Sim #26 Completed: Look What I Found!

I found intense playoff races in both divisions! What an amazing thing.

After the games on August 14, Seattle is in cruise control in the Platonic League. The Ministry leads the division by a comfy 12 games. But, the wild card spot is now in the middle of a three-way scrum. Sylva, in the midst of a four-game losing streak, currently holds the driver's spot. But Stockholm and Maryland are tied for third and are a mere half-game out of the wild card spot. In the other side of the division, Pittsbugh foolishly won three games in a row, giving Cairo a 2.5 game grip on the bottom of the division.

The Socratic League spread out a bit. With wins in its last two games, Marietta remains in first place. Winnipeg is in second, 1.5 games out of first. Brooklyn and Jersey City follow, two games and 2.5 games out of first, respectively. So, it's still a mad dash to the finish. Helena is solidly in fifth and New York has won six of its last ten to move into a tie with Cairo for the first draft choice next spring.

The biggest news of the sim was when Pittsburgh's Wilfred Desilva gave Pisces fans a rare happy day as he flirted with a perfect game against Cairo. Desilva retired the first 25 batters he faced until, with one out in the ninth, pinch hitter William Ibarra flared a single into right-center. Despite the disappointment at losing a place in history, Desilva came back and retired the final two batters to finish the one-hit shutout. Desilva struck out four.

In other news, ...

On August 14, Seattle's Darren Schmeltzer and Winnipeg's Reynaldo Salerno took home Player of the Week honors.

Brooklyn lost reliever James Coddington for 4-5 weeks to a strained back. Seattle's Robert Turner and Stockholm's Edward Redding each had boo-boos that left them feeling not quite up to snuff.

On August 10, Marietta outscored Brooklyn 14-11 in a game featuring 37 hits. Meanwhile, Maryland scored one in the bottom of the ninth to start Sylva's losing streak.

On August 11, Seattle's Thomas Wilkerson and three relievers shut out Stockholm 7-0.

On August 12, while Desilva was shutting down Cairo, Winnipeg scored three in the ninth to send the game into extra innings before finishing off New York 5-4 in the 14th inning.

On August 13, Winnipeg again broke New Yorkers' hearts when it scored in the bottom of the ninth to take a 2-1 game.

On August 14, Cairo continued the trend of late inning heroics by scoring in the bottom of the ninth to top Brooklyn 2-1.

The league file is updated and web pages are en route. Nate's got the next sim on Wednesday.