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 ***

BoS Week 3 (American League)

"Choo: The Little Engine that Could"

Choo & the Imps' lineup is once again a train that can't be stopped.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

South Shore Fighting Imps are not sure what to make of their recent play, they ended up losing a division series against the Bombers (3-2), won their series 4-2 (including a walk-off sac fly by Joe Mauer in extas) against up-and-coming Chicago; making them 6-5 in their last 11 games. Their lineup once again (like last season) is leading the league in hitting with a .275 batting average (24 points higher than Fairgrove & Buffalo, tied at .251). They have 4 of the top 8 hitters in batting average: Allen Craig (3rd/.328), Carlos Beltran (6th/.318), Shin-Soo Choo (7th/.314) & Matt Holliday (.294/8th). Choo is making an early case for A.L. MVP; leads A.L. in OBP (.400), runs (18) & had the season's longest hitting-streak (12 games), while ranking second in Runs Created (15.1), Total Average (.981), hits (22) & doubles (6). The team has left many players on base & may be contributing to their recent record, with other teams taking advantage on a clutch hit. Choo, for example, has been great for most part, his Achillies Heel has been leaving men on base (ranking 4th), leaving 28 stranded. Everything for the most part, indicates that the Imps will only get better, with them ranking 2nd in pitching (3.01 ERA) & leading the A.L. in scoring differential (+23).

The Swatara Eliminators have tied South Shore in first place, with a 4-2 series victory over the tough Tigers of the A.L. West. -- winning 8 of their last 11, and moving up 3 games in the standings during the stretch. Swatara leads the league in fielding (.991 pct), with only 6 errors committed in 17 games. A.J. Burnett and Jose Quintana have been getting it done on the mound, as the team is 4th in ERA (3.49), to go along with the good defense; Burnett is 2-0, with a 1.17 ERA & 17 K's in 23 IP, while Quintana is 2-1, with a 2.54 ERA & 20 K's in 28.1 innings. Zack Greinke has been effective, 2-0 record, with a 3.80 ERA, with 19 K's in 21.1 innings of work -- he should only improve. Victor Martinez is showing that he is the leader of this lineup, leading the team in average (.324), home runs (4, tied with Desmond) & RBI (11). While Yadier Molina has cooled off, Ian Desmond has emerged, batting .282, 4 HR & 9 RBI. At this point, Swatara appears to be the Imps' challenger in the A.L. East.

Manager Jeff Tritthart has to be pleased with the Bronx Bombers' record at this point of the season, a 3-2 series victory over the World Champs a week ago, and now a 4-2 series victory over a much-improved Buffalo team. James Shields has been a huge reason for this with his 4-0 record, 1.53 ERA & 28 K's, with Adam Wainwright being better of late -- evening his record at 2-2, lowering his ERA to 3.13, while showing some strikeout power (27 K's in 31.2 IP). Ivan Nova has been showing he can hold his own, with a 3.86 ERA & 18 K's in 23.1 innings. The lineup, unfortunately has to do a lot of platooning due to many part-time positional players on the roster, so the lineup can suffer due to that. Of their 8 players, batting over .300, none of them qualify for the batting title or team lead -- Stephen Drew is batting .333 (33 AB's) & Daniel Nava is batting .302 (43 AB's) in limited play. Carlos Santana leads league with 22 RBI, but is only batting .212. Kyle Seager continues to struggle, batting .119 (7-for-59). The team will enjoy their success for now, being 9-8 (1 GB) with a +18 run differential at this point, but chances are it may not last.

The Boston Bravos won the first 3 games against Brooklyn, in which they outscored the Mets 12-3 -- it took a rain out (called game) for the Mets to regroup and win the last two games, in which they outscored the Bravos 15-5. Boston has the worst fielding in the American League (.973 pct), most errors committed (16) & most stolen bases allowed (23). Their lineup is not helping (.218 BA/7th), with the lowest HR output (14), while only averaging 3.6 runs a game (ranking 7th out of 8). The one thing the Bravos can hang their caps on is their pitching staff (3.40 ERA/3rd), with acquisition Kris Medlen leading the way; Medlen has a 3-1 record with 32 K's in 34.1 innings -- he did get roughed up last time out, allowing 8 ER's & 11 hits in 7.1 innings, inflating his ERA from 2.00 to 3.67. Chris Capuano continues to shock everyone -- last season, he went 17-9, with a 3.74 ERA & is now 1-1, with a 2.12 ERA & 18 K's in 17 innings. The team will have to find some sort of consistency, as they have been either Yin or Yang -- the pitching does show a troubling sign of opponents batting .263 against them.

