On the Mound, Off the Mound

 

*All of the “What’s going on in the WBL this week” and “What’s hot in the message boards this week” topics were started and finished on the appropriate day of the subject, thus explaining some older stats, or multiple Players of the Week in having the lead in RBIs.

 

This week’s lineup:

 

  1. What’s going on in the WBL this week?

We will take a look at some of the standing changes, big games, or other things that happened in the WBL this week.

  1. What’s hot in the message boards?

In this section we will go over some of the big events or topics that happened in the message board this week.

  1. Weekly Interview: Kip Wesley and Alex Zito.

This week we will be interviewing Kip Wesley (manager, co-GM, and starting Left Fielder for the St. Louis Stallions) and Alex Zito (former manager of the Dublin Fighting Irish and current starting Catcher for the St. Louis Stallions). They will be sharing their unique perspectives on several facets of the game.

  1. Featured Article: Which is a bigger factor in winning teams this season—hitting or pitching?

The week, Corey takes a look at which aspect of the game seems to have had a bigger affect on the winning teams thus far. Are pitching-strong teams the ones to look out for, or are the true winners the teams with All-Star lineups?

  1. Just My Opinion: Should the WBL add Designated Hitters to the game?

In this week’s “Just My Opinion,” Corey will discuss whether he thinks it is about time for the World Baseball League to adopt the Designated Hitter rule, or if the game should stay the same.

  1. BOLD Prediction of the Week
  2. Question of the Week
  3. Reader’s Comments / Questions

 

What’s Going on in the WBL this week?

 

Antarctica Wins Their First Game of the Season

 

Early this week, Antarctica did something they had been waiting practically a month to do—win their first game. Although most every other team had gotten their first win in the first week, and some were even undefeated at that point, it took Antarctica over 20 games to finally notch a win. It came at a much unexpected time, also, as they were able to beat the Western Hemisphere-leading Caracas Cougars, 3-1. The Antarctica batters only put up three runs, which seems to be about typical output for them, but the real factor that won the game for them was the amazing pitching of Seneca Wallace. Seneca held the very dangerous Caracas line-up to just one run on just three hits, while striking out 15 and walking none.

 

FINAL

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

 

R

H

E

Cancun

0

0

3

0

0

0

0

1

1

 

5

7

1

Antarctica

1

5

0

6

0

1

0

0

X

 

13

15

4

 

 

Perhaps the only thing as miraculous as this win was that they came back the next night to win again—their second in a row. This time the batters won the game as they shelled the Cancun Riptide, 13-5.

 

FINAL

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

 

R

H

E

Cancun

0

0

3

0

0

0

0

1

1

 

5

7

1

Antarctica

1

5

0

6

0

1

0

0

X

 

13

15

4

 

 

Players of the Month announced

 

This week the Players of the Month (of April) were announced. The Western Hemisphere Pitcher of the Month was Brian Lawley (Santo Domingo Rush), and the Western Hemisphere Batter of the Month was Jermaine Guzman (Caracas Cougars). The Eastern Hemisphere Pitcher of the Month was Marc Southworth II (Frankfurt Force), and the Eastern Hemisphere Batter of the Month was Shawn Baig (Seoul Storm). Here is a look at each of the winners and their stats in the month of April:

 

Brian Lawley: 7 G, 7 GS, 6-0 record, 0 SV, 1.04 ERA, 50.0 IP, 33 HA, 8 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 80 K, and a 0.70 WHIP.

 

Jermaine Guzman: 27 G, 110 AB, 56 H, 11 2B, 0 3B, 25 HR, 47 RBI, 39 R, 3 BB, 10 K, .509 AVG, .522 OBP, 1.291 SLG, and a 1.813 OPS.

 

Marc Southworth II: 7 G, 7 GS, 6-0 record, 0 SV, 1.20 ERA, 52.2 IP, 40 HA, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 BB, 43 K, and an 0.83 WHIP.

 

Shawn Baig: 27 G, 109 AB, 38 H, 3 2B, 2 3B, 27 HR, 50 RBI, 40 R, 12 BB, 19 K, .349 AVG, .410 OBP, 1.156 SLG, and a 1.566 OPS.

 

Congratulations to all winners of this award, and good luck next month.

 

Rookies of the Month Announced

 

This week, along with the Players of the Month, the Rookies of the Month were announced. These future stars of the game didn’t put up the numbers that the Players of the Month were able to tally, but they were able to put up impressive numbers in their first month of playing nonetheless. The Western Hemisphere Rookie of the Month was Corey Whitney (Saint Louis Stallions), and the Eastern Hemisphere Rookie of the Month was Vin Distasio (Great Britain Red Coats). Here is a look at each of the winners and their stats in the month of April:

 

Corey Whitney: 7 G, 7 GS, 4-1 record, 0 SV, 1.55 ERA, 58.0 IP, 37 HA, 11 R, 10 ER, 3 BB, 26 K, and an 0.69 WHIP.

 

Vin Distasio: 27 G, 109 AB, 39 H, 12 2B, 5 3B, 15 HR, 31 RBI, 33 R, 15 BB, 3 K, .358 AVG, .440 OBP, .972 SLG, and a 1.412 OPS.

 

WBL Announces That It Will Begin a Group of Recruiters

 

Early this week, the WBL announced that it is going to start a group of recruiters so the WBL can grow even more rapidly than it already is. It is, at this point, unknown how many recruiters will be accepted into the group, but they will have the responsibility to find new players and to teach them the ropes of the game. It will require a lot more time and commitment, but they will receive a few more points than one normally would for recruiting players, so it is well worth it. At this point there is not much more information on the subject that has been disclosed by the WBL.

 

This Week’s Players of the Week Are Announced

 

This week’s (5/6/2009) Players of the Week are Blake Roberts (Santo Domingo Rush) for the Western Hemisphere, and Joe Slugga (Great Britain Red Coats) for the Eastern Hemisphere. This is Blake’s 15th Player of the Week award, and Joe’s 14th Player of the Week award.

 

Blake, this week, had a .370 batting average (10 hits in 27 at-bats), hit nine Home Runs, and drove in 13 RBI. So far this season Blake has a .262 AVG, 32 hits, 2 doubles, 0 triples, 28 homers, 48 RBI, and 35 runs scored. He is also in first in the Western Hemisphere in HR and RBI.

 

Joe, this week, had a .462 batting average, a .529 on-base percentage, and 18 RBI. So far this season, Joe has a .372 on-base percentage, a .280 batting average, and a .896 slugging percentage. He also has 48 RBI.

 

This Week’s Players of the Week Are Announced

 

This week’s (5/13/2009) Players of the Week are A NX (Montreal Menace) for the Western Hemisphere, and Joe Slugga (Great Britain Red Coats) for the Eastern Hemisphere. This is NX’s 9th Player of the Week award, and Joe’s 15th Player of the Week award—he also won last week.

