May is ‘Moving Month’ as races tighten

If Saturday is ‘Moving Day’ on the PGA Tour, May was ‘Moving Month’ in the I-75 League as two divisional races tightened and six teams posted win totals in the teens.

South Grand Prairie’s 13-win month turned the Southbound’s two-team race into a three-team race, while Dyersville’s 14-win month in the Westbound Division trimmed Tatooine’s previous four-game lead in half despite its own 12-win month.

Meanwhile in the Northbound Division, Margaritaville racked up a 14-win month only to gain absolutely no ground at all on frontrunning New New York, which matched that win total to maintain its eight-game lead. And despite Olympic Coast’s eye-popping 15-win month, which included a 5-0 sweep of Savannah, the Orcas still stand 11 games back of the Hypnotoads.

Greendale needed just 10 wins to leapfrog the slow-rolling Boulder bunch in May after the Huggers’ eight-win struggle, which included 1-4 outcomes against nasty New New York and average Applegate. Thus just two wins separate the Greendale-Boulder-South Grand Prairie threesome.

New New York has now gone 16-15-14 to open the season, so there might be hope for the rest of us if that trend persists and we were to play 13 more months, but alas there are just five.

Tatooine only won two of its four series, but one of those was a 5-0 whitewashing of Applegate where the Rebels outscored the Clips 41-9, hitting .325 and posting a 1.20 ERA. But the Rebels went 2-3 on the road in their big showdown with the unstoppable Hypotoads. Dyersville gained ground by winning all four of its series.

In June, New New York will get another challenge from a first-place team when Greendale pays a visit. The Zealots also have first-place Tatooine on their schedule in a home series, as well as division rival South Grand Prairie and suddenly-hot Olympic Coast.

Meanwhile, Bushwood and Carpe Diem kicked off the trading season with a seven-player swap anchored by Jacob deGrom and Carlos Correa.

It’s the second time the Gophers have traded away deGrom, and the Cardinals will be the sixth uniform worn by deGrom in the I-75 League. Here’s his transaction history:

DeGrom was drafted by the Chatfield Choo-Choos, a franchise managed by Phil Roselli, in 2015 as the first pick of the second round. Roselli dealt him to Wisconsin, a franchise managed by Dan Wilson, in a 3-for-5 deal near the trade deadline in July, and Chatfield went on to win a league-best 103 games, one of 15 trades Chatfield made that season between December and July. Here’s the 3-for-5 deal:

July 17, 2015 — Chatfield sends P Jacob DeGrom, OF Jay Bruce and SP Bartolo Colon to Wisconsin for OF Corey Dickerson, SP Matt Garza, RP Joaqiun Benoit, RP Fernando Abad and RP Neil Ramirez.

When Chatfield, Hickory and Wisconsin all exited the league at the end of 2015, Dyersville, New New York and West Atlanta came on board, and New New York made deGrom its first pick in the three-team 2016 dispersal draft. Subsequent to that:

June 19, 2017 — New New York sends SP Jacob deGrom and 3B Mike Moustakas to Bushwood for 3B Jake Lamb and SP Sonny Gray

Dec. 20, 2019 — Bushwood sends SP Jacob deGrom, pick No. 53 and pick No. 113 to Boulder for 3B Yoan Moncada, pick No. 14 and pick No. 29.

July 28, 2022 — Boulder sends P Jacob Degrom, P Ryan Tepera, P Tanner Houck and OF Brett Phillips to Bushwood for DH Yordan Alvarez and P Kyle Hendricks.

May 27, 2023 — Bushwood sends P Jacob deGrom, OF Joey Gallo and IF Kevin Newman to Carpe Diem for SS Carlos Correa, SP Lance Lynn, RP Chris Martin and 1B Tristan Casas.

Correa, if you’re curious, was the first pick in the 2016 draft by the Destin Beach Bums, which retained his services until the franchise was taken over by the Carpe Diem Cardinals.