Trade: Marietta and Seattle

In a classic off-season deal Marietta acquires starting pitcher Billy Lowry (12-8 4.75) in exchange for minor league starter Claude Guzman (10-11 3.47 an AA and 1-1 3.86 in three starts at AAA), Marietta's 8th round pick in the upcoming draft, and $4,000,000 cash.

OEL: Free Agency, Day One

Day One of Free Agency is now complete. Download the new file and so forth to see how things are going. Note that I've altered the schedule a little bit. Check the website for updates.

Day two of Free Agency and Round 1 of the Amateur Draft will be on Monday. Get those picks in to me, guys. If I do not have your picks I'll let the machine do it for you.

Here's how to get me your picks:

Find out where your pick is in the round.
Sub a list, in order of preference, of the players you want. The list should be as long or longer than the number of your pick.
I'll pick the available player that is highest on your list.

Simple as that!

So be there!

2005 Amateur Draft

Draft Order for the 2005 Amateur Draft:

1. Cairo
2. Helena
3. Stockholm
4. Sylva
5. Maryland
6. Marietta
7. Winnipeg
8. Jersey City
9. New York (tied with Seattle, won coin flip)
10. Seattle (lost coin flip)
11. Pittsburgh
12. Brooklyn

Also, here is a list of the draft picks that have been traded. Not very many in this draft. As always, if you see anything wrong, leave a comment and I'll update the post accordingly.

2nd Round
Pittsburgh to Cairo (cash trade)
Brooklyn to Sylva (Duran trade)

3rd Round
Stockholm's pick to Seattle (Covas trade)
New York's pick to Stockholm (Scull trade)
Pittsburgh's pick to Cairo (cash trade)

4th Round
New York's pick to Stockholm (Gomez trade)
Pittsburgh's pick to Cairo (cash trade)
Brooklyn's pick to Maryland (Sasso trade)

5th Round
Jersey City's pick to Pittsburgh (Whitesides trade)
Pittsburgh's pick to Stockholm (Avelar trade)

8th Round
Marietta's pick to Seattle (Lowry trade)

[Edited to add Duran trade]
[Edited to add Lowry trade]
[Edited to add Seattle-Cairo cash trade]

Need players?

With some poor financial decisionmaking, I have dug myself into a "negative cash" hole. I've decided to commence rebuilding mode anyway, at least partially... so if you see a player on my team who will help your team and also help my bottom line, make me an offer!

2004-05 Offseason Schedule

Well, after some testing over the weekend, and learning from experiences in the SDMB League, here's the plan for the 2004-05 OEL offseason. In short, we are going to upgrade to OOTP 9 for the 2005 season. Unfortunately, we have to complete most of the offseason in version 6.5 before we can upgrade.

For those of you who do not have version 9 of the game, here's a website where you can download it. I think it's only $30, which is a pretty good deal for your entertainment dollar, even in today's economy. Everyone probably should go ahead and get it now, even though we won't be using it for a few weeks, just to get it up and running. Make sure your game is updated to the latest version (9.2.2).

Tonight I'm going to roll the sim over to the 2005 season. So, get any last minute contract offers or roster moves in today.

The only task it appears that we can cleanly skip in the version 6.5 offseason is the coach signings. The coaching system in 9 is different enough that nothing carries over. So, there's no point to signing coaches. I'm going to sim through those five days tonight.

Where we'll start is with free agency and the amateur draft. Unfortunately, we can't move the amateur draft into version 9 (without massive work for the commissioners, and I don't want to spend hours on it just to move the draft into version 9). Also, it appears that it is cheaper to sign free agents in 6.5 than in 9, based on an ad hoc review by me during my testing. So, we'll do those two tasks together in the same way we've done them in the past. I'll post a schedule today or tonight on the league web site, but you can expect Day 1 of free agency to be Wednesday. Nate's running the sims for free agency and the amateur draft.

After free agency and the amateur draft, we'll have to do the Rule 5 draft and Spring Training in version 6.5. Those will also be run by me and done the same as in the past.

Finally, after Spring Training is done, I'll roll the game into OOTP 9. We'll give everyone probably a quick sim or two to acclimate themselves to the changes, and then jump right into the regular season.

If you have any questions, you can either post them in the comments or email Nate and me.

