National League First Half Recap

Twin Branch Billy Goats (12-3) After taking two out of three from the defending World Series champs on Sunday, the Twin Branch Billy Goats moved into 1st place atop the National League as they own the tiebreaker over Granger. The Goats have been one of the top stories so far here in 2022 as Twin Branch is having a lot of success in their first season moving back to the National League where it all started for them in 2018.

The Goats have successfully utilized a two man rotation early on as Andrew Doran and Jake Lawrence are both able to mix things up. Lucas Oletti has been leading the charge at the plate as he is making a strong case for NL MVP so far here in 2022. The offseason acquisition of Tony Koch is already proving to be a good one as Koch is hitting .563 with 12 HR through 9 games played. Twin Branch has already picked up series victories over the Newts and Panthers and they have been beating the other teams on their schedule that they need to beat.

They have tough 2nd half matchups against the Magic, Skeeters, and Meatspins but this team has already been tested early and they continue to pass each test. The Goats get a favorable interleague matchup in Week 6 against a Godfathers team that has dropped 8 straight and they will look to get a little help from Maple City as they will take on the Panthers.

Granger Panthers (12-3) The Granger Panthers dropped out of Wiffleball News’ top spot in the power rankings for the first time in 2022 after dropping 2 out of 3 to the Billy Goats on Sunday. The Panthers have now gone 3-3 over their past 6 games as they are currently going through the toughest part of their schedule.

The Panthers will look to quickly rebound from their series loss as their attention now shifts to the Maple City Magic for a 2021 World Series rematch. Panthers’ young slugger Daivyn Davis continues to impress as he has been the top Panther hitter so far this year. His .514 AVG leads the team while his 20 HR’s have him 2nd in that category behind former NL MVP Alex Zarazee.

Meanwhile, Griffin Smith had himself quite an impressive first half on the mound as he finished with an 11-2 record to go along with a remarkable 2.37 ERA. Runs have been extremely hard to come by against the champs so far as they are allowing only 2.60 runs per game. Granger's defense of Seth Campbell, Austin Williams, and Daivyn Davis continues to play at the highest level as Smith has had a black hole behind him. Meanwhile, 2021 National Closer of the Year Brett Shepard appears to be making another run as he leads the National League in Saves with 9 while sporting a dominant 0.85 ERA. All eyes will be on their next series as they head to Magic Park where they will look to replicate their performance from last August when they took both World Series games from Maple City on their home turf en route to their 1st World Series title.