Dropped Third Strike Rule in Effect...Oh Boy.

A week has gone by at my local Little League in the Majors division, and wow is the dropped third strike rule taking over. It's not unexpected, especially in the beginning, but last night I opened my coaching career with a 13-3 victory. We had three hits.

I think the rule will be excellent as soon as tournament time rolls around, but in-house is going to be tough across the country. My league is very young this year, so there's a lot of kids who don't even know about the rule, let alone practice it, but I'm worried about the quality of baseball in Little League.

The gradual changes towards deeper fences, dropped third strike, and eventually 50-70 will hopefully bring players back to the best youth baseball program in the world, but it's going to take some time.

How does the dropped third strike rule look in your league? Are you happy it has been instituted? What changes need to be made to be a successful team now? When do you concentrate on developing young catchers? Let me know in the comments.

Day 6: Pennsylvania Still The Darlings

Well, Pennsylvania turned an incredible heartbreaking loss on the first night of the Little League World Series into probably one of the more memorable runs in recent memory. After Tyler McCloskey's throw to first base took out perennial-power Warner Robins, Keystone finds itself just one win away from playing in the United States championship game.

The historical thing about that possibility? With the exception of the illegal Rolando Paulino team in 2001, no team from the "Mid-Atlantic" region has ever played for the US championship. The last team from a Mid-Atlantic state to do it was Toms River East American in 1999. The last team from the Eastern region to play for a US championship was Saugus American LL from Massachusetts in 2003.

There's still a winner's bracket game to be played, however. Big Sky, Montana will continue to try and shock the world by taking on Ocean View, California tonight. The loser faces Keystone and its 30,000 fans.

If Montana finds a way to beat California it will be one of the bigger upsets in a long time in the LLWS, but if they do, it will be the first time since 2006 that a team from the Northwest plays for a United States championship.

This brings me to my next point.

Modified double elimination. ESPN and Little League have been telling us the format is double elimination all week long. I, like most people, assumed that meant whoever wins the two pods must be beaten twice. Then they will play single elimination championship game for the US crown. That's how they did it last year. That's how they do it at the College World Series.

I've been all wrong. Apparently, if you come out of the loser's bracket, you only need to beat the winner's bracket team once. This is a huge disadvantage for the teams that have earned the right to be beaten twice. Little League doesn't care.

Who does this hurt the most? Mexico. California will most likely be okay. Nobody has a pitcher that can match up with the staff they have. Mexico may actually have better pitching, but you can never ever count out the Japanese. If Japan makes it back to the International Championship, there is no favorite in that game. That's wrong.

I think the worst thing about the double elimination tournament is that California is basically an afterthought. I understand that ESPN is pushing PA like crazy, but PA is playing every single night. They have to be pushed. California is just sitting around being forgotten about, especially after their second game wasn't shown on television because of tennis. Tennis? Really? That gives ESPN better ratings than the LLWS? I doubt it. 

There's only six teams left in the entire world of Little League Baseball. It's pretty amazing.

Day 2: Record Crowd Gets Heartbroken

In one of the wildest games in my Little League World Series experiences, North Oldham Kentucky blanket hometown favorites Keystone, Pennsylvania, 1-0.

More than 41,000 fans officially watched Kentucky's Griffin McLarty single-handedly beat Pennsylvania with a complete game shutout on the mound and a first inning homerun to win it. Most of the nerves on the field didn't seem to come from the players as the umpires converged, convened, were overuled, and just plain embarrassed themselves at one point.

The most egregious of the calls came in the fourth when Brandon Miller ripped a double down the left field line. The ball curved around the third base umpire (to the inside) and landed squarely on the foul line. The play broke up a perfect game and gave PA a runner in scoring position with no outs. Without looking at the ball land or remembering that he had a colleague behind him, the umpire called it foul. The call was first overturned, and then possibly even reviewed. In the end, once the umpires hands went up the play was dead and no amount of replay could change that. PA still got it's first hit that inning and had runners in scoring position, but the first of two really bad decisions by the third base coach killed Keystone.

By the sixth inning, PA was actually outhitting KY. A leadoff double by McCloskey was wasted when he was sent home on a bobbled play at first. KY's defender recovered in time to gun another PA player easily at the plate.

Alex Garbrick promptly ripped a single that would've tied it. McLarty settled down and struck out two more batters to end it. He finished with 12 K's.

