Posted by ASPN Insider on 7/31
ROAD TEAMS WIN FIVE OF FIRST EIGHT PLAYOFF GAMES
The 2009 XBL Playoffs got under way this week, with the top half of the bracket pretty much going to plan. Oklahoma took two from eighth-seed San Jose and fourth seeded Indiana split two games at home with fifth-seeded Calgary.

The surprises took place in the bottom half of the playoff bracket where the road team won all four games, and Atlantic City and New Jersey stand one win away from a place in the XBL semifinals. Here is a short recap of the quarterfinals thus far:

(1) Oklahoma Rockhounds vs. (8) San Jose Stealth
Oklahoma kept rolling with a pair of 6-2 wins to open their quarterfinal series against the San Jose Stealth. Brandon Phillips was ejected in the top of the second inning after being picked off first by Stealth starter Josh Beckett. The Rockhounds were still able to score three times in the first inning, which was more than enough for Zack Grienke to hold for eight innings.

Game two was scoreless until the fifth inning, when Scott Podsednik led off the inning with a triple, and scored on a Justin Upton double. Oklahoma responded with four runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth, and added two more in the eighth, giving the Rockhounds enough of a cushion to send the team out west, up 2 games to 0.

(4) Indiana Stars vs. (5) Calgary Cowboys
The first game between these teams was a back-and-forth affair, the teams trading runs, and Calgary taking a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning, as Matt Kemp scored for the second time on a sacrifice fly. Manager Rick Lysander sent in Brian Wilson to close the game, a departure from Trevor Hoffman, who blew a few games down the stretch. Wilson didn't do any better, as the first batter he faced, Randy Ruiz tied the game on a home run to dead center field. Two batters later Chone Figgins tripled, and Lysander pulled Wilson for Dan Meyer, who put A. J. Pierzynski on, and got Carl Crawford to ground out, and then intentionally walked Ben Zobrist. But it was for naught, as Garret Jones dropped one into right field to score the winning run, giving the Stars the first game of the series.

Calgary came back to the stadium for game two on a mission. They got seven good innings from rookie starting pitcher Tommy Hanson and home runs from Jayson Werth, Prince Fielder, and Matt Holliday to run up eight runs in the first four innings, eventually winning 8-3, sending the series back to Calgary tied at one game each.

(3) Orlando Rage vs. (6) Atlantic City Trumps
In what the Rage front office simply called a disaster, the Rage couldn't mount much against the league's hottest team going into these playoffs. The Trumps were 20-13 in the second half of the season, including finishing the season on an 11-2 run.

"Our team can beat any other team in this league right now." Trumps' manager Pete Rose said before the series began.

The Trumps' players made that stand up in a big way, winning the first two games in Orlando. Adam Wainwright opened the series, tossing a three-hit shutout in game one, and the Trumps' bats truly came alive in game two, scoring 13 runs on 17 hits in a game that was out of hand by the seventh inning. Both catcher Victor Martinez and second baseman Placido Polanco were injured during the second game, but should both be able to play in game three, the Trumps' first home playoff game ever.

(2) Minnesota Marshals vs. (7) New Jersey Rhinos
Minnesota came stumbling into the playoffs, despite being the second team to clinch their playoff berth (7-8 the final five weeks), and it showed in the opening two playoff games. Though the Marhsals drew first blood in the bottom of the first inning on a Jason Bay sacrifice fly, the Rhinos got serious and responded with a run of their own in the fourth. After Marshals' starter Jair Jurrjens was lifted in  the eighth inning, Nate Reimold cracked a grand slam to give the Rhinos the lead 5-1. George Sherrill finished the game and gave New Jersey the opening game win.

The second game was pitching-optional. Neither starter (Jonathan Sanchez for New Jersey, Ubaldo Jiminez for Minnesota) went beyond the sixth inning, as the teams traded four runs each in the first two innings. The game was tied 5-5 going into the sixth, but Yunel Escobar got a two-out double that scored both Daniel Murphy and Nate McLouth. The Rhinos' bullpen allowed only three hits the rest of the way to give them a 2-0 series lead heading back to the Hizzouse.

Posted by SDX International on 7/31
That was a g-damn disaster, but at least we inflicted pain in the second game.

Think we were handed loaded dice. Just a complete failure. We were dominated. Still not sure why or how.

