The Baseball Buzz

The Baseball Buzz 

         South Florida Hardball Weekly

Spring 2002 Playoff Race

The time of the season that every team looks forward to finally came after some delays due to the weather we suffered this past month.  The playoffs are what each team strives for, but only the very best achieve.  Maintaining a good winning percentage and beating your inter-division rivals are what allow the teams to become playoff contenders.  The League Office would like to congratulate those teams who made the playoffs!

MABL Premier Division

In the MABL Premier Division, the first Semi-Final Game was between the defending MABL Champions, the Miami Phillies, and the South Florida Mets.  The game was a close one and was won by the Mets by a score of 3-1.

The other playoff game was between two long-time rivals, the Coral Gables Athletics and the Miami Devilrays.  The game was one by the Athletics in the bottom of the ninth inning by a score of 2-1.  The A’s will square off against the Mets this week in the Premier League Championship Game.

MABL 18+ Adult Division

In the MABL Division, two teams, the Miami Angels and Lauderdale Mets earned byes because they had the two top records in the league.  In the first round of the playoffs, the Miami Dade Mets beat the Pines Hurricanes 10-7.  The other first round game was between the Weston Brewers and UM Dodgers and proved to be a wild one as the Brewers won 7-6.

In the Semi-Finals, the Miami Angels beat the Miami Dade Mets 9-5 to reach the Championship Game against the Weston Brewers who beat the Lauderdale Mets 7-4 in the other  Semi-Final.  The Championship Game will be played this week and the winner will be moved up to the Premier League next season.

MSBL 28+ Senior Division

In Broward County, the Fort Lauderdale Yankees continued their pursuit of a back-to-back title by defeating the Weston Tigers 15-0 and will now play the Boca Marlins in the Broward County Championship after the Marlins defeated the Benihana Bonsai 6-3 in the other Broward County Playoff Game.

In Dade County the Kendall Reds defeated the Miami Giants 10-8 in the first round.  The other first round game saw the Perrine Monarchs defeat the Papa John’s Marlins 6-1.  In the Dade County Championship Game, the Perrine Monarchs defeated the Kendall Reds in a very close 7-6 game and will await the winner of the Broward County Championship to play in the MSBL Championship Game.

2002 Summer League

The SFBL inaugurated its first ever Summer League this year.  With the St. Thomas University J.V. Team drawing a lot of interest, the league office was able to create a league where the very best of the SFBL could compete against college and semi-pro players.  St. Thomas University entered two teams and the Santa Fe Reds from West Palm Beach entered their semi-pro team to compete against several SFBL teams including the Coral Gables Athletics, South Florida Mets, Broward Braves, Miami Diamondbacks, and the Miami Aqua Sox.  The games are being played on Sundays at St. Thomas University and Flamingo Park on South Beach.  For Summer League information, Scores and Standings, link here to the 2002 Summer League Page.

2002 All Star Game

Because of the prolonged Spring 2002 Season due to the heavy rains this past month and the lack of participation from team managers, the League Office decided to cancel this year’s All-Star Games.

2002 Labor Day Tournament

The 2002 Labor Day Tournament is set to go for this coming Labor Day Weekend, August 31-September 1, 2002.  The format and rules will be the same as the 2002 Miami Open Baseball Challenge that was played during this year’s Memorial Day Weekend.  Please visit the link above for more specifics about format and rules.   Any team that is interested in participating in this year’s tournament is asked to please contact the League Office as soon as possible.  Players who are interested in joining the player pool to play in the tournament are also asked to contact the League Office as soon as possible.

Spring 2002 Final Leaderboards

The Final Leaderboards were entered on Saturday, July 20.  If there are any discrepensies, please contact the League Office via email at playball@sfbl.com.  If there are any players who feel that they were left of the leaderboards, please check the manager’s scorecard to confirm that their manager submitted all the weekly stats sheets before contacting the League Office.  If all the sheets were submitted and there is still an error, please contact the League Office an notify us of the error.

The League Office would like to congratulate the Batting Champions and the Cy Youngs  in the MABL and MSBL divisions.

Batting Champions:

MABL:  Yanko Hauradou, Miami Diamondbacks, .613 Average.

