The Yanks and ‘stros both come off of hard 5-game ALDS series in Game 1 of the ALCS.
Podcast: Divergent League Baseball
Audio-only versions of games, stat updates, and more from the Divergent League Baseball fantasy sports league, simulated in MLB The Show.
The Mets and Reds kick off the 1999 League Championship Series.
Transcript:
Howdy folks it’s Divergent League Update for Tuesday, March 30th 2021 but here in Divergent League it is October 7th 1993, and the Postseason Blues have claimed another team’s hopes, while one team ascends to the League Championship Series.
That’s right, the St. Louis Cardinals are out of it, felled by the San Francisco Giants in three games to become our first casualty of the 1993 Postseason. Two teams may join them tonight.
One of the strangest things about this postseason so far is the perilous situation the Chicago White Sox find themselves in- down 2-0 against those darn Blue Jays who simply will not die.
The 93 Jays are the first ever Divergent League team to lose a one-game playoff, then win a one-game playoff. They’ve thus far held the White Sox to a single home run, off the bat of Craig Biggio who the Sox acquired in the off season.
That’s not the only trade having an effect in this postseason, though- The Blue Jays had that massive deal with the Mets earlier in the season which resulted in Dwight Gooden and Bobby Bonilla moving to Toronto… the very same Gooden who won their one-game playoff against the Tigers.
Todd Stottlemyre will be on the hill for the Jays tonight, facing off against Wilson Alvarez for the Sox.
Elsewhere in the AL, the mighty Baltimore Orioles have a 2-1 lead on the Houston Astros. These are both CPU teams so we don’t really care about that.
Our other big series is Atlanta .vs. Montreal, where the Expos lead 2-1 on the Braves. Tom Glavine will starts for Atlanta, opposite Chris Nabholz for Montreal.
You can catch both games on https://twitch.tv/extrafuture at 5:30pm Pacific.
No transcript, short episode this week! We have our Wild Card winners, and we move onto the Playoffs proper.
Transcript:
Howdy folks it’s Friday, March 12th 2021 but in Divergent League we are all the way back on September 30th, that’s right, it’s postseason time and today the Commish has your inside scoop on our playoff matchups.
But first let’s start this episode off right- with The Dingers!
This season’s home run king is Frank Thomas followed by Mark McGwire for the Mets. The Big Hurt led the bigs with 52 home runs, and Big Mac came in second with 47.
That is far from the last time you’re going to hear Frank Thomas’ name in this episode.
On the mound, the 1993 Cy Young Award winners are in- The American League winner is Randy Johnson for the Mariners, and in the NL Atlanta’s John Smoltz took the crown. Smoltz finished the season with a record of 17-7, 215 strike outs, and an ERA of 1.92. The Big Unit went 17-10 for the Ms with an ERA of 3.91 and his 268 strike outs led the majors.
Relievers of the year were Boston’s Jeff Russell and Philadelphia’s David West. West had an absurd 54 saves and a 1.60 ERA for the Phils.
Wade Boggs edged out Yankees Teammate Kirby Puckett for the AL Batting Title, finishing with a .365. In the National League the honors go to John Kruk, who batted .328 for the Phillies.
And now for the Most Valuable Players in each league. Congratulations to the White Sox Frank Thomas, and the Mets Mark McGwire on being the MVPs of their respective leagues. Thomas had 136 RBIs for the southsiders, with a .329 batting average. McGwire batted .312 with 121 RBIs for the last-place Mets.
You can find the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winners on divergentleague.com
Taking a look at the playoff bracket, the Orioles and Astros will face off in one half of the ALDS, both CPU-controlled teams. In the AL Wild Card we’ll see the Blue Jays and Tigers face off with the winner going on to face the White Sox in the other Division Series.
On the National League side, the SF Giants and St. Lous Cardinals will face off in one NLDS matchup, with the Expos and Phillies facing off in the Wild Card. The winner will go on to face the Braves in the other NL Divisional Series.
You can catch the first games of each series, and the elimination games for all human-controlled teams streamed live on Twitch.
That’s all we have time for this week, folks! Join us this Sunday for our first Playoff games. I’m the Commish, and we’ll see you next time.
Transcript:
Howdy folks, it’s Divergent League Update for March 5th 2021, but in Divergent League we’re all the way back on September 28th, 1993.
