Due to an enforced “Covid level” break in the middle of the first half of the season, the league decided to go with the traditional split and double round robin, much like the Scottish Premier football league but much more important, to finish up the year. The top half consists of the as yet, with one game to go before the official split, undefeated Pimpin, Saltires, Honey badgers (who recovered well from their early season struggles), and AJ’s (comp).   The bottom half after the split will feature the Highland Chargers, Fockers,  AJ’s (rec) and The Rocks, both of whom have also been improving as their new players are starting to hit their stride.  Each team will play everyone else in their half twice before all is said and done and all points from the first half will carry over with a maximum 18 and minimum (assuming no forfeits) of 6 points up for grabs – every team is mathematically back in with a chance of winning their respective halves.

Up first is the Tartan tournament with the chance to get a lot of game time in before the first games of the second half start next week.  As always fixtures and results will be available on the league page.

Nights are getting shorter which means two things:  It’s lighter later and the midges are out.  At the old grounds, Diamond 2 was “fondly” referred as the Midge Diamond.  Looks like Diamond 1 on the new grounds is challenging for the title.  At least they weren’t biting on Tuesday’s night, preferring to masquerade as clouds instead…

This is is what unfolded in week 2:

It was week of two halves.  Tuesday’s games both ended via the run ahead rule, and Thursday produced our first complete 7 inning game within the new timed format.  It featured 4 teams looking to get their first win and 4 teams looking to avoid their first loss.  One team managed the first and 3 teams managed the second.

Tuesday’s games were AJs (rec) @ Fockers and Highland Chargers @ Saltires with the Saltires and Fockers both winning – for the Fockers, their first of the season.

Thursday’s games were Pimpin’ @ Honey Badgers and The Rocks @ AJs (comp) with Pimpin’ and AJs (comp) continuing their winning ways.

Things are starting to shake out for the league.  Next week is going to be interesting with a game between the Saltires and AJs (comp) on Thursday, meaning that one of the currently unbeaten teams won’t be.  The Honey Badgers, Rocks and the Highland Chargers will look to get their first win, with one guaranteed to achieve this as the Rocks play the Chargers on Thursday.  The Badgers face off against the Fockers in what will likely be a close game. All in all, things are starting to take shape.

UPDATE – Due to the COVID restrictions around travelling to and from Council areas which have different levels and with Glasgow remaining in level 3 while the surrounding areas drop to level, the scheduled week 3 games have been postponed till the 22nd and 24th of June respectively.  The next scheduled games are currently:

Tuesday – Rocks vs Saltires and AJs (rec) vs Honey Badgers
Thursday – AJs (comp) vs Highland Chargers and Fockers vs Pimpin’

It’s that time of year when every team is tied and every player imagines that this year is the time their team will win it all. Sadly, this feeling only lasts up to the first results.

This is is what unfolded in week 1:

With new grounds and a newly imposed time restraint on games (no new innings at 20:15 and ballgame called at 20:20), three of the four games this week still made it into the 7th inning. This bodes well for the rest of the year as games should remain competitive across all 8 teams. There were many new faces to the league after the sterling work done by the team handling advertising, training and distribution. Even though we were down a team from previous years, every team has a full roster, making captaining less stressful if not any easier. Happily, too many players is a struggle we can all get behind…

Tuesday’s games were Saltires @ Honey Badgers and Rocks @ AJs (rec) with the Saltires and AJs (rec) both coming away with the win.

Thursday’s games were Fockers @ AJs (comp) and Highland Chargers @ Pimpin’ with AJs (comp) and Pimpin’ on the winning side of the score book.

This was a good week for the AJs, with both of their teams winning and they will be going into next week in a confident mood. At the outset, it looks like the Saltires, Pimpin’ and AJs (comp) may have the strongest teams, but it will be close: the Badgers have a lot of new players and are willing to improve, the Fockers are improving from last season, and the Chargers are always dangerous. We also can’t count out AJs (rec) and the Rocks, who have been training hard, and it shows. The only thing which is certain is that nothing is certain – which is why we need to play the games.  Week 2 here we come!