Saturday, September 8, 2012


Quick Predictions For Round One:
 
National League:

Younger over Granese: 2-0
Feldman over Schefkind: 2-0
Randell over Applebaum: 2-1
Goldfarb over Jacoby: 2-0

American League:
Pollock vs. Beilis (Can’t pick my own series)
Lapine over Sarcona: 2-0
Wallman over Mamone: 2-0
Carlin over Harris: 2-1

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Thursday, September 6, 2012

Final Power Rankings


Thank you loyal readers for your patience. It’s been a tough thanks to the young kids in the house, going back to teaching, my other part time job, and feeling a little sick (I’ll be fine by Sunday). I’ll run through the playoff matchups either tomorrow or Saturday, but for now here are the final power rankings!

1.       Younger(1)- Ok, one more time . . .OOPS. They certainly surpassed my preseason prediction. The only way I can save face with this one is if they get knocked out in the first round. In other words, my bad.

2.       Pollock(2)- The last two champions of the league also happened to lead the league in runs for the season. This bodes well for our team who for the second year in a row led all teams in scoring.

3.       Lapine(4)- We can basically throw the last Wednesday night game out the window since it was meaningless for both teams. What I saw is a team who can hit from all spots in the lineup.  Since I’m humble enough to keep bringing up my bad Younger pre -season prediction, it’s time to quote what I said about Lapine before the season:  Jordan Krant will hit .500 this season. You heard it here first!”

4.       Wallman(3)- I liked this team pre -season because despite the lack of power, they were full of guys who could get on base.  Drafting the Bykofskys is pretty much giving yourself a guarantee that your team will play solid defense and that makes this team as dangerous as any.

5.       Feldman(2)- Every team has its off days, but it’s still pretty difficult to get shut out in slow pitch softball. Team Feldmam may be the second best team in the NL, but they’ve shown streaky tendencies-both good and bad. They’ll have a very favorable first round matchup to get back on track.

6.       Goldfarb(6)- It took me awhile to sort out #6-9 but in the end I picked the team who I think has the easiest route to Round two. One bad sign- They end the season with a 1-7 record vs. teams with a winning record.

7.       Carlin(8)- It may seem surprising to put a team with a losing record this high, but Carlin is peaking at the right time. They have a 5-2 record in last 7 games and their margin of victories have been by 6,10,6,7,11 runs during that span.

8.       Harris(7)-Their matchup against Carlin will be the most fascinating out of the first round games. While Carlin is peaking at the right time, Harris’s team was playing their best ball two months ago. Can they get it back?

9.       Mamone(10)- In the end, they’ll probably go down as a talented bad frustratingly inconsistent team.

10.   Applebaum(9)- To Say Team Applebaum is stumbling into the playoffs is an understatement. Losers of 6 out of their last 7 games, they at least have a chance to make it to the second round of the playoffs. It’s no guarantee though.

11.   Jacoby(13)- Team Jacoby is the feel good story of the last month. Unfortunately, they’re drawing a tough first round matchup with Goldfarb. It’s hard to rule out a team who has won 4 in a row though.

12.   Beilis(12)- My team certainly won’t be taking Beilis for granted. They actually have a positive run differential over their last 12 games.

13.   Randell(14)- Was their recent three game winning streak just a an aberration? The good news is they earned the coveted #7 seed and the chance to play Applebaum in the first round.

14.   Schefkind(16)- At this point it’s a tossup for worst in the league. At least Schefkind has shown some life by beating Applebaum in its final game.

15.   Granese(15)- When I predicted this team to go 8-14 it was because I knew they’d be missing a ton of games from key players. That logic has held true as Granese finished with a 7-15 mark. The scoring for the most part has been abysmal. Good luck against Team Younger.

16.   Sarcona(11)- A five spot drop to last in the ranking is pretty tough in the last update of the season. They have a first round matchup against Lapine. Last time they met? Lapine won 23-3.