Tampa Sweeps in Midwest, Edges Brewers and Cubs Semi Pool

In the toughest semifinal pool — featuring three of the top five teams in the current MLB power rankings — the Rays opened with a 5-3 win over the Brewers before completing their Midwest sweep with a dramatic 10th-inning win over the Cubs.

Neither Tampa Bay ace Shane McClanahan nor Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski could hold down the opposing lineup. McClanahan lasted only four innings and allowed three Brewers runs, while Misiorowski — a PB 2-9 who isn't nearly as dominant in the game as he has been in real MLB play, with more walks and fewer strikeouts — gave up four runs in five innings.

Both teams then burned through their top four relievers, who were lockdown the rest of the way but will now be unavailable for the rematch in Tampa. The Rays escaped with a 5-3 win in the first of their four pool games.

Then came the Cubs — and an unlikely defensive breakdown by their normally outstanding infield.

In the 10th, Chandler Simpson entered as a pinch-runner and stole third. A CD (Clutch Defense) card was followed by SS, meaning Gold Glove-level shortstop Dansby Swanson had to stop a smash with the winning run at third.

Because Swanson has the game's best CD rating (CD5), he would have caught the line drive and doubled Simpson off third base on a roll of 11-48, or grabbed it on a hop and nailed Schmidt at home on 51-78. Instead, the roll was 83 — one of the rare outcomes in which the ball gets through Swanson for a single, allowing the winning run to score.

The Rays leave the Midwest with a sweep and now get chances to beat both the Brewers and Cubs again in Tampa to advance to the final three-team pool.

Dodgers Strikeout Record 24 Red Sox, Win 2-1

In almost 50 years of Statis-Pro baseball we have never seen this, and will never see it again. 

Shohei Ohtani allowed two singles to start the game, with Jarren Duran hitting a single and stealing 2nd base, then scoring on a single by Wilyer Abreu to put the Dodgers behind for the second time in a row to start the semifinal baseball. then Dodgers pitches struck out 24 of the last 31 batters of the game in a 2-1 win. In actual MLB play the Dodgers did strike out 26 Brewers in 2017, but it took 12 innings. The odds of this every happening again are nonexistent, but it also points out the incredible pitching the Dodgers have assembled.

In the first pool the Dodgers won their four games by an average 8.8 to 2.8 to dominate, but competition has been tougher in this semifinal pool.

The Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet kept that 1-0 lead into the fifth inning when the botton of the Dodgers line-up put together two singles with a popout in between. Pitcher Shohei Ohtani then singled home Mookie Betts to tiethe game 1-1. Then on the play of the game, Kyle Tucker hit a deep drive to left field, and while Tommy Edman's OBR B was just too slow to tag up and race home like an OBR A would have done, the old 1978 Statis-Pro board's Advancing on Fly ball option chart of the T3 (average throwing arm of Jarren Duran showed 11-36 safe range if Edman tried to tag and score,but because it was a deep drive you add 20 and his chances to give him just better of a 11-56 score whereas he would have been thrown out on a 57-88.

He beat the tag barely on a 53 random number to make it 2-1 Dodgers and noone would score again. If you want to make decisions like this, click on the free Statis-Pro baseball game to pull up the teams and play yourself. The old board with the option to adcance is in the photo below.

The most amazing part of this unbelievable appearnce was Blake Snell coming in with a man on first base in the 6th inning and throwing three perfect innings by striking out 8 of 9 batters faced.

