Ramirez sets new doubles record

Jose Ramirez set a new record for doubles in a season, cracking his 73rd two-bagger last night in a 6-5 win over Blue Ridge.

Players of the Month: April

The first month of the 2018 season is in the books, with most teams having played anywhere from 26 to as many as 30 games (equivalent to spring training, more or less). Let's have a look at who's off to hot starts:

2017 batting leaders

Two rookies polished off historically good years in 2017 amid the usual stalwarts in the league's batting leaders while the batting race saw a dark horse take over down the stretch.

Turner snares batting title

Marietta's Justin Turner snagged the DMBL batting title, qualifying in the final week to jump past Tucson's Jose Altuve.

After the all-star break, Altuve overtook Pablo Sandoval of Arkansas in the batting race and was enjoying a comfortable lead down the stretch. But a handful of extra at-bats may have pushed Turner across the finish line. He went 3-for-10 (probably getting an extra 6 at-bats) in a record-setting, 22-inning win over Vancouver last week and qualified for the batting crown within days, jumping into the race at .340, ahead of Altuve's .334.

With five more starts to finish the year, Turner ultimately finished with 510 plate appearances -- 8 more than the minimum to qualify for the batting race (3.1 plate appearances per games played by the team, or 502). He ended the season hitting .337 to Altuve's .330; Sandoval finished third at .320.

Turner's situation is sort of the opposite of what happened last year when Sardine City essentially benched Christian Yelich for the final month of the season. Despite hitting .352, the rookie first-rounder eventually failed to qualify for the batting title, ceding the crown to San Francisco's Hanley Ramirez, who hit .346.

Turner made 112 starts at shortstop for Marietta, splitting time with Didi Gregorius and Derek Jeter. He also had a stint on the disabled list but batted lead off for the Mighty Men against right-handers. Jeter meanwhile made just four starts for Marietta in his final season, collecting 5 hits, and finishing his career as the all-time DMBL hits leader with 2,994 -- just 6 short of 3,000.

While Altuve has to settle for second place in batting average he was far and away the leader in hits (236) along with a league-high 763 plate appearances in 162 starts at second base for the Scorpions. Victor Martinez of San Francisco (194) and Empire City's Daniel Murphy (191) finished behind Altuve in hits.

Turner also finished as the league's leader in on-base percentage (.396), jumping head of Livingston's Jayson Heyward and Poovey's Freddie Freeman (.385).

A Look Back At 2012 Batting Leaders

Rowdy's Roddy Pipers dominated the league's batting categories, led by their first baseman slugger, Prince Fielder, who topped several key batting stats. Teammate Daniel Murphy had the longest hitting streak in the league at 26 games, ending in the season's final game while Hillsborough's Michael Morse ended the season on a 19-game hit streak.

Batting avg: .333, Michael Young, Rowdy
On-base %: .417, Prince Fielder, Rowdy
Slugging: .646, Fielder
Hits: 224, Young
Home runs: 53, Fielder
RBIs: 134, Fielder
Runs: 132, Fielder
Doubles: 58, Ben Zobrist, Blue Ridge
Triples: 21, Dexter Fowler, 21, Vancouver
Stolen Bases: 48, Michael Bourn, Sardine City
Stolen Base %: .917 (22/24), Jesus Guzman, Bridgewater
Walks: 127, Jose Bautista, Hoboken
Strikeouts: 235, Mark Reynolds, Livingston
Runs created: 163.1, Fielder
Runs created/27 outs: 10.2, Fielder
Total Bases: 385, Fielder
Longest Hit Streak: 26, Murphy
Giancarlo Stanton set what's believed to be a new league record for games played in season. He made 97 starts for Hoboken before being dealt to Philly for Roy Halladay and a draft pick, and made 66 starts for the End Zone Animals. That's a total of 164 games in a 162-game season!