Posted by Jason on 7/28
OKLAHOMA TAKES TWO
Great pitching by the Rockhounds and timely homers by Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer and Jacoby Ellsbury give the Rockhounds a 2-0 lead over the San Jose Stealth.

Posted by Jason on 7/28
NEW JERSEY SNEAKS TWO WINS
Yunel Escobar single handedly won game two as the Rhinos got serious enough to take a 2-0 lead over the Marshals.

”Now we have to stay serious on our trip home and seriously play hard.” Rhinos' manager Rick Leach said after the second game.

Posted by ASPN Insider on 7/25
FINAL LEAGUE LEADERS
In the next few days, a finalist list for the league awards will go out to owners to vote on the league awards. Results will be published after the first round of the playoffs. For now, here are the official stat leaders for the 2009 XBL season:

BATTING LEADERS
BATTING AVERAGE: Derrek Lee, Sacramento - .355
SLUGGING AVERAGE: Jason Bay, Minnesota - .661
ON BASE PERCENTAGE: Derrek Lee, Sacramento - .442
RUNS SCORED: Hanley Ramirez, New Jersey - 56
RUNS BATTED IN: Pablo Sandoval, Memphis - 73
DOUBLES: Matt Holliday, Calgary - 26
TRIPLES: Denard Span, Calgary; Shane Victorino, Wichita - 6
HOME RUNS: Jason Bay, Minnesota - 24
WALKS: Adrian Gonzalez, Orlando - 53
STOLEN BASES: Jacoby Ellsbury, Oklahoma; Carl Crawford, Indiana - 28

PITCHING LEADERS
WINS: CC Sabathia, Birmingham - 10
ERA, STARTING: Adam Wainwright, Atlantic City - 2.01
INNINGS PITCHED, STARTING: Felix Hernandez, Indiana - 121.0
COMPLETE GAMES: Matt Cain, San Jose - 9
SHUTOUTS: Chad Billingsley, Birmingham; Adam Wainwright, Atlantic City - 3
STRIKEOUTS, STARTING: Zack Grienke, Oklahoma - 119
HITS PER 9IP, STARTING: Chris Carpenter, Sacramento - 4.0
WALKS PER 9IP, STARTING: Roy Halladay, Tucson - 0.6
HOME RUNS PER 9IP, STARTING: Nick Blackburn, Minnesota - 0.21
SAVES: George Sherrill, New Jersey - 17
ERA, RELIEVING: Mariano Rivera, Atlantic City - 0.40
INNINGS PITCHED, RELIEVING: Nick Masset, Nashville - 53.1
STRIKEOUTS, RELIEVING: Nick Masset, Nashville - 47
HITS PER 9IP, RELIEVING: Joe Nathan, Orlando - 3.1
WALKS PER 9IP, RELIEVING: Brian Fuentes, Atlantic City - 0.4
HOME RUNS PER 9IP, RELIEVING: 3 tied with 0.00

Posted by Commissioner's Office on 7/25
2010 XBL DRAFT INFO
The 2010 XBL draft will likely take place at some point during the last two weeks of February, whenever it works best for as many owners as possible to be present. The draft will work same as last year. All teams will reduce their total rosters to 25 players before the draft. The draft will be 10 rounds of live draft, followed by 5 rounds of auto-draft by the robot GMs to fill out the rosters.

There will be a draft lottery to decide the first three picks in the coming draft, to take place after the semifinals and before the World Series. The 10 non-playoff teams are given weighted chances to win those picks. In all other rounds, the draft order will be by inverse order of their 2009 regular season records.

Here is the base draft order for the 2010 draft (draft lottery/trades/free agent re-signings will alter the first round)

1. Wichita (16-50, 28% chance at 1st pick)
2. Buffalo (20-46, 22%)
3. Las Vegas (24-42, 15%)
4. Memphis (28-38, 10%)
5. Nashville (29-27, 8%)
6. Birmingham (32-34, 7%)
7. Omaha (33-33, 4%)
8. Rhode Island (33-33, 3%)
9. Sacramento (33-33, 2%)
10. Tucson (34-32, 1%)
----------------------------
11. San Jose (34-32)
12. New Jersey (35-31)
13. Atlantic City (36-30)
14. Orlando (39-27)
15. Calgary (39-27)
16. Indiana (40-26)
17. Minnesota (43-23)
18. Oklahoma (46-20)

