A brief history of the Australia-New Zealand Baseball League (AUNZBL, 2019-2119)

[reds1]

Way to go, Marty 'KO' Okolita. They might have to calling Whangarei the 'Strikers' instead.

[Izz]

Originally Posted by reds1

Way to go, Marty 'KO' Okolita. They might have to calling Whangarei the 'Strikers' instead.

Well, Whangarei definitely aren't doing much slugging this season, that's for sure. Their 44HRs are dead last in the league...

[Izz]

2057/2058 Season - December

2057 #1 Draft Pick

Adelaide got first choice for this draft, and they went with 22 y/o CF Miguel Ibanez. Ibanez projected to be a power-hitting, outfield supremo. More than that, he was a natural leader, a guy that his college coaches said just “naturally picked up and carried everybody around him.” He was extremely smart and very loyal, the only concern being around his training habits. Adelaide slotted him straight into A-ball.

A quick look at how the previous 4 #1 draft picks were doing:

2056, Andre Wiltshire: Played most of last season in short-A, where he hit .303/.366/.462, with 3HR. Got bumped up to AA to begin this season, but was finding it a struggle, hitting .226/.260/.395 so far, with 3HR. He was still projecting to be a great hitter, and at only 19 y/o he still had time to put it all together.

2055, Vic Collins: Spent most of 2056 in AAA, where he put together an unspectacular .248/.312/.391 stat-line, with 11HR. Started this season at the same level, where again he’d been unimpressive, hitting .232/.285/.348, with 1HR. However, he’d just got the call-up to the bigs again, and in 2 games batting in the 9-hole had hit .286/.286/.714, 1 of his 2 hits a HR.

2054, Ethan Quine: Traded from Adelaide to Whangarei before the 2056 season, Quine had thrown 43.1 innings of major-league relief, his ERA+ 80. He’d been demoted to AA this season, where he was 3-5, with a 3.99 ERA, 5.07 FIP, and 1.55 WHIP. Whangarei’s scouts were now saying Quine, nicknamed ‘Boot’, should get the boot. His control, always an issue for him, was getting worse rather than better, and he had no dominating pitches to get hitters whiffing. His future: most likely in the Upper Americas.

2053, Calvin Hodnett: This year was the year, Perth’s executives crowed with certainty. And so far Hodnett was doing a good job of living up to the billing, hitting .292/.347/.559, with 14HR. The affable 3B was miles better against right-handed pitchers than left, but provided a good foil for Geoghegan, Welch and Chang regardless of who was pitching.

Notable Performances

3 Dec: Fei-hsien Chang couldn’t be ignored for PotW. He went ballistic over the last 7 days, hitting .560/.667/1.600, with a phenomenal 8HR. It would’ve been 9 but for the top of the wall in the game on the 1st of the month. That hit was only a triple, and also ended his 4-game HR streak. He hit 2 last night, though, and now shared the HR lead with Foreman, both men sitting on 20 dingers.

4 Dec: David Rowlands made it 2 shutouts for the season, keeping Auckland scoreless on the back of just 3 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 3 and Adelaide cruised to a 7-0 victory, 6 of their runs coming in a mammoth 7th inning.

7 Dec: Perth went ballistic today, thrashing Sydney 20-4. Among the plethora of hits, Carlos Aguilar went 5-6 with 2 doubles. This was Aguilar’s 2nd 5-hit game of the season, and the 3rd of his fledgling career.

7 Dec: Lance Ralston shut Melbourne down, allowing only 6 hits and 2 walks, while fanning 7, to lead Brisbane to a gigantic 14-0 victory.

9 Dec: Christchurch had amassed a decent squad for this season, even without considering Aguirre. CF Kelvin Pickhills hit in his 20th straight game today, a triple in a 4-1 win over Whangarei.

9 Dec: Patrick Maggs cycled in Darwin’s 11-10 victory over Adelaide. He tripled in the 1st, singled in the 2nd, doubled in the 5th, and homered in the 6th.

10 Dec: Ryan Wie collected PotW with a .440/.517/.840 performance, 3 home runs included.

10 Dec: It seemed Eddie Rayner was getting back to his best, the 27 y/o Canberra ace shutting Auckland down with a 3-hitter. He walked 1 and struck out 4, Canberra romping to a 12-0 victory. This was the 6th shutout of Rayner’s career.

11 Dec: Pickhills’ streak ended at 21 games.

11 Dec: Okolita came back from his brief layoff with a strong 8 innings of scoreless ball in Whangarei’s 3-0 win over Cairns. More importantly for those following Okolita’s strikeout numbers was the fact he punched out 10, moving him to 111 for the year.

11 Dec: Raymond Eykelbosch scattered 7 hits, but walked none and, more importantly, allowed no runs to see Sydney to a 12-0 thumping of the Diggers. Eykelbosch struck out 7 in his 2nd shutout of the season.

17 Dec: Bradley Courcha earned PotW by hitting .462/.548/.808, with 2HR.

24 Dec: Manuel Alou was leading the Newcastle team around well, hitting 5HRs over the last week, with a stat-line of .476/.542/1.190 to win PotW.

24 Dec: Darwin’s Wei-liang Chang picked up his 10th win of the season, shackling the Fury with an 88-pitch shutout. He conceded just 4 hits and 1 walk, fanning 4, as Darwin edged their way to a 4-0 win.

26 Dec: Marty Okolita’s previous 2 starts had been below average, only netting him 8 strikeouts. Today he returned to form, fanning 10 in 7.0 innings against Sydney, doing his part to restrict the Blue Sox to naught.

27 Dec: Clint Aitcheson shut out former team Brisbane with a fantastic 2-hit, 10-strikeout effort. The Thunder coasted to a 4-0 win.

27 Dec: At 54-28, the Cowboys had a 6-game buffer for best record in the league. Today they overcame Adelaide 6-5, giving them 10 wins in a row. They had the 2nd-best BA (.289) in the league, the best OBP (.364), and SLG (.471), as well as the most miserly bullpen (3.17). They’d also only allowed 69HR so far, the least of any team in the majors.

29 Dec: Phil ‘Million Dollar’ Cox threw the first shutout of his young career, for Adelaide versus Cairns. He gave up 6 hits and 1 free pass, striking out 4, the Venom winning 7-0.

29 Dec: “Not the nicest way to end the streak,” Aguirre admitted after his former team Canberra kept them to zero in a 5-0 victory, thus ending their winning run at 11. Aguirre was 0-3, and left 3 runners on base.

31 Dec: Matthew Utting, 2nd-runner up in last year’s RotY considerations, was continuing his strong season. He took out the month’s last PotW with a .615/.621/1.115 effort, including 4 doubles and 3HR from 16 hits.

Notable Injuries

1 Dec: Okolita’s bid to strike out 300 met a minor snag today, as he left the game after an inning with a sore shoulder. While team medics said immediately after the game that the injury was a day-to-day proposition, the next morning he was moved to the short-term DL. While he only pitched one inning, he did strike out 2 hitters, thus breaking through the 100 K mark. Whangarei went on to beat a lackluster Fury 13-4.

8 Dec: Melbourne would be without Christos Spargo (.302/.332/.472, 6HR) for the rest of the season after he fractured his elbow.

11 Dec: Nathan Beckett (4-6, 5.53 ERA, 4.57 FIP, 1.47 WHIP) was throwing poorly for new team Kununurra, and now would sit out 2-3 months with a partially torn labrum.

11 Dec: Brisbane CF Ashley Collier (.283/.367/.375, 2HR) would miss at least 6 weeks with a hamstring strain.

18 Dec: Central Coast now lost another SP for the season, with Brock Lawless (8-4, 3.50 ERA, 4.55 FIP, 1.15 WHIP) heading to the DL with an inflamed shoulder.

28 Dec: Today was All Star naming day. One player whose name wouldn’t be read out was Carlos Aguilar (.298/.348/.437, 4HR). He had a sprained thumb and wouldn’t play for at least a month.

Notable Trades/Signings

2 Dec: The first trade of the season took place yesterday, a fairly low-key affair between Melbourne and Adelaide which saw the Aces acquire a reliever for 2 prospects. Today Melbourne were involved in another trade that got a bit more coverage than yesterday’s had. The Aces acquired 27 y/o 2B/SS Lachlan Foley (.336/.373/.471, 3HR) from Sydney in return for 27 y/o 3B Ruben Lopez (.253/.259/.342, 1HR from 81PA) and an 18 y/o SP prospect who’d graduated from Melbourne’s international prospect straight to A-ball this season.

2 Dec: 32 y/o C Sterling Brear (.235/.235/.294, 0HR) had returned to the AUNZBL this season after 3 years in the BL, signing a 2-year deal with Kununurra. Today the Pioneers moved him on, to Hobart, in return for 25 y/o 2B Logan Eissens (.282/.311/.518, 4HR), who the Pioneers saw as an everyday player. He would shift Martin Valentin (.266/.357/.443, 7HR), who many felt was playing well above his current ability, to the bench.

9 Dec: Alan Sneddon’s strong start to the season (.313/.477/.525, 9HR) made Darwin sit up and take notice. Today they announced the 32 y/o had put pen to paper on a 4-year extension. Huge money? Not according to Sneddon, who said, “Look, I love this club, they’ve treated me well the entire time I’ve been here and I’m excited at the prospect of bringing a Championship or two home in the next 4 years.” While media sources agreed that next year’s money wouldn’t be huge for Sneddon, word was the last year of the extension was a player option for $25 million.

14 Dec: Edwin Hayes (.218/.269/.425, 17HR) was reportedly livid, refusing to shake hands with his manager and GM before storming out of the clubhouse after being told he’d been traded to Whangarei. In return, the Pioneers would receive 32 y/o SP Jeremy Challinor (6-6, 4.48 ERA, 4.51 FIP, 1.20 WHIP). 30 y/o Hayes didn’t want to speak to media upon arriving in Whangarei, only saying, “Look, I don’t want to run my mouth and regret it later.” Kununurra fans were devastated at the trade, while Sluggers fans were ecstatic at the thought of finally having some power in their lineup. The 46HRs Whangarei had so far hit saw them way down the bottom of the league, their 175 XBH also dead last.

25 Dec: Kununurra made an even bigger move today, one that left their fanbase well and truly shattered. New GM Ian Graham obviously cared little for hitting, and 1st-year skipper Paddy Ross, who’d spent his entire coaching career as a hitting coach before this season, publicly backed his GM to the hilt. The trade? 25 y/o Jorge Diaz (.312/.370/.522, 17HR), with 2 more seasons on his contract following 2057, and if reports were to be believed, not on a superstar salary, along with a prospect, to Canberra for 27 y/o ace Eddie Rayner (6-7, 5.12 ERA, 4.45 FIP, 1.47 WHIP), an outfield prospect on the cusp of the majors, and cash.

With the heart well and truly ripped out of their lineup, Kununurra fans cared little that their rotation was now one of the strongest in the league. One upset talkback caller echoed the thoughts of many: “We’ll never score these guys enough runs for them to win games anyway.” Graham and Ross were a lot more optimistic: “We’re building a team unit that will choke the opposition defensively, and we expect to be in the conversation come April.” What they glossed over was that Diaz hadn’t been terrible defensively this season, around league-average as a 1B, and that Hayes had been DH’ing rather than fielding for most of his time with them prior to the trade, though he’d always performed above-average in the field as an everyday 1B before this season.

Like Hayes before him, Diaz too was reportedly very upset to be sent on his way, unsurprising if true given that earlier in the season he’d been quoted as saying he “bled Pioneers’ red.”

A day later, in his first start for Kununurra, Rayner would scatter 14 hits in 4.1 IP, giving up 7 ER, and taking the L in a 9-2 loss to Melbourne.

27 Dec: The Pioneers weren’t done making unusual moves, though GM Graham did let slip that there were “some financial issues” the “previous regime” had left behind them. This time 28 y/o SP Damian Flemming (5-6, 3.08 ERA, 4.27 FIP, 1.44 WHIP), who would likely have headed to free agency at season’s end, was off to Southern Division leaders Melbourne, along with cash, in exchange for 25 y/o 3B Gareth Kellett (.309/.380/.381, 2HR in 160PA) and a middling pitching prospect.

31 Dec: In an exclusive report, Out of the Park Broadcasting today revealed the highest-earning players in the AUNZBL. At the top of the list? Kununurra’s offseason acquisition Nathan Beckett, reputedly earning $32 million this season. Beckett, currently injured and before that the number 5 starter in the Pioneers’ rotation, was a signing by the current administration. Kununurra’s already disillusioned fanbase were none too happy with this latest revelation. Rounding out the top 5 were Aguirre, Zachary Woollett, Dan Pankhurst, and Marshall Whiffin. None of those 4 would earn more than $28 million in 2057.

