Post-Series- vs Hot Rods

 The RiverDogs win their series against Huntsville.

Record: now 51-40

Position: 3 games out of first place

Standing: #3 seed

Current matchups:

Salt Lake City vs Little Rock

Indy vs OKC (hah!)

Wichita vs Charleston

VA Beach vs Dubuque

Charleston River Dogs vs Huntsville Hot Rods

Notables in the 3 game series:

Left handed relief pitcher Kyle Sand made his big-league debut in game one, providing 1+ needed innings to aid a tired bullpen.

Updates to the tiebreakers:

The last two series will be pivotal in the tiebreaker standings, which is why those games will be played out. Just one win against Dubuque will clinch that tiebreaker, while two wins would do it against Little Rock. The Naturals have won seven in a row to storm up the standings. We'll have an updated playoff picture after the Hot Rods series is done.

Nationwide Baseball League and the Charleston RiverDogs

We're nearing the end of the first regular season of the Nationwide Baseball League.

Format:

NBL has 20 teams in a single league. The league starts in the 2015 season.

Eight teams will make the playoffs, with three seven-game series deciding the champion. 

Our team is the Charleston RiverDogs.

At this point, the RDs are 49-39 and in fourth place in the league, behind Little Rock, OKC and VA Beach.

If the season were to end today, the RDs would be taking on the Wichita Drillers in the playoffs.

Rotation:

Jesus Jimenez

Travis Mitchell

Jeremy Turner

Aubrey Ashton

Joel Hill

The rotation is kind of shaky. There's no ace at this point. Sergio Pintor went out for the year, but he was no ace either

Bullpen:

High Leverage:

Jeff Harrington (CL)- has been solid all season

Javier Banda (SU)- had a ridiculously good start to the season and has remained solid.

Cody Farley (SU)- solid lefty setup.

Middle Relief:

Eric Rushing- probably the most trusted of everyone else.

Mike Holden

Juan Jurado- has been extended for two more seasons

Jonathan de la Garza

Long Relief:

Rico Castro- swapped spots with Travis Mitchell and has been shaky

Starting Lineup:

LF Antonio Moreau- has been a good table setter all year

CF David Cooley- similar to Moreau but with a little more pop

2B Willie Rodriguez- the team's "superstar" who is likely to be elsewhere next season

RF John Hess- breakout star of the season, extended for another two seasons

C Jamie Giglio- solid hitting catcher

1B Mike Frederick- another solid hitter and really good defender

SS Shun Nakano- struggled earlier in the season but seems to be heating up at the right time.

3B Josiah Gordon- decent hitting 3B.

Bench:

IF Nick Tomaso- pretty good pinch hitter

IF Edwin Validivia- kind of far down on the food chain as far as subs go

2B Danny Estrella- Has seen more time at 1B when Mike Frederick gets tired. Has a little pop.

C Manny Bello- backup catcher, not great hitter

OF Matt McKenna- Hasn't seen a lot of action. Speed off the bench.

OF Demetrius Butler- Supposed to have power off the bench, haven't seen much of it.