I'm almost positive I've said it on this blog at least once while talking about PA. They ran themselves into so many outs in Bristol during the regional that it wasn't a coincidence. They are over-aggressive to a serious fault. It cost them a big one today.

In the first US game today, SoCal showed off it's pitching strength and then dinked and dunked it's way to an 11-0 victory over Rhode Island. Nothing about the game was surprising, but California still needs to hit more to win a championship.

I didn't get to watch too much of today's international action because of the rain delay and the 41,000 people wanting tickets to the PA game. I saw Canada-Saudi Arabia and they played as expected. Two of the weaker regions with both teams getting a gift to Williamsport equals average pitching and average defense.

Holland was better than expected supposedly, and Venezuela was "decent" from what I heard. To me, Mexico-Japan winner will take international championship.

So far, the biggest issue with Modified double elimination over pool play is that the two beat teams in each bracket aren't guaranteed to make the final. If Mexico-Japan are better than Venezuela-Canada it doesn't matter. Someone from Venezuela's pool has to be in the international championship.

Tomorrow is my final day on location. It will be interesting to see an old school Eastern Region championship game with New England vs. Mid-Atlantic. If I'm thinking correctly the last time the two Eastern teams played was in the 2002 semifinals. Worcester Mass beat Harlem NY on a walk-off homerun.

Day 1: Curious Pitch Count Decisions Rule The Day

A long first day of games is in the books. After a three-and-a-half hour drive to Williamsport, and nine hours of games, I'm exhausted. I'm not nearly as tired as the Little League World Series managers will be after trying to work out their pitching staffs. With a double elimination tournament confined to just a few days, its not something many managers will be used to.

In Game 1, Mexico put itself on the map with a 3-0 victory over Chinese Taipei. Mexico's starting pitcher, Jorge Jacobo, dominated the Taiwanese hitters by striking out 12 batters in a two-hit shutout. The big question mark for Mexico is that Jacobo is now spent for 4 days. In a tournament built like this one, burning a pitcher for four days can be dicey. On the other hand, Asia-Pacific was incredibly inept in the field. With six errors on the day (5 officially, I gave them 6), it might've been the worst defensive performance in Chinese Taipei LL history. The even more remarkable thing is that during warmups, they looked like the greatest.

Sticking with that same pool, Japan mercy-ruled Aruba 12-1 in typical Japanese fashion. Taking advantage of an error here and there, a bunt here and there, and then boom, a blast. Proving that they're always one of the headiest teams in the LLWS, the Japanese manager pulled his starter at 50 pitches. He's eligible to start against Mexico in the winner's bracket final of that pool. I understand that a blowout victory makes it easier to pull your starter, but still, what is Mexico going to do until Tuesday? Maybe they have a couple more aces up their sleeve. As for Aruba, their big ace pitched well and could do damage in this tournament, except...  Aruba burned him in a blowout loss. Aruba is probably going to be two-and-out now.

On the United States side, Montana took advantage of its first World Series appearance with a 6-4 victory over South Dakota. Cole MacKenzie had the big hit of the day for Northwest with a 2-out 2-run double in the 5-run fourth inning. Montana flashed some serious leather in the victory. South Dakota came into the series with a reputation for hitting, and they currently lead the homerun board with three. Unfortunately, walks hurt the boys from the Mount Rushmore-area.

The first night game of the 65th Little League World Series was a marquee matchup between Louisiana and Georgia. Neither league is a stranger to the LLWS, and it showed with a well-played game. Georgia was touted as a team with a dominant ace and not a whole lot of hitting. So far, that held true. Louisiana's Ethan Hines quieted the Georgia bats until the sixth inning before Hayden Erbe picked up the save by getting out of a bases loaded no-out jam. The biggest question mark of the night though was Georgia's star pitcher, Jake Fromm's absence from the mound. Jacob Giles pitched very well and is definitely a top of the line number two pitcher, but Fromm's 77-MPH fastball could've been used tonight for Georgia.

