6-Pack Fun, Vol. 1: All-Star Teams

		Coffee Time
		by Carl Coffee

Although we didn’t have divisions or an All-Star game in 2011, we still had All-Star teams. For the first 6-Pack Fun Power Ranking, I will rank the six WSEM All-Star teams.

6.	2011 East	P - Lewis	P - Constanti	H - DeLano	H - B. Hoppe	H - D. Braden
Sure, DeLano was a monster and Lewis was a different pitcher in 2011, but the pitching is too weak and the hitting after DeLano is nothing spectacular.

5.	2012 Garcia	P - M. Constanti	P - Pearson	F - Corbett	F - D. Braden	F - Linebrink
This team lost 10-0 in the 2012 All-Star game and barely edges out the 2011 East team to get the #5 ranking.

4.	2011 South	P - Pearson	P - Comstock	F - Snow	F - Shore	F - C. Coffee
2011 Pearson was at a different level than any other pitcher in the league. Comstock’s finesse style pairs up well with Pearson’s power game. Also, Shore batted over .400 this year.

3.	2013 Ringler	P - Paquin	P - A. Bischoff	F - Bortmas	F - Castle	F - Hewlett
The pitching of the 2013 Ringler team is just a nod worse than the 2013 Garcia, but it is very close.

2.	2013 Garcia	P - Skinner	P - Mundel	F - Pearson	F - LaDouceur	F - Sessions
Skinner and Mundel are a dirty 1-2, and Pearson was a HR monster at the plate this year.

1.	2012 Ringler	P - A. Bischoff	P - Hatt	F - Bortmas	F - Crozier	F - Tomlinson
As complete a team as you can have. They had the Clown Shu, the Clown Shu runner up, MVP, future MVP, and one the best fielders in the league.

Videos of the two All-Star Games played:
2011	2012

The Charm

		Your Junk my Happy Zone
		by Brandon Corbett

Third time is the charm. This just completed WSEM Championship Series was the first ever to be played out properly, and as a result the first time the Commissioner's Cup was handed out at the field. Wicked Aces in four was the odds on favorite at 3:1, and that is exactly what happened. Still, the series was not without its unexpected turns.

We can start right with the setup of the series. During the season 87% of games were played on the the weekend: 50% on Sundays, 37% on Saturdays. With that the 2013 Championship Series is an oddball right from drawing table, as 50% of it was played on a weeknight. On top of that, the title was won on a Monday night in Ottawa Lake - the first Monday games of the entire 2013 campaign. Call it a special occasion for a special moment.

The little oddities found their way onto the field, too. The two teams seemed to have a gentlemen's arrangement made between them, since both rosters played half of the series without one of their best bats in lineup. El Diablos opened the series up last Sunday at Pervis Memorial without Kyle Tomlinson, 2012 Rookie of the Year and 2013 MVP candidate. In turn, Joel Crozier, who had provided late inning heroics twice during the 2013 playoffs already (including once in the championship), was unavailable for the back half of the series at Poolside Park. The additional curious note here, obviously, is that both guys missed the set of games at their home field.

The bats of Kyle and Joel were not the only notable absence either. Aces captain Austin Bischoff also was M.I.A. for the final two games of the series on Monday night. This left his little brother, Evan Bischoff, to handle the Aces remaining three-man roster. That leaves us with a pair of interesting quirks: one, the first time the Commissioner's Cup was presented on-field it was handed to an acting captain; two, the ensuing on-field celebration with the Cup was enjoyed by only three men. I guess good things do come in threes.

Finally, the predictions for a pitching dominated series with frequent trips to extra innings seemed to be spot on at the start. Games 1 and 2 both went into extras tied at zero. The Aces led the way in hitting with a .133 AVG, while El Diablos hit just .048. The back half of the series saw the offensive numbers take a big jump, though. Led by Nicco Lollio's 3 hits, El Diablos jumped nearly 100 points to .147 as a team. Meanwhile, the Aces finally pushed over the Mendoza line with a .206 AVG. It was the six hit performance by Evan Bortmas at Poolside that rallied the Aces. After going 0-12 in the first two games, Bortmas hit .462 in the final two and led the Aces to a sound victory in game 4.

