Pitch v Hit-80s--Week 8-Baseball! The conclusion

Just 3 teams to go---thanks to everyone for joining the league and keeping the various drafts moving--well done.

I did confirm with SOM that I will be able to move teams into the correct divisions but the league needs to fill before that feature will become available.

Good luck to everyone and I look forward to (hopefully) not having the worst team in the league.

For the owners who haven't been a part of this format, the first two iterations of the league included division races which came down to the final games to settle the division winners/playoffs.

I'll be in tonight. Perhaps the AD can run by tomorrow.

By the way, what a quick draft. Well done JJB and everyone!

Somehow I ended up as the commissioner of the league - I assume Joe left the league for some reason and they gave me the title because I was the 2nd team to join.

Well, that is interesting. I had to update my draft card so I had to leave the league. I'll ask the folks at SOM to switch me back to the role of Commish.

You can change your draft list by setting yourself as "Un-ready for Draft" without leaving the league. If strat can't help in time, I can reset the divisions and do whatever else you need to do - not a problem.

I just noticed the Unleave option operator error. I sent a request to SOM. Not sure if they are working today but if I dont hear from them, I’d appreciate your help. We are down to one team needed to trigger the draft. Thanks!

OK we just need 1st Command Commando to join. He'll likely check in after work again this evening. Thanks for your service sog, and thanks for checking in as much as you can to keep us moving.

Joe, I'll stay as "Not Ready for Draft" so that I can re-assign the divisions before we draft once all 12 are in.

16 hour day yesterday. I will enter my team in the next two hours.

sog

I have set complete. Sorry about not doing this last night, after a 16 hour day I found it to difficult to concentrate and pick players that were under the salary cap for hitters as I went through. After some good rest, I am once again sharp. For instance, I forgot to put Dave Henderson on my card and I had Don Sutton on top of the draft card. Until I realized this morning Don Sutton is mine so I can put him on the card in the last draft spot.

Good luck to everyone.

Jim aka sog

(Which stands for Special Operations Group for those wondering. I was with the 352d Special Operations Group based out of RAF Mildenhall, UK from 1998 - 2001).

Games played: 18

The pitching centric and hitting centric teams have played 24 games against each other. Interdivision play starts tonight so the 24 games involved the mixed Central division.

The hitting centric teams have won 14 games (58%)
The pitching centric teams have won 10 games (42%)

Division leaders:

East--Hitting centric

The BC Manager's aptly named BC's Boundless Bats lead the hitting division with an impressive 13-5 record--the best in the league. The Bats hold a one game lead over Burley Norseman's Savannah Batter Ballers. BC's team has the best run differential in the league with a +53 difference. BC's team includes Mike Schmidt with 9 home runs and Pedro Guerrero with 8 home runs.

Central--mixed

Bigdinkent's Great Lake Gopher Balls--a hitting centric team is 11-7 and holds a 2 game lead over Cabrera24's Pitching Rules HItters, a pitching centric team. ---The Gopher Balls have a run differential of +44. Reggie Jackson is leading the bashing with 9 home runs and 27 runs driven in.

West-Pitching centric
Juiced JC's Pitch Perfect team leads the division with a record of 12-6 and a run differential of +14. The lead is two games over YCBill's Los Angeles Flingers. Pitch Perfect has 2 wins from Nolan Ryan (1.99 ERA), Vida Blue (2.25) and Rick Sutcliffe (2.63).

Early observations:

Remember that all games have been within the division at this point--so, the East with no pitcher with a salary of more than $3.23 million have been facing lineups that resemble an all star team---here are some players from each of the hitting teams

Fench33's Beaver Pelts feature a lineup which includes Rod Carew, George Brett and Tony Gwynn.
NewCar13's Christmas Shepards feature Ryne Sandberg, Will Clark and Andre Dawson
Burley Norseman's Savannah Banana Ballers feature Don Mattingly, Dave Winfield and Wade Boggs
The BC Manager's BC's Boundless Bats feature: Mike Schmidt, Pedro Guerrero and Fred Lynn

Soooooo, baseball being baseball, here are the pitchers with the best records:

Rick Mahler---BC's Boundless Bats---4-0
Rick Honeycutt-Savannah Banana Ballers--4-0
Bill Campbell-BC's Boundless Bats 3-0
Danny Cox-Great Lake Gopher Balls--3-0
Pete Vukovich-Great Lake Gopher Balls 3-0

Now, the pitching centric teams in the west have only played other pitching centric teams--the hitters on these teams have a maximum value of $3.5. Here are the highest priced starting pitcher from each pitching centric team.

Juiced JCs features-Orel Hershiser
YC Bills Los Angeles Flingers features Roger Clemens
EnricoPalazzo's EGV Pollos Hermanos feature Dwight Gooden
1st Command Commando's DC Scandal Warrior feature Teddy Higuera

Orel--3-2 ERA 5.51--WHIP 1.29
Roger 1-3 ERA 4.10--WHIP 1.61
Dwight 0-5 ERA 4.10--WHIP 1.60
Teddy 1-3 ERA 3.25--WHIP 1.22

So, the pitchers from the hitting centric teams have a combined record of 17-0 (!!!) facing teams that bash. The pitching centric teams facing hitters with salaries of $3.5 or less have a record of 5-13. As Jayson Stark often notes "BASEBALL!"

A few other data points....
Highest scoring team

BC's Bashers---average runs per game---7.77

Team with fewest runs allowed
Juiced JC's Pitched Perfect: 3.44

Best OPS:
Pedro Guerrero--1.299

Batting Average: Bruce Bochte (Juiced JC's Pitch Perfect) .457 (so of course a hitter faces all star quality starters leads the league in batting average)

Home Runs: MIke Schmidt and Reggie Jackson--tied at 9

RBI's: Reggie Jackson 27

Pitchers:
Wins---Rick Mahler and Rick Honeycutt---both with 4

ERA--Rick Honeycutt 1.26

Strikeouts: Steve Carlton (EGV Pollos Hermanos) 36 in 40 innings