2004 Award Winners

Congrats to the winners:

Ted Williams (MVP):
Seattle's Darren Schmelzer
Brooklyn's Miyatorou Takenao

Cy Young:
Sylva's Bobby Stoops
Brooklyn's Tyler Conn

Rookie of the Year:
Pittsburgh's Richard Ro
Helena's Wayne Prokop

Platonic League Gold Gloves:
Pitcher: Thomas Holte (SEA)
Catcher: Herman Colon (SEA)
First Base: James Sanfilippo (CAI)
Second Base: Samuel Corrado (SYL)
Third Base: Raymond Bullington (SYL)
Shortstop: Charles Fordyce (MPD)
Leftfield: Paul Caldwell (CAI)
Centerfield: Mark Peters (STO)
Rightfield: Mark Kiker (CAI)

Socratic League Gold Gloves:
Pitcher: Sergio Varela (JCY)
Catcher: Pio Pastrana (BRK)
First Base: Wiley Reinoso (HEL)
Second Base: David Austin (WIN)
Third Base: Basil Gomez (JCY)
Shortstop: Maels Ruiz (JCY)
Leftfield: Tomihiko Heizo (MAR)
Centerfield: Oscar Woodworth (BRK)
Rightfield: Benito Figueredo (BRK)

This post brought to you by the agents for possible free agents Bobby Stoops, Paul Caldwell, Mark Kiker, David Austin, Maels Ruiz, and Oscar Woodworth. (laugh)

Brooklyn Claims Title

In a thrilling Game Six, the Brooklyn Bombers fended off the Pittsburgh Pisces to claim the 2004 championship, their second in three seasons. Only the improbable victory last year of the Maryland Poedamnedmonium has prevented Brooklyn from a three-peat.

Once again, the starting pitching was superb. Brooklyn took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second with a solo home run by Anotnio Alicea. Pittsburgh responded in the fifth inning with a solo shot by Brian Staudt. Unfortunately, the Pisces also left the bases loaded. The game remained tied until the seventh inning, when the Bombers scored on an bases-loaded single by Stephen Hyer to take 1 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, things finally unravelled a bit for the Pisces. An error by third baseman Staudt gave Alicea a chance to stroke a two-run, two-out single off of reliever Vincent Furness. The three-run lead was too much for the Pisces to overcome in the ninth against closer Steve Corner.

Alicea's three runs batted in led to Player of the Game honors. The "goat" award was hung on Pisces first baseman Gary Croce, who ended his remarkable postseason by grounding into two double plays.

The next sim will be Monday by me. That's the final chance to make roster or contract offers in the 2004 season before we roll over to 2005.

It looks like more owners support upgrading to OOTP 9 than oppose it. So, we will probably be upgrading at the end of the offseason, before 2005 starts. If you are opposed to the upgrade, or if that might hurt your desire to continue as an owner in the game, please send me or Nate an email.

Game Five: Brooklyn Stands Off Pittsburgh In a Close One

Believe it of not, baseball aficionados, we had another nail biter tonight in the OEL Series! Tonight Brooklyn held off Pittsburgh to go up 3 games to 2 in the series!

Pittsburgh got on the board first with 2 runs in the second. The runs scored with two down as the Pisces put up a single, an infield hit, a walk, and another single to plate two runs!

But Brooklyn wasn't going down easy tonight. They put up 2, 1, and 2 runs in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings, respectively, to go up 5-2 going into the late innings.

The Irontowners weren't demoralized, however, as, in the bottom of the ninth 1b Gary Groce led the inning with a walk and 3b Brian Staudt then hit a two run homerun off reliever Steve Corner to make it 5-4 and leave the Pittsburghers down only 1 run with no outs!

Corner turned the, well, corner at that point and shut down the Fish with three straight ground outs to the third baseman to close the door on the game.

The series now moves back to Brooklyn with the home team just one game away from a championship and the Pisces with their backs to the wall! Who will win?

I have simmed the game and the day off following. The next, possibly final, sim of the series will be tomorrow by Mack! Don't miss a moment of the tense, baseball action!

Game Four: Home Field Advantage Holds

After four games in the OEL Championship Series (the sweetest smelling series in the world), the home team is undefeated. This means, of course, that Pittsburgh defended its turf tonight and tied the series at two games a piece.

Interestingly, despite both teams rolling out their #4 starters, the game was fairly low scoring. Pittsburgh broke the ice with a two-out, one-run rally in the first inning. But, the Pisces left the bases loaded, which it seemed would come back to haunt them when Brooklyn roared back. An RBI single by starting pitcher Thomas Fleenor in the second tied the score and Benito Figueredo stroked an RBI double in the third to take a 2-1 lead.

