BoS Power Rankings - May

Anibal Sanchez: 7-1, 2.01 ERA, 68 K's & .989 WHIP in 62.2 innings for Portland this season.

The power rankings for month #2 (May) through May 28th.

Biggest Jump (Placement): Good things for the Mosher family circle in the month of May: The Fairgrove Tigers (Robert Mosher) and Holland Hitchhikers (Steve Ruder) moved up the most places on the Power Rankings -- each moving up 4 slots. As you may or may not know, Steve became a father last year, giving "Tiger Bob" another grandchild.

Biggest Jump (Points): It's hard to believe that just a month ago, the Portland Microbrewers ranked #4, had only 88.5 points in the ranking system, they have been on fire since, going 22-2 since, and winning 24 of last 26 games. Not to mention the BoS League Record 14 game winning-streak.

Staying Steady: The Traverse City Panthers did drop a spot (falling to 3rd) & lost 4 points, but have stayed relatively steady, while Portland & Fairgrove blown past them. The Buffalo Yankees (11th) didn't move any spots, while losing 7 points.

Biggest Drop (Placement):  The Chicago Nine dropped 4 slots, while losing 13 points in the BoS Power Rankings. 

Biggest Drop (Points):  The King Road Kings dropped 20 points, and slipped two spots -- their division mates San Diego Heroes had one of the biggest drops (-18.5); Both bad news for two teams while Portland starts putting serious distance between both teams. The Heroes are in second, but already trail by 10.5 games.

Team to Watch: The South Shore Fighting Imps are the defending BoS World Champions, they were #1 during the end of April - Power Rankings, and have recently fallen to #4 in the rankings, by dropping 3 slots & 19.5 points. The team only played .500 ball during May (12-12), while still owning a 5 game lead on the Swatara Eliminators. The Imps have played better on the road, going 18-12. 

BoS League Leaders

(Through 6 weeks / 34-35 games)

Bruce has been having a big 2014 season for Buffalo.

A.L. Leaders

The Swatara Eliminators feature 3 of the American League's top 4 hitters, with Yadier Molina who has been consistently at the top. Victor Martinez missed all of last season due to injury.

Miguel Cabrera of the Buffalo Yankees (who fell short of the Triple Crown last season) is heating up, lifting his batting average up to .297, while moving up the HR ladder with 10 for the season.

Miguel is not the only Yankee making some noise this season, Jay Bruce leads the A.L. with 11 HR's and 32 RBI.

Shin-Soo Choo of the South Shore Fighting Imps finds himself ranking good in the Triple Crown categories -- He's hitting .307 (5th), with 7 HRs (5th) & 23 RBI (tied for second).

Jacoby Ellsbury is making a mockery on the base paths, having three times the amount of steals than his Chicago Nine teammate Carlos Gomez.

Thank goodness we don't have a Comeback Player of the Year Award! It would be tough to decide between "V-Mart" (mentioned above) of Swatara & South Shore's John Lackey. Manager Bill Gillam's choice of drafting last season's uncard in Lackey is looking like a genius move, while drafting Hyun-Jin Ryu to go along with Doug Fister.

The Brooklyn Mets' Clay Buchholz currently leads the league with a 1.50 ERA & 4-1 record.

The Fairgrove Tigers' Madison Bumgarner leads the league in strikeouts (60), while tied with 6 victories.

Joe Nathan (Fairgrove) and Koji Uehara (Buffalo) lead a list of recognizable names, and some newcomers to the Saves list in Drew Smyly (Chicago) and David Carpenter (Brooklyn)

N.L. Leaders

Micheal Cuddyer of the King Road Kings leads the National League in batting average, also among the leaders are Martin Prado (of Holland) and Donaldson (of Traverse City) who have been consistent factors this 2014 BoS Season.

The Holland Hitchhikers' Evan Gattis is off to a great start his rookie year, pacing the league with 11 home runs. Nelson Cruz & Chris Davis of the San Diego Heroes, trail with 9 HRs.

Josh Donaldson who was leading the league for awhile in batting average, has been among most offensive categories in the N.L. for the Traverse City Panthers.

The Traverse City Panthers are off-and-running, blowing away the competition in the steals department, Jean Segura leads the N.L. with 20, trailed by his teammates Jarrod Dyson (who has mostly come off the bench) and Hunter Pence.