2057 All Stars

Australian All Stars

SP Eddie Zglinicki - MEL - (13-2, 2.85 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 1.07 WHIP)
SP Isaac Russell - NEW - (12-1, 2.80 ERA, 3.32 FIP, 1.27 WHIP)
SP Zachariah Pond - DAR - (10-4, 3.47 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.32 WHIP)
SP Lance Ralston - BRI - (6-4, 3.19 ERA, 2.84 FIP, 1.36 WHIP)
SP Marty Okolita - WHA - (6-5, 2.69 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 1.14 WHIP)
SP Raymond Eykelbosch - SYD - (8-6, 3.67 ERA, 3.54 FIP, 1.30 WHIP)
SP Austin Ya - WHA - (8-7, 2.99 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 1.10 WHIP)
MR Alastair Butcher - CHR - (1-1, 3 sv, 2.82 ERA, 1.72 FIP, 1.03 WHIP)
MR Reginald Kelly - AUC - (1-0, 2.01 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 1.05 WHIP)
CL Aaron Fingleson - CHR - (3-2, 23 sv, 2.23 ERA, 2.58 FIP, 1.09 WHIP)
CL Li Snell - HOB - (1-2, 14 sv, 1.63 ERA, 1.97 FIP, 0.72 WHIP)
CL Rhett Thurley - DAR (0-0, 17 sv, 3.26 ERA, 2.67 FIP, 1.22 WHIP)
C Gary Baker - CAI - (.313/.377/.556, 16HR)
C Yen-nien Liu - AUC - (.310/.398/.500, 9HR)
1B Justin Auger - CEN - (.271/.381/.565, 25HR)
1B Ed Geoghegan - PER - (.289/.360/.506, 17HR)
1B Tim Broomhall - HOB - (.305/.363/.506, 13HR)
2B Quentin Welch - PER - (.312/.385/.512, 14HR)
3B Matthew Utting - CHR - (.323/.414/.587, 19HR)
3B Calvin Hodnett - PER - (.301/.354/.578, 20HR)
SS Lachlan Foley - MEL - (.356/.388/.498, 5HR)
SS Bradley Courcha - NEW - (.298/.396/.460, 7HR)
LF Alan Sneddon - DAR - (.307/.476/.486, 9HR)
LF John Foreman - CEN - (.287/.344/.545, 26HR)
CF Martin Boston - CAN - (.339/.397/.433, 2HR)
CF Kelvin Pickhills - CHR - (.302/.349/.487, 8HR)
RF Sean Carr - CHR - (.380/.428/.562, 13HR)
RF Fei-hsien Chang - PER - (.304/.389/.665, 24HR)

NZ & Overseas All Stars

SP Clint Aitcheson - CEN - (11-4, 2.59 ERA, 3.56 FIP, 0.93 WHIP)
SP Angelo Spear - CAN - (6-8, 3.68 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 1.14 WHIP)
SP Luis Nunez - KUN - (8-4, 4.01 ERA, 3.97 FIP, 1.35 WHIP)
SP Cameron Worsfold - CHR - (10-2, 3.38 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 1.13 WHIP)
SP Christos Goddard - PER - (8-4, 3.73 ERA, 4.13 FIP, 1.41 WHIP)
SP Willie Russell - NEW - (7-5, 4.42 ERA, 3.35 FIP, 1.29 WHIP)
SP Jay Cummins - WEL - (5-6, 4.27 ERA, 3.59 FIP, 1.31 WHIP)
MR Baden Vanderven - CHR - (1-0, 2 sv, 2.72 ERA, 2.90 FIP, 1.25 WHIP)
MR Ben Yeatman - MEL - (3-0, 2 sv, 2.09 ERA, 3.41 FIP, 1.42 WHIP)
MR Kent Tillett - HOB - (4-1, 13 sv, 1.80 ERA, 3.40 FIP, 1.14 WHIP)
CL Alwin de Lange - CEN - (1-3, 18 sv, 3.08 ERA, 3.96 FIP, 1.21 WHIP)
CL Rex Herbert - PER - (2-1, 20 sv, 3.82 ERA, 4.72 FIP, 1.33 WHIP)
C Yin-ti Zhuo - CHR - (.281/.458/.437, 5HR)
C Tyler Pratly - KUN - (.287/.342/.455, 10HR)
1B Richard Moore - BRI - (.305/.383/.530, 20HR)
1B Ismael Aguirre - CHR - (.310/.386/.521, 19HR)
1B Jorge Diaz - CAN - (.320/.377/.532, 18HR)
1B Marcos Lopez - NEW - (.305/.357/.560, 21HR)
2B Beau Snell - MEL - (.384/.430/.481, 4HR)
3B Tommy Hillson - CAN - (.289/.358/.552, 20HR)
3B Lance Fookes - BRI - (.323/.353/.547, 13HR)
SS Yoshihito Morimoto - WHA - (.323/.358/.383, 0HR)
SS Jay Saunderson - CAN - (.285/.343/.446, 10HR)
LF Rich Atteridge - WEL - (.338/.366/.434, 0HR)
LF Ovidio Arvelos - BRI - (.296/.422/.365, 2HR)
CF Guillermo Julio - NEW - (.290/.341/.401, 2HR)
RF Manuel Alou - NEW - (.313/.399/.577, 20HR)
RF Arturo Medina - DAR - (.275/.359/.503, 18HR)

Month Awards



Rookie of the Month: 23 y/o Thunder rookie Karl Aston was a corner outfielder who promised plenty of HRs. Last year in AAA he hit 41 jacks with a stat-line of .259/.347/.607. In 99 games of A-ball in 2055 he slugged 34HR and won their SotY. Now in the bigs, he took out December’s RotM with a .284/.370/.636 effort from 24 games - 25-88, 18 runs, 4 doubles, 9HR, 22RBI, 8BB, exactly 100PA.

Hurler of the Month: Zachariah Pond was a pitcher a lot of the older fans liked to call ‘traditional.’ He threw a 4-seam fastball that could get up near 160 km/h, accompanied by a great slider and a splitter that he didn’t throw all that well but still worked in combination with the other two. In December he was 6-0 from 6 starts, his ERA 1.87, FIP 3.15, and WHIP 1.20. He struck out 41 hitters in 43.1 IP.

Slugger of the Month: Vern Bull sat out all of October thanks to injury, but hadn’t missed a beat since returning. In December he hit .349/.544/.698, 30-86, with 27 runs, 3 doubles, 9HR, 25RBI and a whopping 37BB. He wasn’t headed to the All Star Game only because of a lack of at-bats.

Media Watch

Ismael Aguirre: Aguirre was only average in December, hitting .274/.346/.368, with just 2 doubles and 3HR from his 32-117. Still, he was now only 19 hits away from 3000, and 16HR from 600.

Other Notes

Coastal Division: Darwin (17-12) extended their lead by another game over Perth (16-13), while Cairns (15-14) finished the month at .500, 7 games in arrears. Adelaide (8-21) now boasted the worst record in the league, at 29-57.

East-west Division: Central Coast (19-10) climbed the division ladder to finish the month tied at the top with Newcastle (14-15).

NZ Division: Christchurch (21-8) seemed to be getting better and better, their closest rivals now Wellington (18-11), who had fought their way to an even .500, which saw them 14 games behind.

Southern Division: Melbourne (18-11) had overtaken Hobart (12-17) by the middle of the month and held a 4-game advantage by the end of the month. Sydney (12-17) also continued to spiral, now 2 games below .500.

Wildcard: Hobart and Perth had exactly the same record, and currently held the 2 wildcard slots. Central Coast and Newcastle, while tied for their division lead, were 1 game behind in the wildcard, and Cairns and Wellington lurked 4 games back.

#

Beau Snell (.390/.438/.495, 4HR) continued to be the best average hitter in the league. His 142 hits was also 20 better than next-best Sean Carr (.374/.424/.567, 15HR).

Teammates John Foreman (.281/.338/.530, 26HR) and Justin Auger (.267/.375/.556, 26HR) finished the month tied for the HR lead.

Matthew Utting (.325/.418/.604, 21HR) led the league in RBI (76), runs (67), and WAR (5.8).

Fei-hsien Chang (.307/.394/.657, 24HR) continued his crash ‘em bash ‘em season, atop the SLG, OPS, wOBA (.437), and ISO (.350) boards. Teammate Ed Geoghegan (.293/.360/.534, 21HR) had rounded the most bases, touching down on 188 so far. Geoghegan finished the month on a 4-game HR streak.

Alan Sneddon (.300/.465/.471, 9HR) only hit .235 in December, but was still doing his job at the top of Darwin’s order, his OBP and walks (86) the best in the league. He’d earned 20 more free passes than any other hitter.

Eddie Zglinicki (14-2, 2.83 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 1.03 WHIP) went 6-0 in December, ending the month with the most wins of any pitcher in the AUNZBL.

Clint Aitcheson (11-4, 2.59 ERA, 3.56 FIP, 0.93 WHIP) led the league in ERA, WHIP, OAVG (.204), H/9 (6.73), and IP (139.0).

Former teammate Lance Ralston (6-5, 3.31 ERA, 2.84 FIP, 1.35 WHIP) topped the FIP and WAR (3.7) boards.

Marty ‘K.O’ Okolita (6-5, 2.69 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 1.14 WHIP) led the league with 129 punch-outs and a K/9 rate of 10.85. He was now projecting to get around 250 strikeouts for the season.

Aaron Fingleson continued to lead the league in successful saves, now with 24.

Standings, Jan 1

[Izz]

2057/2058 Season - January

Notable Performances

1 Jan: Despite the Australian All Stars squad being obviously stronger than their NZ & Overseas counterparts, it was the latter who won a low-scoring thriller 2-1.

6 Jan: Aguirre cracked the 13th Grand Slam of his major league career to help Christchurch defeat Hobart 6-2. It was his 3rd homer of the month, meaning he only needed 13 more to reach 600. 11 more hits would get him to 3000.

12 Jan: 33 y/o Patrick Maggs reached 2000 hits today, doing so with a 4th-inning single in his Diggers 8-0 loss to Christchurch. “It was a great moment,” Maggs said. “I’ll remember the cheering for a long time.”

14 Jan: Melbourne’s Terence Guyatt won PotW with a .429/.484/1.000 showing. His 12 hits included 2 doubles, 1 triple, and 4HR. He currently lead in RBI by 8, with 91.

15 Jan: Adrian Stuart had a blinder for Hobart versus Melbourne, helping the Prospects get over their division rivals 12-6 with a 6-6 showing. All his hits were singles, but he scored 3 runs and drove in 2 thanks to the barrage. Stuart was the first player to record 6 hits in a regular season, regular innings game since Manuel Salinas in the 2052 season.

17 Jan: Wellington catcher Fernando Contreras had homered in his last 5 games and was today looking to extend the streak to 6. In the top of the 1st he got a soft fastball over the heart of the plate and made great contact. It flew deep, deep, deep to centre, but not quite deep enough, hitting the base of the wall and bouncing away awkwardly from the CF. Contreras slid safely into 3rd but looked sad rather than elated. He’d get no other hits, the Fury losing to Perth 5-3 to make the dressing room drinks taste even more bitter. To really turn the screws, he would go long the following night to make it 6 from 7 games with a HR.

18 Jan: Marcos Lopez slugged career roundtripper number 300 today, his shot the go-ahead and eventual winning run of Newcastle’s 4-3 victory over Darwin. It was 33 y/o Lopez’s 28th HR of the year, putting him in a tie for 4th on the season leaderboard.

21 Jan: Tom Doig won his 2nd PotW of the season, hitting .458/.536/1.083 over the last 7 days, 9 of his 11 hits extra-base (6 doubles, 3HR).

22 Jan: Arthur Hammer stopped Adelaide cold for the first complete-game shutout of the month. Allowing just 5 hits and 2 walks, Hammer struck out 8 and led Central Coast to a fine 5-0 win.

23 Jan: An historic day for the Cowboys as 2 players reached significant milestones in the same match. And, in fact, they both reached their milestones in the same inning. Before this game, Sean Carr needed 2 hits to reach 2000 for his career. He singled in the 2nd to move him to 1999. Then, in the 3rd, he doubled to reach 2000. He finished up 4-4, saying to media after the conclusion of proceedings, “I think I caught the crowd by surprise. They’d only just finished cheering for Izzy, and then I slid into second and the ground announcer said it was my 2000th hit, and everybody kinda just paused for a couple moments, making sure they heard right, I guess. Then they erupted. It was really loud. Like, way louder than I think 2000 hits deserves. Guess they’d got themselves all warmed up already and were in the mood to party.”

23 Jan: And, as Carr alluded to in his post-match interview, the other player was Aguirre, who brought up hit number 3000 an out earlier in that same inning. Aguirre had been sputtering his way through January, with a fair few media headlines questioning whether ‘he’d ever get there.’ That being said, Aguirre knew how to rise for the occasion. He recorded hit 2999 the previous night. First time up today he struck out swinging on 3 pitches. Then, in the 3rd, he came up with men on the corners. The first pitch missed up and away. The second pitch was a fastball on the inside half of the plate and Aguirre didn’t miss, pulling it 416 feet over leftfield and into the bleachers to become the 4th player (and youngest, of course) to reach 3000 hits. The HR was his 23rd of the year and 588th of his career, meaning only 12 more until he also became the 4th player to 600HRs, and the 4th player to record the 3000-600 double. Christchurch won the game 7-4 to ensure nothing would dampen celebrations, though both Aguirre and Carr said it ‘would’ve been nice to do this at Cowboy Stadium.’

