Mon May 10

Welcome back to FB Power Rankings. This is the first ever Weekly Recap, by Polarman!

Season 97 has begun, and the big question is this: Are the Flying Squirrels immortal? Also, Nick Goins is on fire, Villanueva is untouchable, Colorado Springs thriller goes 21, and the Mad Antz try to pull off an imperfect season. Welcome to the first edition of the Polarbears Weekly Recap!

Season 97 of Franchise Ball has begun, as we inch closer to the centennial season. Already, we have seen players hotter than the sun, extra inning thrillers, and crazy records.
But first, the important question of the day: Are the Kansas City Flying Squirrels immortal? Well, the 25-3 Flying Squirrels just lost their 8-game winning streak, falling to just the Washington Capitals, Virginia Beach Jimmies, and DBunnies in a big-time upset. The Squirrels are currently the best offense in FB, with a whopping team average of .403, (Note: all stats are prior to their 3rd loss), lead FB in run differential with a whopping +206, and have hit double digits in runs in 15 of their 27 games. However it doesn't stop there: They won their first game against the Fort Wayne Mad Antz 41-4, with LF Aden Gough going 8 for 8. A few days later, the Squirrels beat the Little Rock Panthers 34-2, with Gough going 7 for 8, and the third 20+ run game of the season for the Squirrels was also against the Mad Antz, where they won 21-5. The only weakness for Kansas City seems to be their shaky pitching, as they have a team ERA of 3.404, which ranks fifth in all of Theta Premier. But can they be stopped? That remains to be seen, but they are the sure winners of Theta Premier East, with a 12-game lead over the Calgary Chickadees and Arizona Bears at the 9-day mark of the season, as they try to avenge their World Series loss to the Eugene Spitters this season, win their 4th division title in a row, and attempt to make the World Playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

Meanwhile, approximately 500 miles away Kansas City, the Chicago WINNERS catcher Nick Goins is currently on literal fire, hitting .480 (61 for 127) with 13 dingers and 47 RBIs. Only three teams have held him hitless at the 27-game mark: New York Dope, Great, and Chicago Clutch. Goins has been essential to the WINNERS campaign, being a huge part of their .396 team average, ranking first in Bermuda Square, and second in FB.

In beautiful Baltimore, Maryland, the Baltimore Beasts pitching is being led by Damian Villanueva, who has the hottest arm in FB, with a 1.019 ERA in 53 innings, going 5-1 over that stretch. He has allowed only 29 hits while striking out 55, with 8 walks. He has allowed only 6 runs this season. The Beasts are 17-10 this season, 6 games behind the HTFD_YANKEES in the Desert Gold Northeast, but they are atop the Desert Gold wild card. Villanueva and Federico Bael both are leading the Beasts in pitching, with Bael posting a 1.868 ERA on 53 innings. Can this duo be the next Spahn and Sain? Instead of "Spahn and Sain, then pray for rain," it's "Villanueva and Bael, when you come up to bat, you will fail." (This quote was written by The Rhodyman... the King of catchphrases... just listen to "Winfield 'n' Avery, showing the bravery, best middle-infield in the league, don't get your hopes up 'cuz they don't fatigue.")

In Northwest USA, the Seattle Cyclones and Colorado Springs Tacoma Time Warp were in a 21-inning thriller that lasted nearly 3 hours! After a 2-run first inning by the Cyclones, Tacoma Time Warp's 3B Marc Null and SP Brian Peltier hit a two solo shots in the first-seventh of the game. Cyclones' RF Travis Sisson took revenge with a home run to take a 3-2 lead, which evaporated on a 2-run fourth for the Time Warp, and a Casimiro Zayas homer in the sixth. 1B Eneas Frias of the Cyclones hit a solo shot in the seventh and a Sisson RBI single in the eighth tied the game up. The game was tied up again after a Zayas homer in the eighth and a Frias homer in the ninth to send it into extras. The Cyclones and Time Warp were back and forth for the next 10 innings, until Frias hit his FOURTH home run of the game, followed by a home run by SS Ramon Archer in the twenty-first. Frias went 6-9 with four home runs and a double for the Cyclones, with Feo Sanabria getting the win and Alexandro Atchinson taking the L.

From domination station to an Ant rant, the Fort Wayne Mad Antz are trying to do the "tank decision." On the heels of a .170 team AVG, and a 10.017 team ERA, they are currently sitting at 0-28, double-digit games back in the Theta Premier Southwest. The only team that Mad Antz may be able to easily beat is Hollywood Homers. Mad Antz's SS Nehemiah Cupp leads the team in AVG hitting only .252 with 26 hits. P Logan Crawley is throwing a 4.61 ERA in a total of 41 innings for the tank-team. The Mad Antz started the season off with a 41-4 loss to the Kansas City Flying Squirrels, as said above.

