League Roundup 6/26
Three months into the season, and the WBA has had no shortage of storylines. The standings bears a lot of similarity to years past, but there are some major differences as well. Atop the ABL standings sit the seemingly untarnishable Santo Domingo Palmchats. While the Black Forest Foxes have taken the IBL by storm en route to a 49-23 record that puts them in first place by a comfortable six game margin. Let’s take a look around the league at some of the goings on that have caught my (good) eye.
Palmchats’ Pen Pitches Profitably
Santo Domingo’s front office made their priority known in recent months: the bullpen. They paid big bucks for reliever Fei-Hsien Lau and sent a first round pick to Ljubljana in exchange for Wei-Sng Ling, a pitcher with more stuff than a whole episode of Hoarders. The strengthened bullpen has paired with a highly successful starting rotation to lead the ABL in run prevention. As usual, SD ace Vicente Deleon’s name can be found among the top ranks of several pitching statistics leaderboards. Palmchats’ GM Huck L. Berry had this to say about his ace’s importance to the franchise.
“Vicente stands for everything we believe in here in Santo Domingo. He is a hometown kid, grew up idolizing our first generation of greats including his Santo Domingo compatriot Juan Barajas. He's a great clubhouse guy and just goes about his business every day with no complaints. To be quite honest he probably would have extended with us for less than we ended up offering but it just wouldn't have felt right not to pay him what he deserves. And we've attempted to pay him back by building a team around him to help him succeed both individually and in terms of wins.”
Fuck Netflix, Ottawa and Mumbai Agree to a Blockbuster Trade
In other Deleon news, two-time ABL PPOY Felix Deleon has moved across the globe. Ottawa’s hero was traded to 2-time defending IBL champs the Mumbai Cobras in exchange for a hefty sum. The Cobras sent the Whiskey Jacks prospects Boboy Rivera, Nick Honeyfield, Tso-Lin Chin and their 1st and 2nd round picks in each of the next two amateur drafts.
Both GM’s were reportedly tormented by the deal. Ottawa GM Beadle took his star shortstop on a thorough tour of the city of Ottawa before telling him as they overlooked the Ottawa River that he was “too good for this team.”
Mumbai’s GM’s significant other nearly phoned for emergency medical services after seeing APMP staring at a wall following the confirmation of the trade. What she mistook for a medical crisis was in fact the look of a man dealing with the pressure of having just mortgaged his future in order to win championships in the coming seasons. The division leading Cobras have won 9 of their last 10 games.
More Stuff I Don’t Have Time to Cover Right Now
-Ljubljana playing pretty well in the last three weeks after calling up key rookies
-Black Forest possibly challenging the all-time WBA wins record
-Huge upcoming face-off between Santo Domingo and Buenos Aires in Argentina
-A big week for Mexico City as they take on division rivals Northwest and Los Angeles
-Ilari Belmon on pace for 10 WAR
-Northwest Emeralds challenging Buenos Aires for Pythagorus’s all-time Least Lucky Award
-Major trade between Carolina and Melbourne vetoed for being Very Bad
-Rio tied for last in Latin America, but twin aces Cavazos and Bobahilda are surging
-Paris, despite embargo and best efforts at tanking, find themselves in playoff position
-Draft pick trading bonanza as 7 of 20 first round picks and 7 of 20 second round picks have already changed hands ahead of this year’s draft
-Trade market stuffed with quality players as appetite for buyers seems to have cooled somewhat in recent weeks
Dan Farnell
Dan Farnell forgot his username and info, so he got Buenos Aires GM Jake to lend him his. This in no way should imply that the two are in kahoots or much less that they are "the same person" as some may ridiculously suggest. It is simply a matter of a work-associate performing a small kindness for another work-associate.
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