28 Jan: John Foreman swung a sweet bat over the last week, posting a .400/.444/1.040 stat-line, including 5HR, to win PotW. He currently led the league in HRs, with 35 on the season.

Notable Injuries

4 Jan: Manuel Alou (.313/.394/.561, 20HR) would be out of Newcastle’s lineup for at least a month with a herniated disc in his neck.

6 Jan: Darwin would be without the services of veteran star Zachary Woollett (.266/.333/.469, 15HR) for 5 or so weeks, thanks to a torn hamstring.

15 Jan: Darwin could add another middle-of-the-lineup guy to the injury list, with news that Arturo Medina (.271/.361/.480, 19HR) would be out 5-6 weeks with a broken hand.

16 Jan: Young Crocs’ SP Harrison Mitchinson (6-6, 4.35 ERA, 4.92 FIP, 1.50 WHIP) wouldn’t be back this season. The 23 y/o had a torn triceps.

18 Jan: Central Coast, 6 games ahead in the East-West, would be without closer Alwin de Lange (1-3, 26 sv) for the rest of the season. He had a partially torn labrum.

19 Jan: The old man of the league, 41 y/o Young-tae Lee (.262/.414/.319, 1HR) had strained his hamstring and would be on the DL at least 5 weeks.

24 Jan: Oliver Wonnocott (.289/.338/.387, 3HR) had already spent some time on the DL this season, but this injury would ensure no more playing time for him until 2058. He’d ruptured a tendon in his finger.

30 Jan: Angelo Spear (7-9, 3.83 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) needed 19 more wins to reach 200 for his career. He wouldn’t get any more towards that mark this season, however, thanks to shoulder inflammation that team medical staff estimated would take 3-4 months recovery time.

30 Jan: Canberra would be down another star for at least the next 3 weeks, with Martin Boston (.345/.397/.435, 2HR) out with biceps tendinitis.

Notable Trades/Signings

4 Jan: Canberra and Darwin agreed to a trade that saw 29 y/o CF Terence Kerr (.230/.346/.324, 6HR) plus cash head to the Diggers for 2 decent prospects, one a SS and the other a pitcher.

5 Jan: Kununurra continued to break up this year’s roster, sending 27 y/o CL Rodney Donovan (2-2, 18 sv) across to Darwin, along with cash, in return for 2 prospects.

7 Jan: Darwin were making all the trade news early in January, this time sending 36 y/o OF Jayden Pye (.271/.374/.468, 12HR) and cash to Adelaide. Darwin got 34 y/o 3B Nigel Pinney (.278/.350/.400, 4HR) and a minor leaguer.

8 Jan: Kununurra and Whangarei were dealing again. 36 y/o Martin Valentin (.290/.375/.473, 9HR) was on a plane to NZ, while 29 y/o 2B/SS Bert Blenkhorn (.230/.340/.322, 6HR) and cash were headed over to the Pioneers.

17 Jan: The Roos and Blue Sox got in on the trading action, Newcastle sending 31 y/o LF Marshall Tipping (.234/.322/.387, 6HR), in the midst of his worst season in the bigs, along with a 22 y/o they’d signed in December after nobody drafted him, to Sydney in exchange for 25 y/o SP Carlos Garcia (7-6, 3.86 ERA, 4.37 FIP, 1.29 WHIP), who’d made waves last season after Sydney signed him to a 5-year deal from the BL.

21 Jan: Sydney announced 26 y/o SP Raymond Eykelbosch (10-8, 3.78 ERA, 3.78 FIP, 1.27 WHIP) had agreed to a 4-year extension. Eykelbosch would have around 4 years of service time by the end of this season.

28 Jan: Hobart were pushing hard for a wildcard slot, and felt they needed better starting pitching to get there. And they felt Metros’ 30 y/o SP Carlo Lane (6-10, 5.33 ERA, 5.60 FIP, 1.50 WHIP) was the man to give them what they needed. To get him, they sent 28 y/o 6-hit hero Adrian Stuart (.330/.380/.458, 4HR) across to the Metros, who were said to be ‘very happy’ with the deal.

Month Awards



Rookie of the Month: 25 y/o Canberra catcher Elijah Lutz played 24 games in January, hitting .255/.316/.510, 26-102, with 21 runs, 5 doubles, 7HR, 21RBI, and 10 walks.

Hurler of the Month: 24 y/o Cowboys pitcher Rhett Meehan. After starting 5 times in the month and winning 5 times, the Cowboys relegated him to the bullpen, which he appeared out of on the 30th, throwing a scoreless 9th to record a save. His ERA for the month was 1.53, his FIP 4.05, and his WHIP 0.91. He threw 35.1 innings, striking out 15. He threw a sinker, a splitter, a standard curve, and a knuckle curve.

Slugger of the Month: It was a month for the young guns, Christchurch’s 26 y/o Marshall Hooks swiping SotM. He was .346/.382/.701 for the month, 37-107, with 20 runs scored, 9 doubles, 1 triple, and 9HR hit, 29 runners driven in, and 3 walks drawn. He was also hit by 4 pitches and successfully stole 1 base on 3 attempts. Hooks led the league in XBH (66), and total bases (259).

Media Watch

Quentin Welch: Perth were competitive this season, which meant more media attention, which also meant pitching convert Quentin Welch found himself back in the spotlight. Last season Welch hit .308/.396/.504, 157-510, with 29 doubles, 1 triple, 23HR and 90RBI. So far this season he was going at .307/.384/.509, 120-391, with 17 doubles, 4 triples, 18HR, and 73RBI, and currently hitting cleanup. He apparently still “kept his arm in” as a pitcher, ready to be called up if injuries decimated the Heat staff, but was reportedly “very happy he’d made the switch.” The only previous successful convert - to have played regularly at major-league level as both a pitcher and hitter - was Russell Puckeridge, who slugged 166HR over a 7-year major-league career as a hitter. However, it looked as if Welch was a better all-round hitter, no doubt helped by the fact he’d switched roles early on in his career. With an OPS+ last season of 138, and so far this season of 134, as well as being contracted until 2060, it looked like Welch was going to be the anchor of Perth’s lineup for some time to come.

Last Year’s Top Players Watch

2056’s Top Rookies

2056 Rookie of the Year, Tim Broomhall: Only starting against RHP, Broomhall was having a decent campaign, even if his power numbers were down a bit so far this year. .285/.346/.462, 98-344, 46 runs, 14 doubles, 1 triple, 15HR, 50RBI, 32BB, 1SB, 379PA.

Guillermo Julio: Maturing into an excellent all-round player. .305/.355/.415, 136-446, 52 runs, 24 doubles, 8 triples, 3HR, 46RBI, 33BB, 48SB, 489PA, +9.6 ZR at CF. Led the league in stolen bases and triples.

Matthew Utting: In the running for a Slugger of the Year crown. .321/.403/.568, 135-421, 83 runs, 32 doubles, 24HR, 88RBI, 58BB, 489PA. He continued to lead the league in WAR, with 6.7.

2056’s Top Pitchers

2056 Hurler of the Year, Paul Colenutt: Awful. Demoted to #4 starter and pitching like minor-league filler. 5-9 from 23 starts, 7.16 ERA, 5.16 FIP, 1.78 WHIP, 82 K from 125.2 IP. ERA+ of 64.

Marty Okolita: Didn’t record any 10+ K games in January, but still led the pack in strikeouts even if he did have a poor month. 7-9 from 22 starts, 3.71 ERA, 3.53 FIP, 1.22 WHIP, 160 K from 138.1 IP.

Nathan Beckett: Injured for at least another 3-4 weeks. 4-6 from 13 starts, 5.53 ERA, 4.57 FIP, 1.47 WHIP, 72 K from 70.0 IP.

2056’s Top Hitters

2056 Slugger of the Year, Jorge Diaz: Still gutted about his trade from Kununurra, but hitting a lot better in Canberra - perhaps with a point to prove. .326/.384/.551, 146-448, 66 runs, 26 doubles, 25HR, 94RBI, 42BB, 502PA.

Ismael Aguirre: Whether it was age, the pressure of getting to 3000-600, playing in a new club and in a pitcher-friendly home park, or perhaps a combination of all the above, Aguirre was having his worst season since he’d been in a Central Coast Thunder uniform. That a .296/.362/.497 stat-line could be called bad was really just a testimony to the greatness of the man. 137-463, 77 runs, 19 doubles, 1 triple, 24HR, 69RBI, 48BB, 1SB, 520PA. If he kept up at this rate he would drive in less than 100 runners for the first time since his debut season, would hit less than 35HR and miss 200 hits for the first time since his injury-interrupted 2052 season. Aguirre finished January with 589 career jacks, meaning he needed only 11 more to reach the magic 600.

Gary Young: Trudging along in a poor team. .289/.356/.540, 113-391, 54 runs, 24 doubles, 1 triple, 24HR, 63RBI, 29BB, 4SB, 433PA.

Other Notes

Coastal Division: Darwin (14-14) held steady, increasing their lead over Perth (13-15) to 4 games, while Cairns (15-13) continued a slow but steady climb, finishing the month 1 game closer than they had been at the end of December.

East-West Division: Central Coast (18-10) pulled away from Newcastle (13-15), finished the month 5 games in front.

NZ Division: Christchurch (17-11) were humming along, Aguirre’s form dip not an issue at all. In fact, Hooks, who typically hit behind Aguirre in the lineup said having the superstar on the team made hitting “so much nicer.” He said, “Whether we’re hitting in front of him or behind him we get so many more good looks now, because of that fear he inspires in pitchers.” Skipper Lou Blenkhorn said, “He’s made us a dominant hitting unit. And the confidence he inspires in the young guys around him is just phenomenal.” Wellington (15-13) improved their record to 2 games above .500, and were firmly in the wildcard hunt.

Southern Division: Melbourne (14-14) were only par in January, but their division lead extended to 6 games thanks to Hobart (11-17) falling off the pace and into 3rd place. Sydney (17-11), meanwhile, came roaring back into it, overtaking the Prospects and fighting for a wildcard.

Wildcard: Perth had a 2-game advantage in 1 slot, while Newcastle and Sydney were tied up in the other, with Cairns, Hobart and Wellington 1 game back.

#

Beau Snell (.371/.427/.482, 7HR) dipped a bit in January, but still held onto the BA and hits (179) lead going into Killer February. He’d also scored the most runs of anybody, with 86 so far. However, Sean Carr (.366/.416/.550, 19HR) was hot on his heels in the BA race. Carr also led the league in wOBA (.418).

Fei-hsien Chang (.297/.372/.607, 29HR) still led the league in SLG, OPS, and ISO (.310).

Sneddon (.303/.468/.454, 9HR) hadn’t hit a homer for 2 months now, but continued to have the best OBP in the league. He’d crashed through the 100-walk mark (114 so far, 30 ahead of anybody else), and with 84 runs scored was a certainty bar injuries for the runs-walk double-double.

John Foreman (.276/.329/.534, 35HR) had the HR lead by 1 over Justin Auger (.265/.375/.549, 34HR).

Austin Ya (10-9, 2.76 ERA, 3.38 FIP, 1.09 WHIP) now held the ERA lead, and was giving teammate Okolita a run for his money in the strikeout stakes, having fanned 152 hitters so far this season.

Clint Aitcheson (16-5, 2.83 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 0.99 WHIP) was tied for the league lead in wins and held the outright lead in the WHIP, K/BB (5.04) and IP (184.1) categories.

Lance Ralston (9-7, 2.99 ERA, 2.72 FIP, 1.28 WHIP) was best among qualified pitchers in FIP, HR/9 (0.24), and WAR (5.2).

Aaron Fingleson recorded 8 successful saves in January, giving him 32 for the year, 3 clear of next-best, Cairns’ closer Sterling Boston, who had also recorded 9 losses for the season, his ERA over 6.00.

Isaac Russell (16-2, 2.85 ERA, 3.57 FIP, 1.20 WHIP) had a run of 19 undefeated starts come to an end on the 26th. This run was good enough for a tie of 5th-best all-time. 20 was 2nd-best, while the all-time greatest undefeated run was Cain Blenkhorn’s 39 starts between 2044 and 2045.

Standings, Feb 1

[Izz]

2057/2058 Season - February

Notable Performances

2 Feb: Jay Cummins wrote himself into a piece of baseball history, recording his 2nd shutout of the season, and the 11th of his career in leading Wellington to a 5-0 victory over Whangarei. Cummins allowed just 1 hit (in the 5th) and 3 walks, while striking out 7. He was now tied with Keiran Tennant for the most career shutouts. 35 y/o Cummins said after the game, “Yeah, I’m feeling my age, and the ball’s not duking about as it used to, but I still feel if I pitch smart and pick my spots I’m pretty hard to get away.”