The teams showed up. The series happened. It played out the way it was designed. Yet still, with all that said, some weird stuff went down.

#wiffleisweird

Now Batting... Batting... Batting...

		Your Junk my Happy Zone
		by Brandon Corbett

2-0. When talking counts I think we call that one "Barry." Being down in the count is not something any of the pitchers had to worry about much at Pervis Memorial for the start of this Championship Series; 52 of the 78 outs in the two games were recorded by strikeout. However, even though Craig Skinner and Chandler Phillips both threw five scoreless innings - two regulation shutouts - in their starts, they and El Diablos now have to worry about being down 2-0 in the series.

Everybody expected to see the great pitching matchups and looming extra innings, but a team on their heels and teetering on the edge of being swept coming into Poolside Park is surprising. None of the Pickers took a sweep. In fact, three of them have the series going fivegames. The odds of a Wicked Aces sweep are the second longest, set at 18:1. On his preview podcast Carl also has the series going the distance. Another statement made by Carl around the 6:50 mark of that recording hints at why we find ourselves in this situation.

"I give the offensive edge to El Diablos," Carl caves when measuring up the teams. It is a sound proclamation. Lollio and Tomlinson both hit well over .400 on the season; Skinner, LaDouceur, and Chandler all follow them above .300, and every Diablo playing this series also provided over 6 home runs and 30 RBI. They earned the reputation of being a murderers row, however, they have not been able to get any production out of their bats so far in this series. Chandler leads El Diablos with a .111 AVG, LaDouceur is second in line at an even .100. Three of the four Aces are hitting better than that: Evan Bischoff at .154, Austin at .200, and Crozier leading everybody with a comparatively impressive .250. To state it all too simply: that is the difference in this series.

El Diablos will tell you that missing Tomlinson's bat for the opening games hurt them a ton, and that can be said fairly. Tomlinson followed up his 2012 RotY season with an MVP candidate caliber season this year: .420 AVG, 41 RBI, 56 RS, and a staggering 1.428 OPS. Kyle is scheduled to suit up when action gets back underway on Monday, and what is more is that the shoe may now be on the other foot. The Aces will be without Crozier and his late inning heroics for the remainder of the series. In addition to his Championship Series leading average, Joel also has two game winning hits this postseason. His absence is now a hole that the Aces must find a way to fill as they look to close out the series.

One thing is certain. Come Monday the Commissioner's Cup will be raised in victory on the field for the first time ever. The question is, who will pick up their bats first to earn that honor: a repeat champion or the third team in as many years?

Championship Series Recap: Games 1 and 2

After the 2012 WSEM championship was unfortunately never played due to forfeits, the league was anxious to see actual championship games played this year. To no one’s surprise, the top two teams in the league, the Whiteford Wicked Aces and El Diablos began their best of five series Sunday evening at Pervis Memorial in Southgate. Game 1 saw two All-Star pitchers who are the two favorites for the Clown Shu, Austin Bischoff and Craig Skinner. Both pitchers were on their games and kept the game scoreless through five innings. Neither team came close toscoring in regulation play, so the game would have to be decided in extra innings. The clutch Joel Crozier hit his second exciting HR of the playoffs and gave the Aces a 1-0 lead with a solo blast over the left field fence. That one run was all the Wicked Aces needed as Austin closed the door on El Diablos in the 6th to give his team a 1-0 series lead. The game 2 pitcher for El Diablos was an obvious choice as Chandler Phillips has been his team’s #2 all season. The Wicked Aces however once again went into the game without a second starter picked out. RJ Fisher was still not 100% after injuring his hand, so Captain Austin needed to choose someone to fill-in for him. Evan Bischoff already has a playoff shutout win this year, so he got the nod in game 2. After six innings of scoreless play, the seventh inning finally saw some scoring as both Bischoffbrothers had RBI base hits to give the Wicked Aces a 2-0 lead. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Dakota LaDouceur drew a walk giving Nicco Lollio a chance to tie the game. Nicco made it interesting by hitting a ball deep into centerfield, but Evan Bortmas made a diving catch to give his team a 2-0 series lead. Game 3, and then 4 and 5 if necessary have been scheduled for Monday, August 19th at Poolside Park.

