Captain's (B)log: H2HWS Week 20

With 2 weeks to go, we have the first playoff qualifier this week. No prizes for guessing who! It was a week which saw 6 close match-ups, and one demolition job...again, no prizes for guessing which team won by a country mile! But the battle for the playoffs is heating up and on a knife-edge...

Week 20 Results

• London Knights 4-7 Manzen Marlins
• New Hampshire Goats 1-11 LA Thrashers
• Barcelona Reds 4-7 North York Blues
• Felixstowe Fury 6-5 Lower Saxony Tigers
• Brisbane Bikkies 7-5 Peitudas
• Northampton Squirrels 4-7 Psydney Psychos
• Hamburger Blaufinken 6-5 Edinburgh Dukes

Standings

Significant Moves

With the trading deadline having passed, the only way left for teams to improve is through the waiver wire. Not a great deal happened this week, although North York potentially improved their bullpen with the acquisitions of Rodney & Ziegler. In fact, it was a week for bullpen moves, as New Hampshire picked up Grant Balfour, and Brisbane added Huston Street (dropped by the Goats last week). London Knights finally gave up on Aaron Harang after another appalling outing, picking up Kevin Slowey to replace him, whilst Psydney have just let go Kelly Johnson, replacing him with Ian Stewart.

Waffle

The inevitable has happened, as LA Thrashers become the first official qualifiers for the playoffs, doing it in style with an 11-1 destruction of 3rd-placed New Hampshire. With a lead of 16.5 games, 1st-seed is also guaranteed with that result. Congrats to Ray for putting an awesome team together, and leaving the rest of us fighting for 2nd place - to avoid meeting him until the final!

The Knights hold onto 2nd place, despite a 7-4 defeat to Manzen Marlins. It was another close match-up, with two awesome hitting lines. I don't often reproduce them, but this is worth a look:

90 runs, 19 HR, 69 RBI, 12 SB and two excellent AVG & OPS scores between these two teams! Manzen also took the pitching categories 3-2 to take the 7-4 victory overall and end London's 9-match winning streak.

That win moves Manzen back into 6th spot, just ahead of Psydney (7-4 winners against Northampton) and Edinburgh (who suffered a 6-5 defeat to Hamburger). Ahead of them, New Hampshire's bad defeat leaves them within striking distance, and behind Lower Saxony, who lost 6-5 to strugglers Felixstowe, and North York, who took advantage of other top 6 teams losing to jump up to 3rd with their victory over Barcelona. And Brusbane keep themselves in the hunt with their 7-5 win over Peitudas.

As ever, the penultimate week sees some vital match-ups taking place. London Knights can secure their play-off place, but it will be a tough assignment against Brisbane, fighting to sneak into the top 6. A hugely important match-up sees New Hampshire look to bounce back against Manzen, whilst the match-ups between Lower Saxony & Edinburgh, and Hamburger & Psydney will also have a significant effect on the playoff positions. Who will join LA in the postseason? Only 2 weeks to go!