![[DOOR FLIES OPEN]](https://doorfliesopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/DFO-MC-Patch.png)
Once again we look into the depths of the madness that is… the dice baseball league I joined last fall, which somehow manages to balance a 13 (soon to be 14, with one last expansion team) team league with people’s schedules. How’d the Brooklyn Nocturnes end up this year? Well, things weren’t looking good at last check… and they looked better briefly, but then stopped looking better in the last couple series.
The Nocturnes ended their season at 13-17, last in the East (via tiebreaker). Losing 2 of 3 in the rivalry series with the New York Titans (including blowing a 6-0 game at the stretch and a 6-2 game in the bottom of the 9th to lose the finale) killed any playoff hope, and put it firmly in lottery hope land! Which wasn’t that much better, as out of the 3 lottery teams (the worst three records) Brooklyn didn’t move up and couldn’t move down. With the expansion North Shore Wallopin’ Walleyes picking first, Brooklyn will pick 4th in the upcoming draft.
Was there anything good from this year at least?
League leaders!
-CI Smokey Roberts led the league with 13 doubles—tied with Fayetteville’s Hunter Coburn and Anchorage’s Dallas Fairchild—and takes the doubles title on having the fewest at-bats of the three.
-On the pitching side of things, RP Niko Fawkes was among the league leaders in WHIP and fewest BB/9 and RP Ray Thunderchild was top 10 in K/9, but the real story was the Nocturnes’ leading pitcher throughout the season SP Elton Hallenback. Hally finished among the top 5 (including ties and rounding errors due to doing all stats on Google Sheets) in innings, wins, and ERA, and was 3rd in strikeouts (one behind the leaders). All this cemented his spot as Brooklyn’s All-Star representative, and as this is his only season before retirement, was named as Brooklyn’s new pitching coach (as his predecessor, Phil Brickma, looks to finally market Hot Ice).
-In addition, MI Bert Blumquist won a Gold Glove. How? I have no specific idea as we don’t keep track of enough stats and you roll the entire infield, but as one of the +3 infielders in the league, there’s probably some method of calculation.
-And, thanks to setting a record with 21 strikeouts (in the 17-inning game, that’ll do it), Brooklyn threw for the most strikeouts and most K/9 in the league. That’s what we got in terms of leading the league, but hey, it’s something.
Wait, retirement? But you just got there.
Yes, but in keeping with the rest of the game and having players on 4-year cycles, that includes 1-year players. The following players retire:
-C Trevor Jones
“TJ” saw limited action as the backup catcher, but provided lockdown defense in his playing time. He finished by throwing out 3 of the last 4 SB attempts made against him, and multi-hit games in each of his last two starts behind the plate, including an RBI double in his last game.
-CI Miles Vengerov
“The Virtuoso” etched his name in DBL lore with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 17th inning to win arguably the greatest game in league history, 18-17 over Boston. However, it was the game before, where he hit the other of his home runs, a 2-run shot to tie against Boston, where he won his game MVP award.
-MI Bert Blumquist (1x Gold Glover)
“BB” anchored the infield as the Nocturnes’ first Gold Glover as the infield turned 27 double plays (including a team-record 3 in one game against Anchorage) under his watch. He also contributed with 3 home runs on the offensive side and led the team with 2 sacrifices.
-MI Rico Piscotty
Piscotty, Blumquist’s usual double play partner, saved his best for late in the season as his first (and only) homer gave the Nocturnes a 6-4 win over Harrisville to keep Brooklyn’s playoff hopes afloat going into their final series.
-SP Elton Hallenback (1x All-Star; 1x BKN Cy Young winner)
“Hally”‘s lone season in Brooklyn was a memorable one, as he finished in the top 5 in wins, innings, and ERA, and was 3rd in strikeouts, leading to Brooklyn’s first All-Star nod. He was Brooklyn’s leader in game MVP awards (with 6) and won the team Cy Young award. Following his retirement, he became the new Nocturnes pitching coach.
-RP Woody Yates
Yates may be best-known for securing the first save in Nocturnes history against Springfield, but throughout the season was a dependable arm out of the bullpen, including as the primary lefty specialist, and excelled in 2 scoreless inning plus outings in the series against Lincoln, earning him a rare reliever game MVP.
With that (and the exhibition 3-game set against North Shore, where among other things, Claude Sellers would have tied the record with a 16 strikeout shutout… if the game counted), Season F is drawing to a close, as the playoffs are going on now, and I have a week to figure out a draft strategy that isn’t just “Which of these names have the best chance of being on Balls’ AVN tracker when their playing time is through?” OF WHICH THERE ARE SEVERAL. As for playoff picks? New Orleans is the defending champs and are battle-tested and really good, but it’s definitely a toss-up where I’ll be looking forward to seeing how it shakes out.
Okay, enough of that. What of sports played in meatspace?
Your pick: Baseball or GAME 1 OF THE STANLEY CUP FINAL?
(You know the teams at this point, just know it’s on at 8 on TNT)
I know what I’m picking… if I weren’t in Williamsburg tonight. GO EULERS!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.