Building Up the Championship Series: Wicked Aces

The Whiteford Wicked Aces have finally reached the stage they've had their eyes on all summer: the WSEM Championship Series. The team had more to prove than your typical defending champions after being granted their trophy via the forfeit of the red-hot Manchester Punchouts in the 2012 championship series, and they made sure the league knew it was a statement year for the second-year franchise. After overhauling their home field and unveiling a new Air Force-themed logo set, the Aces went 25-3 over the regular season and have not lost a game that their #1(Austin Bischoff), #2 (RJ Fisher), or #2a (Evan Bischoff) pitcher has started. They dominated the league's pitching stats by a wide margin, and all five players on the playoff roster can pitch effectively. In a five-game series, this depth may be crucial with pitchers like Bischoff and Skinner that can toss scoreless inning after scoreless inning.

Fisher is by far the most suprising pitcher in the bunch, coming out of nowhere to steal the #2 spot in the rotation. An injury to Fisher's pitching hand, however, prevented him from pitching in the first round of the playoffs and threatens to weaken the Aces' rotation. While Fisher is cleared to throw, it is unsure if he will be at 100%; a shaky RJ could cause problems for Whiteford. However, Evan Bischoff turned in two shining performances against the Diablos and the Warriors in his last two starts, helping to relieve these concerns. Amazingly, major off-season signing Evan Bortmas comes into the championship series as the #4 pitcher on the roster, but he has made his presence known at the plate and in the field and has been a rock for the team all year. Joel Crozier has seen some action in the relief role he held in 2012, getting RJ out of a tough jam against the Islanders in Whiteford's last series, eventually earning the win and avoiding disaster in extras.

The Aces have hit the ball fairly well this year, but will need to step it up against Skinner, who they had little success against in their regular season games. They were delivered from the jaws of a Game 1 loss to the Warriors by a Crozier walk-off two-run homer, but would obviously prefer to score earlier and more frequently. Bortmas has been consistent most of the year, but Crozier, RJ, and the Bischoffs have went through mini-slumps that they must avoid. They will also need to be sharp defensively against the offensive threat posed by Diablos playes such as Nicco, Dakota, and Kyle. Finally, Joel Crozier will not be available for games 3-5, making games 1-2 that much more important for the boys in blue. Bischoff must come out on top of the much anticipated duel with Skinner, and either RJ or Evan will have to step up in Game 2 against a hot Chandler Phillips. If Whiteford can take those games, they have confidence that Austin will win one of his next two and deliver them the trophy- in a much more dramatic form than last year.

Teal and Purple Cover the Brown

		Your Junk my Happy Zone
		by Brandon Corbett

There is a fun aside to tonight's 2 vs 3 series between El Diablos and Holy Balls that has nothing to do with these games. In both of the first two years of WSEM the Belgian Wiffles and Flying Squirrels met up in the first round of the playoffs. Squirrels took the first meeting in 2011, and Belgian got sweet revenge in 2012. It is that 2012 series [video] that provides the fun angle.

Last year's Squirrels playoff roster featured Ryan Bullard, now of Holy Balls, and Craig Skinner, now with El Diablos. Belgian's 2012 playoff roster housed four players in action tonight: Chandler Phillips and Kyle Tomlinson, who now play for El Diablos, as well as David Castle and Brandon Corbett, who now are Holy Balls. Six players from last year's 4 vs 5 "brownout" evenly divided up, two Belgians and one Squirrel, to play in this year's 2 vs 3 series.

Even with the new playoff format. Even with neither team in the playoffs. Even with one of the teams not currently in the league. Somehow the spirit of the Belgian/Squirrels first round brown-a-palooza seems destined to find a way to happen.

#wiffleisweird  Follow WSEM over on the Twatter for live updates from tonight's first round action.