Day 1's Team Rankings

1. Mexico

2. Japan

3. Louisiana

4. Georgia

5. Chinese Taipei

6. Montana

7. Aruba

8. South Dakota

World Series Previews (Part 2)

SOUTHEAST

Warner Robins American East, Georgia

Overall 2011 Team Record: 15-0
Southeast Pool Play History (Since 2002): 17-10
Georgia Pool Play History: 9-3 (LLWS Champions in 2006, 2007)

Team ERA: 2.00
Team Batting Avg: .275  (4 players over .300)

Key Players: Jake Fromm (25K's in 11.2 Inn, 1.59 ERA, .438, 2 HR (only HRs for team), 8 RBI)

Projections:Warner Robins will go as far as the "Man Child" takes them. Fromm is a monster on the mound, and was the team's most productive hitter. In fact, for all the talk about Warner Robins competing for the LLWS title, the team is extremely weak with the bats. If Warner Robins plays their cards right though, it's possible that Fromm will only need to beat two tough teams. Southwest on opening night and West in the US championship. If that's the case, we could be looking at yet another team from Georgia being the US champions.

SOUTHWEST

Lafayette, Louisiana

Overall 2011 Team Record: 12-0
Southwest Pool Play History: 20-6
Louisiana Pool Play Record: 5-4
Team ERA: 6.00
Team Bat Avg: .375 (8 players over .300)

Key Players: Austin Primeaux (.700, 3HR, 11 RBI), Ethan Hines (.600, 2 HR, 12 RBI)

Projections: Lafayette scored a ton of runs in the Southwest regional and Louisiana state tournament, but gave up its share of runs as well. Haden Erbe is the team's ace, but he's not a flamethrower. After that, the well is pretty dry on the mound. Luckily for Lafayette, they hit. Hines, Primeaux, Erbe, and Miller are the stars. Lafayette's chances of winning the group will come down to the ability to stay away from Georgia's ace.

MIDWEST

Rapid City Harney, South Dakota

Overall 2011 Team Record: 10-1
Midwest Pool Play History: 3-24
South Dakota Pool Play History: 0-3

Team ERA: 2.81
Team Bat Avg: .400 (5 players over .300, 9 HRs in regional)

Key Players: Hayden McGriff (.500, 4 HR), Zach Solano (.500, 2 HR)

Projections: For only the second time in history, a team from South Dakota has advanced to Williamsport. Although the shirts around Williamsports will say Rapid City, South Dakota again, the league is different. Back in 2008, it was Canyon Lake LL. This year it's Harney. The boys from Harney have some big sticks, and Hayden McGriff is intimidating on the mound, but besides playing a nice opener with Montana, Rapid City shouldn't provide many problems for anyone else in the pod.

NORTHWEST

Billings Big Sky, Montana

Overall Team Record: 18-1
Northwest Pool Play Record: 14-13 (Hawaii responsible for 5-1 record before moving to West)
Montana Pool Play Record: 0-0

Team ERA: 2.23
Team Bat Avg: .326 (5 players over .300)

Key Players: Cole McKenzie (.684, 3 HR, 11 RBI, Only regional triple crown winner in USA)

Projections: The Northwest region does surprisingly well, even without Hawaii to carry the load lately. Auburn Washington made a deep run last year, and the teams from Oregon performed well in the latter half of the decade. A team from Montana in the World Series is literally unheard of though. Big Sky, Montana didn't back into the series at all either. They went 3-1 in pool play and took care of business in the single elimination round. For Montana to be successful they only need to win one game this week. It's gotta be the opener with South Dakota. For that to happen, Cole McKenzie will need to win the one-on-one battle with South Dakota's Haden McGriff. Montana is in trouble just by Haden's name alone. If I have a baseball-playing son, I want him to be named Haden McGriff too!

I'll be on the road to Williamsport bright and early tomorrow morning. If I can't get internet access during the trip, I'll post through my phone, but it should be a fantastic week. I haven't been to the World Series during the first weekend since 2003. I'm definitely excited. If anyone is in Williamsport from now until Thursday, leave a comment... come say hi. Remember to share the blog with your friends.

See you guys in Willy!

Little League World Series Previews (Part 1)

The second year of Little League's double elimination brackets is upon us, and yet the two different pods are severely unbalanced. The U.S. pod including the West, Great Lakes, New England, and Mid-Atlantic is significantly stronger than the pod containing Midwest, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest. Today we'll preview the stronger pod in my opinion.