The game remained 2-1 into the sixth inning, as both starters settled down. However, an RBI groundout by Donald "Missing" Parson and and RBI infield hit by starting pitcher Robert Gaertner then gave the Pisces a 3-2 lead. A RBI double by Brian Staudt followed by a RBI single by James Dominy in the bottom of the seventh boosted the gap to a three-run cushion. At that point, Pittsburgh called on its unmatched relief combination of Vincent Furness and Ariel Santos to close out the series-tying victory. Brooklyn managed to bring the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth, but Santos struck out Randy McGinn and William Marone to end the threat.

Robert Gaertner, who team owner Mack Shultz debated on whether to let start or not, took home Player of the Game honors with his seven strong innings pitched and game-winning RBI single.

League file is posted and web pages en route. Game Five in this classic contest will be tomorrow, by either Nate or me. Will the home field dominance continue, or will Brooklyn break through? Stay tuned.

OEL Championship: Extra Inning Thriller

The outstandingly competitive OEL Championship Series continued today with a classic contest between the Brooklyn Bombers and the Pittsburgh Pisces.

The starting pitching was extraordinary, as the game was scoreless through the first five innings. In the bottom of the sixth, the Pisces finally broke through when Brooklyn's Gaby Duran inexplicably lost his control. With one out, Duran walked five consecutive batters, mixing in a wild pitch for good measure. With Pittsburgh holding a 2-0 lead and having the bases loaded, Brooklyn's bullpen stepped up and coaxed a double play from Donald "Missing" Parson to end the threat.

The game remained 2-0 into the ninth inning, as Pittsburgh's Timothy Hornyak continued to shut down the Bombers' attack. Pittsburgh manager Moses Guthrie, despite having league-saves leader Ariel Santos rested and ready in the bullpen, elected to let Hornyak finish what he had started. He stuck with Hornyak despite a leadoff double by Miyatarou Takenao and was rewarded with a harmless pop up by Pio Pastrana. Unfortunately for the Pittsburgh fans, Randy McGinn then hammered a long, long home run down the left field line, travelling an estimated 420 feet, to tie the score at 2-2. Hornyak, who was still left in, managed to get out of the frame without further damage. Pittsburgh was retired in order in the bottom of the ninth and the game went to extra innings.

In the top of the tenth inning, Pittsburgh reliever Vincent Furness retired Brooklyn in order. In the bottom of the tenth, pinch-hitter Brian Caraway led off with a double for the hometown Pisces. And, one out later, phenom Gary Croce ended the game with an opposite field two-run home run off Ramon Medina. That was Croce's fifth of the postseason, and his second playoff extra-inning homer.

So, with a 4-2 victory, Pittsburgh has closed the series gap to 2-1. Game Four will be played this evening, so tune in for more drama and excitement.

OEL Series Game Two: Brooklyn wins a squeaker

Here we are again, sports fans, at the greatest series in the greatest league on Earth!

In tonight's contest we saw a Pittsburgh team reeling from a game one loss and hoping to come back and even things up against the Brooklynites!

Sadly, it wasn't to be tonight as Brooklyn won the titanic tilt 3-2 in regulation. In spite of the fact that Pittsburgh had ten hits on the night to Brooklyn's 5 it was the Brooklyn Boys who managed to drive the runs home!

Brooklyn scored once in the bottom of the first on a walk, a single, a stolen base, and the run coming in on a fielders choice. Pitt tied it up in the top of the second on a triple by Staudt followed immediately by a double by Snider.

But Brooklyn answers in the bottom of the third with two runs on two singles and a triple and that would be all she needed. Pittsburgh drove in one more run in the sixth but that was the end of the scoring for the evening!

Pittsburgh now goes home down two games to none and faces the possibility of being swept on their home turf. Can the pull it out? Only time will tell.

I have simmed the game and the off day following. Game three at Pittsburgh is by Mack. Don't miss it!

OEL Championship: Brooklyn Takes Initiative

In the opener of the OEL Championship series, Brooklyn took the lead with a 4-3 victory at home. The turning point was the two-run single delivered in the second inning by starting pitcher Willie Carter. That was the key blow in a four-run inning that turned a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead. Pittsburgh rebounded with a run in the eighth inning, but could not get the tying run across. Willie Carter picked up Player of the Game honors for his sterling performance on the mound and at the plate.

