Bywater sits at 28-23. The final playoff spot in the Shire Conference is half a game away. It is May 27. None of this is comfortable.

The Hobbit Division is not a division for the faint of heart this year. The Carrock Bears (34-16) are gone — they are in a different conversation entirely, winners of six straight, playing baseball that belongs in a different bracket. Below them, the race is real. The Bounders sit second in the division but third in the Shire Conference wild-card picture, and the math is simple: win more, or watch October from a barstool in Bag End.

What keeps Bywater in the fight is pitching. Ørjan Mørkved crossed 1,000 career strikeouts this season. That is a number worth noting. Whether it reflects current dominance or the accumulated weight of a long career, the milestone is real. What I can confirm personally is that Mørkved is still in the rotation, still eating innings, and still giving this club a reason to show up to the park. The Bounders need him to be a stopper, not a mascot.

The fielding is what I keep coming back to. Bywater does not have the kind of defensive profile that shows up in the box score headlines, but they are not embarrassing themselves in the field, and at 28-23, not embarrassing yourself in the field is load-bearing. Games at this stage of a tight race get lost in the fourth inning on balls that should be routine. The Bounders are not losing those games at a rate that concerns me. Yet.

Lake Town sits at .500 and is on a five-game losing streak. Bucklebury is 25-26. Both are behind Bywater. That buffer is half a game. That is not a buffer. That is a coin flip with nicer uniforms.

The schedule will matter. The Bounders do not need a run. They need to hold. They need the lineup to stop leaving runners at second in the fifth inning. They need whoever is closing games to close them.

Renar Thuvaradran hit 1,000 career hits this season — as an Archer, not a Bounder, so that milestone belongs to Lake Town. Still, it is a reminder that the Hobbit Division has players worth watching at every roster spot.

Bywater has enough. Whether enough is sufficient is the question May is asking.