Red Text denotes current playoff teams. (x)- Clinched division title; (y) Clinched playoff berth.

Week 12 Series
Wichita at Nashville
Boise at Orlando
Omaha at Minnesota
Oklahoma at Armada BC
Birmingham at San Jose
Atlantic City at Spokane
Indiana at Calgary
Rhode Island at Las Vegas
Tucson at New Jersey
Sacramento at Memphis
 

Posted by ASPN Insider on 5/14
CURRENT PLAYOFF STANDING
1. Oklahoma Rockhounds (Jason)      22-9
2. Indiana Stars (Larry)                      20-13
3. Minnesota Marshals (Jason)           19-14
4. Las Vegas Craps (Scott)                18-15

5. Rhode Island Peanuts (Gail)            19-14
6. Atlantic City Trumps (Brian)            19-14
7. New Jersey Rhinos (Jason)             18-15
8. Calgary Cowboys (Bruce)              18-15
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9. Tucson Cacti (Bruce)                      18-15
10. Birmingham Bombers (Curt)         17-16
11. Boise Badgers (Ed)                       16-16
12. Spokane Wildcats (Ed)                  16-17
13. Orlando Rage (Scott)                    15-17
14. Nashville Slammers (Aaron)          15-17
15. Memphis Maniax (Bruce)               15-18
16. Sacramento Quakes (Brian)          15-18

Posted by ASPN Final Score on 5/14
HALFWAY HOME IN THE WILD WEST
After a rather entertaining first half of the 2012 XBL season, the playoffs are now starting to take shape. Spokane entered the week in a tie with Tucson atop the west. Tucson won their series against a tough Atlantic City team, but the Wildcats stumbled badly against the Quakes, bringing LL with them to Washington to get in the head of the Wildcats' management team. Sacramento walked out of eastern Washington with three extra wins, but Vegas pulled a sweep of their own to pull into a tie with the Cacti at the top of the west at the halfway point, with SDX in full Power of Positive Pouting mode the past few weeks. Vegas currently holds the tiebreaker, and faces the Peanuts at Exotica Field this week. We expect several games of Squeeze Squash Applesauce on the Peanuts' bench, and also between games on the Vegas Strip. Tucson heads eastward to New Jersey, while Spokane tries to make up their now 2-game deficit at home against another Trump team, the Atlantic City Trumps.

EAST STILL PLAYOFF BOUND
Amazing to think after last season, where no team finished more than 3 games above .500, that four of the five teams of this division are in line to qualify for the playoffs, and if they keep beating up on the north and west divisions, could possibly send all five of their teams to the playoffs (probably not, though). Indiana did hold on to the division lead, despite losing their series last week in San Jose, but still only lead by a game over both Rhode Island and Atlantic City, and New Jersey has now closed in to two games out. Indiana heads north of the border to Calgary in what should be a good series, while Rhode Island, Atlantic City and New Jersey all take on their western division opposition as previously mentioned.

PITCHING SETTING CHANGE
After the first half of this season, it's been noticed that the pitchers aren't tiring or being curbed as in previous seasons. This is because some wires were crossed in the new 5.75 game with the pitcher durability settings. This has been corrected and set to Late 20th century, so the pitchers (especially those who didn't pitch much in real life) are going to tire more quickly if overused, as it has been in previous seasons of this glorious league.

Posted by Ed on 5/12
SPITBALL MADNESS?
Boise Manager accuses Minnesota pitchers of throwing a spit ball after putting up 7 errors in the 3 game series. Badgers' manager (Commissioner's note: and former Sacramento Quakes player) Jay Buhner said players complained of the ball being slicker than normal accounting for the 7 errors.

Third baseman Will Middlebrooks was overheard in the locker room saying, "Clay Buchholz was one of the starting pitchers in the series."

No word whether Buhner plans on contacting the commissioner about this matter.

Posted by Trump Enterprises on 5/12
All I can say is that Carlos Marmol is quite possibly THE worst pitcher ever.  How he got this far is beyond me.  This is not a good team.

**Response by SDX International on 5/12

Au contraire, Daddy-O. Carlos Marmol might be the best pitcher ever, you dig? When we see him take the hill, why we start jumpin' and jivin' like we just got called down as a contestant on The Price is Right. If you say you're disturbed when he pitches, well, then, ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh, we're DOWN with the sickness!

And Nelson Cruz! Come on down! Maybe you DO have a use outside of making sure there's enough weight on the bench in case of temporary gravity loss! This sweep was almost better than a five-dollar bet on the yo. Time to place the sixes and eights, gents, even though we still have a fine selection of players for sale.

