[Westheim]

(waves the players goodbye with a handkerchief as they board the plane to Elkland) Goodbye, my boys, goodbye. Farewell. And don’t get hurt, will ya? I want to see all of you in four days with all limbs attached! Goodbye, my boys, goodbye!

Raccoons (94-60) @ Canadiens (82-73) – September 25-28, 2028

The Elks were back up in second place, which would not allow them to reap any immediate benefits as they had missed the playoffs for the 16th straight season. Their second-best offense in the CL had been undone by pitchers allowing the fourth-most runs, and compared to the Raccoons they had lost nine of the fourteen games played so far.

Projected matchups:
Billy Ramm (0-1, 3.60 ERA) vs. Victor Govea (5-9, 4.50 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (8-8, 4.95 ERA) vs. Jeremy Truett (11-7, 3.64 ERA)
Mark Roberts (16-4, 3.00 ERA) vs. Joe Martin (11-11, 4.24 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (7-4, 4.83 ERA) vs. Chris Sinkhorn (14-9, 3.57 ERA)

Sinkhorn would be the only southpaw to see here; meanwhile the Elks’ lineup was shot to pieces due to injuries. Their DL held Brian Wojnarowski, Norman Day, Ted Gura, and as newest addition Tony Coca.

The Raccoons had added Kyle Anderson as additional starter ahead of Mark Roberts. Ramm and Anderson were penciled in to make two more starts, while the core group that would form the rotation in the playoffs (including Delgadillo, ostensibly and reluctantly) would each only make one more appearance in the regular season.

I would have to watch these four games, scared to death, from my couch at home. Tim Stalker would stay in Portland with me as we hoped to activate him during the Titans series and give some last-minute reps before the CLCS. In fact, I had taken him home with me for the games, as well as Honeypaws. BOTH my hands needed to squeeze something during these completely meaningless games, and both Stalker and Honeypaws looked bewildered right from the start.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 3B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – C Leal – CF Magallanes – LF Booker – P Ramm
VAN: 2B Byrd – SS N. Millan – LF A. Torres – 1B D. Fisher – C R. Ortíz – 3B Anton – CF Campbell – RF Al. Medina – P Govea

Three speedy guys hit singles for the Raccoons in the top 3rd and yet that was not enough to score any of them. After Govea had retired the first six Critters, Magallanes led off the third with a single to center. Booker whiffed, Ramm failed to bunt properly, and Magallanes was thrown out at second base. Ramos then extended his hitting streak to 15 with a 2-out single, but now the Coons had a snail runner leading the procession, which only advanced another 90 feet on Spencer’s single over the head of Nelson Millan. But Millan also missed Gomez’ grounder to the left side, and that one finally plated a pair before Hereford grounded out. Ramm now had a 2-0 lead and got through the first three innings without being blamed for a runner (but John Byrd had reached on a Hereford error right at the start of the first). Top 4th, the bags were full with nobody out after Harenberg’s double, Leal drawing a walk, and Magallanes squeezing a single past Millan. As usual, it did not end well. Jaden Booker got a run across… while hitting into a double play. And Ramm struck out, keeping it at 3-0 after the top 4th, but it would be 4-0 an inning later. Ramos drew a walk, advanced on Spencer’s groundout and Gomez’ single, then came home on a Hereford groundout, which gave Rich his 136th RBI this year, four removed from Tetsu Osanai’s 39-year-old franchise record. The Coons laid back after that, but we continued to marvel at Billy Ramm’s developing gem. While Nelson Millan hit a leadoff single in the fourth, he got doubled up by David Fisher, and it took all the way to Fisher’s next appearance at the plate, with two outs in the seventh, that the Elks got another hit on a single to right. Ricky Ortíz grounded out to strand that runner, though. Billy secured three groundouts in the eighth, and was not hit for in a scoreless ninth inning. The bottom of the inning began with PH Curtis Hargraves, who singled to right, but John Byrd whipped the first pitch he got at Ramos for the double play. Millan, the only issue for Ramm all game long, coaxed out a 3-2 walk, but Alex Torres, the last standing member of the Elks’ outfield mean machine, struck out to seal the deal. 4-0 Coons! Gomez 2-4, 2 RBI; Magallanes 3-4; Ramm 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K, W (1-1);

