COBRA: Consolidated Organisation of Baseball and Railways of Amelia: A History

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February 29, 1920



As the season approaches, BNN released their Top Prospects list. Top of the list is CF Sid van Kranenburg of the Dustland Sharks. He's already been named as the top defensive CF in the league by the OSA as well. Expectations are high for this kid.




March 6, 1920
The University Baseball season kicks off today. Experts put the Northlands College of Technology Wildcats side as the favourite. Led by Catcher Daniel Irvine, who projects to a .420 batting average. He's a senior so we should expect to see him in the draft this year.




Another to keep an eye on is Sophomore Closer Carson Turner of the Saffron School of Magic. Projections currently have him with a K/9 of 15.58 -- leaps and bounds above anyone else.




In COBRA news, spring training has begun and we've already got our first injury. Northlands #2 pitcher Rory Miller is heading to the injury list for 3 months with a rotator cuff inflammation.

March 7, 1920
More injury news as spring training continues. The Dolphins have confirmed that Stopper Kirk Swinson will head to the injured list for 4-5 months with bone chips in his elbow. That's a tough blow for a side with little in the way of pitching talent to begin with.

March 12, 1920
And the High School Season kicks off today. Southern Salt Quarter Academy is the narrow favourite but you can find pretty much identical odds on nearly all the teams if you check in with your bookie in Spice District.

Dallas Nolt has been predicted as a player to watch for the SSQA. The 15 year old freshman has been projected to get a .380/.476/.632 slash line with 53 RBIs over 40 games.




March 15, 1920
Amelia City's 2B Doug Dale will miss the start of the season with a fractured wrist. The injury is expected to sideline him for 5-6 weeks. Big blow to the league to have a top player miss time.

March 28, 1920
Only a couple days out from opening day, has spring training claimed its last victim? Sugar Factory 3B Jaden Tenneh is out with a torn hamstring and expected to miss 4-5 weeks. 37 year old Tenneh signed a top tier three year deal with the Elephants. Team officials must be a bit nervous that they've signed on for three years of on-and-off injuries.

March 30, 1920
Well here it is. Opening Day.

BNN put in their experts in a room and wouldn't let them out until they come up with a prediction on how the season will go and this is what they've come up with.



The Polar Bears are expecting to absolutely hammer down the home runs. Teammates RF Jon Jackson and 1B Richard Maxwell both expected to compete for the home run title with 50+ each. The Polar Bears are also expected to concede more runs than any. Only their ace Elijah Shumate to act against that. He's predicted to get a 2.44 ERA vs the team overall getting a 5.21 ERA.

If the Polar Bears can't maintain their insane game plan then the Roosters, Elephants, and Ducks are expected to be right there for the East title. Shoutout to Rooster Max Steel who's predicted to have a crack at 400 strikeouts.

In the West, the Dustland Sharks have a firmer grip on the division title.

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March 30, 1920
Complete Game Shutouts are the name of the game on opening day as we get three of them: Elijah Shumate (Northlands), Adam Brookshire (Saffron), and Jaxon Darnall (Dustland) all with the honours. Darnall's against the Unicorn Point Athletic Club is probably the best line of the night.



March 31, 1920
The Saffron Turtles and Amelia City Metros play out the first extra innings game of COBRA. The Turtles finally win it in the 15th with a walk-off sac fly by CF Jayden DeNiro. The Metros certainly had their own chance to win it. They loaded the bases in 14th but couldn't get the runs on the board.



April 1, 1920
Turtles-Metros again go to extra innings, and again ends in a walk-off win for the Turtles after the game goes to the 10th. Metros only had themselves to blame, in the 9th an error from LF Lucas West saw the Turtles grab the run they needed to force the extras.



But the big stories was a sudden explosion in hitting. Northlands 3B Oscar Newsome went off for 3 home runs in a 12-11 loss to the Sugar Factory Elephants. Meanwhile, down in the Spice District, Neil Spurrier was doing the same thing against the Falcons, this time in a winning effort.

There was also some big hitting in the Ducks 13-3 win over the Broncos. RF Peter Kowalski went 5-6 for the day and C Joel de Vries went 2-3 with two home runs and 3 walks for a 5-RBI haul.

April 2, 1920
The Turtles played their third extra-innings game in a row today. This time against the Dustland Sharks. CF Jayden DeNiro was the hero today, going 6-7 for the day with a triple and three doubles. His final hit of the day was a single in the 11th that got C Valentin Folgan to second base. From there, Folgan was able to beat the throw from Right Field when Kris Alcott hit the walk-off single of the game.



April 5, 1920
The first player of the week award goes to Port Magnolia SS Max Roberts who went 15-25 with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs.

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April 9, 1920
Penguin Pitcher Fred Alltop was left devastated after throwing 12 shutout innings against the Elephants. The Penguin hitters completely failed to fire. Alltop threw 165 pitches and gave up just 4 hits and 6 walks before being pulled with the score still 0-0. The Penguins gave up the winning run a couple of innings later.

Alltop had thrown 8.1 shutout innings in the previous game as well. Throw in an extra inning from the game before than that and he's suddenly gone 21.1 innings without conceding a run.



The Crimson Forest Falcons after starting the season 0-9, have a win! They beat the equally hapless Metros (2-8 after this game) to break their losing streak to start the season.

Finally today. Just look at this WPA graph fall.



Beautiful. The Roosters thought they had in the bag when they got the go-ahead run at the top of the 9th but they didn't account for big hitting pinch hitter Emmett Miles who slammed the first pitch he saw for 405ft and the win. That's the fourth walk-off win the Turtles have had so far this season, in only ten games.

