| ..S15.. | 
| ..over.. | 
| 7 games |
| ..S14.. | 
| ..over.. |
| 6 games |
| ..S13.. |
| ..over.. |
| 4 games |
| ..S12.. | 
| ..over.. | 
| 5 games |
| ..S11.. |
| ..over.. | 
| 6 games |
| ..S10.. | 
| ..over.. |
| 6 games |
| ..S9.. | 
| ..over.. |
| 7 games |
| ..S8.. |
| ..over.. |
| 5 games |
| ..S7.. |
| ..over.. | 
| 5 games |
| ..S6.. | 
| ..over.. | 
| 6 games |
| ..S5.. | 
| ..over.. |
| 6 games |
| ..S4.. | 
| ..over.. |
| 5 games |
| ..S3.. |
| ..over.. | 
| 5 games |
| ..S2.. | 
| ..over.. | 
| 5 games |
| ..S1.. | 
| ..over.. | 
| 7 games |
| Rank | Team | Record | 1st | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
| 47-22 | 4 | 
|
| 2 |
| 48-21 | 1 |
|
| 3 | 
| 41-28 |
| |
| 4 | 
| 43-26 |
| |
| 5 |
| 42-27 |
| |
|
| 43-26 |
| ||
| 7 | 
| 40-29 |
| |
| 8 | 
| 43-26 |
| |
| 9 | 
| 38-31 |
| |
| 10 | 
| 40-29 | | |
DROPPING OUT
NONE
Past World Series Champions 
With four games to go, there is now a 3-way tie in the AL North. The last four games are extremely pivotal to each team. The schedule goes like this:
Dear Shoeless Joe Owners,
Thank you all for reading. In my opinion, one of the best reasons to join the Shoeless Joe World is that rollover never takes any time at all. Going from one season to the next is usually seamless and pain-free. From the time the world rolls to the time I push the “Approve Owners” button to start the season, Shoeless Joe doesn’t take any longer than a day. In fact, the last two seasons have been 12 hours and 11 hours, respectively. That is totally unheard of, especially in this time of HBD uncertainty. Worlds being merged due to low turnover, public worlds sitting for weeks on end just waiting to be filled.. Shoeless Joe has been extremely successful in that aspect. With S9 right around the corner, I am here to tell you all that I fully expect the same this season, or possibly.. even better!
As many of you know, I start recruiting for the next season around game #130. That's when I first post the recruiting thread in the Classifieds. This season, I’ve had an incredible response. We now have a pretty lengthy waitlist for S9. All those on the list are established owners who have either replied to the forum post, or have contacted me via sitemail. They all are eager and ready to join Shoeless Joe for S9. Its been so successful, that I seriously doubt I’ll be able to get them all in. I’ve been TC’ing all of you, asking what your plans are for next season. If you plan to return, or not. So far, I have 27 verbal commits/reserved teams. I’m still waiting on a few of you, but overall, it looks good. Now I realize that things happen, and some will abruptly leave. It’s the nature of the beast. That’s why I believe in recruiting early… getting a waitlist up… being prepared for the unexpected. I feel that’s a major reason why we roll so quick from one season to the next. It’s a trend that I hope to continue from now until the end.
Now for some of you who are on the fence and haven’t decided if you want to return or not, we have big plans for S9. Lots of new ideas for Blog posts are being kicked around. I plan to do a major Blog Page overhaul. I want to change the layout completely, maybe adding a 3rd column on the page for more information. Possibly making the layout a little cleaner… we will see. I might be changing the chat to a different style. I’ve seen some new chat rooms that are out, and might make a change from xat.com, which is the one we use now. Plus, with inspiration from Knucklebones… Shoeless Joe World, the radio show?? It might happen, folks. Still in the discussion phase, but it’s a legit possibility.
In summary, the outlook of Shoeless Joe is looking brighter than ever. I could work day and night on this world, but in all reality… the league is what it is today, because of the owners. I like to thank each and every one of you for joining and sticking around. Let’s make S9 the best season ever!
Thank you…
Sincerely,
ROB ROOT
-Shoeless Joe Commissioner
St. Louis, MO
Here are the stats: 22 innings played, 19 total pitchers used, and one exhausted crowd at Busch Stadium. The majority of the fans had already left by the time the end of the Little Rock/St. Louis game arrived, but it was still a game for the ages. The St. Louis Soul goes on to defeat the Little Rock Lightning 5-4, in what is sure to be a game Shoeless Joe fans won't forget for a while.
The hero of the night for the Soul was Alfredo Garza, who crushed a solo HR in the bottom of the 22nd inning, finally ending the contest. Garza went 3 for 9 in the game with 2 RBI, winning Player Of The Game honors. Winning pitcher was Yoo-Nah Tabaka, one of the Soul's SPs who had to come in when everybody in the bullpen was already used. Tabaka pitched 3 IP of 2 hit ball, with 0 ER given up. Milton Jenkins, another SP, got the loss for the Lightning.
Baltimore, MD
There is word out of Shoeless Joe Headquarters, which are based out of Baltimore, MD, that they have finally reached on a proper punishment for Chicago owner Alogman1. As you may remember, Alogman went over the 30M Prospect Cash Cap by 2M, violating one of the league rules.
