Sometimes we do best new team name, sometimes we do best new team and wait for week 1 to be over. Since we now have an official year end award for best new team, we think we’ll stick with best new team name.
Though, we realize it could be over pretty quickly this season.
August 1 – 10:45 AM – Current Teams and Players Signed Up
July 31 – 11:45 PM – Current Teams and Players Signed Up
About the Author: Alex Filides is the guy most of the league hates for no reason, and some of the league hates for very good reasons. He’s aggressive in the game, eats, sleeps and breathes wiffleball, and left the winning run in two postseason series stranded on third base.
Breaking down the upcoming Scared Hitless vs. Barnburners series
Hitting: Advantage Barnburners – After arguably their best hitting season in the 3 years they’ve been in the league, the 2011 edition of the Barnburners have the edge here. They have power and can hit for average. Jim Shannon coming off a career year .581 14 HR’s.
In the second major development about World Series personnel this week, Scared Hitless announced that Matt Dreyfus has been placed on the disabled list and will not be available for the World Series. Earlier this week it was announced that the Barnburners had released Jake Tomko.
Hitless manager Brian Ford said the injury was “short term” and wouldn’t affect next season. Dreyfus signed a contract extension just this week for one more season with Scared Hitless. “It’s just bad timing, but the Big Cat will be back. We probably weren’t going to win the World Series anyway. Open your damn eyes blue!” Ford said.
Ford declined to state the nature of the injury, but sources close to Hitless say the injury is a bruised ego. There was worry that Dreyfus had hyper-extended his ego the week before the DCS in the heat of the MVP voting, but he seemed fine last Sunday in the DCS, despite not driving in a run and only hitting .333 after leading Hitless in both categories all season.
Sources said that following the lackluster DCS in which Hitless squeezed through without actually earning any winning runs Dreyfus also came to the realization he probably wasn’t going to win MVP. During a practice session this week the bruised ego really started to look bad. Dreyfus consulted team doctors who reminded him how special he was, but were unable to get the condition under control in time for the World Series.
PWL Trade Rumors is reporting that former Cy Young Award winner Jake Tomko has been released by the Blandsford Barnburners. The Barnburners are just over a week away from their third franchise World Series, and Tomko threw two 1-hitters in the Division Championship Series to get them there.
Neither the Barnburners, nor Commissioner’s office is commenting on this unconfirmed report.
Rosters for the World Series are set, so even with a Tomko release the Barnburners can’t replace him. It’s unclear why they would release him now, even if they were not going to play him in the World Series. They could just leave him on the roster and have him ride the bench.
Only Colin Gannon, the Burners manager, has significant pitching experience this season and could replace Tomko. (18.5 IP, 3-1, 1.30 ERA)
Brian Ford may have fallen ass backwards into a chance at delivering a World Series for Scared Hitless.
About the Author: Matt Dreyfus has never won a Player of the Week Award despite five nominations. Before the strike board, he was possibly the best hitter in the league. He is a Mets fan.
Statement by Scott Boras* and the Elect Matt Dreyfus to MVP Campaign
Most Valuable Player: a phrase that has been debated ad nauseam. Is the MVP the player with the best stats? Is “most valuable” pertaining specifically to the player’s impact on his team? Is there really any inherent difference between the two?
The answer to all of the above is Dr. Matt Dreyfus. A veteran of the Potomac Wiffleball League, Dreyfus has a unique, debonair style on the field that is the envy of the league. Before actual accomplishments are even taken into consideration, the “Big Cat” has distinct advantages over the other MVP candidates: he is the only one with a prominent nickname, and he clearly dresses the best. Other players may don tall socks and shades, but none can become the Big Cat.
We’re down to the wire with most teams having just two games left in the regular season. We’ll then be setup for the first ever playoffs featuring six teams. It seems an appropriate place for me to take off my official Commish hat and make some predictions.
We know who the four division champions are and we mostly know their final seeding. (One possible set of shenanigans is described below which could change that). The Wild Card race still has eight teams fighting for two spots, but that’s only technically.
WILD CARDS
First things first, Eamon Murray and the Most Interesting Men…
Earlier this month Big League Wiffle Ball named Gravelly Point the #10 venue in the country for wiffleball.
Not surprisingly, permanent fields that have been constructed as wiffleball only facilities fill the rankings from 1-9 including replicas of Fenway Park and Ebbets field.
Gravelly was pointed out for our sexiness factor, (their term, not ours) with the Washington Monument in the background on the blue field. They didn’t mention the red field which sports the Capitol Dome, nor the cars driving past on the GWMP on the green field.
We love the location and the backdrops at Gravelly, no doubt. But the search continues for a place where we can build something like #3 through #8 for ourselves.
The grass was the longest Week 5 that is has been since our return to Gravelly. Despite great weather last week the NPS didn’t get the mowing done. With storms most of this week we’re hoping they can squeeze in a mow before Week 6.
It did get us thinking of the old days though during our first go around at Gravelly.
In 2005, our inaugural season, we didn’t have a permit. Didn’t know we needed one, though we suspected.
The grass was so bad that season that a few times we showed up and found that some creative mowing had been done. To this day we have no idea who did it, or why.
But mowing an area that turned out to be where home plate and the baselines would be to 1 inch, and the rest of the fair infield and outfield to 2 inches was just about perfect for wiffleball.
Whoever you were kind strangers, check the field on Saturday!
The wild card race is going to go down to the wire with nine teams within two games of each other working to secure the final two spots.
Tie breaker scenarios abound, including the possible need to play a season ending double elimination tournament to see the final two teams. (Tie breakers of head-to-head record and run differential are only used to break ties on seeding. If there is a tie to determine who advances or doesn’t, that is a game(s) played to decide.)
Here is a quick snapshot of the teams still in contention. The Natty Brohs and Ha’chi Mountaineers haven’t officially been eliminated yet, but we didn’t feel like it was worth looking up their information.
W-L, PCT and GB are all standard columns from the standings. New info included is:
| Wild Card | W-L | PCT | GB | WC Opps | Games Left | Opps WPCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Master Batters | 5-5 | .500 | – | 2 | 4 | .250 |
| Most Interesting Men In the World | 5-5 | .500 | – | 3 | 4 | .383 |
| Mr. Party’s Waddle | 4-7 | .364 | 1.5 | 1 | 3 | .433 |
| Canvassers | 5-5 | .500 | – | 2 | 4 | .521 |
| Garbage Plates, The | 3-6 | .333 | 1.5 | 1 | 5 | .538 |
| Sex Panthers | 5-5 | .500 | – | 2 | 4 | .550 |
| Biebs Feevs | 3-7 | .300 | 2 | 3 | 4 | .591 |
| Have Fun Out Theres, The | 5-5 | .500 | – | 2 | 4 | .650 |
| DC Twits | 5-5 | .500 | – | 1 | 4 | .775 |
