BNN Report
News from the CBO, Minors, CCBL, and CYL
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
3 September 2317
CBO Regular Season Ends, EasyTown-Glowing Sea as #1s
Happy days are here for the playoff-bound teams. The Commonwealth Baseball Organization regular season is over and the playoffs will soon get under way to determine the league's best team for 2317. The clubs are planning their lineups and pitching rotations, going over scouting reports, trying to glean bits of information that might give them the edge. Nothing is seemingly left to chance. It takes a lot of talent and sometimes a little luck to bring home the Sole Survivor Series trophy.
Some clubs have coasted to make the playoffs -- others have scrapped tooth and nail to get here. After a long, sometimes seemingly endless regular season, it gets down to who can win a short series -- by hook or crook, talent or luck. That's what it takes to capture the Commonwealth Baseball Organization championship.
NCA
1. Easy Town
2. Lexington
3. Malden
4. The Slog
5. Nahant
6. Starlight
There was quite a lot of turnaround from the 2316 playoffs, with just 3 of the 6 returning: Easy Town (#3 in 2316), Malden (#1 in 2316), and The Slog (#6 in 2316). Bunker Hill, Concord, and Cambridge were all replaced. Because of the turnover and experience, all of the returning teams have to be favorites to advance. The Assaultrons, defending NCA champions, are heavy favorites to return to the Sole Survivor Series.
SCA
1. Glowing Sea
2. Jamaica Plain
3. Diamond City
4. Atom
5. Quincy
6. FHE
The SCA had a lot less turnover with four of the top five seeds returning. Glowing Sea (#4 in 2316), Diamond City (#5), Atom (#2), and Quincy (#6) all return. The Granites (formerly Gunners) advanced to the championship in 2316 and swept the Trons for their first title. Jamaica Plain and FHE are newcomers, with preseason heavy favorites, Vault 81 and Oberland, both out.
CBO Standings
CBO Players of the Week
August 27 - When it came to hitting the baseball, Stormin Normin MacDonald was in a class by himself in the North Charles Association this past week. Nobody did it better.
The outstanding shortstop for Easy Town tagged opposing pitchers for a .579 average and was voted the Player of the Week Award. Included in his stats were 11 hits in 19 at-bats, 1 homers, 3 runs scored and 9 RBIs.
MacDonald is batting at a .308 pace this season, picking up 128 hits in 415 at-bats with 10 home runs, 78 RBIs and 85 runs scored.
It was an extraordinary week for Will Hell of the Quincy Granites. First he goes on a hot hitting streak, batting .379, then he is voted the Player of the Week in the South Charles Association. Last week Hell went 11-for-29, racked up 4 home runs and 12 RBIs and scored 5 runs. It was a heck of a week for the Quincy second baseman.
Hell is hitting .311 this season with 32 home runs, 95 RBIs and 86 runs scored. He has 144 hits in 463 at-bats.
September 3 - None named
CBO Noteworthy News
August 20 - A spokesperson for the Salem Witch Hats today confirmed that Jaa Thirtysix will not be back next year. The Witch Hats starting pitcher has decided to retire.
Thirtysix's won-lost record is 165 wins and 155 losses with a 3.93 ERA and opposing hitters have compiled a .248 batting average against him.
August 20 - Diamond Ball has gone through many bats during his playing career. None of them means as much to him as the one he used to crack career hit number 2000 at CURIE Inc. Field yesterday.
The 33-year-old Silver Shroud third baseman told reporters after the game, "I plan to keep this bat at home in my own private Hall of Fame."
It was a happy day for Ball from the standpoint of the 2000-hit milestone, but a little disappointing, too. Despite his achievement, Fort Hagen dropped the contest to the Vault 81 Dwellers 5-4.
For the day Ball finished the day with 2 hits in 4 at-bats.
To date Ball has a .336 career batting average and has totaled 438 home runs.
August 24 - Deedee Martinson of the Lexington Synths nailed down his 200th career victory with a 5-0 win over the Starlight Killers today at Valentine Detective Agency Field. Martinson, 38, fired 3 strikeouts over 6 innings of work. He gave up no runs, 2 walks and allowed 8 hits.
"I feel great," Martinson said afterward. "I try not to get caught up in the moment. It's hard with so much press coverage these days, but I tune all that out when I go out there and pitch."
In his career, Martinson has compiled a 200-150 record with a 3.83 ERA in 511 starts.
September 2 - The Quincy Granites really celebrated their 10-8 victory over the Goodneighbor Hancocks at The Stone House. Not only did the Granites win the game, but reliever Professor Harriel recorded his 200th-career save. The bullpen ace stopped Goodneighbor on no runs and 1 hit in his 0.2 innings of work to seal the triumph.
"It's a good milestone -- it doesn't happen very often," Harriel said. "I was out there when my teammates needed me 200 times, and I'm real proud of that."
Harriel has saved 200 games in his career with 408 strikeouts in 442.1 innings pitched. He has also racked up a 43-31 record and a 2.73 ERA.
