How did VA go from a 7/1 longshot in the mid-season to become the number 1 favourite to win it all? Every player on the team including captains Glen Baxby and Andy Morrison are batting over .550+ and that's the reason right there. Full attendance almost every night for these first place teams, no need to call Hemanarayanan Kuppuswamy now to see if he can play his first game ;-)... Its sad though that BOSL will be losing the batting title leader Chris Burr as he just moved back home to London. Very classy guy, Chris was a co-captain for many years with Todd Parker and somehow his hearing wasn't affected through all that. Chris is having his best OBA season he’s ever had and is on pace to set a very high new record in our “Top Hitters (without a HR)” list. The Bash brothers Brian Veerman and Aaron McLean are always a threat. I swear it looks like Mac is always looking to homer while Veerman seems to look for the holes in the OF but accidentally hit it over the fence. I thought Mike Maycock was the best pitcher in BOSL until we faced Chris Burr in his absence last week although really Mike would have had the same success. John Cliffe's 12 HRs would be welcome on any team but here he's just another bat. Glad to see he's over Hindley finally. Fantastic job you two Captains!! We really didn't think it would be possible to manage Mac :-)

Who knew that DC's 10th overall draft pick Nolan Young would be so amazing! At the mid-season he only had 3 HRs and all three were in one game against myself on the mound. He's now leading the team with 28 HRs and a .790 batting average. So look out for Nolan guys -- he's more than just talk. Next up and no surprise here is Captain Doug Vollans batting almost as well as Nolan with almost as many HRs. Looks like Doug is over whatever injury he was dealing with - I'd hate to think he'd be doing any better than he already is! This team is a pitcher's nightmare. At the mid-season, Des Janes was kicking Chris Fost's ass at the plate but Chris turned it around and then some! Chris (who is Des) Fost proved once and for all that he can deliver on the huge expectations. This entire team is hitting well with more power behind Kevin Henderson, Umer Malik and Dave Quinn and they have 1st class pitching (Mike Canham) - no reason at all why they shouldn't be in the show. Once again a huge shout out to team sponsor (for 15 years) Richard Krummenacher in his 27th season. Nothing slows him down - he was recently hit by a car on his bike and still easily went 4-4 against my pitching. Richard you inspire all of us with your great attitude on the field and your .700+ avg. Very impressive team. To those who say that DC wins because their last pick doesn't make many games -- have you seen him?! They are clearly an even better team with Doug's dad in the lineup.

If Captain Kevin Elkins and Ryan Carson are in the lineup this weekend then they are a team to worry about. If not then I would move them down below CM. Very good pitching by Murray de Vos still batting close to .800. Ryan's 27 HRs certainly help out when the bases are full. Mike Starr and Chuck Hines are having a good year both over .700. It looks though as if Des Janes (8 HR) lost his confidence after getting such a great head start over his friend (Fost). Hopefully he can regain some of the swagger from back in the rainy season. Did you know that Wes Meier won the HR derby at the mini-tourney? There was a four-way tie but Wes killed it in the showdown. CL has lots of potential and will be a tough competitor for sure with or without Elkins.

Every year, Captains Ron Vandermeulen and Jeff Palmer move up the drafting order because Ron's rating keeps slipping down each season. I think they hoped Jeff would offset that but nonetheless it allowed them to pick up Jason Townsley and that paid off in spades. Jason has 27 HRs batting .750 and probably hits it even further than Vollans! Dale Latendresse, Rob Green and Paul Gottwald are all hitting strong as they normally do. Its a strong lineup here. I'm so happy to see that Peter Lang hit his 2nd HR proving it wasn't just my pitching after all. If you look at the current stats, Scott Sinclair shows up as 5th or so but CM never enters their pitching stats and Burr and Sell don't have enough innings to be considered starters anyway so that makes Scott #2 in the league right now. We always forget how fast Bobby Betker is too, hopefully he gets out a few times and can pinch run!

This team won the Bobby Grenier Cup at the mid-season despite being 20/1 favourites. I had predicted QBs winning the consolation round - not the big boys side! What happened? When your weakest player (Brad Hazeldine) is batting over .550 you know you have a great team at the plate. With just 2 games left in the season, Darryl Holditch is leading the charge batting .800 with 4 HR followed by first rounder Steve Koritko with 27 HRs! Rumour has it this may be Steve's last season in BOSL - very sad to see another Hall of Famer have to go. Steve you are not only a great player but a great person, a true gentleman but still a tough competitor. John Stewart always delivers at the plate and is third in the lineup right now. What's surprising is Tony Ortoleva batting .730 with 24 HRs - what is in his water bottle?! Also a shocker is captain Randy Kobryn hitting under .700 with 6 HRs - Randy usually leads every team he is on... that is the first time he's ever slumped. Even Stuart Aker has 1 HR this season... so with Peter Woodhouse and Larry Beatty pitching they could do just as well this tournament. I predict a consolation 3rd or 4th for them this time unless Randy turns it around.