The Fairgrove Tigers are in a familiar place, first place -- three weeks into the season. The team is 4-1 in one-run games. Teams are batting only .198 against them (a league best), while they lead the league with 146 K's & a 2.92 ERA. Madison Bumgarner leads the charge, 4-0, 2.70 ERA & 32 K's in 30 innings, while C.J. Wilson has a low ERA of 2.05 with a 2-1 record. Joe Nathan leads the league with 5 Saves, while leading a bullpen that sports a 1.91 ERA & 42 K's in 33 innings of work. Both Paul Goldschmidt & Adam Jones continue to lead their teams in most offensive categories, while both struggled in their series against Swatara; Goldschmidt went 1-for-20, while Jones went 4-for-25. The team's batting average went up 5 points regardless, meaning that some guys are stepping up.

The Chicago Nine (7-10) are a interesting team with a bit of intrigue & mystery -- when looking at the output of statistics by the ball club. They could have walked away with a split with South Shore, losing a game 1-0 in 11 innings; Chicago is 0-3 in extras this season. The team's pitching is 5th with a 3.54 ERA, while allowing only a .239 batting average against them (3rd best/A.L.). Their fielding is the third best in the league (.984 pct). The lineup is 6th in hitting (.234), leads league with 22 HR's, yet is only averaging 3.8 runs a game. Shelby Miller is still rocking at 2-0, with a 1.29 ERA & 26 K's in 21 innings, as "King Felix" Hernandez has split his decisions at 2-2, sporting a respectable 3.33 ERA, while striking out 28 batters in 27 innings of work. The Nine need to see improvement from their other starting pitchers. Former MLB Red Sox teammates David Ortiz (.286, 3, 12), Jacoby Ellsbury (.267, 3, 10 & 13 steals) & Ian Kinsler (.254, 6 HR* & 12 RBI) are the team's offensive leaders. This team is certainly on the rise, and have a legit shot at second place this season, fighting Buffalo & Brooklyn, as Fairgrove appears to be standing alone in this division.

The Buffalo Yankees currently sit in second with a 8-9 record (2 games out), they started 5-2 this season, and have faltered in their last 10 games (3-7). The bullpen has been getting a work-out, while keeping a good, respectable of 3.03 -- due to the fact that the starting pitching has dropped the ball. The Yankees' two best starting grade pitchers Jordan Zimmermann (6.45 ERA) and Wade Miley (6.84 ERA) continue to struggle; Ricky Nolasco & Ian Kennedy's seasons have improved over the week. Miguel Cabrera nearly won the Triple Crown in the A.L. last season, at this point he's not duplicating that performance, he leads the team in hitting (.279), along with his 4 HR's & 8 RBI. Adrian Gonzalez (A.L. Batting Champ), Marlon Byrd & Starlin Castro have all under-performed to this point, while the team (despite those down stats) is batting .251 actually. The silver lining is that this team could be better than they have played so far.

The Brooklyn Met's bullpen has been lights out -- the unfortunate thing is that the bullpen has been used mostly for mop-up duty. The Mets' pen is sporting a 1.50 ERA (.690 WHIP) in 42 innings. The reason the bullpen has not been used for its main purpose, is due to a lineup that has a horrible batting average (.201), a league-low 3.1 runs per game, and its overall floundering pitching (4.47 ERA) -- the starters are at fault here. The team hopes that many of its hitters get it together, starting with Dustin Pedroia (.193, 0, 1 in 57 at-bats). Matt Cain gave Brooklyn a reason to celebrate during the week, with his no-hitter against the Bravos -- becoming the 3rd pitcher in BoS history to throw a no-no. Justin Verlander (the 1st ever to throw a no-hitter, last season) has yet to log a win (0-2), but has a 3.33 ERA & 26 K's in 24.1 innings. Meanwhile, Tim Lincecum fell back to Earth, while Jered Weaver & Yovani Gallardo's pitching lines have been pathetic. If their lineup & rotation gets it together, then they can take advantages of the perks that come with a great bullpen.

Matt Cain becomes 3rd pitcher to throw a No-Hitter in BoS History.

*** This concludes the A.L. Highlights ***

The A.L. East - MLB Off-Season (So Far...)

The Buck doesn't stop here, why the O's are not worried.