Other notable games include the Ontario Lightning 10-9 win over the Washington DBucs after a Devan Brand go-ahead dinger in the tenth. The Newark Devils beat the Kyoto Kites 9-7 in fourteen innings after a 1B Guadalupe Brittain walkoff homer. Also, the San Diego Bombers beat the Seattle Cyclones with a walkoff double from LF Nolan Cheng with a 7-6 win.

Notable players include CF Lawrence Moyer of the Kansas City Flying Squirrels with a .409 AVG and 53 RBI, and 2B Raymon Alcantar of the Cajun Gamecocks, hitting .344 with 37 XBH, 21 2B, 2 3B, and 14 dingers, who has 78 hits this season. On the pitching side, New York Mets' Darrius Roberge leads FB in wins with 9, and has a 1.887 ERA through 62 innings. Sancho Deleon of the New York Knicks leads FB with 67 strikeouts. He has a 4.35 ERA in 58 innings. Also, Braedon Myers is hitting over .400 for Jamestown MB Rhody Tests.

Notable trades this week include Philadelphia FISH TOWN trading 3B Harrison Malloy and 2B Omarion Bigsby for C Gerald Wolff and 3B Andreo Garay from the Philadelphia Brotherly Love. Dallas Grease Lightning sending P Shea Harmon to the Roanoke Colonists for P Gideon Juarez, and the Chicago WINNERS sending P Harley Cowell to the Anchorage Polarbears for P Chaz Ellis.

If you have any notable games or players you would like to see covered don't hesitate to send me (Anchorage Polarbears) a message in game with the links. Thank you for reading the first edition of the Anchorage Polarbears weekly recap, and I will see you next week!

(Proofreaded and minor edits by The Rhodyman)

Now, here's the rankings:

1. Kansas City Flying Squirrels - 25-3
2. New York Mets - 26-2
3. Newark Devils - 26-2
4. San Diego Bombers - 25-3
5. Cincinnati Reds - 24-4
6. Dallas Grease Lightning - 25-3
7. Chicago WINNERS - 23-5
8. Fort Worth Horned Frogs - 24-4
9. Canberra Cranberries - 22-6
10. Sioux Falls SDCC Penguins - 23-5
11. New Orleans Pineapples - 23-5
12. Eugene Spitters - 23-5
13. Boston Red Sox 1 - 23-5
14. Providence Franzes - 22-6
15. New Orleans Hot Rods - 22-6

Explanations:

For these explanations, I used word-for-word textual evidence from Spitters via FranchiseBall Messaging:

1. Kansas City Flying Squirrels - 25-3
Possessing one of the best, if not the best, offenses this season, the Flying Squirrels have picked up where they left off last season and are out to prove the run to the World Series was not a fluke.
2. New York Mets - 26-2
The Mets are 16-1 over their last 17 games with their only loss coming by two runs to Dinkcity.
3. Newark Devils - 26-2
The Devils have stumbled a couple of times of late, but they are a balanced team that is the cream of the crop in Silver Sunset.
4. San Diego Bombers - 25-3
The Bombers are 19-1 since a one-run loss to the Cranberries back on the third day of the season.
5. Cincinnati Reds - 24-4
The Reds recently took a couple of bad losses, but overall this franchise is churning out another solid all-around ball club.
6. Dallas Grease Lightning - 25-3
Although Grease Lightning has taken a couple of bad losses, their three losses combined have come by a total of just four runs.
7. Chicago WINNERS - 23-5
The WINNERS have also been dealt a couple of surprising losses, but they boast perhaps the best offense this season, challenging the Fly Squirrels for that honor, and are dangerous every game.
8. Fort Worth Horned Frogs - 24-4
Perhaps the hottest team in the game right now, the Horned Frogs have won 18 games in a row.
9. Canberra Cranberries - 22-6
Playing possibly the toughest schedule to date, the Cranberries have won 20 of their last 22 games and boast wins over the likes of Deadly Sins, Bombers, Reds (x2) and Ontarior Lightning.
10. Sioux Falls SDCC Penguins - 23-5
Winners of six games in a row, the Penguins appear to have righted the ship after dropping four of six games following a 15-1 start to the season.
11. New Orleans Pineapples - 23-5
The Pineapples have won their fare share of big games, but several losses to bad teams, most recently to Ron Burgundy, is weighing them down.
12. Eugene Spitters - 23-5
(Yours)
13. Boston Red Sox 1 - 23-5
Red Sox 1 owns the sixth best WHIP in the game, and won 19 of 20 games before getting upended by one run to the Boston Tigers.
14. Providence Franzes - 22-6
(I got nothing here, you take this one haha)
15. New Orleans Hot Rods - 22-6
Two-time champion Hot Rods have won nine of their last 10 games to join the competitive battle atop Ocean Star.

For Franzes, many teams think this one is cheap. Spitman also disagreed with this, but their SOS (strength of schedule) has been top 5 out of anyone, and they've faired well, too. Then for Spitters, well, they just look "clean" as a team.