3 Feb: 23 y/o Sam Woodger found himself in the deep end, called into the rotation of a floundering Canberra. In his first start, on the 18th of January, he walked 8, but this didn’t appear to be a one-off case of nerves, rather, a problem with control. Today he walked 10 batters (as well as giving up 6 hits), the first pitcher to walk 10 or more since 2048. Still, Canberra somehow got the win, out-punching Newcastle 10-6.

4 Feb: Patrick Maggs battered opposition pitching around to the tune of .407/.500/.778 over the last week, hitting 3HR along the way, to be awarded PotW.

7 Feb: Marty Palmer conceded 7 hits but walked none and, more importantly, didn’t allow a single run to shut out Melbourne. His Blue Sox eased to a 7-0 win, Palmer striking out 3 in the victory.

11 Feb: Auckland catcher Yen-nien Liu won PotW, hitting .500/.556/.917, with 2 doubles, 1 triple, and 2HR among his 12 hits.

11 Feb: Damon Liao boosted his hit streak to 20 games with a 7th-inning double in Central Coast’s 3-0 victory over Cairns. He would go hitless the following night.

13 Feb: Marcos Gallo was toiling away in Darwin’s rotation, the drop in his velocity over the last 18 months very noticeable. He’d gone from throwing his fastball in the mid-150s to struggling to get it to touch 143 km/h, but was still getting enough movement on his pitches to make it hard to get him away. Today he used all his wiles to restrict Adelaide to 4 hits and 1 walk, while accruing 5 strikeouts. Darwin cruised to a 5-0 victory, Gallo getting through the game on 99 pitches.

13 Feb: Last month Marcos Lopez slugged his 300th HR. This month he recorded his 2000th career hit, doubling in the 4th inning of a 5-4 loss to Hobart. The career .319 hitter was on track for 200 hits and 40HR this season. He’d last hit 40 or more HR in 2052 (the only time he’d done so), and reached 200 hits last in 2054.

14 Feb: Byron Moore allowed 4 hits, struck out 6, and kept Auckland to 0 to help Wellington get one over their local derby rivals to the tune of 6-0. This was Moore’s 2nd shutout of the season.

16 Feb: John Foreman became the first hitter to 40HR this season, cracking a solo shot in Central Coast’s 5-3 loss to Melbourne.

16 Feb: It had been a while between drinks, but Okolita showed some of his best form in striking out 13 Crocs hitters in 7.1IP. In a game that came down to the wire, Whangarei edged their rivals 5-4. Okolita’s haul took him to 190 strikeouts for the season.

17 Feb: Awful Adelaide lost their 10th straight, surrendering 8-1 to Canberra.

18 Feb: Hobart’s Rick Roughley snared PotW. He took opposition pitching apart in the last week, hitting .469/.485/.969, his 15-32 including 4 doubles and 4HR.

19 Feb: Beau Snell crashed through the 200-hit barrier, his 3-5 in Melbourne’s 6-3 win over the Sluggers taking him to 202 hits for the season, 20 more than next closest Sean Carr.

21 Feb: 35 y/o Arnold Dethridge recorded his first major-league shutout, spooking the Metros with a 4-hit, 6-strikeout performance. Hobart finished with a comfortable 6-0 win.

21 Feb: Mitch Sutherland had been up and down between Canberra’s rotation and bullpen, appearing in 28 games but having only started 12 before today. He made this one count though, going the distance with a 4-hit, 2-walk, 4-strikeout effort. Canberra made the most of his pitching, beating up on Darwin 8-0.

21 Feb: Okolita picked up the loss as Whangarei slumped to a 9-0 defeat to Melbourne. He allowed 9 runs in 7.0 innings off the back of 14 hits and 2 walks. In amongst the offal, though, he struck out 11 hitters, putting him on 201 punch outs for the year. Afterwards he was at a loss to explain his performance, saying, “I felt good, you know. That 7th kinda did me in, the Grand Slam a shot to the heart, but I didn’t feel like I was throwing bad. Had the wind behind me and everything.” The loss was Okolita’s 12th of the season.

23 Feb: The off day did Adelaide’s flagging players a world of good, helping them regroup and defeat Hobart 6-2, ending their losing streak at 14 games.

25 Feb: Yin-ti Zhuo only played 4 games last week, but his stat-line of .600/.700/1.133 was deemed good enough for PotW. His 9 hits included 2 doubles and 2HR.

26 Feb: Alan Sneddon was roaring along, on track to break his own season walks record. Today, though, he celebrated another achievement, 2000 hits. Darwin sank to their 7th straight loss, going down 10-9 to Brisbane, but there were still plenty of cheers from the fans when Sneddon doubled in the 3rd to bring up the mark.

26 Feb: Aguirre crashed his way closer to 600HRs, going deep twice in Christchurch’s 11-6 defeat of Auckland. His 1st jack, a 2-run blast in the 1st, gave him 595 career HRs. His 2nd, a solo effort in the 6th, moved him to 596. Just 4 to go!

28 Feb: Christos Hutchinson, the career leader in triples with 126, became the 15th player to 2500 hits, doing so with a single in the top of the 1st of an eventual 8-0 slaughtering of the Sluggers.

28 Feb: Clint Aitcheson didn’t have a great outing, going 5.1 innings and scattering 8 hits and 2 walks for 5 runs, but his offense went gangbusters, piling 13 runs on Brisbane to give Aitcheson the W. It was his 20th win of the season, the first time he’d reached that mark.

Notable Injuries

2 Feb: The Sluggers, 5 games back in the wildcard, would be without Japanese speedster Yoshihito Morimoto (.331/.356/.399, 0HR, 34SB) for the next 3 weeks while he recuperated a strained back.

7 Feb: Christchurch would be without dependable CF Kelvin Pickhills (.284/.330/.447, 11HR, +9.7ZR) for the rest of the season after he was diagnosed with a broken elbow.

8 Feb: Manuel Salinas was almost finished a lengthy AAA rehab assignment after being out since ST with a torn back muscle. Yesterday, though, he twisted awkwardly sliding into base and had to be helped from the field. Today the diagnosis was in: a hip strain. At least 3 more weeks on the DL for him!

13 Feb: Newcastle would miss the services of Guillermo Julio (.305/.353/.416, 3HR) for up to a month after he strained his hamstring. Julio’s 51 stolen bases was a league-leader.

14 Feb: Hobart’s move to strengthen their pitching, acquiring Carlo Lane from Auckland, came crashing down in injury-induced flames. Lane had been good so far for the Prospects, his record from 3 starts 1-1, with a 3.52 ERA, 4.31 FIP, and 1.04 WHIP. Sadly, his 3rd start, on the 10th, came to an abrupt halt after 1 inning. Today he learned that he had a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. Best estimates at recovery time? 13-14 months. 30 y/o Lane would be a free agent at season’s end, but would he still hold any value when he finally came back, likely in the 2059 season?

19 Feb: Peter Moy (.286/.327/.435, 12HR) might not make it back for Whangarei this season. He had a strained abdominal muscle.

20 Feb: Brisbane’s Craig Fisher (9-9, 5.22 ERA, 4.15 FIP, 1.46 WHIP) also faced a lengthy period out of the game, his torn rotator cuff set to keep him sidelined for at least a year.

25 Feb: One of Kununurra’s trade acquisitions, Gareth Kellett (.270/.338/.345, 4HR) was gone for the rest of the season with a broken kneecap.

25 Feb: Marshall Hooks (.276/.326/.570, 38HR) took a pitch to the foot, resulting in a fracture. He was hoping to be back in time for the playoffs, “perhaps a bit sooner if I can do this rehab right.”

28 Feb: Gary Young (.295/.365/.564, 32HR) had a wretched injury record. He’d already had 2 minor trips to the DL this season, and was now set for another, his jaw fractured by a brushback pitch. He wouldn’t be back this season.

Notable Trades/Signings

24 Feb: Christchurch moved to buy out the rest of 26 y/o Marshall Hooks’ (.275/.324/.567, 37HR) arbitration years plus at least the first year of his free agency with a 4-year contract extension. Hooks, 2nd-equal in the HR standings, and having recorded the most extra-base hits (73) of any player was “over the moon,” adding, “It’s great to know the club values me.”

Month Awards



Rookie of the Month: Elijah Lutz won RotM for the 2nd month running. In February he hit .366/.388/.559, 34-93, with 15 runs, 6 doubles, 4HR, 14RBI, and 4BB.

Hurler of the Month: Byron Moore had an excellent month, going 4-0 from 5 starts, with a 1.30 ERA, 2.96 FIP, and 0.89 WHIP. He fanned 28 in 41.2 IP, allowing only 6 ER.

Slugger of the Month: Ismael Aguirre wasn’t quite over the hill yet. His .373/.427/.664 stat-line was deemed good enough for SotM, the 11th time he’d been awarded that honour. His 41-110 included 11 doubles, around half of which probably would’ve been HR at any park other than Cowboys Ballpark, and 7HR. He scored 25 runs and drove in 28 runners, while getting walked 11 times. For the season he was back on track to get 200 hits and only needed 3 more RBI to reach 100 for the 14th consecutive campaign. While his 31HR for the year saw him 10 back in that race, his strong month had moved him into 7th on the WAR leaderboard, his season mark now 5.7.

Other Notes

Coastal Division: Darwin (13-13) and Perth (13-13) stayed 4 games apart, while Cairns (12-14) dropped a game back to an even .500.

East-West Division: Central Coast (16-10) added 2 games to their division lead, Newcastle (14-12) doing their best to stay in the hunt.

NZ Division: Christchurch (15-13) had their first sputtery month of the season, enabling Wellington (17-9), thanks to a late month rush, to cut their deficit to 14 games.

Southern Division: Melbourne (14-12) and Sydney (14-12) kept pace with each other, the Aces’ division lead still 6 games. Hobart (12-14) were 9 games back, playing .500 ball.

Wildcard: Wellington had a 2-game advantage, while the second slot was all tied up between Newcastle, Perth, and Sydney. Cairns and Hobart were 5 games back, hoping to pounce if the other teams faltered.

#

John Foreman (.281/.335/.525, 41HR) maintained his grip on the HR lead, now 2 clear of Justin Auger (.267/.381/.538, 39HR). Auger had 107 RBI, 105 runs, and 100 walks, giving him a triple-double with a month to spare.

Sean Carr (.369/.420/.551, 23HR) moved into the BA lead. He also had the league’s best wOBA (.421) and WAR (8.3), though he, club and fans would be sweating over a possible injury sustained in the last game of the month.

Beau Snell (.366/.423/.473, 8HR) might’ve lost the BA lead, but he still had the most hits of any batter, with 214. No-one else had yet reached 200 hits.

Fei-hsien Chang (.302/.379/.597, 33HR) still had the league’s best SLG, OPS, and ISO (.294).

Alan Sneddon (.305/.475/.444, 10HR) was 20 points ahead in the OBP standings, and had 40 more walks than anybody else, with 148. He led the league in runs scored too, his 110 five more than next best Auger.

Jorge Diaz (.326/.386/.570, 33HR) had jumped into the RBI lead. He’d also rounded more bases than any other hitter, with 311 so far.

Canberra’s Jay Saunderson (.305/.365/.493, 19HR) had hit 42 doubles, to head that board, while the Crocs’ Dylan Glynn (.307/.354/.447, 8HR) topped all comers in triples, with 11.

Clint Aitcheson (20-6, 3.07 ERA, 3.73 FIP, 1.02 WHIP) not only led the league in wins, but also in WHIP, K/BB (4.78), and IP (229.0). He’d thrown 21.2 innings more than any other pitcher.

Isaac Russell (18-4, 2.91 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 1.17 WHIP) had the best ERA of any pitcher and was a good chance to reach 20 wins.

Lance Ralston (10-10, 3.42 ERA, 2.90 FIP, 1.32 WHIP) continued to lead the league in FIP, HR/9 (0.32), and WAR (5.7).

Okolita (9-12, 4.04 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.23 WHIP) was the only pitcher past 200 strikeouts so far, with 208, and had a K/9 of 10.36, making him the only qualified pitcher to be striking out more than 1 batter an inning.

Perth rookie Jose Ramirez (10-10, 3.93 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 1.24 WHIP) led the league in H/9 (7.40), and OAVG (.220).

Fingleson’s 37 saves kept him in front on the saves board.

Standings, Mar 1

[Izz]

2057/2058 Season - March

Notable Performances

1 Mar: Fernando Contreras used an extra-innings game against Darwin to hit for the cycle, a reverse natural cycle, even. He homered in the 1st, tripled in the 3rd, doubled in the 5th, got out a couple times before singling in the 12th. Wellington won the game 5-4.

1 Mar: Ismael Aguirre’s 2-run HR were the only scores Christchurch could muster in a 3-2 loss to Adelaide. It was Aguirre’s 32nd homer of the season, and the 597th of his career.

2 Mar: He was almost there! Not only did Aguirre hit his 598th HR, it was also a Grand Slam, part of a 7-run 2nd that took the game away from Adelaide before it had begun. It was his 2nd slammer of the season and the 14th of his career.

