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Addimgp
Joined: 02/26/2023
Posts: 9

Rochester Hills Tigers
IV.8

Broken Bat Baseball
Looks like we’ll be going up against each other this season. Good luck with your second place finish. 😁
Natedawg17
Joined: 04/05/2022
Posts: 3

Rancho Cucamonga Ragamuffins
IV.8

Broken Bat Baseball
Good luck to all this season!

Looking to stabilize after a disappointing campaign last year. Will need my aging core of hitters to continue to produce if we are to have any success. Could be nearing the end of an era as the guys that got us here are now all in their 30s. Hopefully father time has not caught up to them just yet!
Geech
Joined: 01/12/2014
Posts: 541

San Luis Obispo Turtles
IV.8

Broken Bat Baseball
We've finished the first round of division play, and we're about to start inter-division. With the first "third" of the season in the books, I figured it was a good time to check in and see where things stand.

The numbers after the team name are as follows: Wins, Losses, Winning Percentage, Games Back, and Run Differential

West
1 Rancho Cucamonga Ragamuffins 36, 14, .720, -, +100
2 Rochester Hills Tigers 29, 21, .580, 7, +8
3 San Luis Obispo Turtles 25, 25, .500, 11, +39
4 Novi Doubledays 23, 27, .460, 13, -21
5 League City Indians 19, 31, .380, 17, -63
6 Pasadena Owls 18, 32, .360, 18, -63

East
1 Saratoga Highlanders 35, 15, .700, -, +103
2 Kenosha Storm 30, 20, .600, 5, +8
3 Sunrise Octopuses 25, 25, .500, 10, -7
4 Kennesaw Knights 21, 29, .420, 14, -21
5 Melbourne Raccoons 20, 30, .400, 15, -37
6 Brockton Bombers 19, 31, .380, 16, -46

The top team in each division is absolutely running away with things. There's a lot of season left to play, but these are large leads so early. The run differentials that the Ragamuffins and Highlanders have put up suggest that it's not a mirage: these teams have been playing dominant baseball. Things can definitely change as the season progresses. I've seen teams fall off or come one with surprising strength, so I don't want to write anything off before it's time, though.

Fun observation: the arrangement of the two divisions in terms of winning percentage is shockingly similar. Approximately .700 at the top. approximately .600 in second, .500 in third and so on. It feels like there's a lot of separation between the layers for this point in the season.

I will admit that after promoting last season I harbored some hopes that we could compete in IV.8. This was obviously foolish. The focus now is making sure we don't demote, and at some point I may turn back towards development as a goal.

Updated Monday, February 19 2024 @ 4:54:22 pm PST
Geech
Joined: 01/12/2014
Posts: 541

San Luis Obispo Turtles
IV.8

Broken Bat Baseball
Now that we have reached the end of inter-division play, let's take a look at how things played out.

In the first half, the East narrowly beat the west 92-88. The top individual team in first half ID play was the Novi Doubledays, but the East played more uniformly strong. Only one East time was below .500 before the break.

For our part, the Turtles played stronger than we had in divisional play. We made a few lineup changes which definitely helped, and some of our other players just started performing better.

Here are the full standings:
Broken-Bat-ID-2063-1st-Half.jpg

The second half of inter-division play was a big reversal. The West came on very strong to win 101-79. That's a collective .561 winning percentage! The best performing team in the second half was none other than my SLO Turtles. The East went from uniformly playing strong in the first 30 to almost as uniformly struggling the second. Notably, the Saratoga Highlanders were strong in the second half again, posting an identical 17-13 (.567 pct) record both halves.

Here are the numbers:
Broken-Bat-ID-2063-2nd-Half.jpg

It should come as no surprise that the West won inter-division play overall, posting a collective 189-171 record for a .525 winning percentage. The top team in ID play was. . . a tie! The SLO Turtles and Novi Doubledays each 36-24 for a .600 winning percentage. The next best record belonged to the Saratoga Highlanders, who were consistently good across ID play. Congratulations, fellas!

Here are the complete numbers:
Broken-Bat-ID-2063-Complete.jpg

Were does that leave the standings then? The race in the East is all but over. Saratoga's consistently strong play this season has built a very commanding 12 game lead. It is probably technically possible for them to blow this lead, but I think I may have been in divisions where the total spread from first to last was tighter than 12 games.

Here in the in the West, in contrast, things have tightened considerably. Rancho Cucamonga still have the lead, but any of the three teams below them is plausibly within striking difference. The Ragamuffins really need to recapture some of their early season dominance if they want to hang onto the division lead. Do they just match up better against other West teams? Have they been sandbagging in inter-division play to focus on development? If it's either of this possibilities, then they may have good odds of rebounding and hanging on to the lead.

