MLCS: Philadelphia vs Bay Area

 Game 1: Troy Wyckoff had a 2 run homer off Mark Stevens in the second inning. Philadelphia scored twice in the 6th against Anthony Henderson to tie it up. Cromwell McGee pitched 2 perfect innings in relief and set his team up for a walk off. In the bottom 9th with 2 out, Dave Thomas singled. Gunnar Lumo ran for him, and a Jose Perez single brought Lumo to third. Brian Rhodes took a 4 pitch walk to load the bases, and Ren-qing Sun drew a walk on a 3-2 count against Anthony Vincent to bring home the winner. It was Philadelphia's 4th consecutive 3-2 playoff win.

Game 2: Tom Weaver struck out 13 while allowing 3 hits and no runs. Neither team scored until the 7th, but 3 Philadelphia homers gave them a 5-1 win and a 2-0 series lead.

Game 3: Gary Smith allowed 2 runs over 7 innings, and Mike Winters went 4-4 with RBI singles in the second and fourth innings. With a 2-1 lead in the 7th, Kelsey Lester busted the game open with a grand slam. Philadelphia went on to win by the score of 6-2.

Game 4: Bay Area scored 4 runs in the first as Larry Presley was unable to finish the inning due to injury. Jose Alvarado homered and drove in 5. Tomas Colon pitched 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball in the 8-1 Bay Area victory.

Game 5: Mike Winters hit a pair of homers off Anthony Henderson but Philadelphia could not hold Bay Area down despite leads of 4-0 and 6-4. In the top of the 9th Kelsey Lester hit a 2 out, game tying homer. In the bottom of the inning, Eugene Wheeler hit a one out homer, his second of the game, to keep Bay Area alive.

Game 6: Philadelphia had ace Tom Weaver ready to try and clinch it. While he gave up 2 runs in the first 2 innings to fall behind 2-0, he settled in, pitching a 3 hitter with 11 strikeouts over 6. Philadelphia's bats got started in the 2nd and never stopped. Sun had 4 hits and 5 RBI, and Winters had 5 hits, 2 more homers, and 6 RBI as Philly won the clincher 19 to 2.

SLCS Toledo vs Boston

 Game 1: It was a great pitcher's duel between likely Cy winner Michael Farley and 2023 Cy winner Larry Moody. Moody allowed one run on three hits over 7 innings. Farley allowed only one hit over 6 innings, but left the game after his pitch counted topped 100. In the 7th, Manny Ortez tied the game at 1 with a homer.

In the 14th inning, Manny Ortez walked and with 2 out, Reggie Guerrero lined a double over the center fielder's head. Ortez is not fleet of foot, but with 2 out he was running on contact and scored the winning run in Boston's 2-1 victory.

Game 2: Jesus Palmeiro pitched a 3 hitter over 7 innings and Steve Greer pitched the last 2 to complete the 4-0 shutout. Carl Bell had 3 hits for the Mud Hens, and Tsutomu Sato had 2 hits and a walk.

Game 3: Dorian Ivey struck out 9 and allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings. Toledo took a 2-1 lead to the 6th and busted the game open with a 6 run inning.

Game 4: Cary Lee homered in the first inning and pitched the first 4 1/3 innings, allowing 3 runs and striking out 8. Jeremy Byers allowed 4 runs in 6 innings for Boston.

The game was tied going into the bottom 9th. With 2 out, Bill Vinson came on as a pinch hitter and took closer Brandon Sanders deep for a walkoff homer. It was the second pinch hit, game winning homer by Vinson in the playoffs.

Game 5: Game 1 starters Farley and Moody came back, and Boston took a 3-2 lead to the bottom 9th. With 2 out, Hisashi Kondo had a pinch hit single to score Carl Bell and send the game into extra innings.

In the 10th, Willem Galpin tripled in the lead run and came around to score an insurance run off Steve Greer. In the bottom of the inning, Christopher Walker gave up one run but held on for the 5-4 win.

Game 6: Ignacio Robles pitched 7 innings, combining with Walker on a 3-0 shutout. Boston scored all 3 runs in the third inning as Masuda brought home one with a single and Bernardo Pineda followed with a 2 run homer.

Game 7: Dorian Ivey retired all 6 batters he faced, but strangely, Miles O'Brien pulled him in the third to go with a bullpen game. Sato had 3 RBI, Vasquez homered, and Toledo won the pennant with a 7-2 victory. In the 9th Steve Greer walked the bases loaded with one out. Leonhilde Ascencio got Reggie Guerrero to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to end the game.