3 Mar: Central Coast defeated Darwin 8-5, Justin Auger hitting his 40th HR of the year in the process.

3 Mar: Aguirre’s solo shot in the 1st was the first scoring act of a game Christchurch went on to narrowly win 5-4 over Canberra. 599, and a 3-game HR streak to boot! The next morning Aguirre was awarded PotW, having hit .536/.606/1.179, with 5HR, in the last 7 days.

4 Mar: Clint Aitcheson notched up win 21 for the season, throwing 8 innings of excellent shutout ball in a 1-0 victory over Darwin. He allowed 4 hits and walked 1, while striking out 7.

5 Mar: Boom, boom! With his 6th-inning solo shot, Aguirre joined the 600 club. He’d cracked one deep to right in the first and stood and watched for a moment, thinking it might be the one. It wasn’t, dropping behind the retreating RF for a double. In the 3rd he lofted one deep to left, but only as far as the leftfielder’s glove. But he didn’t miss out his next at-bat, in the 6th, the ball flying 444 feet over left and into the upper tier. He singled in the 8th to celebrate, Christchurch eventually beating Canberra 4-1.

Was it bittersweet getting 600 against his old club? Aguirre shrugged, “I guess. I’ve played a few places though, haven’t I, so odds were it’d come against one of them.” Did it feel any different to his 599 other home runs? “No, not really. I knew it was gone as soon as I hit it, but most of the time you know. I certainly wasn’t out of my body observing from above or anything like that.” Will you watch this one over and over? “I’m not a guy to sit and watch myself play, unless it’s for technical reasons. I wouldn’t mind buying the ball back off the fan who caught it, though. It’d look all right in a frame.” Are you sure you won’t watch it, at least one more time? A smile. “Yeah, you’re right, I probably will. By myself and maybe with my wife and son, too.”

6 Mar: Beau Snell wanted that batting crown. He didn’t do his chances any harm today, going 5-6 in Melbourne’s 6-4 extra-innings win over Auckland.

6 Mar: Isaac Russell brought up win number 20 in one of the best ways possible: via shutout. He allowed just 3 hits, walked none, and struck out 4 to see Newcastle defeat Sydney 3-0.

8 Mar: Christchurch became the first official team in the 2057 playoffs, securing their spot and the division pennant with a 6-1 defeat of Wellington.

9 Mar: Richard Moore reached 40HR for the year with a solo effort in Brisbane’s 21-12 demolition of Newcastle. A total of 9 homers were hit in the game.

9 Mar: In an 11-1 walloping of Whangarei, John Foreman cracked his 45th roundtripper of the season.

10 Mar: Clint Aitcheson turned in another strong showing, this time against Whangarei, throwing 8.0 innings for 3 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts and 1 earned run. Central Coast won 3-1 and Aitcheson had his 22nd win of the season. This was good enough for a tie of 3rd-best all-time, but if Aitcheson kept up his winning ways he could find himself a lone ranger in 2nd spot.

11 Mar: Fei-hsien Chang cracked his way to PotW with a .520/.536/.880 stat-line over the last 7 days.

12 Mar: Beau Snell went 4-4 as Melbourne destroyed Canberra 14-2. He now had 237 hits for the season, putting him 2nd-best all time. He needed 7 more hits to break Bailey Pugsley’s 2041 season mark of 243.

12 Mar: Central Coast secured the East-West Division with a 2-0 win over Newcastle, who at 75-76 were 4 games back in the wildcard.

13 Mar: Arnold Dethridge was in a rich vein of form. Having recorded his 1st ever major-league shutout on the 21st of February, he now went and threw another one. This time he allowed 5 hits, again walked none (he’d walked 1 hitter in his last 5 starts), and struck out 2 more than last shutout, 8. Hobart beat Christchurch 5-0.

14 Mar: Okolita led the way from the mound as Whangarei unleashed on Darwin, romping to a 13-2 victory. He was out there for every out except the last, striking out 13 in the process. He now had 231 Ks for the year, still 7 strikeouts outside the season top 10.

14 Mar: Aguirre was coming good at the pointy end of the season, his 2-4 in Christchurch’s narrow 3-2 win over Hobart including his 601st career HR, and also his 200th hit for the season, meaning he’d reached that mark for the 5th season running. He was only the 2nd player to 200 so far this season.

14 Mar: Clint Aitcheson turned around on 4 days rest to throw 7.2 no-run innings against Newcastle, Central Coast winning 3-0. He gave up just 3 hits while striking out 9. It was his 23rd win of the season. He was only the 3rd player to win that many or more games in a season, behind the redoubtable Hayden Foreman (26 wins in 2023), and the slick Randy Coulton (23 win in 2033).

15 Mar: The Thunder went down 9-8 to Newcastle in 10 innings. John Foreman’s 2-run HR tied things up in the 9th but wasn’t quite enough to win it for his team. It was HR #46 for the year.

15 Mar: In that same game, a Mildren made headlines. Newcastle’s 28 y/o catcher Paddy Mildren (no relation to Alastair) was 5-5, driving in 3.

15 Mar: Melbourne might’ve been playing Canberra in Canberra, but the hometown fans gave Beau Snell plenty of applause after his 2nd inning single. It was his 2nd hit of the game, and his 243rd for the year, tying Pugsley’s record. He got no more hits on the night, Canberra winning 8-4.

17 Mar: Snell went hitless yesterday, but cracked his 39th double of the year in the 3rd inning of Melbourne’s 15-11 hit-fest win over Wellington. Hit number 244, meaning he had the season hits record all to himself!

17 Mar: A walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th saw Darwin seal a 6-5 win over Christchurch and keep them just in front of a fast-finishing Perth in the Coastal Division race. A bright spot for Christchurch, though: Marshall Hooks slugged HR #40 for the year in the 1st.

18 Mar: Melbourne’s Will Glasson hit .577/.625/.769 over the last week to win PotW. Amazingly, the 1B didn’t go deep once in his 15 hits, but did hit 5 doubles.

18 Mar: Christchurch got pumped 18-5 by Darwin, but it was still a memorable night for Aguirre. His first hit of the game, an rbi-double in the 3rd, pulled him equal on the career hits board with Brock Wakely, who had 3079 career hits. In the 5th Aguirre led off with a solo HR over left, thus putting him alone at 3rd all-time on the hits list. The HR also put him alone 3rd all-time on the HR board, overtaking Snijders who’d finished his AUNZBL career with 601 dingers.

19 Mar: Christchurch turned it around today, squeaking out a 2-1 win over Darwin to give them their 100th W for the season.

20 Mar: Heading into the final series of the season, both the Coastal and Southern Divisions were yet to be wrapped up. Darwin and Melbourne held 2-game leads respectively, with Perth and Sydney on their tails. Sydney had a 3-game advantage in the top wildcard slot, while Perth and Wellington were locked up in the 2nd.

Darwin’s series was against Newcastle, who at .500 were 4 games back in the wildcard and effectively out of the action unless something miraculous/disastrous happened.

The biggest series was Perth versus Wellington, the winner of which would likely wrap up a wildcard. If the series was split, a 1-game playoff between the 2 teams for postseason rights was the most probable outcome.

Melbourne played Hobart, who were also at .500, so 4 games behind in the wildcard. Sydney were up against Canberra, and would fancy their chances of overtaking Melbourne in the final few steps of the regular season.

21 Mar: Hobart handed Melbourne their 3rd loss on the trot, the 1 run they scored in the 5th enough to buy victory. The bright spot for Melbourne was once again Beau Snell, who recorded 3 of Melbourne’s 6 hits. His 2nd hit, a single in the 5th, took him to 250 for the season, making him the first ever player to reach that mark.

21 Mar: Sadly, Sydney couldn’t make the most of Melbourne’s loss, falling 2-1 to Canberra, who only went ahead in the 7th thanks to a Tommy Hillson solo HR.

21 Mar: Wellington and Perth went hammer and tongs, though it was mostly Wellington until Perth piled on a 6-run 9th. Even so, the Fury were comfortable 15-9 winner to take a 1-game advantage in the 2nd wildcard slot.

21 Mar: Darwin and Newcastle were tied at 2 after 9 innings, but then the Diggers broke through into softer ground, scoring 5 in the 10th to see the final score an uneven 7-2. 1 more win would net them the Coastal Division for the 7th year running.

21 Mar: Central Coast got up 7-2 over Auckland. Included in their runs was John Foreman’s 47th HR of the year and Justin Auger’s 45th. Both were solo affairs.

21 Mar: In a game where every inning saw at least 1 run, and was only decided in the bottom of the 9th, Brisbane beat Adelaide 8-7. Richard Moore had a great game, going 3-3, with 2 walks. 2 of his 3 hits were of the HR variety, taking him to 45 jacks for the season.

22 Mar: Melbourne fought their way to a 5-3 victory over Hobart, while Sydney conceded 3 in the bottom of the 9th to lose 9-6 to Canberra, thus meaning the Aces, hitting .298 for the season, were division winners 2 years in a row.

22 Mar: Rookie of the Year candidate Elijah Lutz went 5-5 in Canberra’s win over Sydney. His hits included a walk-off 3-run HR, as well as a solo HR in the 6th, and doubles in the 2nd and 4th. All up the 5’10” catcher scored 4 runs and drove in 4 runners.

22 Mar: Snell was 2-4 in Melbourne’s victory, boosting his season BA to .3799. The current season record was still held by Stewart Warwick, who hit .3796 in 2022. Could Snell hold on and claim another record as his own? When asked if he might sit out the last 2 games to ensure his name would feature at number 1, the 2B looked shocked. “Of course not. That’d be like kissing your sister and then telling everybody you’d snogged a supermodel.” A reporter fired back, “What if your sister was a supermodel?” To which Snell looked even more disgusted, saying, “Get some help mate.” Warwick had 612 plate appearances in 2022, while Snell had already recorded 736 this season, so an argument could be made that sitting out the last couple of games wasn’t really like kissing your sister at all.

22 Mar: Wellington and Perth were all locked up again in the wildcard, Perth getting up 7-4.

22 Mar: And Darwin didn’t quite have their hands on the division trophy yet. Newcastle held them scoreless for the last 7 innings of their game to win 4-2.

22 Mar: The Thunder beat Auckland 6-1, Auger slugging his 46th HR of the year in the process. He’d gone deep in 4 of his last 5 games.

22 Mar: Adelaide gave Brisbane a 15-3 belting. Richard Moore was one of the few bright spots for the home team, hitting his 46th HR of the year.

23 Mar: Newcastle kept Perth in with a shot at the Coastal Division by virtue of a bottom of the 9th 5-4 win over Darwin. Isaac Russell went the whole game for the Roos, picking up his 21st win of the season.

23 Mar: Perth did their part, too, overcoming Wellington 5-3, snatching the lead with a 3-run HR in the top of the 9th. This moved them 1 game clear in the wildcard.

23 Mar: Sydney tied up the top wildcard slot with a 3-1 win over Canberra. This would be their 1st postseason appearance since 2050.

23 Mar: Beau Snell’s BA dropped to .3791 after a 1-4 performance in Melbourne’s 2-0 win over Hobart.

23 Mar: Auger clobbered 2HR in Central Coast’s 10-8 win over Auckland, including the winner, a 2-run walk-off shot in the bottom of the 13th. His efforts saw him leapfrog Foreman to the top of the HR tree, with 48.

24 Mar: Darwin lost again, their bullpen unable to handle Newcastle, who came from behind to win 6-4. However, Wellington scrapped their way to a 7-3 win over Perth, meaning Darwin won the division, and the Heat and Fury were headed to a 1-game playoff to see which of them would get some playoff action this season.

24 Mar: Central Coast scored 5 across the 7th and 8th to hand Auckland an 8-7 defeat. Auger was responsible for 2 of those runs thanks to his 7th-inning HR. He finished the season with 49HR. Sadly, Clint Aitcheson didn’t make it to 24 wins, getting beat up in his 5.1 innings.

24 Mar: Snell went 2-5 in Melbourne’s 10-6 loss to Hobart, but needed a 3rd hit or one less PA. He finished the season with a .3793 BA, .003 points behind Warwick. He had to settle for 3rd on the all-time season BA list, as Manuel Salinas had a .3794 campaign in 2048.

25 Mar: There were plenty of sweaty palms on both sides of this encounter, for sure. Perth, led by a troop of exciting youngsters, hadn’t tasted the postseason since 2048 and had never been regulars in that arena. However, the only rested starter they had was 22 y/o rookie Alan Gallard, who’d spent most of the season in the bullpen and had been uninspiring in his last start, a 7-1 loss to Canberra on the 19th of March. In their favour, though, was that they had the game at home, both teams having made the long trek from Wellington as soon as yesterday’s game concluded.

Wellington, on the other hand, could send out their #1 guy, Clint Kline, who hadn’t had an outstanding season, but was a pitcher who looked so good on the mound one commentator described him as “smoother than a vanilla ice-cream cone.” Wellington had missed the postseason in 2056 after 4 straight appearances, and were eager to get back their again.

Perth went ahead in the bottom of the first, but a sloppy fielding display saw Wellington go ahead in the 5th. They recovered well, though, fighting their way back ahead in the 7th. With the score 3-2 in the top of the 9th, Heat closer Rex Herbert gave up a leadoff single, before recovering to strike out the next 2 and induce a regulation fly for the final out. Perth were off to the postseason, while Wellington would retreat to lick their wounds and plan revenge next season.

