[BigRed75]

It's a debut Diamond season for two of my teams, as the DMV Beltways and Everett Aquasox make their entrance at the second-highest level of the game. After passing on the oh-so-generous offer to get Don Lock for 5,000 PP, the Beltways return an essentially unchanged lineup. Perhaps we should make some changes, as we have started the season 4-13.

Unfortunately, we don't have the PP for the card that could really help us, 100 Max Scherzer, and the market on 91 Babe Ruth is currently, shall we say, soft. So I'm afraid unless things start to pick up, or we get a perfect game, 35-0 drubbing or some other PP windfall, it could be one-and-done for the Beltways.

As for the Froggies - well, it's even worse. A 2-14 start, and even less PP to spend for improvements. I knew our No. 5 spot in the rotation would be problematic, but I didn't think the Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 spots would be as well. In fact, the only starter to record a win so far is that aforementioned No. 5 starter, Marco Gonzales. But hey, at least we got 250 PP for snapping our losing streak, which is nice.

Clearly, the Froggies are not ready for prime time. And Deion Sanders doesn't even have any ties to the Pacific Northwest.

The Quendas were promoted to Gold, and boy does the difference between those two levels show. They are sitting at 11-6, in contrast to the other two teams, and have a share of the lead. Casey Mize continues to tear it up - 4-0 with a 2.63 ERA, 171 ERA+ and 2.96 FIP - to think that I got him for a four-figure sum when it seems like 10,000 is the minimum for any Diamond Future Legend! I gave Nate Pearson another chance in the rotation, and he crapped the bed with an 11.05 ERA in his first three starts. Small sample size or not, we're in a tight battle with the Vercelli Cats here so it's back to the bullpen for Pearson.

Finally, there's the Redlegs. They have officially entered the dreaded Perfect League doldrums - strong enough to stay up, not so strong to regularly challenge for a playoff position (except for that one glorious year), and just bobbing along at or below .500 each season. Something needs to be done, and I have 43,000-odd PP. So I'm opening packs. Unfortunately, funds are a bit tight here at BigRed Manor so I'm not able to fly Westheim out here from Germany to open these pack for me, which is what I really need. But hopefully I'll get something good. Like Historical Perfect good. I haven't pulled a perfect card in a while.