MLDS: Philadelphia vs St Louis

 Game 1: St louis struck first with a 2 run homer in the first inning by RJ Lauritzen. Mark Stevens allowed no more over 5 innings. In the 7th inning Chin Phong tied the game with a 2 run homer off starter Vicente Juarez. Von McPherson and Cromwell McGee combined for 4 perfect relief innings, sending it to the bottom 9th tied at 2.

With one out, Kelsey Lester singled. Lester has been playing through a hamstring injury, and Philly sent in Gunnar Lumo to run for him. Lumo stole second on the first pitch, and Chin Phong brought him home with a single to second.

Game 2: Tom Weaver, fresh off a 19-strikeout regular season finish, only struck out 9 in this game. He did however take a no-hitter into the 6th. With 2 out and a runner on, Vince Murphy tagged him with a 2 run homer to tie the game.

Cromwell McGee pitched another 2 innings of perfect baseball, and Lester hit a solo homer to give Philly another 3-2 win.

Game 3: Terry Carter's 4th inning, 2 run double gave Philly the lead, and Alex Jones tied it the next inning with a 2 run homer off Gary Smith. In the 4th inning, Chin Phong was injured on a hit by pitch and had to leave the game.

In the 7th, Brian "Big Thunder" Rhodes hit a 2 out double with speedy Jorge Perez on first. Perez raced around the bases to take the lead.

Cromwell McGee, series MVP, pitched a perfect 9th to save the game. Philadelphia won all 3 by the score of 3-2. 

MLDS: Bay Area vs Orlando

Game 1: Bay Area won 5-2 behind Anthony Henderson, who allowed 2 hits, one run, and struck out 10 over 7 innings. Anthony Sepulveda allowed 2 runs in 6 innings but took the loss for Orlando. Miguel Cruz had 2 hits and drove in 2 runs.

Game 2: Bay Area took a 6-1 lead after 2 innings and held on for an 8-4 win. Cruz homered and drove in 5 runs. Wade Miller (6 IP, 2 runs) earned the win, and Clay Seymour took the loss after giving up the 6 early runs.

Game 3: Jose Noe pitched 6 innings and combined on a shutout with 3 relievers. Troy Wyckoff scored on an error in the second and Bay Area took a 1-0 lead to the 9th. Wyckoff added some insurance with a 2 run homer in the 9th. John Wilson took the loss for Orlando but pitched well, with just an unearned run allowed over 7.1 innings.

SLCS Toledo vs Mars

 Game 1: Felipe Cortez homered and drove in 6, and Cary Lee homered and scored twice as Toledo won easily, 10-3. Michael Farley allowed 3 runs over 6 2/3 innings, Kris Smith took the loss for Mars. Smith allowed 4 runs in 4 innings, walking 5.

Game 2: Jesus Palmeiro outdueled Clayton Lewis for the first 6 innings. Palmeiro allowed 2 hits, no runs, and struck out 11. Lewis pitched well, but allowed a run. Frank Branch gave up 3 runs in the 7th and 8th to give Toledo some insurance.

Cary Lee hit a solo homer off Lewis for the first run, and added a 2 run homer off branch later. Toledo took game 2 4-1.

Game 3: Toledo scored 3 in the first as Cortez cleared the bases with a double. In the 4th, Jeff Rashid drove in one run and scored on a 2 run homer by Thomas White to tie the game. The game was still tied at 3 in the 9th, when pinch hitter Bill Vinson hit a 2 out solo homer off Sam Parillo. Steve Greer pitched the last 2 innings for Toledo to earn the win.

SLDS: Las Vegas vs Boston

 Game 1: Larry Moody pitched a 3 hitter, striking out 10, over 8.1 innings. Ben Angus allowed just 2 runs, on a homer by Manny Ortez, over 5 innings before Jack Shaw pitched a disastrous 6th inning. Boston won 6-1.

Game 2: Boston jumped off to a 10-1 start in the first 4 innings, knocking out starter Jorge Cota. Ignacio Robles pitched 5.1 innings of one run ball for the win. Tom Chaisson had 3 hits including a homer and drove in 4 in a 13-2 final. The only highlight for Las Vegas was outfielder Johnny Woods pitching a scoreless 9th and even striking out 2 batters.