 

NX, this week, had a .556 batting average, 20 RBI, and a 1.889 slugging percentage. So far this season, NX has hit .310, with a .348 on-base percentage, a 1.039 slugging percentage, and 63 RBI. He is also in first in the Western Hemisphere in RBI.

 

Joe, this week, had a .600 batting average, while also getting 10 Home Runs and 19 RBI. He is also in the midst of a 10-game hit streak (and a 10-game Home Run streak).

 

This Week’s Players of the Week Are Announced

 

This week’s (5/20/2009) Players of the Week are Jason Rhiner (Antarctica Chill) for the Western Hemisphere, and Tony Kobbs (Frankfurt Force) for the Eastern Hemisphere. This is Rhiner’s 4th Player of the Week award.

 

Rhiner, this week, hit .333. He also hit 7 home runs and drove in 11 RBIs.

 

Kobbs was almost identical to Rhiner, hitting .333 with 6 home runs and 10 runs batted in.

 

Standings Change, Results Here

 

Here is a look at the standings at the beginning of the week:

Western Hemisphere Standings

West

Team

W

L

PCT

GB

 Pyt.Rec

Diff

 

Home

Away

XInn

1Run

M#

Streak

Last10

Caracas

19

6

.760

-

22-3

-3

 

10-3

9-3

1-0

2-3

84

W4

8-2

St. Louis

17

8

.680

2.0

17-8

0

 

12-1

5-7

4-0

8-0

-

L2

7-3

Santo Domingo

16

9

.640

3.0

19-6

-3

 

7-4

9-5

1-2

2-4

-

W2

6-4

Montreal

15

10

.600

4.0

21-4

-6

 

7-6

8-4

0-3

1-3

-

W2

5-5

Cancun

6

19

.240

13.0

8-17

-2

 

2-10

4-9

1-1

3-4

-

L2

2-8

Antarctica

2

23

.080

17.0

1-24

1

 

1-12

1-11

0-1

0-2

-

L3

2-8

Eastern Hemisphere Standings

East

Team

W

L

PCT

GB

 Pyt.Rec

Diff

 

Home

Away

XInn

1Run

M#

Streak

Last10

Frankfurt

20

5

.800

-

20-5

0

 

8-4

12-1

1-1

3-2

84

W2

7-3

Seoul

18

7

.720

2.0

17-8

1

 

8-5

10-2

1-0

4-1

-

W1

4-6

Great Britain

17

8

.680

3.0

20-5

-3

 

8-5

9-3

2-0

3-5

-

L1

8-2

South Africa

11

14

.440

9.0

12-13

-1

 

5-7

6-7

0-2

3-1

-

L2

7-3

Iceland

7

18

.280

13.0

8-17

-1

 

3-9

4-9

1-2

4-5

-

W1

3-7

Dublin

2

23

.080

18.0

2-23

0

 

2-11

0-12

1-1

1-4

-

L1

1-9

 

Here is a look at the current standings:

Western Hemisphere Standings

West

Team

W

L

PCT

GB

 Pyt.Rec

Diff

 

Home

Away

XInn

1Run

M#

Streak

Last10

Caracas

31

14

.689

-

38-7

-7

 

14-7

17-7

1-0

5-7

65

W4

7-3

Montreal

30

15

.667

1.0

37-8

-7

 

13-9

17-6

1-3

6-4

-

W4

8-2

St. Louis

28

17

.622

3.0

27-18

1

 

16-7

12-10

5-0

10-1

-

L3

5-5

Santo Domingo

24

21

.533

7.0

30-15

-6

 

11-12

13-9

2-3

6-7

-

L2

4-6

Cancun

17

28

.378

14.0

21-24

-4

 

5-17

12-11

3-4

3-8

-

W2

5-5

Antarctica

5

40

.111

26.0

3-42

2

 

2-22

3-18

1-3

2-5

-

L4

1-9

Eastern Hemisphere Standings

East

Team

W

L

PCT

GB

 Pyt.Rec

Diff

 

Home

Away

XInn

1Run

M#

Streak

Last10

Great Britain

34

11

.756

-

38-7

-4

 

18-7

16-4

2-0

6-6

63

W5

8-2

Frankfurt

31

14

.689

3.0

32-13

-1

 

12-10

19-4

2-2

5-6

-

W4

7-3

Seoul

31

14

.689

3.0

27-18

4

 

14-9

17-5

1-0

10-1

-

W3

7-3

South Africa

19

26

.422

15.0

22-23

-3

 

10-13

9-13

0-2

3-4

-

L5

3-7

Iceland

16

29

.356

18.0

16-29

0

 

7-15

9-14

3-2

8-9

-

L3

4-6

Dublin

4

41

.089

30.0

3-42

1

 

3-17

1-24

1-3

1-7

-

L4

1-9

 

In the Western Hemisphere, Montreal shot from fourth place to second place, and all of the other teams just got bumped down by one. In the Eastern Hemisphere, Great Britain Came from third place to take over the division lead by a decent margin. Like in the WH, all other teams just got bumped down a place.

 

What’s Hot in the Message Boards?

 

Boblios Ordonez Tries to Incite a Strike Against the World Baseball League…

 

Last week, Seoul Storm First Baseman, Boblios Ordonez, was traded to the Iceland Icecats, and he was not happy with the decision at all. First, he began to whine about the trade to just his former manager and then to his current manager about the decision (he was particularly mad that he wasn’t talked to by either on before it happened). Instead of just relaxing and asking to be traded, which would have probably happened if he were patient and civil about it, he threw a tantrum. He began to post new threads all over the message boards complaining about the trade and its unfairness. Then, either as a joke or a serious idea (it is hard to tell at this point), he began to start threads about “striking against the WBL” and boycotting all the teams. His attempts at a strike were met with criticism and some people even suggested banning him.

 

…and is Later Caught Cheating on an Article.

 

Just hours after all the “strike” hype started, Boblios Ordonez posted an article—“Tips on writing an article.” Just an hour and a half later, The_Dawg_Pound (Tidiggity Dawg and Cleveland Dawg) replied saying that he had proof of Boblios’ cheating. He included a link to a completely separate site that had the exact same article, word for word. Upon further inspecting the article myself, to see if it really was identical, I noticed something that apparently only The_Dawg_Pound had noticed up until that point in reading the article—the article was actually talking about drafting for fantasy Major League Baseball, not fantasy World Baseball League. When Boblios began to talk about Pujols, or teams like Colorado and LA, it should have been a dead giveaway that he didn’t write the article, but for some reason it went unnoticed for hours.