We already know of Julio Teheran's season, but lets bring some attention to the season that Cliff Lee of the Portland Microbrewers is having so far -- 5-0, 1.86 ERA with 53 K's in 53.1 innings.

The young Cuban rookie Jose Fernandez is making a huge impact for Holland, with 62 K's in 51 innings, his K numbers are sandwiched between Teheran (71) and Matt Harvey (60) of T.C. 

Greg Holland leads the league with his 9 Saves for Holland.

*** This concludes the BoS League Leaders for both A.L. & N.L. ***

BoS Week 5 & Week 6 (Condensed)

The latest news in the Boys of Summer APBA Baseball League (BoS)

"DERAILED!"

The Urbana Locomotives find themselves in unfamiliar territory as they go from N.L. East Champions (104-58) to cellar-dwellers, a short off-season later at 8-27. The rest of the division improved immensely (particularly, Traverse City & Holland). Also part of this has to do with the improving of players on other teams in the divisions, while Urbana decreased in practically all the positions among starters on their team.

As you will witness below, the lineup in total of OPS (On Base + Slugging) practically lost the equivalent of a last season's version of Adrian Beltre (a .920 difference in OPS; Beltre had a .921 MLB OPS) & 19 total grade points in the rotation, just slightly more of that of a last season's version of David Price (who was a 18-X). Funny thing, Beltre outperformed his MLB counterpart with a monster season for Urbana, with a .990 OPS! Beltre is still playing well for Urbana in 2014, while Price's grade is notably different at 11-YZ.

The most notable difference is in players such as Carlos "Chooch" Ruiz, dropping from a steroid-induced .935 OPS to his suspension year that produced a .688 OPS for the Phils in 2013 -- Welington Castillo is winning more playing time with his .746 OPS; Ruiz is actually out-performing his MLB counterpart, with a .766 OPS for Urbana.

The first base position is down .096 with Mitch Moreland taking over for Garrett Jones, Jones appeared to have been playing most of the DH until Urbana's recent trade for Yoenis Cespedes (from Seattle, in exchange for Christian Yelich). The team was unable to replace the DH production of last season in Tyler Colvin.

Nick Markakis is probably the next biggest drop in production, going from a .834 OPS to .685!

We'll have to see if there are more trades & changes on the horizon for the Locomotives, although it's early, it does not appear that Urbana will repeat as division champs or even make the playoffs. Plus when will we see some of their future stars in Tanner Roark & Jedd Gyorko make their debuts?

We'll have to wait and see...

"INTO THE WILD"

The Traverse City Panthers have to be excited about their start, they recently put together a 11-game winning streak (from April 14th to April 25th), while owning a 4.5 game lead over second-place Hannibal. A big part of it has a lot to do with the improvement to their lineup with the emergence of players such as Josh Donaldson, Matt Carpenter & Brandon Belt -- but their leader has been the young pitching phenom Julio Teheran.

Teheran is 6-1, with a spectacular ERA of only 1.26! He has thrown for 71 K's in 50.1 innings (leading league with 12.9 K's per nine innings) & holding opponents to a .128 batting average -- plus three shutouts (including a one-hit*, 16 K dominant performance of offensive power San Diego)!

* - The possible no-hitter was broken up in Game 4 of the series by Edwin Encarnacion in the Top of the 7th inning.

Teheran has been on a roll -- since his bad first outing of 7 hits allowed in 1.1 innings on April 2nd.

Teheran is among the early favorites for N.L. Cy Young in 2014. He has pitched three one-hit shutouts for the season. We'll have to see if he can keep this early-season intensity throughout the season, the Panthers will have to watch the youngster's innings though.

BoS Series RE-CAPs (Series record) of last two weeks

AMERICAN LEAGUE

SOUTH SHORE (7 - 5): 
5-1 series win over Boston; 2-4 series loss to Buffalo.

SWATARA (6 - 6):
4-2 series win over Bronx; 2-4 series loss to Brooklyn.

BRONX (6 - 6):
2-4 series loss to Swatara; 4-2 series win over Chicago.

BOSTON (1 - 11): 
1-5 series loss to South Shore; 0-6 series loss to Fairgrove.

