NALB - 2007 Regular Season Ends

K. Fields
2008-11-08T19:11:52-05:00
Baseball

North American League Baseball’s three super-powers shattered records in this historic season. The Brooklyn Knights, Stade Maples, and Cornfield Axemen all won at least 110 games. The Knights bested the single season record for victories with an amazing 126. The Vancouver Wild and St. James Crusaders battled down to the wire for their division title. The Wild prevailed and will make their first playoff appearance in franchise history.

Stade’s Roberto Rentería won the League 2 batting title with an impressive .349 average. A new single season batting record was set by Brooklyn’s Gary Mccreery as he won the League 1 title with an amazing .370 average.

The League Series match-ups are set:
Cornfield Axemen (110-52) vs. Brooklyn Knights (126-36)
Vancouver Wild (85-77) vs. Stade Maples (113-49)

Playoff injury report:
The Axemen experienced a devastating blow when their ace pitcher, Hap Bedford, strained a bicep tendon in his last start of the season against the Las Vegas Luck. Although the injury wasn’t that serious, it was enough to keep him off of the playoff roster. Back in June, Cornfield’s starting third baseman and leadoff hitter Ricky Agganis suffered a fractured skull and was lost for the season.

The Knights enter the playoffs relatively healthy. Marcus Branson has been out with a broken wrist but should be ready to play in game 2 of the League Series.

The Wild enter the playoff with a banged up pitching staff. In May, they lost two pitchers to season ending injuries: reliever Jose Pascua with back problems and starter Rafael Maria with an elbow injury. In August, starting pitcher Glenn Torrealba was injured and lost for the season. The jubilation of winning their division for the first time was dampened somewhat when starting pitcher Fielder Scarce was injured on the final day of the regular season. He tore a back muscle and will miss a good portion of next season.

The Maples placed starter Jose Smith on the 15 day disabled list back on September 22. Other than that, they are healthy and ready to go.