Week #16

With just 3 more weeks left in the regular season, the playoff race is heating up. This is how the playoffs would look if they started today:

Conference 1:
Division Winners:    Destroyers 72    Beginners 66
Wildcards:    Hummers 70    Wiseguys 63    Cobras 61    Stingrays 60
Out of Playoffs:    Fury 50    Barracudas 50    Lightning 45    Clippers 40

Conference 2:
Division Winners:    Connection 76    Oysters 73
Wildcards:    X-Men 66    Puppies 55    Blackjacks 55    S.T.L. 54
Out of Playoffs:    Contributors 54    Intimidators 52    Death 50    Redbirds 49

As you can see, several playoff spots and a few division titles are on the line as we go into the final 3 weeks of regular season action.

Now, lets see how the week #15 results turned out:

Contributors 2    Intimidators 3
Coach Cunningham continues to the be the man pulling the strings these days for the Intimidators, and he gets a solid week from his team with winning 3 games and a top 10 finish. Sheffield went off at Coor's over the weekend to lead the way with a 35 point week. The Intimidators need to make up some ground though if this expansion team wants to go to the post-season. Coach McSwain's team was looking good after posting wins on M-Th and again on Friday, but the team could only muster up 15 and 10 points the next two days and ended up losing all three of the next games. The Contributors are right on the bubble of making the playoffs, and need a few good weeks to stake their claim at the post-season.

Puppies 3    S.T.L. 2
The Puppies continue to find ways to win, this week was by a slim 3 points on total, despite scoring just 105 points. Coach Levitre is back on track with the score reporting, and his team is in position to advance on, but the race is pretty tight, so the 'Pups need to stay on their winning ways. Coach Woog was sharing the same feelings as Coach McSwain, as his team posted wins on M-Th and Friday, and was looking at a banner week that would solidify his playoff hopes. But just as the Contributors did, the S.T.L. team went in the tank on Sat and Sun, posting scores of 0 (ah, yes that is 0 points for the day) and 19 to give away the remaining three games. Coach Woog's team is in the playoffs right now, but they need to step it up these last few weeks.  

Beginners 3    Oysters 2
Coach Alford keeps up his winning ways, posting 3 wins and the high score in the league for the week. The Beginners team is still sitting a top the A Division, a spot they have held onto for quite some time now. Thanks to a certain C Division team (C4 for those scoring at home), Coach Alford now has a 5 point lead and is looking good for a first round bye. Coach JR's team posted the 4th high score of the week, but wasn't able to get more than 2 wins to show for it. No worries for the Oysters top brass, the team has the D Divison and a first round bye all locked up. The Oysters are just hoping to stay healthy as the play out the last 3 weeks.

Stingrays 2    X-Men 3
In the closest match of the week, the X-Men get the final win on totals by just one point, 126-125. Coach Al and his partner Mike are in fine shape to get the #1 wildcard seed in their conference. The X-Men  get a 10 point game from Tino on Sunday to secure the total points win. The Stingrays are still limping into the playoffs, as Coach Merv had to put yet another player on the DL, and losing Edgar will hurt come playoff time if he is not back. But for now, the 'Rays are in the playoffs, and with veteran leadership like Coaches Merv/Mike, they will always be a team to compete until the end.

Cobras 1    Death 4
The Commish finally has his Death Squad playing some real baseball, although it is probably just a little to late in the year. The Death get a monster 31 point game from Bagwell to set the new league high single game. The Commish ends getting 45 from Bagwell and 34 from Alomar to win 4 games from the Cobras. Coach Maze was just a little frustrated with the turn of events this week. As this game and others this week proved, teams that are out of the playoff race still have the capabilities to post good weeks and play the spoiler to teams chasing division titles and playoff spots. That will make Maze feel much better I am sure!

