The Northern States League

Newsletter #542- October 31st, 2024

 

COOPER BLASTS THE SCHMIDT 9-4 IN ALL-STAR GAME.  SCHWARBER WITH A GRAND SLAM TO BASICALLY WIN IT.  APBA CARDED LIST IS OUT JUST 12 HOURS AFTER THE WORLD SERIES ENDS.  VERSION 6.0?  DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON IT YET.  MOST DIVISIONS ARE CLOSE TO DECCIDED, BUT  16 FRANCHISES ARE STILL IN GREAT SHAPE IN THE WILD CARDS.

 

Dear Members,

 

Those of you with Halloween masks on be sure to take them off tonight before you play any NSL games.  I’d hate to hear that you scared your opponent into a few wins.  Like many of you, I’ll likely have some sugar highs tonight- hope we got enough candy.

 

I haven’t heard from Sheri Mickley to see how she is handling the Yankees collapse.  Maybe she’ll chime in here sometime when the hurt has gone away.

 

October has been completed and the races remain status quo- at least for the divisions.  Meanwhile, the wild cards are in complete chaos.  Here is what is happening around the league.

 

Series #16 results:

Sou 0 at IN 4, IN 2 at Sou 2                           Cre 3 at GB 1, GB 3 at Cre 1

VT 3 at GM 1, GM 1 at VT 3                         EY 2 at Cle 2, Cle 2 at EY 2

Alb 2 at Mar 2, Mar 1 at Alb 3                       Kal 3 at Gle 1, Gle 1 at Kal 3

Cro 1 at Dun 3, Dun 2 at Cro 2                       Key 2 at SL 2, SL 3 at Key 1

Coa 2 at Lon 2, Lon 2 at Coa 2                       Yk 0 at Fra 4, Fra 2 at Yk 2

GP 2 at NE 2, NE 2 at GP 1 (1 rain)               NH 2 at Cac 2, Cac 0 at NH 4

 

Series #17 results:

Alb 2 at GM 2, GM 1 at Alb 3                       Yk 1 at GB 3, GB 2 at Yk 2

Cro 3 at NE 1, NE 2 at Cro 2                          Cre 2 at Cle 2, Cle 3 at Cre 1

VT 1 at GP 3, GP 2 at VT 2                           SL 2 at Gle 2, Gle 1 at SL 3

IN 1 at Mar 3, Mar 3 at IN 1                           EY 2 at Kal 2, Kal 1 at EY 3

Coa 3 at Dun 1 Dun 1 at Coa 3                       NH 2 at Fra 2, Fra 1 at NH 3

Sou 0 at Lon 4, Lon 2 at Sou 2                       Key 2 at Cac 2, Cac 2 at Key 2

 

We were blessed this month with a pair of possible playoff matchups.  Longstown faced off with Coastal in series #16 and the result was a 4 all tie, while Cleveland met up with East York in the same series with the same result.  Now for sure, wild card teams might make a difference, but should seeding stay on course, this could be your two Conference Series matchups.  Still, it was interesting to see the matchups and further to see the splits.

 

Cleveland isa still in control in the Winfield with a 12-game lead over Sparrow Lake.  With a rugged schedule for the month, the Hit Men were able to finish above .500 with that split against East York and a 5-3 over Creekside. Cleveland appears to be in great shape with the lead and just 40 games left within the division.  Chances are that Sparrow Lake will be one of the wild cards as they currently have a 5-game bulge.  But there are still 3 other divisional teams that are in the running with Kalamazoo leading the way (tied for the 2nd wild card) along with Gulf Breeze.  The ‘varks were only 9-7 for the month, but Kalamazoo posted the same record to keep things as tight as possible.  The ‘zoo plastered Glenville 6-2 before taking a hit vs EY in a 3-5 series.  Gulf Breeze split with Creekside and grabbed 5 from York to stay even.  In the meantime, Frankfort also went 9-7 as they mashed York 6-2 before dropping 5 of 8 to New Hudson.  It just seems as if one of these 3 divisional roommates will take control. Cackalacky boasts the conference leader in SB as they play it out- certainly without question a better team ahead than even last year.

 

East York should be a given for the Brett crown.  Up by 17 games now, I honestly didn’t see this coming.  But Mick’s charges grabbed the common 9-7 month with that split against Cleveland and a 5-3 over the ‘zoo.  But they’re the only team in the division with a plus .500 record.  Creekside and Glenville are knotted at 59-63, putting them both just 2 games out of the 2nd wild card which is owned by Kalamazoo & Gulf Breeze with .500 records.  But a 7-9 by Creekside and 5-11 by Glenville didn’t help much.  The former dropped 6 to Kalamazoo and 5 to Sparrow Lake, while the Crushers split with Gulf Breeze before a 3-5 with Cleveland.  Keystone finished 7-9 this month to at least stay in contact (3 games out of the 2nd wild card).  The C’s took 3 from Sparrow Lake before a split with the Tiger Sharks.  You just wonder which team is going to make a charge in divisional play which is all that is left on the schedule.  York stumbled a bit this month with a 2-6 against Frankfort and 3-5 with the Breeze.  Still just 5 out of the playoffs but a ton of teams to crawl over.  New Hudson rounds it out- giddy after hosting the All-Stars, the Nutjobs blasted Cackalacky 6-2 and Frankfort 5-3 for the best record in the division this month.  Their reward was to get to a dozen out of the wild card.

