Transcript:
Howdy folks, it’s Divergent League Update for February 12th 2021, but of course in Divergent League we’re all the way back on July 12th, 1993.
It’s me, your Commish, and the heat is on as we’re heading into the Divergent dog days of summer, but first- the dingers!
The home run chase is on in earnest, and up to the All-Star Break the top 3 barons of bash are Mark McGwire and Frank Thomas with 29, and Rafi Palmiero with 26. Close behind is the Crime Dog, Fred McGriff also with 26. Joining the 20-dinger club we have Boston’s Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Jay Buehner, Barry Bonds, Matt Williams, Rookie sensation Mike Piazza and Sammy Sosa.
It’s All-Star Weekend and that means it’s Home Run Derby time. Here’s the list of 8 competitors for tonight’s slugfest:
- Mark McGwire
- Frank Thomas
- Rafael Palmiero
- Fred McGriff
- Barry Bonds
- Andre Dawson
- Matt Williams
- Mike Piazza
McGwire, McGriff, and Dawson are all available as Hardship Draft picks.
Speaking of which…
We’ve got our answer for which teams won the worst-team lottery in the Hardship Draft. The New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Seattle Mariners are all getting picks. We just got the results back from the lab and the order will be as follows:
- New York Mets
- New York Yankees
- Seattle Mariners
Those picks will be made this evening and posted on divergentleague.com.
Flipping over to the standings, things haven’t changed much in the AL East with the Orioles up 16 games on the 2nd place Blue Jays and 19 on the Yankees. It’s not all bad news, though, as Os enter the all-star break on a 3 game skid.
Onto the most competitive division in the league the American League Central where the White Sox have overtaken the Tigers again and lead by 1.5 games. The Royals have been quietly racking up the wins, they’re 8-2 in the last 10, and are just 2.5 games back.
In the rolling west the CPU-owned Athletics and Astros are tied for 1st, and have a small 3 game lead on the 3rd place Rangers. The Mariners, one of our Hardship Draft teams this season, bring up 4th at 10.5 back.
Switching to the National League, the Phillies and Expos remain tops in the division with the Phils 4.5 games up on Montreal. The big story here though is the July Surge from the Braves- they’re on a 7-3 tear over their last 10, and have closed the gap to just 7.5 games behind Philadelphia. The Mets, another hardship draft winner, sit at an astonishing 31 games out of first place.
The Cardinals have maintained their lead in the NL Central, looking to pull away with a 11 game lead over the 2nd place Brewers. The Cubs sit in 3rd, 11.5 games back. The Reds, who missed the Hardship Draft by a single game, are in the weeds at 17.5 out of first place.
And a-way out west we’ve got the Giants keeping the 2nd place Dodgers at bay with an 8.5 game lead.
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Next up we’ll take a peek at the stat sheet.
Wade Boggs has kept his best-in-baseball batting average, hitting .376 at the break. Early front-runner David Segui has dropped to a respectable .359. The Cardinals Greg Jefferies follows with .353. Also batting over .350 is Kirby Puckett, who also leads Divergent League in hits with 135.
Boggs and Dante Bichette lead in Double with 29 and 27 respectively. Chicago’s Tim Raines has been a whirlwind this season with an insane 13 triples in just 97 games. He also leads the league in RBIs with 86. His teammate The Bug Hurt and Mark McGwire have also crossed the 80 Ribbie threshold. Barry Bonds has 77.
With regards to larceny, the Angels continue their domination with Chad Curtis and Louis Polonia swiping 31 and 28 bases respectively. The Expos Marquis Grissom and Eric Young of the Rockies, lead the NL at 25 even. Raines sits at 25.
On the mound it’s been a breakout season for the Cardinals Allen Watson. He, Dennis Martinez, and Mike Mussina lead all pitchers with 12 wins each. The Orioles Gregg Olson has a commanding lead in Saves with 39 already. The Phillies David West and Cardinals Mike Perez have also crossed into 30+ saves territory.
Pitching has been the big story so far in 1993, with a staggering 6 pitchers coming into the All-Star Break with ERAs under 2. Nolan Ryan leads everyone with a 1.20 ERA on an 8-2 record. Hot on his heels are Andy Benes, Dennis Martinez, Butch Henry, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, Tim Pugh, Mike Mussina and Greg Harris.
The Big Unit, Randy Johnson, has fanned 169 batters so far, good enough for tops in baseball. Pitchers with over 130Ks so far include Mike Mussina with 144, David Cone, Bobby Witt, and Juan Guzman. Darryl Kile, Jack McDowell and Greg Maddux are in the 120 club.
That’s all we got this week. You can find the lineups for the 1993 Divergent League All-Star Game on divergentleague.com. We’ll see you later tonight for the Home Run Derby and tomorrow for the Big Game.
