Week 3 is in the
books and the season have just gotten cranked up. This week saw a full schedule
of games for both leagues so while there are still six total teams that haven’t
reached the ten-game played mark yet, suffice it say that league play is full speed
ahead at this point.
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Jimmy Collins, Player-Manager 1901 Boston Americans |
There have been
quite a few roster adjustments already and most teams have commenced with
making lineups manipulations as well to try and improve performance. Most of
the roster adjustments are around the fact that some teams are still scrambling
to assemble a roster following the raids on National League players from
American League teams this past winter. All teams are carrying a very thin
bench as well, so any injury, even for a few days, is problematic as well.
Chicago (AL) and
Pittsburgh has set the standard so far and both have early leads in each of
their leagues. Both teams feature solid pitching and good hitting and both
teams have had schedules that featured games against lesser opponents, all keys
to getting off to a fast start. It is still early though and I still expect
plenty of jockeying for position in the standings as the season progresses.
I am going to hold
off for another week before listing leaders, but I am keeping an eye on my
stats already. I really pushed stolen base attempts this past week and made up
some of the delta from the previous week, but will need to continue to push on
that. Likewise for sacrifice hits - I pushed it, but I think the difference is
sacrifice attempts often don’t end up as sacrifice hits - they can end up a
strike or a ball, foul tips, fielder's choices, or even the occasional
pop-up/double play … it seems like ~50% of my sacrifice attempts end up as
something other than a sacrifice. I need to ensure I am getting a sacrifice hit
in every game.
My total hits and
league batting averages are up, but my runs scored are down. My sacrifice flies
are through the roof though - teams always seem to be able to get runners to
third, but not always able to otherwise score them. Even though I bumped up the
error numbers from 2 to 2.5 per card my number of errors up, but still way
behind. Therefore league ERA's are still a little on the high side yet.
It's still early and
I am sure the numbers will come around as games progress (I keep telling
myself). With the poorer defenses I am seeing resultants I don’t think I have
ever seen before. I also acknowledge that perhaps the scouting in those days
wasn't as thorough as it is now, so I often take chances on the base paths that
I might never otherwise do, especially in circumstances where one run can
really make the difference.
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Huntington Avenue Grounds, Boston MA |

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