Notable Injuries

2 Mar: A blow for Christchurch. Sean Carr (.369/.420/.551, 23HR) was done for the regular season. He had plantar fasciitis. He himself wasn’t ruling out a playoff return, though team medical staff deemed that “highly unlikely.” Carr led the league in WAR, with 8.1, and wOBA, with .421, as well as being on top of the BA boards.

4 Mar: Another injury for Christchurch. Regular catcher Yin-ti Zhuo (.285/.455/.459, 12HR), the lineup’s “link man” according to Sean Carr, would likely miss the rest of the regular season with a strained ribcage muscle.

7 Mar: A training accident would sideline Perth’s Carlos Aguilar (.275/.337/.419, 8HR) for the rest of the season. According to his skipper, Aguilar was trying to outdo some teammates on the bench press and went a little bit heavy. “The shoulders quite inflamed,” Chapman said, “and the kid’s pretty cut up about what happened.” Perth were tied with Sydney and Wellington at the top of the wildcard.

7 Mar: Prospects’ SP Bradley Boston (15-9, 4.15 ERA, 4.97 FIP, 1.34 WHIP) was done for 2057 after sustaining a sore shoulder in his side’s 1-0 loss to Wellington yesterday.

11 Mar: Perth’s Willem Birss (9-9, 4.52 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 1.39 WHIP) had a partially torn UCL which would keep him out of action until sometime next season.

13 Mar: The Blue Sox, 2 games clear in the top wildcard slot, would have to do without Dean Brewster (.313/.405/.404, 4HR) for the rest of the season, regular and post, thanks to a torn meniscus in his knee.

19 Mar: On the 14th Alan Sneddon (.303/.469/.443, 11HR, 157BB) couldn’t quite drop his wrists in time on an inside pitch and left the game. Immediately fans and teammates began worrying about his health. Today the verdict was in: Sneddon would miss 2-3 weeks with a bruised bone in his wrist. Depending on if the Diggers made the postseason, and how they progressed, he might return to play some part in their fortunes. At the time of his injury Sneddon led the league in OBP, BB, and runs (119).

23 Mar: Sydney qualified for the postseason today, but would have to do without their closer Wes Blenkhorn (4-5, 33 sv) who left the game with a sore shoulder, medical staff saying it would keep him sidelined for the entire postseason.

Other Notes

24 Mar: It seemed like a pointless gesture, on the final morning of the regular season, but it still happened. Kununurra fired first-year skipper Paddy Ross, who’d led last year’s favourite team to a 75-86 record. While Ross admitted his debut season as a manager hadn’t been great, he said next season the fruits of his and general manager Ian Graham’s changes would be seen by all. Word around the Kununurra camp was that Graham, who had the less than enviable record of leading Wellington to 2 postseasons while playing less than .500 ball, might be heading out the door soon too.

#

Beau Snell (.379/.434/.492, 9HR) might’ve finished just short of the all-time best hitting season, but he finished well in front of the pack, both this season and all-time, in terms of hits. He reached base safely 256 times during the regular season.

Three other players made it to 200 hits. They were:

Ismael Aguirre (.315/.374/.536, 37HR, 209 hits)
Jorge Diaz (.328/.385/.571, 38HR, 206 hits, 146RBI)
Marcos Lopez (.317/.368/.543, 36HR, 204 hits)

Diaz also finished with the most RBI of any hitter.

Auger (.278/.392/.574, 49HR) came storming home to claim the HR crown. He also scored the most runs of any player, with 121. His 116 walks saw him finish 2nd in that category, and his 132RBI 4th. His WAR of 7.4 was 2nd to the injured Sean Carr (.369/.420/.551, 23HR), who said he was hoping the Division Finals took as long as possible to give him every chance of returning to the fray for Christchurch’s first foray into the postseason.

Apart from Auger, the following players reached 40HR:

John Foreman (.283/.337/.531, 47HR)
Richard Moore (.299/.370/.560, 46HR)
Marshall Hooks (.277/.327/.573, 41HR)

Moore also led the league in total bases, with 367.
Hooks had the best ISO (.296) of any qualified hitter.

Fei-hsien Chang (.316/.386/.604, 38HR) might not have reached 40HR, but headed the league in SLG, OPS, and XBH (83).

Only Auger and Alan Sneddon (.303/.469/.443, 11HR, 119 runs, 157BB) made the runs-walks double-double.

Guillermo Julio (.302/.351/.417, 3HR) and Stephane Lecomte (.262/.307/.322, 2HR) ended the season tied for the most stolen bases, with 59 each. Julio stole more bases than he struck out, only getting fanned 52 times in 610PA.

Clint Aitcheson (23-6, 2.94 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 0.98 WHIP) was everybody’s favourite for HotY, no matter what might happen in the postseason. As well as having the most wins, best ERA and best WHIP of all qualified pitchers, he also had the best K/BB (5.10), and BB/9 (1.35), and had thrown the most innings, his 266.0 the 2nd-highest season mark of any pitcher in AUNZBL history, 4 innings behind the 270.0 Tu-an Tseng threw in 2020. Aitcheson also broke the 200 K barrier, striking out 204 hitters, 3rd-most in the league.

The other players to get to 200 strikeouts were:

Marty Okolita (10-15, 4.46 ERA, 3.69 FIP, 1.27 WHIP, 237 strikeouts)
Greg Ahern (8-17, 5.43 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 1.47 WHIP, 206 strikeouts)
Austin Ya (11-14, 3.10 ERA, 3.85 FIP, 1.15 WHIP, 203 strikeouts)

Okolita’s 10.56 K/9 was by far the best in the league.

Lance Ralston (12-11, 3.73 ERA, 2.96 FIP, 1.37 WHIP) was the only qualified pitcher to have an FIP below 3.00, in a year when pitchers were beaten up like never before. He also allowed only 0.33 HR every 9 innings, and his 6.1 WAR was best in the league.

Fingleson was the only closer to notch up more than 40 saves, finishing up with 42.

Canberra closer Carlos Cassidy (3-2, 26 sv) had an unbeaten 33-save streak going at the conclusion of the season.

The top 3 teams in terms of HR were:

Perth (224)
Christchurch (218)
Central Coast (216)
Nobody else hit more than 200.

Only 2 teams stole more than 100 bases in 2057. They were:

Melbourne (146)
Cairns (140)

2 teams had an ERA of less than 4.00. They were, unsurprisingly, the 2 teams with the best regular season records:

Christchurch (3.76)
Central Coast (3.89)

Standings, EORS

[Izz]

2057 Division Finals

Game 1 - Perth Heat vs Melbourne Aces

In a real slugfest, Melbourne did most of their damage early, a lethargic Connor Chapman (2.2IP, 9H, 8R, 7ER, 0BB, 3K) serving up tater-balls until he was hoiked in the 3rd. However, Perth refused to lie down, fighting back to within 2 in the 5th. Still, the game was Melbourne’s to lose, and despite a few nerves in the 9th (an error followed by a hit batter) they got it done. Final score: 11-9 Aces. Li Loetzsch (4.1IP, 7H, 7ER, 0BB, 4K) didn’t have a happy night either, giving up 5HR. For Melbourne, Vern Bull, Danny Caporn, and Rowan Kimpton went long, while Calvin Hodnett, Ed Geoghegan, Steven Tipping and Quintin Welch did so for Peth, Welch twice. Beau Snell continued his hot form, going 4-4. He had a chance to make it a 5-hitter, but followed his skipper’s instructions and laid down a sac-bunt instead before getting replaced by a defensive specialist.

Game 1 - Darwin Diggers vs Sydney Blue Sox

Darwin opened the scoring in the top of the 2nd, but would’ve been disappointed to only notch 1 after loading the bases with 0 out. Arturo Medina extended the lead with a solo bomb in the 4th. Sydney got into the game in the bottom of the inning, and tied it up in the 5th thanks to an Isaac Whiskin HR. 2 errors in the 8th helped Darwin go back ahead by 2, but a 2-run Ryan Wie blast in the bottom of the inning tied it back up. The score was still tied at the end of 9. It didn’t remain tied for long though, Darwin hustling in a run in the 10th, before shakily closing it out in the bottom of the inning. Final score: 5-4 Diggers. Zachariah Pond (8.0IP, 7H, 4ER, 3BB, 3K) was probably left in an inning too long, while Ryan Douglass (7.2IP, 10H, 4R, 2ER, 2BB, 6K) threw a lot of pitches over the middle of the plate. Rhett Thurley got the win, throwing the 9th and 10th. Medina was 4-5.

Christos Hutchinson strained his back in the 4th diving into 2nd to complete a double. He wouldn’t be back this postseason. At that point he had Sydney’s only 2 hits of the game.

Game 2 - Perth Heat vs Melbourne Aces

In a cruel blow, 22 y/o Heat starter Barry Dean only recorded 1 out before hobbling from the field with a hamstring strain that would not only keep him out of the rest of the postseason, but would also wreak havoc on Perth's bullpen arms this game. Replacement Felipe Corona did an admirable job until the bottom of the 4th when Terence Guyatt jolted one down the RF line for a 2-run HR. Roy Haynes would crack another 2-run shot later in the inning (off another pitcher) to put Melbourne further in front. It was a lead they’d never relinquish, stamping their authority on the match with a 7-run 7th. Final score: 11-1 Melbourne to go within a game of the Preliminary Finals. Eddie Zglinicki (6.2IP, 4H, 1ER, 5BB, 9K) was either fanning or walking hitters, the only run he allowed a Geoghegan HR. The Heat bullpen struggled, as could be expected. Melbourne turned 3 double plays.

Game 2 - Darwin Diggers vs Sydney Blue Sox

Once again, Darwin loaded the bases with no outs in the 2nd, and once again could only muster 1 run. Sydney rallied 3 home in the bottom of the inning to take the lead. Darwin had a near-identical 3rd inning to their 2nd. The game stayed close until the end, neither team mustering a ton of offense, but Sydney never looking like losing. Final score: 4-2 Sydney to even the series. Raymond Eykelbosch (8.0IP, 3H, 2ER, 5BB, 3K) had a few control issues but no Diggers hitters made strong contact on him, while Bruno Budd (8.0IP, 7H, 4ER, 2BB, 2K) did what he did best: ate innings.

Game 3 - Perth Heat vs Melbourne Aces

Staring down the barrel at defeat, could the Heat rise at home and keep the series going at least 1 more game? Both teams exchanged blows across the early innings, the score 4-3 Perth after 4 (including Melbourne's Rowan Kimpton’s 463-foot monster jack to lead off the 3rd). Hodnett cracked a 452-foot homer in the 5th, and Mitch Donahue a similar-distance 2-run blast in the 7th. Melbourne couldn’t get anything more going, Jose Ramirez (7.0IP, 7H, 3ER, 2BB, 5K) doing a decent job in his maiden postseason start. Final score: 10-3 to continue the high-scoring nature of the series. Damian Flemming (4.0IP, 6H, 5ER, 3BB, 1K) got yanked after giving up a leadoff HR in the 5th.

Game 3 - Darwin Diggers vs Sydney Blue Sox

Both teams scrapped 3 runners across home plate during regulation innings, the Blue Sox looking the better offensively, but not able to capitalize. Rodney Donovan hit 2 batters in the 10th, extending the inning long enough for Isaac Whiskin to launch a 2-run HR into the leftfield stands. Darwin scrambled a run home in the bottom of the inning, and almost had another but instead Blue Sox 1B Joshua Angwin scooped a throw in the dirt to record the game-winning out. Final score: 5-4 Sydney. Marty Palmer (8.0IP, 4H, 3ER, 2BB, 2K) got a lot of weak contact, while Marcos Gallo (7.2IP, 8H, 3ER, 1BB, 1K) muddled his way through.

Game 4 - Perth Heat vs Melbourne Aces

Before festivities commenced, Melbourne announced that 27 y/o Lachlan Foley (.336/.373/.476, 11HR) had agreed to an arb buyout, signing a 3-year extension. He’d be with Melbourne at least 1 year into free agency if he saw out the entirety of his deal with the club.

The 2 battered starters from Game 1 would renew acquaintances. Loetzsch continued to serve up HRs, surrendering a 3-run bomb to the hot Welch in the bottom of the 1st to get the scoring started. A horror 2nd (2 errors, 3 hit batters, a passed ball) saw Perth score 4 more to take a commanding early lead. In the 4th Vern Bull was unlucky not to record Melbourne’s first hit of the night, his hard groundball back at the pitcher rebounding off Chapman’s hastily extended foot towards 1st, where Geoghegan barehanded it and stepped on the bag to retire Bull by a couple steps. The Aces finally got a hit next inning, but Chapman was a totally different pitcher in his home yard, and they could do nothing more. They would eventually score in the 6th, a succession of ground balls evading the infield and resulting in 1 run, but that was all they could muster, Perth completing their 2nd dominant performance in a row, the final score 12-1. Loetzsch (1.2IP, 4H, 7R, 5ER, 1BB, 1K) got yanked very early, while Chapman (7.0IP, 6H, 1ER, 1BB, 1K) was a groundball supremo. Welch went 4-5 and tied the postseason game RBI record, driving in 7.