Game Two will be simmed tomorrow by Nate. League file is posted and web pages are en route.

Game Six: Ending in a Thriller!

There are some sayings that baseball is just willing to go out of its way to prove, over and over and over, sports fans. Tonight, that saying is, sometimes you're the hero, sometimes you're the goat.

The goat tonight is, as in game five, New York relief pitcher Javier Corchado. Brooklyn wins the series with an unbelievable, last inning, come-from-behind win 8-7, over rival New York.

It started out well for New York. After a quiet first inning the Gothamites put up a five-spot on the team from across the bridge by batting around in the second inning. In all they put up three singles, two walks, a double, and a two-run home run by second sacker Roger Kirby to take what appeared to be a commanding lead in the game. Things looked good for a game seven after that frame

However, the Brooklynites would not be denied. The bottom of the third inning saw the home team put up five runs of their own to tie the game. Unlike their opponents all of Brooklyn's runs came from singles and bases on balls. No long ball for these guys!

And that was all the scoring until the final frame of the evening. But OH, what a ninth! Just when it looked like we'd be going into extra innings on this dreary October night New York finds it's heart and puts up 2 runs on 3 hits to take the lead 7-5!

But anyone watching this series knew it wouldn't be that simple. Game five problem reliever Javier Corchado came in to close the game out but again had nothing to bring to the table. The batters Corchado faced went single, single, walk, single, single to win the game and advance to the OEL series! What a thrilling finish it was!

What further thrills can the OEL series hold? Only time will tell, sports fans! It's time to move on to the final show! Pittsburgh against Brooklyn! Two gritty towns and two gritty teams! Who will win? Stay tuned! The series will start either tomorrow or Friday at Mack and I decide! Be there!

Game Five: Brooklyn pounds New York in 9th!

While the Piscene water breathers wait with baited (heh) breath for the final decision concerning who they will meet in the OEL Series this year all eyes have turned to the tense 2-2 tie in the Socratic League.

Game five of the subway series took place at New York's home ground and what a game it was. Brooklyn got off to a fast start placing two on the board in the top of the first on a combination of singles, stolen bases, and walks.

But that wouldn't be enough. New York roared back with four runs on four hits in the bottom of the third. The damage was done on three singles and a three run homer by SS Alfonso Reyes that travelled 344 feet down the left field line! What a sight that was for the fans.

That was it for the scoring until Brooklyn closed some of the gap when second baseman Miyataro Takenao hit a solo home run to bring the score to 4-3 for the home team. In the seventh New York got its advantage back by driving in one to leave the closing innings at 5-3.

And in the top of the ninth the wheels came off New York's pitching staff. Facing new pitcher Javier Corchado Brooklyn never let up. Corchado, who had 23 saves and a 3.95 ERA on the season saw the first four batters he faced reach base and eventually five of the six found their way to the basepaths. When Corchado was replaced by Jose Martinez things didn't improve. Of the four batter Martinez faced two of them delivered home runs for the Brooklyn boys. In all the visitors drove in seven runs on five hits, one walk, and an error. The shellshocked Gothamites, only minutes away from facing a winning game found themselves unable to reply in the bottom of the ninth and now face elimination in game six back in Brooklyn!

I have simmed the game day and the offday following. Game six will be tomorrow by either Mack or myself as we work it out.

Game Four: Pittsburgh Sweeps; Brooklyn Ties Series

(Mack here. Nate's having continued technical problems.)

In Game Four, road teams ruled. Pittsburgh swept Seattle out of the playoffs while Brooklyn won to tie the series with New York at two games apiece.

In the first game of the day, the Pisces topped the Ministry 4-1. Starter Wilfredo Desilva went eight strong innings, holding the vaunted Seattle offense to just six hits and winning Player of the Game honors. Pittsburgh scored all the runs they needed with a two-run home run from Joseph Watson in the first inning. Brian Staudt's two-run single in the third inning gave the Pisces a 4-0 lead they would not give up. Now, for the first time, Pittsburgh advances to the championship round while Seattle, the only team to make the playoffs all four years of the league's existence, now deals with another October disappointment.

In the second game, Brooklyn exploded for four runs in the first inning on a walk, an error, and three hits. The Bombers then clung to that early lead and escaped with a 4-3 victory that knotted the series. New York scored two in the fourth and one in the eighth to close the gap but couldn't push the tying run across in the ninth. Pio Pastrana took home Player of the Game honors with his two first inning RBI.