LAD	IP	H	R	ER	W	K	PB-	Th	Strikeout!	Max IP	ERA
Shohei Ohtani	5	4	1	1	1	13	2'-9	R	22 to 55	7	3.46
Blake Snell	3	0	0	0	0	8	2'-8	L	21 to 56	7	3.54
Edwin Díaz	1	1	0	0	0	3	2'-8	R	21 to 58	2	3.03
	9	5	1	1	1	24
BOS	IP	H	R	ER	W	K	PB-	Th	Strikeout!	Max IP	ERA
Garrett Crochet	5.1	6	2	2	0	5	2'-8	L	22 to 55	8	3.02
Justin Slaten	0.2	1	0	0	0	2	2'-7	R	25 to 45	2	3.97
Erik Miller	1	0	0	0	1	0	2'-7	L	22 to 53	2	3.45
Garrett Whitlock	1	1	0	0	1	2	2'-8	R	23 to 51	2	3.47
Patrick Sandoval	1	1	0	0	0	2	2'-7	L	25 to 45	3	3.79
	9	9	2	2	2	11

The Dodgers have the edge in the semifinal pool but it was nothing like the first pool where they were scoring over 8 runs a game to dominate. If the Mets or Red Sox can end up with a better run differential and tie the 4-game record by the end of the semifinal pool play, the could still keep the Dodgers out of the final championship 3-team pool.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers 2-0, +5 run differential

2. Boston Red Sox 0-1, -1 run differential

3. New York Mets 0-1, -4 run differential
 

Pos	LAD	AB	R	H	RBI	Extra	Bats	HR	SP	OPS	Def
DH	Shohei Ohtani	5	0	2	1		LP	23 to 32	A	0.958	CD1
RF	Kyle Tucker	4	0	0	1	gw-SF	LP	25 to 28	A	0.827	CD3
3b	Max Muncy	3	0	0	0		RP	18 to 26	D	0.861	CD4
1b	Freddie Freeman	4	0	0	0		LP	28 to 33	C	0.832	CD3
CF	Andy Pages	4	0	0	0		RP	27 to 34	C	0.839	CD5
C	Will Smith	4	0	3	0	2b	RP	25 to 28	D	0.79	CD5
SS	Mookie Betts	4	1	2	0		RP	28 to 32	C	0.783	CD4
LF	Teoscar Hernández	3	0	0	0		RP	26 to 32	C	0.771	CD1
2b	Tommy Edman	4	1	2	0	sb	SN	27 to 31	B	0.706	CD4
		35	2	9	2
Pos	BOS	AB	R	H	RBI	Extra	Bats	HR	SP	OPS	Def
LF	Jarren Duran	4	1	1	0	sb	LN	31 to 32	A	0.763	CD3
DH	Wilyer Abreu	4	0	2	1		LP	25 to 28	C	0.789	CD4
1B	Willson Contreras	4	0	0	0	4k	SP	25 to 28	D	0.785	CD2
C	Adley Rutschman	4	0	2	0	2 2b	SN	26 to 28	D	0.764	CD5
PR	Isiah Kiner-Falefa	0	0	0	0		RN	33 to 33	C	0.651	CD2
RF	Roman Anthony	3	0	0	0		RN	27 to 28	C	0.764	CD4
2b	Romy Gonzalez	4	0	0	0		RN	32 to 34	B	0.755	CD4
3b	Caleb Durbin	3	0	0	0		RN	31 to 32	A	0.747	CD4
CF	Ceddanne Rafaela	3	0	0	0		RN	31 to 33	A	0.724	CD5
SS	Trevor Story	3	0	0	0		RN	26 to 31	A	0.712	CD2
		32	1	5	1

On the codes by the players, RN means righthanded normal batter, SP means switchhing power etc. The Home Run range is the numbers on the 11-88 base 8 random number scale that appears on the dice or fast action cards. The A (very fast base stealer) through E (slow never steals) and finally a CD5 player is potential gold glove level fielder down to CD1 is very poor fielder.

Here is the scoresheet of the incredible 24-strikeout game.

ddd

Dodgers Open Semis with Skubal-Smith All-Time Battery Shutdown

 After cruising through lopsided wins in their first pool, the LA Dodgers kicked off semifinal pool play by falling behind for the first time this season when Juan Soto homered off Tarik Skubal to make it 1-0 in the first.