Game 4 - Darwin Diggers vs Sydney Blue Sox

Angwin crunched a 445-foot HR into the wind in the 2nd to give the scorers their first action of the night, and Ryan Wie added another 4-bagger in the 4th. Sydney sent 13 hitters to the plate in the 6th, Darwin’s bullpen having trouble finding the plate, and scored 7 to bust the game wide open. Darwin loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning but, much as they had all series, could do little with the opportunity. It would prove to be their only chance to make a game of it. Final score: 11-1 Sydney and they were moving up and on. Douglass (5.0IP, 7H, 1ER, 3BB, 1K) wasn’t great but got the win, while Pond (5.1IP, 7H, 3ER, 1BB, 6K) took the loss. Zachary Woollett went 0-17 in the series, and Maggs 2-17, meaning the meat of Darwin’s lineup was all bone when it counted.

Off Day

Melbourne announced 27 y/o SP Eddie Zglinicki (18-9, 3.88 ERA, 4.25 FIP, 1.29 WHIP), due to throw tomorrow, had extended with them for 3 years. He had just over 4 years ML service time.

Veteran Sydney-sider Trent Allan (.278/.393/.422, 13HR) would extend his 13-year career with the Blue Sox even further. The 34 y/o LF had signed a 2-year extension, and said he was excited to have his playing future sorted, but was even more excited to be heading deeper into the postseason with his beloved club. He’d won a ring with them already, back in 2046, but definitely liked “the idea of getting that one a brother.”

Game 5 - Perth Heat vs Melbourne Aces

Ed Geoghegan had been hit by a pitch 4 times already this series, with Aces’ skipper Wendell Kay implying that the Perth slugger might be crowding the plate a bit more than he had during the regular season. When asked Geoghegan winked, patted his belly, and said, “Maybe the cushion’s grown a bit since last week.”

After 4 and a half unusual innings without much offense and plenty of strikeouts Melbourne busted out with 5 runs to put one foot in the Preliminary Finals. Stephen Tipping got 1 back with a solo shot in the 5th, but Melbourne regained the 5-run advantage in the bottom of the inning. Geoghegan slugged his 3rd HR of the series in the 8th, starting a rally which ended with a 2-run Donahue HR down the leftfield line and made it a 1-run game. Closer Craig Lewis marched out in the 9th, all confidence. Well-placed confidence, as it turned out. He induced 2 towering popups then struck Toohey out swinging to end the game. Final score: 6-5 Melbourne and they were headed to a date with favourites Christchurch. Zglinicki (6.1IP, 7H, 1ER, 1BB, 6K) got a deserved win, while Ramirez (3.1IP, 5H, 3ER, 1BB, 4K), pitching on short rest, looked good until that 4th inning. Beau Snell had his 2nd 4-hit game of the postseason.

[Izz]

Preliminary Finals

Game 1 - Melbourne Aces vs Christchurch Cowboys

This series that promised to be as high-scoring as Melbourne’s matchup with Perth, with the Aces hoping to cash in on any rust the Cowboys might’ve picked up. Sean Carr had just made it back in time, and said he was “feeling good as gold.”

A hard slide in the 2nd by Will Glasson broke up a double play, but saw Cowboys’ 2B Joshua Moore helped off the field. He’d be out of action for the rest of the playoffs with an oblique strain. Christchurch did indeed look rusty, while Melbourne loaded the bases with 2 outs in the 4th but couldn’t score. Kimpton finally opened the scoring in the 5th with a deep drive down the RF line that just stayed fair and just went long enough. And that ended up being the only scoring act of the game, Melbourne winning 1-0. Cameron Worsfold (8.0IP, 7H, 1ER, 3BB, 2K) got plenty of soft grounders to keep his team in it, while Flemming (6.2IP, 4H, 0ER, 2BB, 6K) looked good for the win. Lewis notched his 3rd save of the postseason.

Game 1 - Sydney Blue Sox vs Central Coast Thunder

Neither defending champs, the Thunder, or the Blue Sox were rated in the top half of the league offense-wise (despite the Thunder having the 2 best HR hitters in the league), so this promised to be a series deciding by pitching and defence, which 2 things Central Coast were better at than anybody else.

A Trent Allan ground-rule double in the 2nd opened the scoring, putting 1 across home plate. Central Coast got the bases drunk in the 6th but a 6-4-3 double play put an end to any hopes of a rash of runs. Manuel Salinas got thrown out at home plate in the 7th, and the Thunder remained scoreless. Sydney added an insurance run in the 9th, and Whiffin recorded the save. Final score: 2-0 Sydney to give them an early advantage. Aitcheson (8.0IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB, 4K) threw great but took the loss, while Eykelbosch (7.0IP, 8H, 0ER, 6BB, 3K) continued to be erratic, but got the win.

Game 2 - Melbourne Aces vs Christchurch Cowboys

Lachlan Foley twisted his foot touching down on 1B in the 2nd and came from the game. Nothing major though, Aces’ medical staff quickly assured the various commentating teams, and something he could play through. Loetzsch looked a completely different pitcher today, taking a perfect game into the 5th before surrendering a single to Marshall Hooks. Glasson opened the scoring in the 6th with a mammoth 454 foot blast over straightaway centre, scoring 2. That was the score until the bottom of the 9th, when suddenly Christchurch’s offense woke up. They loaded the bases with 2 outs, Yin-ti Zhuo’s single to right bringing 2 home and tying the game up. The game went into extra-time, Melbourne unable to score in the top of the 10th. In the bottom of the inning, leadoff man Patrick Murphy took his 2-1 pitch deep over left. It soared into the stadium and the DH had a walk-off HR. Final score: 3-2 Christchurch, an absolutely brazen act of thievery.

Loetzsch (7.0IP, 1H, 0ER, 0BB, 7K) was absolutely superb and deserved a win, but ended up with nothing, while Jim Wills (8.2IP, 12H, 2ER, 1BB, 4K) was pretty poor but somehow only gave up runs in 1 inning. Lewis blew the save.

Game 2 - Sydney Blue Sox vs Central Coast Thunder

Damon Liao scored Central Coast’s 1st run of the series in the 1st, lofting one just over the reach of the LF and into the stands. Central Coast scored 2 more in the 2nd - only 1 earned - to go further ahead. 2 Blue Sox solo HRs in the 7th (Wie, Marshall Tipping) made it a 1-run ballgame, before Nathaniel Bowden’s 2-out 2-run shot in the same inning put Sydney in front. Foreman tripled off the wall with 1 out in the 8th, and Patrick Wigmore singled him home, tying the game up. Matt Panther then regained Sydney the lead in the 9th with a solo HR. In the bottom of the inning, Ya-da Jiang led off with a single, and a Vern Roneberg double put the winning run in scoring position with no outs. An out later Liao singled to center and Roneberg beat out the throw to win the game. Final score: 7-6 Central Coast in a seesaw. Matt Juhl (7.0IP, 7H, 5ER, 1BB, 5K) looked good until the 7th, while Douglass (7.0IP, 6H, 4R, 3ER, 2BB, 4K) had a win cruelly taken from him. 39 y/o Adrian Duggan, pitching in relief, got the win.

Game 3 - Melbourne Aces vs Christchurch Cowboys

A 2-run Aguirre single in the 3rd got the scoring started, and a Hooks follow-up blast over left scored 2 more. Melbourne scraped 1 back in the bottom of the inning and another in the 5th. The bottom of Christchurch’s order combined to score 2 more in the 9th, and while Melbourne got 1 run across and brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the inning they couldn’t pull off a miracle. Final score: 6-3 Christchurch. Zglinicki (5.2IP, 4H, 4ER, 3BB, 1K) got his first loss of the postseason, while Wayne Lewis (8.1IP, 8H, 3ER, 3BB, 1K) stayed in deep and went home with a win.

Game 3 - Sydney Blue Sox vs Central Coast Thunder

Pre-game, Central Coast announced that injured 24 y/o SP Ethan Humphries (3-4, 3.60 ERA, 2.87 FIP, 1.31 WHIP) had re-upped for 5 years. Humphries had a little under 2 1/2 years ML service time.

Palmer struggled to find the plate in the top of the 1st, walking 2, and Central Coast capitalized by scoring twice. Sydney tied the game up immediately and took the lead in the 2nd, Arthur Hammer giving up 6 base hits through the 1st 2 innings. Angwin extended the lead by 2 more in the 5th with a bleacher bomb over right. Central Coast came roaring back in the 6th, a 2-out rally scoring 5 and putting them out in front. Edward Hewat came out in the bottom of the 9th, score unchanged, and retired the side in order to see Central Coast to a 7-5 victory. Palmer (5.2IP, 7H, 7ER, 3BB, 3K) took the loss, while Hammer (8.0IP, 9H, 5ER, 1BB, 4K) didn’t look threatening, but got the win.

Game 4 - Melbourne Aces vs Christchurch Cowboys

Christchurch scored before an out was recorded, Aguirre’s double waking Flemming up, as he struck out the next 3 to finish the inning. Worsfold took a no-hitter into the 5th, sparking memories of his remarkable effort last postseason, before giving up a 1-out single to Glasson. A 2-run Patrick Murphy triple in the 7th put Christchurch further ahead, and he scored an out later thanks to a Cisco Chavez double. Melbourne’s Roy Haynes delivered a 2-run triple of his own in the bottom of the inning to keep the Aces in the game. He came home a hitter later and this was well and truly still a contest. Fingleson had help from his defence in the bottom of the 9th to notch up the save, Blake Rawnsley pulling off a stunning diving catch at 3B to rob Haynes of a probably extra-base hit. Final score: 4-3 Christchurch to see them heading to the big dance for the 2nd year running. Worsfold (7.1IP, 7H, 3ER, 1BB, 1K) probably should’ve gone to the sheds after 6, but still came away with the win, while Flemming (5.1IP, 6H, 1ER, 1BB, 6K) threw a wicked slider today but left his cutter too far up in the zone too often.

Game 4 - Sydney Blue Sox vs Central Coast Thunder

Desperate to stay alive, Sydney got off to a terrible start, conceding 2 runs before an out was recorded. That wasn’t the end of the pain, though, Central Coast touching down on home plate twice more before the inning ended. Eykelbosch was having real trouble hitting his spots, either missing the plate altogether or throwing up in the zone. After a Liao double in the 2nd scored 1 more and left runners on 2nd and 3rd, Eykelbosch was pulled. Replacement Noel Douglass didn’t get off to a great start either, however, his 1st pitch to Auger a weak fastball that the league’s best HR hitter launched into the RF bleachers. Central Coast were up by 8 and no outs had yet been recorded in the top of the 2nd. The Thunder added 1 more that inning, the beleaguered Blue Sox defence having already surrendered 6 XBH, the players' shoulders drooping as they returned to the dugout. To make matter worse, Tipping had come from the field injured during the inning, leaving a big hole in the middle of the lineup. Sydney eventually got on the board in the 5th, scoring 2, but still found themselves 10 runs behind. They pulled 3 more back in the 6th, but that was all the scoring they could muster. Final score: 13-5 Central Coast, to see Sydney unceremoniously dumped out of the postseason and the Thunder heading to the Championship for a rematch with Christchurch.

Eykelbosch (1.0IP, 7H, 7ER, 0BB, 0K) was too distraught to front up to media after the game, apparently feeling that most of the blame should be heaped on him. Aitcheson (5.2IP, 9H, 5R, 4ER, 1BB, 6K) didn’t have his best outing, but got an easy win nonetheless. Salinas, Auger and Rory Budd all got 4 hits, Auger driving in 6 runners thanks to a HR and 2 doubles. Salinas hit .632/.667/.632 for the series.

[Izz]

Narrator’s note: ‘For nearly the first 40 years of the league full-game visual replays were scarce in the archives. Game logs, box scores and other stats are widely available, at least from 2023 on, as are opinion pieces, highlights packages, fragments of early analysis shows, and a great deal of information on the personal lives of prominent players, as they were definitely A-list celebrities in Post-War Australia. 2057, though, is the first year on record where full game replays of every postseason matchup can be found and viewed in their entirety. A quick glance at the next few years would appear to show this continuing to be true moving forward.

‘In fact, the general amount of available historical information has exploded. A quick perusal of the archives doesn’t show any particular reason for this, but it is this author’s hunch that the Australian Government relaxed its policies in a lot more areas than just space travel. Indeed, the total amount of data available in the archives, when sorted by year, shows a massive jump from 2056 to 2057 in all spheres, and continues to grow year-by-year until the 2080s.

‘Back to baseball. Previously, postseason game reports in this narrative were built from game logs, text-based aftermatch reviews and analysis, as well as whatever highlights were available. Because of this, the reports were always constructed after the result was known, which could only affect their presentation negatively for those reading along. Now, however, it is possible to watch a postseason game without knowing the result ahead of time. All of the 2057 postseason game reports have been written that way, and this will continue to be the playoff narrative style for the foreseeable future. For this Championship series, an attempt has been made to present as much of the action as possible, in case the archived visual records are someday deleted, corrupted, or written over. Whether the same level of detail is given in future Championship reviews remains to be seen, and whatever decision is made will be based, in part, on reader feedback.’