 

Later that night, Boblios instant messaged Tidiggity Dawg about his getting him caught, and inside sources say that the two of them talked for hours that night about many things. Amongst many topics covered, Tidiggity learned that Boblios is very much different in real life than how he has been acting thus far. Boblios decided to apologize for his actions against the league, and Tidiggity posted his apology for him—much of it talking about maturity. Response to the apology was strong. Some said that he should be reinstated after one year because of the apology, while some said that cheaters shouldn’t get a second chance. Even now, as I write this, there is still arguing on the message boards about “the Bablios Situation.”

 

Marc Southworth Declares his Team Sucks

 

Early this week, Marc Southworth, manager of the Iceland Icecats, declared that “All my guys suck cept for Southworth” and he then put most of his team on the trading block. If you are looking for a new (insert name of position here), check out Iceland then.

 

WBL Weekly Hits Newsstands Late—Riots Ensue

 

Early this week, Sam Baig (new WBL Weekly grader) announced that the grades for the previous week’s ‘WBL Weekly’s would be announced sometime Sunday, maybe early Monday morning at the latest. Riots ensued. Many didn’t understand this concept of “waiting one more day” to either see what they got or to read the articles. Many people flooded the message boards, e-mailed Sam, or instant messaged him into submission wonder where and when the grades would be up (which probably just kept taking up more and more of his time that he was trying to grade with). Sunday came and went—still no WBL Weekly article grades posted. Monday morning came, and I was informed by somebody who talked directly to Sam that the grades would be up by 2:30 in the day (EST). That deadline came and went also. Finally, that evening, the grades were finally posted.

 

Also posted was the list of people who made it as this year’s WBL Weekly writers, which consisted of (alphabetically): Vin Distasio, Tidiggity Dawg, Quint Newcomer, Max Powers, Jason Rhiner, Mujuri Shipal, Dave Smith, Scott Travers, Shawn Walker, and yours truly, Corey Whitney. Following this announcement, there was talk from some who were shocked that they had not made the cut. Others were actually surprised that they DID make the cut. Even others wondered “Why did ____ make it?” or “Why didn’t _____ make it?” Eventually the situation calmed down and the 2009 WBL Weekly writers began to work on their articles. Smith and Travers were actually added several days later than the others, for a still-unexplained reason.

 

Complaints about Spreads Filed, Responded to

 

Late last week some complaints emerged saying that (Chad / Joe) Slugga had not been posting the spreads early enough. As this week began, more and more people began to agree with this complaint, stating that posting the spreads just a few hours before the simulation didn’t give people enough time to reply to them with their predictions. Slugga responded, basically saying that he was doing his best and that he felt that there was plenty of time given to respond to the spreads, but many continued to say that he needed to give more time for them. The following day, and several days after that, Slugga then posted the spreads in the morning. It is not yet determined if this was in a mocking gesture, or if he just wanted to give as much time as possible for people to respond.

 

Who is better, Eastern Hemisphere or Western Hemisphere?

 

Early this week, argument began on which league was better, the Western Hemisphere, or the Eastern Hemisphere. Players on teams from both sides went back and forth with their arguments on why they thought that their league was better, but nobody was able to provide any concrete evidence to prove that any one was indeed better than the other. I will not be caught in the middle of this by saying which one I personally think is better. Instead, I agree with (part of) what Blake Roberts said. “…guess we’ll see in the allstar game*, interleague, and WS, huh…” Whatever happens in these situations will not necessarily prove which league is better, but it will give a better indication that anything else we can come up with as evidence.

 

*I would like to give credit to the first person whom I saw mention this as a way of determining which league is better. Earlier in the thread in which this entire conversation / argument took place, Quint Newcomer was the first to mention the All-Star Game as a basis for comparison.

 

Grading Rubrics Begin to Emerge

 

Early this week, as an article itself, K-Rod (a.k.a. We_Got_Vald_Guerrero) suggested a grading rubric for all article graders to use, to end all arguing over grades—something that has become unfortunately quite frequent recently. It is still not know if this is the now-accepted grading system for all article graders, or if the idea just bombed. Following the suggestion, however, a trash talk grading rubric was proposed. Some liked the idea, while others disliked the specific grading system. As the week continued, other ideas or grading rubrics emerged, but like the original one submitted by K-Rod, it is still undetermined if any of there have been accepted at the standard.

 

Marc Southworth Announces He Is Doing 2009 WBL Cards

 

Midway through the week, Marc Southworth announced that he will begin making the 2009 series of WBL Player Cards. He started a thread to tell this to everybody, and you can post a reply there telling the details of your player if you want him to make one for you. He is being very kind this season and letting players tell him details about the card that they want different, if anything, which is pretty cool because it makes all of the cards unique.

 

Another thing Marc has been considering, was having unique team backgrounds (instead of each player with a different background), so that players could be recognized with their team background. So far it is undetermined if he will do this or not. Response to the player cards has already been huge, as dozens of players have submitted pictures and facts for their very own player card.

 

Iceland Icecats and Santo Domingo Rush Swap Players

 

Late this week, the Iceland Icecats and the Santo Domingo Rush swapped players. Going to Iceland was young Shortstop, Kevin Cingular, who has struggled a lot this season. Leaving Iceland is First Baseman Boblios Ordonez, who is actually doing pretty well thus far into his rookie season.

 

This trade comes later in the same week in which Boblios Ordonez demanded a trade and then tried to start a strike, perhaps in an attempt to get his way. Either way, he should be happy now that he has finally been traded, even though he is banned and that might never be lifted. The soonest it could is next season, and who knows where he will be going then, if that indeed happens.

 

“About Us” Poll Results Are In

 

Early this week, I started a poll about us asking simple questions to see what the demographic of the WBL is. I asked about age, race, gender, time zone, and if you play on a team in real life or not. The following people (in alphabetical order) responded: ‘AI3Yanks842’, ‘BBallplayer91’, ‘BoomerSooner’, ‘cans1128’, ‘greenpeace’, ‘J. Andrews / D. Halladay’, ‘K-Rod / Trav’, ‘mojowo11’, ‘M. Shipal / K. Rands’, ‘NYC_Pride’, ‘scabbronnumber1’, ‘SeattleAllTheWay’, ‘Smith / Amato’, ‘The_Dawg_Pound’, and ‘Vvargas_Cwheeler’.

 

Here are the results of the poll, thus far. 15 people in all responded, and I left off all possibilities in which nobody answered (such as ‘Female’ under ‘Gender’) so as not to waste time or space.

 

Age:

Middle School / Junior High School--- 6

High School--- 7

College--- 1

Don’t want to say--- 1

 

Race:

White--- 13

Asian--- 1

White, but wishes he was black--- 1

 

Gender:

Male--- 15

 

Part of country / Time Zone:

EST--- 8

CST--- 3

PST--- 4

 

Do you play on a baseball team in real life?:

Yes--- 5

No--- 10

 

The poll is still open, so if you want to get in on it so we can get a more accurate depiction of the entire WBL (since there are way more than just 15 people in the WBL), you are welcome to go to the “League Voting” thread of the message boards, and then click on the “About Us” thread.