Well, with regards to the regular season it’s all over the but the crying… for everyone except the Orioles and Blue Jays, who are all tied up at the end of regulation. We’ll need a tiebreaker to see who wins the AL East. More on that in a moment.
But first, as is tradition, here come the dingers!
We’ve got our Home Run King for 1993, and he is the Big Hurt. Frank Thomas finished the regular season with 52 home runs, 5 more than runner-up Mark McGwire’s 47. Also in the running were Fred McGriff with 43, Barry Bonds with 38 and Mo Vaughn with 36.
Thomas also led the bigs on Ribbies this season, with a total of 136. White Sox teammate Tim Raines is in second place with 124.
Both guys are top of the chart for MVP honors in the AL, with McGwire and Bonds leading in the NL.
Sticking with the stats, Wade Boggs will end this season with our highest batting average at a strong .365, with teammate Kirby Puckett coming in on his heels at .343. Pucket also led the league hits with 224.
Over in the NL, the Phillies John Kruk took the crown with a .328 average, edging out rookie Mike Piazza’s .323. Cal Rip’s 184 hits leads that league, with Butler and Piazza coming in at 182.
Puckett’s 49 doubles was enough to lead everyone in the majors this season, with the Angels Chad Curtis coming in 2nd at 46. Tim Raines lead the AL in Triples with 15.
The Expos Marquis Grissom lead the NL in both Doubles with 44 and Triples with 16.
Continuing with the White Sox dominance, The Bug Hurt and Rock Raines led the league in runs, too, with 119 for Thomas and 106 for Raines. The Lenny Dykstra and Barry Bonds led the NL with 115 and 109.
Those Angels Curtis and Polonia won out in the Stolen Base category, with the Blue Jays Rickey Henderson coming in third with 44. Nails took the NL crown for the Phillies, and Grissom came in third over there with 37.
Bonds and Thomas were both walked over 100 times this year and lead their leagues.
Taking a look at the pitchers, we continue our theme of White Sox dominance with Jack McDowall leading the AL and Orel Hershiser leading the NL both with 18 wins.
Atlanta’s Greg McMichael has 56 saves with Philadelphia’s David West and the Expos John Wetteland also passing there 50 save mark. Gregg Olson led the AL with 51 for the Orioles, Roberto Hernandez came in second with 47.
In the National League Earned Run Average category, Andy Benes finished with a 1.90 ERA, John Smoltz with 1.92, and Bret Sberhgen with 1.93.
The Texas Rangers Kevin Brown finished the season with a 1.97 ERA to lead the AL, just a few points ahead of Jack McDowall and Mike Mussina.
Chuck Finley threw 9 shutouts for the Angels, 3 more than the White Sox Alex Fernandez in 2nd place. Saberhagen and Smoltz led the NL with 6 and 5.
Unsurprisingly Randy Johnson ends the season 268 strikeouts, leading the AL and the Bigs, ahead of McDowell with 221. John Smoltz and Jose Rijo battled in the NL, with Smoltz taking the crown at 215.
—
And now the standings! We start out there with a mystery: Who will win the AL East?
The Blue Jays an Orioles ended the regular season with identical 88-74 records. They’ll face-off in a 1-game playoff tonight for all the marbles. The Yankees ended the season at 79-83, and did not quality for the postseason despite a strong finish.
In the AL Central the White Sox and Tigers are both heading to the postseason, with the Sox winning the division at 98 and 64. The Royals came in third.
In the West, the CPU-controlled Astros took the division beating out the 2nd place Rangers by 8 games. The Mariners finished 4th.
As for the AL Wild Card, the Tigers are in but we’ve got a three-way tie for the 2nd Wild Card spot! The Royals, Blue Jays , and Orioles are all set at 88-74. Tonight’s Orioles / Blue Jays game will settle the score there.
Onto the National League, the Braves went on a huge streak at the end of the season, unseating the Phillies from first place, but not depriving them of a Wild Card spot. Likewise, the Expos are in for the NL Wild Card too.
The Cardinals took the NL Central in a walk, after a 1-9 season-ending collapse by the Cubs. The Reds finished last.
A-way out west, the Giants beat out The Dodgers by 4 games.
—
It’s been a long season, and the easy part is almost over. From here on out, every game counts. We’ll se you this evening for the Jays / Orioles tiebreaker, and on our continued schedule for the most consequential playoff games.
I’m the Commish and I’ll see you next week.