GREAT LAKES

North Oldham, Kentucky

Overall 2011 Team Record: 13-3
Great Lakes Pool Play History (Since 2002): 9-18, 2002 LLWS Champions
Kentucky Pool Play History: 5-8 (3-0 in 2002)

Team ERA: 1.27
Team Batting Avg: .357  (4 players over .300)

Key Players: Griffin McLarty (Hitting: .647, 1 HR, 8 RBI, Pitching: 14.2 Inn., 30K's, 0 runs), Jacob Bates (.714, 1 HR, 2 3B, 2 2B, 9 RBI)

Projections: Kentucky is led by its 6'0'' right hander, Griffin McLarty. The fireballer dominated on the mound in the Great Lakes regional and was nearly impossible to get out at the plate. Jacob Bates was the star of the offense last week hitting over .700. McLarty will face possibly the deepest offensive lineup in Williamsport with Pennsylvania, and a major home crowd to boot, but good pitching always beats good hitting. The factor in the game and in Kentucky's chances to advance to the US championship is always pitch count for McLarty. The more he's eligible to pitch, the better chances Kentucky has at advancing.

MID-ATLANTIC

Keystone, Pennsylvania

Overall 2011 Team Record: 18-1
Mid-Atlantic Pool Play History: 10-16
Pennsylvania Pool Play Record: 1-2

Team ERA: 1.03
Team Bat Avg: .380 (10 players over .300)

Key Players: Landon Breon (2 HR), Alex Garbrick(.579), Talon Falls (2 HR), Tyler McCloskey(HR, 3 Saves)

Projections: Keystone is a team that looks amazing on paper and in the field. Since I've been attending the Mid-Atlantic regional, Keystone was the most sure-fire champion of all. This week will let us know if that was the result of a weak field or if Keystone is the first team to advance to U.S. championship from the Mid-Atlantic since Danny Almonte's illegal team in 2001. Opening up against a powerful arm from the Great Lakes won't help things, but with the depth of lineup and on the mound, it's very possible that Pennsylvania can advance to at least the pod championship, even if its through the loser's bracket. Expect a major home crowd to boost the boys from Clinton County.

NEW ENGLAND

Cumberland American, Rhode Island

Overall 2011 Team Record: 13-2
New England Pool Play History: 13-14
Rhode Island Pool Play History: 1-2

Team ERA: 4.41
Team Bat Avg: .273 (5 players over .300, 7 players with 1 hit or less)

Key Players: Ryan McCormick (.579, 3 HR), Chris Wright (.389, 3 HR, 11 RBI)

Projections: Cumberland, Rhode Island was the third seed in the New England bracket, and possibly the fourth most talented team. How did a team with an ERA over 4 and a batting average under .300 make it to the LLWS? With great timing. The Cumberland bats were quiet through four games before exploding in the elimination round. Those bats will need to stay hot to prevent a two-and-out situation. The first matchup with the powerful squad from Ocean View will be very tough to be competitive in.

WEST

Ocean View, California

Overall Team Record: 18-1
West Pool Play Record: 21-6
SoCal Pool Play Record: 8-1

Team ERA: 0.53
Team Bat Avg: .351 (9 players over .300)

Key Players: Hagen Danner (.476, HR, 5 RBI, 0.00 ERA), Nick Pratto (.389, 2 RBI)
Projections: USA Champs. I don't think there's any doubt. The biggest negative against Ocean View is that everyone throws their best against them. The only pitcher I can see in the USA bracket that can out-duel any of Ocean View's pitchers is Fromm from Georgia. Otherwise, the staff of Danner, Pratto, and Salzburg will eat anybody up. The only true knock on Ocean View is that they don't hit the ball, but 9 players hitting .300 in a tough regional against top competition proves otherwise. Pratto, the team's best hitter, was barely productive all last week. If he breaks out, it's good night, Irene. Look for Ocean View to handle Rhode Island and then face a good-hitting Pennsylvania team or a McLarty-less Kentucky.

Check back tomorrow for the final four team previews from the USA. It's going to be an exciting 11 days!

World Series Field Is Set... Previews Late Tomorrow Night

Well, Keystone, PA took care of business after the 22 hour rain delay and no Hiro Mizutani on the mound. The best team won the Mid-Atlantic though. There should be no complaints.

The World Series is shaping up to be a fantastic affair. With fan favorites in Pennsylvania and Warner Robins, GA plus a dominant pitching staff from California. The crowds should be huge. I planned on being in Williamsport for the first three days but I lost my hotel room. Anyone with a room for a blogger?! :-)

In-depth previews are coming by Late Tuesday night. I'm actually in central Pennsylvania now. I had to take my girlfriend to Maroon 5 at Hershey Park tonight. Back to Little League by Tuesday though. I promise.