Game 3: Boston got off to a 7-1 lead as Las Vegas ace Shawn Finley didn't have it. Las Vegas came back to tie it in the 7th inning as Johnny Woods hit a 2 out, 3 run homer. Woods had entered the game as a pinch hitter in the 5th, replacing the second LV shortstop and leaving the defense short handed. They put Woods in the outfield, moved second baseman Draal Kanjigarson to shortstop, and left fielder Mark Bennett to second base. Draal made 2 errors in the game and Bennett made one.

Boston scored in the 8th to retake the lead, and with 2 out and 2 on, Manny Ortez hit a routine grounder to second. Bennett fielded it and threw it away, allowing another run to score and extending the inning for a third to score. Brandon Sanders pitched the last 2 innings for the save. 

Superior League Wild Card

 Las Vegas vs Louisville

Game 1: Roger Blackwood pitched 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. In the 4th inning with a 1-0 lead, Las Vegas put 2 men on with 2 out and the shortstop coming up. Ray Brooks pinch hit with Johnny Woods, who hit a 3 run homer. Las Vegas won 6-3, with Jon Papelbrad earning the save.

Game 2: Michael Rondon hit a 4th inning grand slam to put his team up 6-0. Shawn Finley allowed 3 runs over 5 1/3 innings as Las Vegas won 7-5.

Mars vs Baltimore: 

Game 1: Jose Barrera and Joe Clayton pitched excellent games, leading to a 2-2 tie going to the 9th. In the top of the inning, Mark Lee tripled and scored on a Brady Balmer sacrifice fly. Sam Parillo pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to seal the victory.

Game 2: Mars scored 11 runs in the first 3 innings to bury the Colts, winning the game 11-3. Mark Lee homered and drove in 4. Jon Pilgrim allowed one run over 5 innings for the win.

Major League Wild Card

 Denver vs Orlando

Game 1: John Wilson struck out 10 over 7 innings, allowing one run. Jake Delhomme matched him for 5 innings, but Orlando scored 3 in the 7th off reliever Kevin Schneider while Denver's offense never got going. Orlando took game 1 4 to 1.

Game 2: Pat Evans gave up 3 runs, getting knocked out in the 4th, and Denver's bullpen allowed 4 more as Orlando took a 7-0 lead. Denver added 3 late runs but it was too little, too late and the defending champions were sent home early. Jesus Martinez earned the win for Orlando with 2 runs allowed in 6 innings, despite walking 6. Rabbits drew 10 walks on the day but stranded most of them.

New York vs St Louis

Game 1: St. Louis put together a second inning 4 run rally against Stephen Hamburg, who then left the game with a sore elbow in possibly his last Cobra start. Mike Law allowed 2 runs and struck out 7 over 5.1 innings to earn the win as St. Louis prevailed 6-4.

Game 2: The teams were tied at 5 heading to the bottom of the 8th. With the top lefty batters from St Louis due up, New York went to their left-handed closer Elmer Stephens. Adam Yates walked, stole second, and one out later scored on a Vince Murphy single. Later. New York hoped to escape with 2 outs and down by one run, but a single, double, and homer put St. Louis up 11-5 before the inning was done, and that was the final score.

Final weekend pennant race

 Boston and Denver, last year's pennant winners, have clinched their divisions.

In the Superior League East, Louisville holds the first wildcard spot with 87 wins. They finish the year by playing Baltimore, who have one of the 2 remaining wild card spots. Baltimore has had a rough patch lately after being power swept by the Miami Stars. Miami is playing with an edge, not like a team looking for their third straight top 2 draft pick. In the 4 game sweep, Miami threw three shutouts and outscored Baltimore 17 to 1.

Toledo has the central division, and no other team there remains alive in the playoff hunt. In the west, Mars holds a 2 game lead for the division and Las Vegas, with 85 wins, is tied with Baltimore for the last 2 spots. Texas, with 84 wins, is the only team left that could overtake a playoff team. They will find a difficult opponent as they play Boston to end the season. Boston will not go easy or hold back, because they are playing for home field advantage in the Superior League. They can use their best starters, who are assured of full rest after the wild card round is over.

In the major league, the Rabbits have clinched the central and St. Louis has one wild card spot. The Rabbits have no chance at catching Bay Area or Philadelphia, so they will rest their top starters in a meaningless series against Green Day.

