Round One: Northwest 4, Wilmington 3

Game recaps from the Strat-generated box scores. In this series, the No. 2 Wilmington Razorbacks (112-50) had home-field advantage versus the No. 7 Northwest Stars (90-72).

Game One
Stars 4, Razorbacks 2

Right fielder Jason Heyward had 2 base hits and 2 RBI at The Razordome as the Northwest Stars beat the Wilmington Razorbacks 4 to 2.

Northwest took the lead for good in the top of the 5th inning plating an isolated run using 2 hits. Northwest and Wilmington each finished the night with 9 hits. 

Doug Fister (1-0) allowed 2 runs in 7 1/3 innings, and picked up the victory. Craig Kimbrel was credited with his 1st save. The losing pitcher was Felix Hernandez (0-1).

MMDA Awards Voting For 2013

Here are the MMDA award winners as selected by the Strat-O-Matic game engine.

MVP
Player	Team	AB	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	BB	SO	SB	CS	OBP	SLG	OPS
McCutchen	Lions	645	13	6	45	118	.296	63	146	13	1	.366	.544	.910
Cano	Huskies	611	53	4	26	105	.296	53	100	1	0	.353	.524	.877
Braun	Gators	648	37	1	47	140	.306	55	148	26	6	.365	.583	.949
Dickey	Razors	see Cy Young balloting below
Headley	Lions	617	46	1	32	111	.277	80	171	11	0	.361	.511	.872

Ryan Braun led the MMDA with 47 homers, 140 RBIs and 198 hits, but those screwy voters elected for Andrew McCutchen and Robinson Cano, a pair of up-the-middle players.

CY YOUNG
Pitchers	Team	W	L	ERA	GS	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	HR	H9	BB9	SO9	HR9
Dickey	Razors	21	6	3.10	34	0	264	223	67	238	32	7.6	2.3	8.1	1.1
Kershaw	Crows	18	6	2.08	32	0	251	159	75	248	21	5.7	2.7	8.9	0.8
Rodney	Razors	3	2	2.17	0	43	66	38	9	65	10	5.2	1.2	8.8	1.4
Shields	Huskies	18	6	3.69	33	0	227	222	56	230	36	8.8	2.2	9.1	1.4
Kimbrel	Stars	4	5	0.98	0	37	64	24	21	101	4	3.4	3.0	14.2	0.6

R.A. Dickey led the MMDA with 21 wins and 264 innings, ranking second to only Clayton Kershaw with 238 strikeouts.

Crows, Huskies & Lions Etch Names In MMDA Recordbook

The MMDA recordbook runs back through 2002, the so-called Internet era for our league.  

With offense down across the league, no team made a run at any of the team batting records. This year's Wilmington Razorbacks led the MMDA with 928 runs scored, but they would have needed to score an additional 89 runs to crack the top 10. At their run-scoring rate, Wilmington would have required 16 more games to score those 89 runs.

A number of teams broke into the top 10 for various pitching categories, however. The staffs for Mohawk Valley, Northeast and Spokane made multiple appearances on the updated pitching leaderboards, while four other clubs made single appearances.

Of course, when compared with the current league average, none of these performances are as impressive (in context) as some of the earlier feats. Here are the teams that cracked the pitching top 10s:

Runs Allowed
4. Spokane, 586 (3.62 per game)
6. Northeast, 592 (3.65 per game)

ERA
5. Northeast, 3.28
6. Spokane, 3.35 

WHIP
8. Mohawk Valley, 1.190
9. Northwest, 1.197

Strikeouts
1. Mohawk Valley, 1,462 (8.91 per nine)
4. Goldenrod, 1,358 (8.25 per nine)
7. Fighting Irish, 1,323 (8.08 per nine)

Home Runs Allowed
3. Spokane, 122 (0.74 per nine)
10. Columbus, 134 (0.83 per nine)

MMDA Power Rankings For The 2013 Season

An attempt to rank the league's best teams after six blocks and all 162 games.

Teams sorted by wins, then by run differential. Note that this is not the official tie-breaking method for playoff seeding or draft order.

No	Team	W	L	Division	R/G	RA/G	Diff
1	Northeast	115	47	Northeast	5.50	3.65	+299
2	Wilmington	112	50	Atlantic	5.73	4.17	+252
3	Mohawk Valley	98	64	Atlantic	5.18	3.89	+209
4	Goldenrod	94	68	Central	4.91	4.33	+95
5	St. Louis	92	70	Central	4.44	4.24	+33
6	Northwest	90	72	Pacific	4.75	4.00	+121
7	Spokane	90	72	Pacific	4.19	3.62	+93
8	West Side	87	75	Northeast	4.84	4.44	+64
9	Brooklyn	85	77	Atlantic	5.59	4.87	+116
10	Fighting	84	78	Northeast	4.59	4.66	-11
11	Rosehill	83	79	Central	4.29	4.07	+35
12	Jersey	77	85	Northeast	4.14	4.34	-33
13	Lake County	73	89	Central	4.46	5.16	-113
14	Death Valley	68	94	Atlantic	4.43	5.41	-158
15	Columbus	67	95	Pacific	3.96	5.03	-173
16	Rochester	65	97	Atlantic	4.31	5.33	-165
17	Cape Cod	64	98	Northeast	4.22	4.85	-102
18	Elysian Fields	60	102	Central	4.02	5.06	-168
19	California	59	103	Pacific	3.83	4.71	-142
20	Miami	57	105	Pacific	3.77	5.33	-252