FAIRGROVE (9 - 3):
3-3 series split with Chicago; 6-0 series sweep of Boston.

BROOKLYN (9 - 3):
5-1 series win over Buffalo; 4-2 series win over Swatara.

BUFFALO (5 - 7):
1-5 series loss to Brooklyn; 4-2 series win over South Shore.

CHICAGO (5 - 7):
3-3 series split with Fairgove; 2-4 series loss to Bronx.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

TRAVERSE CITY (8 - 4):
4-2 series win over Holland; 4-2 series win over San Diego.

HANNIBAL (9 - 3):
6-0 series sweep over Urbana; 3-3 series split with Seattle.

HOLLAND (5 - 7):
2-4 series loss to Traverse City; 3-3 series split with King Road.

URBANA (0 - 12):
0-6 series loss to Hannibal; 0-6 series loss to Portland.

PORTLAND (9 - 3):
3-3 series split with Seattle; 6-0 series sweep of Urbana.

SAN DIEGO (6 - 6):
4-2 series win over King Road; 2-4 series loss to Traverse City.

KING ROAD (5 - 7):
2-4 series loss to San Diego; 3-3 series split with Holland.

SEATTLE (6 - 6):
3-3 series split with Portland; 3-3 series split with Hannibal.

"THE STARS WILL SHINE IN SEATTLE"

The BoS has just announced that this season's 2nd Annual BoS All-Star Game will take place in Seattle, Washington, home of the Seattle Rainiers. The National League won last season's All-Star Game in Washington, D.C. as they won 7-1. Carlos Beltran (of the Washington Filibusters) hit a Grand Slam to help drive the American League in front of the home crowd to win MVP honors, who will be this year's hero?

Seattle's All-Star Game Logo.

"PORTLAND IS ON FIRE!"

Mike Trout & Portland is off & running!

Brad Stark has his Portland tearing it up, they were already heating up from going a combined 9-3 during Weeks 5 & 6, while we just got word from out west that they now swept the Kings, for Portland's second consecutive sweep in Week 7. The Portland Microbrewers have now won 14 straight & have a chance in Week 8 to tie the BoS League Record of 15 consecutive wins, set by the Boston Bravos last season, during the team's second-half.

*** This concludes the BoS Highlights of Weeks 5 & 6 (and a little sneak peak of Week 7) ***

BoS Power Rankings (End of April)

The above was taken from last year's example of how I came up with the Power Rankings formula, in time I may eventually add bullpen & stolen base aspects to the rankings. This is how it will work for this year though.

The 2013 BoS World Champion South Shore Fighting Imps lead the end of April BoS Rankings, followed by the Traverse City Panthers, Swatara Eliminators & Portland Microbrewers. We are playing the 2014 BoS Baseball Regular Season (2013 MLB stats).

BoS Week 4 (National League)

Donaldson leads the N.L. in batting average & a few other categories.

"Black Streak"

The Traverse City Panthers (16-6) find themselves in unfamiliar territory, they now have won 9 straight games, sweeping Seattle in six games -- to put it in perspective, Traverse City's longest winning streak in 2013 was 4 games (tied for worst with the Washington Filibusters). Only 6 teams last season won at least 9 straight last season, Boston had the league's longest at 15 games. T.C's chance of matching that is highly unlikely, since they have to host a 6-game series against tough division rival Holland this upcoming week (Holland owns a career 13-9 record over the Panthers). The team has vastly improved in the pitching department this last week, and now ranks 3rd in ERA (3.30), while the Panthers lead the league in strikeouts (237) -- an astounding 10.8 K's per game. They are 2nd in hitting & led by Josh Donaldson. Donaldson (1.016 OPS) has finally put some home runs on the board to go with his great stats for 2014, he now is batting .359 (leads league) with 3 HR's & 20 RBI. Ryan Raburn has been lethal off the bench (.323, 4, 10 in 31 AB's) with a 1.150 OPS. Julio Teheran continues to make opposing hitters look like fools, sporting a 4-1 record, 1.62 ERA, with 47 K's in 33.1 innings (opponents are batting only .161 against him).