Captain Todd Parker may not be the best batter on the team but he sure knows how to pick em. Staring with co-captains, Todd was with Chris Burr for years then with Jason Gerrity and now with Dave Muill. What they all have in common (apart from being some of the best people in BOSL) is that they can play ball extremely well. Todd's teams are always contenders even when they aren't leading in the standings. Like that old saying - Jerrys is a tournament team - I think more correctly Todd's teams are tourney teams!! If you don't know Todd - he's that guy that takes FOREVER to get to the plate - like Derek Lutz! He's the one guy everyone in the park can hear cheering on his team. He can't hit very well but he's still a good outfielder (LC). I had CM at 4-1 and they just about won the Mid season championship proving the prognosticator has a good track record! Here's a few more predictions... if JT Badiani has two strikes against you - you will hear about it :-) -- If Trevor Pinkerton shows up, they stand a much better chance.... Garth will get at least one or two hits. Neil Marsh will hit 1 HR per game, maybe 2. Dave Muill will go 4-5 every game and speedster RJ Raha will get out but is the fastest pinch runner on the team.

Captain Steve Bero usually drafts guys that are good at QBs versus any real baseball skill but sometimes he gets lucky. Of course 1st rounder Michael Proctor is a no-brainer, Mike has super speed and currently leads the batting along with Bero around .720 each. Who the heck is Todd Sparkes and where did they find him!! Todd's batting .700 with 10 HRs so whoever he is - we better get to recognize him at the plate - I'm sure he doesn't look like Steve Dostal but he's filled in for him just fine. Everyone knows pitching ace Kerry Close and despite his crazy stance at the plate he always manages to stay over .700 each season and he even has 1 HR! Bert Sagheddu was leading the team at the mid-season but has settled back down to where he should be - 5th or 6th... Co-captain Jay LeMay is in a huge slump right now so if he can turn it around soon, this team can compete for the Consolation.

I had planned to place tournament team Jerrys at about 100-1 until they won a few recent games so handily. Where did this resurgence come from? Mike Porkolab and Doug Haines picked up last years first pick overall Derek Irving in the second round and he's still delivering. No idea how many HRs Derek has because this team doesn't update their team stats very often... at mid august he had 18, batting .735 and led the team. Next in line was Roy Jones with 24 HRs. Roy's getting older now and his head's not in the game, looking after his boys' baseball - a few years ago he'd be at 40 or more right now. Doug is third in batting right now which either means the team sucks OR Doug is having a career year! Very impressive! Two things must be said. First of all this is Jerry Weninger's 27th season as a team sponsor and his 28th season in BOSL. Jerry can still hit and he is still one of the nicest guys in the league. We are so lucky to have had Jerry a part of BOSL for that long. THANK YOU Jerry. 2nd, we must all say goodbye to Mike Porkolab as this is his final season. Can't say enough about Mike - read the special mention notes. Heads up Brantford Slo-Pitch - here's a great pickup! One last thing... how the heck did Shawn Evans hit a HR?!

All season team EJ was top 5 or so and always a threat - even with captain Tom Perris pitching! Picking up pitcher Lee DeDauw midway through the season helped out their pitching greatly. Sorry Lee but it was funny to watch you struggle so much learning how to hit again... you were like 0-15 at the beginning there. Like watching Roger Clemens 4th or 5th comeback. Call him what you will (Crusty, Grumpy) but Lee is back.. and he's hitting again. Every year there's three guys at the very top of the OBA list (Burr, Muill and Rideout) and this year's no exception... but EJ just lost their best player/batter when co-captain Jon Rideout over extended his catching arm in a recent non-BOSL game. He's sadly in so much pain right now he cant even hold up the scoresheet clipboard. Everyone said Mike Mueller and David Veres should be first or second rounders and they were right! But sadly, Tom and Jon picked Paul McGrath first overall, not expecting the major league slump in store. Can Paul regain any of his former glory in the next two weeks? Some highlights on this team are sponsor Peter Skoretz, Darren Andersen and Gord Comstock all batting strong. Lost in the shuffle is sophomore Matt Close... even with his 13 HRs, he's not batting as well as he should be, perhaps he's been watching Paul.

Sort of expected to see PLR in last place but look at them now with 12 Wins and a +22. Who would have guessed that this group could win the consolation final at mid-season?! Slugger and pitching ace Pete Conick leads the team right now with 22 HRs hitting almost .800, followed very closely by Mike Gibbs with 17 HRs and just a couple points under Pete. Our team was very fortunate to have Erwin Mendosa and speedster Joe Medeiros help us out one night as they were the only ones on our team going 3-4. Too bad they couldn't do the same for PLR! Ed Meahan is having a career year right now batting over .700 with 1 HR. Ed's the guy who started playing one or two years prior to turning 35. We really should start carding these guys at the park... Both captains have to be impressed with the season Rob Bisson is having (12 HRs .700) - wasn't he picked 6th or 7th? Nice surprise. Willi Jesso is delivering as usual with 16 HRs. Lots a great guys on team PLR, it was nice to see them win last time out, despite the odds.

I just can't help but feel sad for the DD. What a classy group - they drafted Mike Silva at the start of the season (as a Manager). Mike passed away very recently after a tough battle with Cancer. I will never forget his laugh. It was just another huge loss to our BOSL family. I'm so glad that we named this final tournament in Mike's honour.