MSBL:  Joe Cunill, Perrine Monarchs, .607 Average. 

Cy Young Awards:

MABL:  Jason Privett, Coral Gables Athletics,

9-2 Record

MSBL:  John Wylie and Carlos Martinez each went 6-0 for the Fort Lauderdale Yankees.

Fall 2002 Season

The Fall 2002 Season is set to start on August 25, 2002, that is only five weeks away.  There will be no changes in fees or rules.  The fee per player will remain $200 and the 3 hour hard stop on each game will be implemented.  Managers are asked to please contact the League Office as soon as possible to confirm rosters.  The League Office is encouraging all teams to start to fill those empty spots on the rosters as soon as possible.  The mandatory 25% Team Fee Deposit is due on August 7, 2002, and the 100% Team Fee is due on August 17, 2002

Player of the Week: 16

The SFBL is proud to announce the player of the Week for Week 16 of the season:

Week 16 – Jason Privett, Coral Gables Athletics.  Jason pitched a complete game against the Bell South Rangers and struck out 11 hitters on his way to his 9th victory of the season and the League’s Cy Young Award!  Way to Go Jason!

Player of the Week candidates are nominated by any and all team managers in the League weekly via fax to 305-275-7394 or in the Weekly Stats Sheet in the Comments Section. The League Office will make a selection weekly and feature the winner in each issue of the Buzz as well as the SFBL website.

SFBL Coach’s Poll – Week 16

Coach’s Poll Recap

In the MABL, the Coral Gables Athletics ended up with the best record, 9-3, in the Premier division to stay atop this week’s Coach’s Poll.  The South Florida Mets finished their season strong with four consecutive wins to finish up with an 8-2 record.  The Miami Phillies ended their season with an 8-4 record and in first place of the American League.  The biggest surprise in the top of the poll were the Miami Devilrays who ended up 6-5-1 to clinch a playoff berth after starting the season 0-3.  The Miami Diamondbacks ended up fifth in the league with a 7-4 record.  The Bell South Rangers and Miami Yankees were 6 and  in the poll.  Making the poll out of the MABL Division were the Miami Angels, Lauderdale Mets, and UM Dodgers.  The Angels ended up with a 9-1-1 record, good enough for a first round bye in the playoffs.  Earning the other bye were the Lauderdale Mets who finished their season with a 9-2-1 record.  And, finally, the UM Dodgers came back from a slow start to finish 8-3 on the season, good enough for first place in their division. 

In the MSBL, the defending champs, the Fort Lauderdale Yankees finished a perfect 12-0 season to take the #1 spot in the poll.  The Perrine Monarchs were almost as good finishing 9-1on the season.  The very steady Miami Giants continued to win and earned a playoff berth by finishing up with an  8-3 record.  A late season surprise were the Kendall Reds who beat the Miami Red Sox in Week 16 to clinch a playoff berth and finish the season 8-4.  The Boca Marlins, who were not in the last Coach’s Poll, went on a late season surge to go 8-4 and clinch a playoff berth.  Also earning a playoff berth were the Benihana Bonsai who ended up with an 8-4 record.  Another late season surprise were the Weston Tigers who were not in the last Poll, but earned a playoff berth with a 7-5 record.  The Papa John’s Marlins finished 7-3, good enough for second place in their division and a playoff berth.  The Miami Red Sox and North Broward Mariners go 9 and 10 in the Coach’s Poll.  

The SFBL Coach’s Poll is comprised of a poll conducted among the team managers in the league and will be published weekly.  All managers are invited to submit their weekly ranking of their top 10 picks.  All rankings are tabulated and the team with the lowest point total is ranked first.

Coach’s Poll

The Spring 2002 Season saw the inception of the Coach’s Poll.  The League Office is sad to report that interest from team managers in the poll did not grow as expected.  However, player feedback showed that this aspect of the League is something that is respected by those who visit the Buzz and read about the league on how teams fared on a weekly basis.  The League Office hopes that the Poll will grow to the point where every team manager is participating in the Poll so that it can be as accurate as possible.  The only way for the Poll to be successful and 100% accurate is if each manager enters his choices each week.  Players are encouraged to ask their managers to participate and to share their opinion on the how teams should be ranked with their managers.  Click here to download the Coach’s Poll excel file and submit it as soon as possible for the final Spring 2002 Coach’s Poll.

