Thanks to a weak Yankees bullpen and an explosion of power from the White Sox, the southsiders won 9-1. Catch the replay in our Twitch archives. Highlights included Frank Thomas socking dinger number 39. He leads the league.
More stats and standings coming up tomorrow in Divergent League Update.
Game 1 (video archive) saw the Reds take one from the Cubs 1-0.
Game 2 (video archive) was a dingerful affair, with a combined 5 home runs in which the Mariners crushed the Mets 8-5.
You can catch the replay on our Twitch channel.
This season’s All-Star game was close in the scorecard but never really in doubt. The National League All-Stars won on the strength of home runs from Matt Williams (clip) and John Kruk (clip).
Tonight’s games will be at 1pm PST and another at 4pm PST and will feature Cubs .vs. Reds and Mets .vs. Mariners. Come see the first game for the new-look Mets with Mark McGwire. New Mariner Mike Mussina will likely be on the mound for the Ms.
It’s All-Star Weekend and the home run derby last night was a dinger-filled affair with several shots over the 500-foot mark. The Big Hurt took the trophy home for the White Sox after besting Mark McGwire in the finals. You can catch the full Derby in the Divergent League Archives. More on Big Mac’s future in a moment.
Frank Thomas won the derby after defeating Mike Piazza and Barry Bonds on his way to the finals against Mark McGwire who likewise took down Matt Williams and Rafi Palmiero. Congrats to the Big Hurt.
The 1993 Hardship Draft has concluded and it involved some huge moves with deep implications for the rest of the season.
McGwire is leading the league in home runs, tied with Frank Thomas. Mike Mussina is front-runner for the Cy Young award. Things just got a little more interesting.
Tonight is the All-Star Game! We’ll see you at 6pm pacific time on https://twitch.tv/extrafuture
The All-Star Game broadcasts tomorrow, Feb 13, at 6:00pm PST.
The Hardship Draft winners have been chosen, and will make their picks in this order:
A lot of players are in… play this year, so we could see some big changes in the second half. Look for the picks to be announced this evening during the Home Run Derby.
Here are the seeds for tonight’s Home Run Derby:
Join us starting at 6pm PST for some Dingers tonight at https://twitch.tv/extrafuture
AL East
AL Central
AL West
NL East
NL Central
NL West
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:
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:
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.
[Back-filling the games from yesterday — Commish]
Today on Divergent League (video archive link) the Braves took down the Phillies 4-2 behind a characteristically solid Greg Maddux performance.
The Cubs also trounced the Reds, 5-0 on the power of 4 RBIs from Steve Buechele including a 3-run dinger. Bip Roberts went 1-3 with a base on balls.
Don’t forget to join us this Friday for the Home Run Derby, and Saturday for the All-Star Game.
Howdy sports fans, you may have noticed that we skipped yesterday’s scheduled games. We’re adjusting the streaming schedule a bit this week to accommodate the upcoming All-Star Weekend festivities. Here’s the schedule for this week:
We hope you’ll join us at the usual place, https://twitch.tv/extrafuture
The Week 4 podcast is now up, embedded here and available anywhere you listen to podcasts:
Next weekend is All Star Weekend starting Friday February 12th with the Hardship Draft and continuing into Saturday’s Home Run Derby and All Star Game festivities. Check back here for the All Star rosters, and Home Run Derby qualifiers, next week.
AL East
AL Central
AL West
NL East
NL Central
NL West
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