Transcript:
Howdy folks, it’s Divergent League Update for February 19th 2021, but of course in Divergent League we’re all the way back on August 3rd, 1993.
This big shake-up has shaken out. The 1993 Hardship Draft saw some huge moves that will reverberate through the league for the rest of the season. We’ve also got the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby to cover, today so let’s get to the dingers!
Frank Thomas has been hitting the cover off the ball this season, and is running away with the Home Run chase just like the ran away with the Home Run derby. The Big Hurt took down all comers, and won the Derby handily defeating Mark McGwire in the finals.
Thomas leads Divergent League in homers overall with 39. Behind him is Big Mac with 35 and Fred McGriff with 30.
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The big news coming out of last weekend is the Hardship Draft. If you’ve been following the blog on divergentleague.com then you already know what happened, but here’s the skinny:
- New York Mets selected Mark McGwire from the Athletics
- New York Yankees selected Kirby Puckett from the Twins
- Seattle Mariners selected Mike Mussina from the Orioles
Pre-draft the Atheltics and Orioles both had strong leads in their divisions, but losing a staff ace like Mussina or an irreplaceable power hitter like McGwire can change that in a hurry. And the last-place Yankees picked up a Hall of Fame with Puckett. We’ll see just how changed all of these teams are in the standings a bit later.
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Flipping through the stat sheet, the more things change the more the stay the same so far.
Wade Boggs leads everyone with a .363 batting average, with The Orioles David Segui dropping down to .343. Just behind him is League hits leader Kirby Puckett. Over in in the NL The Cards Gregg Jefferies and Atlanta’s Mike Piazza are tied at .339 with the Phillies John Kruk just one point behind at .338.
Boggs and Colorado’s Dante Bichette lead their leagues in doubles with 31 each, while Tim Raines and Marquis Grissom are way ahead in the Triples line with over 10 each this season.
Chicago’s Frank Thomas and Rock Raines lead the AL in Runs Batted In with 99 and 94, with the Mets new-acquisition Mark McGwire leading the NL at 94.
The dynamic duo of Curtis and Polonia still have the Stolen Base category locked up in the AL with 38 and 35, with the Dodgers Brett Butler leading the NL with 32. Just behind them is Phillies star Lenny Dykstra with 30.
LA’s Orel Hershiser and Mariner’s Hardship pick Mike Mussina lead their leagues in wins, with Hershiser at 15-4.
The Os Gregg Olson leads in saves with 42. In the NL The Cardinals Mike Perez and Phillies David West are tied at 39.
The Padres Andy Benes continues his incredible season, maintaining a 1.59 ERA to be tops in the National League. The Expos Butch Henry and Denny Martinez are both still under 2. Nolan Ryan, despite being recently dinged up and missing a few starts, still leads all of baseball with an absurd 1.17 ERA. David Cone’s 2.13 for Royals is good enough for second place in the AL.
Randy Johnson’s 187 Ks is best in baseball, with Cone nearby at 166. Benes and Cincinatti’s Jose Rijo lead the NL at 152 and 142 respectively.
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So, you got plans this Saturday Night? If not, maybe stop by RetroStrange Movie Night starting at 7pm Pacific time. We’ll be streaming two wacky kung fu movies that pretend to star Bruce Lee but actually don’t. It’s a whole thing. Find out more and tune in at retrostrange.com
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Now let’s take a look at how the standings have changed since All-Star Weekend.
The Orioles are on a 5 game skid, but remain tops in the AL East at 69-43, 12 games up on the advancing Blue Jays and 16 on the Yanks who are now out of the cellar and in 3rd place.
Over in the AL Central, it’s still anybody’s division, with the White Sox maintaining a slim 1 game lead over the Tigers. The Royals have dropped a bit, and are 4.5 games out in third.
The Texas Rangers have surged in the West, now just 1 game out of 1st place behind the Atheltics and Astros. The As are on a 4 game slide after winning 6 in a row. The Mariners, who snagged Mike Mussina in the Hardship Draft, remain at 10.5 games back.
