Red Sox Push Dodgers.to Limit, But Eliminated 4-3 on Sub Homer

In their six other Statis-Pro games, the Dodgers have outscored their opponents 48-15, for an average score of 8-2.5.

Against Boston, they won 2-1 at Fenway and now 4-3 at Dodger Stadium, for an average score of 3-2. With the win, the Dodgers claim the semifinal pool and become the first team to advance to our final three-team championship pool.

All the scoring came on homers in home run-happy Dodger Stadium.

Romy Gonzalez homered off Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the 2nd to make it 1-0 Red Sox. In the top of the 6th, Adley Rutschman hit another solo shot to make it 2-0.

Then two Dodgers who did not start the game provided all the scoring to save the win. Tommy Edman, who started on the bench due to a lefty starting, hit a 6th-inning three-run bomb to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.

After the Red Sox's Ceddanne Rafaela hit Boston's third solo homer to tie it 3-3, the most surprising star came to the plate.

Enrique Hernández only entered the game because Freddie Freeman had to leave on a Z-play, but the random number "27" fell within his 25-27 home run range to make it 4-3.

We rushed Aroldis Chapman in even though there was only one out in the 7th, and he struck out four of the five batters he faced.

However, with Edwin Díaz out after pitching the first game against the Red Sox, Tanner Scott came in for the 8th. Because he had a 1-2-3 inning, his RR2 was reduced only to an RR1 of endurance, so he pitched a 1-2-3 9th as well for the save.

The Dodgers will now await the other two semifinal winners, but they'll do so knowing they barely survived the Red Sox twice.

Dodgers Eliminate Mets, Face Red Sox

 The Mets were the biggest surprise to make the nine-team semifinal, but their stunning run ended when the LA Dodgers erupted, sending 13 batters to the plate in the fifth inning to take a 7-0 lead.

Ironically, neither team had a hit through the first four innings before the explosion.

The Mets were eliminated with the 8-3 loss after dropping the opener 5-1. At 0-2, the Mets cannot catch the Dodgers even if they win their last two games and the Dodgers lose their final game against the Red Sox to fall to 3-1.

If the Red Sox do win at LA to stop the Dodgers' overall 7-0 record in this Statis-Pro season, then Boston would still be very much alive. The Red Sox would also need to beat the Mets twice to tie the Dodgers at 3-1. If they did, they could take the title because we made head-to-head run differential the semifinal tiebreaker. So, if Boston beats the Dodgers by more than one run, it would give the Red Sox the tiebreaker since they lost the other game to the Dodgers by only a 2-1 score.

If the Red Sox did win their last 3 but only beating the Dodgers by 1, then they would need to beat the Mets by a combined 10 runs, or beat them by 9 for a one game playoff with the Dodgers.

So the Dodgers can wrap it up with a win, but if they lose, the waiting game begins and they would need to root for the Mets to win one of two.

Despite being eliminated, the Mets had the satisfaction of their shocking elimination of the Yankees in the 1st pool. In this game, they also tagged former Met Edwin Díaz for two runs in the ninth, cutting the Dodgers' lead from 8-1 to the 8-3 final.

In this pool format, we use a team's best relievers in the second game against an opponent if they were not needed in the first game because it's essentially "use them or lose them." A reliever has to sit out one of the two games during each home-and-home series.

Phillies Walkoff 4-3 Over DBacks to Lead Pool J Semi; Rays and Dodgers lead Other 2 Semi Pools

If the Championship Pool started today, it would be between the Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies. All three started 2-0, so they will play their second game against each pool opponent. Any team that goes 4-0 will win the pool without the other two teams playing each other. However, if they lose one or two games to finish 3-1 or 2-2, then the other two teams will need to play each other once or twice until the pool is settled.

Semifinal pool play has been thrilling, with five of six games decided by one or two runs, including the most recent game, which was Philadelphia's 4-3 walk-off single over Arizona. We will detail that game below the standings. You can play your own free Statis-Pro games by clicking here.