September 3 - Alex Language of the Glowing Sea Radscorpions could be headed for the South Charles Association Vim! Pitcher Award after an unforgettable 2317 season. The Radscorpions pitching star won the league's Triple Crown, winning 17 games, striking out 168 and logging a 2.79 ERA -- all league bests.
"It's an honor," Language told BNN, "Not many pitchers can say they've won the Triple Crown. Usually the batting Triple Crown gets all the attention."
In his sensational year he registered 17 wins and 7 losses. An opposing manager said, "I can see how he won 17 games. What I don't understand is how he lost 7."
September 3 - And the Winner is... Red Jay Jones.
The 2317 North Charles Association batting race was won by the Sunshine Tidings catcher. Jones topped the batting chart with a .362 average.
For the season, he cranked out 151 hits, 30 home runs, scored 72 times and batted in 84.
September 3 - Congratulations are in order for Oberland third baseman Kyle Powell, as he was presented with the 2317 South Charles Association batting title today at a special awards ceremony.
Powell was honored for his league-leading .359 average. He collected 150 hits in 418 at-bats, including 27 doubles, 5 triples and 14 home runs. The 24-year-old Powell also had 65 RBIs and scored 59 runs.
CBO Top Performances of August/September
Hitter - It is a bit down on the season list for game score, but McMack Bingham's performance for the Cats on August 13 was the top score, 108, of August/September. That game score tied for 6th on the season with two others. In Atom's 11-1 victory over Roxbury, Bingham was 4 for 5 with a double, two home runs, three runs, and seven RBI.
Pitcher - It came late in the season, but Starlight's Jacques Of'Ten set the season mark with a game score on August 30 for the top pitching performance of the month and season. In a 7-0 drubbing at Lexington, Of'Ten pitched a complete-game one-hitter, striking out five in the process. The lone baserunner came in the bottom of the 8th with two outs when Shawn Sykes looped a flyball into right field and then advanced to second on Henry Hampster misplaying the ball attempting to maintain the no-hitter with a dive.
CBO Players of the Month
NCA Hitter - Jim Geiger, the Cambridge right fielder, certainly made a name for himself this past month. He banged out a .402 batting average with 41 hits, 4 home runs, 28 RBIs and scored 29 times.
That kind of hitting earned him the North Charles Association Batter of the Month honors for August.
This season, Geiger is batting .324 with 153 hits, 14 home runs, 71 RBIs, .423 OBP and has scored 102 runs.
SCA Hitter - Tre' Morgueman battered South Charles Association pitchers all August and wound up taking home the Batter of the Month Award.
"I've been around Commonwealth Baseball Organization long enough to know you really have to work hard day in and day out to be able to put up this kind of consistency," the 28-year-old Morgueman told reporters. "I put in a lot of work, even on the days I might not take the field, and it's always nice when everything comes together for me like it did this last month."
In 27 games, Morgueman hit .324 with 8 home runs, 25 RBIs and scored 25 runs.
Morgueman is hitting .335 this year with 35 home runs and 110 RBIs. He also has an OBP of .412, 61 walks and scored 100 times.
NCA Pitcher - Jalep Temper was firing on all cylinders in the month of August with 5 wins as he steamrolled all North Charles Association opposition on his way to the Pitcher of the Month award.
During the month Temper was 5-1 with a 3.14 ERA. He made 7 starts, tossed 48.2 innings and had 43 strikeouts.
In 32 starts this season, Temper has chalked up a 16-9 record and a 3.13 ERA.
SCA Pitcher - August's #1 hurler was Black Red of Glowing Sea. He gunned down South Charles Association hitters the whole month and claimed the Pitcher of the Month award. The Radscorpions star piled up 6 wins and no losses to take the honor.
The 22-year-old Red added 25 strikeouts in 47 innings and 12 walks to his season record and compiled a 2.11 ERA. Other clubs hit .237 against him.
This season, Red has compiled a 12-7 mark, 3.47 ERA and made 23 starts.
NCA Rookie - Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered. That was how other clubs felt, when they faced Beasty Boyd Hollen in August, making the Malden hurler an easy choice for North Charles Association Rookie of the Month honors.
In 7 starts he breezed to a 3-0 record, racked up 13 strikeouts in 43 innings and posted a 3.77 ERA. Opposing hitters only managed a .288 batting average against him.
Hollen has made 17 starts so far this year and put up a 7-3 won-lost record with a 4.42 ERA. In 99.2 innings he has allowed 106 hits, walked 31 and struck out 37.
SCA Rookie - The best rookie has been named for August -- and the winner is Black Red.
The South Charles Association presented the trophy to him today in a press conference.
It was a sparkling 6-0 record that brought the Glowing Sea starter the Rookie of the Month award.
Red stood out last month with a 2.11 ERA in 7 starts, tossed 47 innings, fanned 25 and held opposing batters to a .237 average.
Red has gone 12-7 this season with an ERA of 3.47 and 73 strikeouts in 145.1 innings pitched. Other clubs are hitting .256 against him.
CBO Records
Stolen Bases - 93 - Eden Babz, Easy Town; Previous record - 78, Eden Babz, 2316
Final CBO Statistics