The Dodgers responded with the most incredible battery play of the season from that point on, as Tarik Skubal  struck out 14 while allowing only two more hits and no walks and catcher Will Smith twice in a row threw out pinch runners to prevent any other Met from getting in scoring position.

Opener Jonah Tong went four no hit innings to keep the Mets close, but once he was gone the Dodgers teed off for four runs in the final four innings for a 5-1 win in the first of four games in pod play. The Dodgers will play at Boston in the next game as only one of three teams will advance.

While all rosters of player cards in the free Statis-pro game are final, the one change you will see if you pull up the cards is that we now have listed whether every player is left handed and right handed so platoon effects are in place.

    

NYM	IP	H	R	ER	W	K	PB-	Th	Strikeout!	Max IP
Jonah Tong	4	0	1	1	4	5	2'-8	Right	21 to 48	4
Kodai Senga (L)	3	4	2	2	0	3	4'-7	Right	23 to 46	5
Jonathan Pintaro	1	1	2	2	1	1	4'-7	Left	25 to 44	2
LAD	IP	H	R	ER	W	K	PB-	Th	Strikeout!	Max IP
Tarik Skubal (W)	8	3	1	1	0	14	2'-9	Left	22 to 55	8
Evan Phillips	1	1	0	0	0	0	2'-8	Right	26 to 42	1

Pos	NY Mets	AB	R	H	RBI		Bats	SP	OPS	Def
SS	Francisco Lindor	4	0	0	0		SP	A	0.788	CD5
RF	Juan Soto	3	1	1	1	HR	LP	A	0.946	CD1
3b	Bo Bichette	3	0	1	0		RN	D	0.786	CD3
DH	Francisco Alvarez	3	0	0	0		SP	D	0.778	CD3
PR-DH	Luis Robert Jr	0	0	0	0	cs	RP	A	0.697	CD4
1b	Mark Vientos	3	0	1	0		RP	D	0.766	CD2
PR	A J Ewing	0	0	0	0	cs	SN	A	0.725	CD1
1b	Eric Wagaman	0	0	0	0		RN	D	0.706	CD5
2b	Jorge Polanco	3	0	0	0		SP	D	0.764	CD1
CF	Christopher Morel	3	0	0	0		RP	B	0.728	CD4
LF	Carson Benge	3	0	1	0		RN	C	0.685	CD4
C	Luis Torrens	3	0	0	0		RN	D	0.683	CD5
Pos	LA Dodgers	AB	R	H	RBI		Bats	SP	OPS	Def
DH	Shohei Ohtani	3	1	0	0	sb	LP	A	0.958	CD1
RF	Kyle Tucker	4	0	0	0		LP	A	0.827	CD3
3b	Max Muncy	3	1	1	2	hr	RP	D	0.861	CD4
1b	Freddie Freeman	4	1	1	1	hr	LP	C	0.832	CD3
CF	Andy Pages	3	1	0	0		RP	C	0.839	CD5
C	Will Smith	2	0	1	0		RP	D	0.79	CD5
PR	Hyeseong Kim	0	0	0	0		LN	A	0.669	CD3
C	Hunter Feduccia	0	0	0	0		RN	D	0.635	CD4
SS	Mookie Betts	2	0	1	0	H&R	RP	C	0.783	CD4
LF	Teoscar Hernández	3	0	0	0	2DP	RP	C	0.771	CD1
2b	Tommy Edman	3	0	1	0		SN	B	0.706	CD4

Next the Dodgers play the Red Sox.

... and then there were 9 teams left - teams in green Pods alive for Statis-Pro title

Our crazy idea of 3-team pods each playing a home-and-home with the other two pod (or pool) teams to advance to the semifinals worked really well. The only tweak was that we let the Chicago White Sox in as a 28th team in a wild card pod in which the Seattle Mariners edged the Atlanta Braves for the final spot.

We now will do the same thing with the 9 remaining teams - and it could require up to 18 games for three semifinal champs to advance to the Championship Pod. Semifinal start this weekend!

