Alberta Baseball Confederacy Week 25: Division Championships

The first week of playoff action is over, and the division championships are set to begin. Led by big weeks from Aramis Ramirez, Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki and the surprising Gil Meche, the Vancouver Drizzle won a reasonably comfortable victory over last-minute playoff participants Zingari Italiani. The Drizzler's troops will now face Dellow's Doctrine for the GWTA division championship.

The Doctrine will send four double-start pitchers to the mound: Lowry, Penny, Rogers and Verlander, while the Drizzle counter with double starts from Livan Hernandez, Lieber, Olsen, Westbrook and relief-eligible Adam Loewen.

In the NEU the Nuke LaLoosh Fan Club dispatched the Royal Rooters on the relative 'strength' of the NLFC's pitching, which produced just two wins, no saves and a meagre 67 2/3 points. The Rooters' batsmen delivered an eight-point advantage over their NLFC peers, led by an exceptional week from Uggla, but the pitching betrayed manager Andy Grabia. Lidle, Pettitte and Liriano delivered just 6 2/3 points -- the equivalent of a single outing by a closer. Meanwhile 20-point outings from Garcia, Haren, Loaiza and Robertson languished on the bench, where they nuzzled up against a 28-point week from Prince Fielder.

The pitching looks less promising in the NEU Division championship match-up. The NLFC will enjoy double-starts from Oswalt and Chuck James, while the Miners rely on Bedard and Harang. Each manager will have some tough choices to make to fill out the rotation.