Thanks to the BOSL for honouring Mike Silva! I don’t know if Mike ever played with Andy Smith, but I can tell you that Andy would be proud of the contributions that Mike made to the league and was just the kind of guy to be part of Andy’s “family”.  As far as the the Door Dudes, they have been hampered by some very enthusiastic 3rd Base coaches (we now run hard to home no matter what!) Captains Dave Geneau and Jim Hindley have an all-star pitcher in Murray Alley whose base running skills have had to improve since he hits ahead of Dave (never stop at 1st) Geneau. Bill Misener, Steve McCutcheon, Glenn Downey & Jean Aubry are all batting well and getting used to the caring verbal abuse from their captains. We have the hidden weapon Gord (the grey flash) Shields and a bunch of great characters who attend every game even though we tell them the games are at Brant Hills. My Greek brother Jim Kostopoulis and I are tied for 9th on the team in HRs as we leveraged hurricane force winds to get the ball over the fence by an inch (Maybe 2”) To sum up the Door Dudes will be playing at the year end Tournament...

I'm sorry but I would never have predicted that Peter Dovey would lead this team in batting (.685). Way to go Pete! After Pete as expected they have Jamie Porteous with 9 HRs and Philip Herbeson with 10 HRs. Just last night we were lucky enough to borrow Thomas McDowell who went 5-5 for us... hopefully he can do that for BOHC. Personally I think Jarrod Schankula, Chris Goldsmith and Hugo de Melo are all batting as well as expected around .650 - all of them are capable of better but they're definitely strong at the plate. I always thought captain Adam Harild could hit but he's not delivering this season... at least there's room for improvement there. A big shout out to co-captain John Andersen as this may be his last year in BOSL as well. John has been a board member and has managed all the league's equipment for years. It was an absolute pleasure working with John over the years. Your efforts will be missed John. Team BOHC is 20/1 at best but certainly has the roster to upset as a dark horse.

Despite some amazing wins recently by L3M I am keeping them at 25/1. At best they will squeak into the consolation semis but all stars would have to be aligned. There's lots of skill on the team led by mid-season pickup Ajay Rahimi batting .860 with 5 HRs. Next up is Kyle Hadley batting .730 with 10 HRs - nice season Kyle!! Steve Bourke is back to normal now hitting over .700 with 7 HRs and since he leads the entire league in # of at bats, that's a pretty solid average. Unfortunately the team lost captain Ron Evinou to injury but co-captain Lawrence Thompson knew in advance that he was injury-prone. Justin Lukings is hitting well and has 6 HRs but the main power on this team comes from Mark Rankin (20 HRs) and from Lawrence (18 HRs). They're like last year's Blue Jays - HR or nothing! Can they build on their recent streak of wins? I doubt it.

LRL leads the league in Singles Hitters... sometimes Scott Douglas actually gets a hit but usually he flys out making him our go-to guy for pinch running. Even with Scott's speed we still struggle to put two wins together. The only batter worse than "Who's up after Carl" (Carl Camilleri) is myself... leaving so many runners stranded they bring their gloves with them on base. Mark Riley leads the team at .745 and 26 HRs and without him we'd be far below LHC. Possibly the 2nd best player on the team is Scott Young. Scott's money at the plate but he's playing hurt. Took him a month or so to play a game for us and now he needs meds after every game. He's looking forward to the end of this tournament... As luck would have it, we were able to pick up two Brents along the way. Brent Craigie as most of you know is our 2nd best Right Fielder but we call him Mr.700 at the plate. So much fun having him with us!! And welcome to the league Brent Pope! Brent is a solid 4th round pick - good hitter and great SS -- and a fantastic teammate. When it came time to pick our MVO - half the team got two votes each!

The only thing good about this team is ... well ... the sponsor David Mohamed! Dave remains positive at every game hoping for miracles. Luke Harper (.830 1HR) still leads the team and is having a great season as is Michael Porteous with 7 HRs at .720. Success stories are hard to find after these guys though. What a shame... this team has what it needs.... the entire team bats over.500. Maybe its just bad leadership, maybe the guys aren't buying into the plans that captains Nick Popovacki and Chris Boots Harper drafted. Maybe they need more time - like Fall ball perhaps. Drex Jr is still doing well despite playing injured... Nick is usually injured... maybe that's the reason... the team is hurting? Good luck guys... at least LRL will be routing for you.

Even if first round pick Murray Stewart (7 HR .750) could make it out 100% of the games, this team would still only be last or 2nd last. It appears to be a curse. LRL played them not long ago giving up 14 runs in the last inning only to come from behind again to get the W. You could tell the guys on LHC had it in them to win a game and it was heartbreaking to see them give up that final HR to Riley - sort of hoped for a tie there but LRL feels their pain. Welcome to the league Brent Taylor - no HRs but batting over .700 with 100 at bats is pretty good and he's a great SS too. As always, Blake Mercer and Vince Bowker are doing well too. Maybe Angelo Musitano needs to go back to 2B where he was a BOSL allstar. Hope you guys can find a witch doctor to cure this.