Launching Pads

		Your Junk my Happy Zone
		by Brandon Corbett

There were 222 home runs hit in the 2013 season; 55 more than in 2012. The black bats did their job and brought the swagger back! There's more to it than just the hardware, though. Where those home runs came at brings just as much intrigue; especially with how frequently terms or phrases like "bandbox," "short porch," "Polo Grounds," "no man's land," "wind assisted," "impossible," "deep as shit," and "seriously, why would you build this?" get thrown around. Our use of home fields certainly lends a great deal of variation in style of play when it comes to the long ball - or small ball.

On the above chart, the gold bars show the total number of home runs hit at each field in 2013. The team colored section of each bar indicates the number of home runs hit by the home team. The eight fields that finished the year are included, as well as the two fields Westside and Belgian had to abandon midseason; these two are sequestered to the right hand side in the slightly darkened section. The parenthetical number below the field name notes how many games were played there during the 2013 season. So, the graph allows us to look at not only which fields were the most home run happy, but also which provided the best home field advantage.

Field	HR/G	H:V Ratio
Wiff-Hill	3.50	.04
Reservation	3.40	.48
Make-Believe	3.25	.77
Swamp	2.29	4.33
Pervis Mem.	1.71	7.00
Holy Grounds	1.58	.73
Island	1.57	.47
Poolside	1.00	9.00
Wiffle Iron	2.33	.08
Warriors Den	0	--

To no one's surprise - based on its 68' RF and 74' LF fence - the The Field of Make-Believe surrendered the most ding dongs in WSEM, 39. What might be slightly surprising, though, as seen in the table to the right, is that it ranks third in home runs allowed per game. Also regarded as a launching pad, The Reservation is second on both charts: giving up 34 HR, 3.4 per game. While short dimensions led to Make-Believe's high number, it was a steady stream of strong tailwinds that inflated the Reservations home run tally. In fact, 25 of its 34 HR given up came in just two series: when El Diablos and Holy Balls visited town.

Wiff-Hill Grounds only saw 8 games, yet still managed to give up 28 HR, fourth most in the league. This gives it the honor of edging out the Reservation for highest number of home runs per game, with 3.5. What's noteworthy here is how Wiff-Hill managed to play even smaller than its predecessor, the tiny Wiffle Iron, which itself gave up 14 HR in just 6 games.

On the other end of the spectrum, Poolside Park's 10 HR surrendered seems on the low side with the relatively short right field. Of course, you have to account for the Aces pitching staff in that number. You could also cite only 10 games played, however, Poolside still has the lowest HR/G: just 1.0. The next two stingiest fields are just 1/100th off in HR/G. They also both share a massive three-level backstop in center field. These near-twins, The Island and Holy Grounds, surprise nobody by being pitcher friendly parks: 90' lines, power alleys at 100+', and cavernous center fields.

Looking at the other number in the table, home-to-visitor HR ratio, and the colors on the bar graph, it is apparent that there is no real home field advantage when it comes to the power numbers. Five of the eight - or six of the nine - fields surrendered more than half of their dingers to visiting teams. Belgian's two fields were by far the most hospitable to guests, never bringing their selfish ratio above .08. The The Island and The Reservation are the next most guest-friendly environments. They both gave up just over 2 homes to visitors for every 1 hit by the home club. Holy Grounds and Make-Believe fair a little better, but still spot the journeymen about 1.5 HR for every 1 for the good guys.

Three fields truly claim the title "friendly confines" when it comes to the long ball, though. One of those is the The Swamp. Led by Pearson's bat, the Ducks hit 4.33 HR on their home turf for every one given up: 81% of the home runs came off the bats of the home team. That's not the best advantage, though. Pervis Memorial said adiós to 7 El Diablos long balls for every one by a visitor; giving the home colors a whopping 88% of the tally. Still not the best advantage. As mentioned earlier, Poolside Park gave up a total of 10 home runs on the year. All but one of those were hit by the Aces! So, 90% of the souvenirs kids took home were given out by the good guys. Both rare and classy.

There we have it: a bit of everything from one end to the other for all types of players and observers. A few launching pads for fans of the long ball, a couple death valleys for old-school fans of manufacturing runs, and just enough home cooking to get your fill. I guess there's only one thing left to do: ask the question on everyone's mind.

"Who would have won that game if we'd played it somewhere else?"