Moneyball in Montreal, A challenging fictional story.

[dgally]

Opening day is early this season, taking place March 22nd. And, spoiler, the Lynx are not a March team.

We start the season on the road in Mexico City and Buck leads us to an opening day 7-4 W. However, the series goes downhill from here as our offense goes to bed, scoring only one run in the next two games. 1-2

The home opener is against division rival Mississauga. We lose in extras 7-4. We take the next but lose the rubber match. 1-2

Back on the road, we head down to Tijuana and have a bad time. We lose all three, getting the first sweep out of the way early. Rebuild seems correct. 0-3

Last day of March, thank goodness. It's the start of a home series hosting the Chicago War Eagles. We drop the game in a 12-3 blowout. 0-1

March malaise. 2-8 Let the season next start in March again.

April arrives and we finish our last two games against Chicago with them finishing us in each. Swept again. 0-2

The boys have a team meeting and vow to stop embarrassing themselves. They show signs of life as Honolulu comes to town. This time, we're the sweepers as our offense shows its first signs of life, outscoring them 24-6 in the series. 3-0

We head to Monterrey and continue fine form, taking the first two but losing the sweep. Still, series W. 2-1

Back home against the Big Trains of Naucalpan. We win one, lose the next but take the rubber in a 1-0 pitching duel W by our ace, Buck. 2-1

Division opponent Managua is next, away. The boys show resilience and against, win the series with Managua avoiding the sweep in the last game. 2-1

San Luis, our nemesis who has knocked us out the last two years in the playoffs are next. They're struggling this year sitting at a .400 win rate. However, they manage to put a stop to our series winning ways, taking 2 of 3. 1-2

We visit the Havana Judges next, expansion team, for a quickie two game set. They judge us harshly the first game putting up 13 runs. We come back the next day to split the two game series. 1-1

San Diego Snappers visit Montreal after a day break. They're looking like a playoff team this year and show it, taking 2 of 3. 1-2

Fellow Cali team, Los Angeles Kangaroos are next, coming into town for a 3 game series over two days. We take both on the double header but fail to sweep LA, giving no run support to Buck who takes an L in a 0-1 affair. 2-1

A much better April ends with division leader Ottawa. We take game 1, 8-3. 1-0

We finish a respectable 15-11 in April, almost clawing back to .500. English leads the team batting .305 with 8 HR and 26 RBI. Grizz is bouncing back after his injury-laden season last year, his numbers close to English's. Davis leads the staff with #3 Hughes close to being replaced by I don't know who. Still our numbers in pitching and batting are bottom half in the league. Not good. We sit 3rd in the division, 5 1/2 back against a surging Ottawa.

Also a look at League Leaders.

[darkcloud4579]

following along

[dgally]

The team is looking what experts refer to as 'meh'.

We start the month finishing the series against division opponent Ottawa. We split the two in May 1-1

Home for bagels against Guatemala where we get bookend wins to take the series 2-1

Away again, this time at Phoenix where we lose the first but have stellar pitching in the next two and we win our second series of the month. 2-1

Home again. What the hell schedulers? This time against Mexico city who take the first and the last to deal us our first series loss of the month. 1-2

And...road again, against division rivals Mississauga. After a strong opening 8-2 win, we get trounced in the next two, giving up 20 runs and only scoring 3. 1-2

Home again. I'm starting to recognize a trend. Tijuana comes to town and we show them a good time at their expense, registering a sweep. 3-0

Road trip. The first trip of the month home or away that will last more than three games. Apparently, that messes with out heads as we come into Chicago with no fight, getting swept right after doing a sweeping. 0-3

Woes continue in the next series against WS contender Honolulu who are sporting a + .600 win rate. They beat us handily in each game delivering a back-to-back sweep and an 0-6 road trip. 0-3

The boys recover their wits at home against fellow 'mon' Monterrey putting together strong games. The fourth series in a row goes down for a sweep, this time in our favor. 3-0

The last series is away against the Big Trains of Naucalpan. Our pitching thinks its batting practice in the first two as the Trains put up a baker's dozen then a regular dozen. We figure it out though, winning 16-1, avoiding the sweep on the final game of May. 1-2

Tough month as we are just below the water line at 14-15. The division is tight so we're still in play-- of course it's early.

Player dev is not great. This save is brutal in that regard. Everyone only declines and the dev lab has essentially brought two players from 4 star guys to 2.5 star guys at best. Not that I use stars but, it's tough out there. Top prospect Gross did improve and looks to be on track so far to meet his potential and meet us in the Bigs for the first time come roster expansion.

[dgally]

As the weather heats up and we reach toward the heart of the season, moods are mid in Montreal as the team struggles to stay afloat. Both from a record standpoint and financially. We have -22 mil in monies thanks to an oopsie by me when I decide to start a charity.

First series of the month is a big one against division rival & leader Managua. We fight hard to win game 1 in 12 in a batter's duel 9-8. However, we drop the next two 1-2

At this point we've relegated Igme Tavares, who's on his final contract year to the BP in long relief, opting instead for Brackmann, the #43 pick in 2025 draft. We're using him in a Follower role.

Playoff nemesis San Luis is next on the docket and get the best of us in this series, taking the rubber game and series. 1-2

Homeward bound, expansion team Havana comes into town for a full three game series. We split a two game series back in May. The Lynx show that the Bigs are a tough place to be, sweeping the Judges. 3-0

Next, we head to the road against San Diego who promptly wipe out the three games we just won with three loses, trouncing us each game with a series combined score of 25-5. 0-3

The draft pool is revealed. We have the 26th pick and the mock has us taking a 17 year old shortstop, forgetting we picked a SS just two drafts ago. The class is lead by pitcher "Gummy" Threlkel who looks like a bonafide star to be.