Ehm… that was Billy Ramm’s first career shutout! In… his second career start … (giggles)

Game 2
POR: SS Gerster – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 2B Hereford – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – 3B Nunley – LF Allan – P Anderson
VAN: CF Tessmann – SS N. Millan – LF A. Torres – 1B D. Fisher – C R. Ortíz – 3B Anton – 2B Crosby – RF L. Gross – P Truett

Tuesday’s affair was pretty much the other way round – the Elks scored the occasional run, two in the third and one in the fifth against Anderson, while the Raccoons did largely nothing at all. They had two base hits through five innings, none of them for extra bases, and looked defeated even in a 3-0 game, with Truett appearing unassailable… until Anderson led off the sixth with a single. Gerster flew out, but Mora and Gomez added singles to load the bases for Rich Hereford. One swipe to match the franchise mark! He did not get enough on it, and Alex Torres also made him settle for one RBI on a sac fly, but Harenberg added an RBI single, and suddenly the go-ahead run was on base. Tovias grounded out to leave him as well as the tying run right there. Tying the score would be left to Matt Nunley, who hit a leadoff jack in the seventh for his first dinger of the (for him much abbreviated) season. But the Critters could not topple Truett completely and in turn had to stare at potential defeat again in the bottom 8th with Kevin Surginer on the mound. Ricky Ortíz led off with a grounder back to the mound that Surginer threw away for a 2-base error, but then buckled up and stranded the runner with grounders to short by Matt Anton and Hargraves, then a K against Luke Gross. The game would go to extras, where the Critters went to Steve Costilow, the runt of the litter in the pen, who was doubled against by Alex Torres to begin the bottom 10th. But even Costilow had SOME pride, struck out David Fisher and Ricky Ortíz, then got Tim Campbell to fly out to Gomez in shallow right. But sometimes even pride would not help. The bottom 11th saw John Byrd reach on an infield single with two outs, and in Costilow’s eyes you could see that his head was in the dugout when he glanced back to Tovias to pitch to Alarico Medina. His first offering was pounded over the rightfield fence to end the game. 5-3 Canadiens. Mora 3-5; Morales (PH) 1-1; Surginer 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – CF Mora – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Leal – 3B Nunley – LF Morales – P Roberts
VAN: CF Tessmann – SS N. Millan – LF A. Torres – C R. Ortíz – 3B Anton – 2B Byrd – 1B Myles – RF L. Gross – P J. Martin

Danny Tessmann would be the fourth strikeout victim for Roberts in the game and his 200th on the season, but that event occurred in the third inning. In the first, Tessmann had opened the home first with a single, and Roberts had quickly added a walk to Alex Torres before having been taken deep by Ortíz, putting himself in a 3-0 hole. The Raccoons again started out slow, managing only two singles the first time through, but got Nunley and Morales on board with leadoff singles in the fifth inning. Roberts failed again, bunting into a force at third base, and then Ramos could not get the ball past Adan Myles at first. Spencer hit an RBI single, but Mora flew out easily to strand runners on the corners. Through five, the Critters trailed 3-1, despite outhitting the Elks 6-2. And they continued with showing no clutch at all. Gomez singled, Nunley walked in the sixth, but Morales struck out to strand them. Bottom 6th, Tessmann singled, Torres walked… and here came Ortíz… and somehow I had seen this before, but Ricky Ortíz blasted a 3-piece over the leftfield fence. I turned to Tim Stalker to ask whether he also felt like he was stuck in a temporal loop, but he stared at me as blankly as Honeypaws.