A.L. East

The Baltimore Orioles have been quiet, and I'm sure there is some Baltimore Orioles fans freaking out right now. I know some of the guys on the MLB Network have also brought attention to the fact that their front office has been quiet. They lost Nelson Cruz to a four-year deal in Seattle, Nick Markakis on a deal to Atlanta, and relief pitcher Andrew Miller to the division rival Yankees. The fact of the matter is that the fans really should not be worrying, the fact is sometimes we have to let fan favorites go elsewhere to continue clubhouse operations -- at the end of the day, it does come down to business. Let's not forget that they had plenty of injuries, and had players miss significant time in Matt Wieters, Manny Machado, Chris Davis (missed time due to PED suspension), Nate McLouth, with others -- Having those big 3 bats in Wieters, Machado & Davis will help soften the blow of losing Cruz. Baltimore is really not hurting here, I think they are being smart, they still have a great bullpen despite Miller leaving to New York, while Markakis' offense has slowly been diminishing over the years. They also still have the best defensive fielding team, and a underrated rotation under a really good manager in Buck Showalter.

The Boston Red Sox made two big splashes in Pablo Sandoval & Hanley Ramirez. The Red Sox have become the American League version of the Giants, the every-other year team, I want to say it's their time to strike again, because like the Giants they always find that aura or mystique that drives them. Boston is still vulnerable though (or at least at this moment), they now have an abundance of outfielders, but need starting pitching. They resigned Koji Uehara which is good, and they still have a great bullpen. I feel they should trade some outfield, some prospects to Philadelphia and land Cole Hamels, he would be perfect in that rotation. If they sign Lester on top of a Hamels deal, then watch out for Boston -- but I expect Jon Lester to sign with the Chicago Cubs. I will say it's scary to think that the Red Sox have the two biggest clutch players in recent post-season history in David Ortiz & Sandoval.

In the past, the Toronto Blue Jays sometimes would have me scratching my head. The fact that they tried the exact plan that Miami did with the same players basically in Jose Reyes & Mark Buehrle, and added R.A. Dickey & Melky Cabrera, only for it to blow up in their face in 2013. They even got their old manager in John Gibbons back (another head-scratching move). Then in 2014, it appeared that the team was finally serious in contending last season, as they were competitive for the most part -- they hit some rough patches in second half. Then came this off-season, and suddenly, a surprising & shocking deal that actually favored Toronto; Toronto lands Oakland's stud Josh Donaldson for 4 prospects, a couple days later they trade J.A. Happ to Seattle and land outfield Michael Saunders. About a week or so, before landing Donaldson, Toronto made another steal in acquiring Devon Travis (the Tigers' second baseman of the future) for Anthony Gose, who has speed & defense, but after that, he is just a guy that has a career .633 OPS!

The Tampa Bay Rays are in trouble, the two men that have been keeping the ship cruising, Andrew Friedman (GM) & Joe Maddon (MGR) have jumped ship. It will never be better, I truly believe this, their fans don't show their support. I do think they made the right move in hiring Kevin Cash as manager to take over the franchise, a local Tampa Bay product, and yet another former MLB catcher, which has been proven to work. Looking forward to see if Drew Smyly can keep moving upward, he will certainly get some interesting looks in Fantasy Baseball leagues in 2015. Plus will Wil Myers rebound from last season?

The New York Yankees are not the same franchise when George Steinbrenner was alive -- His sons, suddenly spend money as if they are the Pittsburgh Pirates; All the while the Boston Red Sox have took over as the "Evil Empire" (Yes, Boston -- don't be hypocrites!). Sure the Yankees signed Jacoby Ellsbury & Brian McCann last year. Some insiders feel McCann was already declining before the deal & his numbers from 2012-2014 hint at that, consider the fact he didn't bat higher than .256 during this three-year stretch, and that he is currently (three-year dip included) a .270 career hitter; Had his worst OPS (.692) in his entire MLB career. I had McCann for my Crusaders in the Mid-West Baseball League & traded him, thinking the same thing, plus I had a younger Yan Gomes in the wings to take over. Ellsbury's 2013 season may be his best since 2011, but he had better slugging, more HR (16 to 9) and 17 more RBI to finish with 70 ribbies. Signing 37 year-old Carlos Beltran for a three-year, $45 million deal was a bit too much -- heck, they could have went for a one-year deal with Nelson Cruz, now that I think about it. Beltran's season was so bad that he had only 49 RBI, while he also had the worst OPS (.703) of his career, 127 points lower than the previous season. The Yankees thought they were doing cost-effective salaries around these big signings in Kelly Johnson, Lyle Overbay & Scott Sizemore, but it blew up in their face -- they also had chances to get a strong infielder in Omar Infante (losing out to KC). Not sure why they let David Robertson basically just walk, it would have been great to keep him with the addition of new signing Andrew Miller (a great signing, by the way), plus the emergence of Dellin Betances. I don't think they have a chance to compete with the emergence of Baltimore (in recent years) & Toronto, plus Boston -- then again, there is always Max Scherzer.

