The Dog Days Approach
Code:
America/Asia Standings
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
RC Mounted Baseballists 67 40 .626 - 61-46 6 31-21 36-19 6-3 22-8 55 L1 8-2
Mexico City Aztecs 67 41 .620 .5 66-42 1 34-21 33-20 5-5 20-23 W3 7-3
Chicago Defenders 66 44 .600 2.5 68-42 -2 31-24 35-20 3-5 13-13 W4 8-2
New York Giants 58 51 .532 10.0 62-47 -4 30-28 28-23 7-3 17-16 W1 4-6
Cincinnati Reds 54 55 .495 14.0 55-54 -1 23-33 31-22 4-3 19-17 W2 2-8
Tokyo Rising Sun 50 56 .472 16.5 47-59 3 24-29 26-27 6-4 15-14 W1 6-4
Shanghai Dragons 50 61 .450 19.0 56-55 -6 26-27 24-34 2-4 15-21 L1 6-4
USA Baseball Engineers 50 61 .450 19.0 49-62 1 24-31 26-30 7-8 14-14 L3 4-6
Rio de Janeiro Carnival 42 65 .393 25.0 47-60 -5 23-30 19-35 1-6 8-17 L8 1-9
Sydney Outback 39 69 .361 28.5 36-72 3 24-29 15-40 5-5 16-16 L2 4-6
European League Standings
Team W L PCT GB Pyt.Rec Diff Home Away XInn 1Run M# Streak Last10
London Monarchs 63 45 .583 - 65-43 -2 33-23 30-22 5-6 17-17 54 L1 5-5
Berlin Teutonic Knights 63 46 .578 .5 58-51 5 35-20 28-26 9-1 20-14 L3 5-5
Paris Revolutions 62 47 .569 1.5 60-49 2 32-21 30-26 5-5 17-20 W2 8-2
Brussels Painters 57 50 .533 5.5 57-50 0 32-22 25-28 7-6 20-18 L1 3-7
Rome Cardinals 54 53 .505 8.5 57-50 -3 29-26 25-27 4-8 19-22 W3 7-3
Madrid Matadors 50 57 .467 12.5 48-59 2 28-25 22-32 2-3 11-16 W1 3-7
Athens Philosophers 50 60 .455 14.0 50-60 0 29-26 21-34 5-2 11-15 L4 3-7
Vienna Musik 49 59 .454 14.0 52-56 -3 27-25 22-34 3-4 17-11 W2 5-5
Amsterdam Admirals 47 60 .439 15.5 42-65 5 26-29 21-31 2-3 15-11 W1 6-4
Moscow Proletariat 46 64 .418 18.0 50-60 -4 26-27 20-37 5-9 18-21 L2 5-5
So the leaders in the early goings of the 1920 pennant races are the same as the guys in the 1919, but there are also teams lurking just off the pace in case somebody falters. The
Royal Canadian Mounted Baseballists had another strong month and now that they have the heart of their order back in 1B
Tim Kinch (.333, 0. 13), LF
Ron Nock (.363, 3, 31), and 3B
MacKillan Dwywy (.305, 3, 38), they might just have the talent to win it all this year. Of course, the
Mexico City Aztecs might have something to say about that with August A/A Pitcher of the Month
Manuel Figueroa (17-7, 2.31) leading the charge.
And the Europeans have, once again, the
London Monarchs staving off the
Berlin Teutonic Knights. London rode a .377 hitting month from 2B
Isayu Konda (.329, 9, 59 on the year, and August was the best performance in the league), and if their 17-13 record was less than impressive, the good news is that they were back to their winning ways following a sub-.500 June. Berlin, on the other hand, went 7-0 in
Dustin Meise's 7 July starts (15-3, 1.64) and 7-14 with everybody else to let Team England back into the race.