Below the standings, we show the leading offenses and defenses for the entire tournament, since all nine of these teams have already won their first three-team, four-game pool. The Dodgers have the best offense through six games, as their average win has been 7.0 to 2.2. The best defense so far has been Philadelphia's, which has won its average game 4.8 to 1.8.

You can track all results of the semifinal pools and pitching match-ups by scrolling to the bottom of this blog or clicking on this link.

 

Semifinal Pool J	Semifinal Pool K	Semifinal Pool L
LA Dodgers 2-0, +5	Tampa 2-0, +3	Philadelphia 2-0, +3
Boston 0-1, -1	Chicago Cubs 0-1, -1	Arizona 0-1, -1
NY Mets 0-1, -4	Milwaukee 0-1, -2	Seattle 0-1, -2
Best offense all games		Best defense all games
LA Dodgers 7.0 runs/gm	Championship Pool	Philadelphia 1.8 Runs/gm
Tampa 5.7	Will be champ of	LA Dodgers 2.2
NY Mets 5.3	Pools J, K and L	Boston 2.2
Seattle 4.9	4-game record	Arizona 4.0
Philadelphia 4.8	tie-breaker run difference	Chicago Cubs 2.6
Arizona 4.0	between teams that are tied	Seattle 2.9
Chicago Cubs 3.6	2nd tie-breaker run	Milwaukee 3.2
Milwaukee 3.4	difference all 4 games	Tampa 3.3
Boston 3.0		NY Mets 3.8

Philadelphia 4, Arizona 3

After Arizona almost got out of the bottom of the ninth inning with a catcher-to-third-base-to-first-base double play, Justin Crawford was still on second base with two outs. The repeated batting-average champion Luis Arraez, the only player with a Statis-Pro card that gets hits even in the 40s, stepped to the plate. He had already hit a home run earlier on a 41, which is not a hit for any other player in the game.

Arraez singled up the middle to improve to 4-for-9 in the semifinal series through two games. The recently updated charts for taking extra bases reflected the modern reality that players go home from second on most singles. The T3 throwing arm of Arizona center fielder Ryan Waldschmidt (mediocre), against the OBR (on-base running) A—the fastest—meant that Crawford would be safe on an 11-78, stop at third base on an 81-84, and be thrown out on an 85-88.

Do note that while most ranges increase by 10 with two outs, the chart notes that an 11-78 does not increase with two outs. So there was still a chance for Arizona to throw him out and earn extra innings, but Crawford was safe easily on a 23.

The Phillies never trailed. In the third inning, Trea Turner singled and stole second base, Brandon Marsh doubled him home, and Kyle Schwarber singled Marsh home to make it 2-0 Phillies.

Zack Wheeler made that hold up with a strong seven innings, allowing only four hits, one walk and one run—a solo shot by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. that made it 2-1.

Arraez matched that with his solo shot in the bottom of the fifth to make it 3-1.

However, Arizona jumped on José Alvarado in the top of the eighth after Wheeler left. Ryan Waldschmidt walked, Geraldo Perdomo doubled, and Gabriel Moreno walked to load the bases. Then Lars Nootbaar doubled in two runs to make it 3-3.

However, Moreno tried to score from first on the double, and left fielder Johan Rojas, who was a pinch-runner for Bryce Harper, threw him out at home to keep the game tied at 3-3 and set up Arraez's game-winning hit.

Both of Philadelphia's wins were at home, so the Phillies will now need to travel to Arizona and Seattle to try to wrap up the pool.