Roberts’ regular season was declared over after 5.1 innings of 4-hit, 6-run ball (… only in Vancouver……), but when Jonathan Fleischer took over he retired nobody at all while being charged with four runs, knocked out again by ANOTHER three-run homer to left by Luke Gross. Down 10-1… hey, why not try Dave Martinez in relief? He got out of the inning, somehow, and the top 7th saw a leadoff double by Jon Correa, a Ramos single (hitting streak to 16), then a brutal double play grounder by Jarod Spencer. Hey, at least he got a ****ing run home… so did Nunley with a 2-out single in the eighth, plating Gomez. Not that it mattered much. The final blast in the game was again gross, Gross’, and came off Billy Brotman in the bottom 8th. For a change, it counted only for one. 11-3 Canadiens. Spencer 2-5, RBI; Gomez 2-4; Nunley 3-3, BB, RBI; Correa 2-2, 2B; Martinez 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

That one hurt in the heart, but at least not in the fingers, necks, and hamstrings…

Game 4
POR: SS Ramos – 3B Gerster – RF Gomez – 2B Hereford – 1B Correa – CF Mora – LF Morales – C Rocha – P Delgadillo
VAN: CF Tessmann – SS N. Millan – LF A. Torres – 1B D. Fisher – C R. Ortíz – 3B Anton – 2B Byrd – RF L. Gross – P Sinkhorn

Sinkhorn dominated the top of the order initially before he nailed Mora and walked Morales in the top 2nd. Daniel Rocha dropped a shy 2-out single to center to bring in Abel Mora, the runners advanced on the throw to home plate, and then Delgadillo found the hole between Anton and Millan for a 2-out, 2-run single on the first pitch he got from Sinkhorn. Ramos walked and Gerster singled to load the bases, and finally Rafael Gomez destroyed Sinkhorn with a long drive to left-center that was not going to be caught, ever. GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!!

I will not hold back and freely admit that I smooched Tim Stalker when Rafael Gomez upped the score to 7-0. ON THE LIPS. While us two and Honeypaws were discussing how beautiful life was, the Elks loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit in the bottom 2nd. Delgadillo walked two (Anton, Myles), but Butch Gerster also chipped in an error. One way or another, Tessman struck out with the bases loaded for the third out. In turn, the top 3rd saw three on and nobody out against right-hander Andy Horton, with Correa and Mora singling and Morales walking to present Daniel Rocha with a fat RBI chance. He struck out, but Delgadillo got in a run with a groundout before Ramos also grounded out to strand two, and Portland stranded three in the fourth inning when Morales grounded out to Anton. Gross hit a 2-piece off Yusneldan in the bottom 4th, but the Coons pulled those runs back in the fifth against Horton and Andy Purdy. Rocha singled, was bunted to second, scored on a Ramos double (17-game hitting streak in the fourth attempt), and Ramos also came home on a Gerster single, 10-2… and then Delgadillo shed another two runs on three base hits in the bottom 5th. Not that this bollocks game was finished with that. Jon Correa homered off Purdy in the sixth, 11-4, but Jeremy Moesker retired nobody and was charged with two runs in the bottom 7th, one of those runs coming in on a wild pitch by Ricky Ohl. The Elks kept coming closer. Kearney allowed a single to Tessmann and a blast to Millan in the eighth, and all of a sudden there was a save chance for Josh Boles in an 11-8 game. And even then the Elks would bring the tying run to the plate…! Fisher opened with a single to center, and Anton drew a 1-out walk, but Byrd grounded out Gross flew out to Mora to end the game, finally. 11-8 Raccoons. Gerster 2-4, BB, RBI; Gomez 2-5, HR, 4 RBI; Correa 2-5, HR, RBI; Mora 2-3, BB; Rocha 2-5, RBI;

Raccoons (96-62) vs. Titans (84-75) – September 29-October 1, 2028

While technically nothing mattered against the team eighth in runs scored and second in runs allowed, the Raccoons needed one more win in this series to take the season series from Boston for the first time in seven years. That would be swell, boys! Can we do that? Can we? Please?