Posted by Commissioner's Office on 7/25
XBL PLAYOFFS INFO

XBL Playoffs Bracket matchups:
(8) San Jose Stealth (34-32)
(1) Oklahoma Rockhounds (46-20)

(5) Calgary Cowboys (39-27)
(4) Indiana Stars (40-26)

(6) Atlantic City Trumps (36-30)
(3) Orlando Rage (39-27)

(7) New Jersey Rhinos (35-31)
(2) Minnesota Marshals (43-23)

*There will be no re-seeding between rounds

*Quarterfinals are a best-of-five, semifinals and XBL World Series are best-of-seven

*All rounds are run to a two-week deadline. You will have until 10:00 p.m. CDT Tuesday, July 27 to set your rosters and first three starting pitchers for the series. Once play begins, no players may be shuffled between minor and major leagues until the end of the series.

* Games 1 and 2 will be set to a deadline of 10:00 p.m. CDT on Saturday, July 31. The c-file will be turned around that night. Games 3 and 4 are then due back at 10:00 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, August 4. As Jason is out of town the week of August 1-8, the series deadline will be moved to Monday, August 9. Semifinals will run to a Sunday, August 22 deadline, and the XBL World Series to a Sunday, September 6 deadline.

* Player status and injuries will be carried over to the postseason, but the games will be increased to allow players at RUse 0% to play in the postseason, as the season limitations were only set for the regular season.

Posted by ASPN Final Score on 7/25
10TH REGULAR SEASON IN THE BOOKS WITH 11TH HOUR PLAYOFF BERTH CLINCH
The 2009 XBL regular season drew to a close tonight with a mad scramble for the final playoff spot that changed hands twice throughout the day.

First Atlantic City swept past Orlando and nabbed their first-ever playoff appearance and their 36-30 season record netted the Trumps second place in the eastern division. The Trumps will now head to Florida to face the Rage in the XBL Quarterfinals.

As for that last playoff spot, Birmingham lost twice to Rhode Island and were knocked out of any contention. Tucson headed to Sacramento with the winner of the series all but guaranteed the last playoff spot, Tucson won two, but had to wait for a San Jose loss in Oklahoma that didn't come. With San Jose's 14-0 shellacking of Oklahoma on the final day of the season, the Stealth walked off into the night with the eighth and final playoff spot for the 2009 playoffs, leaving both Sacramento and Tucson at the altar yet again.

San Jose will stay in Oklahoma for the quarterfinals' first two games, while Calgary takes on Indiana in one of the most evenly-matched playoff series this league has seen, while traditional XBL foes renew their championship feuds from 2002 and 2003 when New Jersey takes on Minnesota.

Posted by Brian on 7/25
AC SWEEPS ORLANDO
The Donald was very pleased with the Trumps home sweep of the Orlando Rage, clinching the team's first playoff berth in their history, and coupled with a Buffalo sweep of New Jersey, gave the Trumps second place and a playoff date with the Rage.

The Donald was very pleased, and is possibly planning to have Bret Michaels, the most recent winner of Celebrity Apprentice, either perform the National Anthem or possibly some pre-game performances before games 3 and 4 against the Rage in the opening series.

Posted by ACE3 Enterprises on 7/25
PEANUTS ALSO FINISH WITH .500 RECORD
The Bombers had a very good shot at a playoff spot, if they could pull off a series win against the Rhode Island Peanuts.

It was not to be, as the Peanuts returned to their first-half form and took down the Bombers in two of the three games, knocking the Bombers out of the playoff running and giving the Peanuts a .500 record for the season, their best in several seasons.

Posted by Gail on 7/24
TORNADOES CONTINUE TOSSING BP TO ROWDIES
The carnage continued in Omaha after the Rowdies laid waste to the Tornadoes in Wichita as the Rowdies scored 24 runs on 7 homers in the 3 game series.

The younger members of the Rowdies weren’t overly impressed by the wins or the runs being scored, but were enamored by meeting Tornado pitcher Jamie Moyer.  Overheard were questions like, ‘What was it like playing with shoeless Joe Jackson’ or ‘did you learn that pitch from Dizzy Dean?"

The four-game sweep enabled the Rowdies to finish the season with an even .500 mark (33-33), and gave the Tornadoes the dubious mark of being the first team in XBL history with 50 losses, finishing their '09 campaign 16-50.