Fury 0    Blackjacks 5
Coach Phillips' team gets the sweep over the Fury, and puts themselves into the playoff picture with the 5 wins and a top 10 finish. Nothing real flashy for the Blackjacks team, just lots of solid weeks and a good week by the Cubs pitching staff. Coach Phillips is looking to make the playoffs in his first season, and this is a great start to the stretch run for his team. Coach Rogan gets the short end of the stick this week, and it couldn't have come at worse time. The Fury scored a respectable 120 points, but could find a way to win even a single game. The road to the playoffs is all uphill from here for the Fury.

Lightning 4    Redbirds 1
WOW! What got into the Lightning team? Coach Rose gets his players to put up the 2nd high score in the league and despite the 32 point loss on M-Th, they come back and sweep the next 4 games. Led by 5 players scoring 20+ for the week, the Lightning showed they have potential, but the hole is to deep for Coach Rose and he is left to play the spoiler from here on out. Coach Hanshe wishes the Lightning team of old had shown up this week. His Redbirds teams finally gets a good week from Beltre, but that was not enough against the 173 points posted by the Lightning. Coach Hanshe gets to play the spoiler as well the rest of the way. 

Destroyers 4    Connection 1
Coach Steve continues his winning ways, as his Destroyers team puts it to the league leading Connection team. Yet another 20+ point week for Gonzalez, and a huge 23 point game of Friday from Chavez sealed the fate of the Connection. Coach Steve's team is sitting a top the B Division, and don't look like a team that will give it up very easily. Coach Rose has to be a little concerned with the last two efforts by his team, as his Connection have been thumped the last two weeks. Injuries are starting to add up for the team, but they still are leading the league in team points and a lock for the playoffs. But Coach Rose has to be just a little concerned with his team, as you would like to be on a roll come playoff time.

Wiseguys 4    Clippers 1
Coaches Chris/George get the Wiseguys back on the winning track with a solid 4 win week and a top 10 finish. The Wiseguys got a solid week from Green (Coor's Field) and the team has a wildcard spot in their sights. The defending champs continue to struggle, and are out of the playoff race. Coaches Harry/Mike are left to wonder where it all went wrong, and they too get to play the spoiler down the fininsh.

Barracudas 0    Hummers 5
Coach Tyler's Hummers team gets the needed sweep of the Barracudas to try and make up ground and get back on top of the B Division. Lead again by Vladi with 26 points, the Hummers have the wildcard spot locked up, but still hold out hopes of catching the Destroyers for the first round bye. Coaches Bert/Pam are disappointed with their team, as the 'Cudas could only score 81 points this week, and that will not cut it if the team has hopes of sneaking in the playoffs. Coach Bert summed the week up best, "OUCH!".

Week #16 Awards:

Player of the Week:    Bagwell, Death    45 Points
After posting a new league high of 31 points during the week, Bags gets anothe 14 over the weekend to take the weekly high honors for the Commish and his Death Squad. 

Pitching Staff of the Week:    Arizona, Puppies     47 Points 
Led by the 1-2 punch of Schilling and Johnson, the Puppies get the weekly high to lead the way towards their 3 wins. Strangely enough... the rest of the Puppies team scored 58 combined! Go figure?

Boxscore Blunder of the Week:    Clippers
The usually reliable Harry and Mike pulled a MIA this week. Maybe they were busy trying to find out how the defending champs have fallen so far this year.

Quote of the Week:    Coach Hanshe, Redbirds
"What team is going off on us this week? The lowest scoring team in the league has a career weekend against us!" Just goes to show, as we come down the stretch in the regular season, even teams that are out of the playoff race can still have good weeks. Keep you roster updated, and maybe you will play the spoiler against Maze.....I mean teams in the playoff hunt.

Good luck to everyone in week #17!

The Commish


PREVIOUS EDITIONS OF THE COMMISH'S CORNER:


CLICK ON LINK TO VIEW THAT WEEK'S REPORT

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #1

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #2

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #3

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #4

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #6

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #7

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #8

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #9

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #10

COMMISH'S CORNER WEEK #15