 

It's no secret that Longstown is the best team in all the land.  They are 4 games better than any other team and currently are 30-8 in the division, which is the schedule they’ll play down the stretch.  They didn’t play extremely well against Coastal (4-4 split) but took 6 of 8 from Southport for another solid month.  Just like the Winfield and the Brett, this division has a trio of teams probably too far behind, yet in the running for the wild cards.  Indiana and Albany are both 64-58, with Albany going 10-6 to make up the ground between he and his brother, while the Imps were limp (ha!) in a 8-8 month.  Albany took 5 of 8 from Marietta and Green Mt while Indiana grabbed 6 from Southport, yet dropped 6 to Marietta in what would have been a huge month for them.  The two clubs are 18 out of first place yet occupy a tie for the 2nd wild card.  Vermont is right there with the brothers Davis with a solid 9-7 month which included a 6-2 over Green Mt and a disappointing 3-5 with Grant Park.  New England went 7-8 this month with a rainout which included a 4-3 series over Grant Park.  Duneland continued to play competitive ball- make that two months in a row- by taking 5 from Crosstown before a dismal 2-6 with Coastal. 

 

Finally, we visit the Murphy- where Coastal is in control, but not as much as the other division leaders.  The highlight was a split against Longstown in series #16.  Jones was able to add on with a 6-2 over Duneland to make it a solid month.  Their closest competition came from Marietta again, as the Georgia Boys played up and down- or make that down and up as they were smashed by Albany in a 3-5 series 16, before a solid 6-2 over Indiana.  Marietta is 7 out of first with still an 8-game series with the Coastal team on the schedule. They also lead the wild card by a comfortable 7 games, which, of course, is the amount they are out of first.  Which way will they go?  Grant Park stayed close to .500 (60-61) thanks to a 5-3 over Vermont in series #17 after a 3-4 with New England.  If there was ever a team that needed a terrific run, it would be the Pandas.  Southport struggled this month to a 4-12 month thanks to a 2-6 with both Indiana and Longstown.  Currently 5 out of the wild card, the Pirates need to grab a few win streaks to get back in it.  Green Mt and Crosstown round things out, out by 13 and 15 in the wild card respectively.  The Canucks won just 5 times this month with a 2-6 against Vermont and a later 3-5 with Albany.  The Clydesdales went 50/50 for the month with a 3-5 with Duneland and 5-3 with New England.

 

Crosstown’s Y.Diaz leads the league in batting average at this point with a .354 mark.  Ohtani checks in with a league leading 39 HR and 89 rbi.  Cleveland’s Civale is in charge of the ERA race (2.28) while Strider of Sparrow Lake was the first to crack 200 Ks. In the “no surprise” department, Longstown has the most runs scored (688) and the most HR (220).  Cleveland allowed the least number of runs (430).  Interesting to me is that the Cooper has 420 errors at this point, while the Schmidt has 764.  The Schmidt leads in batting average (.256-.241) while not surprisingly the Cooper leads in ERA (4.09-4.44).

 

As everyone knows from the web page, the Cooper Conferenbce blasted the Schmidt 9-4 in the annual All-Star Game.  The game was hosted by Michael and New Hudson, and we thank him for playing it.  Schwarber had a grand slam, and Rutschman also left the building for the Cooper.  Harper and Altuve did so for the Schmidt.  Kirby won it, while Peralta dropped it.  Michael’s write up is still on the web page as is the voting.  Thanks, Michael!

 

I saw today that the carded list is out.  Although the game company had a link to it, that didn’t work, but the Between the Lines forum had it and it was easily retrieved.  I can’t do much with it until I get it in Excel format, but it gives you who you can and cannot count on getting a card for 2024.

 

All NSL Members!  November is a 3 series month and traditionally a stumbling block for us.  Please play early if you can and remember that the holidays will be creeping in before you know it. 

 

Version 6.0.  If you’re a computer game player, you likely have heard bits and pieces about it.  I am not a computer wizard, but I think I know a considerable amount about the computer game and will try to share some thoughts here.

 

The game company has always alluded to pirated software.  It is certainly a problem in the industry and I’m not going to go too deep into that.  But version 6.0 of the computer game is out.  The version apparently has fixed the Ohtani debacle regarding him pitching and batting- maybe Dave can help you more on that.  It also addresses some minor issues, but nothing else major that I know of.  Extra innings ghost runners are NOT included in it as it seems most guys want. 

 

However, and most importantly is that 6.0 if loaded in the computer you use for the NSL will overwrite the 5.75 version files and not allow you to access 5.75 files on your computer.  If you must purchase 6.0 and install it, understand that you’ll need to play your games and do your stats through 6.0, and likely most of the other guys in the league will be hanging with 5.75.

 

For now, the NSL will remain on version 5.75.  There appears to be no reason to “upgrade” to 6.0 although I’m sure in the future (perhaps the near future), we’ll all be forced to do so.  Understand that this (in my opinion) has all been driven by the game company stating that they are losing money from pirated data disks (or a perceived losing money from pirated data disks), and eventually things will be such that pirating will not be possible.  But, of course, I share the idea with you that if Miscrosoft can’t do it, how can APBA?  Enough rambling- sorry.

 

Anyway- to further your knowledge on the subject I refer you to some of the APBA gossip boards- I use “Between the Lines” forum on the delphi forums.  True- you get some guys with different ideas on there, but you can cut through the bull and do some meaningful reading at times.

 

That’s it for now.  I’ll be working on the carded list for next year, but for you, remember that November will be a 3 series month.  Santa is warming up the sleighs as we speak!

 

                                                                       

                                                                                    Best Wishes-

 

                                                                                    Rich