SJW (Shoeless Joe World) got a league wide vote on punishment for the Chicago owner, and they voted on a 4M penalty for Chicago's S9 Prospect Cash. To go along with that punishment, SJ Commissioner rootgargle also imposed a 10M limit on any IFA bid for next season as well. So not only will Alogman only have 26M in his Prospect Cash for next season, but he can not bid more than 10M on any IFA at one time.
Two teams that you would normally expect to contend for the National League Crown, are the St. Louis Soul and the Philadelphia Cheese Steaks. Both franchise are solid teams which are run by talented owners. Both teams have huge amounts of talent on the ML level, and they are major reasons of their success. However, as we all know, sometimes luck plays a part as well. Good luck, or in this case, bad luck. And boy, did bad luck hit the Soul and Cheese Steaks today. Two big-time SPs saw their S8 possibly come to a close today, as St. Louis' Vicente Trevino and Philadelphia's Paul LeCroy suffered major elbow injuries.
In the 7/26 PM cycle game against Montgomery, LeCroy suffered severe elbow tendinitis which will possibly sideline him for the rest of the season. Philadelphia has not made a decision yet, as they are still waiting on MRI results on LeCroy's elbow. Trevino suffered an elbow strain in St. Louis' 7/26 PM game against Seattle. St. Louis wasted no time moving Trevino to the 60-day DL, making his return this season highly doubtful. St. Louis thought they had an inside track to one of the Wild Card spots when they obtained all-star SP Hi Priest, but the loss of Trevino puts the Soul right back where they started.
The teams listed in red italics have already been eliminated. Cincinnati has done better than they have expected. Atlanta, Austin, Little Rock, and Monterrey have no shot at making their predictions, even if they win every game from here on out. With 22 games to go, the teams with the best shot to hit their win targets are those who can go .500 (11-11) the rest of the way. With that being said, if the SJW Blog had to list two teams who we feel have the best shot at making their goals, it would be the two teams listed in bold: Milwaukee and Arizona.
Pawtucket, RI
The signs of a great team is getting production from not just your superstars, but your role players as well. For the Pawtucket Bombers, it's easy to see how good a team they really are. It's easy to expect big time stats from stars such as Pedro Rodriguez and Rudy Dingman, but getting that type of support from your bench is what separates the top from the middle of the pack. On 7/24 PM cycle, Oklahoma City faced Pawtucket up in McCoy Stadium.
The Bombers were not led by one of their superstars, but a role player. Ozzie Portugal has always been a HR hitter, but that's all he mainly brought to the table. However, for tonight, that's all Pawtucket needed. Portugal went 3 for 3 with 3 HR's and 5 RBIs, catapaulting the Bombers to a 5-2 victory over Oklahoma City. If the Bombers keep getting games like this from Portugal and the rest of their role players, expect a deep playoff run for Pawtucket.
After 138 games (and very well could be a Shoeless Joe record for earliest division clinch), the Shoeless Joe Blog would like to congratulate the...
THE ROCHESTER MOUNTAIN DWELLERS (owned by bobkordecki)
...on winning the NL North (2nd time in a row)!
San Juan, PR
It's not everyday that the defending World Champs gets 1-hit in a game. And it's even more rare when a rookie leads the way doing it. San Juan stud SP Bobby Reese pitched 7 innings, only surrendering a bloop single to Cy Blume in the 7th inning. He ended up walking 2 and striking out 6, leading San Juan to a 4-0 win over Rochester.
Vic Christopher entered the game in the 8th inning and ended up getting the victory for San Juan, upping his record to 5-5 on the season. The tough luck loser was Alfredo Martin, who gave up 2 runs and 7 hits in 7+ innings. It was a well-deserved victory for the Expos, but the real story of the win was Reese. He pitched like a poised veteran as he mowed down the intimidating Rochester lineup. This is just the start of great things to come for Bobby Reese.
The Non-Waiver Trade Deadline is a crucial part of the baseball season. It's what separates the contenders from the pretenders. If a team is able to obtain that one important need, it could possibly enable them to head straight for a WS title. Several teams made key moves as we inch closer to the Shoeless Joe playoffs. Here's a recap of the key trades that were made.
Vancouver made the most moves out of any possible contending team. The first deal they made was obtaining slugging 1B Haywood Richard from Trenton in exchange for Magglio Colome, a promising hurler who's been battling control problems for his short career. They then turned to the St. Louis Soul, and in separate deals, dealt Dennys Rando, Lawrence Monahan, Lenny Neal, and Bob Lambert, in exchange for Edgard Tarraga, Houston Barker, and Donaldo Martinez. Throw in the acquisition of Steve Wynn from the Monterrey Ping the Rookies, and they practically have a different ballclub. These are major deals for one club, and only time will tell if these moves will catapault the VooDoo into the playoffs or not.
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The New York Nippers officially went all in, as they obtained all-star slugger Jake Brantley from the San Diego Padres, in exchange for Earl Wakeland and prospects Joaquin DeLeon and Welington Reyes. Brantley's presence in the New York lineup should catapault them into the playoffs, and with a possible deep run to boot. There are some who feel New York gave up a little too much for Brantley, but if it means a WS victory in return, then it'll be well worth it. |
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The two pitching gems of the Shoeless Joe S8 Amateur Draft finally came to terms with their respective teams.
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