After winning the 2020 Sigma Eta League championship, the Apalachin Attack were promoted to the Silver .309 League. We started slowly in April and bottomed out in May. At one point, we were 14 games under .500. We never had a losing month after that, however. Our fielding was atrocious at first. We committed 13 errors in the first 8 games. After digging ourselves a deep hole, the playoffs were a long shot. The Attack got hot, however, winning the final six games of the season. Our 84-79 record was good enough to qualify for a wild card spot. Unfortunately, we failed to qualify for the playoffs because we tied with the Budget Gangsters, which had a better head to head record against us.

Our offense was somewhat disappointing. Several players failed to match their 2020 seasons. Javier Baez, in particular, could not continue his torrid production from the past two seasons. I signed Cal Ripken as my new shortstop and he added some punch to our lineup down the stretch. I also signed Kyle Tucker, a promising up and comer, late in the season. He struggled mightily at the plate and was ineffective as a leadoff hitter. Once again, Larry Dierker was tremendous as the backbone of our pitching staff. Dierker led the league in wins with a 22-9 record. Roenis Elias never clicked in 2021 so I eventually called Randy Jones back from the reserve roster to replace him. That move worked out great and Jones really helped keep us in playoff contention down the stretch.

Active Roster (Initial)
SP Larry Dierker, HOU, 1969
SP RP Roenis Elias, SEA, 2018
SP Herb Pennock, NYY, 1927
SP Gaylord Perry, CLE, 1972
SP Zack Wheeler, NYM, 2018
RP Joe A Berry, PHA, 1944
RP Archie Bradley, ARI, 2018
RP Doug Corbett, MIN, 1980
RP Jeremy Jeffress, MIL, 2018
RP James Pazos, SEA, 2018
CL Roberto Osuna, HOU, 2018
CL Sean Doolittle, WAS, 2018
C Wellington Castillo, CWS, 2018
C Jody Davis, CHC, 1984
1B Gil Hodges, BRO, 1950
1B Anthony Rizzo, CHC, 2018
2B Javier Baez, CHC, 2018
3B David Freese, STL, 2011
3B Ryan Zimmerman, WAS, 2009
SS Willy Adames, TB, 2018
LF Eddie Rosario, MIN, 2018
LF Giancarlo Stanton, NYY, 2018
CF Torii Hunter, MIN, 2007
RF Nicholas Castellanos, DET, 2018
RF Paul Waner, PIT, PEAK

Reserve Roster (Initial)
SP Vern Bickford, BSN, 1950
SP Randy Jones, SD, 1975
RP Adam Kolarek, TB, 2018
RP Brad Wieck, SD, 2018
1B Mark Reynolds, WAS, 2018
SS Addison Russell, CHI, 2018
LF Derek Dietrich, MIA, 2018
RF Nick Markakis, ATL, 2018

Acquisitions
SS Cal Ripken Jr, BAL, 1983
RP Craig Stammen, SD, 2018
LF Kyle Tucker, HOU, 2018

After putting Half-Life on hiatus due to frequent motion sickness, I decided to give it another try. At first, things were much better. I finished a couple more levels without experiencing any serious motion sickness. For whatever reason, the next level (“Power Up&rdquo was not as kind to me. By the time I completed it, I felt ill. Therefore, I think I need to shelve this game for good. It is a very good FPS title but I don’t think I can stomach going through another dozen levels or so.

For the 2020 season, the Apalachin Attack was assigned to the National Conference West Division of the Sigma Eta League. As with 2019, Apalachin was going to compete in a Bronze Level league. After last season’s struggles, I knew we needed to address our pitching staff. I signed a new starter, Larry Dierker, at the beginning of the season. He went 15-10 with a 2.98 ERA and 198 strikeouts, which made him one of the best in the league. Late in the season, I added Gaylord Perry to replace Randy Jones in the rotation. Perry’s contribution was certainly an upgrade over Jones: 5-2, 3.84 ERA, 40 K. Our offense continued to deliver the goods as we led the league in scoring. Thanks to our powerful hitting and an improved pitching staff, we easily made the playoffs with a record of 99-63.

In the division series, we defeated the Budget Gangsters three games to one. In the sub-league series, we played the #1 seeded Youngstown Penguins (105-57). We finished that series in five games, defeating the Penguins four games to one. Finally, we played the American Conference champions, the Vancouver Volcanos. We defeated them to win the Sigma Eta League Championship!