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The Baseball Buzz 

         South Florida Hardball Weekly

2002 Miami Open

Baseball Challenge

This year’s Miami Open Baseball Challenge proved to be a huge success with 12 teams competing for the very prestigious Championship trophy and a $1200 Cash Prize.  And, for the second straight year, the South Florida Mets won the Baseball Challenge. 

The Mets, led by Attilio Ambrosio, won all three games in their bracket to advance to the Semi Final playoffs where they squared off against the South Florida Sun Devils.  The Mets battled to a 9-8 victory at Miami Dade Community College South Baseball Field to advance to the Championship Game.  The South Florida Sun Devils advanced to the playoffs after coming back from a 5-2 deficit to tie the Miami All-Stars 5-5 in 10 innings in round-robin competition. 

The tie game caused the Parkland Braves to barely miss the playoffs.  The Braves, who are last year’s runner-up team, only lost one game to the Liga Nica in the round robin games and gave up a tournament-low 6 runs, but did not have enough points to advance to the playoffs. Instead, the Liga Nica, which won all three of its games in the round-robin section, faced off against the Miami All-Stars, a combination of the Coral Gables Athletics and Miami Devil Rays. 

In the playoff game between the All-Stars and Liga Nica, the Liga Nica team was led by great defense and timely hitting to grab a 10-4 victory over a very tough opponent.  The Liga Nica then brought their entire entourage, which included play-by-play announcers, to the Championship Game at Flamingo Park on South Beach on Monday morning.  The game proved to be a memorable one as the South Florida Mets won a fiercely contested battle by a score of 5-2. 

For the final tournament results and standings, click here to link to the 2002 Miami Open Page.

We want to thank all of the teams who participated in the Miami Open and congratulate those who made the playoffs.  We would also like to thank all the managers involved who organized their teams and the players who participated in the event.

We encourage all teams who are interested in participating in tournaments to contact the League Office for information on how to get a team ready for tournament play.  The competition is truly a step above regular season play, and it is a very enjoyable experience.  The next tournament on the schedule will be the fourth annual Florida Cup, a regional competition also held locally in Miami, FL during the Labor Day Holiday Weekend.  The annual Fall Classic is a national tournament with over 120 teams participating and it will take place in early November in Clearwater, FL.  This is a week long tournament that features some of the best competition available in the country. 

For more information on National Tournaments, link here to the MSBL Tournament Page. 

2002 All-Star Games

The SFBL will be having its annual All-Star Games in July, after the Spring 2002 Season has ended.  This year, there will be three games rather than the two games that have been played in years past.

The MABL Premier League will have its own game with the American League facing off against the National League.  The coaches of the Championship Game teams will manager their respective leagues.  The league office is requesting that all team managers nominate 4 players from their teams to participate in the game.

The MABL League will also have its own game with the American League facing off against the National League; Dade and Broward counties are combined.  Again, the coaches of the Championship Game teams will manage their respective leagues.  The league office is requesting that all team managers nominate 3 players from their teams to participate in the game.

The MSBL League will have its traditional All-Star game with a Dade Team facing off against a Broward Team.  The Championship Game coaches will manage their respective counties.  All coaches are asked to nominate 2 players from their teams to participate in the game.

Please fax or email your nominations to the league office @ fskland@bellsouth.net or 305-275-7394.

Players of the Weeks: 8 & 9

The SFBL is proud to announce the player of the Weeks for Weeks 8 and 9 of the season:

Week 8 – Bruce Goldman, South Beach Bombers – Bruce went 3 for 4 with 2 2B’s, 3 RBI’s, and 2 Runs Scored.

Week 9 – Dwayne Roberts, Broward Metz – Dwayne went 2 for 4 with a HR and 3 RBI’s. 

Congratulations to both of the players of the Week.  Way to Go!

Player of the Week candidates are nominated by any and all team managers in the League weekly via fax to 305-275-7394 or in the Weekly Stats Sheet in the Comments Section. The League Office will make a selection weekly and feature the winner in each issue of the Buzz as well as the SFBL website.