 

Weekly Interview: Kip Wesley and Alex Zito.

 

This week, St. Louis Times sportswriter, Red Bryer (in cooperation with WBL Weekly), sat down with (St. Louis Manager, co-General Manager, and starting Left Fielder) Kip Wesley, and (St. Louis starting Catcher and former Dublin Manager) Alex Zito for an interview.

 

Red Bryer: Hello gentlemen, welcome, please be seated.

 

Alex Zito: Hello, Red.

 

Kip Wesley: Hello.

 

RB: Let’s get started, shall we? Ok, first off, are either of you surprised or disappointed with any of the other teams’ performances thus far in the season?

 

KW: Yeah, actually. I am angry to see Dublin fall so far behind. They made the playoffs last year, and seemed to be playoff contenders again this year until the season actually started. It looks like they will miss the playoffs for the first time for a few years to an expansion team. The “head honchos” of the WBL were convinced that the league was ready for new teams, I disagreed with them, and I feel that I am right. It is just making it hard to move forward as a league with things like that going on.

 

RB: What about you, Alex?

 

AZ: Well, I, too, personally have been a little surprised with the performances with some other teams. Santo Domingo is a little ways from first place, but I think Caracas surprised me the most. They are an expansion team also, but they are somehow in first place in the Western Hemisphere right now. Those two are the biggest and main surprises for me this season.

 

RB: Alright. Kip, what about your own team? Are there any players on your team who have surprised you with how well they are doing this season? Or maybe some players who are quite doing what you expected them to do?

 

KW: On our team, I have been really surprised by the performance of young starting pitcher, Ace Hurley. Corey Whitney has also performed well, but he was expected to do good this season, so that didn’t shock me. I am really disappointed in Jerek Deter though. He was hailed as the next big thing, so he was the only rookie guaranteed a starting spot in the lineup and we even made him the leadoff man. He isn’t living up to all the hype that was around him all of this off-season. As a team, we are winning though, so that is good.

 

AZ: Yeah, and I just wanted to add something to that. I am a little disappointed in my own playing this season. I feel I am letting down the team with my poor on-base percentage. I have been working hard to improve on that by becoming more patient at the plate, but I don’t think I am there yet. I also feel that as an overall team, we could probably perform better. I really think we have the talent here in St. Louis to win a championship.

 

RB: Yes, St. Louis seems to have had some trouble hitting the ball so far this season. What do you two think is going on?

 

AZ: Well, I’d say that I am probably the biggest problem. I am expected to be the big bat and to drive in the runs, which I don’t think I have done well enough thus far. We have a couple of other players who also seem to be underachieving, such as Glenn Wiggins, or Jerek Deter as Kip mentioned. For the most part, everybody in the league knew that St. Louis was going to have some problems hitting the ball. That’s just the price you pay to have a great pitching staff and a pitching-oriented team.

 

KW: Yeah, as Alex said, not every team focuses on offense all that much and we are one of those. We definitely have some good people, but we lack a huge bat in the lineup. Zito is almost there, but he is still working on it as he said. Another thing Alex mentioned was that Wiggins hasn’t been what we thought he would be, but he seems to be gaining some momentum. As of right now, though, there is no batter in the lineup that really brings fear into pitchers, but we are working on it.

 

RB: Alright. You two seem to be doing everything for this team right now, since there is some struggling. Did the two of you expect to be such sluggers this season, with you two combining for almost all the runs?

 

AZ: Well, I did expect it to a point. I felt that the lineup as a whole would be doing better and I thought, as I have said, that I would be doing better than I am too. Our team is winning, so we seem to be doing fine for now. To farther answer your question though, I knew when I agreed to come to St. Louis in the first place that I would be the big slugger in the order. Kip let me know that pitching comes first, and then hitting, so I knew that other sluggers would be in short supply.

 

RB: Alright. Kip?

 

KW: Well, I expected to be more of an average hitter, myself. I love hitting for average and getting runs. These were my main goal, and I did not expect to get so many home runs or so many extra-base hits that drive in runs, but I’ll take it.

 

RB: Ok. Now I would like to shift gears here a little bit. Alex, you used to be a manager yourself. Since there are so many new players these days, please tell all of us a little bit about your Dublin Fighting Irish when you managed them. How long ago was that, who was on your team, and how did your team do?

 

AZ: I think it was about two or three seasons ago when I last managed. We had a lot of big stars on the team back then. We had Smitty Springfield, Kyle Smith, Max Powers, Glenn Wiggins, Darryl Fink, Thomas Kenny, Jalen Montgomery, and Aaron Naidich just to name a few. I’m sure you’ve heard of at least a few of those names. We had an amazing team and we performed well, but lost in Game 7 of the 2007 World Series. I didn’t mind losing all that much though, because no matter who would have won that series, I would have won. See, I actually played for Santo Domingo—the World Champions that year—even though I managed their competitors, Dublin. I lost the World Series as a manager, but I still won it as a player, so that was really interesting.

 

RB: Wow. So you have already done the managerial thing. How long ago did you join the WBL? And what were the circumstances surrounding it?

 

AZ: Well, I joined in the 2004 season. Actually, I joined midway into that season. My friend, Glenn Wiggins introduced me into the league, and I joined the Santo Domingo Rush as a Third Baseman. I have never spent a single day on the bench or in the minors, I started immediately after joining. The season Santo Domingo was an expansion team, but we still made it to the World Series, losing to Sydney. In 2004, Santo Domingo had all of the best players in today’s WBL. It was actually kind of funny because if we were still together and if there were no salary cap, nobody could possibly beat us.

 

RB: That really would be something. What about you, Kip?

 

KW: Well, actually, I joined in the original season of the WBL. James Conway asked me to try out for the WBL, and it just worked out. I was the starting Left Fielder for the Egypt Polar Bears that season, won a Gold Glove in my rookie season, and in a league where actually everybody was a rookie I really stood out. Nowadays, it feels like I have never lived up to that first season or my true potential, but I have had trouble staying healthy so I have let it slide.

 

RB: Okay. So both of you have been in the league for a long time. When did you each begin managing and what made you want to do it?

 

AZ: Well, about three season ago, Glenn Wiggins asked me to come help him out in Dublin, and I had always wanted to own a team, so I agreed. For a while we shared the team 50/50, but over time I ended up in control of it. I really enjoyed the statistics part of the game and I wanted to prove myself and my baseball knowledge by having a winning team. Making it to the World Series fulfilled one of my goals, and the only thing that could have made it better would have been if we had won it.