Posted by ACE3 Enterprises on 7/21
TORNADOES TOSS BATTING PRACTICE IN RAINOUT MAKE-UP
In the make up game between the Omaha Rowdies and Wichita Tornadoes, it appeared that the Rowdies were the only team to show up, with the Tornado pitchers throwing batting practice to the Rowdies in a 20-0 drubbing and Pedro Martinez going the distance for the Rowdies giving up only 5 hits in the game.

Posted by ASPN Insider on 7/19
CURRENT PLAYOFF STANDING
1. Oklahoma (xx)     46-17
2. Minnesota (x)      42-21
3. Orlando (x)          39-24
4. Indiana (y)          38-25
5. Calgary (y)          36-27
6. New Jersey (y)     35-28
7. Atlantic City        33-30
8. Sacramento         32-31
--------------------------------------------------------------
9. Tucson                32-31
10. Birmingham        31-32
11. San Jose            31-32

Posted by ASPN Final Score on 7/18
ONE WEEK LEFT
Week 21 came and went, and now all three divisions have been clinched, and the top three seeds have been locked in. Three others (Calgary, New Jersey and Indiana) have clinched their playoff berths. The final week features five teams fighting for the final two playoff playoff spots. We'll take a short look at each of these, and a few others:

OMAHA (29-33)
The Rowdies have fought hard and hold third place in the central division, but sadly this valiant attempt will be for naught. For even with a four-game sweep over Wichita, they lose far too many tie-breakers to leapfrog into the playoffs.

RHODE ISLAND (31-32)
Possibly the cruellest second half. Despite the Peanuts' great first half, they backslid in the second half big time, and even if they sweep Birmingham in the final week, again they lose every possible tiebreaker against other teams that can reach 33 or 34 wins. This will still be the Peanuts' best season since their near-playoff run in 2002.

SAN JOSE (31-32)
Any permutation involving the Stealth getting to the playoff bracket involves San Jose sweeping Oklahoma. On the road. Even against the Rockhounds' JV squad, that isn't likely to happen.

BIRMINGHAM (31-32)
Hold tiebreakers against Sacramento, Atlantic City and San Jose, so a sweep of Rhode Island in the final week sets the Bombers up quite nicely for a playoff spot. Two wins will only help if the Trumps manage to get swept this week.

TUCSON (32-31)
Very simply, the Cacti are in if they win their series in Sacramento this week. They're out if they don't.

SACRAMENTO (32-31)
A sweep of Tucson puts the Quakes in the playoffs. A 2-1 series win does as well, if Birimingham loses a game to Rhode Island. Things get really difficult if the Quakes win once, and they miss the playoffs for sure if they get swept.

ATLANTIC CITY (33-30)
Two wins over Orlando give the Trumps their first-ever playoff berth. One win will do the trick, provided Birmingham loses once. They're still in a decent position if they don't win another game, but would need outside help from four different teams.

Posted by SDX International on 7/18
RAGE WIN 2, TAKE EASTERN DIVISION TITLE
The Rage would like to thank the Rockhounds for allowing us to play Oklahoma's Triple-A team during the series. We hope the Rockhounds' regulars were served properly on their trip to the French Riviera.

Posted by Jason on 7/18
GARZA THE DESIGNATED HITTER?
In game three starting pitcher Matt Garza was forced to be the Peanuts' DH because of the many injuries to their position players. Garza scored the only run of the game after singling.

Meanwhile Jason Bay’s homer barrage continues and even his own coach is suspecting PEDs in his diet.

“Dude looks a little too big if you know what I mean.” said coach Mark McGwire.

Posted by ASPN Insider on 7/11
CURRENT PLAYOFF STANDING
1. Oklahoma (x)       45-15
2. Minnesota (y)       40-20
3. Orlando (y)          37-23
4. Indiana               35-25
5. Calgary                34-26
6. New Jersey           33-27
7. Sacramento          31-29
8. Atlantic City         31-29
---------------------------------------------------------------------
9. San Jose              30-30
10. Tucson               30-30
11. Rhode Island      30-30
12. Birmingham        29-31

Posted by APA Enterprises on 7/11
After gettin the internet issue at my mother-in-law's house figured out I finally have internet so I could play my games this week.

Posted by Jason in response to SDX International on 7/11
Jonathan Sanchez has a 9.10 ERA and yet he stays in the rotation. Manager Rick Leach admits that he has a soft spot for Sanchez.