Philadelphia has one thing left to play for. They have clinched the best record in baseball, but will start Tom Weaver (23-5) one more time as he attempts to reach 400 strikeouts. He needs only 11 more.

The last 2 wild card spots will go to crappy teams who all had chances to put this race away several times, but through their own mediocrity stayed right in the middle of the pack. Nobody really seems to want the playoff spots, but 2 will get them anyway. The most likely scenario is that in two series, best of 3 will decide the race.

Portland hosts New York, and Toronto plays in Orlando.

Three of the teams have 78 wins, and Orlando has 79.

The weird thing would be if Toronto takes 2 out of 3 from Orlando, and the other series does not result in a sweep. That would give 3 teams 80 wins and force us to bring out the tiebreakers. Further complicating things would be if Hollywood (77 wins) sweeps its final series against Bay Area. This is a Hollywood team that had a chance to take control of this race but has lost their last 6 games against 4th place Hawaii and last place Los Angeles.

One week to go for season

 In the division races, Toledo has joined Philadelphia and Bay Area as division champions. The latter two teams have dominated their divisions all year long, are 20+ games up on the second place teams, and have clinched first round byes.

The Denver Rabbits have clinched a playoff spot. They hold a 3.5 game lead over St Louis for the division but have already clinched a playoff spot. They hold the tiebreaker, so any combination of 2 Denver wins or St Louis losses gives the division to Denver. The Rabbits however have no chance to catch the top 2 teams in the league for a first round bye, so one way or another they will play in the wild card round next week.

The other 2024 World Series team, Boston, has also clinched a playoff spot. They are 5 games ahead of Baltimore for the division title. Their magic number is 3 over Baltimore, and 2 over Louisville.

The closest division race features the surprise Mars team against the veteran Las Vegas Gamblers. The Gamblers started the season strong but had a rough stretch with multiple injuries. They are mostly healthy now, but still playing inconsistent baseball. They lost 2 in a row to a terrible Cleveland team, however they were able to hold their wild card spot with help from Utah, who won 2 against Texas.

Las Vegas is 2.5 behind Mars and 1.5 ahead of Texas. The Charlotte Hawks, at 80-76, have not been eliminated yet. Las Vegas has a favorable schedule, playing Phoenix and Utah. Mars faces the same two teams in reverse order. Texas finishes the year with a road trip to New York and Boston. Charlotte finishes against Cleveland and St. Louis.

The odds are in favor of Mars and Las Vegas taking the division and final wild card spot.

 The biggest unknown is the major league wild card jumble. For the last several weeks we have seen 7 to 8 teams play close to .500 ball and put themselves into the mix. Even at this late date, only Los Angeles and Florida are mathematically eliminated. Several other teams are out for all intents and purposes, as they are at least 9 games under .500 and would need to win all of their games will their opponents lose all. This is not possible as they are chasing multiple teams, some of who have to play each other. The virtually eliminated group is:

Alaska, Hawaii, Detroit, Green Day

The New York Cobra, at 75-81, are on their last legs. They would need to sweep their last 6 games to have a chance. They will play Florida before finishing the season in Portland.

Portland is one game back, but in a position where they mostly control their destiny. Before hosting New York, they play 4 games against Orlando, who currently holds down the #3 wild card spot.

Hollywood is a half game back. After starting the season strong, they have been under .500 for the last 4 months. They play Hawaii, followed by the mighty Bay Area.

Orlando, currently 1 game under .500, plays 4 against Portland and then finishes against Toronto. Toronto, at .500, is the #2 wild card at this moment. The Orlando schedule will decide one way or another which of these teams gets to the postseason.

Before the finale, Toronto will have a major challenge with a 3 game series in Philadelphia. They need to win a few more games to move on, but their first matchup is against the pitching triple crown leader who needs 7 more strikeouts to break Nolan Ryan's best single season mark.

St Louis has the first wild card spot with a 4 game lead over second place. They have at the very worst one of the wild card spots since several of the teams behind them have to play each other.

Tiebreakers? Too difficult to make sense of at this point. We'll see if we need them.

Lifelong Cobra fan named pitcher of the month

The year 2000, known as the Year of the Penguin, was also the starting point of the long running New York Cobra dynasty. Brad was not yet the team owner. He was in his second season of managing the team and posted his first winning record, largely thanks to a 149 RBI MVP season from Joltin Joe Thomas.