April 10, 1920
Absolute destruction. The Unicorns were helpless against Whiskeytown pitcher Lenny Russell who threw 9 innings of one-hit, one-walk shutout ball. The no-hitter only broken up in the 8th.



April 11, 1920
The Hadestown Broncos have started the season off 4-7, and any hopes of turning that around just got a bit more remote. Their star pitcher Dalton Deschenes is out for the next four months. He left his last game early after pitching 5 shutout innings. The Broncos got the win there and Deschenes won player of the game.

April 13, 1920
Last time we saw Jared Way, he was getting walked off by Emmett Miles. The Unicorn Point Athletic Club paid the price in his next start as he racked up 15 strikeouts enroute to a 2-1 win for the Roosters.



Standings at the end of April 14, 1920.

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April 16, 1920
Whiskeytown Catcher Joel De Vries is have a cracker start to the season. Over 16 games this season, he's registered a hit in each. Including two home runs in this extra innings win over the Spice District Roosters. They were certainly timely home runs, coming in the 8th and 11th innings to get the Ducks over the line.



April 17, 1920
This top of the table Ducks-Rooster series produces another banger. The Roosters went into the bottom of the 9th down 4-1 but they kept on chipping away at the pitcher. Until finally, with 2 outs on the board and the bases loaded. LF Odin Bendig hit a emphatic line drive to clear the bases and get the win for the Roosters. Unfortunately this game spelled an end to Joel de Vrie's hit streak which stands at 14 games.



April 20, 1920
We very nearly had our first no-hitter of COBRA but Tijs Oudenkerk's efforts against the Salt Quarter Penguins was broken up in the 9th.



April 22, 1920
Word has it, that Liam Schmitt provoked the fight by just repeating back Jody's Stephenson's statistics. "He boasts an OBP of .188" Ouch.





Standings at the end of April 22, 1920. There's a three way tie in the East Division and the Saffron Turtles continue to hold on to their narrow lead in the West. The Turtles are 5-0 at the moment in extra-innings games.

Whiskeytown CF Thad Pardue has proven himself a effective base stealer. Over the first 22 games, he's stolen 12 bases -- twice as many as anyone else!

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April 24, 1920
Big day from Salt Quarter's Shawn Marsh who pitched a complete game shutout against the Crimson Forest Falcons while picking up 15 K's along the way.

Probably a bit unfair to highlight any achievements against the Falcons. They are absolutely terrible right now. The best batting average on the team comes from one of their pitchers who's contributing a .333 over his 5 starts.



April 26, 1920
Jared Way saw what Shawn Marsh was up to you and thought he'd give it a try when the Penguins came to the Salt District. So he also put up a 15K complete game shutout.



April 29, 1920
The wheels are starting to come off the Crimson Forest Falcons. 36 year old 1B Zeke Reynolds has demanded a trade according to the Amelia Daily Times citing the team's 8-18 record though it's clear that Reynolds is frustrated with his role in the team as he's been displaced from any starting role in the team by 23 year old Gaby Williams. Reynolds has been contributing .158/.273/.158 for a 17 OPS+ as a pinch hitter. He offers so little defensively that his scouting report says that his best position is "the batters box".



Overheard in the GM office after Reynolds left.

"So... can we actually trade these guys?"
"Yeah. I mean, I think we can."
"Woah. Big, if true."

Meanwhile, Northlands Pitcher Elijah Shumate threw everything he could at the Saffron Turtles, allowing only 3 hits and collecting 15 K's over 9 innings. The sole run he gave up was a home run to Turtle LF Spike Evener in the 8th. The Polar Bears were simply unable to string together a run and handed Shumate the loss.



The standings as we head into May. The Roosters getting a little bit of breathing room thanks to a six game win streak.

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The first lot of player of the month awards were handed out. Congratulations to both players for a well-done month!



Joel kicked the season off with a 14 game hit streak and has barely relented since that was broken up. His two home runs against the Spice District Roosters was a critical part of their extra innings win.



Some great pitching performances this month but Darnall edged himself ahead of the competition. Darnall started the season off with a complete game shutout against the Unicorn Point Athletic Club(not actually reflected in the above stats) and would later grab a 10K haul against the Penguins. He proved tough to hit home runs off, he only conceded two over April.

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May 1, 1920
It was a game of drama and home runs when the Whiskeytown Ducks came to the Bear Pit to take on the Northlands Polar Bears. The game started off pretty tame but it suddenly exploded in the bottom of the 5th when Northlands RF blasted a 3-run home run. The Ducks will strike back in the 6th with back-to-back home runs from LF J.R. Shouse and 1B Vladik Zavalin. Zavalin will hit a home run in each plate appearance to come for a three home run game.

Unfortunately Zavalin's efforts will be vain. As the game moves to the bottom of the 9th, the Ducks hold a 9-8 lead over the Polar Bears but the inning kicks off with the man who started the home runs getting his second of the night to tie the game up. The Bears load the bases and it all it takes is a Paul Manzi single for the walk-off.



And, Joel De Vries' hit streak record is no more as Amelia City's SS Levi Days gets his 15th in a row in a loss to the Dustland Sharks. The hit streak doesn't bring the Metros any luck, they're 5-10 so far.

2 May, 1920
And the moment I mention something, I jinx it. The Amelia City Metros picked up a 6-5 win in extras against the Dustland Sharks but Levi Days failed to get a hit.

4 May, 1920
Two big efforts from pitcher Max Steel and CF Johnny Pfeifer propelled the Spice District Roosters to a a big 8-1 win over the Crimson Forest Falcons. Both teams got themselves a lead-off home run but that was the last hit and run that Max Steel would give up that evening as he ripped the Falcons batting order apart with a 15K performance. On the other side of the ledger, after getting that first home run Johnny Pfeifer just kept on going with 3-run home runs in the 5th and 7th to cap off a 7 RBI game.