 

KW: Yeah, when I first managed the Egypt Polar Bears in what I think was my second season, it did not go nearly as well as Alex’s experience did. I ruined the franchise and tried to gain permission to merge with another team. I didn’t really want to manage at the time, but I was offered a co-GM spot, and I had big plans to go with an even bigger ego, so I took the job.

 

RB: So the power really appealed to you. Speaking of power, how do you guys like to run your team? Do you focus on batting, or do you think that a solid pitching staff is the key to success?

 

KW: I am a pitching guy. In my opinion, pitching is winning in the WBL. To me, it is obvious if you can get seven guys in your roster who can pitch well, then you really don’t need to score many runs. I am trying to get our offense going now, but that really never was my forte.

 

AZ: I am different in that aspect though, because when I managed, I looked to make a well-balanced team. I wanted two or three great batters, and then another four or five average batters. And then I looked for three or four good starting pitchers and a decent bullpen. If I had to lean one way or the other, I would have to say pitching is key though. I feel that pitching can be the key to winning, but well-rounded hitting is also very important. Last year, Great Britain proved that a super pitching staff isn’t going to guarantee a championship.

 

RB: Alright, so you guys really seem to have a plan for your team. What is your favorite thing about being the manager?

 

AZ: I loved to set up the lineup. I liked to evaluate the team, and then to put them in an order which I felt could help us to win. I think that having the proper batting order and pitching rotation order is often overlooked, but I feel it is a key to winning with your good team. The game is all about match-ups and preparing to have the better match-up.

 

KW: My favorite thing is taking risks with prospects and trades. I love a thrill and nothing is more fun than taking a risk on a person. I have done that quite a bit these last few seasons, and for the most part it has turned out quite well.

 

RB: Okay. What was your least favorite thing about being the manager though?

 

KW: I hate working with money and numbers. It never came easily to me and I always get nervous about money and thinking that I don’t have enough, but it all ends up working out. It is just not my favorite thing though.

 

AZ: Yeah, I didn’t enjoy having to resign everybody. Sometimes they would decide to walk, and in those instances, you would have to find a replacement. Sometimes players are also dishonest and they don’t let you know that they are leaving you, and then at the last minute you have to find a replacement who may not be the best player at that position. Also, being both a manager and a player in the league makes it hard to focus on your player and it is harder to update.

 

RB: Ah yes, when you have the burden of an entire team, you often have to ignore yourself. Alex, speaking of updating your player, when and why did you make the switch from Third Base to Catcher?

 

AZ: I think it was in 2006. Right after I joined Montreal, they had A NX at Third Base and they needed a Catcher, so I volunteered to switch positions to better help out the team. It ended up being for the best though, because I won two straight Gold Gloves at that position after making the switch, and I have just been a Catcher ever since.

 

RB: That is just one of the many transitions you have had to make in your career. Another one is the transition from being the manager to being managed by somebody else. What was it like to make that sort of transition?

 

AZ: Well, actually, I think it seems to be more fun and much easier. Being a manager can be really hard at times, and it takes up a lot of time. Now that I am just a player, I have more time to update and to make myself a better player in the league. Also, this transition has also made it easier to relate to the manager. I think Kip is a great manager because everybody loves playing for him. He is a player’s manager which makes it easier for me to become just another one of the players on the team.

 

RB: Kip, we haven’t heard much from you the last few minutes. Do you have any surprised in store for the rest of the season, or maybe some ideas for driving for first place?

 

KW: I do want to make a drive for first place. Right now, there are no trades in the making, but I think that a big bat could help us out a lot. I don’t really want to bring in a guy just for a playoff run, though. I like to create a solid foundation to rely on in the future, which I think we have, and I like to give guidance to young, new players.

 

RB: Alright, so there no trades planned right now. How do you two think that St. Louis will finish the last three-quarters of the season with the guys you have right now?

 

KW: To be honest, I think we will end up in third place due to Santo Domingo, Montreal, and Caracas all having the experience and/or the personnel to take it to the next level. I think we will finish ahead of one of those teams, but not by much. Sometime this season we will make a serious push for first though.

 

AZ: I hope that we don’t just make a drive for first; I hope that we finish in first. I think we have what it takes to make a run at the World Series. In the past, it has been a proving fact that pitching helps you win down the stretch, and this season shouldn’t be any different or hold any surprises. I think that once our hitting gets in order and settles down, and as soon as out ace, Tidiggity Dawg gets on track, then our team will become a very dangerous one. When we are hot, no team in the league is able to match-up with us.

 

RB: Alright. That is a very strong statement to make, let’s see if it will come true. Good luck with the rest of the season, guys.

 

KW: Thank you.

 

AZ: Thanks.

 

Featured Article: Which is a Bigger Factor in Winning Teams This Season—hitting or pitching?

 

I have often wondered in these last few weeks, which will win more championships, a team with the most dominant pitching staff, or a team with an All-Star lineup??? As I continued to think of this, I realized that to find the answer would take more time than I realized, because some teams have both. So now, not only do we have to find a common attribute on winning teams, now we need find out (on team’s with both a dominating pitching staff and an All-Star lineup) which one contributes more to well-rounded teams—pitching, or batting?

 

To help me in determining this, I will use the top three teams from each league, each of them being well over .500, therefore all arguably “good” teams. Representing the Western Hemisphere are the Caracas Cougars, the St. Louis Stallions, and the Montreal Menace. Representing the Eastern Hemisphere are the Great Britain Red Coats, the Frankfurt Force, and the Seoul Storm. Something interesting I found, was that of the three teams each division has representing them in the top three, each league has: a team that was in the World Series last year, a team that struggled last year, and a team that is brand new this year (though not necessarily in that order).

 

*Standings are from Wednesday, January 21, 2004, in the morning (all through the article, thus explaining any strange standings, stats, or comments that might be noticed).

Western Hemisphere Standings

West

Team

W

L

PCT

GB

 Pyt.Rec

Diff

 

Home

Away

XInn

1Run

M#

Streak

Last10

Caracas

24

11

.686

-

29-6

-5

 

14-6

10-5

1-0

4-5

75

L1

5-5

St. Louis

23

12

.657

1.0

22-13

1

 

16-3

7-9

4-0

10-1

-

L2

6-4

Montreal

22

13

.629

2.0

28-7

-6

 

9-7

13-6

0-3

3-4

-

W2

7-3

Eastern Hemisphere Standings

East

Team

W

L

PCT

GB

 Pyt.Rec

Diff

 

Home

Away

XInn

1Run

M#

Streak

Last10

Great Britain

26

9

.743

-

30-5

-4

 

13-6

13-3

2-0

4-5

74

W8

9-1

Frankfurt

24

11

.686

2.0

25-10

-1

 

10-8

14-3

1-2

4-5

-

L5

4-6

Seoul

24

11

.686

2.0

22-13

2

 

10-7

14-4

1-0

7-1

-

W2

6-4

 

Going in order, the first team up to analyze are the Caracas Cougars.