Projected matchups:
Rin Nomura (16-6, 3.03 ERA) vs. Dustin Wingo (3-5, 3.56 ERA)
Rico Gutierrez (12-7, 2.55 ERA) vs. Lorenzo Viamontes (10-12, 3.74 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (8-8, 4.93 ERA) vs. Chris Munroe (9-4, 2.69 ERA)

Left-right-right.

Game 1
BOS: LF W. Vega – RF Kuramoto – 1B B. Lloyd – 3B Corder – 2B R. West – CF Reichardt – SS S. Williams – C Skinner – P Wingo
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 3B Hereford – 1B Correa – C Tovias – LF Morales – CF Magallanes – P Nomura

While the Furballs scored a run on 2-out hits by Tovias, Morales, and Magallanes in the second inning, Rin Nomura was exploded for much more in the top of the third. Yasuhiro Kuramoto singled, Bob Lloyd walked on four pitches, and Adam Corder and Rhett West ripped him in half with back-to-back doubles to put the Titans up 3-1. Portland scratched out a run on Ramos’ leadoff double in the bottom 3rd, then two productive outs, but could not help but worry about their shaky rotation and some of their season-long studs not ripping it anymore right now. Hereford was 0-for-2 with a strikeout by the third inning, but at least Ramos kept chugging. He followed up a Nomura single in the bottom 5th with his second walk of the game (all Wingo offered at that point), putting a quick go-ahead runner on base with one out – but he had also been caught stealing in the first and had not snapped a base all week long, still two short of Yoshi Yamada like Rich Hereford was three short of Tetsu Osanai. Rich came up with himself as the matching run, though, following Spencer’s pop to left and Rafael Gomez’ game-tying RBI single. Runners were on the corners, aaaand… he popped out to Stephen Williams.

Nomura somehow struck out ten batters in six innings before being replaced on account of 100+ pitches. The sixth was also a mess, despite three strikeouts. The first was Rhett West leading off, but after that Nomura issued singles to Adrian Reichardt and Williams, threw a wild pitch, and then stranded the runners in scoring position with K’s to Lance Skinner and Dustin Wingo. The Critters did nothing in the bottom of the inning, so Nomura would not get a W and lost his last shot at a tie for the most wins in the CL. The bottom 7th then saw Magallanes lead off with a single to left. Gerster hit for Fleischer and grounded out, and with the runner at second the Titans walked Ramos intentionally. He’ll get on anyway, just put him on right away! The Coons then undid their best plans with a double steal (53!), then had Spencer beat the range of Williams for a 2-run single into shallow left. Ohl walked Reichardt to begin the top 8th which almost ended in disaster until Magallanes shagged a loooong Keith Spataro drive in deep, deep center to end that inning. Instead, Portland scratched out an insurance run in the bottom 8th against Harry Merwin, Matt Nunley coming up with a pinch-hit double to drive home Correa, giving Josh Boles the max allowance of runs for a save… and he blew it. AFTER retiring the first two batters. Lloyd doubled to left, Corder hit an RBI single, and Rhett West hit a ****ing homer to left.

Ultimately this brought on extra innings. Hereford made the final out, stranding Rafael Gomez after a 2-out single in the ninth, and would do the same in the 11th. In between, Abel Mora flew out in the pitcher’s spot with the winning run (Correa) on third base. Somehow, the grunts in the pen held up the Bostonians, despite walking pairs in the 10th (Derks) and 11th (Costilow). Costilow was finally overcome in the 13th inning, allowing leadoff singles to Willie Vega and John Jacobs before Bob Lloyd BLASTED him for a 3-piece to left. Brotman sorted out that inning, but the Coons were in a sizable hole now. Bottom 13th, Mike Stank on the mound. Magallanes singled to center. Harenberg batted for Brotman and singled to right. Ramos grounded between West and Lloyd, but the first baseman SOMEHOW cut off the quick bouncer and played it back to first base and Stank just in time to get Ramos out (for the third time in a row…). Spencer grounded out to Corder, keeping the runners put, and the same for Gomez… except that Rafael walked. So here came Rich Hereford. Three on, two out, three runs down. A homer would solve ALL his problems. He was also 0-for-6 on the day. Corder handled his grounder to make him 0-for-7. 9-6 Titans. Gomez 3-5, BB, 2 RBI; Nunley (PH) 2-3, 2B, RBI; Harenberg (PH) 1-1;

The horror.