7 May, 1920
Paul Manzi is becoming something of a cult hero in Northlands. The 28 year old Right Fielder has yet to start a game but it was just a week ago when he hit a walk-off single against the Ducks. Here it's the top of the 10th against the Roosters and the bases are loaded, again. He jumps on the first pitch he sees and slips a single in between the 1st and 2nd baseman to get the winning run home. The throw from the Roosters Right Fielder not getting there in time.

So, here's a Paul Manzi fact. He's got a 1.36 WPA at the moment. The only other Northlands player with a higher WPA is Jon Jackson with 1.55. The difference? Jon Jackson has had 164 plate appearance, Paul Manzi 19.



To top off the bad news for the Roosters. They've lost their star 3B Tommy Glass to injury. He's expected to miss 4-5 weeks.

8 May, 1920
Fresh off winning pitcher of the month. Jaxon Darnell has made a serious statement for the May prize as well as he pitches the first no-hitter of COBRA against the Salt Quarter Penguins. It's not without a little bit of controversy though as at least one columnist from the Amelia Daily Times makes the case that those errors could have easily been classified as hits.





Here's where the standings lie at the end of 8 May!

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13 May, 1920
Dustland's Jaxon Darnall has been on an absolute tear lately. It was only on the 8th that he pitched the league's first no-hitter and he followed that up with a complete game shutout against the Saffron Turtles. He actually hasn't conceded any runs (earned or unearned) in the last 30 innings.

Well, he's just locked in his future with the Dustland Sharks by taking himself out of the upcoming free agent market with a $95k/5yr deal. That'll make him the highest paid pitcher in the land when it takes effect in 1921. That final year does have a vesting option: requiring 200 IP in 1924. He's 32 now so probably a smart move from Sharks management.

So far this season, Darnall is 10-1 over 11 starts. He's got 1.01 ERA, 0.82 WHIP, and 2.08 FIP. His ERA+ is an insane 402. He's already got 4 complete game shutouts under his belt, including the no-hitter from last week. The slash line against him looks like .160/.221/.209.

14 May, 1920
The Amelia City Metros picked up a rare win on the back of a 16K performance from Jeremiah Hinton against the Hadestown Broncos.

I thought this was a record but it turns out Max Steel also got 16K for the Roosters in a loss to the Northlands Polar Bears the same day that Jaxon Darnall got his no-hitter and I missed it. Sorry Max!



15 May, 1920
We had two games go into extra innings today, both with a player getting three home runs.

The first between the Sharks and Polar Bears saw the Sharks take a 7-1 lead by the end of the 2nd. But Sharks Catcher Kian Lehn isn't one to give up so he hit a home run in the 3rd, 4th, and in the 9th to tie it all up at 10 runs apiece. Lehn was also on base when 3B Carl McNutt sent a home run into the stands in the 11th. The Polar Bears got another run at the bottom of the inning but it was too late.



The second game was between the Port Magnolia Dolphins and the Spice District Roosters which needed 15 innings to come to a winner. Roosters RF Roman Karabanov was in the right place at the right time for each of his home runs. His first in the 6th helped the Roosters keep pace with the Dolphins, his second in the 10th forced more innings and his final blast in the 15th was the walk-off.



16 May, 1920
The Spice District Rooster's hold on the East Division just got tenuous as they confirm they'll be losing their big hitting CF Johnny Pfeifer for the rest of the season with a broken kneecap. The 30 year old has been on a tear this season, slashing .305/.387/.695 over 38 games with 17 home runs. Good enough for second place in the home run charts.

He was actually projected to hit 57 at that rate.

His biggest game of the year was his 3 home run/7 RBI haul in a 8-1 victory over the Crimson Forest Falcons at the start of this month. His efforts overshadowed by Max Steel, who picked up 15 strikeouts that game.

His replacement, Camden Jones, will be an improvement defensively but he doesn't offer much with the bat.

17 May, 1920
Slightly more than a month until the All-Star game and we've just got the first batch of voting results in. Voting stations have been set up across Amelia, from the coffee houses to the whiskey houses.

Whiskeytown Catcher Joel De Vries is dominating the voting with 26,323 votes so far. The next highest is his teammate, 1B Vladik Zavalin with 20,863.

19 May, 1920
Speaking of catchers. Dustland's Kian Lehn is putting up a strong claim as the best catcher in the game. In fact, he's currently on a 20 game hit streak. The 23 year old is currently slashing at .413/.489/.716 with 10 home runs and 15 doubles doing wonders to that slugging.



22 May, 1920
Big blow to the Sugar Factory Elephants as they lose their #1 starter, Connor Kyle to elbow ligament reconstruction surgery. He'll be out for 14-15 months. Kyle is only 25 years old so plenty of time to bounce back.

His numbers haven't been great, a 6-5 record with a 4.11 ERA and 1.29 WHIP. That's good enough for 105 ERA+ but his FIP has been outstanding at 2.69 with a FIP- of 62 so it's likely the ERA numbers aren't telling us the whole story of what's going on with the Elephants.

Here's where the standings sit before the games of 22 May. The Roosters have a small lead in the East Division over the Elephants but then there's a fair bit of daylight before the next set of teams. Over in the west, the Saffron Turtles lead has diminished among strong performances from the Sharks and Penguins.

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May 22, 1920
Attention has turned to high school baseball this week as the regular season wraps up and a three game final begins. The participants this year were Crimson Forest High School and Southern Salt Quarter Academy who had a hold on the top two positions for the majority of the season.