 

CARACAS COUGARS

 

Caracas is 24-11 as an expansion team, which is quite amazing, I think, but the scary thing is that they should be doing better. The simulation thinks that they should have a record of about 29-6 by now, and looking at their team stats it is easy to see why.

 

The Caracas lineup’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Batting Average--- .265 (3rd-best of all teams)

Home Runs--- 93 (3rd-best of all teams)

Walks--- 52 (8th-best of all teams)

Stolen Bases--- 31 (Tied for 5th-best of all teams)

Runs Scored--- 210 (3rd-best of all teams)

 

Almost all of the scoring and hitting on this team comes from three sources—three very big sources. They are Smitty Springfield and the Guzmans (Jermaine Guzman and Shammond Guzman). Chipping in with a little help here and there are Dan Wade, Emanuel Toombs, and Miguel Castillo, but those three combined don’t even put up the kind of numbers that any one of the big three puts up.

 

The Caracas pitching staff’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Pitching Earned Run Average--- 2.36 (BEST of all teams)

Opponent’s Batting Average--- .216 (4th-best of all teams)

Home Runs Allowed--- 32 (BEST of all teams)

Walks Allowed--- 14 (BEST of all teams)

Run Allowed--- 91 (BEST of all teams)

 

Taking a look at this, the pitching staff is just downright amazing and quite scary. The top three pitchers (Manny Martinez, Josh Poole, and Kyle Smith) have all been amazing while the fourth, Chin Hui Tsao, has struggled, but still put up decent numbers. Of the three pitchers in the bullpen, the closer has actually put up the worst numbers, but they are not really “bad” by any measure.

 

My ratings (how I think their hitting and pitching ranks, amongst the top six teams alone, based on the stats thus far):

Batting- Second (out of six teams)

Pitching- FIRST (out of six teams)

 

What has contributed to their success the most thus far? Pitching.

            The lineup might put up six runs a game, but in reality, the pitching staff only needs half of that output because they are so good. Also, the line-up might have good contribution, but it isn’t from everybody, just 1/3 of the lineup, whereas the pitching staff has virtually no holes in it up and down. It still might seem, to some, that the batting is better and has gotten them this far, but when a team is ranked as having the best pitching of all the teams, I find it really hard not to say that that is the reason that they are in first place in their division.

 

The next team in the Western Hemisphere is the St. Louis Stallions.

 

ST. LOUIS STALLIONS

 

The St. Louis Stallions are currently in second place in the Western Hemisphere with a 23-12 record, just 1 game back from Caracas. This is a great mystery to many outside of St. Louis (and even some in St. Louis too), even though the simulation says that they should have a 22-13 record, very close to what they do indeed have.

 

The St. Louis lineup’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Batting Average--- .222 (10th-best of all teams)

Home Runs--- 54 (7th-best of all teams)

Walks--- 57 (5th-best of all teams)

Stolen Bases--- 21 (9th-best of all teams)

Runs Scored--- 160 (8th-best of all teams)

 

This is probably why so many people are confused about St. Louis’ being in second place in the Western Hemisphere, the seeming lack of hitting ability. Of the limited run support, most of it comes from Alex Zito and Kip Wesley. Glenn Wiggins, Christopher Heqaiunu, and Pierce Feltini help by putting up a little bit, but don’t count on them to add nearly as much as Zito or Wesley.

 

The St. Louis pitching staff’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Pitching Earned Run Average--- 3.34 (6th-best of all teams)

Opponents Batting Average--- .228 (5th-best of all teams)

Home Run Allowed--- 51 (4th-best of all teams)

Walks Allowed--- 28 (4th-best of all teams)

Runs Allowed--- 126 (6th-best of all teams)

 

And now we see how St. Louis has been winning. The pitching staff. Aces Tidiggity Dawg and Chris Prior have been doing fine, and new Stallions starting pitchers, Ace Hurley and Corey Whitney, have found a way to do even better—to the surprise of many. In the bullpen are Cleveland Dawg (starter converted to middle reliever), amazing set-up man Thomas Kenny, and super-closer Imagonna Strikeuout.

 

My ratings (how I think their hitting and pitching ranks, amongst the top six teams alone, based on the stats thus far):

Batting- Sixth (out of six teams)

Pitching- Fourth (out of six teams)

 

What has contributed to their success the most thus far? Pitching.

            The line-up has managed to put up almost five runs a game, but when you look at it, most every game that was won was because of masterful pitching. The pitching staff might be ranked fourth out of the six teams being compared, but don’t be fooled—they are a very good pitching staff. The production of Zito, Wesley, and their supporting cast is almost always just enough to win the game, as they are 10-1 in one-run games.

 

The last team in the Western Hemisphere that we will compare is the Montreal Menace.

 

MONTREAL MENACE

 

The Montreal Menace, defending World Champions, are currently in third place in the Western Hemisphere with a 22-13 record, and just 2 games out of first place. I, like so many others, am shocked that they are not in first place, ready to defend their Champion status, especially seeing that the simulation thinks that they should have about a 28-7 record by now. The season is still young, however, so anything could still happen.

 

The Montreal lineup’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Batting Average--- .272 (2nd-best of all teams)

Home Runs--- 59 (5th-best of all teams)

Walks--- 53 (7th-best of all teams)

Stolen Bases--- 33 (Tied for 3rd-best of all teams)

Runs Scored--- 198 (4th-best of all teams)

 

Montreal might not have the biggest-hitting lineup of all teams, but they are still very potent. While A NX and Sam Hill do most of the damage, nearly everybody in the lineup puts in their fair share. Brooks Simmons, Dice Jackson, Adam Brown, Kal Jordan, Andrew Biggs, and Dillon Shooper might not all be producing to the standards of NX or even Hill, but they all seem to pull their own weight.

 

The Montreal pitching staff’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Pitching Earned Run Average--- 2.73 (3rd-best of all teams)

Opponents Batting Average--- .189 (2nd-best of all teams)

Home Runs Allowed--- 41 (2nd-best of all teams)

Walks Allowed--- 24 (3rd-best of all teams)

Runs Allowed--- 97 (2nd-best of all teams)

 

The Montreal pitching staff is just amazing. Legend and Commissioner Jeremy Shirley starts things off, he is followed by amazing starter Carmelo Jackson, then potential Rookie of the Year this year Nolan Ryan, and then things are finished with last year’s Rookie of the Year Mujuri Shipal. These four guys have been downright amazing this year, and I find it unbelievable that they have managed to get eight losses between the four of them. The bullpen needs some serious help, but if the starters go deep enough into a game, it doesn’t really matter who is out there in the bullpen.