League file is posted. Web pages en route. Next sim tomorrow night will be of Game 5 in the New York-Brooklyn series. Not sure whether it will be Nate or I running it.

Game Three: New York Takes 2-1 Lead; Pittsburgh Puts Seattle on Brink

The pitchers finally showed up in the 2004 playoffs, with one unfortunate exception for the Brooklyn Bombers. As a result, the Pittsburgh Pisces have claimed a 3-0 lead over the Seattle Ministry and the New York Knights have claimed a 2-1 lead in their series.

In the first game, the Pittsburgh Pisces rode good pitching and long balls to a 3-1 victory. First baseman Gary Croce hit his fourth home run of the series, a solo shot, in the second inning to start the scoring. After two more runs in the third, Pittsburgh had a 3-0 lead that would not be overcome. Seattle's only run came on a solo shot by Carlos Araoz in the fourth inning. Otherwise, Tim Hornyak and three relievers shut down the vaunted Ministry offense. Closer Ariel Santos ended the game by striking out the side in the ninth. Now, the Ministry has to pull off a miracle to advance back to the championship round. Hornyak took home Player of the Game honors.

In the second game, the New York Knights scored when pitcher Chad Gomez hit a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning. The game remained 1-0 into the eighth inning. In the top of the frame, Brooklyn tied the game with a pinch-hit RBI double by William Marone. Unfortunately, the Brooklyn bullpen faltered again as Michael Hollier promptly gave up three runs. Salomon Tavarez led off the eighth inning with a solo home run to retake the lead for New York. A pinch-hit two-run double by Jack Sandoval ended the scoring. Javier Corchade then closed out the 4-1 victory. New York now has a 2-1 lead in the series.

League file has been uploaded. Web pages en route. Nate will sim Game 4, hopefully without incident, on Monday night.

Game Two: Pittburgh goes 2-0, Brooklyn evens it up!

Games two of the first round are now in the books, OEL fans! And what games they were!

In the Platonic League Pittsburgh beat Seattle 10-8 in a scorcher that showed the Piscene Petunias putting up crooked numbers in two innings while the rain-accustomed northwesterners mostly put up straight lines. In spite of Seattle's Schmeltzer going 4 for 4 on the day the Pisces took it with 1b Gorce driving in five runs on three hits! Neither pitcher did very well as Seattle's Lowry was chased after four and Pittsburgh's Ro was injured after one inning and is now out for the remainder of the playoffs! Tough one for Pittsburgh owner Mack Shultz. He's got a hole to fill now!

In the Socratic League Brooklyn tied up the series 1-1 by beating New York 4-0 in a game that featured only seven hits by the winner while the losing team put up 8 hits and no runs. The offensive damage was done by Brooklyn catcher Pastrana with a three run home run in the sixth inning. Duran and Canela combined for nine scoreless innings for Brooklyn.

I have simmed the off day following these games as well. The next sim is Friday by Mack!

Pittsburgh and New York Grab 1-0 Leads

In the Platonic League, Pittsburgh won a wild and wooly affair by a score of 11-9 in 11 innings to open the 2004 playoffs. Seattle jumped out to a 6-1 lead after Ronald Veit and Carlos Araoz hit home runs in a four-fun fourth inning. With "Happy" Diederich on the hill, the lead looked invulnerable. Yet, Pittsburgh responded with two runs in each of the fourth, sixth, and eighth innings to tie the game at seven.

It remained there into extra innings when Seattle struck first in the top of the tenth when George Pullum stroked an RBI single with two outs off of league saves leader Ariel Santos. But, a two-out wild pitch by the Ministry's Alberto Hernandez allowed pinchrunner Rudolph James to score the tying run in the bottom of the frame. Seattle rebounded in the top of the 11th though and retook the lead on a sacrifice fly by Herman "Semi" Colon. Unfortunately, the Seattle bullpen completed the collapse in the bottom of the 11th when Gary Croce hit a solo home run to tie the game and Brian Staudt stroked a two-run shot to win it.

A wild game, featuring 20 runs, 31 hits, and six home runs. What a way to start the series. Brian Staudt took home Player of the Game honors for his game-winning heroics.