Saturday saw the return of Tim Stalker from the DL. Something to look forward to?

Game 2
BOS: LF W. Vega – RF Kuramoto – 1B B. Lloyd – SS Spataro – 2B R. West – CF Reichardt – 3B S. Williams – C A. Arias – P Viamontes
POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 2B Stalker – LF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – RF Gomez – C Leal – 3B Nunley – P Gutierrez

Everybody in a fatal slump sunk deeper into it; the Coons had no hits the first time through, and when Mora and Stalker had 2-out hits in the bottom 3rd to bring up Hereford with the tying runs on the corners, Rich flew out weakly to Willie Vega. Boston remained up 2-0 on the strength of three straight hits off Rico in the top 3rd that had plated their runs, foremost an RBI double by Willie Vega, who went on to strike out with two more runners in scoring position to end the top 4th. Reichardt and Alex Arias had both hit singles off an unimpressive Gutierrez, who lasted six innings of not much at all and remained 2-0 behind thanks to Hereford stranding another runner in scoring position, Stalker in the fifth.

The tying runs were in scoring position with nobody out in the bottom 7th. Viamontes had allowed a leadoff single to Nunley, then a pinch-hit double near the leftfield line to Danny Morales. That brought up an Alberto Ramos that was 0-for-his-last-6, weird and scary enough. He reached 0-7 with a grounder to first that helped nothing. Mora flew out to Reichardt, and Stalker flew out to Fernando Rodriguez in right before they could bring up Hereford with three on and two out to further squelch my aching heart. The Critters put two on in the eighth, but Leal hit into a double play. The bottom 9th still saw them down 2-0 against Ryan Corkum, who allowed a leadoff single to left to Matt Nunley. Gerster batted for Jeff Kearney, but struck out, and Ramos popped out to end his 18-game hitting streak… unless there were extras. Mora walked to bring up the winning run with two outs and in form of Tim Stalker, who squeezed a grounder past Stephen Williams for an RBI single and that… brought… up… Hereford. 0-for-10 in the series. The game did not matter. Removing him would send the wrong message. Gotta have faith! Gotta have faith! We’re gonna do it! We’re gonna do it! Hereford saw a strike and two balls, then hit a line to left-center that fell in. Mora was waved around third and sent for home, the throw was late, and the game was tied!! The runners advanced to scoring position for Harenberg, who would face new pitcher Harry Merwin, and … flew out to Reichardt.

Extras…! Surginer was in to pitch, had a clean 10th, then a less clean 11th. Adam Corder hit a 2-out single, Ramos made an error, but somehow Surginer got out of that mess. The Coons faced Mike Stank in the bottom 11th. The lefty offered a leadoff walk to Jon Correa in the #9 hole, which drew up Ramos, who grounded to second for what ended up a fielder’s choice. Then he stole second without anybody remembering giving a sign – that was #54 and the franchise mark. And then they stranded him at second… In turn, Josh Boles was blown up for the second night in a row, getting ripped for a 2-out, 2-run double by Williams. Jacobs had singled, Spataro had reached on Stalker’s error, and after the double Boles drilled Arias. Somehow the Titans only scored two off him when he deserved six. Portland had nothing in the bottom of the inning. 4-2 Titans. Stalker 3-6, 2B, RBI; Gomez 2-5, BB, 2B; Nunley 3-5, 2B; Morales (PH) 1-1, 2B; Surginer 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

Doom, doom, doom, nothing but doom all around me.

Hey, we still have a chance to fudge away home field advantage in the CLCS! Just keep on losing, boys!