We continue on the road, up the 5 to Los Angeles, the worst city this manager's ever been to. Ew. We split the first two but they take the rubber match in three tight ball games. 1-2

Time to host. In this case, divisional opponent Ottawa comes into town. They shut us out the first game but we win back to back 10 inning affairs to have our first series win in what feels like a while. 2-1

Down to Guatemala. We take another series, gaining some momentum. 2-1

At home, against Phoenix, we continue, taking 2 of 3 with a couple of emphatic wins. 2-1

Down to Mexico City, our momentum hits a wall against a WS contender. They undo our recovery of June by sweeping us like gutter rats. Two games, 0-4 and a smashing 3-12 loss. Oof. 0-3

Last game finds us at home against divisional rival Mississauga. They kick us while we're down, shutting us out for the 3rd time in 4 games. 0-1

June sees us drop to 8 back in the division as we post a 12-16 record. A spring to forget, hopefully we can rebound in the high heat of summer.

Also, funnily, English was injured for 9 months in the start of June but OOTP crashed just a few days later before the save kicked in. I'll take it.

[darkcloud4579]

Sounds like a rollercoaster month! It's good to see the team rebounding with some sweeps, but those back-to-back series losses must've been rough. Do you think the travel-heavy schedule is impacting the team’s consistency?

Also, with player development taking a hit, are there any prospects besides Gross who you’re optimistic about, or is it looking like you’ll need to make some moves to stay competitive?

And hey, at least Gross is showing some promise—having him on the roster come expansion time could be just the spark you need down the stretch. Good luck.

[dgally]

The schedule is certainly doing us no favors, bouncing back and forth between hom and away. Last season, we struggled for much of the year with 1 run games. This year, it's the road that's eating us up. We're 25-35.

The farm is average at rank 19 of 32 but we have 3 guys in the top 100 besides Gross. Problem is, they're all in R ball. I've wanted college players in drafts but by the time its my pick, there aren't any round 1 worthy ones left.

I'm hoping Gross can make an impact. Though it's early WC teams are floating just above .500 so we have plenty chance. Koch and Brackmann have contributed for us this season. Brackmann (former #43rd overall) looks to have a ceiling of a #4 while Koch was #485th overall in the same 2025 draft. I have their profiles posted in July's recap.

[dgally]

Good thing is, we've been here before-- sub .500 and getting into the meat of the season. However, we can't have another month like June. That'd put us too far in the hole.

However, July doesn't start off hot...baseball wise. We continue our series with division rival Mississauaga and lose two heartbreaking 1 run games. Swept again. 0-2

An early All-Star break give the boys some time to regroup. Like last year, our only two Lynx are English and Buck.

We come back (hopefully refreshed) as we head down south to Tijuana. The boys come out swinging, winning the first two games 7-6 and 9-3. We can't complete the sweep though, losing the last game 6-1. But hey, series win. 2-1

Home to Montreal against Chicago. 21 yr old rookie Brackmann tosses a fine ballgame with the pitcher's duel completed by relief after 6 1/3 for a 1-0 win. We win the next too but again, can't complete the sweep. 2-1

WS contender Honolulu comes into town next. They swept us back in May and they brought their brooms with them again. Three loses, all pretty narrow. 0-3

Off to Monterrey next where we take being swept out on the Canucks, sweeping them and getting our three games back. 3-0

We hop on the plan, have a day off and face the Big Trains of Naucalpan. The day off didn't hurt our momentum however as we sweep the trains too, including a blow out 15-3 middle game led by a 6 RBI game by star 2b man English.

Road time against division leader Managua. We lose our ground. The fourth sweep in a row with this one going against us. 0-3 We fall to fourth in the division. Worse is we lose English for (only) two weeks. SS Crecelius will shift and former 1st rounder Hazelwood will come into SS.

Former MVP Crecelius is having an abysmal year, batting .224 with 2 HR. Dev be unkind.

Bouncing back home again, we face playoff nemesis San Luis. We win the first, 5-1 off Brackmann again who's pitching as a FO. We squeak out the second but fail for a fifth straight sweep. 2-1

Off to Cuba. Expansion team Havana hosts us in a four game series including a double header on day 1. This is the last series of the month and we're sitting at .500ish for the month. Day 1 goes swimmingly. Buck pitches a 8 inning 1-0 shutout and we follow it up with a 4-3 win. The broom is back. We sweep Havana.

Incredibly of the 9 series in the month, 6 are sweeps. 3 in favor, 3 not. Still the last series proves huge as we post a 16-11 July, 2 games below .500. While we're 9 1/2 back in the division, we're only 2 back of a packed WC race. Starting LF Kunz goes down with injury, out two weeks.

Rookies Brackmann and Koch have proven solid starters while CF Arnold and SS Crecelius are near liabilities.

At the deadline, we trade away backup C Fourie for some cash and SP Moises Fuentes (he'll be a rental). After 11 months on the IR, Turrieta looks done so we needed help there. We also need cash as we're 21 million over budget on our money available.

Looking at prospect Gross in AAA for a sept call up, he's playing well aside from hitting for average. I don't know how I'll play him but if we're out of the running, I'll let him play over Crecelius who's contract is up and I hope gives us a supp pick.