In the nightcap, the two Gotham starters were strong, as New York and Brooklyn were tied at three after seven innings. But then, the Brooklyn bullpen fell apart and gave up six runs in the last two innings. The Bombers struck back for two runs in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little, too late as New York claimed Game 1 by a 9-5 score. New York second baseman Roger Kirby won the Player of the Game honors, for reasons that escape this writer.

Game Two in each series will be tomorrow, simmed by Nate. Stay tuned.

Sim #35 - The End of the Regular Season!

Finally, sports fans, we reach the end of the regular season and move on to the playoffs!

As expected, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Brooklyn and New York have advanced to the first round of the 2004 playoffs in the Overeducated League! Only Pittsburgh, lowly, downtrodden Pittsburgh, broke the 100 win barrier this season with 103 trips to the W column. Next up was Brooklyn at the Oh-So-Close 99 win mark.

In the race to the bottom we find that this will be next year's draft order:

Cairo
Helena
Stockholm
Sylva
Maryland
Marietta
Winnipeg
Jersey City
Seattle/New York (tied)
Brooklyn
Pittsburgh

I couldn't even suck enough to be useful. Figures.

In terms of seasonal performances we see these leaders:

AVG: NY Boss at .342
HR: MAR Ramer at 39
RBI: SEA Schmeltzer at 123
SB: CAI Aceveda at 50

W: BRK Conn 21
ERA: BRK Conn 2.19
K: SEA Lowry 234
SV: PIT Santos 44

Not bad, gentlemen. Not bad.

The injury front was NOT kind this sim with many players banged up to a greater or lesser degree. The important one, however, is a strained back muscle on the last day of the season to Amador Zaragoza. He's out for the next five weeks and therefore the playoffs. Tough break for the boys from Cloud City! Good luck finding a replacement!

I have simmed the off days after the season and Mack will begin the playoffs on Wednesday night! Let's hope for a good one!

OOTP Upgrade

Nate and I have decided to solicit the views of owners on whether or not to upgrade the league from OOTP 6.5 to OOTP 9 at the end of the coming offseason. Please post your views here as comments. Thanks.

Sim #34 - Last Call for the Regular Season

We now stand at September 26, with just a single, six-day sim separating us from the end of the 2004 regular season and the start of the fourth postseason in OEL history.

The playoff match-ups remain basically set. Seattle definitely will travel to the surprising Pittsburgh Pisces in the Platonic League. In the Socratic League, the skidding New York Knights will hope to break their seven-game losing streak, finally eliminate Jersey City, and secure their subway ticket to Brooklyn.

Since the playoff picture is all but finalized, draft order is really the remaining order of business to sort out. Cairo has a three-game "lead" on Helena for the first pick in the draft. Maryland, Sylva, and Stockholm are separated by only three games for the third through fifth picks. Marietta, Winnipeg, and Jersey City are only three games apart for the final non-playoff picks from sixth through eighth.

In miscellaneous news...

Pittsburgh's Joseph Watson and Brooklyn's Oscar Woodworth picked up Player of the Week honors.

The only serious injury was to Maryland closer Edward Adams, who strained an elbow ligament and would be out five weeks, if Maryland had five more weeks to play.

Cairo's Paul Caldwell has a ten-point lead for the Platonic batting average title, which seems safe with so few games remaining. New York's Bill Boss is poised to take the crown in the Socratic League.

No player will post an OPS over 1.000 and only six players in the entire OEL have an OPS over .900.

Marietta's Albert Ramer has a one home run lead over Jersey City's Brandon Townsend for the OEL title.

Brooklyn's Tyler Conn will be the only 20-game winner and is all but certain to have the lowest ERA in the OEL.

Pittsburgh's Ariel Santos will lead the OEL in saves.

On September 21, Maryland thumped wild card winner Seattle 14-6, racking up 21 hits in the process.

On September 22, Marietta scored a tying run with two outs in the ninth and hit a three-run home run in the tenth to top Helena.

On September 23, Pittsburgh blasted Stockholm 14-0.

On September 24, Cairo beat Maryland 5-4 in 11 innings and Brooklyn beat Jersey City in 15 long innings. Starting pitcher Gaby Duran got the win in relief for Brooklyn, who I am sure is thrilled to see key pitchers being used in meaningless games in relief just two days after starting.

On September 25, Seattle won a possible playoff preview 2-0 over Pittsburgh, as Billy Lowry outpitched Richard Ro.

The league file is posted. Web pages en route. Nate will finish the regular season on Monday (newspaper business permitting) and will then advise as to the playoff schedule.