Week 18: September 21-October 2, 2022
It's the second-to-last week of the 2022 season, with a good bit still up in the air in the EL and beyond.
First, an injury update from the end of last week.
Keleri CF Rarehimi Pohyfe, in his first pinch-hitting appearance of the season, tore his Achilles while trying to go 1st-to-3rd on Tutiha Nsika's RBI single. Surprisingly for an Achilles tear, he is expected to be ready for the start of the 2023 season. The oft-injured Pohyfe has descended into "Wrecked" territory lately, which tends to mean he'll take on 5-7 different injuries through the course of a season in a fairly non-realistic way - he only played 74 games this season through all of them.
Round 35:
.....Tsapna 3-2 Akashemo - 4-5, 4-0, 4-3, 6-7, 4-2(10)
...Mithazni 2-3 Sitache - 8-1, 7-8, 2-4, 11-3, 1-4
Mighty Oaks 4-1 Hokrof - 14-1, 6-4, 5-7, 5-0, 13-5
.....Keleri 2-3 A.Spirits - 5-6(10), 2-6, 5-3(10), 6-5(11), 7-11
.....Kepmem 4-1 Lutrul - 5-8, 2-1, 4-2, 9-5, 10-3
.....Kupore 1-4 Pasataki - 3-6, 3-5, 5-15, 4-5, 4-0
....Fampalo 1-4 Sh.Eagles - 3-2(10), 0-1, 3-4, 0-5, 3-4
...Westline 5-0 Nokelto - 8-6, 5-2, 8-4, 3-2, 8-0
...National 4-1 Cheshek - 5-3, 12-5, 5-2, 4-9, 8-4(11)
Otahel City 2-3 Amnanache - 4-0, 0-1(10), 7-3, 2-3, 1-5
National 5, Cheshek 3: another baserunning injury, with Cheshek wunderkind
OF/1B Syshawe Arachihe ending his rookie season with a broken thumb from a home plate collision (at least he was safe). We haven't really checked in on Arachihe this season, but he is definitely living up to the hype. 36 HR this season and a titanic 183 walks, a number that only Barry Bonds has hit in MLB. Once his hit tool develops a bit more (.249 average this year), he will be a really, really dangerous all-around hitter.
Amnanache 1, Otahel City 0 (10 innings):
Otahel SP Tesemi Mpetu took a no-hitter into the 8th inning of this matchup, but his offense could not help him out. Mpetu would end up with a no-decision in the game as City managed just 4 hits of their own.
Round 36:
...Pasataki 5-0 Mithazni - 7-2, 12-2, 7-3, 20-0, 11-8(10)
..A.Spirits 4-1 Kepmem - 3-0, 9-7, 6-3, 1-2, 11-0
....Sitache 2-3 Westline - 12-5, 6-8(11), 3-7, 3-10, 5-3
.....Hokrof 1-4 Otahel City - 1-14, 1-5, 5-4, 2-4, 3-7
...Akashemo 1-4 Mighty Oaks - 1-5, 2-3, 3-1, 1-3, 3-4
....Cheshek 2-3 Kupore - 2-7, 2-9, 8-3, 1-5, 8-5
..Amnanache 2-3 Fampalo - 13-8, 3-4, 0-3, 4-3, 2-6
..Sh.Eagles 1-4 Keleri - 2-6, 1-5, 2-5, 4-5(10), 3-1
....Nokelto 0-5 National - 4-5, 2-7, 0-1, 6-7, 5-9
.....Lutrul 1-4 Tsapna - 4-1, 5-9, 3-7, 2-5, 2-3(11)
Pasataki Galaxy 12, Mithazni 2:
Galaxy OF Tsata Mote hit 2 homers and had 8 RBI in this game, including a grand slam that busted open a 3-2 game. This is the 5th instance on the season of a player having 8+ RBI in a game, but the 4th to be accomplished by the Galaxy! Not that surprising for the league's best offense, to be fair. All of the other three were accomplished by his currently-injured teammate,
SS Atsi Keana, who has had a really interesting first season in the EL that I hope to talk about over the offseason.
With this loss, Mithazni become the first team to be officially relegated from the Elite League. I have really been rooting for them this season but there's not much that went right. More on this at season's end.
Standings.......W..L
-- 
Mighty Oaks.127 53
-- 
...National.119 61
-- 
...Pasataki.109 71
+1 
.....Tsapna.105 75
-1 
.....Keleri.104 76
+2 
..A.Spirits.100 80
-- 
.....Kepmem.100 80
-2 
....Cheshek..98 82
-- 
.....Kupore..90 90
-- 
....Fampalo..89 91
-- 
..Amnanache..89 91
-- 
.....Lutrul..86 94
-- 
...Akashemo..86 94
-- 
...Westline..82 98
-- 
..Sh.Eagles..75 105
-- 
....Sitache..75 105
-- 
Otahel City..74 106
-----------------------------
-- 
....Nokelto..68 112
-- 
.....Hokrof..66 114
-- 
...Mithazni..58 122
What had been a tight race for relegation survival has become suddenly much less interesting. Nokelto Scouts and Hokrof BC combined to win just two games this week, and it would now take a miracle for either of them to survive the drop. They've been in the EL for 7 and 5 seasons, respectively. While none of Shunna Eagles, Sitache, or Otahel City have actually clinched their place in next year's EL, they were all 5-5 or better for the week and now seem pretty safe.
The title clinch also did not come for Mighty Oaks this week, largely because National had a great week (going 9-1). The race is not really in doubt, but it does mean they will probably not clinch at home, with the magic number at 3 and a visit to Amnanache on the horizon to start next week.
Before week 19 actually comes, in the next post I'll do a quick roundup of the promotion races in lower leagues. Let's get a quick look at who might be joining the top 17 in next year's Elite League.
Round 37:
Keleri vs. Sitache
Mithazni vs. Nokelto Scouts
Tsapna vs. Cheshek
Fampalo vs. Aroketsil Spirits
Westline vs. Lutrul
Kupore vs. Akashemo
Kepmem vs. Hokrof
Mighty Oaks vs. Amnanache
National vs. Shunna Eagles
Otahel City vs. Pasataki Galaxy
Round 38:
Pasataki Galaxy vs. Kepmem
Hokrof vs. Keleri
Aroketsil Spirits vs. Otahel City
Cheshek vs. Mithazni
Amnanache vs. Westline
Shunna Eagles vs. Tsapna
Akashemo vs. Fampalo
Nokelto Scouts vs. Mighty Oaks
Lutrul vs. National
Sitache vs. Kupore