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Written by Cory Puffett
Published August 10, 2026
The 2026 regular season is in the books and the journey to Scully Cup VI is nearly complete.
In Week 20, Cory Puffett beat Rich Blorstad for the third time in their four meetings this season, pulling back into a tie for the most wins in a single regular season in AOA history. Thanks to the head-to-head tiebreaker, Cory earns the AOA East division title and the #1 seed in the playoffs.
Sam Martin held serve to clinch the third best record in the AOA despite finishing third in the AOA East. He'll have to face Rich Blorstad in the semifinals, a manager he went winless against across four meetings in the regular season.
In the AOA West, the division title came down to Stephen April and Cory Frontin facing separate opponents. They finish the campaign with identical 12-8 records, split their head-to-head series, and each went 10-2 in the division. That takes us to the points tiebreaker, which goes to Stephen April. Some mid-season mismanagement of Shohei Ohtani's lineup spot may have cost Cory, but a 49.90-point scoring advantage for Stephen just in this final week of the season likely would have made that a moot point, anyway.
Stephen earns the AOA's #4 seed and will face Cory Puffett in the wild card after finishing just four points behind him for the final Rickey Henderson Award of the regular season.
Good luck to all in the postseason!
Players of the Week
Catcher - Ivan Herrera, 8.70 points (Cory Frontin)
1st Baseman - Pete Alonso, 7.45 points (Stephen April)
2nd Baseman - JJ Wetherholt, 7.30 points (Cory Frontin)
3rd Baseman - Junior Caminero, 7.95 points (Sean Kennedy)
Shortstop - Elly De La Cruz, 6.50 points (Cory Puffett)
OF - Pete Crow-Armstrong, 13.25 points (Eric Meyer)
UTIL - Bryce Harper, 10.85 points (Stephen April)
SP - Jesus Luzardo, 23.00 points (Rich Blorstad)
RP - Trevor Megill, 13.65 points (Stephen April)
Bryce Harper was the only player to repeat as a player of the week from Week 19.
JJ Wetherholt earned his first career player of the week honor.
Cory Puffett had the highest team score of the week despite his only player of the week recipient being the lowest scorer of the bunch!
Game of the Week: Rich Blorstad (97.95) vs Cory Puffett (131.45)
Game of the Week: Rich Blorstad (97.95) vs Cory Puffett (131.45)
All-time H2H: Cory leads series 6-5
To close out the regular season, Rich’s Dredgers failed to hit triple digits for the first time in a 7-day matchup since Week 9 back in mid-May. Cory’s Fireflies, meanwhile, recorded their highest total of the season, dominating the Dredgers by more than 15 points each across both scoring disciplines.
Despite a lower batting average for the week, Cory’s OPS sat 85 points higher than Rich’s thanks to 5 more extra base hits and 18 more total bases on offense while his pitchers tallied five more innings pitches and five fewer earned runs allowed.
Rich's top scorer: Jesus Luzardo, 23.00 points (2 starts)
Cory's top scorer: Logan Webb, 21.55 points (2 starts)
Stephen April (127.45) vs Sean Kennedy (33.95)
Stephen April (127.45) vs Sean Kennedy (33.95)
All-time H2H: Stephen leads series 6-1
Stephen's top scorer: Trevor Megill, 13.65 points (4 appearances)
Sean's top scorer: Kyle Tucker, 8.75 points (6 games)
Eric Meyer (61.85) vs Sam Martin (108.50)
Eric Meyer (61.85) vs Sam Martin (108.50)
All-time H2H: Sam leads series 15-4
Eric's top scorer: Pete Crow-Armstrong, 13.55 points (7 games)
Sam's top scorer: Dylan Lee, 12.65 points (3 appearances)
Cory Frontin (87.55) vs Alex Mayo (65.75)
Cory Frontin (87.55) vs Alex Mayo (65.75)
All-time H2H: Cory leads series 9-8
Cory's top scorer: Parker Messick, 10.55 points (1 start)
Alex's top scorer: Michael King, 10.30 points (2 starts)
Rich Blorstad finishes the season atop the power rankings, earning his 27th #1 ranking in his career.
Alex Mayo made a little push at the end of the season but remained at the bottom of the power rankings for the 15th week in a row. This is his 29th career appearance at the bottom of the power rankings.
Note: MLB issues stat corrections up to 7 days after games. These corrections will be applied to games, including those that have been completed, but these articles will not necessarily be updated with those stat corrections.
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