Superior League 2026 Wild Cards

 Toledo vs Miami

Game 1: It started out as a great pitcher's duel as Ken Fitzgerald went 5 innings and Jesus Palmeiro 7. Each starter allowed zero runs on 2 hits. Toledo took a 1-0 lead in the 7th when Angel Ramirez singled in Jose Vasquez. In the 9th inning Miami was down to their last strike when Aleixos Capela singled in the tying run. Miami scored 4 in the 10th inning and held on for a 5-3 win. Capela was playing his first game of the season for the big league team after being in AAA all year. He was added to the playoff roster to give Miami a right-handed bat against all the Toledo lefties.

Game 2: Joe Hopper gave Miami a 3-1 lead in the 4th inning with a 2-run homer off Michael Farley. They led 5-3 going to the 9th and brought on Ken Stafford to close out the series. After 1 out and back-to-back singles, Felipe Cortez hit a 3-run homer to give Toledo the lead.

In the bottom of the inning Hopper drew a walk and Tony Flores came on to run for him. Flores stole second and scored on a Joe Cochran single. There was no more scoring until the 16th inning. Will Daugherty walked, stole second, and moved to 3rd on a groundout. Juan Rosado singled off Matt Rogers to bring Daugherty home.

While Miami won the series in 2 games, they might as well have played three as it took them 26 innings. They will play Baltimore next.

Boston vs Texas

Game 1: Lynn Buck homered, tripled, and drove in 3 as Boston won the opener 7-3. Larry Moody pitched 5 1/3 innings for the win and Jeremy Byers threw 2 scoreless innings to finish it.

Game 2: Kent Shoemaker threw only one pitch before leaving with a shoulder injury. The Texas bullpen pitched well and they had a 2-1 lead going into the 7th. Raul Saldana tied the game with a homer off Johnny Simpson and after Masuda was hit by a pitch, Richie Jackson hit a 2-run homer. It was the second career postseason homer from Jackson, who has been known as Mr. October since his professional debut. Dave Nguyen add a homer in the 9th and Byers pitched the last 2 innings to save the 5-2 game. 

Boston will take on Charlotte next.

Season Finish in the Major League

 While Baltimore and Hawaii had the top spots in the league wrapped up long ago, there was some drama for the last few wild card spots. Bay Area was locked into third place in the west, but had a chance to claim a wild card spot over east contenders New York and Toronto. The schedule makers obliged, and their final 7 games came against New York and Toronto.

They won the first but dropped the next 2 to New York in extra innings. The 4th game of the series was a matchup of aces Anthony Henderson and Carson Olsen. New York took the lead with back to back homers in the 4th by Joe Thomas Jr and Roberto Vargas and held on for a 3-1 win.

The win ended Bay Area’s playoff run as they could finish at best one game behind Toronto and tie New York, but NY held the tiebreaker. This season will end the run of one of OOTP’s greatest competitors, Miguel Cruz. His career began 23 years ago as a teenage shortstop. His first manager was Brad, now the owner of the team on the other side of the field. Brad and Miguel embraced before the final game, with Brad calling him “one of the finest ballplayers I’ve ever managed or played against. People will remember the homers and RBI. I will always remember how he took his cannon arm from shortstop and turned into a weapon at first base.”

Playing a meaningless game against Toronto on the final day of the season, Cruz was 0 for 3 in his first 3 trips to the plate. In the 5th inning he came up with 2 outs and the bases loaded. He lined a single to right, driving in two runs. He then left the game for a pinch runner and walked off the field to a standing ovation. Over the last 15 years, Cruz became the face of Bay Area baseball and led his team to championships in 2015 and 2023.