The best teams to fail to advance were the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves, though the projected cards after the Braves 76-86 season the previous year do not reflect nearly as good cards.

The worst teams to advance were Seattle and the New York Mets who are not in the top 20 this year but were top 10 in power rankings last year. Factors such as Cal Raleigh hitting 60 homers to up his projected card, then coming back with only 13 homers and a .156 batting average this year and the Mets having a bunch of great cards allowed to play in our Statis-Pro league but actually on the bench.

Seattle Beats ChiSox 10-0 to Claim Final of 9 Playoff Spots

The result of our Final 2 wild card games will be posted here when done. You can print out your own players and play the Statis-Pro game for free by clicking here, by just buying a few dice at your local store, but we suggest after you try it with dice you consider purchasing a game with fast action cards to replace the dice rolls from someone such as Statis-Pro Advanced.

Seattle 10, Chicago White Sox 0 - JP Crawford made a diving grab and double play with bases loaded in the top of the 2nd inning to save multiple runs - and from then on it was all Seattle in a 10-0 win. Naylor hit a 2-run homer to make it 3-0 after Crawford's solo homer in his incredible 2nd inning. Crawford's 2-run double in the 4th, Raleigh's homer, andfinally Arozerena's 3-run homer capped the win. Those 10 runs gave them a final 3-1 record with a +12 run differential, and since they beat the Braves by more than the Braves beat them they have our next tie-breaker - meaning the Braves now must win by 6 runs against the White Sox to advance - five runs or less and the Mariners advance.

Braves 5, White Sox 1. The Atlanta Braves fell behind 2-1 after Vargas and Grichuk homered in the first two innings (see scoresheet at bottom) and even they rallied to win 5-4 that left them short on run differntial after they tied with Seattle at 3-1. The Mariners are the last team into the 9 team semifinals. Because they came through the Wildcard Pool, the Mariners played eight games. The results of all pool games are here.

Semifinal Pool J

LA Dodgers 4-0, ave score 8.8-2.8

Boston 2-2, ave score 3.5-2.3

NY Mets 3-0, ave score 6.7-3.3

 

Semifinal Pool K

Tampa 3-1, ave score 6.8-4.0

Milwaukee 3-1, ave score 3.5-2.8

Chicago Cubs 2-2, ave score 4.3-2.8

 

Semifinal Pool L

Arizona 3-0, ave score 4.3-1.7

Philadelphia 4-0, ave score 5.5-1.8

Seattle 6-2, ave score 5.4-2.9

 

3 winners advance to Title Pool

6 of the top 8 power ranked teams are in the finals with No. 6 yankees and no. 3 braves missing out, so the number 22 mariners beating out the braves is much different than actual play. However, the projected cArds were made after cal raleigh hit 60 homes and the mariners won 90 games and the braves were 76-86 and ranked no. 21.

Prior to the games we are posting the actual printout of each team's cards, followed by notes below each on which pitchers can pitch in which game.

VISITOR - Chicago White Sox (below) on the road with Anthony Kay (PB 2-6) starting and top available relievers (who did not pitch vs Seattle in 5-3 loss) Hicks (PB 4-7 as top 3 relievers resting), Chris Murphy (PB 2-6), Jordan Leasure (PB 2-6) and Tyler Davis (PB2-6) available and the rest are very weak PB 2-4.

HOME - Seattle George Kirby (PB 2-8) start at home with top available relievers Andres' Munoz (closer, PB 2-8), Seranthony Dominguez (PB2-8), Gabe Speier (PB 2-8) Eduard Pazardo (PB 2-7) and plenty of PB 4-7 available.

In the game in Chicago, Victor Robles pinch ran and scored in the top of the 9th to force extra innings,and Julio Rodriguez 2-run homer capped a 4-run 12th inning that was just enough to offet a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 12th by Munetaka Murakami in the bottom of the 12th as the Mariners survived 5-3. Bryan Woo threw 7 innings of 1-hit, 0-walk ball, but the one hit was a homer by Brenton Doyle.

