Monday, June 08, 2009

Baltimore, Boston, and Boston

Lumbering along. The Orioles league is approaching the halfway mark, with the 1969 team still holding a narrow lead over the 1979ers. Three other teams are lurking a bit further back. My 1966 squad has been playing much better, and slowly has entrenched themselves above .500.

Meanwhile, the Boston Braves Qualification League is underway. This is almost certainly a battle to be won by one of the 19th century teams; the franchise had a dynasty just before the 20th century dawned, and was almost completely inept from 1900 on. The 1897 Beaneaters, winners of the 2nd Cloverland Series, are in the lead with 1893 in second place.

After the Braves finish, I'm considering a Red Sox league. There are a great many teams worthy of consideration as best of the bunch, so I'm setting aside a bye for the 12 pennant winners they've had (from 1903-2007). The league I'm considering playing with next would be a play-in league, to select another 2 (4?) teams to join those 12. The play-in league would draw from the near-great Red Sox teams, from those that lost in a one-game playoff (1948, 1978) or just missed the playoffs (1949, 1977, 1972) to those that made the playoffs and lost in an opening round (1995, 1999, 2003, 1990...). If not these guys, I may choose to play a White Sox or Indians league.