Crimson Forest won big in the opening game but the Southern Salt Quarter Academy struck back with an extra-innings victory in game two. SSQA's SS Alwin Weisen almost had a perfect Homer Simpson moment with a run-scoring hit by pitch to put them up by one. Sadly, I think it needs to be a walk-off hit by pitch to count.



With a game three forced, it wasn't looking great for the Crimson Forest Lions but a big 7th inning got them over the line to become the first Amelia High School champions.

Most of the most promising players aren't seniors yet so expect names like Ozzy Maricic, Chase Lambert, Dallas Nolt, Austin Pendleton, and Grayson White to take a while to take some time to percolate before they make their way into COBRA.

May 24, 1920
Any catcher fans out there? You're about to be devastated. Whiskeytown's Joel de Vries is out for 5 weeks with a fractured hand sustained when he was hit by a pitch. The Ducks currently sit at 23-27, and that kind of absence from their star player has pretty much put an end to any playoff hopes.

Dustland Catcher Kian Lehn's hit streak is over at 23 games. He went 0-2 with two walks against the Spice District Roosters in a loss.

Final news for today: the Penguins and Falcons battled it out for 21 innings today! We can blame and thank Salt Quarter's LF Ernie Morris, blame him for hitting the home run that tied it up in the 7th and then thank him for hitting the home run that finished it all off in the 21st.

Salt Quarter put its starters out there in the end, including 5 innings of Dimitri Balanchin who was awarded player of the game for his pitching in the death. The 36 year old Balanchin started the season off as a reliever before getting placed in the rotation. Now that he has pitched enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, he is absolutely killing it with a 0.32 ERA and 1308 ERA+ so far.



May 25, 1920
Oh my god the Penguins and Falcons went to the 15th inning today before the Penguins finally walked it off. Salt Quarter's Shawn Marsh pitched 11.1 innings after contributing two in the game yesterday. The only run that he conceded was unearned. That win puts the Penguins into prime position in the West Division (though with an upcoming series against the Saffron Turtles we'll see if they can hold on)

May 26, 1920
OK some kind of mania has descended upon the teams of COBRA because four of the six games went to extra innings today. Another featured a walk-off sac fly. The only people who largely went drama-free was the Penguins and Falcons.

Luke Benson gets the nod as the best performer in a day full of pitcher duels with his 2-hit 10 inning effort against Hadestown.



May 29, 1920
After dominating the regular season with a 30-6 record the Saffron School of Magic Sluggers have lost the University Championship to the Northlands College of Technology Wildcats.





Many were calling them the Invincibles after a season of domination but anything can happen in a three game series. Disaster struck the Sluggers early in game three when they lost their star pitcher Ellis Bishop to injury after only three pitches (he was attributed the loss because one of those pitches was a single that eventually turned into a run). The Wildcats pounced and demolished the Sluggers side 15-4 to claim the win and trophy.

Will we ever see such a good university side again?

Saffron will be losing senior RF Logan Jackson (12 home runs to lead the league) and 2B Jack Barfield (15 steals to lead the league). Juniors SP Ellis Bishop (2.43 ERA to lead starters), SP Alex Vaughn (11-0 for the season) and 1B Jake Buckett (9 home runs and 37 RBIs good enough for third only behind his teammates) may also be tempted by the draft.

Two players who will stick around will be closer Carson Turner who put up a 1.24 ERA/1.07 WHIP over his 29 innings for a 500 ERA+. His 10 saves (out of 10 opportunities) was also more than triple anyone else. His efforts at the death were a critical part of the side.

Big hitting 3B Kaiden Burchett will also stick around. He's the current front-runner for the MVP prize.

The Wildcats will be losing their catcher Daniel Irvine who hit for .398 and provides some critical leadership and outstanding defense at catcher. They will be keeping hold on 1B Ken Weiss who led the league in batting average with .406

Players have until the 5th of June to declare for the draft.

The Standings at the end of May. The Roosters have started to cement a nice lead in the East while in the West, the Penguins were briefly top of the table but a 4 game losing streak to finish the month off has them fall to last place and gifts the Turtles top spot back.

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What a month for the 23 year old catcher! Lehn was on fire in May -- a month that included a 23 game hit streak and a 3 home run game against the Northlands Polar Bears -- with the third of those home runs tying the game and forcing extra innings (the Sharks will go on to win).

After Whiskeytown Catcher Joel de Vries won last month we're in for an interesting battle to see who can establish themselves as the premiere catcher in the league.



Jaxon Darnell wins his second pitcher of the month award and was even better this month than he was in April! May included his no-hitter and another two complete game shutouts. He also announced a 5 year contract extension with the Dustland Sharks to potentially take keep him in Shark colours until his age-37 season.

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June 8, 1920
Unicorn Point's playoff hopes were dashed a tad when baseball's highest paid player 3B Dennis Sullenger confirmed he'll miss the rest of the season.



The Unicorns are currently 2.5 games outside the West Division title and occupy a wildcard spot. His replacement, Benjamin Gannaway isn't too bad. About equal defensively, and has been tearing it up in the minors. We'll see if that can translate to the big dance though.

June 10, 1920
Another casualty in the West Division today as Salt Quarter's #2 starter Fred Alltop confirmed to miss the rest of the season.



The Penguins, like the Unicorns above are 3.5 games outside the division title and fighting for the wildcard spot.

June 11, 1920
In what would have been Alltop's day to start. The Penguins rallied and took down the East Division leader in a thriller. They needed a massive contribution from Right Fielder Mickey Cromwell to do it though, and he delivered, going 5-6 with a home run and a double to help the Penguins take the Roosters to extras.

The bottom of the 10th, saw lead-off LF Ernie Morris get a single, and then make the dash to third when Cromwell got his fifth hit of the night with a single out to the right field. It was looking like we might just be heading to the 11th when 1B McKenzie Bellows grounded into a double play leaving no one but Morris on base but that was a moment that closer Hank Reilly lost control.

