The Prague Checkmates hosting the Amsterdam Hotstove. Jerry Burke scooped 351 for Amsterdam to lead off. Pancho Barrios shot back with 423 for Prague. Yaozu Miao picked up 247 for the Hotstove, keeping them in the game. Lucila Zavala stumbled with 90 points for the Checkmates, allowing the game to tighten up a bit. Carlos Barajas collected 152 for Amsterdam, doing little to pad the lead. Hyunjae Kwak pulled 192 for Prague, making it extremely close. Veto Casas ripped 382 for the Hotstove, putting them in front again with his solid effort. Corentin Aerts answered with 367 for the Checkmates, keeping pace in the tight game. Andrew Reynolds continued to struggle for Amsterdam, posing just 119. Darryl Estrada pounded 983 for Prague, giving them a huge lead late. Manolito Avalos had 314 for the Hotstove, but they took a loss with 1565 total. Rayan Carranza hit 87 to ice the Checkmates victory at 2142. Prague is now 4-3, while Amsterdam drops to 2-8.
Next up, the two most hapless teams in the league battle, as the Seoul Crushers welcome the Caracas Hitmen. Vitaya Grichson batted 243 to get Caracas going. Natal Badillo pulled 240 for Seoul, keeping the game very close early. Barasa Contee tallied 486 for the Hitmen, putting them in charge. Gwandoya Makeba had just 126 for the Crushers, showing a bit of regression. Noppadon Gruemor posted 120 for Caracas, failing to extend the lead. Leandro Gamboa fired back with 475 for Seoul, bringing the game close again. Trevor Watson put up 287 for the Hitmen, a respectable total for a modest lead. Max Jennings crumbled with 96 for the Crushers, giving them a hill to climb. Maynard Cabagnot would be cheered right now after a cheeky scoop to the back 4s, but instead he is booed as he forget to mind the next ball and ended up with 28 for Caracas. Frank Schmidt chipped only 112 for Seoul, so Cabagnot is partially off the hook for his folly. Bojing Luo hit 176 to give the Hitmen a final of 1340 that they hope will hold up. After 96 from Zdenko Jansky gave the Crushers only 1145, Caracas celebrated. Caracas finally won, going to 1-7, while Seoul drops to 1-6.
Closing out the week, the Toronto Mounties bring in the Madrid Toros for the second half of their doubleheader. Spencer Howard chipped 160 for Madrid, getting off to a mediocre start. Cyril Hendrickx grabbed 298 for Toronto to give them a small lead. Pepillo Gamboa mustered just 129 for the Toros as the game quickly gets out of hand for them. Curro Garza blasted 703 for the Mounties against his home country's team. Lennert Verheyen supplied Madrid with 277. Axel Maes stumbled with 49 for Toronto. Thabo Chahine couldn't capitalize for the Toros, pulling in just 131 as they watched the game fade even more. Tabor Laureano continued to be the calm before the storm for the Mounties, scoring a meager 69 this game. Guillem Gamboa hit 807 for Madrid, keeping them in the fight. Jax Puente, playing his hometown team, matched it exactly with 807 for Toronto, maintaining their lead. Martin Badillo's 72 for the Toros left them at 1576 in the loss, resulting in them getting swept in the doubleheader. Antoine Hendrickx ended in a big way, scoring a fully unnecessary 856 to give the Mounties a brash 2782 for the win. Toronto is 7-1 and have the offense to back it up, while Madrid drops to 6-6 at their halfway point.