 

My ratings (how I think their hitting and pitching ranks, amongst the top six teams alone, based on the stats thus far):

Batting- Fourth (out of six teams)

Pitching- Second (out of six teams)

 

What has contributed to their success the most thus far? Pitching.

            With that starting rotation, I don’t care who is in the lineup. When you have four starting pitchers that can go out there and dominate no matter who they are facing, you are going to win ballgames, period. Yes, the lineup might produce nearly six runs a game, but the truth is that the starting rotation only needs about half of those runs to still win games, with the LOWEST ERA of any starting pitcher being a still-low 2.73.

 

Now we will shift gears a little bit and move on to the Eastern Hemisphere. In first place right now, thus the first ones up, are the Great Britain Red Coats.

 

GREAT BRITAIN RED COATS

 

Last year the Great Britain Red Coats went to the World Series, and if the first quarter of the season is any indication, they will be going there again this season. So far they are in first place in the Eastern Hemisphere with a 26-9 record, and the only thing surprising about that is that the simulation says that their record should probably be something like 30-5.

 

The Great Britain lineup’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Batting Average--- .277 (BEST of all teams)

Home Runs--- 152 (BEST of all teams)

Walks--- 105 (BEST of all teams)

Stolen Bases--- 31 (5th-best of all teams)

Runs Scored--- 294 (BEST of all teams)

 

This lineup is just downright amazing, and you can tell just be looking at the combined numbers. The team is full of sluggers, including Joe Slugga, James Sirbeepalot Jr., Richard Amato, Vin Distasio, Ken Griff, and Shawn Walker, who all pull well more than their own weight. Actually, any three of these big bats put together have almost driven in more runs than the entire pitching staff has given up (Beep, Amato, and Griff combine for 112 RBI, and the staff has given up 121). Eric Mayo and Scott Travers also chip in a little bit here and there, but they really don’t need to with all the power throughout the rest of the lineup.

 

The Great Britain pitching staff’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Pitching Earned Run Average--- 3.31 (5th-best of all teams)

Opponents Batting Average--- .228 (6th-best of all teams)

Home Runs Allowed--- 59 (6th-best of all teams)

Walks Allowed--- 33 (6th-best of all teams)

Runs Allowed--- 121 (5th-best of all teams)

 

Great Britain has an amazing starting rotation, featuring Dustin Parmelee, Greg Mojonnier, Ken Griff Jr., and Chad Slugga. These guys, on average, give up just under three runs a game. Great Britain’s pitching staff as a whole is not that good, however, because the guys in the bullpen are downright crappy. It is not surprising to see a couple-run lead turned over to the bullpen becoming a couple-run loss for Great Britain. It is, quite honestly, one of the worst bullpens in the league. The only exception to all of this is Vin Distasio II.

 

My ratings (how I think their hitting and pitching ranks, amongst the top six teams alone, based on the stats thus far):

Batting- FIRST (out of six teams)

Pitching- Fifth (out of six teams)

 

What has contributed to their success the most thus far? Batting.

            Like with the Caracas pitching staff, it is nearly impossible to not call the best-batting team in the game the best attribute on Great Britain. This idea is just solidified with the sight of the horrendous bullpen, which makes the pitching staff as a whole one of the worst (out of the six teams covered). Also, the Great Britain lineup scores over eight runs a game. Enough said.

 

The next team in the Eastern Hemisphere is Frankfurt.

 

Frankfurt Force

 

So far this season, Frankfurt has gone 24-11 and they are in second place in the Eastern Hemisphere, just 2 games out of first place. For many, the success of Frankfurt this season if quite shocking and unexpected.

 

The Frankfurt lineup’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Batting Average--- .235 (8th-best of all teams)

Home Runs--- 104 (2nd-best of all teams)

Walks--- 43 (9th-best of all teams)

Stolen Bases--- 10 (11th-best of all teams)

Runs Scored--- 182 (5th-best of all teams)

 

The Frankfurt Force lineup is pretty good and displays a lot of power, but they are actually pretty far down on the list as far as “best lineups” go. Gerald Schultz, Josh Andrews, Jalen Montgomery, and Tony Kobbs provide most of the pop in the lineup, with Pedro Kapler and Jason Hernandez adding some RBIs in every couple of games too.

 

The Frankfurt pitching staff’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Pitching Earned Run Average--- 2.74 (4th-best of all teams)

Opponents Batting Average--- .209 (3rd-best of all teams)

Home Runs Allowed--- 57 (5th-best of all teams)

Walks Allowed--- 23 (2nd-best of all teams)

Runs Allowed--- 114 (4th-best of all teams)

 

The pitching staff is the pride and joy of the Frankfurt Force and has accounted for most of why Frankfurt has surprised everybody by being in the race for the playoffs. Marc Southworth II has been an unstoppable force this season, and his fellow starting pitchers (Ty Quigly, Dirk Halladay, and Zach Kobbs) have been really good also. Unlike Great Britain, the bullpen is amazing too, featuring Andy Quigly and Smith Wesson.

 

My ratings (how I think their hitting and pitching ranks, amongst the top six teams alone, based on the stats thus far):

Batting- Fifth (out of six teams)

Pitching- Third (out of six teams)

 

What has contributed to their success the most thus far? Pitching.

            The lineup is pretty good, but the pitching staff is just amazing and is clearly their key to success this far into the season. With virtually no holes in the entire pitching staff, this decision is an easy and obvious one, but it is still hard to believe that they are the third-best statistically. If they keep it up that might just changes within a week though.

 

And now, the third place team in the Eastern Hemisphere and the last one we will cover this week, the Seoul Storm.

 

Seoul Storm

 

Seoul is actually not the third place team. In reality they are tied with Frankfurt for second place, also with a 24-11 record. Somebody had to be listed as third place, though, and Seoul just happens to be farther down in the alphabet than Frankfurt, so here they are. Seoul is an expansion team that some expected to do this good, but many had their doubts. Almost all doubts are gone now, however, as they appear to be making a drive for the playoffs in their first-ever season.

 

The Seoul lineup’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Batting Average--- .260 (4th-best of all teams)

Home Runs--- 78 (4th-best of all teams)

Walks--- 80 (3rd-best of all teams)

Stolen Bases--- 34 (2nd-best of all teams)

Runs Scored--- 212 (2nd-best of all teams)

 

This is an amazing lineup, scoring just over 6 runs a game; they have power, speed, patience, and anything else you can think of. Shawn and Sam Baig do most of the scoring (especially Shawn with nearly twice the amount of HR or RBI as any other player on the team), but Jesse Newcomer, Quint Newcomer, Jerome Spann, James Conway, and Kurtis Rands also contribute to the mayhem.