First pitch was a ball. Second pitch was a ball. Third pitch was just nowhere near the catcher. Morris trotted in for the walk-off wild pitch.



June 13, 1920
The Roosters will then go on to smash the Penguins in the second game of the series but the final game will be completely starved of runs until the end when the Roosters finally got their batting going by the 11th. This time, a Salt Quarter wild pitch got the first run on the board with two other runs coming in soon after.

Rooster pitcher Max Steel was an absolute man of steel that game, pitching all 11 innings and only giving up 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 11.



June 15, 1920
Zeke Reynolds at one point demanded he be traded from the Crimson Forest Falcons. Unhappy that he was playing a backup role and unhappy with the slackers that populated the Falcon clubhouse, he feared that he'll be spending his last baseball years with a useless organisation.

He was never traded but he's still not happy so we might see some action closer to the trading deadline.

But anyway, he got his sixth start off the season today and he celebrating by blasting three home runs into the crowd. For a total of four for the season.

Anyway, the Unicorns still won. That's so Falcon.



Here's where we stand at the end of June 15. One week out from the All-Star game.

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June 19, 1920
Trade season is upon us as Amelia City and Port Magnolia are the first to break the ice. The big ticket is 34 year old RF Jeremias Mal, who can provide a very solid contribution off the bench with the bat. He's posted a 156 OPS+ over 118 plate appearances this season for the Metros so could prove a useful addition for the Dolphins as they look to turn the season around. The Metros get nothing back aside from some future promise.



June 21, 1920
The All-Star roster was announced and Whiskeytown catcher Joel de Vries was announced as the player with the most votes -- with 254,159 to his name.



Unfortunately the day came with bad news for his fans. He hadn't made an appearance on a field since he was hit by a pitch that shattered his hand in late May. It was confirmed that his recovery will be delayed for another two months. If we're lucky then we'll get to see De Vries in a cameo performance at the end of the season. The Ducks are 15.5 games out of the division and 9 games out of a wildcard spot. Their playoff hopes are floundering.

But anyway, your 1920 All-Stars everyone.





June 22, 1920
Northlands RF Jon Jackson wins the HR Derby!



June 23, 1920
The West is the best! They take the slim victory at Sugar Factory Grounds.



Here's where the standings sit at all the break.

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The All-Star break gives us an opportunity to have a look to see if anyone's on track for some impressive stat totals.

Home Runs
We've got three players: LF Odin Bendig (Spice District), 1B Vladik Zavalin (Whiskeytown), and 1B Richard Maxwell (Northlands) on track to hit over 50 home runs this season. Current projections have them getting 57, 52, and 50 respectively.

RBIs
1B Vladik Zavalin (Whiskeytown) is on track for 149 RBIs.

Hits
Two players on track for 200 hits. CF Sean Newton (Sugar Factory) with 211, and 2B Curtis Ripley (Spice District) with 208.

Stolen Bases
Just one player, CF Thad Pardue (Whiskeytown) is on track for 50 or more. We have him down for 56.

30/30 Club
1B Gabby Williams (Crimson Forest) is a candidate for the 30/30 club. He's on track for 44 stolen bases, it's the home runs that'll undo him. He's currently projected for 28.

Pitcher Wins
Two on track for 25+ wins. Max Steel (Spice District) with 29 and Jaxon Darnall (Dustland) with 27.

Strikeouts
5 Players on track with 350+ strikeouts. Max Steel (Spice District) with 394, Shawn Marsh (Salt Quarter) with 374, Jared Way (Spice District) with 365, and Elijah Shumate (Northlands) with 362

June 30, 1920
In silly news, Port Magnolia's 22 year old 1B Ron Stubbs injured himself in a foot race with a teammate.



And in more interesting news, Dustland SS Nathan Crews has just gone 20 consecutive games with a hit. He's got his eye on teammate Kian Lehn's hit streak record of 23.



As we head into July, this is where the standings sit. Spice District and Saffron keep hold of their leads in the division. In the wildcard stakes, Sugar Factory have put some daylight between themselves and everyone else -- leaving Dustland and Salt Quarter to fight over the last spot.



Two big events in July. The draft will happen early in the month and the trade deadline will finish the month off.

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Finally, a non-catcher gets the award! Bendig has been top of the home run charts all season so no surprise to see him get the award after he stepped his game up in June. It was the simple things that have made the difference, converting a few strikeouts into singles has seen him take his season OPS from .900 up above 1.000.



For the third month in a row, a Dustland Sharks pitcher takes this award. He's been content to play second-fiddle to Jaxon Darnall this season but he really stepped on the balls in June. He halved his home run rate, took his walk rate down a third, and got a 20% increase in his strikeouts. The result is that over 52 innings of work, he only gave up 5 earned runs.

At 5'5" and 150lbs, Stubbins is the smallest player in the league but he certainly made some big noise this month.

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July 1, 1920
Trade season is upon us folks. We've hit the point where the competition leaders try to shore up their weaknesses and the competition basement dwellers are just trying to salvage something from the season by trading off the olds and bringing in some younger talent for the future.

The Crimson Forest Falcons (25-56) were the first to move by sending off 1B Zeke Reynolds to the Dustland Sharks (47-36) in exchange for two minor leaguers. Reynolds is 37 years old, absolutely terrible defensively, and slower than molasses on the basepaths. He can hit though. The Falcons restricted him to a pinch hitting role (they had a preference for the defence and stealing of 23 year old Gaby Williams) where he amassed 143 OPS+ over 72 plate appearances.

