Indians 16, Monsters 5
The Monsters put together a frightening infield defense to try and keep opposing teams down, but it was the Indians’ defense that reigned supreme in the latest contest from an old rivalry. The Monsters saw Davy Marian and Whitney Singh emerge as the team’s leaders on offense, as the two racked up the same number of hits as the other seven team members combined, but that number was only five, indicating a rather subdued effort that a two-hit shutout pitched by Chad Koppel couldn’t even come close to making up for. The Indians’ defense was tough in the hands of the AI but still gave up a few runs during their game. However, those few runs were forgotten, as the Indians were able to get around the Monsters’ defense to start their quest for a repeat championship on the right note. Everybody on the team got in on the action, with only one player getting less than two hits – it truly was a team effort for the Tribe.
Player of the Game: Kathy Wolf went 3-for-3 with three doubles and a walk, scoring each time and batting in an extra three runs.
White Sox 20, Braves 1
The Braves began the season on a rough note. Five of their nine hitters were virtually powerless against the Sox’s defense, and even two Ace Wilson winners and a Goldie Glove winner weren’t able to do much against Sammy Sosa or a pair of Crazy Bunts, putting a dark cloud over Chucky Flinder’s repeat chances and sending their contest into a seventh inning before a solo home run by Phil Nevin finally put the game to rest. On the other side of the coin, the White Sox lived up to their preseason hype, playing a game where all but one player got at least three hits and pitching machine Mr. Clanky gave up no runs despite surrendering nine hits. (It is suspected that batting powerups played a significant role in this game.) The final result was a blowout, casting serious doubt on the Braves’ ability to be competitive, but demonstrating that the White White Sox will be another dominant force in the NL West.
Player of the Game: Mr. Clanky, in addition to pitching a complete-game shutout, went 4-for-5 with a single, two doubles, and a triple, scoring three runs and batting in one.
Brewers 28, Red Sox 20
Video of Brewers game, Video of Red Sox game
Two of the fiercest competitors in the American League faced off for Opening Week, relying on massive quantities of grounderball and double-play-fueled special bats to rack up the hits and runs. On offense, the numbers for the two teams were virtually dead-even, but the Junior Brewers got the edge based on their home-field advantage coupled with a superior defense. The Red Sox had some struggles in that regard, giving up four runs total, while Brewer Judy Abwunza was able to pitch the entire game without giving up any runs, giving the edge in this bout to coach Jibbo – although even at this early date it seems likely that the teams will meet again in the postseason.
Player of the Game: Dmitri Petrovich gets the nod for the distinction of batting in the most runs of the game, at 6. Petrovich went 4-for-5 with four doubles and three runs scored.
Twins 12, Athletics 3
This was the first completed contest between two newbies to the BBL – but Twins coach Bless had a lot of Backyard Baseball experience, while A’s coach ArGarBarGar was new to the game and still learning it, and the results were clear in this matchup. The A’s put forth a good effort with 17 hits, including a 4-for-4 day by PJ Shareef and a 3 run, 3 RBI game by Cheryl Reynolds, but they also left a lot of runners on base, and pitcher Derek McCattery struggled on the mound, giving up five runs to shrink the margin of victory by quite a bit. Twins ace Tom Glass also had some hiccups on the mound, giving up three runs and only recording a single strikeout, and the Twins only recorded two more hits than the A’s, but they made those hits count more. They recorded 8 extra-base hits, including 4 home runs, to the A’s 3, and that seemed to make the difference despite the Twins’ three worst players combining to only get on base twice.
Player of the Game: Three different Twins got on base every time they came up to the plate, but Alexis Weis stood out by also scoring each time, while batting in six runs. The #125 overall pick went 4-for-4 with a single, two doubles, and a home run.
Wombats 14, Blue Jays 3
Playing at their inhospitable home field of Casa de Pablo, the Blue Jays had no trouble at all on defense, but did struggle a lot at offense. The Jays recorded eight strikeouts and only seven hits on the game, resulting in a meager 3-0 effort. The Wombats fared much better, tripling the Jays’ hit count and quintupling their run count for a strong start to the season. They also had a very evenly distributed performance – other than the 1-for-5 Wing Kwan, each team member had either 2 or 3 hits. A good pitching performance by Frank Thomas punctuated the Wombats’ effort, as despite pitching strikes in just over 2/3 of total pitches, he only gave up one run on four hits and a walk.
Player of the Game: The Blue Jays’ Tiffany Bosworth went 0-for-2 at the plate, but made it up on the mound by pitching a perfect game! Striking out seven while never letting anybody on base earns her the PoTG distinction despite playing for the losing team.
Hornets 20, Cardinals 9
The Cardinals were built for Tin Can Alley, but adapted fairly well to another pavement field in Cement Gardens, as everybody got on base at least once and the team got almost as many extra-base hits as singles, leading to a solid score. But they also had their struggles on defense, as Yvonne Carter surrendered three runs before Dawn Cozart had to come in to finish the game off with a single pitch. Meanwhile, the Hornets lived up to their fearsome preseason impression, taking everything the Cardinals did and doing it better. Everybody got on base at least twice for the Hornets despite a rash of strikeouts, and they were able to score half again the Cardinals’ total of runs while only giving up one and adding the home team modifier to boot, leaving Ellman in good position to dominate the AL Central this season – but don’t count the Cards out just yet, either.