Active Roster (Initial)
SP Zack Wheeler, NYM, 2018
SP RP Roenis Elias, SEA, 2018
SP Randy Jones, SD, 1975
SP Herb Pennock, NYY, 1927
SP Vern Bickford, BSN, 1950
RP Joe A Berry, PHA, 1944
RP Archie Bradley, ARI, 2018
RP Doug Corbett, MIN, 1980
RP Jeremy Jeffress, MIL, 2018
RP Adam Kolarek, TB, 2018
CL Roberto Osuna, HOU, 2018
CL Sean Doolittle, WAS, 2018
C Wellington Castillo, CWS, 2018
C Jody Davis, CHC, 1984
1B Gil Hodges, BRO, 1950
1B Anthony Rizzo, CHC, 2018
2B Javier Baez, CHC, 2018
3B David Freese, STL, 2011
3B Ryan Zimmerman, WAS, 2009
SS Willy Adames, TB, 2018
LF Eddie Rosario, MIN, 2018
LF Giancarlo Stanton, NYY, 2018
CF Torii Hunter, MIN, 2007
RF Nicholas Castellanos, DET, 2018
RF Paul Waner, PIT, PEAK (1927)

Reserve Roster (Initial)
SP Charlie Robertson, CWS, 1922
RP James Pazos, SEA, 2018
SS Addison Russell, CHI, 2018
RF Nick Markakis, ATL, 2018

Acquisitions
SP Larry Dierker, HOU, 1969
Standard Pack
• RP D.J. Johnson, COL, 2018
• RP Jake Newberry, KC, 2018
• RP Brad Wieck, SD, 2018
• 1B Chris Davis, BAL, 2018
• 1B Mark Reynolds, WAS, 2018
• LF Derek Dietrich, MIA, 2018
SP Gaylord Perry, CLE, 1972

After finishing a season in the Entry Pool, the Apalachin Attack was assigned to the bronze level Iona Zeta League in the American Conference Central Division. For most of the season, we played a little better than we did in the Entry Pool. In July, we peaked at eight games above .500. I thought we had a reasonable shot at a Wild Card spot. Unfortunately, we faded down the stretch and failed to make the playoffs. After losing our final two games, we finished at 81-81.

I made a handful of roster changes throughout the season. There was one acquisition that stood head and shoulders above the rest—Javier Baez. We acquired Baez to play second base and moved Willy Adames from second base to shortstop. I hated to remove SS Addison Russell from the roster because his fielding was so good. However, I decided to trade his glove for Baez’s bat and it paid off big time. In less than half a season, Baez made quite an impact in just 61 games: .344 AVG, 25 2B, 3 3B, 11 HR, 38 R, and 45 RBI. Our pitching was quite poor and almost always near the bottom of the league. Herb Pennock (15-12, 3.82 ERA) was probably the lone bright spot in the starting rotation.

Active Roster (Initial)
SP Zack Wheeler, NYM, 2018
SP RP Roenis Elias, SEA, 2018
SP Herb Pennock, NYY, 1927
SP Charlie Robertson, CWS, 1922
SP Vern Bickford, BSN, 1950
RP Robert Gsellman, NYM, 2018
RP Joe A Berry, PHA, 1944
RP Archie Bradley, ARI, 2018
RP Doug Corbett, MIN, 1980
RP Adam Kolarek, TB, 2018
RP Dominic Leone, STL, 2018
RP James Pazos, SEA, 2018
CL Roberto Osuna, HOU, 2018
C Wellington Castillo, CWS, 2018
C Jody Davis, CHC, 1984
1B Gil Hodges, BRO, 1950
1B Anthony Rizzo, CHC, 2018
2B Willy Adames, TB, 2018
3B David Freese, STL, 2011
3B Ryan Zimmerman, WAS, 2009
SS Addison Russell, CHC, 2018
LF Eddie Rosario, MIN, 2018
LF Giancarlo Stanton, NYY, 2018
CF Torii Hunter, MIN, 2007
RF Nicholas Castellanos, DET, 2018
RF Nick Markakis, ATL, 2018

Reserve Roster (Initial)
SP Jake Arrieta, PHI, 2018
SP Andrew Heaney, LAA, 2018
SP Sal Maglie, NYG, 1954
SP Daniel Mengden, OAK, 2018
SP Trevor Williams, PIT, 2018
RP Dick Hall, BAL, 1964
RP Pat Neshek, PHI, 2018

Acquisitions
CL Sean Doolittle, WAS, 2018
SS Javier Baez, CHC, 2018
SP Randy Jones, SD, 1975
RF Paul Waner, PIT, PEAK (1927)
RP Jeremy Jeffress, MIL, 2018