SFBL Coach’s Poll – Week 9

Coach’s Poll Recap

In the MABL, the Coral Gables Athletics took over the #1 position with their second straight inter-division victory.  After defeating the Miami Diamondbacks in Week 7, the Athletics defeated last Week’s #1 ranked South Florida Mets 6-5 in Week 8.  The Miami Cardinals also had a big victory in Week 8 over the Miami Yankees, but fell short of back-to-back victories with an 8-7 loss to the Miami Phillies in Week 9.  The Bell South Rangers fell from the #2 spot to the #5 spot with a surprising loss to the Miami Yankees to even the season series.  The Miami Devil Rays did not change position.  Making the poll for the first time this season are the Miami Angels who defeated the previously undefeated Lauderdale Mets 6-0 in Week 8 and then defeated the South Beach Bombers 15-10 in Week 9.  Making their way back to the poll after a spot earlier this season are the Pines Hurricanes who are 6-2 after defeating the Miami Almendares 11-10 in Week 9.

In the MSBL, the Miami Red Sox jumped from the #4 spot to the #3 spot with a huge 10-0 victory over the Miami Giants in Week 8, but were then defeated by the #2 Perrine Monarchs. However, the team to beat in the MSBL remains the Fort Lauderdale Yankees who continued their winning ways with a 12-7 victory over the Broward Dodgers to improve to 7-0 this season.   The North Broward Mariners jumped to the #5 position as they improved to 5-2 with a victory over the Miami Indians.  The bottom of the poll saw a few changes as these teams are showing a bit of inconsistency.  The Kendall Reds now find themselves on the poll with a victory over the Papa John’s Marlins in Week 9 improving to 5-3. 

The SFBL Coach’s Poll is comprised of a poll conducted among the team managers in the league and will be published weekly.  All managers are invited to submit their weekly ranking of their top 10 picks.  All rankings are tabulated and the team with the lowest point total is ranked first.

Reporting Scores-

Mandatory for all Managers

In an effort to improve the reporting of game results, we are now requesting that all managers report their game results, win or lose, by Sunday evening by calling the SFBL Office at 305-275-7325.

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The Baseball Buzz 

         South Florida Hardball Weekly

2002 Miami Open Baseball Challenge

The SFBL is proud to announce 5th Annual Miami Open Baseball Challenge which will take place this Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-27, 2002.  The 3-day tournament, which will take place in Miami, features a $1,200 Cash Prize and championship trophy for the first place team- winner take all..  This highly competitive tournament has a 3 game guaranteed format that draws the best teams from the South Florida area.  This year, the 3-time champions, the South Florida Sea Dogs have confirmed that they will participate.  Last year’s champions and the champions of this year’s Disney Classic, the South Florida Mets have also confirmed that they will play.  Also entering are the 1999 Miami Open Champions and the Runner Up in last year’s tournament, the Parkland Braves.  With these three teams confirming their participation, this year’s tournament will have all the past champions playing.

Other teams participating are the Naples Baseball Club, Miami Red Sox, and the North Broward Mariners. TheMiami All-Stars, which are a combination of the Coral Gables Athletics and Miami Devil Rays, are a semi-final team from last year’s Open and have also confirmed participation. 

The League Office is still drawing interest from several other top teams within and outside the league, but still has five spots for this year’s tournament.  The team fee is a flat fee of $700.  The tournament will feature 12 teams divided into four brackets of 3 teams.  Tournament seedings will be decided by the tournament director and will be based on a number of factors, including past performance, current competitiveness, and past year record.  In the round robin phase, each team  will play 2 games on Saturday and 1 game on Sunday morning.  The top team in each bracket will advance to the semi-finals, which start  Sunday afternoon.  The championship game will take place on Monday morning.     The Miami Open will also feature up-to-the-minute game results, game highlights and box scores as well as team standings posted on a special tournament webpage on the SFBL website. 

If your team is interested in playing in this year’s tournament, please contact the League Office as soon as possible.  If you’re looking for competitive, aggressive tournament-style baseball, think 2002 Miami Open!

SFBL Player Featured in the Herald

Our congratulations to Kenyon West of the Miami Devil Rays who was mentioned in the lead story of the Sports Section of the Miami Herald on Tuesday, April 23, 2002.  Kenyon was a high school standout at Miami Central High and played in the minor leagues with the Florida Marlins a few years back.

