Week 15 game predictions

Pizza/Past (Carlin) v Express Imprints (Pollock)

CK Baseball (Harris) v Ace Aluminum (Wallman)

Nonna's (Lapine) v Elite (Mamone)

LawCash (Younger) v Fradkin Law (Jacoby)

Jiffy Lube (Feldman) v Tuscanyrose (Schef)

Bagel World (Goldfarb) v Main Electric (Applebaum)

Sports Zone (Randell) v Paco's (Granese)

Massge Envy (Sarcona) v Arrow (Beilis)

Week 15 Power Rankings

Hopefully there will be games this week. If not, the pwoer rankings can still be slightly affected by Wednesday's games.

1.       Younger(1)- For those people who think their great defense can be compromised by playing on Union Hill, they just completed a 7-0 U.H. record with their win on Wednesday night.

2.       Pollock(2)- Our offense is clicking on all cylinders and we’re starting to look more and more like last year’s championship team.

3.       Feldman(3)- One less does not erase what has been a phenomenal summer so far for Team Feldman.

4.       Wallman(5) – Impressive wins over Feldman and Applebaum show Wallman should be around the top for the rest of the season.

5.       Harris(4)- Team Harris showed a lot of fight on Wednesday night. Once fully healthy, they’ll be even tougher.

6.       Applebaum(6)- They’re only 4-5 in their last nine games. I think their offense is better than what they’ve shown over the last month. They can coast to a division title though.

7.       Lapine(7)- They’ve had to deal with some tough injuries, but Lapine has also benefitted from playing teams at the right time. Also, their 3 game winning streak has come against 3 of the bottom 4 teams on this list. Still, this is a good team who can still capture the American League title with only a little bit of help.

8.       Goldfarb(10)- With a 7-3 record over their last 10 games, Team Goldfarb is making their move. They’re pretty much locked into a 4 vs.5 matchup in the first round, but I think they can provide a second round upset.

9.       Sarcona(9)- When they were 8-5, I thought they were slightly less impressive than their record indicated. Still, they have some impressive wins on their resume including Pollock, Wallman(twice), and Harris.

10.   Mamone(8)- This is a team who may be asking “where was our offense?” while they watch other teams advance in the playoffs. The talent is there but where is the consistency. Just as I said with Lapine, it should be noted that 4 out of Mamone’s last 5 wins have come against the bottom 4 teams on this list.

11.   Granese(11)- Might as well copy and paste: This is a team who may be asking “where was our offense?” while they watch other teams advance in the playoffs. Until their last two games, Granese’s defense has been great. They’ll need that to return in order to avoid a tough first round matchup.

12.   Carlin(13)- Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. They look to be the clear winner of 2012’s “Low seeded team that nobody wants to play in the first round.”

13.   Schefkind(15)- A win against a quality opponent like Sarcona is a nice way to snap a long losing streak. It’s almost impossible to predict the same kind of success against Team Feldman though.

14.   Beilis(12)- I thought they had a chance to go on a nice run but only scoring one run in an 11 inning loss is certainly one way pop that bubble.

15.   Randell(14)- During their current 6 game losing streak, they’ve only lost by less than 4 runs once.

16.   Jacoby(16)- They have lost EIGHT games by 7 or more runs this year. No other team has more than four losses of that kind.

Week 14 Predictions

Predicted winners are in bold face.

CK Baseball (Harris) v LawCash (Younger)

Elite (Mamone) v Bagel World (Goldfarb)

Massage Envy (Sarcona) v Tuscanyrose (Schef)

Express Imprints (Pollock) v Paco's (Granese)

Nonna's (Lapine) v Fradkin Law (Jacoby)

Arrow (Beilis) v Main Electric (Applebaum)

Pizza/Pasta (Carlin) v Sports Zone (Randell)

Ace Aluminum (Wallman) v Jiffy Lube (Feldman)

Week 14 Power Rankings

Week 14 Power Rankings:

At one point during the season it looked like this year would be defined by how much parity there is in the league. But as we approach the end of the interleague part of the schedule, there seems to be a little but more separation. For this week’s power rankings, I’m going to group teams into three different groups. Last week’s ranking is in parentheses.

Group 1: The Clear Contenders:

These are the teams who may hay have had a brief rough patch but are now looking like the clear elite. Things may change, however, these teams have done enough to suggest that they’ll make a run in the playoffs.

1.       Younger(1)

2.       Pollock(3)

3.       Feldman(4)

4.       Harris(2)

5.       Wallman(6)

6.       Applebaum(5)

Group 2: The Could Be Contenders:

Here is the group who could still challenge the above teams for a chance at the championship. At one point or another, most of these teams have shown they could be great teams. The only difference between this group and Group 1 is the lack of consistency.

7.       Lapine(9)

8.       Mamone(7)

9.       Sarcona(8)

10.   Goldfarb(11)

11.   Granese(10)

Group 3: The “Who knows, Anything Can Happen” Group

Crazier things have happened than a team that is mediocre in the regular season catching fire come playoff time. It’s just unlikely.

