This league is just crazy! It really is the case that any one team can beat any other in any given week! No one seems to want to take control, and just when you think teams are falling out of contention, they bounce back with a big week! And as for the playoff race, well, with a mere 5.5 games separating 4th from 12th, it is impossible to predict who will be there at season's end!
Week 15 Results
- London Knights 8-2 Bognor Yankees
- Guildford Angels 7-3 Dunstable Phillies
- Enfield Lips 4-7 Sussex Royal Engineers
- Orpington Dodgers 4-6 Oxford Oilers
- Havant Hackers 5-7 London Bananas
- St. Leonard's Marlins 2-8 Solent Vipers
- Felixstowe Fury 2-9 Essex Eagles
- Bromley KC Royals 7-3 Woking White Sox
Standings
| Rank | Team | W-L-T | Pct | GB | Last Week | Pos Change | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Havant Hackers | 96-65-19 | .586 | - | 5-7-0 | - | ||
| 2. | Solent Vipers | 94-72-14 | .561 | 4.5 | 8-2-2 | +1 | ||
| 3. | SussexRoyalEngineers | 89-69-22 | .556 | 5.5 | 7-4-1 | -1 | ||
| 4. | Woking White Sox | 88-79-13 | .525 | 11 | 3-7-2 | - | ||
| 5. | London Knights | 87-79-14 | .522 | 11.5 | 8-2-2 | +4 | ||
| 6. | London Bananas | 88-80-12 | .522 | 11.5 | 7-5-0 | -1 | ||
| 7. | Essex Eagles | 85-82-13 | .508 | 14 | 9-2-1 | +4 | ||
| 8. | Oxford Oilers | 83-80-17 | .508 | 14 | 6-4-2 | +2 | ||
| 9. | Orpington Dodgers | 80-79-21 | .503 | 15 | 4-6-2 | -1 | ||
| 10. | Enfield Lips | 85-84-11 | .503 | 15 | 4-7-1 | -4 | ||
| 11. | Dunstable Phillies | 77-77-26 | .500 | 15.5 | 3-7-2 | -4 | ||
| 12. | Guildford Angels | 79-81-20 | .494 | 16.5 | 7-3-2 | - | ||
| 13. | Bromley KC Royals | 72-86-22 | .461 | 22.5 | 7-3-2 | +2 | ||
| 14. | St Leonards Marlins | 72-88-20 | .456 | 23.5 | 2-8-2 | - | ||
| 15. | Felixstowe Fury | 74-91-15 | .453 | 24 | 2-9-1 | -2 | ||
| 16. | Bognor Yankees | 52-109-19 | .342 | 44 | 2-8-2 | - |
Significant Moves
One waiver claim this week saw Enfield Lips pick up Manny Corpas after he was dropped by Bognor Yankees. Guildford Angels picked up Jeff Francouer on his return to the majors, whilst Essex Eagles looked at Mike Pelfrey's recent pitching performances and liked what they saw! Two more hitters finding teams were Cody Ross (Havant) & Scott Hairston (Bromley), whilst the biggest name to hit the wire was Dustin McGowan, as St. Leonard's Marlins no doubt do not expect him to make it back this season.
Waffle
The London Knights are back in the playoffs! It's been a long time coming, but an 8-2 victory over cellar-dwellars Bognor saw the Knights climb 4 places into 5th spot. Much of that is thanks to Carlos Beltran, whose late night Sunday performance enabled the Knights to sneak ahead in both AVG & OPS, turning a 6-4 victory into an 8-2 one. It was tough on Bognor, who fought hard all week, but the Knights ended up taking every hitting category, with the pitching being shared, as Wins & Saves were tied.
Also on the rise are Essex Eagles, jumping from 11th to 7th after their 9-2 demolition of reigning champs Felixstowe, whose mini-revival has come crashing back down to earth. Also tumbling this week are Enfield & Dunstable, both dropping 4 places after losing to Sussex & Guildford respectively.
At the top, Havant's lead has narrowed a little more after they lost 7-5 to 2006 champion London Bananas, allowing Solent Vipers to draw closer with a comfortable 8-2 win over St. Leonard's. Mid-table Orpington & Oxford had a closely-fought battle - Oxford sneaking it 6-4 - whilst Bromley refuse to lie down after a surprise 7-3 victory over high-flying Woking.
In this shortened week, we again have a situation where none of the top 7 are facing off against one another. Probably the biggest game is the one between Dunstable & Enfield. They might be down in 10th & 11th places at the moment, but only a couple of weeks ago, both were in the top 6. With things so close in the middle of the table, a big victory for one of them will launch them back up the table. A large defeat, however...
11 Teams playing .500 or better. More than one team is going to be heartbroken come playoff time
A lot of the categories were decided Sat & Sun, again. It should have been 9-2, but I didn't get home in time to put Santana in on Saturday.
Plenty of space between myself and 4th, but looking at the rapid demise of the London Bananas I'll be happier with a 1 point difference in 10 weeks time.
Good job there are plenty of DL spaces as most of my players are acting like Carl Pavano's long lost brother, with Ryan Church maybe out for the season due to the Mets bad handling of the situation.