July Contest: VEB Perfect Game Challenge

Last month, I challenged VEB readers to construct their own perfect game by guessing nine innings thrown by Cardinals pitchers in June that they predicted would end without any opposing batters reaching base.

Although no contestants were able to successfully navigate nine perfect or hitless frames, I want to congratulate VEB user utwis on winning the inaugural contest with a total of six hits, walks, and hit batsmen. Their combined WHIP of 0.66 was half the Cardinals’ 1.33 team WHIP last month.

I also want to recognize ChattanoogaSTLFan, who carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Luke Weaver surrendered a one-out double to Franmil Reyes on June 13th. They and capitalcat tied for second, yielding seven baserunners apiece.

If you want to take a crack at eternal internet glory, I’m holding the contest again for the month of July. The object is to select nine innings thrown by Cardinals pitchers this calendar month that combine for a perfect game or no-hitter. For example, the following submission for May would have resulted in a valid no-hitter:

1st inning: May 29th (Michael Wacha)

2nd inning: May 21st (Miles Mikolas)

3rd inning: May 4th (Miles Mikolas)

4th inning: May 30th (Alex Reyes)

5th inning: May 15th (Jack Flaherty)

6th inning: May 31st (Tyler Lyons and John Brebbia)

7th inning: May 27th (Sam Tuivailala)

8th inning: May 29th (Jordan Hicks)

9th inning: May 1st (Bud Norris)

You may choose the same date for as many innings as you wish. If July 19th is your birthday and you think the Cardinals will toss a perfect game against the Cubs, feel free to guess July 19th for all nine innings. You will not be predicting who pitches each specific inning, but I included the names in parenthesis to show that the same pitcher may log multiple innings for your entry and that multiple pitchers may be used in a single inning without any penalty.

When filling out the form, please enter your guesses in the Month/Day/Year format (e.g. 06/03/2018 for June 3rd). On desktop you may also hover your cursor over the response box and an arrow should appear. Click on the arrow and a dropdown calendar will emerge for you to select a date.

A few technical rules:

• If nobody successfully records a perfect game or no-hitter, the “winner” of the contest will be whoever’s innings combine for the fewest total number of hits, walks, and hit batsmen.
• If an inning you guessed does not occur (i.e. the game was postponed, called early, you chose the ninth inning of a road loss, etc.), your selection will automatically be changed to the previous game in which that inning was recorded.
• In the event of a doubleheader, results will only be tabulated for the game originally scheduled for that date.
• You are not allowed to guess any innings that have already been played prior to your submission.

St. Louis is slated to have six off-days this month: the 9th, 12th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 26th. Here is the full schedule for July in picture form, with home games in the red boxes and road games in white.

If the form below does not appear on your screen, you can still access it by clicking here.

Good luck!