Here's the standings:
| Team | Wins | Losses | Win % |
| American Rebels | 5 | 0 | 1.000 |
| Toronto Mounties | 7 | 1 | 0.875 |
| Bangkok Sixes | 6 | 1 | 0.857 |
| Melbourne Renegades | 5 | 3 | 0.625 |
| Prague Checkmates | 4 | 3 | 0.571 |
| Madrid Toros | 6 | 6 | 0.500 |
| Manila Pacmen | 4 | 4 | 0.500 |
| Johannesburg Lions | 4 | 4 | 0.500 |
| Guatemala Conquistadors | 2 | 2 | 0.500 |
| Brussels Chocolatiers | 5 | 7 | 0.417 |
| Amsterdam Hotstove | 2 | 8 | 0.200 |
| Seoul Crushers | 1 | 6 | 0.143 |
| Caracas Hitmen | 1 | 7 | 0.125 |
Now, we have the Showcase games, beginning with the Manila Pacmen hosting the Inland Southwest UPCL players. Inland Southwest got 331 from the Victoria Spurs' B. Chapman, who appears to be safe due to pool performance after a rocky year in cricket. Haejun Ki answered with 525 for Manila. Twinkie I of the Lighton Prestige had 80 points for Inland Southwest, jeopardizing what appeared to be a safe bid in pool with another lackluster cricket effort. Recently, Twinkie I has slipped in pool, which leaves safety in doubt for her. Porfirio Cazares managed 239 for the Pacmen. Marsell tacked on 292 to get Inland Southwest going in the right direction. Marsell is a puzzle for the Tysini Hummingbirds, who aren't sure if he's worth keeping after cutting and redrafting him last season, and these middling performances in both sports make the decision fairly tough. Sander Verheyen had jsut 140 for Manila, letting the home team slip a bit. Another Hummingbird, Bright, scored 304 for Inland Southwest. Bright is big and physical, and Tysini is prepared to keep him despite a second round swoon in pool, because his offense is a strong supplement to Princess' more crafty approach. Gerben Bovelt hit 192 for the Pacmen, which is not representative of his All-Star level effort so far in the season. Pounce didn't have a great campaign in cricket or pool, and his 240 in the Showcase may be just enough for the Prestige to say they'll move on. Dries Renard, who has struggled all season, continued in the friendly game with just 72 points for Manila, giving the lead away. Smudge, of the Infinity City Torpedoes, grabbed 160 for Inland Southwest. Smudge clearly struggled in cricket and was just eliminated in pool, so this lackluster effort may be the end of her reign as captain with the Torpedoes. Infinity City did a 3/4 rebuild after last season, and they've seen big improvements, which may lead them to believe Smudge is part of the problem rather than the solution. Inland Southwest ended with 1407. Richard Miller has also struggled for the Pacmen, and his 184 left them at a loss with 1352. Not a lot to like from the Inland Southwest players, as many of them did not turn heads here.
In the other Showcase, the Melbourne Renegades get their turn to host the UPCL Northeast. This marks the second wave of Showcases, starting over with the first UPCL side again. Leandra began with 235 for Northeast, similar to her first effort. The Harrison Specters will likely let this spark plug of a player go, and hope they won't regret it. Charlie Thompson had only 49 for Melbourne, giving them a weak start. Noelle added onto the Northeast lead with 615, doing plenty in the Showcases to convince the Central Warriors to keep her regardless of if she gets protection from pool. Theodore White had only 152 for the Renegades, as they are getting buried in this Showcase. Gizmo, while less impressive, sliced 371 for Northeast as the Warriors are also likely to keep him. Gizmo is in line to get safety from his pool effort, but the Warriors are also reluctant to break up the team that won the Hutton Cup and are currently contenders for the pool titles. Sancho Ramos got turned around for Melbourne, scoring only 112 as the SCL side is not keen on showing up big here. Slinks hit 312 for Northeast, providing two solid and consistent efforts in the Showcases. Slinks had a down year for the Specters, but her long pedigree of consistency and high-quality play in pool may be enough for them to take another year of her. Rana Naqvi grabbed only 152 for the Renegades, who remain well out of the game. Blizzard crushed 696 for Northeast here, making her last appearance in the regular season for the Everton Eagles (who are on track to make the pool playoffs, but don't have a clear roster for it yet). Blizzard's numbers don't look great, and she had one good and one bad Showcase, so this effort will have to have a lasting memory if Blizzard wants to avoid the draft again. Sikke Eichel fell with a measly 64 points for Melbourne. Cubby of the Maplewood Lumberjacks had just 33 in his showing, likely confirming his departure from the team at the end of the season. Northeast ended with a strong 2262 as the hottest region in the Showcases so far. Stanley Watts had 289 for the Renegades, taking a loss with 818 points total. Northeast swept the American Rebels and Melbourne Renegades in two strong showings, with likely half of their team gaining safety one way or another.
Week 5 begins next Monday. Pool Round 3 ends tomorrow, with Round 4 taking center stage beginning Friday.
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