Top Run-Creation Teams (R/G)

Wilmington (5.73)
Brooklyn (5.59)
Northeast (5.50)
Mohawk Valley (5.18)
Goldenrod (4.91)

Top Run-Prevention Teams (RA/G)

Spokane (3.62)
Northeast (3.65)
Mohawk Valley (3.89)
Northwest (4.00)
Rosehill (4.07)

Playoff Bracket A 

No. 1 Northeast (115)

No. 8 West Side (87)

No. 4 Goldenrod (94)

No. 5 St. Louis (92)

Playoff Bracket B

No. 2 Wilmington (112)

No. 7 Northwest (90)

No. 3 Mohawk Valley (98)

No. 6 Spokane (90)

Huskies dominate regular season once again, but can they get it done in October?

The Northeast Huskies have done it again. John Tresca's club led the league with 115 wins during the regular season, landing in a familiar place: atop the Northeast Division (named for its geographic location, though it could just as well be in honor of its dominant team). This marks six consecutive seasons in which the Huskies have either won the division outright or tied for first.

Since bringing up the rear with a 54-108 record in 2007, the Huskies have gone 659-313, good for a .678 winning percentage. During that span they have posted the best record in the league three times (2009, 2012, 2013). For all that dominance, however, there is one thing that has eluded them: a title. Over the past five years the Huskies have advanced to the final series only once, falling to the Bulldogs in seven games in 2009.

Can they do it this year? Their road to the World Series runs first through division rival West Side Bluejays, who are making their first-ever appearance in the MMDA postseason. Vegas likes the Huskies here. Northeast led the MMDA with a 3.28 ERA and ranked third in runs scored with 891. By contrast, the Bluejays posted a 3.97 ERA (9th) and crossed the plate 784 times (6th). But as the Huskies have learned, these games aren't played on paper.

Jim Baker's Wilmington Razorbacks finished with the second-best record in the league, at 112-50, ending a postseason drought reminiscent of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Razorbacks were led by a stout offense that gets on base and scores lots of runs. They posted a .359 on-base percentage as a team, nineteen points better than the second-best club (Huskies), and scored a league-best 928 runs. Their pitching staff logged a 3.92 ERA, eighth best in the league.

The Razors will be going up against a playoff fixture, the Northwest Stars, who secured the No. 7 seed after losing the tie-breaker with division foe Spokane. The Stars are a balanced club that finished fourth in the league in ERA (3.63) and seventh in runs scored (769).

Spokane, the sixth seed, will face the third-seeded Mohawk Valley Crimson Lions, whose potent offense ranked fourth in runs (839) and pitching staff finished third with a 3.55 ERA. The Hooded Crows are a pitching oriented club. Led by ERA champion Clayton Kershaw (2.08), they finished second in the MMDA with a 3.35 ERA. Kershaw and his fellow rotation mates will have to shine, however, because Spokane's offense ranked just 15th in runs scored, with 679, the least of any playoff qualifier.

The final matchup features divisional foes Goldenrod and St. Louis. They met in the second round of last year's playoffs, with the Gators sweeping the Maulers on the way to capturing the league championship. The Gators, who won two more games in the regular season this year to take the division title, have the edge in both ERA (3.82 to 3.91) and runs scored (796 to 720).

Best of luck to all eight clubs and congratulations on advancing this far.

MMDA Power Rankings: Block Five Edition

An attempt to rank the league's best teams after five blocks (138 games). Teams sorted by wins, then by run differential. Note that this is not the official tie-breaking method for playoff seeding or draft order.

After waiting patiently for four blocks, Central Division clubs got their first crack at the soft underbelly of the Pacific Division in Block 5. Goldenrod and St. Louis charged up the power rankings thanks to a schedule heavy on games against No. 15 Columbus, No. 19 California and No. 20 Miami. That trio of teams has combined to win 40 percent of its games to this point.

For the sake of comparison, the bottom three teams in the other three divisions have put up a much stronger fight. To wit, those cellar-dwelling win percentages are Northeast (.493), Central (.464) and Atlantic (.457).

