen League as we approach the All-Star Break in two weeks. Three teams are all .500 and two games back: Goodneighbor, Spectacle Island, and Quincy. One of those three teams would represent the 6th seed if the playoffs started today. University Point is fading away, while Jamaica Plain and Southie are pretty much already out of the running.
If the Hancocks can find a bit more success, they may find themselves as the 2316 ML titans. Goodneighbor is a talented team, but their most likely landing spot is somewhere around the 6th seed in the playoffs. They are 9th in runs scored (329) and 6th in runs allowed (348), so they are actually doing well to be at .500 at this point in the season. LF Sebastian Lort (.326/1/28/29 SB) is the only player hitting over .300. RF Squall Gunblade (.220/10/48) leads the team in homers and RBI. Ace Jared Porch (8-10, 3.50) has been up and down, though his ERA needs to drop. Harley Buechel (7-6, 3.29) and Sticky Hill (5-5, 3.39) are holding up. CL Kell George (16 SV, 1.67) leads the bullpen.
Railroad League
With a seven-game winning streak, Vault 81 is again eight up on 2nd-place Diamond City, pushing their RL Magic # to 35. Glowing Sea is just a game back of the Swatters, with Oberland the other team above .500. Egret, Roxbury, and FHE are all below .500 and probably will be out of the running soon if not already there.
For Diamond City, being great seems to be stopped only by the Dwellers. The Swatters have the CBO's third-best record behind Vault 81 and the Grognaks. Statistically, DC is a contender. The Swatters are 3rd in runs scored (362) and 2nd in runs allowed (301). 2B Alex Bragman (.291/15/61/16 SB) is the star. 1B IC Reader (.299/7/38) is the team leader in average for the 9th-ranked average (.253) in the SCA. On the mound, 2315 Vim! Pitcher Award winner Macho Lopez (11-4, 2.42) is having a great season. Heaven Fontenot (9-7, 2.78) is also having a great season but gets poor run support. Beachboy Nut (10-10, 3.29) is still good but no longer great at 38. While he is not the closer, 37-year-old RP Raul Esparza (2-0, 0.77) has been the bullpen leader.
CBO Standings
CBO Players of the Week
July 10 - What's in a number? In baseball, just about everything.
The numbers that Nordhagen Beach's Justin Hazard put up last week were the envy of the league, as Hazard came away with North Charles Association Player of the Week honors.
He belted out 10 hits in 20 at-bats, 3 home runs and 11 RBIs last week as he posted his .500 batting average.
This season, Hazard has posted a batting average of .252 with 68 hits in 270 at-bats, 8 home runs and 36 RBIs. He has also scored 31 runs, walked 34 times and compiled a .334 OBP.
Will Hell demonstrated his potential to be a star in the game last week and today he took home the South Charles Association Player of the Week Award.
The Quincy second baseman wreaked havoc on opposing pitchers last week, pounding them for a .526 average (10-for-19) with 4 home runs and 9 RBIs on his way to claiming the honor.
To date, Hell has collected 95 hits for a .320 average. He has posted 19 home runs, scored 51 runs and driven in 55 runs.
July 17 - The votes have been tallied and the winner of the North Charles Association Player of the Week has been named. It was awarded earlier today to Diamond Ball for his great week at the plate.
The Fort Hagen third baseman took home the trophy by banging out 10 hits in 21 at-bats for a .476 batting average, driving in 5 runs and scoring 6 times.
Currently Ball is batting .308 with 97 hits and 15 home runs. He has knocked in 48 runs and scored 51 times.
This week Ken Debate, left fielder for the Jamaica Plain Red Rockets, slashed, mashed and bashed his way to the South Charles Association Player of the Week trophy.
Debate put up a .423 average as he pounded out 11 hits, 2 home runs, 4 RBIs and scored 4 runs.
Debate has a .240 average and a .304 on-base percentage for the year. He has picked up 68 hits, 4 home runs and driven in 25 runs.
CBO Noteworthy News
July 6 - The Spectacle Island Specters released C Diss Tillery who had asked for an opportunity to play at the CBO level. On July 15, the T-51s signed him to fill in an injury role. He got his first start in the CBO since 2313 with the T-51s.
July 8 - It was a banner day for Barker Cocoa, who collected his 2500th hit in the University Point 2-0 win over Diamond City. Cocoa went 3-for-4 in the game as both Deathclaws and Swatters fans cheered Cocoa when he reached base after his hit.
"It feels great to get #2500," Cocoa said afterward, "especially since we won the game."
In his all-time stats Cocoa is hitting .348 with 2500 hits, 649 home runs, 1881 runs scored and 1777 RBIs.
July 10 - What would you do after you had just won your 150th game? Run around Vim! Park of Salem doing cartwheels, jumping for joy and waving to the crowd? Well, maybe you and I would do that, but not Trolley Dodge -- that's not his way.
After he notched number 150, the 37-year-old Quincy hurler spoke to the press like he always has -- in a soft, quiet voice. He wasn't doing any cartwheels or even anything resembling a jump for joy. "Obviously it feels very good," Dodge commented. "To win this many games, you've got to have a lot of help."
Dodge got his milestone victory by beating the Salem Witch Hats 3-2. He held them to 8 hits in 8.1 innings and rung up 4 strikeouts with 3 walks.
After sharing his thoughts with the press, he went to the clubhouse. There he was greeted by the guys who had helped him get #150. His teammates drenched him and then gave him a rousing round of applause. That got to him -- for the first time today, Dodge's face broke into a big smile.
In his lifetime numbers Dodge has a 150-152 won-lost record with a 4.34 ERA.