This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 15, 2028

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This Week In The Trans Atlantic: Week 15, 2028

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By Hamish Campbell
The Edinburgh News
07-17-2028

The Big Picture
And so continues the second half of the season – which, so far, closely resembles the first half.

Havana went 3-2 to maintain its lead over second-place Scotland; the Scottish went 3-2 to stay in second; San Juan stumbled a bit, going 1-4 to drop 10 off the pace, and London recovered from its July mini-swoon to go 4-1 and regain the .500 plateau for the season.

The upshot: the division race looks much the same as it has for the past several weeks, and the Trans Atlantic once again can boast that it contains no teams with a losing record.

Week 15 did bring a couple of worrisome injuries for TAD teams, however:

• London OF Kelvin McDonald suffered a fractured finger at San Juan on July 15 when he was drilled by the opening pitch of the game.
• Scotland lost All-Star SS Naomi Honma for three weeks to a biceps injury suffered during the July 14 game against Havana.

Both players, now, will be miss a key portion of the division race. Whether Scotland and London will pay a price for those injuries will be an interesting subplot that will unspool over the next few weeks.

Of course the main plot will be the ongoing scramble for the Imperial League Wild Card slots. Scotland, San Juan, London, Arlington, Hartford, and New Orleans are all in the hunt. The Claymores have a 3-game lead over San Juan for the first spot, while the Coqui have a 1-game advantage over London and Arlington for the second spot, and a 4-game lead over the Harpoon and Trendsetters. Bottom line: there are 6 teams within 8 games of each other in the quest for those 2 playoff spots.

Wild Card Fever, folks. We’ve got it!

Havana Happenings
The Leones continue to thrive atop the Trans Atlantic with dominant pitching and competent offense. In Week 15, Havana allowed just 9 runs over 5 games, including 1 shutout and two 1-run games. Of the 10 pitchers who saw action last week, 6 allowed no runs – earned or otherwise – to cross the plate. Over that same span, the Leones scored 17 runs – not an overwhelming offensive attack, but enough to assure a winning week ... Player of the Week: 3B Vern Duncan terrorized San Juan on July 11, going 4 for 5 with a home run, a double, and 4 RBIs. For the week, Duncan slashed .294/.333/.529 with 7 RBIs – which gave him a team-leading 55 for the season and ranks him 5th in that category for the Imperial League … Game of the Week: The great Enrique Vázquez showed why he’s, well, great in the Leones’ 3-0 victory over Scotland on July 15. He threw 8 shutout innings, allowed 6 hits, struck out 7 and walked 1. Only one batter (RF Vincent Powell in the 2nd inning) made it as far as second base against Vázquez. A 2-run homer by RF Claudio Hernández in the 4th, and a solo shot by C Will Vogel in the 8th provided the Havana scoring.

Coqui Cables
A tough week for the San Juan Coqui, as their bats fell largely silent, scoring just 5 runs in 5 games. San Juan was shut out once, scored just 1 run in 3 games, and 2 runs in 1 game. Hard to win with that kind of output. The Coqui are now 8th in the IL in runs scored (352), and rank 9th in batting average (.240) and 7th in OBP (.306). San Juan’s run differential stands at -3 for the season: 352 scored, 355 allowed. Their pitching is strong, but the bats are going to have to be a little more active than that for the Coqui to make the playoffs … Player of the Week: RP Luis Monsalve, in his first start since joining the rotation to replace injured SP Tatsui Kuono, gave hope to Coqui fans when he threw 5 innings of 1-hit, shutout ball against London on July 15. Not-so-coincidentally, that contest also happens to be our Game of the Week. It wasn’t exactly the smoothest of starts, since Monsalve walked 6 batters en route to throwing 100 pitches in his 5 innings of work. But, with a little help from 5 relief pitchers, he got the job done. Closer Otis Pearson nailed down the save with a 1-2-3 9th inning. The sole run of the game came in the bottom of the 5th when CF Dean Walden crushed a 1-0 fastball into right center for a double, scoring 1B Jack Speed from second. It was a thrilling game that proved to be San Juan’s sole victory of the week.

Scottish Scoops
The Claymores notched a couple of notable highlights during Week 15: No. 1, for the first time all season, they took a series from Havana, winning 2 of 3 at home to bring their season record against the Leones to 4-8. Not exactly earthshattering, but still … progress! No. 2, Scotland has already passed last season’s full-year attendance mark, drawing 1,523,238 fans by mid-July, compared to 1,444,491 for all of 2027. A hopeful sign for the team’s future in Edinburgh … Player of the Week: This is a classic good news/bad news situation. First the good – fresh from his All-Star Game appearance, SS Naomi Honma went on a hitting tear, going 7 for 11 in three games with a .636/.667/1.182 slash line and 1.2 WAR. He was even recognized as the IL Player of the Week. And now the bad news … Honma hurt his biceps making a throw in the Claymores’ 2-1 victory over Havana on July 14. Team officials had to place him on the Disabled List, and the team’s medical staff estimates he’ll miss 3 weeks of action. Veteran Orlando Barrón figures to pick up most of the playing time at short in Honma’s absence. The only bright spot for the Claymores faithful is that OF José Guillén is poised to return from the DL, where he’s been shelved for the past couple of weeks with a hamstring strain … Game of the Week: That July 14 game where Honma hurt himself was an exciting affair – a 2-1 victory highlighted by a strong 7-inning outing by SP Roger Keller, who joined the team in June when staff ace Francisco Robles went down for the season. Keller allowed just 1 run on 6 hits against the Leones, striking out 6 and walking 1. RP Eitoku Tamura and All Star closer Ken Fisher came on to nail down the victory. Honma, with his 11th homer of the year, and 1B Joshua Ligonier, who added a sacrifice fly to deep left center field, provided the offense for Scotland.

Underground Utterings
London welcomed its new management team last week with its best stretch of the season, sweeping a 2-game series from Amsterdam and then taking 2 of 3 from San Juan. The Underground mixed strong pitching with an offensive outburst (22 runs in 5 games) to climb back to the .500 mark for the season. You can chart the improvement by month: 10-15 in April; 14-15 in May; 16-12 in June; 6-4 so far in July. Not bad for a team that lost 99 games a year ago … Player of the Week: Like Scotland, this is a good news/bad news situation. The good: OF Kelvin McDonald slashed .417/.533/.500 for the 5 games in which he played … The bad: he’s out for an estimated 4 weeks with a broken finger, fractured on the first pitch from San Juan’s Luis Monsalve on July 15. For the season, McDonald is slashing .244/.320/.364 … Game of the Week: There’s no shortage of possibilities, but we’ll highlight the Underground’s July 14 shutout win over San Juan. SP Martín Ramírez pitched 7 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 7. The victory lifted (if that’s the word) Ramírez’s record to 5-10, although that’s a deceiving stat. London has scored a mere 2.16 runs per game when he’s been on the mound, meaning Ramírez needs to be nearly perfect each time out in order to pick up a win. That wasn’t the case in this outing, though: London scored 5, led by LF Kelvin McDonald, DH Jimmy Hudson, RF Bruce McGuire, and All Star SS Tony Cuevas. Said manager David Hernández after the game: “I like our mindset right now.”

Where They Stand
On the morning of July 17, the standings were: 1). Havana, 57-35; 2). Scotland, 50-42, 7 GB; 3). San Juan, 47-45, 10 GB; 4). London, 46-46, 11 GB.

See you next time!
Vic Caleca
Scottish Claymores
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