The Sharks are going to take a gamble on his terrible defense and put him in the starting lineup, hitting cleanup against Righties. Their other first base options: Spencer Quinn and freshly demoted Siem Bork offer more defensively but offered nothing offensively generating 42 and 68 OPS+ respectively.

Reynolds, who had made a public demand to be traded back in May is a free agent after this season.

The other team throwing in the towel was the Amelia City Metros (34-48) who got two minor league pitchers from the Spice District Roosters (54-28) in exchange for 32 year old Sylas Lang. The league leading Roosters will slot Lang at #3 on their rotation behind two All-Stars Max Steel and Jared Way.

July 5, 1920
Draft day. Most of the draft pool is made up of players from the local high school and university leagues but there's a few Amelians in there who played some college ball overseas who've returned home.

With the #1 pick, the Crimson Forest Falcons pick CF Christian Tiggs





Tiggs attended University in a foreign land and made a strong contribution. He projects out to be an excellent defender and baserunner with strong discipline at the plate. That high work ethic and low greed is just icing on the cake for the Falcons.

With the #2 pick, the Amelia City Metropolitans pick Pitcher Carson Mixon from the Institute of Evil





The Institute of Evil had a terrible season this year, it certainly didn't help that Mixon got himself injured in in his third game. He probably couldn't have held that 316 ERA+ but he certainly could have helped the Ravens do better than 8-28.

With the #3 pick, the Unicorn Point Athletic Club pick Pitcher Wade Callaghan from Whiskeytown Schoolhouse





A starter in high school but almost certainly a reliever if he makes to COBRA ball. Even now, he's got more movement on his pitches than the pros. He shows a lot of promise but we'll see if the Unicorns can convince him to give university a skip (he's already been accepted by the Saffron School of Magic).

With the #4 pick, the Whiskeytown Ducks pick 2B Jack Barfield from the Saffron School of Magic





One of the stars of the supposedly invincible Saffron School of Magic team. Barfield is promising to be an absolute terror on the basepaths but it remains to be seen if he can get that hitting and defense up to COBRA standards. One of his crazier stats from uni was BB/SO ratio. He drew 18 walks but only struck out three times. If he can bring that approach to the big time he could be successful.

Barfield won the Great Glove and the Platinum Stick award for second basemen this year.

With the #5 pick, the Hadestown Broncos pick Pitcher Thomas Campbell from Dustland Boy's High School





Hadestown management going for a big gamble by using their first round pick on a high school kid with injury problems. Campbell missed most of the season with injuries but we did get to see a glimpse of his promise in his final game for his school where he threw 8 innings of shutout ball on the way to a 2-0 win for his team.

Rest of Round One...

• #6 Dustland Sharks picked RF Toby Ogle from Amelia University
• #7 Port Magnolia Dolphins picked SS Thomas Nielsen from Whiskeytown Schoolhouse
• #8 Sugar Factory Elephants picked 2B Asher Sunderland
• #9 Northlands Polar Bears picked CF Robert Lowe from Crimson Forest High School. Along with the championship, Lowe also won the Great Glove and Platinum Stick award for CF. Probably his most notable achievement was hitting two grand slams in one game against the Hadestown Magic Academy.
• #10 Saffron Turtles picked 3B Ozzy Maricic from Hadestown Magic Academy. Winner of the MVP award and the Platinum Stick award for 3B. Led the league in batting average and OPS.
• #11 Spice District Roosters picked C Elijah Padula from Whiskeytown Schoolhouse
• #12 Salt Quarter Penguins picked SS Jesper de Bruin from Port Magnolia High School

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July 6, 1920
The Dustland Sharks go down 5-2 to the Sugar Factory Elephants but the key news for hit streak fans is that Sharks SS Nathan Crews went 0-4 and thus ending his hit streak at 23 games to tie the record held by his teammate C Kian Lehn.

July 8, 1920
The wheels are starting to come off the Saffron Turtles. They've just been swept by the bottom-dwelling Crimson Forest Falcons and are now on a 6 game losing streak that's allowed the Dustland Sharks to tie them in the division with Salt Quarter and Unicorn Point not far behind.

July 11, 1920
The Turtles continue their woes as the Sharks displace them for the #1 spot but sometimes you just meet an unstoppable opponent as Unicorn Point's Tijs Oudenkerk sends 17 Turtles packing in a record-breaking performance.



And the Dolphins tried to swim in shark-infested waters and got bit. Wesley Stebbins had a no-hitter go into the 9th until it got broken up by Dolphins SS Max Roberts who sent a line drive single to center field. All of a sudden, Stebbins is leading the league in ERA with 1.63 ahead of teammate Jaxon Darnall's 1.95.



July 16, 1920
The Hadestown Broncos are the first to sign their draft pick with a $12,100 bonus for Thomas Campbell.



July 17, 1920
Zeke Reynolds, 1B of the Dustland Sharks is loving his new lease of life since being traded from the hapless Crimson Forest Falcons. In two successive games he's won player of the game against the Spice District Roosters. Going 3-5 in the first with one home run and then 3-4 in the second with all of those hits being booming home runs in a 7 RBI haul.

Over 14 games for the the Sharks, he's nearly had as many at-bats as he did over 44 games for the Falcons and improved his .228/.389/.544 slash line to .259/.375/.741. That bit of offensive muscle has helped the Dustland Sharks get the #1 spot in the West.



July 23, 1920
Down 4, 2 outs, bases loaded, bottom of the 9th. Spice District Roosters 1B Neil Spurrier naturally followed the script and blasted a home run to tie the game up and force extras.

But.

It wasn't just any home run, it was a grand slam inside the park home run. Spurrier used the walls of Cinnamon Traders Park to bamboozle the Polar Bear outfielders.



Roosters SS Dex Kruys followed it up in the 10th with a walk-off home run (outside the park this time) to win the game for the Roosters.



