SBL Notebook, Week 10

The end of the first round of interleague play couldn't have come soon enough for the National division, which lost the cross-divisional battle for the fourth consecutive week, this time by the humbling count of 31-5. That brought the final four-week tally to American 95, National 49. This was, let's say, unexpected, and it's a little difficult to divine just what happened here. There had been no indication during the first six weeks that the results of the first IL period would be so one-sided; in fact the NL entered Week 7 with a slight advantage, having won 25 of the 48 interleague games contested to that point. But then several NL teams simultaneously commenced a May-June swoon that coincided with the start of interleague play, and the AL took advantage. The Derelicts (3-21 the last four weeks), the Whiteskins (4-20), the Godfathers (7 -17) and the Inmates (8-16) spent the interleague period spinning their wheels in the mud, and by the time it was over all four teams were well below .500 (ranging from eight games under to 26), with only the Cherry Valley Bombers and DamianUnited left standing and relatively unscathed at the top of the heap. Meanwhile, the entire AL prospered, with all six teams posting winning records over the four-week stretch, led by the Badgers (19-5), the Pumped-Up Pontiffs (17-7) and the Zero's (also 17-7). The result was virtually no movement in the AL standings -- the Z's, BTIB with a 42-20 record, are three, four and six games ahead of the three teams closest to them in the standings; four weeks ago those margins were three, four and five games -- but six owners who could feel a little better about themselves and their teams' prospects for having spent the last month inflating their records at the NL's expense. Five of the six AL teams are above .500 at the moment, and none among that quintet is further than nine games back in the standings. The NL race has devolved into a two-team affair, with the Bombers -- whose 2-4 ledger was the best the Nationals could muster this week -- four games up on DamU, while the third-place Inmates have dropped 12 games in arrears. . . . The Holy Crusaders continue to ravage the land with their mighty bats, which this week produced 15 HRs and 43 RBIs, both league highs. In the last three weeks, the pointy-hatted horde has swatted 42 home runs and driven in 119 runs. Good God, man!