The Holland Hitchhikers (2nd place in N.L. East) meanwhile, split 3-3 with a tough Portland ball-club -- they trail Panthers by 3.5 games & get their chance to make some ground back; They are 5-1 on the road this season. Mike Minor keeps improving for Holland is now topping the rotation with a 2.77 ERA & perfect 3-0 record, while Jose Fernandez (3-1, 3.35) is 2nd in the National League with 49 strikeouts. Greg Holland has been a perfect 6-for-6 in the Saves department for Holland, with a 1-0 record, no runs (only 2 hits) allowed, with 10 K's in 8.1 innings; In fact the bullpen is rocking with a 1.82 ERA. Eric Hosmer and Evan Gattis are tied for the team lead with 16, while Gattis continues to lead the league in HR's (8) as a rookie. Bryce Harper has the power - 7 HR's (2nd) with 14 RBI & 20 runs scored... but lacks average at the moment (.197). The team still needs improvement in their rotation by Stephen Strasburg, Matt Moore & Zack Wheeler, if they want to win this division -- they are definitely a team in the mix, as the N.L. is starting to show some separation.

The Hannibal Cavemen (11-12) held off the powerful offense of San Diego, to pull off a tough 3-3 split, they also improved to 3-0 in extra-inning games with their 4-3 victory in Game 3. The team still ranks among the best in pitching (2nd in ERA - 3.24), but have a negative Run Differential of 7. The team finds itself in 3rd place at the moment, as their lineup is still struggling (.227) with the 2nd lowest scoring average (3.3) in the N.L. -- It does not help that the team is next to the bottom in fielding. Jon Lester leads the team with a 3-0 record & 2.01 ERA (30 K's in 31 innings) while Travis Wood keeps winning the bad luck award (going 1-3) despite a 3.00 ERA in 5 starts (2 CG). Gio Gonzalez (2-3) has slowed down of late, with a 3.34 ERA & 27 K's. Buster Posey has woke up & is now batting .271, with 4 HR's & 11 RBI -- which is a good sign; James Loney (.295) has been the only consistent bat in their lineup for the most part. Good news, Hannibal hosts struggling Urbana.

The Urbana Locomotives are at the bottom of their division, and are already 8.5 games out (T.C's streak didn't help matters), while they have a 2-5 record in one-run games. They are last in hitting (.216) and are only average 3.0 runs a game (with a -16 Run Differential); 53% of their opponents' runs came off them in the first four innings, this season -- leaving them in many situations of playing from behind. The team is 6th in ERA (3.49), while they can at least hang their hat on the defense that ranks 3rd behind Traverse City & Seattle. Their bullpen has been the stronger element of their staff (2.17 ERA), although playing mostly mop-up. David Price (25 career wins) & Cole Hamels continue to put up good numbers, while Hiroki Kuroda is only 1-4, with a 4.04 ERA -- a year after winning 21 games. The two starters (Jeff Samardzija & Ubaldo Jimenez) acquired from Chicago during the 2014 BoS Draft (to help with pitching depth) are a combined 1-6, 5.48 ERA. Urbana has not had much time to take any deep breaths, as they prepare for a road trip to inner-state Hannibal.

In many ways, the Portland Microbrewers (14-8) are still the team to beat in the National League. They have the rotation & they are the defending National League Champions. They also have the best player in the game in Mike Trout, who really hasn't got rolling yet (then again, he started slow last season as well); Trout has improved to .262, with 3 HR & 11 RBI, drawing 13 walks, with 3 steals; He also is currently on a 12-game hitting-streak. The team has three starting pitchers under 3,00 ERA in Cliff Lee (2.17), Anibal Sanchez (2.60) & Hisashi Iwakuma (2.95). Juan Uribe (.364, 4, 8) and Brad Miller (.333, 2, 9) have batted well in limited play, while the team hopes that Carlos Gonzalez's bat (.204 BA) heats up to go along with his 6 HR's & 13 RBI. Portland visits the Rainiers, their northwestern division rival, next.