Final Spring 2002 Schedule Posted

The final Spring 2002 regular season schedule has been posted.  Hit the Schedule Link to check it out.   

Annual Awards Banquet

The 2001 Annual SFBL Awards Banquet has not been forgotten, contrary to popular belief.  We apologize for the delay but plans are to host the banquet in late May.   Stay tuned for the formal announcement.

Reporting Scores- Mandatory for all Managers

In an effort to improve the reporting of game results, we are now requesting that all managers report their game results, win or lose, by Sunday evening by calling the SFBL Office at 305-275-7325.

SFBL Record Book

The SFBL Record Book is nearing completion and will soon be featured on our website.  19 seasons of final team standings and leader boards will be presented as well as all-time leaders in both team and individual categories.

Players of the Weeks –  6 & 7

The SFBL is proud to announce the player of the weeks for Weeks 6 and 7 of the season:

Week 6 – Mike Roseman, Weston Tigers – Mike went 3 for 3 with 2 Home Runs, 1 2B, 4 Runs Scored, and 5 RBI.  What A Game!

Week 7 – Jose Melendez, Miami Dade Mets – Jose went 3 for 5 with 1 Home Run, 1 2B, 1 Run Scored, and 3 RBI.  Way to go Jose!

Player of the Week candidates are nominated by any and all team managers in the League weekly via fax to 305-275-7394. The League Office will make a selection weekly and feature the winner in each issue of the Buzz as well as the SFBL website.

SFBL Coach’s Poll – Week 7

Coach’s Poll Recap

In the MABL, the South Florida Mets jumped back into the top spot with a huge victory in week 6 over the Broward Braves.  The Bell South Rangers fell from the #1 spot to the #2 spot with a surprising loss to the Miami Cardinals 14-6 in week 6.  The big win in week 7 was the defeat of the Miami Diamondbacks by the Coral Gables Athletics by a final score of 9-6.  The Miami Cardinals find themselves back in the poll with a big victory over the Rangers and a close game against the defending champs, the Miami Phillies.  The Miami Devil Rays and Lauderdale Mets each solidified their spots with big victories in weeks 6 and 7. 

In the MSBL, the defending champs, the Fort Lauderdale Yankees continue to show that they are the team to beat with huge victories over ranked teams, the North Broward Mariners (15-0) and the Benihana Bonsai (14-4).  The Miami Giants made a jump from the #4 spot to the #2 spot with a 7-5 victory over the Perrine Monarchs in week 6.  The Papa John Marlins find themselves back on the poll with a week 6 victory over the Miami Red Sox.  The Broward Metz find themselves on the poll for the first time this season with 2 consecutive victories and a 4-2 record. 

The SFBL Coach’s Poll is comprised of a poll conducted among the team managers in the league and will be published weekly.  All managers are invited to submit their weekly ranking of their top 10 picks.  All rankings are tabulated and the team with the lowest point total is ranked first.

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The Baseball Buzz 

           South Florida Hardball Weekly

Coach’s Poll Is Under Way

One of the new projects of the SFBL has been to set up a coach’s poll of the top 10 teams in each division.  The poll will allow teams to rank other teams according to personal experience and records. 

The Coach’s Poll Form has been set up so that the manager of each team can just type or write in who he believes are the top 10 teams in his division and fax or email it to the league.  The poll will be calculated according to the forms that are sent in.  We will not be trying to contact each manager for the form.

The poll will be calculated using a point system.  Every team will have a total number of points.  For example, a team who is ranked #2 by a total of 6 teams will have 12 points.  The team with the lowest number of points will be ranked first and the ranks will increase according to increasing total points.

Playoff Structure

The playoff structure has been set for all of the divisions in the SFBL.

Premier – The top two teams in each division will make the playoffs.  The #1 team in the American division will play the #2 team in the National division and vice versa.

MABL – In an effort to better position the MABL for the post-season, the League Office has decided to make a switch in the Broward division structure.  The Pines Hurricanes have been moved to the Broward National League, and the Weston Brewers have been moved to the Broward American League. 