July 30, 1920
The Polar Bears are 4.5 games out of the wildcard spot and will need as many miracles as they can get. Against the Penguins they were down 5-1 going into the bottom of the 9th when they finally figured out to hit. A series of singles got two runs on the board but when RF Jon Jackson came up to bat with two on and two out, he did what he did best (39 home runs for the season so far) and smashed the ball 405 feet for a walk-off home run.



The Standings at the end of July. The Roosters have a firm hold on the East Division while over in the West, an 18-8 record in July from the Dustland Sharks has seen them surge past the Saffron Turtles. The Sugar Factory Elephants seem to have a good hold on the first wildcard spot which leaves Saffron, Northlands, Salt Quarter, and Unicorn Point to fight it out for the last. Only 6 weeks left in the season!

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Fun fact. Jon Jackson hit more home runs in July than May and June combined. That sudden explosion in home run power has seen him shoot up the home run and OPS charts to 3rd place in both. One of his best home runs came just a couple of days ago when he hit a 3-run walk-off home run against the Penguins.



When it comes to pitching the Roosters is normally the Max Steel show but he had to take a back seat for Jared Way this month. Funnily, this month isn't much out the ordinary for Way. He's put up numbers like this every month but it's nice to see some recognition go his way.(PUN INTENDED. ALWAYS INTEND YOUR PUNS KIDS)

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August 5, 1920

Thomas Campbell, #5 pick in the draft by the Hadestown Broncos just one month ago has announced his retirement from the game after a horrific injury in just his fourth minor league game.

The pitcher was a risky pick for the Broncos. The High Schooler had spent most of his high school career injured and received a lot of criticism for the pick.



August 7, 1920
We're officially one month from the end of the regular season and the number crunchers have figured that the Spice District Roosters, Dustland Sharks, and Sugar Factory Elephants are locks for the playoffs.

That leaves only one spot left to fill with the Saffron Turtles in the driving seat there.



August 8, 1920
Common sense knew this a long time ago but mathematics confirmed it today after a 4-2 loss to the Whiskeytown Ducks: the Crimson Forest Falcons will not be in the playoffs this season.



The Falcons started the season off 0-9 and never really got any better. Their dirty laundry was aired publicly when 1B Zeke Reynolds demanded a trade and accused the team of fostering slackers. He was eventually traded to the Dustland Sharks where he has flourished (in his first series back against his former side, Reynolds hit a home run in each game as the Sharks swept the Falcons)

Right Fielder Jonathan Palka was often a lone beacon for the side. The only player with a OPS+ over 100. He hit .313/.393/.516 with 18 home runs -- often for a losing effort. Other players of note included two players gunning for the 20/20 club: LF Augie Hanson and 1B Gaby Williams who also provided some good defense. On the pitching side, there's literally nothing good to talk about.

Preseason predictions put them at 60-84, they'd need to get 25-3 for the rest of the season just to meet that. RIP Falcons.

August 10, 1920
Shawn Marsh and the Salt Quarter Penguins make an absolute statement against the Saffron Turtles with Marsh decimating the batting lineup with a no-hitter.

As the playoff race heats up, the Penguins move ever so closer to the wildcard spot held by the Turtles. Marsh was so good, only one early walk prevented this from being a perfect game.





August 11, 1920
The woes of the Turtles continue when they took on the Unicorns. The bats simply had no answer to Tijs Oudenkerk who threw a complete game shutout with just one hit and 17 K's. It was exactly one month ago today that Oudenkerk pitched a 17K game against the Turtles. He certainly has their number.



Here's where the standings sit. The battle is on for the last wildcard spot.

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August 19, 1920
As the Salt Quarter Penguins walked it off against the Unicorn Point Athletic Club, the Saffron Turtles found themselves useless against Jaxon Darnall's slider as he pitched a complete game shutout against them. The pair of results meant that the Penguins and Turtles were tied for the last wildcard spot at 69-59 apiece. Also lurking was the Northlands Polar Bears at 67-62.





Remaining games for the teams are:

Saffron Turtles (69-59)
3x games @ Crimson Falcon (42-86)
3x games vs Spice District (86-42)
3x games @ Port Magnolia (56-73)
3x games @ Unicorn Point (62-67)
4x games @ Salt Quarter (69-59)

Salt Quarter Penguins (69-59)
3x games @ Hadestown (54-75)
3x games @ Sugar Factory (74-54)
3x games @ Dustland (76-52)
3x games vs Amelia City (58-70)
4x games vs Saffron (69-59)

Northlands Polar Bears (67-62)
3x games @ Unicorn Point (62-67)
3x games @ Port Magnolia (56-73)
3x games vs Spice District (86-42)
3x games @ Hadestown (54-75)
3x games @ Whiskeytown (57-71)

The Salt Quarter-Saffron matchup at the end of the season is looking very promising!

August 20, 1920
An incredible comeback victory for the Hadestown Broncos against the Penguins was mildly undercut with the news that they had been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.

Down 6-2 going into the bottom of the 9th, the Broncos stunned the Penguins when SS Luke Boyer -- with a 55 OPS+ for the season -- blasted a three run home run into the crowd. The next guy gave it a swing and miss for the second out but the final out remained elusive and a series of singles eventually resulted in winning runs for the Broncos.



But alas, walk-off heroics aside, the Broncos become the second team to be eliminated. Pre-season predictions were never high on them, only predicting a 64-80 season, a mark that's still within reach if they end the season well. Losing ace Dalton Deschenes for 4 months killed the season for them before it barely begun. #2 Jackson Woods put in a stellar season for them, and was rewarded with a trip to the All-Star game for it but no one else on the staff stepped up.