Posted by ACE3 on 5/12
ACE3 TEAMS TREAT FANS TO THRILLING SERIES IN BIRMINGHAM
All games were tightly contested with the 3rd game a pitcher's classic going to Birmingham 2-1 and both pitchers going the distance and each with at least 10 Ks in the matchup.

Posted by SDX International on 5/11
ORLANDO GETS TWO OF THREE
Nice when Bernadina and Gentry can finally play -- even at the same time. Team still isn't going anywhere, even if there's a magical playoff run.

Posted by ASPN Final Score on 5/7
INDIANA TAKES EAST LEAD
But will they hold on to it this time? It's still too early to speculate, especially when the entire division is within five games of them right now. Rhode Island and Atlantic City, who both lost their week 10 series, stand 1 game back, while New Jersey returned to the XBL playoff picture by beating in-state rivals Atlantic City 2-1 last week, stand three games back of the division lead. Even Memphis, has hit a hot streak, winning eight of their past 10 games, are in last place, but only five games behind the division lead. With four teams in line to qualify for the playoffs, this is a complete 180 from the race last year, when the division lead hung around .500 for most of the season.

Indiana and Atlantic City head west to San Jose and Tucson, respectively, while Rhode Island heads for the Hizzouse and Memphis takes on Wichita in their F-5 ballpark.

WEST AND NORTH DEADLOCKED
Minnesota and Calgary went a combined 1-5 last week, and as a result, find themselves tied atop the north division heading into week 11. Boise, in their second season of existence, is only a game and a half behind that duo thanks to their series win over Calgary last week. Minnesota takes on Boise in potato country this week, while Calgary has a much more difficult task of heading into Oklahoma, who is running away with the south at the moment.

A-way out west....well....there are these teams we wanna tell you about.....not especially great teams....well durn, they look like the east last year. Tucson and Spokane are in a first place tie at 16-14, with Vegas only a game out, though by reading SDX posts, you'd think they were about 10 games out right now. Everyone has been beating up on first-to-last contender Omaha, who underwent an ownership change right after this year's draft, and currently stand at 8-22. Spokane plays at home against flailing Sacramento, while Tucson is hosting Atlantic City, and Vegas, who evidently came out of the closet last week, head to somewhere in the Tri-State Area to take on Armada BC, who is rumored to be in their second and final year of operation.

TRADING DEADLINE FIVE WEEKS AWAY
Still a ways off, but reminding all that the XBL trading deadline and free agent pile freeze will occur at 10:00 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, July 11 (before week 16 games begin). All trades must be approved by all parties involved and confirmed via e-mail to the commissioner's office before that time to be considered legal. All free agent claims (and corresponding drops) must be in before this time as well. No trades may be made between this time and the end of the playoffs. No free agent claims may be made between this time and the end of the 2013 XBL Draft.

Posted by ACE3 Enterprises (Curt) on 5/6
ACE3 has resumed operations!

Posted by Gail on 5/6
Rumors fly as 2 top staffers are reportedly flying the coop from Rhode Island. No official word from the Peanuts front office.
http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2013/05/06

Posted by Bruce on 5/5

MEMPHIS SWEEP OVER PEANUTS
Memphis sweeps Rhode Island while the Vacant Lot gets their pitcher’s mountain rebuilt, and then they found it needed a patting down. So long as they kept the trademark up on the bats.

   
*Reply by Gail on 5/5  

That’s because Memphis cheated by not playing squeeze squash applesauce before the game.  It was in the contract, Snoopy showed me the claws and everything.

Posted by Trump Enterprises on 5/5
The homeless Armada Baseball Club took two out of three from the Rage, shutting them out twice.  “Not bad for a team that doesn’t have a permanent home, we had to play at a high school field early in the morning the second and third game, that is probably what rattled the Rage.” – Donald Trump.

*Reply by SDX International on 5/6
What rattled the Rage is that they suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Posted by Larry on 5/1
STARS TAKE 2 OF 3 FROM CRAPPERS
Game 2 was stopped in the seventh inning with Indiana leading due to a Las Vegas national press conference. To everyone's surprise, the entire team announced that they were coming out of the closet.  President Obama called the club house and said they were all heroes.  To a man they thanked Scott Andera for taking this big step.  Once they saw him courageously take off his shirt during the XBL draft, there was no stopping them.  Walking after 4 balls has taken on a whole new meaning.