With our regular season over at the end of August, the race for playoff spots is heating up. Not at the top, where the first-place Gashouse Gorillas pulled away with a decisive 9-2 victory over the Springfield Isotopes. Falling to twelve games back in second spot is my own Toronto Walrus; more about my nightmare week later, but I was very fortunate to escape with a draw. Billies Bashers solidified their hold on third in the Head-to-Head standings with a 7-4 win over Baird Brain, one of four teams in a scramble for three remaining spots in the championship playoff round. Mebion Glyndwr advanced with an 8-4 victory against the Nation Builders, and Red Mosquitos edged AGF 6-5 to get one game closer to sixth place.
Teams can still make a sudden move in the standings. The Eastern Shore Birds began the week in 15th place, 3.5 games out of a berth in the consolation playoff round. A 10-2 romp over Geoffs Grumpy Group moved the Birds past two rivals and just a half-game away from being one of the twelve who will play in September.
Here are the Week 13 standings:
# Team W-L-T Win % GBMy team needs to regroup. I had two pitchers whose ERA and WHIP were "infinity" -- Carl Pavano and since-released Michael Tejera both failed to record even one out while the Red Sox were pounding them for eleven runs in their record-breaking first inning. Cliff Politte's been a disaster, as all Toronto fans know, and even Billy Wagner got hit last week. Needless to say, Jick's Rays won five pitching categories, and I was extremely lucky to get a point with two saves. Ace Matt Morris is being pushed back a few days because of a knot in his shoulder blade, and newest acquisition Jason Schmidt just had a start postponed due to a "stiff" arm. I'm hopeful that Carlos Delgado and Jason Giambi will keep the Walrus respectable while the pitching staff heals.
1 gashouse gorillas 103-45-8 .686 --
2 Toronto Walrus 92-58-6 .609 12
3 Billies Bashers 85-63-8 .571 18
4 Mebion Glyndwr 83-71-2 .538 23
5 Baird Brain 79-67-10 .538 23
6 AGF 81-70-5 .535 23.5
7 Red Mosquitos 77-69-10 .526 25
8 Jicks Rays 74-73-9 .503 28.5
9 Sub-Urban Shockers 73-73-10 .500 29
10 K-Town Mashers 75-76-5 .497 29.5
11 Reykjavik Fish Candy 73-75-8 .494 30
12 Nation Builders 74-76-6 .494 30
13 Eastern Shore Birds 73-76-7 .490 30.5
14 Chatsworth Halos 72-78-6 .481 32
15 Springfield Isotopes 68-80-8 .462 35
16 Moscow Rats 67-80-9 .458 35.5
17 Hannibals Cannibals 64-80-12 .449 37
18 Thunderbirds 59-91-6 .397 45
19 Garces_not_on_roids 57-91-8 .391 46
20 Geoffs Grumpy Group 57-94-5 .381 47.5
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