As far as who will make the playoffs, the top team in each of the four brackets will make it.  In addition, there will be two wild card teams.  The two teams that have the top records, but are not in first place, will also make the playoffs.

Once six teams have clinched playoff berths, they will be ranked from one to six according to their respective records.  In case of ties, tie-breaker rules will apply.  The top two teams will have first round byes.  In the first round, #3 will face #6, and #4 will face #5.  

MSBL – In Broward the top team in each division will make the playoffs.  Whereas, in Dade, the top 2 teams in each division will make the playoffs.  This allows 4 teams from each county to make the playoffs.

Annual Awards Banquet

Banquet plans are being finalized over the next few weeks and they will be posted in an upcoming buzz.  Please keep posted for any changes.

Reporting Scores

The SFBL is again requesting that all scores be reported by Sunday evening by the winning team’s manager.  In case of a tie game, the home team’s manager should call in the score to the league office.  In order to update the scores and standings in an efficient manner, we need a 100% commitment from all team managers.

SFBL Record Book

The SFBL Record Book is nearing completion and will soon be featured on our website.  19 seasons of final team standings and leader boards will be presented as well as all-time leaders in both team and individual categories.

SFBL Website Changes Coming

Plans are in the works to enhance the SFBL website dramatically in the coming weeks.  New features and web pages are being worked on to better serve our baseball membership.  Eventually we hope to offer advertising and marketing space to league members and team sponsors.  Stay tuned.

2002 Miami Open

The SFBL is planning  the 5th Annual Miami Open.  The tournament is an annual event during Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-27, 2002, in Miami.  This year the tournament has a flat team fee of $700.  Teams from Naples, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Miami are expected to compete, including confirmations from the South Florida Sea Dogs, Parkland Braves, and Naples Baseball Club.  The format of the tournament will be the same as the prior years, with 2 games being played on Saturday, and a guaranteed third game on Sunday morning.  The Semi-Final Playoff games are on Sunday afternoon, with the Championship Game on Monday morning.  If your team is interested in participating, please contact the SFBL office as soon as possible.

Players of the Week 5

The SFBL is proud to announce the player of the week for Week 5 of the season:

Week 5 – Moises Gomez – Miami Devil Rays – Moises pitched 8 innings, while striking out 8 and giving up only 1 earned run on way to a victory against the Miami Cardinals.

Player of the Week candidates are nominated by any and all team managers in the League weekly via fax to 305-275-7394. The League Office will make a selection weekly and feature the winner in each issue of the Buzz as well as the SFBL website.

SFBL Coach’s Poll – Week 5

Coach’s Poll Recap

In the MABL, the Bell South Rangers defeated the South Florida Mets to earn the top ranked team in the division.  The Miami Phillies defeated the Coral Gables Athletics to strengthen their position on the poll.  Making their way back on to the poll were the Broward Braves and Miami Devilrays with victories this week.

In the MSBL, the top 4 teams did not change as they all had victories on Sunday, but the bottom 6 spots moved around.  Making the biggest jumps were the North Broward Mariners and Broward Marlins who jumped from 9 and 10 to 6 and 7, respectively.  The Broward Marlins are the biggest surprise.  They made their entrance on to the poll last week with a #10 spot, and jumped to #7 with another victory this week.  Congratulations to all the teams on the Poll.

The SFBL Coach’s Poll is comprised of a poll conducted among the team managers in the league and will be published weekly.  All managers are invited to submit their weekly ranking of their top 10 picks.  All rankings are tabulated and the team with the lowest point total is ranked first.

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The Baseball Buzz 

         South Florida Hardball Weekly

Premier Division In Full Swing

As you know, the SFBL launched the Premier 18+ division this season.  This division includes only the best teams in the MABL division.  Because Broward and Dade teams compete against each other,  the Premier division has been regionalized.  This means occasional “road” games.  But the competition appears to be fierce with many close games being played early on.  The tough competition has attracted interest from all over the South Florida area from non-SFBL teams and will prove to be a positive force for the SFBL going forward.

Two Important Rule Changes

Have Been Implemented

1.  The new time limit has gone into effect this season.  The time limit has now been extended to 3 hours rather than 2 hours and 45 minutes.  No inning shall start after the 3 hours have elapsed. Because of this new hard stop, some games will result in ties and final standings will be determined by win percentage.

