APRIL comes to a close ...

The month of April has come to an end. All of the results are in. Teams have played about 22% of the season, give or take a few games.

BSK leads the BR-A with a 500 record (18-18). ARK is a mere 3 games back. Its looking more and more like this division will be anyone's to take, with a 500 record likely taking it.

FFF leads the BR-W with a 25-11 record. RBC is 5 1/2 back. FFF is one of six teams on pace for 100+ wins this year. The Fighting Falcon tout the league's second best pitching staff (behind RBC) and three 5-game winners already (Webb, Cain and Hamels). Soria leads the league in saves with 10.

QUI has a slim one game lead over BAY in the BR-M with a 24-12 record. QUI is relying on David Ortiz (13 HR, 30 RBI, 2nd in MVP race) and Papelbon (9 saves), while BAY has A-Rod (16 HR, 36 RBI, 1st in MVP race) and Orlando Hernandez (5-0, 3.53 ERA, 1st in Cy Young voting).

BAY leads RBC by 3 1/2 games in the Babe Ruth Wild Card race.

OTT (28-8) extends its lead over ELR to 12 games in CY-K. OTT is on a 126-win pace, is one of three teams (CDC, BAY) on a 1,000 run pace, and has 24 triples in 36 games.

CDC leads the CY-G by 4 1/2 games over LEB/ILL. CDC is 23-13 (100+ wins pace). CDC is averaging 6.2 runs a game (2nd best) and the staff is led by Tom Gorzelanny (6-1, 1.70 ERA).

JSC leads the CY-J by 6 games over BDD. JSC is 25-11, while BDD is 19-17. Zito and Dice-K have combined to go 11-1 in 13 starts for Jacksonville.

BDD leads ILL/LEB by one-half game in the CY Wild Card race.

APRIL SIGNS -- CDC (Harris, Pineiro), WHW (Lopez, Redding), FFF (Gload), OTT (Ward, Burke), BSK (Wellemeyer)

APRIL CLAIMS -- ELR (Dobbs)

APRIL TRADES -- OTT sends Ross to RBC for 5M and Callaspo.