Here are all the semifinal results and scheduled pitching matchups

Pool J Semifinal	PB-	Venue	Opp	Runs	Allowed	Result
LA Dodgers Rotation
Tarik Skubal	2'-9	H	NYM	5	1	W
Shohei Ohtani	2'-9	A	Bos	2	1	W
Yoshinobu Yamamoto	2'-8	H	Bos
Tyler Glasnow	2'-8	A	NYM
Team Total Wins & Runs				7	2	2'-0
Boston Rotation	PB	Venue	Opp	Runs	Allowed	Result
Sonny Gray	2'-8		NYM
Garrett Crochet	2'-8	H	LAD	1	2	L
Ranger Suarez	2'-7	A	LAD
Payton Tolle	4'-7		NYM
Team Total Wins & Runs				1	2	0'-1
NY Mets Rotation	PB	Venue	Opp	Runs	Allowed	Result
Jonah Tong	2'-8	A	LAD	1	5	L
Nolan McLean	2'-7		Bos
Christian Scott	2'-7		Bos
Sean Manaea	4'-7	H	LAD
Team Total Wins & Runs				1	5	0'-1
Pool K Semifinal	PB	Venue	Opp	Runs	Allowed	Result
Tampa Rotation
Shane McClanahan	2'-8	A	Mil	5	3	W
Drew Rasmussen	2'-8	A	ChC	2	1	W
Freddy Peralta	2'-7	H	ChC
Ryan Pepiot	4'-7	H	Mil
Team Total Wins & Runs				7	4	2'-0
Chicago Cubs Rotation	PB	Venue	Opp	Runs	Allowed	Result
Justin Steele	2'-7	H	TB	1	2	L
Edward Cabrera	2'-7		Mil
Kevin Gausman	2'-7		Mil
Jordan Wicks	2'-7	A	TB
Team Total Wins & Runs				1	2	0'-1
Milwaukee Rotation	PB	Venue	Opp	Runs	Allowed	Result
Jacob Misiorowski	2'-9	H	TB	3	5	L
Brandon Woodruff	2'-7		ChC
DL Hall	4'-7		ChC
Shane Drohan	4'-7	A	TB
Team Total Wins & Runs				3	5	0'-1
Pool L Semifinal	PB	Venue	Opp	Runs	Allowed	Result
Philadelphia Rotation
Cristopher Sánchez	2'-9	H	Sea	3	1	W
Zack Wheeler	2'-8	H	Ari	4	3	W
Jesús Luzardo	2'-7	A	Ari
Aaron Nola	4'-7	A	Sea
Team Total Wins & Runs				7	4	2'-0
Arizona Rotation	PB	Venue	Opp	Runs	Allowed	Result
Corbin Burnes	4'-7	A	Phi	3	4	L
Zac Gallen	4'-7		Sea
Merrill Kelly	4'-7		Sea
Brandon Pfaadt	4'-7	H	Phi
Team Total Wins & Runs				3	4	0'-1
Seattle Rotation	PB	Venue	Opp	Runs	Allowed	Result
Logan Gilbert	2'-8	A	Phi	1	3	L
George Kirby	2'-8		Ari
Bryan Woo	2'-8		Ari
Bryce Miller	2'-6	H	Phi
Team Total Wins & Runs				1	3	0'-1

Weird Strike Out and Line-up, but Phillies beat Seattle 3+1.

Our 3rd and final semifinal pool started with the Phillies beating Seattle 3-1. I will wait until the 2nd game, with Arizona coming to Philadelphia, to turn this into a full update.

However, two interesting plays showed up on the scoresheet. Seattle's Rob Refsnyder was thrown out on a Z-play for arguing balls and strikes, and I brought in Brendan Donovan, who struck out. However, this is the only Statis-Pro scenario, outside of a batter fouling a ball off on a Clutch Batting play, in which I would know a player already had a strike. Since I know Refsnyder had at least one strike when he was ejected, under baseball rules he gets charged with the strikeout. If you have at least one strike when you leave an at-bat for whatever reason, and the guy who takes your place strikes out, the strikeout is charged to you.

The second oddity on this scoresheet is, embarrassingly, that I skipped J.T. Realmuto the first three times through the lineup, meaning I was batting with an eight-man Phillies lineup. The only fair cleanup, which a purist might not like, was to have Realmuto bat three straight times to open the bottom of the 7th, then resume with Arraez in the order.

Outside of Christopher Sánchez's phenomenal eight-inning performance, the Phillies' batting story was the first two innings. Luis Arraez — the only player whose hits go all the way into the 40s, with a 41-42 HR and 43-45 deep drive that might go out — singled and scored in both the 1st and 2nd. In between, Trea Turner homered, and the 3-0 second-inning lead held up for a 3-1 win.

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.