I believe the A.L. East is a three-team race between Boston, Baltimore & Toronto, Toronto at best a wild-card. I want to lean towards Baltimore, Jonathan Schoop is only going to get better, the team has faced adversity with injuries & changing closers in the middle of the season -- they are now battle-tested, won a playoff series against a team that went to three consecutive A.L. Championships (Tigers).

BoS Week 2 (National League)

"Gio-Metrics"

Gio Gonzalez & the rest of the Cavemen rotation: Clubbing the competition.

A round of divisional match-ups in the N.L.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

The Hannibal Cavemen will enter Week 3 tied with Holland on top of the N.L. East, after edging Holland 3-2 in their division match-up. All the games were close, in which at one point Holland led the series 2-1. Hannibal can thank their pitching, which from the start of the season has been lights out (2.23 team ERA), while it's bullpen has posted a 1.76 ERA. The ace Gio Gonzalez has looked solid, 2-1, 1.57 ERA & 22 K's in 23 innings -- while Travis Wood (1-0, 1.13 ERA & 9 K's) and Jon Lester (2-0, 1.62 ERA, 10 K's) have looked great in their two starts for the Cavemen. Homer Bailey is no slouch with his 2.35 ERA (still looking for his first win). The lineup is still trying to find it's way, in which after it's top two hitters (Justin Upton & James Loney) is a crap-shoot -- the team's lineup should improve with the likes of Manny Machado, Troy Tulowitzki, Buster Posey & Pablo Sandoval. The team currently has a .220 batting average & .653 OPS.

The Holland Hitchhikers' lineup made a huge splash in Week 1, with their power display of home runs -- the lineup continued to hit, while the HR's took a momentarily side seat. Holland is batting .280 this season, led by rookie Evan Gattis (.304, 6 HR, 13 RBI & 1.121 OPS). Martin Prado continues to get on base, he's batting .302 with a OPS of .950, he leads the league with 12 runs. Eric Hosmer, Josh Reddick (leads N.L. with .367 BA) & Maicer Izturis have also been in the offensive mix, while Bryce Harper (who has had a problem of consistency) disappeared. The team's rotation has not pitched to their capability, Matt Moore (1-0, 1.72 ERA, 10 K's in 15.2 IP) & Jose Fernandez (2-1, 3.91 ERA, 30 K's in 23 IP) have done their part, while Stephen Strasburg (1-1, 6.57 ERA) & Mike Minor (1-0, 5.73 ERA) have floundered. The bullpen has got a lot of work, while looking sharp with a 1.46 ERA in 24.2 innings.

The Traverse City Panthers edged the defending division champs Urbana, 3-2 in their series. Panthers have looked much better than their 46-win version of last season, but still have a lot of work to do. The club's pitching has not been as good as it could be, with a 3.96 (ranked 6th) and batting a league-worst .210 (8th) -- while the team is in the negative end of score differential (-10). With all that, the team sits slightly below .500 at 5-6. Josh Donaldson & Brandon Belt has been their most consistent hitters the past two weeks, while Giancarlo Stanton has been a huge disappointment. Hunter Pence added 2 HR's and is showing some life, raising his average by a hundred points to .156 this season. Pence had a horrible season last year for Boston & T.C., batting .163, 10 HR & 40 RBI in 398 at-bats! The bullpen for the time being, is the strongest part of their pitching staff with a 2.68 ERA, who are starting to log a lot of innings -- 37 innings, the equivalent of four full games (Panthers have only played 11 games).

The Urbana Locomotives played better against Traverse City than in their opening week, it's hard to say how much better. Their starting pitching was their strong suit last season, this year they knew it would be different with a decreasing pitching grades to their staff, including David Price. They probably would be in tougher shape if they didn't make a trade with Chicago to acquire Jeff Samardzija and Ubaldo Jimenez. Samardzija has looked good in his two outings with a 1-1 start that includes a 2.70 ERA & 12 K's in 13.1 IP, while Price continues to ignore his grade, by going 1-0, 2.76 ERA & 13 K's in 16.1 innings. Urbana's staff has a 4.15 ERA, while the team's lineup is batting .213 (both 7th in N.L.). Adrian Beltre is off to a good start, trying to defend his N.L. MVP title, batting .300, with 2 HR & 8 RBI.

