The days of Rickey Henderson, Tim Raines, and Vince Coleman are long gone. You can blame the "Moneyball" effect of devaluing stolen bases or the rise in analytics generally. Or maybe it's just that chicks dig the long ball.
Aaron Judge and Mike Trout shared the 2023 home run crown but it was Judge who outdistanced a crowded field to secure the Kevin Mitchell Award all to himself.
Erie's Jeff McNeil matched the 5th-longest hitting streak in league history, reaching 30 games, and took over the lead in the DMBL batting race in process.
It's not all that important when it comes to All-Star ballots but there's something about Diamond 2B that attracts pitches. Edmund Sosa of Arkansas leads the league with 19 HBP already, and within the top 10 in that category are Hopatcong's Josh Harrison (12) and Vancouver's Ty France (11).
Joey Gallo's two-run homer off Josh Hader in the top of the 7th erased a 5-0 deficit and 6th-seeded Hillsborough held off No. 3 Tucson for a 7-5 win in Game 1 of their 1st round series.
Allentown's Mike Trout out-polled 13 other players receiving votes on his way to his second Kevin Mitchell Award as the league's best batter in 2018. He's the third player in DMBL history to have more than one Mitch, joining former Philly teammate Albert Pujols (2009-10) and Barry Bonds, who won three with Arkansas (2002, 2004-05).
The Kevin Mitchell Award for the most valuable batter recognizes the best performance by a batter, as determined by a vote of the league's owners. There are no shortage of candidates this year, with three 100-win teams and plenty of offense.
Marcell Ozuna blasted a grand slam in Game 163 to help Tucson clinch the Clemente Division over Arkansas and get into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed. Technically, that was the still the regular season but it was just the start of a hot postseason for the Kingsnakes left-fielder.
Hopatcong followed its typical formula on Friday night. The Fish got 6 strong innings from Stephen Strasburg and three relievers combined to allow one hit over the final three innings., followed by scoreless three innings from its bullpen for a 6-3 win over Tucson in Game 1 of the best-of-seven DMBL Series.