Player of the Game: Ezra Travolta went 3-for-4 with a single, two home runs, and 6 RBI, double the total of the next best Hornet. She also scored two runs, the only dark spot on her game coming when she struck out one at-bat.
Mariners 28, Giants 14
New coach Aesnop swung a lot of trades and bemoaned the Mariners’ chances preseason, but he proved that he was here to play in the season opener by defeating a two-time league champion in crazyei8hts. Both teams went out and hit a lot against the walls of Tin Can, racking up the hits reliably – on each team, three players went 4-for-4 or 5-for-5. Ultimately, the Giants’ weaker defense became the big difference-maker, as they surrendered five runs to the AI, while the Mariners were able to snag extra bases more often to score more runs on less hits, in less innings. The Mariners showed that they can score runs as well as having the strongest set of arms in the BBL, and are definitely a team to watch now.
Player of the Game: Debby Nagasawa went 5-for-5 with two doubles and three home runs, batting in an impressive thirteen runs that went above and beyond anybody else’s efforts.
Melonheads 8, Tigers 7
We noted preseason that the Tigers have a strong defense but are slightly weak at offense, and that seemed to be borne out in their opening game. The Tigers made efficient use of the batters they did get on base, with half the runners left on base that the Melonheads had, but had some struggles with actually getting the runners on base for a relatively lackluster total. On the flip side, the Tigers’ defense completely stymied the Melonheads’ offense early on, holding them scoreless for the first three innings, before a fourth-inning breakthrough opened the door for the ‘Heads to put up a comparable total. With the runs scored, the home field advantage would have given a very narrow victory to the Tigers, but the runs allowed made a critical difference – Angela Delvecchio for the Melonheads gave up only a single run, while Lara Nunez for the Tigers gave up two. That resulted in a victory for the Melonheads with a margin of 0.4 – the slimmest of any game in Opening Week.
Player of the Game: Fernando Diaz was having a great day and hitting better than normally, and he made good use of it, going 4-for-4 with a single, a triple, two doubles, an RBI, and three runs scored.
Padres 4, Expos 1
Two of the fastest teams in the league faced off, but struggled to hit the ball well enough to get around each other’s defenses. Both teams scored the same total of four runs during the game, but with different styles of offense. The Expos scored their runs more efficiently on 7 hits, with a few small bursts on offense to drive them in. On the other hand, the Padres more consistently racked up hits, ending with a total of eleven. However, all of those hits were singles, which resulted in the Padres having worse efficiency and scoring the same number of runs. In the end, this was another contest decided by how many runs the AI teams scored, and while the Padres were able to use three different pitchers to effectively keep the Expos at bay, the Expos’ Adrian McGurk had more trouble and surrendered three runs, forcing his team to hit two home runs in the 6th inning to even get a positive run differential, and giving this contest to the Padres.
Player of the Game: While four different Padres tied for the most hits with two, Earl Abbot (2-for-4, two singles, one run scored) stood out from the rest by also pitching two near-perfect innings, giving up only a single walk and striking out five.
Mets 11, Bombers 4
While the Bombers had looked to have a strong squad on offense preseason, their first game was not so encouraging in that regard as they ran straight into the Mets’ fearsome defense. Only a few Bombers were able to consistently get hits, resulting in a lot of runners left on base and only a few runs scored, while on the mound Albert Pujols struggled to keep the Mets in check. On the flip side, the majority of Mets players also got out more than they got on base, but they did a little better at getting hits on the whole, and their hits were bigger and drove more runners in, resulting in just 6 runners left on base to the Bombers’ 8. The Mets’ defense also mostly held up against the AI Bombers, as Todd Xavier gave up just a single run in six innings pitched. In this particular bout, defense most definitely triumphed over offense.
Player of the Game: It can be hard to name a PoTG when four Mets went three-for-four, but Fred Benson had the most impressive 3: a single, a triple, and a home run, batting in two runs and scoring three.
Pirates 16, Rangers 5
The Rangers are a very hype-able team, but they struggled to deliver on the hype in their first contest. A pair of homeruns by Achmed Khan helped keep the LOB total low, but with only ten hits and a walk on the game they simply couldn’t put up a very good total. Achmed proved a thorn in the side of the Pirates as an AI too, hitting another homer in the Pirates’ main game, but that was more an afterthought than anything else in their contest. The Pirates weren’t at their home of Cement Gardens, but they played as though they were. All nine players got at least one hit, eight got at least two, and six got at least three as the Bucs kept putting kids on and around the bases, racking up a strong total that blew the Rangers out of the water.
Player of the Game: Three different players went 4-for-5 on the game, but Pete Wheeler did the best of any of those, with three doubles, a triple, four RBI, and three runs scored.
Orioles 10, Fishes 5
Last season, the Orioles were a pitiful 0-14 team that struggled to ever score and usually gave up high totals to their opposition – this week, we saw the debut of a whole new Orioles team. Details about the Fishes side of the game are unfortunately sparse, but what is known is that the AI Orioles held them to a low total while sneaking in several runs in the meantime. The Orioles themselves had a field day on offense, seven of their nine players recording either two or three hits with only Kay O’Toole and Tony Delvecchio having poor days. The resulting score was more than enough to hook the Fishes and keep them at bay, and as the icing on the cake, O’s pitcher Christina Beattie was the only player in Opening Week to record ten strikeouts.
Player of the Game: While almost everybody on the team did well, nobody really stood out with their performance. But Sarah Maxwell batted in the most runs on the team, with 4, going 2-for-4 with a single, a home run, and two runs scored.
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