Outlaws cruise into the All-Star Break as top dog in BDBL
With 57 wins in the books at the midway point, Flagstaff Outlaws GM sits at his desk with a deep look of contemplation on his face. A 12-game lead in the division and the Ozzie League and a six-game lead over the Eck League best Buckingham Sovereigns, one might think Newgard would be sitting pretty at this point.
“Don’t get me wrong, we are thrilled to be here,” Newgard said, “but that doesn’t mean a thing. Number one seeds fall. We’re still focused on all of our in-season goals and getting this team ready for the playoffs.”
When asked what there was to worry about, Newgard responded “plenty.”
“Many of other strong teams have added talent so far. Kansas City, Bear Country, Joplin, Salem to name the ones in our league. We feel like we need to one more piece, but it’s hard to find a match, or even a deal that would make sense. We like our farm, but it’s thin when you look at rankings and we’d like to also focus on 2019 as well.”
As the talk shifted to the last month, Newgard sighed. “The pitching regressed. 3.93 ERA is not good. The bullpen was strong, but Alex Wood, Zack Greinke and Michael Wacha all had rough stints. We’ll need them to rebound quickly.”
Flagstaff announced that Chris Sale took home Pitcher of the Month honors. In five outings, he tallied 30 innings pitching, racking up five quality starts and amassing a 4-1 record along with 48 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.67.
“Sale continues to be awesome, justifying the high price we paid last offseason. The way he is pitching, we’re going to have to consider trying to bring him back next season.”
When asked about the offensive resurgence, Newgard finally cracked a smile. “A team OPS of .846? That was what we expecting all season. Manny Pina finally came alive to give us some pop at catcher, Elvis Andrus woke up after giving us little over the first two months. Joe Panik showed some more of that first chapter bat we saw.
“If we can keep these bats going and get the starters to get back to where they were, it’s going to be hard to keep us from that trophy, short series be damned.”
George Springer takes home Hitter of the Month hardware. The leadoff hitter posted an OPS of 1.036 while leading the team with seven homers and 22 runs scored. His 17 RBIs was tied with Paul Goldschmidt out of that top spot, and 13 walks was one off Aaron Judge’s team lead.
Chapter Four sees the Outlaws get a somewhat soft schedule as they tackle the four teams with sub-.500 records. Salem poses the biggest threat, along with Myrtle Beach, who both hold shares of their division leads.