Remember to tell all your baseball friends and family about the blog. Let's take a
Roll Call of folks going to Willy either this weekend or next. It should be a great time no matter what.

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

With rain pelting the northeast today, it's highly unlikely that they get the final US championship game in today. It doesn't even look promising for Monday.

I know this much though. The Little League World Series is shaping up to be a dandy, especially if Keystone, PA wins.

Competitively, it's probably going to come down to Warner Robins, GA and Ocean View, CA, but add the fan bases for those teams plus Keystone hailing from just 25 miles away. Williamsport could be rocking with over 40,000 fans a day.

Montana winning the Northwest is an incredible feat. Being in Williamsport will be a blast for those guys. The only thing missing to make this LLWS complete is the Ugandan team from Africa. It stinks that we are stuck with the boring Arabian American Little League from RSA once again. If Uganda had overage players though, I guess it's the right move. If it was just political red tape, however, then it's a travesty that those boys won't be making the trip.

Be prepared for the most in-depth Little League World Series preview of all-time once the field is set.

Also, ESPN Classic usually runs LLWS games this week leading up to the series. It's always the standbys of 1980, 1982, 1989, 2007.  Well, this year, they've gone to the extreme. You can see games from almost every year of the 2000s, plus the greatest pitching duel ever in 2002. Add in Sean Burroughs team, and Todd Frazier, and it's a Little League fan's dream come true.

What was your favorite game, team, player ever???  Tell me in the comments.

UPDATE: 4:28P.M--  The Mid-Atlantic championship is still in a rain delay. Keystone, PA and Paramus, NJ are currently scoreless through three innings. Sources have told me that if the game is not completed by midnight tonight that Keystone, PA will be awarded the regional championship based on their record in the regional. Little League is doing everything they can to get the game in, however.

Also, Paramus was given the opportunity to play the game yesterday in an effort to get it in, but declined due to the eligibility of its star pitcher, Hiro Mizutani. Further updates will come as I get them.

7:18P.M.-- The tarp is still on the field. A lot of rain has fallen. I would hope they only play this game if the field is actually playable. The story that Pennsylvania will be named the champs is premature. Although, it is still an option. Keep watching ESPN2 and checking this blog for updates.

9:14P.M.-- Finally, the Mid-Atlantic Regional final was postponed for the night. New Jersey and Pennsylvania will resume the championship game at 10A.M. Monday morning in the top of the 4th inning. There will be no Garbrick or Mizutani on the mound. ESPN was incorrectly reporting that the pitchers were over 21 pitches and therefore could not finish the game. They were wrong. It's because the pitchers are over 41 pitches that they can't finish their 85. It's a special pitch count rule for weather-related postponements.

The Hits Just Keep on Coming

Wow. Was my last post about pool play on the money or what? Top seeds dropped like flies today around the country, and I'm sorry it hurts the Little League World Series when it happens. In the New England region, it hurt the most. Undefeated New Hampshire and 3-1 Connecticut each had to play their final pool play opponents for a second time in two days. Both New Hampshire and Connecticut pounded the top pitchers of their two respective opponents while not throwing their best hurlers, I might add. The games meant nothing to them, but they still won handily.

Now, they're both eliminated from the tournament.

Maybe we need to go back to the stone ages of the early 90's and go back to single elimination. At least everyone would be on a level playing field then. I agree that double elimination worked better than they would now if the regions weren't split into eight. Six team tournaments would be kind of lame. Maybe the answer is inviting two teams from bigger states ala Texas and California to make it 12 per region. I'm not sure, but something needs to be done.

If Little League is married to pool play, then they need to get rid of the semifinal round. Just allow the top 2 teams to advance and play a full round robin. Goffstown, New Hampshire, the best team in the entire East Region has been perfect from game one of its district tournament. One game of follies (EIGHT ERRORS!) after committing just one error in the four pool play games should not eliminate a team, especially when they lost to a team they easily beat, who happened to lose two games in the regional already (fair and square), and also lost in their own district tournament. It's not right.

Fairfield, Connecticut blew it in a different way. Did they lose to an inferior opponent who they already beat? Yes. However, Connecticut can only blame themselves with some really poor coaching decisions. Hitting for its most dangerous hitter (twice!), and its second most dangerous hitter once, was mistake number one in a game you're losing especially in a bases loaded two-out situation. Add the fact that they pull their ace at 35 pitches while losing 1-0 is even more ludicrous. I feel bad for that group of boys. Fairfield will probably be back next year though. They have a really strong group of 11-year olds.

