Final Record: 37-38
5 GB of Tri-City Valley Cats in Stedler Division
3.5 GB of Auburn Doubledays in Wild Card
The 2018 Lowell Spinners were the Webster Dictionary definition of streaky... somehow ending up right on the cusp of .500 despite the roller coaster ride of a season. After starting June with a 7-8 record, and beginning July by alternating wins and losses over the first four games... Lowell started the roller coaster in earnest by losing four in a row... which was followed by their best win streak of the season, winning eleven in a row. But, they would then lose eight of ten to end July and finish the month at 15-14. August saw them start off the month with seven wins in nine games, putting them in prime playoff position. Three straight losses saw them fall a bit behind, but a three game sweep of Tri-City put them back into position for a run to the playoffs. Then, the wheels fell off. The Lowell-ites lost eleven of their final 13 in the month (including seven in succession); putting August's record in at 12-16. They would end the season with three consecutive wins in September.
Befitting a team that ended up the season at .500, their team stats also parked themselves near the middle of the league.
The offense, which averaged 21-years-of-age (league average, 20.9), fit squarely in the middle of the league (7th) by OPS at .671 (league average, .665), was sixth in BA at .244 (LA, .240), seventh in OBP at .321 (LA, .318) and 9th in SLG at .350 (LA, .346). The team was ninth in runs scored at 308, Sixth in hits at 598, tied for 7th in doubles with 119, 10th in homers with 28, Sixth in walks with 256, and seventh in strikeouts with 617. They did excel at a few things however, leading the league in triples with 28 (10 by Jarren Duran in only 37 games) and were third in the league with 93 steals.
The overall pitching followed the same template, as the average age (21.6) ranked ninth, just above the league average (21.5). The team's ERA (3.60) ranked sixth and was also just above the League average (3.57). RA9 landed them in tenth (4.54, LA: 4.36). Lowell ranked eighth in hits allowed (579), fifth in runs allowed (327), ninth earned runs (259), ninth in homers (33), fourth in walks (275), eighth in Ks (642), eighth in HBPs (41), and sixth in WPs (65). The defensive numbers seem to indicate that the club as a whole tended towards getting grounders, however, as the team led the league in double plays with 216 (34 more than the second best club and nearly 100 more than the worst club in the league) and were one of the top four in Assists (750) despite being in the bottom quarter of total putouts.
In the next posts, we shall discuss the individuals.
5 GB of Tri-City Valley Cats in Stedler Division
3.5 GB of Auburn Doubledays in Wild Card
The 2018 Lowell Spinners were the Webster Dictionary definition of streaky... somehow ending up right on the cusp of .500 despite the roller coaster ride of a season. After starting June with a 7-8 record, and beginning July by alternating wins and losses over the first four games... Lowell started the roller coaster in earnest by losing four in a row... which was followed by their best win streak of the season, winning eleven in a row. But, they would then lose eight of ten to end July and finish the month at 15-14. August saw them start off the month with seven wins in nine games, putting them in prime playoff position. Three straight losses saw them fall a bit behind, but a three game sweep of Tri-City put them back into position for a run to the playoffs. Then, the wheels fell off. The Lowell-ites lost eleven of their final 13 in the month (including seven in succession); putting August's record in at 12-16. They would end the season with three consecutive wins in September.
Befitting a team that ended up the season at .500, their team stats also parked themselves near the middle of the league.
The offense, which averaged 21-years-of-age (league average, 20.9), fit squarely in the middle of the league (7th) by OPS at .671 (league average, .665), was sixth in BA at .244 (LA, .240), seventh in OBP at .321 (LA, .318) and 9th in SLG at .350 (LA, .346). The team was ninth in runs scored at 308, Sixth in hits at 598, tied for 7th in doubles with 119, 10th in homers with 28, Sixth in walks with 256, and seventh in strikeouts with 617. They did excel at a few things however, leading the league in triples with 28 (10 by Jarren Duran in only 37 games) and were third in the league with 93 steals.
The overall pitching followed the same template, as the average age (21.6) ranked ninth, just above the league average (21.5). The team's ERA (3.60) ranked sixth and was also just above the League average (3.57). RA9 landed them in tenth (4.54, LA: 4.36). Lowell ranked eighth in hits allowed (579), fifth in runs allowed (327), ninth earned runs (259), ninth in homers (33), fourth in walks (275), eighth in Ks (642), eighth in HBPs (41), and sixth in WPs (65). The defensive numbers seem to indicate that the club as a whole tended towards getting grounders, however, as the team led the league in double plays with 216 (34 more than the second best club and nearly 100 more than the worst club in the league) and were one of the top four in Assists (750) despite being in the bottom quarter of total putouts.
In the next posts, we shall discuss the individuals.