1. Sioux City Explorers (48-27, 1st, West)
Record last week: 2-1 vs. Kansas City, 1-2 @ Lincoln
A high and low week for Sioux City, but they did what they had to do to come out on top of Kansas City and maintain their growing lead atop the West. They also officially won the season-series over Kansas City with no matchups remaining between them. Despite a tough weekend, the pitching remains the strength, with July pitcher of the month Angel Macuare joining the fold and adding to what was already one of the best rotations in the league.
2. Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (42-33, 4th, 6 GB in West)
Record last week: 3-0 @ Winnipeg, 2-1 @ Kane County
The RedHawks have firmly cemented themselves as a contender in the West, going 13-3 over their last 16 contests including nearly sweeping through this past week on the road if not for a 2-1 loss to begin their set in Kane County. Their series against the Cougars had a playoff feel with very strong pitching and a total of just nine runs being scored in the entire series. That included a complete-game shutout from pitcher of the week Tyler Jandron on Sunday. Suddenly, the RedHawks have the league’s best team ERA (3.50) and are just a game behind Kansas City for second place in the loaded West.
3. Lake Country DockHounds (43-30, 1st, East)
Record last week: 3-0 vs. Cleburne, 2-1 @ Gary SouthShore
The lone representative from the East this week, Lake Country bounced back from their sweep in Sioux Falls to pick up a huge sweep against a rising Cleburne team and get a series win against a RailCats squad playing good baseball. The DockHounds pitching staff stepped up big time, allowing either one or zero runs in all five of their wins during the week. The East has been a rollercoaster at times but with Chicago and Cleburne sliding, Lake Country is the favorite in the East, up five games over the Dogs.
4. Kansas City Monarchs (43-32, 2nd, 5 GB in West)
Record last week: 1-2 @ Sioux City, 2-1 vs. Sioux Falls
This week showed a bit of what the Monarchs are about, bouncing back from another tough series loss against Sioux City to pick up two hard-fought wins over a potential playoff opponent in Sioux Falls. This included arguably their best win of the season with a walk-off on Sunday. Kansas City has won a lot of games by out-scoring opponents with their league-best team average of .270, but this week they showed they can win tight, low-scoring games against really good teams. However, losing the season-series against the Explorers certainly hurts their chances of winning the West and the all-important ability to choose their opponent, especially with another contender in Fargo-Moorhead emerging.
5. Sioux Falls Canaries (42-33, 3rd, 6 GB in West)
Record last week: 0-3 vs. Gary SouthShore, 1-2 @ Kansas City
This week was a swift fall from grace for Sioux Falls after they opened the second half with a four-game sweep against Lake Country. After they were handled at home by Gary SouthShore, they came out on the wrong end of a thrilling series in Kansas City with three one-run decisions. The biggest question right now has to be what’s going on with the offense that once was the best in the league after they scored three runs or less in five of six games this week including two shutouts.
