SBL Notebook, Week 20

It's time for us to go back to playing amongst ourselves, and not a moment too soon for the NL, whose long National nightmare mercifully ended this week after yet another thumping at the hands of the American division. The AL won the season's final week of interleague play, 26-10. That gave the Americans an outrageous and unfortunate 109-35 edge for the four-week interleague period, and created a sight rarely if ever seen this far into an SBL season -- an entire division without a single losing record. That includes even the last-place Bristow's Bat-Faced Barristers, whose reign as hottest team in ball extended to a third week. The BFBs began the interleague period with a 41-59 record but ended it at 62-62 after posting their third consecutive 6-0 performance, thanks mainly to yet more massive production from their offense (44 runs, 15 HRs, 7 SBs, .406 OBP) and bullpen (eight saves). Their 21-3 record was the best in this interleague period, though truth be told, the entire AL got fat at the NL's expense, including Mikee's Moaners (20-4) and the BGoff Bammers (19-5). The front-running Paulo's Zero's went "only" 18-6 but lost just one game off their lead in the four weeks, leaving them with a cushy 10-game bulge over the Bammers and Moaners with 38 games to play as we head into the home stretch. Dennis' Prolific Pontiffs suffered a rare off week (1-5) and dropped from second place to fourth, 14 games back. As for the NL, probably the less said, the better. The Nationals had held their own in the first interleague period (Weeks 7-10), which ended in a dead-even split -- 2-2 in weeks, 72-72 in games. But the Americans' huge advantage in the second period left the final interleague tally AL 181, NL 107. At least the Week 20 damage was fairly democratic, with no NL team suffering an 0-6 fate, though none won more than two games. First-place Dan's Cherry Valley Bombers and runners-up JP's Whiteskins each went 2-4, and the CVBs' lead remained at eight games for the fourth consecutive week