The San Diego Heroes (13-10) keep getting it done with its power -- to the point that they should add "Super" to Heroes, they have 39 HR's in 23 games, good enough to be on pace for 275 HR's! They have 3 players (Edwin Encarnacion, Chris Davis & Nelson Cruz) with 6 HR's each (that's a pace for 42 HR's -- imagine three players on one club with that many homers?!) They have a .799 OPS & got done with a 3-3 split against Hannibal's tough starting pitching. Their pitching was somewhat of a surprise in the first 3 weeks, this past week, some of their starters are coming back down to Earth -- while their bullpen (2.35 ERA) continues to go strong, led by Kenley Jansen's 5 Saves. Tyson Ross continues to have a good year, 2-0, 2.63 ERA, with 37 K's in 27.1 innings -- along with A.J. Griffin's 4-0 start, featuring an ERA of 2.80 & 30 K's in 35.1 IP. The Heroes currently look like Portland's biggest threat in the west, they host the 10-13 Kings next.

The King Road Kings hope that Chris Sale can rebound from a rough start & join Clayton Kershaw for the best one-two left-handed punch in baseball -- meanwhile, it's been a different sort of 1-2 combo for the Kings in Kershaw & Ervin Santana; Both pitchers have a ERA below 2.00 (Kershaw 1.93, Santana 1.98 - 4 starts each). Both have a shutout this season, while Kershaw has recorded a Save. Daniel Murphy has been the King of Kings on offense, batting .293, with 2 HR & 13 RBI, to go along with his team-leading 9 doubles & 15 runs. Michael Cuddyer (.282, 3, 14) is batting good as well. The team is still waiting on Josh Hamilton to lift that .182 batting average, he does have 3 HR & 13 RBI though; Chase Headley & Billy Butler have been getting on base (drawing plenty of walks), but could hit for better also. The Kings will have their work cut out for them as they face San Diego's powerful lineup, who has no problem scoring runs -- while the Kings enter the series at a -8 Run Differential, which does not spell out to be a successful series.

The Seattle Rainiers ran into a red-hot team in Traverse City & their red-hot pitcher Julio Teheran (2 wins, 19 K's in 14 innings, 3 runs & 10 hits allowed); They also lost a 16-inning 1-0 game, against a tough Matt Harvey (14 K's in 9.2 IP) -- a game that Max Scherzer was absolutely on, allowing only 3 hits in 9 innings, with 10 K's. Scherzer has been showing signs of turning it around, as he is now 1-2, with a 3.72 ERA, while leading the National League with 50 strikeouts. The team still has the worst pitching in the league (4.72 ERA), which they need Justin Masterson, Jason Vargas & Kyle Kendrick to step it up. Wil Myers (.368 BA/.905 OPS in 38 AB's), Mike Carp (.289, 3, 12) & Brett Gardner (.270 BA, 20 H & 4 steals) have been the team's bright spots in the lineup, while Evan Longoria (who had a great season in MLB) has been disappointing so far, with his .202 batting average. The Rainiers have been outscored by 35 runs so far, and it doesn't get easier with Portland coming into town.

*** This concludes the N.L. Highlights for Week 4 ***

BoS Week 4 (American League)

Desmond starting to shine for Swatara in balanced A.L.

"Balancing Acts"

The Brooklyn Mets visited their neighbors in the Bronx, and took them for a ride in a 5-1 series victory, the Mets have suddenly improved to 10-12, and now trail the division lead by 2 games (3rd place). They won two of the games on back-to-back nights in extras. Clay Buchholz set the tone with his one-hit shutout (13 K's) of the Bombers in Game 1; Buchholz is now 2-1, 2.81 ERA, 23 K's in 24 innings. Matt Cain who had a no-hitter last week, is 2-2 with a 3.18 ERA & 24 K's in 28.1 IP. Their offense still is overall flat at the moment, but there is some signs of improvement, raising their average up 10 points is a start. Drew Stubbs is batting .333 with 4 HR & 8 RBI in limited play (30 AB's), as Micheal Bourn has been their most consistent hitter: .311, 4, 9 RBI & 2 steals. Albert Pujols is still looking for his first HR & RBI of the season. If the lineup can come around, Brooklyn can be in the playoff mix, let's see if they can build off this sudden momentum.

The South Shore Fighting Imps still have the American League's best record at 14-9 & are currently on a three-game winning-streak -- plus they win their first big test of the season, a 4-2 series victory over the A.L. West Division Champion Fairgrove Tigers on the road. The team's offense keeps rolling, led by Shin-Soo Choo (who leads the league with a .968 OPS, among many other categories). The team known for its hitting, finds its pitching tops in the A.L. with a 3.00 ERA, while 2nd in Opponent's batting average (.216); Doug Fister has quietly been getting it done with a 3-1 record, while placing 2nd in ERA (2.06). Their staff has the least walks allowed, 49 allowed in 23 games. Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-1, 2.39 ERA & 31 K's) continues to have a great rookie season, while John Lackey is 3-0 after missing all of last season. Joey Votto has been emerging, batting .284, 4 HR & 15 RBI. South Shore hosts division rival Boston next.

