I have to be honest, this isn’t shaping up to be a particularly interesting DTBL pennant race. The Jackalope have continued their season-long reign of supremacy. After a nice run by the Mavericks in July, August may have been the best month yet for the first place Jackalope. On Tuesday, the lead had ballooned to 20 points. It’s not over, but it would take a pretty epic collapse for the Jackalope not to claim their second DTBL Championship. So what made their August so special? Well, you’re about to find out. First, here are the players who earned Player of the Week honors during the month of August:
Batters of the Week:
Week 17 (7/27 – 8/2) – Lucas Duda, Kings
Week 18 (8/3 – 8/9) – Josh Donaldson, Jackalope
Week 19 (8/10 – 8/16) – Adam Jones, Jackalope
Week 20 (8/17 – 8/23) – Josh Donaldson, Jackalope
Week 21 (8/24 – 8/30) – Edwin Encarnacion, Darkhorses
Pitchers of the Week:
Week 17 (7/27 – 8/2) – Sonny Gray, Jackalope
Week 18 (8/3 – 8/9) – David Price, Naturals
Week 19 (8/10 – 8/16) – Madison Bumgarner, Cougars
Week 20 (8/17 – 8/23) – Chris Archer, Cougars
Week 21 (8/24 – 8/30) – Jake Arrieta, Jackalope
Wow, that’s a lot of Jackalope! Yes, a Jackalope won either Batter or Pitcher of the Week every week in August. So naturally, they will be taking home both of the monthly individual awards as well. Here are the award winners for August 2015:
Batter of the Month:
Josh Donaldson, Jackalope
.324 AVG, 11 HR, 35 RBI, 29 R, 2 SB, 3.05 PAR
Pitcher of the Month:
Jake Arrieta, Jackalope
0.43 ERA, 0.685 WHIP, 6 W, 0 SV, 43 K, 4.93 PAR
On the strength of two Player of the Week honors, Donaldson was a fairly obvious choice for Player of the Month. He accumulated an impressive 3.05 PAR in the month, moving him into first place in the league in Batting PAR, just ahead of Jackalope teammate Paul Goldschmidt. As long as they don’t split votes too badly, they appear to be the leading candidates for MVP too. Edwin Encarnacion was the runner-up and the only other real contender for this month’s honor.
Arrieta made a pretty dramatic claim for the monthly award in his most recent start, throwing a no-hitter against the Dodgers in LA. You can’t really do much better than a 0.43 ERA and six wins in a single month. With his incredible August, Arrieta has vaulted right into the Cy Young mix. The August pitching award race wasn’t particularly close, but Madison Bumgarner was the runner-up.