 

Visitor - Chicago White Sox starter Shane Smith (PB 2-5) but the top five relievers listed above are all avaiable since they were blown out 9-2 hosting Atlanta, so do have a fresh pen.

Home - Atlanta Braves starter Reynaldo Lopez (PB 2-7) and their top 9 relievers are available after resting in the 9-2 win - so Raisel Iglesias (PB 2-9 all star), and a pari of PB 2-8 pitchers Robert Suarez and Dylan Lee give them a huge edge in the game.

Playoff scenarios:

If either Seattle or Atlanta win and the other one loses then then winner advances to be one of the final 9 teams in the semifinal pods.

If both win or both lose, then then Seattle must win by at least 5 runs more than Atlanta wins by to advane, so if Atlanta loses by 4 or fewer runs than Seattle they would still advance.

Chicago is at -9 runs scored so would have to win by large margins to catch Seattle (+2) and Atlanta (+7).  The White Sox would need to beat Seattle by at least 2 runs and Atlanta by at least 7 runs to advance - if they fall short of that total against either they are eliminted.

Pos	ATL
RF	Ronald Acuña Jr
2b	Ozzie Albies
DH	Drake Baldwin
1b	Matt Olson
3b	Austin Riley
CF	Michael Harris II
LF	Lane Thomas
SS	Ha-Seong Kim
C	Sean Murphy
Pos	CHW
CF	Brenton Doyle
2b	Chase Meidroth
3b	Miguel Vargas
1b	Munetaka Murakami
RF	Randal Grichuk
DH	Andrew Benintendi
C	Joey Bart
SS	Colson Montgomery
LF	Brooks Baldwin
Pos	SEA
CF	Julio Rodríguez
LF	Randy Arozarena
1b	Josh Naylor
C	Cal Raleigh
RF	Taylor Ward
DH	Rob Refsnyder
3B	Weston Wilson
SS	JP Crawford
2b	Cole Young

Braves, Mariners Split - Decisive Double Header Tonight

After an incredible seven-inning pitchers’ duel between Spencer Schwellenbach and Logan Gilbert — a combined 7 hits, 0 walks, 17 strikeouts and just 1 unearned run — both teams exploded in the eighth to force extra innings. In the 11th, Ozzie Albies started on second, stole third, and then beat a throw home from second for a 4-3 Braves win.

In the second game, the Mariners overcame a two-run homer by Matt Olson in the top of the first by scoring three in the bottom of the inning on their way to a 4-2 win.

The split keeps both teams alive and means they each need to play the White Sox again. If the Mariners win by at least five runs more than the Braves do, they would win the pool. If both lose badly, the White Sox could still sneak in.

Here are the standings and tiebreaking run differentials:

Atlanta Braves: 2-1, +7

Seattle Mariners: 2-1, +2

Chicago White Sox: 0-2, -9

White Sox 1 Out from Win, but Mariners Rally

The Mariners dominated the White Sox, as Woo allowed only one hit and no walks through seven innings. However, when Seattle left the bases loaded in the fifth inning, they came within one out of losing 1-0.

Slugging catcher Cal Raleigh walked, and Victor Robles came in as a pinch runner and stole second, then went to third on a fly ball. Technically, it is not a sac fly if the runner doesn't score, but we record S9 to remember what happened.

Rob Refsnyder struck out for the second out.

New ace reliever Grant Taylor did retire Weston Wilson on an infield fly, but not until after he had balked the tying run home.

It stayed tied until the 12th, when the Mariners won the war of attrition among the relievers and scored four runs, capped by a Julio Rodríguez two-run homer, on the way to an eventual 5-3 win.

Seattle and Atlanta will now play home-and-home, and if either team wins both games, they win the pool and take the ninth and final semifinal spot. If they split and both finish 2-1, then the White Sox get a shot at both but would need to win twice to make all three teams 2-2 and send it to run differential.