The Buffalo Yankees after 4 weeks find themselves on top of the A.L. West. The team has lifted its batting average up to .265, thanks largely to Miguel Cabrera who's bat seems to be heating up, raising his average in a week from .279 to .304, hit his 5th HR, while tallying up 13 ribbies for the Yankees. Jay Bruce remains solid at .299, 5, 15, while Brandon Moss's power numbers have been impressive with 6 HR & 15 RBI, the batting average appears to be going up at .233. The starting pitching still needs to come around for Buffalo, they have the guys to do it, but currently have under-achieved. After winning their series against Boston, 4-1, they now face a Brooklyn team coming off a big 5-1 series victory.

The Bronx Bombers' lone victory in their series against Brooklyn came from James Shields, who is undefeated at 5-0, with a 2.13 ERA. Shields also has 3 complete games & a shutout so far, along with 36 K's in 42.1 innings. Carlos Santana is an offensive oddity for the Bombers this season, he has 7 HR's with 25 RBI, yet is only batting .188 with 16 hits (almost half have been HR's). Santana has drawn 10 walks. Daniel Nava currently leads the team with a .324 batting average, while tied with Robinson Cano for the team lead in hits (22). The team's bullpen needs to be a lot better (3.72 ERA), as Sergio Romo & Ernesto Frieri have been disappointing. Bronx hosts Swatara next.

The Swatara Eliminators currently have the 2nd best record in the American League, as they trail South Shore by a game in the A.L. East. They split their last series against Chicago, in fact they are 5-5 in their last 10 games. They have scored 92, while their opponents have scored 93, they are also 4th in batting & pitching -- it seems that they are in the middle of a whole bunch of areas, while being tops in fielding; This can all be a good sign, since it takes 3 teams from each league to make the playoffs. Swatara has three regulars batting over .300 in Yadier Molina, Victor Martinez, and Ian Desmond. Desmond leads across the board in most of the team's batting statistics, also leads the team with a .943 OPS. The team has logged 9 saves with 5 different relievers (Caleb Thielbar leads the team with 3 Saves). Swatara plays up-and-down division rival Bombers next.

The Fairgrove Tigers lost their series 4-2 to the Imps. The Tigers' starting pitching has been their strength, as their team has held opponents to a .211 batting average. Joe Nathan leads the bullpen with 6 Saves, while Craig Stammen & Louis Coleman have been great support for him. The team's lineup has been frustrating to Tigers fans, the team only has an OBP of .296 with an OPS of .700; Paul Goldschmidt & Adam Jones needs help from the other regulars. Goldschmidt is batting .282 with 7 HR & 16 RBI, while Jones is leads the team with a .319 average, plus 5 HR & 13 RBI. Jason Heyward (batting .198) has struggled, has struck out (23 K's) more times than he has collected hits (19). Fairgrove visits Chicago for 6 games.

The Chicago Nine currently have the 2nd best record against their own division, of course everyone has only played one division match-up to this point; Chicago will get a chance to see where they sit in the division with a home series against defending division champs Fairgrove. Their team's offensive stats nearly duplicate Fairgrove's, although Fairgrove is batting 15 points higher at .243 (Chicago .228). Chicago has got it done through their pitching, as they rank 3rd in the American League in ERA (3.41), and their bullpen sports a 2.11 ERA, as Drew Smyly leads the team with 3 Saves. Shelby Miller continues to have a great season for the Nine, going 3-1, 2.31 ERA with 40 K's in 35 innings of work; while Jacoby Ellsbury (.283, 5, 17 & 13 SB's) continues to be the team's offensive MVP this season.