No	Team	W	L	Division	R/G	RA/G	Diff
1	Northeast	97	41	Northeast	5.57	3.70	+258
2	Wilmington	95	43	Atlantic	5.71	4.16	+214
3	Mohawk Valley	84	54	Atlantic	5.33	3.96	+189
4	Goldenrod	81	57	Central	4.91	4.40	+70
5	St. Louis	79	59	Central	4.51	4.18	+46
6	Brooklyn	78	60	Atlantic	5.89	4.80	+150
7	Spokane	77	61	Pacific	4.23	3.59	+88
8	West Side	75	63	Northeast	4.76	4.37	+54
9	Northwest	73	65	Pacific	4.51	4.03	+67
10	Rosehill	71	67	Central	4.14	3.94	+27
11	Fighting	70	68	Northeast	4.37	4.59	-31
12	Jersey	66	72	Northeast	4.14	4.22	-11
13	Cape Cod	59	79	Northeast	4.15	4.54	-53
14	Lake County	58	80	Central	4.33	5.20	-119
15	Columbus	58	80	Pacific	3.77	4.86	-150
16	Death Valley	56	82	Atlantic	4.34	5.49	-158
17	Rochester	55	83	Atlantic	4.33	5.35	-141
18	Elysian Fields	53	85	Central	4.04	5.07	-142
19	California	49	89	Pacific	3.86	4.82	-132
20	Miami	46	92	Pacific	3.67	5.30	-226

Top Run-Creation Teams (R/G)

Brooklyn (5.89)
Wilmington (5.71)
Northeast (5.57)
Mohawk Valley (5.33)
Goldenrod (4.91)

The Gators enter the fray, supplanting West Side from last time

Top Run-Prevention Teams (RA/G)

Spokane (3.59)
Northeast (3.70)
Rosehill (3.94)
Mohawk Valley (3.96)
Northwest (4.03)

Wilmington drops out of the top five, replaced by Northwest

Divisional Races

Barring epic collapses, Northeast (22 games ahead of West Side) and Wilmington (11 games ahead of Mohawk Valley) have the Northeast and Atlantic divisions, respectively, locked down as they enter the sixth and final block.

That's not the case in the MMDA's other two divisions, where St. Louis trails Goldenrod by two games in the Central, and Northwest trails Spokane by four games in the Pacific.

MMDA Power Rankings: Block Four Edition

Teams sorted by wins, then by run differential after 108 games. Note that this is not the official tie-breaking method for playoff seeding or draft order. This is an attempt to rank the league's best teams to this point.

The Northeast Huskies maintain their place atop the power rankings with a league-best 77 wins and unsurpassed +203 run differential. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Miami Manatees have just 41 wins and have allowed 154 more runs than they've scored.

The Huskies may be best team to this point, but the next three—Wilmington, Mohawk Valley and Brooklyn—all play in the Atlantic division. What's notable here is that Brooklyn closed the run-differential gap on Mohawk Valley during Block 4 play. The Lions had a 15-run advantage entering the July.

No	Team	W	L	Division	R/G	RA/G	Diff
1	Northeast	77	31	Northeast	5.47	3.59	+203
2	Wilmington	77	31	Atlantic	5.84	4.13	+185
3	Mohawk Valley	64	44	Atlantic	5.21	3.86	+146
4	Brooklyn	63	45	Atlantic	6.15	4.80	+146
5	Spokane	61	47	Pacific	4.31	3.66	+70
6	West Side	60	48	Northeast	4.69	4.36	+35
7	Northwest	58	50	Pacific	4.63	4.31	+34
8	St. Louis	58	50	Central	4.43	4.28	+16
9	Fighting	57	51	Northeast	4.39	4.29	+11
10	Goldenrod	56	52	Central	4.67	4.56	+11
11	Jersey	52	56	Northeast	4.16	4.24	-9
12	Rosehill	51	57	Central	4.14	4.10	4
13	Cape Cod	48	60	Northeast	4.03	4.28	-27
14	Columbus	45	63	Pacific	3.56	4.65	-117
15	Death Valley	45	63	Atlantic	4.35	5.58	-133
16	California	42	66	Pacific	3.90	4.56	-71
17	Rochester	42	66	Atlantic	4.54	5.33	-86
18	Elysian Fields	42	66	Central	4.08	5.26	-127
19	Lake County	41	67	Central	4.09	5.36	-137
20	Miami	41	67	Pacific	3.66	5.08	-154

Top Run-Creation Teams (R/G)
Brooklyn (6.15)
Wilmington (5.84)
Northeast (5.47)
Mohawk Valley (5.21)
West Side (4.69)

Top Run-Prevention Teams (RA/G)
Northeast (3.59)
Spokane (3.66)
Mohawk Valley (3.86)
Rosehill (4.10)
Wilmington (4.13)