…

And then chaos broke out. It rained all of Sunday. No chance to play a ballgame. So the Raccoons would have to go to Indy for the Monday game, then come back to Portland to play the Titans on Tuesday. They would kindly wait for us until then…

Raccoons (96-64) @ Indians (65-96) – October 2, 2028

I hate that this game exists. At least we were not the only game on this day. The Miners and the Capitals also had to play a makeup game for a weekend rainout. If the Miners won that, they would also play on Tuesday, then the Buffaloes in a tie-breaker for the division. Meanwhile the Condors had lost on Sunday, leaving us with home field advantage in the CLCS, and no matter what happened in the last two days, we would always be the #2 seed.

Over here in the City of Arrows, it was Kyle Anderson (8-8, 4.93 ERA) against right-hander Myles Mood (1-3, 3.93 ERA).

POR: SS Ramos – CF Mora – 2B Stalker – RF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – LF Correa – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – P Anderson
IND: SS Pizano – 3B Roesler – C Kennett – 1B Jon Gonzalez – LF Plunkett – CF Zanches – 2B Wagner – RF Suhay – P Mood

In an unexpected pitcher’s duel, neither hurler allowed more than three hits through six innings, and while Kyle Anderson also walked a whole bunch, the Indians were tactful enough to hit into well-timed double plays whenever they came close to scoring. The Coons were up 1-0 thanks to a third-inning run produced by Ramos walking with two outs and coming around on Mora’s double over the head of Alex Zanches. Anderson was done after six, because the Raccoons went to a pinch-hitter with two outs and Harenberg and Tovias on base with a pair of singles in the top 7th. Danny Morales came out to face George Barnett… and popped out. From here, the Raccoons would have Hereford strand another runner in scoring position in the eighth, Mora having singled and advanced on a groundout, and had nothing at all in the ninth. Brotman and Ohl held the Indians at bay until Surginer came out for the ninth, Josh Boles being given another day off after three consecutive outings, none great. Jon Gonzalez fouled out, Mike Plunkett struck out, Alex Zanches… walked. But Curt Wagner took strike three, and the Coons could hasten back to the airport after 2:33 of not much at all. 1-0 Furballs. Mora 2-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Correa 2-3, BB; Anderson 6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 1 K, W (9-8);

The Miners lost; we’d be the only playoff team in action on Tuesday.

Tuesday!

Raccoons (97-64) vs. Titans (86-75) – October 3, 2028

I hate that this game exists. It would feature Billy Ramm (1-1, 1.29 ERA) against right-hander Jeremy Waite (11-14, 2.91 ERA), who must have run over a black cat at least three times to have that record with that ERA.

BOS: LF W. Vega – RF Kuramoto – 1B B. Lloyd – SS Spataro – 3B Corder – 2B R. West – CF Reichardt – C A. Arias – P Waite
POR: SS Gerster – CF Magallanes – 2B Stalker – RF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – C Leal – 3B Nunley – LF Allan – P Ramm

Billy Ramm shed a bunch of runners right from the start; the Titans had the bases loaded on a single, a walk, and daredevil Keith Spataro leaning into a pitch until Adam Corder hit into a inning-ending double play in the first, and got another double play in the third. At that point he was already up 2-0 on Harenberg’s 20th homer of the season that collected Rich Hereford in the second inning, and the Raccoons also loaded the bases after this, but Magallanes flew out to center to strand them all. Bottom 3rd, Stalker led off with a double, bringing up Hereford with another RBI chance – not like he had not had any recently. Waite, struggling, hung a curve. Rich appreciated the motion and pumped it to deep left – and OUTTA HERE!!!!!!!! Tetsu Osanai’s 1989 mark for RBI was matched!! The fans demanded a curtain call after Hereford and Stalker danced into the dugout, which they got, but let’s not forget that there were another six innings to play here…