The San Diego Heroes have to love where they sit right now. The team lost a close 3-2 series, with the N.L. West Division Champs Portland, while the team ranks 2nd in batting (.247) & 3rd in pitching (3.16 ERA). The team will tell you that there is work to do, their batting average (although 2nd) is eclipsed by Holland (.280, by 23 points), while Holland is scoring almost a whole run per game (0.9) more than San Diego. San Diego can brag that they lead the entire BoS in HR's (20), led by Andrew McCutchen, Jose Bautista & Nelson Cruz with 3 a piece. The team's OPS dropped off a bit in the second series, in which instead of 5 players, have only 3 players over a 1.000 OPS in Bautista & Cruz (although Cruz has done it only 23 AB's). Andrew Cashner (1-1, 1.77 ERA & 16 K's) and Tyson Ross (1-0, 2.57 ERA & 19 K's in 14 IP) continue to pitch well for the Heroes. The bullpen has pitched well in 29.1 innings, with a 2.45 ERA, 3 SV & 3-1 record, they do have 3 blown saves though.

The Portland Microbrewers find themselves a half-game back out of first, after taking 3 of 5 from San Diego. Portland currently ranks 4th in both batting & pitching, while among the top teams in fielding at .989 (Traverse City is #1 with a .994 fielding pct). The team's pitching is definitely better than they have shown so far, as the Brew Crew pitchers left their opponents batting a second-worst .216 against them; also a league-low 72 hits allowed. Hisashi Iwakuma seems poised for an all-star season, with 2-0, 2.13 ERA record & 21 strike outs in 25.1 innings. Cliff Lee (1-0, 3.14 ERA & 17 K's) & Bartolo Colon (0-1, 3.29 ERA & 11 K's) have looked pretty good in their two starts, while Anibal Sanchez (4.38 ERA) needs to improve. The team's bullpen has a 2.45 ERA, but only one save (Mark Melancon) in one try. Freddie Freeman (.323, 2 HR & 6 RBI), up to this point, is the team's offensive leader. Portland hosts a tough team in Hannibal next, expect a bunch of pitching duels.

The King Road Kings nearly swept Seattle at home, and find themselves in 3rd, only one game out of first. The team's pitching is 2nd in the league with a 3.06 ERA, despite the fact that Chris Sale (4.05 ERA) has not started rolling yet. Clayton Kershaw has gone up another level with a 0.95 ERA & 17 K's in 19 innings for the Kings, while Ervin Santana (2.19 ERA) has been strong in his two starts. Michael Cuddyer & Daniel Murphy have been the Kings' best hitters; Cuddyer is batting .357 with 2 HR & 11 RBI, while Murphy is batting .333 with a HR & 7 RBI. The Kings just need to get Josh Hamilton going, he is only batting .086 (3-for-35) with a HR & 5 RBI -- his OPS is dragging on the ocean floor at .307.

The Seattle Rainiers are trying to find answers to their many questions -- One of the big questions, what's going on with Max Scherzer? Scherzer is currently 1-2, with a 6.10 ERA, even though he does have 28 K's in 20 innings (also has allowed too many walks, with nine). They do have some things to be happy about: Mike Carp is batting .357, added another HR (3), with 8 RBI,  Wil Myers in limited play (6 games) is batting .429, 1 HR & 7 RBI in only 21 at-bats, while Brett Gardner & Jose Iglesias is batting over .300. Now the bad, the team's ERA is 5.97, while their stars in the lineup are all struggling: Jose Altuve (.194), Yoenis Cespedes (.190), Prince Fielder (.154), Evan Longoria (.150) & Jonathan Lucroy (.118) are among the bottom 6 players on the team in batting average. The possible good news is that some of these guys will turn it around? I mean it can't get worse, can it?

PANTHERS ACQUIRE LEFTY DOOLITTLE

The Traverse City Panthers and Holland Hitchhikers conducted a trade, in which the Panthers acquired left-hand relief pitcher Sean Doolittle in exchange for Traverse City's 2015 3rd Round Draft Pick. The Panthers addressed their need for a lefty, they felt the need to make a deal necessary since they had no on their entire pitching staff. General Manager/Manager Shawn Baier was quoted on saying,"A small oversight on our part. I feel we needed to acquire a lefty before the end of the season, it was already effecting our early series, Sean will fit right in, in fact we may try to acquire another southpaw before too long".

*** This concludes the N.L. Highlights of Week 2 ***