Hello, Nebraska!

Kearney, Nebraska is another 2-2 team (seeded third) who took it to a higher seed today. Nebraska will play for its first region title ever now. That's huge for Little League in Nebraska, but whether they deserve it or not is another story. I'm assuming that Nebraska threw its ace in the semifinal being the underdog and South Dakota should be a heavy favorite in the championship.  While we're still discussing pool play and its issues, fourth-seeded Bend South, Oregon just upended undefeated North Bothell, Washington. Another one bites the dust.

This Blog's For You

Let me know in the comments if there is anything you'd like me to touch on or discuss more. I'm looking for some blogging ideas to keep this as fresh as possible over the next couple weeks. Please continue to share the blog link on your facebooks, twitter pages, emails, etc...

First Casualty of Pool Play/Single Elimination Goes Down

With an 85-pitch limit on ace Elijah Dunham, Golfmoor, Indiana had to hope and pray they would hang onto a 3-1 lead in the sixth inning. They didn't. Golfmoor suffered its first loss in the entire summer. Undefeated through district, state, and regional play. They were dropped by one run to a team that would've been eliminated in a regular tournament setting. In my world, 2-2 should never advance, and a win over an undefeated team certainly shouldn't knock them out.

We'll see how the Great Lakes final plays out. It's never good for business when the best team doesn't advance.

In the Southeast region, it's Warner Robins playing for a regional title. Their nemesis, Mobile Westside, Alabama won't waiting to greet them. New Tampa, Florida reminded everyone which state owns the Southeast over time. Unfortunately for them, they had to burn their ace to get there. Warner Robins must've been jumping for joy. In a scary moment, Westside's pitcher threw a pitch and fell to the ground in sheer and absolute agony. He was holding his pitching arm. Here's hoping that's not a surgery that the pro-pitch count folks can put in their corner. No matter what, good luck to that young man.

In the Eastern region, my time as an uncle has come to an end. Barre, Vermont dropped its fourth game of the tournament, 12-4 to Cumberland, Rhode Island. The boys showed some heart by battling back and actually scoring some runs. They did it against the Rhode Island ace as well. The 55 runs that Vermont gave up were the most in the history of pool play in Bristol...for about five hours. Northwest Washington, DC lost 17-0 to Keystone, Pennsylvania and added to their own total of runs against. They ended up with an unheard of 63. The good news for DC is that they put the ball in play much more often than typical Washington, DC teams do, and they have eight 11-year olds on the team. They could contend for a semifinal spot next year. One of the team's two best players is Sydney Love-Baker, an 11-year old, and a girl. She is going to be a force in her final season of Little League next season.

In the Northwest, Billings, Montana is as high as the second seed for only the second time in ten years. Despite making the semifinals more often than not, no team from Montana has ever played in the Northwest Region final. A 9-5 winner over Lewiston, Idaho today.. Billings just needs to repeat that feat for the second consecutive day to make history.

In the Mid-Atlantic region, there is some interesting positions that teams are in after tonight's games. Great Kills, New York dropped an important game to Paramus, NJ putting them at 1-3. Undefeated Keystone, Pennsylvania plays 1-2 Conococheague, Maryland this morning in a resumed game from Tuesday. They are scoreless through two innings. If Pennsylvania wins, New York is in as the four seed and will play Pennsylvania in the semifinal. New York's ace will be on the mound. If Pennsylvania loses to Maryland, then NY is out and Maryland is in as the four seed without their number one pitcher (he's not an ace anyway). There's a possibility Pennsylvania could end up facing New Jersey with a loss, but they will also be without their ace. A loss sets Pennsylvania up MUCH better than a win. What do they do?

The next few days are shaping up wonderfully. I can't wait to break down the World Series participants next week. Also, with the east coast bias, I'll be posting all-region teams for the Mid-Atlantic and New England regions.

This blog is updated daily, so remember to always check back. Tell your buddies about it. There is no other Little League blog around. After the series, we'll be holding discussions about potential changes in Little League, youth baseball as a whole, theories, etc.

I'm also brainstorming a book idea that could be interesting. Stay tuned for more on that in a couple weeks.