 

The Seoul pitching staff’s stats (as a whole) look like this:

 

Pitching Earned Run Average--- 4.42 (9th-best of all teams)

Opponents Batting Average--- .263 (10th-best of all teams)

Home Runs Allowed--- 65 (Tied for 7th-best of all teams)

Walks Allowed--- 41 (7th-best of all teams)

Runs Allowed--- 162 (8th-best of all teams)

 

There is not much to say about this pitching staff except that they pretty much stink. In the starting rotation, Ernest P. Worrell is doing awesome, and Jamie Cliff is doing alright, but Justis Lewis and Travis Torlone seem to be struggling this season. Closer Jimmy Whispers has had it pretty rough so far, and reliever Red Switch is doing downright embarrassing. This staff might look good on paper, but they haven’t produced like it.

 

My ratings (how I think their hitting and pitching ranks, amongst the top six teams alone, based on the stats thus far):

Batting- Third (out of six teams)

Pitching- Sixth (out of six teams)

 

What has contributed to their success the most thus far? Batting.

            With a pitching staff like that, the worst (statistically) of all six teams analyzed, it is clearly what has not gotten them this far. The lineup, however, is well rounded and produces very well, producing enough runs to overcome all of them that the pitching staff gives up. All of this is evident, seeing that I ranked the lineup as being the third-best of the six teams analyzed, and the pitching staff as worst of all teams analyzed.

 

So now if we re-cap which has been the bigger factor in all of the top teams this year…

 

Caracas- Pitching

St. Louis- Pitching

Montreal- Pitching

Great Britain- Batting

Frankfurt- Pitching

Seoul- Batting

 

…we can make the conclusion that a great pitching staff seems to be the key to success in the league. This idea is solidified when we look at some lesser teams who have alright batting, but horrible pitching, and it shows in their record and their being in last place in their leagues. True, some games are just slugfests that end up with the highest-scoring team winning, but for the most part this season, there seem to be a lot of games that have been really close and won just because of a dominating pitching staff or maybe a good bullpen that could hold a lead late into the game, even against some of these monster lineups.

 

Final verdict: Pitching seems to be the key to a winning team.

 

Just My Opinion: Should the WBL add Designated Hitters to the Game?

 

I do not know if this has ever been brought up before (though chances are it has some time way before I got here), but I am surprised that in my just-over-a-month of being here that I have seen NO MENTION of this subject. It is rather rare to find something in the WBL that has not been done 80 million times, and this seems like one of the most obvious things to have done.

 

Should there be a Designated Hitter rule and position in the World Baseball League? Now, this idea is one of interest to me, probably just because my favorite baseball player (Edgar Martinez) has been on the same team for 21 years now, and has been able to play that long because of the DH rule. He has continued to be an amazing batter years after when he might have retired had there not been a spot in the lineup for him where he didn’t have to also take the field.

 

If we had Designated Hitters on each team, there are many ways it could help out. The first thing I think of is from a managerial perspective, it would give you more options when making your lineup. You would have one more spot to put an actual batter (instead of a pitcher taking up a spot), and there are many ways you could move things around with this leeway. If you had a guy with poor defensive skills but you wanted his bat in the lineup, make him a Designated Hitter. If you have two guys at the same position whom you want to start, just make one a Designated Hitter.

 

You see, if we had Designated Hitters, whoever that person would be on a team, would not have to worry about working on any defensive skills. True, there might not be that much defensively, maybe one to two weeks worth of points, but that is one to two weeks more he has been updating his batting. Also, probably bigger than that, is that pitchers would not have to worry about batting at all, they can focus just on pitching (and a little on defense, but mainly pitching). Yes, there are some pretty decent batters out there, such as Max Powers, but there is a plethora of batters who are much, much better at batting than pretty much any pitcher can hope to be.

 

Yes, I can already see some of the arguments to this idea emerging. “If we could have Designated Hitters and not have to worry about fielding stats, then there would be a ton of guys wanting to become Designated Hitters.” Not really, if you think about it. Each team would only need one, because there would be no use in having two Designated Hitters, and there are probably a few teams out there who already have a guy on their team who they would put in the DH spot. If there were already like a dozen Designated Hitters in the league, and more kept becoming them, then that would be pretty stupid because they wouldn’t really get to play. So, no, I don’t think that there would be as many Designated Hitters as we think there would be.

 

Some others might argue that since many pitchers already get hammered, then this will just add to that, since instead of what seems to be a “sure out” ever nine at-bats, there will actually be a real batter, and a good one at that. The truth behind this is that there wouldn’t be that much of a difference at all. Pitchers could ignore batting stats altogether (some already do, but there are many pitchers who try to carry their own weight in the batting order) and because of this they would be better pitchers. Even IF the lineups do start putting up one or two more runs a game (which I think would be hardly noticeable), there are many pitchers with microscopic and unrealistic ERAs that could use a little bump into reality.

 

The final argument that I can think of, and a very good one at that, is if the simulator will not allow Designated Hitters. If this were the case, then I would tell all of you to just ignore everything I just said, because there is pretty much nothing we would be able to do in that case. If the game WILL allow it, however, maybe a good compromise would be to do something like there is in the MLB—have one league with the DH rule, and the other without it. Some people might refuse to go to one league or another because of this decision, but it would be the closest thing to a compromise that we could come up with.

 

BOLD Prediction of the Week

 

In this section, I will make a prediction on something for this upcoming week in the WBL world. Next week with my next prediction, I will say if I was correct, kinda right and kinda wrong, or just plain way off.  Here is my prediction for this week:

 

St. Louis will make a serious drive for first place. They just went through a rough patch, playing a lot of good teams who are hot at the moment, and faltered a bit because of it. This next week they are coming upon an easy stretch against some lowlier teams, and should get a lot of wins, especially since it seems that Tidiggity Dawg is finally awakening from his off-season (and beginning of the season) hibernation.

 

Question of the Week

 

This section will ask a different question each week. Sometimes it will be WBL-related, sometimes it won’t be. If you think you have the answer, e-mail or IM me (you can find my e-mail address and AIM sn at the end of the article just below). I will announce next week, who got the question correct first (the only reward, at this point, is bragging rights, just for your information). This week’s question:

 

Who was the ONLY starting player (who was in the lineup) in Antarctica’s 13-5 victory over Cancun that did not get a hit in the game, batting 0-4?

 

Reader’s Comments / Questions

 

Being that this is my first week as a WBL Weekly writer, I currently have no reader’s comments or questions, but I am hoping that will change in the future.

 

If you have ANYTHING you want to say, such as:
            Topics you want covered,

            Clarification of something,

            A suggestion for me in the future,

            A correction of something I got wrong or mislead you about, or

            ANYTHING else you want to say or ask

Then you can e-mail me here:

            cor_cor7@hotmail.com

AOL Instant Message me here:

            CorCorW73

Or you can send me a message board PM here:

            SeattleAllTheWay

 

Thank you and I hope you enjoyed this week’s copy of “On the Mound, Off the Moun