The Boston Bravos currently have the worst record in the American League at 9-12, losing four straight, while only being 4 games out of first -- fortunate for the Bravos, the league is really balanced at the moment. The bad news is they go on the road against the Fighting Imps next. Shane Victorino leads the team with a .321 batting average, while Adam LaRoche (.300, 5, 17) keeps on delivering for the Chop Shop. The team is only batting .207, while they have been outscored by their opponents 92-69 (-23 Run Differential), they must get their lineup situated, while their pitching needs sto get better. Scott Kazmir is one of their starters that needs to step it up, after 0-3, 4.68 start this season -- Kazmir did not play in 2013 BoS Season, and was originally drafted by Traverse City (involved in the Hunter Pence deal).

*** This concludes the A.L. Highlights for Week 4 ***

BoS Week 3 (National League)

"Mirror Performances"

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The Traverse City Panthers traveled to Roseville, California to play the Kings -- and came back with a 5-1 series victory. When the dust settled with all the results back in from the N.L. East, the Panthers suddenly sat on top with a 10-6 record (0.5 games ahead of Holland). The team has already won close to a quarter of the games they won last season, and have a lot to be proud of, but there is much work to do. The lineup still has it's glitches, with the struggles of Giancarlo Stanton & Hunter Pence. The rotation is slimming down the team ERA & is led by youngster Julio Teheran (2-1, 1.40 ERA, 28 K's & 5 walks), who is coming off back-to-back one-hit shutout performances with 13 K's -- total duplicates of one another. While Josh Donaldson is leading the league in batting average (.397), but has yet to hit a HR. The Panthers will host the Rainiers (6-11), at the bottom of the N.L. West.

The Holland Hitchhikers are a half-game behind Traverse City in the N.L. East standings; last year these two teams were in the bottom of their division. Holland is coming off a 3-3 split with a San Diego team that has been playing great ball. The starting rotation pitched better this week, Jose Fernandez (2-1, 3.26 ERA) picked up another 9 K's in a no-decision (39 K's in 30.1 innings), while Mike Minor finally had a good outing, improving to 2-0, and lowering that ERA to 3.79, after going 8 innings (allowing only one run & 3 hits) with 7 K's. Stephen Strasburg (1-1, 4.95 ERA & 24 K's) also had a great outing against the offensive juggernaut, with 8 K's in 7.2 innings, allowing 7 hits & only 2 runs. Evan Gattis tacks on another HR to his BoS leading 7 HR's (with 15 RBI), while batting .275 for the season. Their lineup is still delivering, but would like to get more out of Bryce Harper and Starling Marte. Holland's next test? Hosting the American League Champion Microbrewers.

The Hannibal Cavemen avoid a 6-game sweep of Portland in Game 6 of the series, a bad time to go through a rough skid, with T.C.'s 5-1 series victory & Holland's 3-3 split. The team's rotation is still the team's common successful thread here, as the team's pitching staff is posting a 2.99 team ERA. Gio Gonzalez got touched up a bit, and still sports a strong ERA (2.63) with 24 K's in 27.1 IP. Travis Wood and Jon Lester have been the best two starters of late; Wood has 1-1 record with 1.50 ERA, while Lester has 16 K's in 22.1 innings & a 2-0 record (1.61 ERA). Jhoulys Chacin has improved since his season debut, while Homer Bailey has gone south a bit. The team's offense continues to struggle, as it's average dipped to .210 (.612 OPS) -- Troy Tulowitzki leads all regulars with a .741 OPS, while only two regulars have an OBP over .300. This team is a contender if they can figure out the kinks of their lineup.

The Urbana Locomotives are currently feeling like they are in a bad dream, losing a series against Seattle 4-2, and now sit at the bottom of the N.L. East -- after winning the division last season with 104 victories. David Price is still pitching good, despite a little touch up, at 1-1, 3.47 ERA & 21 K's in 23.1 innings, Jeff Samardzija did not pitch last series (1-1, 2.70 ERA), and Ubaldo Jimenez (still winless at 0-3) improved his ERA to 4.37; The downside is that Cole Hamels and Hiroki Kuroda are currently not pitching to last season's forms. The team's only two good hitters at this point are Adrian Beltre (.277, 3, 11) & D.J. LeMahieu (.291, 16-for-55), but has yet to get a HR or RBI this season. The team currently has a -18 scoring differential, that will happen when your team is hitting a league-worst .208 & has a OPS of .595! Good news, the Locos host the Kings who are coming off a bad week themselves, then again... maybe that's good news for the Kings.