“I know he’s struggled but when he begs and gives me that puppy dog look I just can’t say no. He’s definitely not dirty.”

Posted by SDX International on 7/10
RAGE TAKES SERIES
A public apology from Orlando Rage manager Stewart Gilligan Griffin:

"It seems our inevitable meeting with world domination has hit a speed bump, and to the dull-witted termagants who follow the exploits of our punchless wonders, I can only say that when victory is ours, your deaths shall be quick and painless."

At this point, Greatest Pitcher in The Universe John Smoltz, never one to shy from bombastic statements, stepped in to cut off Griffin: "We ain't gonna win much of anything while our offensive stats are down there with the cruddy Slammers and ... dear lord ... the Bolts. Plus the Rhinos are still dangerous. So you might want to hold off a bit on this world domin.."
"SILENCE! You shall rue the day you doubted the dominance! And how DARE you talk about dangerous Rhinos! That's so ridiculous it's like the time the excitable fat one thought he was a Rockette."

(Video board shows a bear coming on screen to chomp on Peter's bare legs after he tries a high kick and gets his foot stuck in the wall)

Stewie: "Yes, very well. Now where were we? Oh yes! Dangerous Rhinos. Ha! That's so funny I forgot to laugh. Except for that last "ha." And that one. There's no reason to fear that team. The only reason they even got one game from us is because Magnus ver Magnusson dropped by my office before the game, offered to help me with some squat thrusts and, well, ahem. Let's just say that if I'm not there, this merry band of .240 hitters who should be hitting closer to .280 is lucky to get a half-dozen hits. Shameful."
 

Posted by ASPN Insider on 7/5
CURRENT PLAYOFF STANDING
1. Oklahoma(x)         43-14
2. Minnesota(y)         38-19
3. Orlando                35-22
4. Indiana                35-22
5. New Jersey           32-25
6. Calgary                 32-25
7. Rhode Island         30-27
8. San Jose               29-28
----------------------------------------------------------
9. Tucson                  29-28
10. Sacramento          28-29
11. Birmingham          28-29
12. Atlantic City         28-29
13. Nashville             26-31

Posted by ASPN Final Score on 7/5
OKLAHOMA CLINCHES WEST, SIX PLAYOFF SPOTS REMAIN UNCLAIMED
With a sweep of yet another central division team, the Oklahoma Rockhounds clinched the western division title, and now hold an 11-game lead. Minnesota, even though they got swept by bitter rivals Omaha, still managed to clinch their playoff berth last week as well.

Orlando swept by Nashville, and held New Jersey, who swept by Wichita, off their backs in the Eastern division. Rhode Island took care of the helpless Buffalo Bolts, now managed by Zap Branigan (as if it made a difference with that team), and the Peanuts climbed back into the playoff table. San Jose managed to hold on to the eighth and final spot, but there are four teams (Tucson, Birmingham, Atlantic City and Sacramento) hot on their tails.

This week, a HUGE eastern divsion series takes place in Florida, where the New Jersey and Orlando will do battle. Orlando will clinch the east with a sweep in this series, so long as Rhode Island drops one to Sacramento at home.

Tucson looks to make their way back into the playoffs in Minnesota, but have to play better than their 9-18 road record says. Atlantic City is playing in Indiana this week trying to do the same, while Indiana is still trying to chase down Minnesota.

Three weeks to play, nine games. In that time, there will be many teams scrambling for a few playoff spots.

Posted by Brian on 7/4
QUAKES TAKE TWO FROM INDIANA
Miguel Cabrera hits two key home runs against Phil Hughes to help take the series.

Posted by Jason on 7/3
OKLAHOMA CLINCHES WEST
The Rockhounds became the first team to clinch thier division by sweeping the Memphis Maniax last week. Their magic number to clinch the top seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs is now five.

"It was a hard year but somehow we managed to keep it together," manager Tony Gwynn said. "The bats were really on this year. I think we averaged over 7 runs per game this year with a .300+ batting average. That’s something the guys can be proud of."

The Rockhounds head west to San Jose this week to close in on clinching the top playoff spot.

Posted by Jason on 7/3
I don't know how many homers we hit in that Oklahoma series but it was a lot.

EDITOR'S NOTE: There were nine total home runs, seven by the Rockhounds. Thank you for sweeping our team again.