2.  The number of hitters that a pitcher is allowed to hit with a Hit By Pitch in one game has increased from 3 to 4.  Once a pitcher has hit 4 batters in one game, he must be removed from the position, and will no longer be allowed to pitch in the game.

Reporting Scores

In order to keep the process of posting scores and standings in a timely manner, we are mandating that all scores be reported by the winning team to the league office by Sunday evening.  Please report the scores by calling 305-275-7325.

Stats and Leaderboards

If you are yet to notice, the leaderboards are being posted weekly on the website.  Because we understand how important stats are for baseball players, we are working very hard to continue this task of posting the league leaders weekly.  However, not all of the teams are reporting stats to the league.  We encourage all managers and players to participate and get the stats to the league office by the Monday evening deadline.

Stats can either be faxed to the league office @305-275-7394, or they can now be emailed to the following email address: fskland@bellsouth.net.  Please note that the weekly stats sheet can be downloaded off this website in the Registration Link.

Players, if you do not see your name on the leaderboards, and you believe that you belong, please check the manager scorecard to see if your manager has been turning in the stats weekly.  If he has not, please encourage him to do so because until he does there is no way for you to be listed among the leaders.  Also, when submitting stats you must use a standard stat sheet and you must ensure legibility – if we can’t read names or stats we can’t use your stat sheet.  Reminder, non-conforming stat sheets will not be entered!  Finally, we need first and last name of each player on the stat sheets.

SFBL Record Book

The SFBL Record Book is nearing completion and will soon be featured on our website.  19 seasons of final team standings and leader boards will be presented as well as all-time leaders in both team and individual categories.

SFBL Website Changes Coming

Plans are in the works to enhance the SFBL website dramatically in the coming weeks.  New features and web pages are being worked on to better serve our baseball membership.  Eventually we hope to offer advertising and marketing space to league members and team sponsors.  Stay tuned.

Spring 2002 Season Schedule

The Spring 2002 Season schedule will be posted on the SFBL website in two week increments.  The delay in the schedule is due to field commitments that have unexpectedly changed.  The full season schedule will be posted to the website in short order.  We sincerely apologize for the delay in the full schedule rollout.   Also, very important, make sure to visit our website weekly (especially Friday-Saturday) to view schedule changes or to confirm game times, fields and/or opponent.

Players of the Weeks 1-4

The SFBL is proud to announce the players of the week for first four weeks of the season:

Week 1:  Joel Morales and Carlos Sanchez, North Broward Mariners get duel honors.  Joel went 2 for 3 with a 3 Run HR and 6 RBI’s.  Carlos went 3 for 3 with 3 RBI’s.

Week 2:  Ellis Rodriguez, Miami Dade Mets.  Ellis went 4 for 4 with 3 Runs, 4 RBI’s, and 2 SB’s.

Week 3:  Norman Vazquez, Fort Lauderdale Yankees.  Norman went 5 for 6 with a HR and 4 RBI’s.

Week 4:  Dennys Gomez, Miami Red Sox.  Dennys hit a game winning walk off HR in the bottom of the ninth against the Benihana Bonsai.

Player of the Week candidates are nominated by any and all team managers in the League weekly via fax to 305-275-7394. The League Office will make a selection weekly and feature the winner in each issue of the Buzz as well as the SFBL website.

SFBL Coach’s Poll – Week 4

The SFBL Coach’s Poll is comprised of a poll conducted among the team managers in the league and will be published weekly.  All managers are invited to submit their weekly ranking of their top 10 picks.  All rankings are tabulated and the team with the lowest point total is ranked first.

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The Baseball Buzz

          South Florida Hardball Weekly

SFBL Launches 20th Season

The South Florida Baseball League is proud to announce that the Spring 2002 Season is set to launch March 3, 2002.  This will be our 10h year of operation and our 20th season.   

This season we also feature the Premier Division in the MABL, our 18+ age bracket.  The Premier Division consists of the best teams in Broward, Palm Beach and Dade Counties.  The competition promises to be fierce.  As in the professional German soccer leagues, these teams will have to earn the right to remain in the Premier Division as the team with the worst record will be replaced by the champion from the MABL 18+ Adult Division in the subsequent season.  Because this is a regional league teams competing in this bracket can expect a few “road” games this season.

