Week 3 Preview and Offensive Leaders

A's and Twins: The Battle of Brothers

The Twins have shown to be a solid club without Justin Smucker and are coming off a 15-3 win against the Indians.  Jude Kauffman has posted 2.00 ERA through 10 innings with Josiah Smucker batting with a god-tier 1.515 OPS.  The A's, on the other hand, are coming off a brutal loss to the Orioles.  Their offense is still shining with John Kauffman and Christian Smucker tearing it up offensively.

The game will be a 3v3.  It'll be Kauffman, Krock, and Smucker vs. Kauffman, Kitch, and Smucker.  The Twins will have good pitching as always, but weaker offense as Jude is batting a .273 and Kitch at .000 (League average is .435).  Luckily for them though, the Alan's pitching has proven to not be very consistent.  This game is going to come down to the luck of the draw as a good Churchtown lineup faces good Conestoga pitching as bad Churchtown pitching faces bad Conestoga lineup.

Keys for the Twins

Twins need to shut down two of the best hitters in the league in Christian Smucker and John Kauffman.  Jude cannot give up 6 walks this game like he did last week as the A's are second in scoring and will make you pay if you lay around and do a half ass job.  Offensively, Smucker needs to be sharp and take advantage of bad  pitching and hopefully score some runs.

Keys for the Alans

Alan needs to get on base and give his two polished hitters as many opportunities to do damage.  Christian Smucker needs to be better this week on the mound and fry this Twins lineup.  It is as simple as that.  They have the athleticism and balls to do it.

Prediction: I will take the A's by 2.

Orioles and Indians Doubleheader

This is going to be an interesting one as the number one team in the ELW takes on the new and improved Indians.  Derrick Lambert will make his season debut tomorrow, and Jackson Esbenshade will make his Indians debut after signing with the team earlier in the week.  Here's the keys.

Keys for the Orioles

The O's are completely destroying the league in scoring (62 runs scored).  5 guys have an on-base percentage over .600, with Christian Merk at a whopping .742 and Alex McFalls at .862.  They dinged 4 homers last week (2 grand slams).  Justin McFalls needs to bend without breaking on the mound, and the offense just has to keep ripping.  Same applies for Game 2 with Alex McFalls on the mound.

Key's for the Indians

Lambert needs to be as good as advertised.  Foor needs to be careful on the mound as the Orioles rarely swing on bad pitches and often kill pitches in the zone.  Nate Vreeland also showed to make a ton of contact in week one; he could be due for a big day. They need to be very sharp defensively.  They may get a huge boost from the addition of Jackson Esbenshade to the lineup.  Hopefully Derrick can pitch one of the two games, as Stephen Foor can only pitch one game.

Prediction: O's by 9 in game 1, O's by 18 in game 2

Offensive Statistics Leaders (min. 12 plate appearances)