Transcript:
Howdy folks, it’s Divergent League Update for February 26th 2021, but of course in Divergent League we’re all the way back on August 29th, 1993.
We’ve got just under 30 days of baseball left in the regular season, with almost every division still in play if one team gets on a hot or cold streak over the next 20 games.
As per usual let’s take a look at the dingers-
Chicago’s Frank Thomas still leads the league with 44 homers, head and shoulders above second place Jay Buhner’s 31 and Rafael Palmiero’s third place 30 in the American League. In the NL Mark McGwire is still in the chase, with 39 dingers on the ailing Mets. San Francisco’s Matt Williams follows with 36, and Fred McGriff with 35.
—
Yes we’re winding down the regular season here in 1993, but that just means we’ve got a whole Postseason to look forward to. The Divergent League Schedule will change slightly. We’ll be playing all night games from now on, every Wednesday and Sunday.
Next Friday will be the last Regular season games in a special episode of Divergent League at 6pm Pacific. We hope to see all of you owners in the Discord!
After that, you can expect us to watch the first game of all series featuring a human-controlled team, and all of the elimination games in the Playoffs all the way through the World Series.
Let’s see how the standings have shaken out through August.
—
Onto the Divisional Races, the AL East is still firmly Orioles territory, but the Blue Jays at 8.5 games back and the Yankees making a big late-season push after the acquisition of Kirby Puckett are still in the hunt at 15 games back.
The Central is a similar story, with the White Sox pulling away a bit and holding onto a 4.5 game lead over the Tigers and a 6 game lead over the Royals. The Cleveland Baseball Club is out.
In the rollin west the CPU-controlled Astros are 3.5 games up on the also CPU-controlled Athletics, and 4.5 games on the Texas Rangers. The Mainers are still in it at 11.5 games back. Here’s to hoping a player team can pull this one out.
The AL Wild Card Picture sees the Tigers and Royals leading the pack, with the Blue Jays and Rangers 4 and 5 games back respectively.
Over in the National League The Phillies maintain a slim 2.5 game lead over the Braves in the highly contested NL East, 8 up on the Expos, while the Mets and Marlins are the first two teams eliminated from the Playoff picture.
The Cardinals have the NL Central by the throat, 7.5 games ahead of the faltering Cubs. The Reds have an elimination number of 12, at 15.5 games out of first.
A-way out west those Giants have a solid 7.5 game lead over the Dodgers and are twenty games above the rest of the division.
The Braves and Expos are 10 games up in the NL Wild Card chase, with the Cubbies 12.5 games out and the Reds 20 back.
—
According to the stat sheet two Phillies lead the NL and two Yankees lead the AL in batting average. New York’s Wade Boggs and Kirby Puckett are #1 and #2 batting .359 and .345 this year. Puckett is on track for 200 hits this season, and Boggs leads the bigs in Doubles. Meanwhile John Kruk and Dave Hollins are leading the NL at .335 and .327. Mike Piazza is coming up at their heels at .326.
Keeping with the theme, a pair of White Sox lead the AL in RBIs separated by just one run- Tim Raines sits at 115 to Frank Thomas’ 114. McGwire leads the NL with 106, with San Francisco’s Barry Bonds and Matt Williams in 2nd and 3rd place.
The Angels Curtis and Polonia are still the leaders in Stolen Bases with 48 and 46. Raines comes in 4th with 34. The Expos Marquis Grissom has 33.
Frank Viola, Jack McDowall, Erik Hanson and Darryl Kile lead the American League side in wins, all tied 15. The Phillies Tommy Greene, LA’s Orel Hershiser and The Expos Dennis Martinez lead the NL at 16 a piece.
Looking at the closers Philadelphia’s David West and Atlanta’s Greg McMichael lead in saves with 49 and 46. In the AL Baltimore’s Gregg Olson has 47, followed by Chicago’s Roberto Hernandez.
Andy Benes leads the bigs in ERA, at a grisly 1.82. He’s the last one left with an ERA under 2. Hershiser and Martinez are close though, sitting at 2.00 even. David Cone leads the NL with 2.22, followed by Seattle’s Mike Mussina at 2.27 and Blackjack McDowall with 2.35.
The Big Unit Randy Johnson is the first player to break the 200K mark this year, with 228 so far. David Cone comes in 2nd with 191. Mussina has 183. In the NL The Reds Jose Rijo sits at 182 Ks on the year, leading that league. Andy Benes, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz are all over 160 on the year.