Actually more than that, because this was still the third. Waite struggled terribly, walked Nunley and Allan with two outs, then surrendered an RBI double to Billy Ramm to fall 5-0 behind. This was close to the maximum penalty for a pitcher… Waite was gone after the inning, while Ramm pitched into the sixth, but came apart more and more. Lloyd hit a leadoff jack to get Boston on the board, and Ramm walked Corder and allowed a single to West. With one out they were on the corners, and Ramm was on four hits and five walks as well as 95 pitches and was yanked. The keen plan was for Fleischer to get out of the inning, then for Derks to cover distance. None of that happened. Reichardt loaded them up with an infield single (Corder stayed put), but Arias struck out. Matt Good hit for reliever John Logsdon, which put up a lefty bat as the tying run. We went to Brotman, who got Good to 0-2, then allowed a grounder up the middle. Stalker cut it off, lobbed the ball into Gerster’s legs, and a run scored on the error. Vega singled in two on the very next pitch and it was now a 5-4 mess before Kuramoto flew out to center.

The bottom 6th saw Hereford’s final chance to set a new franchise mark for RBI and he knew it. Magallanes had hit a 1-out double and was in scoring position, while Javy Salomon was the pitcher. Hereford ran a full count, then fouled out, and was replaced by Rafael Gomez between innings. Both him and Ramos would finish the regular season having tied, but not broken, the marks they chased. The Coons chased a winning record against the Titans here, and added two insurance runs with a 2-out rally in the eighth inning. Stalker tripled, Gomez walked, and both Harenberg and Leal hit RBI singles to give Boles another 3-run edge. Again he retired the first two batters (Vega, Kuramoto), then walked Bob Lloyd to create anxiety. Spataro, however, flew out to Gomez, and the regular season was over. 7-4 Coons. Stalker 2-5, 3B, 2B; Harenberg 3-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Leal 2-4, BB, RBI;

In other news

September 25 – BOS SP Chris Munroe (9-4, 2.69 ERA) spins a 3-hit shutout against the Indians. The Titans win 8-0.
September 26 – The Bayhawks are 3-hit in a shutout authored by LVA SP Luis Flores (9-5, 4.76 ERA).
September 27 – With a 4-1 win over the Gold Sox and a Warriors loss, the Pacifics clinch the FL West once again and will get a chance to defend their 2027 title.
September 29 – It takes 13 innings for a home run by ATL RF/1B/LF Chun-yeong Kym (.183, 1 HR, 5 RBI) to provide any sort of score in the Knights-Aces game. Atlanta prevails, 1-0, while the Aces amount to only two base hits.

Complaints and stuff

Everybody has hit the slumps just ahead of the playoffs. Great. Just give the Condors their rings right now…

Alberto Ramos was Player of the Month in September, batting .454 with no dingers and 11 RBI. But that was before the slump.

Slump here, slump there, Raccoons won several statistical categories. Rich Hereford led all of the ABL in home runs (tied with Shane Sanks) and RBI (nobody even close). Alberto Ramos led all of the CL in stolen bases. Rico Gutierrez led all of the ABL in ERA *and* WHIP. Josh Boles led the Continental League in saves. Like Ramos matched Yoshi Yamada’s single season mark of 54 SB, Rich Hereford matched Tetsu Osanai’s 140 RBI tally.

And nobody got themselves killed…!

The Raccoons and Mark Roberts agreed to a flat 4-yr, $10.4M extension this week! This will keep Roberts in the brown shirt until he is 37, which may or may not turn out a wise investment. Roberts has been with us for five season since that trade with the Bayhawks, won a ring, won a triple crown, a Pitcher of the Year, and has routinely been tough as nails. He did not even allow 30 long balls this year…!

In case you wonder what happened to a different reserve catcher we have, Jing-quo Liu – he is still in the organization after spending all year with the Alley Cats… or on the DL. He broke his arm at one point when he slipped on the freshly cleaned stairs in the clubhouse in St. Pete. He could not read the yellow sign that warned of the wet floor…

Fun Fact: The Raccoons’ 98 wins this season are their most in almost 20 years. They most recently won 98 games in 2009.

That was the year in which Keith Ayers was out at home.