[Elendil]

2015 Season: To the All-Star Break

April Owners' Meeting

The owners held their annual preseason meeting at the league office in Anchorage, and for the first time in some years controversy erupted.

The Sitka ownership tabled a motion to amend the league rules to introduce an arbitration system for players' fourth through sixth seasons in the Alaskan League, similar to that used in Major League Baseball, to reduce the cash maximum for clubs and thereby facilitate greater revenue-sharing, and to increase the away team share of gate revenues from 20% to 30%.

The Board of Governors, composed of the team presidents and the Commissioner, voted on the motion. The Commissioner abstained, and the motion failed, garnering the supporter of only Sitka, Whitehorse, Kodiak, and Bethel. Peninsula, Mat-Su, and North Pole joined the larger-market teams in voting no.

In an unprecedented move, the "Gang of Four," as they quickly became known in the media, held a press conference to announce that they would seek a settlement of the issue by the end of the next offseason, or they would put their franchises "on strike," refusing to play games in 2016.

If that weren't enough, the league potentially faced more trouble on the horizon. A "Canadian League of Baseball" was organizing, and they would certainly have a hunger for decent baseball talent. The Alaskan League might have to start settling for a lower quality of player if the new Canadian League skimmed off the cream of Alaskan baseball talent. Nevertheless, the prospect remained just a cloud on the horizon, for the moment.

League Happenings: May, June, July

• Opening Day, May 1: Fairbanks whips North Pole, 9-5, and left fielder Colin Garrett has one of the best single-game performances in league history, going 5-for-5 with a walk, two home runs, four runs scored, and five runs batted in.
• May 4: Sitka wins "snow marathon." In a rare Sitka snowstorm, the Sentinels go 20 innings with Fairbanks, defeating them 8-5 in deteriorating conditions. Light-hitting third baseman Carl Whitehead provides the heroics, tying the game in the bottom of the 12th with a solo home run and then winning the game in the 20th with a grand slam.
• May 14: Kodiak left fielder Harry Harkness goes 6-for-7, tying the league record for hits in a game. All singles except for one double.
• May 24: Kodiak rips Peninsula, 23-4. They set an Alaskan League record for runs minus hits in a game, with just 15 hits. The Grizzlies score in every inning. Harry Harkness has an even better game, going 5-for-5 with a walk, a double, two home runs, five runs batted in, and FIVE runs scored!
• May 29: Miners and Pilots combine for 33 runs. Anchorage outlasts Mat-Su for the 18-15 victory. Anchorage built an 11-3 lead before Mat-Su closed to 11-10 by the middle of the sixth inning. But the Pilots then put it away with seven more runs in the bottom of the sixth. The winning pitcher is Mike Rancourt, despite giving up ten runs in five and two-thirds innings! The game features 16 extra-base hits between the two teams. The ageless Pierre-Alexandre Langlois goes 3-for-4 with two walks, two home runs, three runs, and six RBI for the Miners.
• June 14: John Cormack loses a no-hitter on the last batter. The Fairbanks pitcher had a no-no going through eight and two-thirds innings, but Mark Navarro of Anchorage broke it up in explosive fashion, hitting a solo home run. Fairbanks wins, 8-1, and Cormack settles for a complete game victory.
• June 24: The first major deadline deal: AGP trades 25-year-old shortstop Doug Tomlinson (.275 BA, .345 OBP with 1 HR at the time) to ANC for 34-year-old starting pitcher Tom Pick (5-4, 5.60 ERA at the time). Pick hasn't been effective in years. He makes a little less than Tomlinson, who is offensively good but defensively subpar, but he's signed through three years. Bad deal for the Pilots in my view.
• June 30: Mega-deal as the Bucs swap right fielder Mark O'Feeney (.301 BA, 50 hits, 5 HR, 28 RBI, .346 OBP, 26 runs at the time) to Peninsula for first baseman Arnie Heard (.297 BA, 5 HR at the time). This has to be a salary dump for the Oilers. Heard is flat-out awesome and still young, but makes a pretty penny, while O'Feeney is decent but more importantly makes league minimum.
• June 30: Yet another big deal for the Bucs, as they trade 1B John Brown to Kodiak for reliever James Marshall. Brown is a five-time All-Star but is deteriorating defensively and will make almost $70K a year for the next three years. Marshall has a 5.96 ERA; he's serviceable but nothing special. Salary dump for the Bucs I guess, after the Heard deal.
• June 30: Fairbanks makes a shrewd move for the future, dealing 22-year-old 3B Mark Beach to Mat-Su for 29-year-old 2B-3B Toby Burns. Beach will be a free agent at season's end and Fairbanks can't re-sign him. He's already a star, though, hitting .325 with a .404 OBP this year. Burns is signed through '16 and is hitting .265 with 9 HR and a .359 OBP.
• July 1: Chugiak hangs 25 runs on Kodiak. They defeat the Grizzlies 25-5 on 22 hits and seven walks. Every position player and pinch-hitter who hits for Chugiak gets on base. The only hitter who does not get on base is starting pitcher Ryan Dye, who does however drive in a run. Dave Lepine has eight RBI, four of them coming on a ninth-inning grand slam, and Phil Botfield goes 3-for-7 with 7 RBI.
• July 17: All-star teams are announced. Team representation breaks down as follows:
  Seward Division
  Chugiak - 8
  Anchorage (AGP) - 6
  Anchorage (ANC) - 4
  Kodiak - 4
  Peninsula - 2
  Bethel - 2
  Denali Division
  Juneau - 7
  Fairbanks - 6 (the top four starters in their rotation and their closer are all selected)
  North Pole - 5
  Whitehorse - 2
  Mat-Su - 2
  Sitka - 2