The Portland Microbrewers (11-5) have the best overall record in the BoS, and everything reflects that in their team stats; A.L. rankings:1st in Run Differential (+30), 1st in Runs Per Game (4.9), tied for 2nd in Batting Average (.245), 2nd in home runs (25), 3rd in OBP (.318) -- on to the pitching: 1st in Opponent's Batting Average (.206) & 2nd in ERA (2.88). Plus they are 3rd in fielding (.986 pct). The team's rotation is one of the absolute best, if not the best -- Cliff Lee (2-0, 1.93 ERA & 23 K's in 23.1 IP), Hisashi Iwakuma (3-0, 2.48 ERA, 27 K's in 32.2 IP), Bartolo Colon (1-2, 3.25 ERA, 16 K's in 27.2 IP), and Anibal Sanchez (1-1) has improved his ERA to 3.38, after allowing only an earned run in 6.1 innings (8 K's) in a no-decision against Hannibal; Only guy to struggle in rotation now is Derek Holland. Juan Uribe batted .421 (8-for-19) against the Cavemen, while Carlos Gonzalez added 3 HR's to his 5 for the season. Coco Crisp (.300, 1, 7 & 3 SB) has been playing well for the Brew Crew, as the team seems to be rolling along -- next up, a trip to Holland, Michigan.

The San Diego Heroes are known for their bats, some San Diego fans have nicknamed them the "San Diego Lumber Company", but their biggest statement so far this season has been their pitching. The Heroes lead the National League in ERA (2.87), 1st in fewest walks allowed (40), 1st in fewest hits allowed (109, 6.4 hits per game), 2nd in Opponent's Batting Average (.212) &3rd in strikeouts (143). Their offense is doing the usual: Most Home Runs (29), Runs (80), Walks (62) & Doubles (44): The team's only real problem at this point is their fielding (2nd to last, .976). A look at their rotation: Tyson Ross (2-0, 2.05 ERA, 29 K's in 22 IP), Gerrit Cole (1-1, 2.74 ERA, 17 K's in 23 IP), A.J. Griffin (3-0, 2.86 ERA & 23 K's in 28 IP), Andrew Cashner (1-2, 3.12 ERA, 20 K's in 26 IP) and Francisco Liriano (0-1, 3.60 ERA & 19 K's in 20 IP).  Edwin Encarnacion has picked up where he left off from last season, and leads the team with 5 HR (tied with Chris Davis) & has 15 RBI, Davis leads team with 16 ribbies. Ryan Zimmerman has emerged with .327 avg, 3 HR & 8 RBI (1.056 OPS). The Heroes get ready for an important series against Hannibal, a team that is struggling right now.

The Seattle Rainiers (6-11) rebounded a bit this week with a 4-2 series victory over the Locomotives. The team's batting average rose to .233 & now rank 5th in the N.L. -- but they still rank last in pitching. Wil Myers nearly doubled his playing time this season, in his series against Urbana -- in 11 games, he's batting .368 in 38 at-bats, with a HR & 7 RBI. They are still expecting more bats to improve in time for their series against Traverse City, hopefully in their case they got warmed up against Urbana. Max Scherzer currently is 1-2, with a 4.85 ERA & a league-leading 40 K's in only 29.2 innings. Mike Carp & Jose Iglesias are still big plus marks for Seattle this season.

The King Road Kings hosted the Panthers, and stumbled by nearly getting swept. Only three of their regular hitters are having a good season in Torii Hunter (leads team with .328 avg, HR & 2 RBI), Daniel Murphy (.324, 2, 13) & Michael Cuddyer (.279, 3, 14). The Panthers touched up the Kings' ace Clayton Kershaw for 5 runs in 7.2 innings, as Kershaw's ERA rose to 2.36, earning his second loss -- while Chris Sale continues to struggle at 1-2, 6.20 ERA. The rotation has been really effective with the likes of Ervin Santana, Miguel Gonzalez & Jorge de la Rosa, it's the team's lineup that can't keep up with other team's pitching & has a hard time helping it's pitching with run support; The team is batting .228 with a .293 OBP. Kings prepare for their trip to Illinois to face Urbana next.

*** This concludes the N.L. Highlights for Week 3 ***