The real stories for August, though, concern the 3rd place teams in each league. The Chicago Defenders barely avoided the cellar in 1919 (they finished 7th with a 68-86 record) and as recently as the 11th of last month they were caught making a white-flag style trade in moving aging Mexican-American star
Edgar Diaz (.358, 5, 69) to his semi-native Mexico City for a trio of prospects. The justification for that move was the sudden arrival of OF
Vaughn Wolf (.292, 3, 23), who promptly tore a muscle in his back and was shelved for the rest of the year. Despite that setback, the Defenders launched an all-out attack on the rest of the league, going 23-7 including a 13-game winning streak to put them just behind the leaders.
Paris' Revolution is in full swing as well. They had a similarly gaudy 21-9 record for July, passing the fading
Brussels Painters and very nearly vaulting into a playoff spot. Paris has been very aggressive with trades with sister cities Brussels and Amsterdam but up until last month they really weren't seeing big returns on those deals. What a difference July makes. Former Admirals hurler
Melvin Hopstaken (16-8, 2.98) is now the Revolution's leader in victories and ERA (actually, technically
Joel Lemoine (15-11, 3.21) leads with 15, but only because 7 of Hopstaken's wins came with his old team). If the Revolutions' pitching stats don't jump out at you, bear in mind that the Stadium de Triomphe is a real bandbox. Of course, the flip side of that is that guys like LF
Sebastien Guilbert (.335, 0, 54) aren't as good as their numbers suggest, but we're fine with that.
MVP Watch
A Look At Some of the Candidates Around The Leagues
It's getting to be time to start considering who is the real cream of the leagues. Who gets our vote? It's still early but we're looking at these guys:
America/Asia
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LF
Bryan Young, Chicago Defenders (.347, 2, 65). Any discourse on the success of the Defenders ought to begin with talk of Young's fantastic season. Granted, we devoted an entire paragraph to that subject and didn't mention him once but, well, we're just not very good. Young doesn't do any one thing better than any other hitter but excels in all facets of the game, from power (27 doubles and 12 triples so far) to speed (19 steals in 23 tries) to defense (actually he's not a very good center fielder but he does play center field at least).
CF
Kevin Martin, Sydney Outback (.370, 10, 56). The Outback have reportedly turned down several offers by the Royal Canadian Mounted Baseballists and the London Monarchs to acquire this guy, and it's not hard to see why. He shines out as one of the few bright spots in a tough inaugural season for Aussie baseball. He's got a solid shot at an A/A triple crown and the scariest part is, the kid's still just 25 years of age.
LF
Ron Nock, Royal Canadian Mounted Baseballists (.363, 3, 31). When Nock couldn't see straight earlier this month and had to miss half of it with blurred vision, the collective sighs of thousands of Canadians could be heard as far south as Detroit. Even with the brittleness, you can't help but put a man who gets on base at a .449 clip and with 32 steals on the season right smack into the MVP race.
Europeans
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LF
Veit Aehrenthal, Vienna Musik (.362, 13, 66). A .264 batting average for the month of July means that Aehrenthal is no longer a strong candidate to hit .400 and that just might spell the end of his MVP hopes as well. It's not that Aehrenthal isn't a fantastic hitter, it's just that his team is so, so bad and you just know that the voters will prefer someone on a contender.
LF
Bryon Feveryear, London Monarchs. Feveryear's stock is dropping because the man just can't stay healthy. Last year he missed all of June and most of July with a strained hamstring and had to sit out some of the World Series because he couldn't lift his arm above his shoulder. This year things were looking good until he fractured a rib sliding into second for his 57th steal of the season. He won't be back until mid-August at the earliest.
2B Isayu Konda, London Monarchs. The always quiet Konda is a symbol of the empire whose sun never sets and, increasingly, a hero to his Indian countrymen (that's Hindu Indian, not the woo-woo kind) (we apologize for the insensitivity. The person who made the above parenthetical remark has been sacked). If he has a weakness, it's that he's only an adequate second sacker, and enterprising teams can take some advantage of that.