The previous season New York finished with a 71-91 record. Late in the year they made a rare managerial trade, swapping Dennis "the duck" Williams to St. Louis for Brad Boomer. One year later, Brad led the team to 90 wins and a playoff spot. Before he could get started on the job however, Brad had one more obligation to fulfill.

Several years earlier he had sold the rights to his likeness and image to be used as the logo for the Florida Penguins team. Included in the deal was a clause that called for Brad to start the Year of the Penguin as the leadoff batter for the Penguins. The Cobra would open their season one day after the Penguins, so Brad traveled to Denver to join the Penguins as they took on the Rabbits.

Brad had not batted in a game in nearly a decade at that point and was 43 years old. He took his place in the batter's box, facing Denver ace and future Hall of Famer Sunsurf. Sunsurf, a 38 year old legend, was a traditionalist who strongly objected to anyone making a mockery of the game. He considered Brad's token appearance to be a mockery and made his objection known by firing a high and tight fastball that knocked Brad's helmet off and took him out of the game. Brad's OBP for the season would be a perfect 1.000. The Penguins pinch ran for him, he went back to New York, and would never enter the game as a player again.

This year was the start of an intense rivalry between the Penguins and Cobra. They would meet in the playoffs with the Penguins gaining the upper hand on their way to the World Series. The Cobra would begin a streak of 22 years with winning records in which their lowest win total was 88 and included 6 world championships.

The family of Anthony and Maxine Stephens watched Cobra games that year, some at the ballpark, but most from their home in Long Island. That summer the Stephens had their 5th child, a boy they named after Brad's beloved third base coach, Elmer Fudd.

Twenty-two years later, the Stephens family celebrated a dream come true as Elmer was selected by his hometown team in the first round. After working his way up through the minors, Elmer has used his 100 MPH sinking fastball to become the team's closer. In June 2025 he pitched 14 innings over 12 games without allowing a run. He won 2 games, saved another 7, and was named Major League pitcher of the month. 

Nutkin adjusting well to second base

 Squirrel Nukin Jr. had been a shortstop his entire life, until he moved to second base last season.

"At first, it was tough. I didn't have an offseason to prepare for it or a spring training to work through my mistakes. It was like, you're playing second now, move over there."

Nutkin rated four runs below average on the season, making 9 errors in 125 games. He improved his technique throughout the season, and came into 2025 fully prepared to stay at second base.

"I've played shortstop since senior first brought us out of the trees and onto the baseball field. Billy always played second base when we were little." I gave Billy a call last year and little brother helped me with a few things. One suggestion he had was to wear a smaller glove. That helps me make a quick transfer when turning a double play."

This season, Nutkin has made only 3 errors through his first 67 games at second. His fielding percentage has improved to .990, his range factor is up to 4.51, and his zone rating is +5.4 runs. Nutkin has a chance to win a gold glove award this season.

 

2025 Draft Round 2

1. Alaska 3B Ernesto Limon (Coastal Carolina)

2. Texas P Anibal Martinez (UCF)

3. Miami C Luis Ortega (HS)

4. Toronto P Raul Flores (Hofstra)

5. Detroit 1B Matthew Shrek (HS)

6. Portland OF Sergio Francisco (HS)

7. Louisville P Ramon Garza (NC-Wilmington)

8. Mars 1B Nelson Reyes (Virginia)

9. Green Day OF Hector Castillo (Coastal Carolina)

10. Phoenix P Castel Moran (HS)

11. Florida OF Alfredo Figueroa (HS)

12. Charlotte P Adrian Lopez (HS)

13. Orlando OF Fernando Anduray (Stetson)

14. St Louis 2B Tony Adame (HS)

15. Los Angeles P Jose Morales (HS)

16. Springfield P Luis Gonzalez (New Mexico)

17. NY Knights OF Antonio Melendez (HS)

18. Chicago 1B Juan Morales (HS)

19. Cleveland OF Jose Moran (St John's)

20. Toledo P Jorge Morales (Vanderbilt)

21. Hawaii SS Pedro Arce (HS)

22. Philadelphia 2B Francisco Aguila (HS)

23. Utah 1B Connie Barbarian (HS)

24. Hollywood P Jochen Jotten (James Madison)

25. Baltimore OF Antonio Torres (HS)

26. Las Vegas OF Ramon Benitez (HS)

27. NY Cobra

28. Bay Area

29. Denver

30. Boston

Comp picks

31. Detroit

32. NY Knights

33. Hollywood

34. Bay Area