The top contributor with the bat was 3B Lenny Johnson who hit .323/.378/.496 with 16 home runs over the season. Good enough for a 114 OPS+. He's popular with the fans and management have signed him up until the end of the 1926 season, so we can expect a lot more positive contributions from him for the Broncos in the coming years.



August 23, 1920
Two more teams achieve mathematical elimination: The Amelia City Metropolitans and the Port Magnolia Dolphins.

The Dolphins were predicted to get a 64-80 record -- still technically possible but unlikely to happen at this point. Their bats simply failed to fire this season as they sit near the bottom in all the offensive categories. SS Max Roberts tried his hardest with a contribution in about everything: Offensively (141 OPS+), defensively (+0.4 ZR at Shortstop), and on the basepaths (13 stolen bases with a 1.0 BSR) -- good enough to lead the league in WAR for a significant part of the season. But baseball is about more than one guy, and the losses piled up around him.

Pitching was a bit better but still only middle-of-the-road. They got an all-star performance out of Kellan Sullivan who put up a 16-13 record, 2.88 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, with 241 strikeouts. They also did well without closer Kirk Swinson, who spent most of the season injured. 24 year old Matt Leiker stepped up to the plate and got a trip to the all-star game as a reward.

Hopes were a bit higher for the Amelia City Metros, pre-season predictions put them at 71-73 but they'd need to win everything from here on out to achieve that.

They got a good contribution out of 2B Doug Dale -- when he wasn't injured -- he went .356/.444/.599 with 13 home runs and 30 doubles. As a bonus he walked (45) more often than he struck out (31). Unfortunately he won't even get to 100 games for the season and when he was missing, it was a big hole to fill.

Jeremiah Hinton put in some good on the pitching side with a 13-13 record, 3.52 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, and 313 strikeouts. Though there is a strange story about the guy currently #3 in the Metro's rotation: Emmanuel Seward.

Seward was a 21 year old minor leaguer in the Dustland system but Crimson Forest acquired him as part of the Zeke Reynolds trade. He played one game -- against the Metros -- before being traded to the Metros. Supposedly they were impressed. The young player has then gone on pitch some brilliant complete game shutouts and then get completely shelled in the next. Time will reveal if he can harness that ability.

Here's where we sit right now. The Roosters are the first to secure a playoff spot. Dustland and Sugar Factory can't be too far behind. The Turtles swept the Falcons while the Penguins got swept the Broncos in their latest series so a decent gap has opened up for the final wildcard spot.

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August 27, 1920
Today, the Whiskeytown Ducks accepted their fate as they were mathematically eliminated.

Preseason predictions put them at dead even: 72-72, an impossible mark to achieve for them now as they sit at 62-73. It started off with a bang, 16-13 to kick the year off in March & April. Catcher Joel de Vries was so good, that he got batter of the month but the wheels fell off after that. They went 9-20 in May with de Vries injured late in the month. They lost their early momentum and after losing their best player they finished off the rest of the year 37-40. The bats remained sharp without de Vries, Vladik Zavalin was an absolute force to be reckoned with at First Base. He's currently third in home runs (46) and tied for first in RBIs (126). Plus strong contributions from J.R. Shouse and Gavin Utter. They also unearthed a gem at lead-off with Thad Pardue who leads the league in stolen bases (39, only caught 4 times).

Pitching was a problem. Logan Phillips won a trip to the All-Star game but his 4.30 ERA translated to a 8-16 record. That'll need to be the focus for next season if they can hold onto their hitters.

August 29, 1920
The Polar Bears haven't given up the fight as the media focuses in on the Turtles and Penguins fight for the last wildcard spot. They took down the league leading Spice District Roosters in an emphatic 13-3 win. Jon Jackson's two home runs in this game also took him to 50 for the season. He's still got a fair bit of heat for the home run title though, Odin Bendig (Spice District) is on 48 and Vladik Zavalin (Whiskeytown) is on 46.



The Turtles and Penguins both suffered a loss today and all of a sudden we've got the Turtles on 73-64, Polar Bears on 72-66, and Penguins on 71-66. Only one spot left as the Sugar Factory Elephants and Dustland Sharks have clinched their spots along with the Roosters. Butts are getting clenched in these clubhouses.

August 31, 1920
The Unicorns got smacked around by the Turtles 13-2 today which has spelled the end of their mathematical chance. Preseason predictions had them at 71-73... and they've pretty much achieved that though in all probability they'll end up slightly under. Losing star 3B Dennis Sullenger in early June about doomed them. At that point they'd put up a good record. They were in line for a wildcard spot and everything but Sullenger's injury threw the club into a depression that saw them go 9-16 in June and rendered playoff hopes as a pipe dream.

If they had any hope of all, it came from two of their starting pitchers: Tijs Oudenkerk and Liam Schmitt. Oudenkerk could transform into an unhittable beast at times as evidenced by the time he got 17 strikeouts in a game... and then did it again a month later. Out of 35 games that Oudenkerk started, he got 10 or more K's in 15 of them.

Unfortunately this brilliance was countered by off nights. There will be days he gives up multiple runs and there's little the rest of the team can do. Ultimately Oudenkerk has a 15-14 record, 3.56 ERA, 1.34 WHIP and 314 K's.

Schmitt was a much more level force, he currently sits at an 18-11 record, 3.43 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 226 K's.

Number one priority for Unicorn management will be to resign 1B Kyle Lownes -- who was their most productive hitter aside from Sullenger and get a decent bullpen behind Oudnekerk.

Standings at the end of August. The Turtles are now in a prime position to get that final spot. They've got five games left, with four of them against Salt Quarter. These will be must-win games as the Polar Bears have two games against Hadestown and three against Whiskeytown to finish the season off.