The AL Wild Card scene sees those Tigers and Royals holding a 1.5 game lead on the Astros and 2.5 on the Rangers. The Blue Jays are 5 games back there with the Yankees 9 back and Mariners 11.5.
In The National League East the Phillies maintain their best in baseball status, winning 7 of their last 10 making them 74-39 on the season. They hold a 5.5 game lead on the Braves and 7 on the falling Expos. The Mets, despite grabbing up Mark McGwire in the Draft, remain 34 games out.
In the Central the Cards hold a 10 game lead over the Cubbies (who have won 8 of their last 10) and 16 over the last-place Reds.
A-way out west, the Giants are still ahead of the second-place Dodgers by 5 games.
In the NL Wild Card chase, the Braves and Expos have a strong lead, with the Dodgers and Cubs both 8.5 games back. Los Rojos are 14.5 games out, those Mets are 27 behind.
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That’s all we got this week, folks. Shout-out to Henry Nelson for the great organ intro on this week’s episode. You can find the complete standings, power rankings, and schedule on divergentleague.com. Take care of yourselves out there, and take care of somebody else if you can.
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Standings
AL East
- CPU – Orioles – 69-43, 1st
- Seamus – Blue Jays – 57-55, 12GB, 2nd
- OVR: 4th, CON: 14th, PWR: 9th, PITCH: 6th, DEF: 11th, SPD: 12th
- Liam – Yankees – 53-59, 16GB, 3rd
- OVR: 11th, CON: 1st, PWR: 13th, PITCH: 21st, DEF: 10th, SPD: 29th
AL Central
- Travis – White Sox – 67-46, 1st
- OVR: 1st, CON: 3rd, PWR: 3rd, PITCH: 8th, DEF: 4th, SPD: 1st
- Tony – Tigers – 66-47, 1GB, 2nd
- OVR: 22nd, CON: 7th, PWR: 18th, PITCH: 26th, DEF: 16th, SPD: 26th
- Dan – Royals – 62-50, 4.5GB, 3rd
- OVR: 2nd, CON: 4th, PWR: 5th, PITCH: 2nd, DEF: 21st, SPD: 8th
AL West
- Athletics – CPU – 61-51, 1st
- Astros – CPU – 60-51, 0.5GB, 2nd
- Austin – Rangers – 60-53, 1.5GB, 3rd
- OVR: 18th, CON: 20th, PWR: 11th, PITCH: 14th, DEF: 19th, SPD: 25th
- Sandra – Mariners – 51-62, 10.5GB, 4th
- OVR: 8th, CON: 17th, PWR: 1st, PITCH: 15th, DEF: 1st, SPD: 24th
NL East
- Derek L – Phillies – 74-39, 1st
- OVR: 7th, CON: 2nd, PWR: 10th, PITCH: 7th, DEF: 24th, SPD: 4th
- Derek – Braves – 68-44, 5.5GB, 2nd
- OVR: 3rd, CON: 19th, PWR: 15th, PITCH: 1st, DEF: 9th, SPD: 27th
- Charles – Expos – 67-46, 7GB, 3rd
- OVR: 6th, CON: 9th, PWR: 21st, PITCH: 4th, DEF: 7th, SPD: 10th
- Phil – Mets – 39-72, 34GB, 4th
- OVR: 10th, CON: 18th, PWR: 2nd, PITCH: 11th, DEF: 8th, SPD: 13th
NL Central
- Cardinals – CPU – 69-45, 1st
- Gary – Cubs – 58-54, 10GB, 3rd
- OVR: 13th, CON: 12th, PWR: 16th, PITCH: 17th, DEF: 5th, SPD: 15th
- George – Reds – 52-60, 16GB, 5th
- OVR: 12th, CON: 16th, PWR: 23rd, PITCH: 10th, DEF: 3rd, SPD: 3rd
NL West
- Henry – Giants – 63-49, 1st
- OVR: 5th, CON: 13th, PWR: 14th, PITCH: 5th, DEF: 2nd, SPD: 7th