Additionally, the SFBL has made a commitment to re-launch the MSBL 38+ Division.  Initially we have two teams represented; however, they will continue to compete in the MSBL 28+ bracket this season.  The MSBL 38+ bracket will still have its own championship.

We wish to welcome the nine new teams joining the league this season: 

MABL 18+ Premier Division:  (2)  Bell South Rangers and the South Florida Mets.

MABL 18+ Adult Division – Broward/Palm Beach County:   (3)  Palm Beach Pirates, Pines Hurricanes, Weston Brewers.

MABL 18+ Adult Division – Dade County:   (1) Florida White Sox.

MSBL 28+ Senior Division – Broward County:   (1) North Broward Mariners.

MSBL 38+ Senior Division :  (2) Ft. Lauderdale Orioles and the Boca Yankees.

Fall 2001 Season Wrap-up

Congratulations to our Fall 2001 champions!

MABL 18+ Championship 

Miami Phillies 7 Broward Braves 1.

MSBL 28+ Championship

Ft. Lauderdale Yankees 5  Papa John’s Marlins 4.

2002 Holiday Classic at

Disney’s Wide World of Sports

The South Florida Mets, Boca Marlins and Miami Red Sox are teams this league can be super proud of.  That’s right – we sent four teams to the national MSBL tournament this past January (including the Coral Gables Athletics/Miami Devil Rays combination), and to our mild surprise, we actually sent teams to the championship games in all three age brackets, 18+, 28+, and 38+…and we won two of them. So…congratulations are in order for the South Florida Mets and Manager Attilio Ambrosio who came from behind in the eighth inning to win the title in the 18+ bracket over a tough New York team.  The Boca Marlins, managed by Gary Cruz, absolutely dominated their 38+ division in route to a blowout win over a club from Pennsylvania to lock up their second crown in four years.  Tremendous performance!   And then, finally, theMiami Red Sox, who played in perhaps the toughest and certainly the largest division in the 28+ bracket, lost a heartbreaker 3 – 1 to a Long Island team to place second among 16 teams.   Don’t think that baseball people around the country aren’t taking notice of the SFBL  If you haven’t been to one of these baseball tournaments you don’t really know what you are missing.  It’s the next level.  The next tournament will be the local Miami Open.

Spring 2002 Season Schedule

The Spring 2002 Season schedule will be posted on the SFBL website in two week increments.  The full season schedule has been mailed to your team manager.  Please see him to get your copy.  Also, very important, make sure to visit our website weekly to view schedule changes or to confirm game times, fields and/or opponent.

Players of the Season

The SFBL is proud to announce Cy Young Winners and batting champions for the Fall 2001 Season.

MABL

Cy Young – Moises Gomez / Miami Devil Rays (9-0)

Batting Champion – Freddy Bermudez / Miami Devil Rays (.640)

MSBL

Cy Young – Dennys Gomez / Miami Red Sox (7-0)

Batting Champion – Shawn Held / Miami Giants (.583)

Also, the Mark McGwire of our league is…….Mike Fahey of the Miami Red Sox, the  MSBL Home Run King, who hit 6 home runs (and he missed 3 games!).   Travis Houlihan of the MABL Broward Braves came in second with 5 dingers.

Player of the Week candidates are nominated by any and all team managers in the League weekly via fax to 305-275-7394. The League Office will make a selection weekly and feature the winner in each issue of the Buzz as well as the SFBL website.

SFBL Coach’s Poll – Week 1

The SFBL Coach’s Poll is comprised of a poll conducted among the team managers in the league and will be published weekly.  All managers are invited to submit their weekly ranking of their top 10 picks.  All rankings are tabulated and the team with the lowest point total is ranked first.

SFBL Record Book

The SFBL Record Book is nearing completion and will soon be featured on our website.  19 seasons of final team standings and leader boards will be presented as well as all-time leaders in both team and individual categories.

SFBL Website Changes Coming

Plans are in the works to enhance the SFBL website dramatically in the coming weeks.  New features and web pages are being worked on to better serve our baseball membership.

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