12.   Beilis(16)

13.   Carlin(12)

14.   Randell(13)

15.   Schefkind(14)

16.   Jacoby(15)

Wednesday Night Preview

Pizza/Pasta (Carlin) v Arrow (Beilis)
Paco's (Granese) v Jiffy Lube (Feldman) The wins will come in buches for Beilis. Over their last 7 games, their -2 run differntial is better than 6 other teams' totals.

Week 13 predictions

Projected winners in caps.  I provided comments for all the games in which I went against the power rankings.

Paco's (Granese) v Elite (Mamone)

Ace Aluminum (Wallman) v Main Electric (Applebaum) -          Another Wallman loss may essentially put them out of the race for the AL East title. I’m expecting Rob Bykofsky’s return to be enough to give them this huge win.

Fradkin Law (Jacoby) v Arrow (Beilis) -          You know how when an NFL team starts out 0-8 and you start thinking to yourself, “Well they HAVE to win a game at some point” so you assume they’ll beat whatever other weak team is left on the sechdule? Well, Beilis has to win another game at some point this season.

Pizza/Pasta (Carlin) v Jiffy Lube (Feldman)

Nonna's (Lapine) v Sports Zone (Randell) -          With Lapine missing their starting pitcher, I have to go with a Team Randell who is due for a win. Randell may not have a great team, but I think they’re a little better than what a 5-10 record would indicate.

Express Imprints (Pollock) v Tuscanyrose (Schef)

CK Baseball (Harris) v Bagel World (Goldfarb)

Massage Envy (Sarcona) v LawCash (Younger)

Week 13 Power Rankings

Week 13 Power Rankings

1.       Younger(2)

The biggest compliment is that when you want to talk about how good other teams’ defenses are  you have to start off by saying, “Other than Younger . . . “ If Younger scored exactly 8 runs in every game this year(thus giving them the third lowest runs average in the league), they’d be undefeated. Even the 7 runs they gave up to Lapine are deceiving because it took Lapine 13 innings to score runs 5-7. If Younger gives up 41 runs their next game, they’ll STILL lead the league in fewest runs against average.

2.       Harris(3)

Harris has a +29 run differential over their last four games. The closest teams to that amount are Wallman and Mamone who both have a +20 total.

3.       Pollock(1)

I wish I could say everything about our team is amazing, but we’ve been struggling to score for the past 7 weeks. During that time, we have the third lowest runs scored in the league. At Union Hill we’ve averaged 14.75 runs. Away from UH, the average goes down to 8.89. The bright side is that while our runs against average at UH is 14, the number is a very impressive 5.89 at all other fields.

4.       Feldman(5)

Their run differential during the current 4 game winning stream is the lowest out of any 4+ winning streak this season, but there’s no doubt that Feldman’s record isn’t indicative of what this team is about.

5.       Applebaum(4)

Not only do they have a great offense, but they are the only team to give up just 1 run on multiple occasions.

6.       Wallman(6)

If you take any team’s three highest run scoring games, it does not equal the 57 runs Wallman has put up during their 3 game winning streak that ended Wednesday. Not bad for a team criticized by some for not having enough offense.

7.       Mamone(7)

Their 35 runs against over the last seven games is tied with Younger(of course) for the lowest in the league.

8.       Sarcona(8)

It is impossible to win the championship and lose back to back games during the playoffs. Team Sarcona is the only team who has not lost 2 games in a row at any point this season.

9.       Lapine(9)

Lapine is one of only two teams who are currently on a 3 game streak of scoring 10+ runs. Unfortunately they lost two out of those three games partly due to the fact that they were missing Drapkin.

10.   Granese(11)

As Granese pointed out in his recap, his team has an impressive 9 consecutive games of giving up fewer than 10 runs. The flip side to this is they’ve only scored 18 runs in their last 4 games which is the lowest in the league.

11.   Goldfarb(12)

If there’s a sleeper team in the league you can make a good argument that it’s Goldfarb. Although they are 6-9, they have a +16 run differential in their last 8 games.

12.   Carlin(10)

After looking for awhile, I just couldn’t find any interesting trends wit this team. But that’s appropriate for Team Carlin. We’re still waiting to see if this is the team who was thought by many to be a contender or the team who is currently 5-8 playing in a very tough American league.

13.   Randell(13)

Randell has a league high 10 games in which they’ve given up double digit runs.

14.   Shefkind(14)

I’m afraid to say anything because we play them this Sunday. They are the only team not to win a game by more than 3 runs. Now that I said that, I expect this to change this weekend.

15.   Jacoby(15)

In addition to having the worst runs against average in the league, Team Jacoby has the longest current streak of scoring fewer than 10 runs a game(6).

