BBFL: Baird Brain Finishing Fast

Monday, August 11 2003 @ 08:53 AM EDT

Contributed by: Coach

Taking a stranglehold on second with an 8-4 win over the Sub-Urban Shockers, Baird Brain moved within 8.5 games of first place Gashouse Gorillas, who lost 9-2 to the Eastern Shore Birds. My Toronto Walrus is now six games farther back in third, after falling 8-4 to the Moscow Rats, and fourth place Billies Bashers missed an opportunity to close the gap between us, dropping a 7-4 decision to the K-Town Mashers.

With just three weeks left to determine playoff seedings, it's wide open. Nation Builders beat Geoffs Grumpy Group 6-5 to remain in fifth place, now by a more comfortable 3.5 games. Still holding on to the sixth (and last) spot in the championship bracket despite a 7-4 loss to the Chatsworth Halos, Mebion Glyndwr has a 1.5 game lead on the charging Birds, followed by five more teams grouped within three games. Expect some close photo-finishes. No less than TEN teams are within eight games of playing for the T-shirt, yet three of them won't even make the consolation playoffs.

Here's where we stand after Week 19:

 #  Team                      W-L-T      Win %    GB 
 1  gashouse gorillas       139-77-12    .636     --
 2  Baird Brain             130-85-13    .599     8.5 
 3  Toronto Walrus          126-93-9     .572    14.5 
 4  Billies Bashers         120-97-11    .550    19.5 
 5  Nation Builders         117-104-7    .529    24.5 
 6  Mebion Glyndwr          114-108-6    .513    28 
 7  Eastern Shore Birds     111-108-9    .507    29.5 
 8  Chatsworth Halos        109-108-11   .502    30.5 
 9  Thunderbirds            109-110-9    .498    31.5 
10  Springfield Isotopes    107-109-12   .496    32 
11  Jicks Rays              106-109-13   .493    32.5
12  Red Mosquitos           106-109-13   .493    32.5  
13  K-Town Mashers          107-113-8    .487    34 
14  Sub-Urban Shockers      104-110-14   .487    34 
15  AGF                     105-112-11   .485    34.5 
16  Reykjavik Fish Candy    103-113-12   .478    36 
17  Moscow Rats              99-115-14   .465    39 
18  Garces_not_on_roids      92-124-12   .430    47 
19  masssuckage              88-127-13   .414    50.5 
20  Geoffs Grumpy Group      78-139-11   .366    61.5

I have no excuses. The Rats pitched very well, the Walrus didn't. My entire outfield, and a few other guys, stopped hitting. I'm hoping it was a brief slump, or it's going to be a long week against Nation Builders. Mostly, after he was scratched again yesterday with a tender elbow, I'm worried about Jason Schmidt. My advice to the Giants is to give him a couple of weeks off right now -- I'm counting on him in September, and they will need him in October.

There's still no decision on the offseason trading window, which is my fault. I've been distracted by other stuff, like work, interviewing Sparky and redesigning Da Box, so I've neglected to convene the Rules Committee. This week, for sure. The feedback on having a small league fee next year to get premium service from Yahoo was generally favourable; the objections were mostly to expansion, which would dilute the talent pool. Are there any more comments on that idea? Other suggestions?

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