Checking in on the MVP standings, Chicago’s Thomas and Raines are deadlocked in the AL. On the NL side it’s down to Mark McGwire, Matt Williams, and Barry Bonds.
Leading the AL Cy Young race is Randy Johnson, with Jack McDowell still in contention. Philadelphia’s Tommy Greene leads the NL race, with LA’s Orel Hershiser and The Expos Dennis Martinez in 2nd and 3rd place.
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.
—
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.
—
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.
—
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
—
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.
—
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.
—
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
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.
—
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.
Transcript:
Howdy folks, it’s Divergent League Update for February 5th 2021, but of course in Divergent League we’re all the way back on June 21st, 1993.
All-Star Weekend is NEXT weekend, which will include the Hardship Draft, the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game proper on Saturday. Check divergentleague.com for the Home Run Derby and All Star Roster information on Friday, February 12th.
Some big moves have changed the face of the league, but this is baseball. You string a couple wins together and those division standings can change before you know it.
We’ll start off as we always do- The Dingers!
The Big Hurt Frank Thomas has overtaken Mark McGwire, and now leads all of baseball with 26. Big Mac follows with 24. Matt Williams leads the NL with 21. Dawson, Palmerio, Bonds and McGriff are all in the mix with 19 or more. The Cubs Sammy Sosa trails with 15.
Taking a quick look at the standings, the Orioles maintain their massive lead in the AL East, with the 2nd place Blue Jays down by 14 games at just under 500. The Yankees are 21 games out in 4th place.
Over to the Central, where the Tigers are 1.5 games up on the White Sox. These two have been trading places all season, but the Royals are on their heels at just 4 games back.
In the AL West the Rangers have surged, and are just 1.5 games behind the division leading Astros. Seattle is still in 4th, 9.5 games out.
Onto the NL East, the Phillies have pulled ahead of the 2nd place Expos by 4.5 games, with a best-in-baseball record of 54 wins against 21 losses. The Braves have dropped a few this month, and are in 3rd place at 12.5 games back. The Mets, baseball’s worst team, sit in the cellar at 22-54, an incredible 32.5 games out of 1st.
In the NL Central the Cubs and Reds are sitting in 4th and last place respectively, at 10 and 14 games out of first place.
A-way out west we’ve got the Giants, firmly in control of the division with an 8 game lead over the Pads.
—
In Divergent League we have a little some called The Hardship Draft. The Friday before All Star Weekend, the bottom 20% of the league by record get an extra draft pick, and can choose ANY player not on a human-controlled team. This season has 14 teams, so we’ll round up and say 3 Hardship Draft picks are available.
Hardship draft leaders as of this broadcast are the Mets, Yankees, and Reds. The Mariners and Cubs aren’t far off.
—
Flipping over to the stat sheet, our biggest news is the Yankees Wade Boggs had a stellar May and early June, now leading baseball with a .392 average. Braves rookie sensation Mike Piazza remains at the top of the NL at .343. Joe Valentin, and David Segui are close by in the .340s.
Boggs, Marquis Grissom, Lenny Dykstra, and Chad Curtis lead in Doubles with 24 a piece.
Taking the short train to Ribbie Town, The Big Hurt is unsurprisingly in the lead with 69. Nice. Mark McGwire, Tim Raines, and Andre Dawson follow in the AL. Bonds with 62, Darren Daulton, and Matt Williams, are at the top of the NL.
A pair of Angels lead the league in stolen bases, with Luis Polonia and Chad Curtis at 24 and 22. Rock Raines trails with 21 to round out the AL. Rockies bright spot Eric Young leads the NL with 22, with the Expos Grissom at 20.
Looking at the leaders from the mound- Baltimore’s Mike Mussina is tops in Baseball with 10. Detroit’s Bill Gullickson and The Os Fernando Valenzuela sit at 9. Over in the NL, Bill Swift, Tommy Greene, Allen Watson and Dennis Martinez are all tied with 10 Ws.
Gregg Olson leads all pitchers with 32 saves. David West’s got the NL lead with 30. Looking in on ERAs, Nolan Ryan leads everyone with an astonishing 1.23. The Padres Andy Benes has maintained an outlandish 1.39.
Randy Johnson leads the league is strikeouts at 125 already in the season. Mike Mussina follows with 118.
Standings and power rankings for Week 4 are available on divergentleague.com