16.   Beilis(16)

It’s hard to find any silver lining when looking at Beilis’s stats. I tried. In 4 games at Union Hill, Beilis has scored a total of 16 runs.

Wednesday Night Preview

Wallman vs. Sarcona:

The interleague part of the schedule has been great, but it’s nice to get back to intraleague games that have huge seeding ramifications. Team Wallman has made quickly made up for a bumpy start of the season by going 8-2 in their last 10 games. As the current division leaders, we knew that we had to build up as big of a lead as possible because Wallman would get hot at some point. Now they have a chance to be just a half game back with a win tonight. Meanwhile Team Sarcona hasn’t had many easy victories but by squeaking out many close games, they are sitting on a 7-5 record which puts them in the hunt for the top seed in the American league. Six out of their seven wins have been by 2 runs or fewer and as I predicted before last Sunday, I think they might hit a short skid as they face a few more challenging teams (They face Younger this Sunday).  Meanwhile, no team has had an offense as good as Wallman’s has been over the past three games. I think the Wallman hot streak will continue as they cruise to a victory tonight.  

Projected Winner: Wallman

Goldfarb vs. Schefkind:

First of all, best of luck to a speedy recovery for Steve who was forced to take himself out of Sunday’s game. How will a struggling Team Schefkind play without their best player? While they have the second lowest runs per game average, they have often put up close to 10 runs per game. The real problem has been their defense. Tonight I think Team Goldfarb will get their offense back on track after two subpar games.

Projected Winner: Goldfarb

Power Rankings Week 12

Power Rankings for Week 12:

1.       Pollock(1)

2.       Younger(2)

3.       Harris(3)

4.       Applebaum(5)

5.       Feldman(7)

6.       Wallman(8)

7.       Mamone(4)

8.       Sarcona(9)

9.       Lapine(6)

10.   Carlin(12)

11.   Granese(11)

12.   Goldfarb(10)

13.   Randell(12)

14.   Schefkind(13)

15.   Jacoby(15)

16.   Beilis(16)

Notes:

-          After missing their pitcher for the last few weeks, Team Lapine needs to get back to proving that they should be considered a quality team. A loss against Team Schefkind will make the weeks spent in the top 3 feel like a distant memory.

-          Maybe I’ve been underrating Sarcona and that their 7-4 record really is a reflection of how good they are. If they can beat a very tough Team Applebaum then they should move up nicely in next week’s rankings.

Week 12 predictions

Last week was an oddity in that the team with the higher ranking on my list was the victor in every single game.  So how did I only go 4-3 with my picks? Let me retroactively explain why I went against my own power rankings in the three games I misjudged.

Younger vs. Mamone:

So how does one have the gall to pick against the team with the best record in the league? It’s no secret that what makes Younger such a great team is their defense. Well in the same way that Municipal can neutralize a great offense, Union Hill can limit the powers of a great defensive team. On top of this Mamone has four players (Conti, Mamone, Turner, Tvrdik) who can easily hit it over the fence. Add the fact that Mamone was on a roll and I figured we would have our first game where Younger would perhaps give up double digit runs. It has to happen eventually, right? Even the great Goldfarb teams over the past few years had their occasionally poor games.

Lapine vs. Applebaum:

I didn’t really want to pick either of these teams. On one hand, Lapine was missing their #1 and 2 pitchers and on the other hand Applebaum was missing their #1 and 2 draft picks. Just from reading that game summary, it must have been the craziest game of the year. I learned that when in doubt, always pick against the team missing their pitcher.

Sarcona vs. Granese:

Here’s a situation where I thought one team whose record is worse than their run differential shows would beat a team whose record is better than their run differential shows. The bottom line may be that Sarcona is skilled at playing these tight games, something that will come in handy during the always low scoring playoff games. Did you know that six of Sarcona’s seven wins this year have been by either one or two runs?

This week’s predictions:

Tuscanyrose (Schef) v Nonna's (Lapine)

Jiffy Lube (Feldman) v Express Imprints (Pollock)

Bagel World (Goldfarb) v Ace Aluminum (Wallman)

Sports Zone (Randell) v Elite (Mamone)

Paco's (Granese) v Arrow (Beilis)

Fradkin Law (Jacoby) v CK Baseball (Harris)

Main Electric (Applebaum) v Massage Envy (Sarcona)

LawCash (Younger) v Pizza/Pasta (Carlin)

Week 11 predictions

Predicted winners are bolded:

Arrow (Beilis) v Jiffy Lube (Feldman)
Pizza/Pasta (Carlin) v Fradkin Law (Jacoby)
Nonna's (Lapine) v Main Electric (Applebaum)
Massage Envy (Sarcona) v Paco's (Granese)
Express Imprints (Pollock) v Bagel World (Goldfarb)
Ace Aluminum (Wallman) v Sports Zone (Randell)
Elite (Mamone) v LawCash (Younger)
CK Baseball (Harris) v Tuscanyrose (Schef)