Meanwhile, each of the Turtles, the Doubledays and the Tigers have the difficult task of gaining ground on the Ragamuffins while holding off the other teams. This could turn out to be a very tight race after all. If so, that is certainly not what I was expecting.

The numbers after the team name are as follows: Wins, Losses, Winning Percentage, Games Back, and Run Differential

1 Rancho Cucamonga Ragamuffins 63, 47, .573, -, +123
2 San Luis Obispo Turtles 61, 49, .555, 2, +100
3 Novi Doubledays 59, 51, .536, 4, +18
4 Rochester Hills Tigers 58, 52, .527, 5, +9
5 League City Indians 51, 59, .464, 12, -49
6 Pasadena Owls 47, 63, .427, 16, -94

1 Saratoga Highlanders 69, 41, .627, -, +157
2 Kenosha Storm 57, 53, .518, 12, -18
3 Kennesaw Knights 54, 56, .491, 15, -16
4 Sunrise Octopuses 53, 57, .482, 16, -35
5 Brockton Bombers 44, 66, .400, 25, -89
6 Melbourne Raccoons 44, 66, .400, 25, -106



Updated Saturday, March 9 2024 @ 8:34:08 am PST
Geech
Joined: 01/12/2014
Posts: 541

San Luis Obispo Turtles
IV.8

Broken Bat Baseball
Aaaaand this question has now been emphatically resolved with the next series. Congratulations to the Novi Doubledays who will inevitably win the IV.8 West division in 2063!

I'm kidding of course, but dropping a three game sweep to the team two games behind you in the standing is just brutal. This game really gets under my skin sometimes.
Natedawg17
Joined: 04/05/2022
Posts: 3

Rancho Cucamonga Ragamuffins
IV.8

Broken Bat Baseball
Love these write-ups!
Man were we bad the first half of inter-division play. Unfortunately for us, sandbagging for development was not the cause of the dramatic decline in performance. I guess I can hope that we match up better in the West, but getting swept in the first series back to divisional play is not a good sign.
Looking more and more like that blazing hot start was an aberration and at this point, we can only hope to be in the hunt down the stretch. Definitely shaping up to be quite the finish!
Jerbeetwo
Joined: 06/30/2019
Posts: 322

Tyler Goldendoodles
IV.3

Broken Bat Baseball
Rochester Hills just doesn’t seem to have enough right now to win at Level IV. But it does look like we can be competitive. So this home grown team will hope for some draft luck next season and continued development of our younger players and try again next season.
Geech
Joined: 01/12/2014
Posts: 541

San Luis Obispo Turtles
IV.8

Broken Bat Baseball
Let's take a look at the standings as we head into the final "cycle" of the season.

In the West, the Novi Doubledays have a narrow lead over my SLO Turtles with the Rancho Cucamonga Ragamuffins a few games back. After a (kind of short-lived) hot streak, my Turtles have seriously scuffled. We've gone 1-2 in our last three series, so it feels like the momentum is with the Doubledays. On the other hand, their 1.5 game lead could evaporate in a single series. The Turtles and Doubledays are about to face each other in a three game set, which is obviously an important matchup at this stage of the season.

The Ragamuffins are not out of this thing, yet, but the hour is growing late for them to turn things around. I think the team has the potential.

1 Novi Doubledays (16) 81-63, .563, -, +67
2 San Luis Obispo Turtles 79-64, .552, 1½, +106
3 Rancho Cucamonga Ragamuffins 75-68, .524, 5½, +83
4 Rochester Hills Tigers 73-70, .510, 7½, +18
5 League City Indians 66-77, .462, 14½, -70
6 Pasadena Owls 65-79, .451, 16, -97

In the East, things are proceeding exactly as I have foreseen. Or something. The Highlanders still have a big lead, and with a magic number of only five they should lock up the division soon.

1 Saratoga Highlanders (5) 87-57, .604, -, +182
2 Kennesaw Knights 74-69, .517, 12½, +43
3 Sunrise Octopuses 74-69, .517, 12½, -15
4 Kenosha Storm 66-77, .462, 20½, -86
5 Melbourne Raccoons 62-81, .434, 24½, -92
6 Brockton Bombers 58-86, .403, 29, -139
Geech
Joined: 01/12/2014
Posts: 541

San Luis Obispo Turtles
IV.8

Broken Bat Baseball
There's one series left, but I think that's pretty much the division race. Dropping three out of four to League City caused us to fall 2 1/2 games back from Novi instead of the 1 game back we had been.
Geech
Joined: 01/12/2014
Posts: 541

San Luis Obispo Turtles
IV.8

Broken Bat Baseball
Congratulations to the league champion Novi Doubledays and the East division winning Saratoga Highlanders!

My condolences to the relegating teams. We've all been there before.

I can't wait for next season! I hope we can compete again.


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