2057 Championship - Central Coast Thunder vs Christchurch Cowboys

Preview: A rematch of last year’s series, except this season the Cowboys had home-field advantage, and were definite favourites. This was the 3rd straight Championship round Central Coast had appeared in, losing to Canberra in 2055 and sweeping Christchurch in 2056 before now.

Manuel ‘The Phantom’ Salinas was, in his words, “Looking forward to giving those Cowboys another towelling.” He appeared to be especially relishing the chance of vanquishing Aguirre, who had been part of Canberra’s winning team in 2055, but hadn’t been in Christchurch colours last season. Salinas said, “Ismael’s fading and fast, while I feel like I’m just reaching my peak and right now I’m in the form of my life. He won’t fire any shots this series; our pitching will be just too good for his slowing hands. My prediction: another sweep. Maybe we’ll sweep Ismael all the way back to Santo Domingo.”

Obviously looking to add fuel to the feudal fire, later that afternoon reporters swamped Aguirre with questions about what Salinas had said, firing them one after the other before he had a chance to give any answers. Aguirre waited them out before replying, in his typical relaxed manner, “Everybody plays the game for different reasons. I play because I love it, win or lose. Sure, the losses don’t taste as nice, but it’s all a tapestry, and I’m happy to add whatever strands I can. I don’t know why Phantom plays. I’m sure he loves the game, but maybe he loves winning even more. Look, at the end of the series, whoever’s up on the winners’ podium will be the best team, and if he’s part of that team, I’ll be the first guy to shake his hand.”

It was possible Aguirre was a bit annoyed, though, because he ended the presser 2 questions later.

The Thunder weren’t an overwhelming offensive unit, their BA of .267 only 10th-best in the league. They had scored the 4th-most runs, though, with 844, and their 216HRs was 3rd-best. Defensively, they were excellent, their efficiency of .715 better than all-comers, and their starters’ ERA of 3.93 also number 1. They’d allowed the least hits (1358) of any staff, and walked the 3rd-least (474).

However, Christchurch had them covered. Their starters’ ERA of 4.00 was 2nd-best, and their relievers were only conceding 3.14 runs every 9 innings. They’d allowed the least runs (664), and the least HR (146), with their defensive efficiency of .707 2nd behind the Thunder. Offensively, they appeared completely superior, their BA of .281 2nd only to Melbourne. They’d scored the 2nd-most runs (890), hit the 2nd-most XBH (549), and just edged out Central Coast in the HR stakes, with 218. They did strike out a lot, though, their mark of 1155 worst in the league.

Central Coast were missing starter Ethan Humphries as well as their closer (Alwin de Lange) thanks to injury. Brock Lawless had been reactivated, though he probably wouldn’t be ready to pitch until the backend of the series. Christchurch were without everyday players Joshua Moore (SS), and Kelvin Pickhills (CF).

Verdict: While Central Coast certainly deserved the chance to defend their crown, Christchurch would eventually be too strong. Cowboys in 6.

Game 1

Matt Juhl (10-18, 4.34 ERA, 4.71 FIP, 1.23 WHIP), who’d had a pretty bad season, and been slapped around a bit against Sydney too, would take the mound for the Thunder, while Christchurch would send out Angelo Caffyn (12-13, 4.08 ERA, 5.01 FIP, 1.26 WHIP), who hadn’t pitched since the 23rd of March.

Christchurch got away with 2 errors in the 1st (a dropped foul ball and a wild snap from the catcher to first base), and opened the scoring in the 2nd, Hooks crossing home plate. 1-0 Cowboys. Aguirre doubled over the CF’s glove in the 3rd and slid safely home on a Hooks’ single into shallow left-centre. 2-0 Cowboys.

Caffyn was on song through 5, allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk, striking out 2 and getting a lot of weak contact. Carr hit a 2-out triple in the bottom of the 5th, Aguirre walked on 4 pitches, and Hooks doubled into the gap at left-centre. Carr scored but Aguirre pulled up at 3rd, perhaps not wanting to test his luck on the throw too often. Blake Rawnsley singled with a grounder up the middle and both Aguirre and Hooks scored. Zhuo popped out, but the 2-out rally had netted Christchurch 3 runs and put them 5-0 ahead.

Salinas singled to lead off the 6th but was gunned out attempting to steal, much to the delight of the home fans, who crowed until Salinas disappeared into the dugout. He was 1-2 so far, with a walk. Chavez led off the bottom of the 7th with a walk. Carr blooped a single to right and Chavez made 3rd without a throw. Juhl’s 1st pitch to Aguirre was a fastball low in the zone. Aguirre’s hands and wrists still looked pretty quick though as he crunched it deep, deep over left centre. It sailed into the stands, falling into a fan’s glove halfway up the lower tier. 3-run HR and those watching at home would’ve sworn they saw Aguirre give Salinas a look longer than a glance but shorter than a stare as he headed towards 2nd. That ended Juhl’s night. He’d thrown 6.0 innings, giving up 10 hits, 8 runs, and 4 walks, while only fanning 2. Rawnsley doubled an out later, and scored an out later off an Utting single. 9-0 Christchurch with only 2 innings to play.

Caffyn was still going strong, having only allowed 3 hits and 1 walk through the first 7, while striking out 5. He gave up a hit in the 7th, Jiang blasting a single to centre. Roneberg hit a perfect double play ball to Leo Jackson - called into the Cowboys’ squad to replace the out-of-form Vince Hudswell at 2B. Jackson picked it up, but couldn’t complete the transfer from glove to hand, the ball dropping in front of him. 2 runners on. Could Central Coast mount a comeback? Salinas flied out to centre, and Liao got called out on strikes, thanks to a 137 km/h cutter at his knees, thus ending the mini-threat.

Carr doubled off the wall with 2 outs in the 8th and Aguirre, oh-so-hot tonight, singled him home. Caffyn came out for the 9th, looking at the possibility of a shutout. He’d thrown only 99 pitches so far and still seemed to be picking his spots well. Auger slugged one deep to right, but Carr ranged back and made a comfortable catch. Then Foreman got a curveball that hung and he didn’t miss out, breaking Central Coast’s duck with a 432-foot blast over left-centre. Wigmore singled, but Budd’s grounder up the middle only found Utting, who stepped on 2nd for 1 and rifled the ball to 1st for the game-ending double play.

Final score: 10-1 Christchurch in a comprehensive opening display. Caffyn (9.0IP, 6H, 1ER, 1BB, 6K) stayed in after giving up the HR, saying afterwards that his performance was “very satisfying.” Aguirre was 3-4 with 3 runs and 4RBI, his hits including a double and HR. Carr, Hooks and Rawnsley also collected 3 hits, with at least 1 XBH each.

When asked in the lockers how he felt about the hammering his team had received, Salinas was defiant. “Hey, it’s just 1 game. Let’s see who’s on top at the end of the series.”



Game 2

Canadian southpaw Jim Wills (17-8, 3.79 ERA, 4.41 FIP, 1.30 WHIP) would take the hill for Christchurch, up against Arthur Hammer (12-5, 3.80 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 1.43 WHIP). Hammer threw 6 pitches: a good fastball, a decent curve, slider and knuckle curve, and an average-to-mediocre changeup and split fastball. He had a reputation as a guy who could throw and throw and throw. Legend had it at high school he threw 24 innings of a triple-header, starting 2, then coming in after 3 in the last game to finish it off.

Central Coast didn’t waste any time getting on the board in this one. Liao’s 1-out single was followed by a Wigmore jack over leftfield. Foreman followed with a double to deep right-centre but was left stranded on 3rd. 2-0 Central Coast. Salinas brought 2 more home in the 2nd with a single between 1st and 2nd. Liao singled and then Wigmore struck another pitch deep. Not quite HR deep, though, but it gave him a stand-up rbi-double. Foreman’s following ground ball was an out, but deep enough to score Liao and send Wills (1.2IP, 8H, 6ER, 0BB, 0K) to the showers. At the end of the inning it was 6-0 Central Coast in a near reversal of yesterday’s early innings.

An uncharacteristic Salinas error extended the bottom of the 2nd, with runners on 1st and 2nd, and next hitter Patrick Murphy’s soft grounder somehow went past Budd into RF, scoring Hooks and putting the Cowboys on the board. Leo Jackson cracked a double off the wall, scoring 2 more. 6-3 after 2.

Aguirre’s leadoff walk in the bottom of the 3rd was followed by a Hooks’ single to the edge of the infield behind 2B, shortstop side. An out later, Zhuo took a pitch to the body. Bases loaded, 1 out. Utting struck out, but Murphy didn’t miss out. First pitch, a fastball well up in the zone and the switch-hitter made great contact, pulling it into the RF bleachers for a Grand Slam. Suddenly Christchurch had the lead! Hammer (2.2IP, 5H, 7R, 4ER, 2BB, 5K) headed back up the tunnel too, not far behind his opposite number. 7-6 Christchurch after 3.

Central Coast loaded the bases with 2 out in the 5th but Willem Price struck Roneberg out with a vicious slider to end the inning. In the bottom of the inning Salinas made another error, this time throwing the ball way over Auger’s head and into the dugout. Utting slid into 2nd and gave Salinas a wink. Salinas opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it and took a little walk into RF. No damage was done to the scoreboard, but perhaps Salinas’ mouth was a bit too big for his glove. After 6 the score remained 7-6, both bullpens doing a fine job.

Rawnsley doubled down the 3B line with 1 out in the bottom of the 7th and scored off Zhuo’s follow-up single. Utting singled, and Murphy’s baggy sleeves got him a HBP. Bases loaded once more, 1 out. Jackson struck out swinging, the 160 km/h fastball too good for him. Chavez broke his bat and sent the ball trickling towards 2nd. Salinas swooped, twisted and got off a fine off-balance throw to 1B to retire Chavez and end the inning. Boos followed him to the dugout. 8-6 Christchurch after 7.

Christchurch again loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th, this time with 2 out, but while Utting made good contact on a fastball he could only hit it as far as the warning track. Still 8-6 heading into the 9th.

Fingleson came to the mound, threw a few warmup pitches and then proceeded to blow on his hands for a good 2 minutes. Delaney struck out swinging, but Salinas walked on 4, bringing the tying run to the plate. Liao’s shallow single got Salinas to 3rd, and the tying run was now at 1st, with 1 out. Wigmore walked and the bases were drunk. Fingleson blew on his hands some more, then struck out Foreman on 4 pitches. Up came Auger but he quickly fell behind, then came up empty swinging at a splitter. Final score 8-6 Christchurch and they headed to Central Coast with a 2-game buffer. Willem Price (4.1IP, 1H, 0ER, 2BB, 2K) was the star of their bullpen effort, steadying the ship for the harder-throwing relievers to punch their way to victory.



Game 3

For the first game of their home stanza, Central Coast would roll out Clint Aitcheson (23-6, 2.94 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 0.98 WHIP). Aitcheson’s WHIP of 0.977 was the best season mark since Rowan Kalman posted a 0.968 WHIP in 2040. Since then only 2 other starters had posted a season WHIP less than 1.000. Aitcheson would be up against 2057's 3rd-winningest pitcher, 35 y/o Cameron Worsfold (19-5, 3.76 ERA, 4.75 FIP, 1.25 WHIP), who was having a career year.

Salinas got plunked to begin the bottom of the 1st and stole 2nd on the very next pitch. Next, Rawnsley couldn’t handle a regulation grounder from Liao and Central Coast had runners on the corners with no outs. An out later Foreman hit a fastball just far enough over left. 3-run HR and the early advantage to the Thunder.

Hooks had to crane his neck in the 2nd too, the LF watching Vern Roneberg bash a 2-run HR to put Central Coast further ahead. 5-0 after 2. With Jackson and Chavez on base, Aguirre got Christchurch into the game in the 3rd, pulling a 160 km/h fastball into the LF stands. Later in the inning Rawnsley added a jack of his own, his solo shot sailing 403 feet over right-centre. 1-run ballgame.

Utting led off the top of the 4th with a double, and then Patrick Murphy drove one out of the park for the 2nd game running, and in doing so once again put Christchurch into the lead. Aitcheson, watching hands on hips, seemed unable to believe what was happening. Then he turned to see his skipper striding towards him and he knew his night was done. 3.0IP, 7H, 6ER, 1BB, 3K. There was a 27 km/h wind blowing in from right, but that didn’t seem to be knocking back any flyballs, Jackson greeting the new pitcher with a double over the CF’s head. 6-5 Christchurch after 4.

Christchurch extended their lead in the 5th. First, Foreman made a bad read on a flyball from Utting. It found grass, Utting got himself a single, and Hooks scored from 2nd. Next man up, Murphy, walked, loading the bases with 1 out. Jackson walked a run in on 4 pitches, leaving the bases loaded. Chavez struck out, froze up by a fastball over the heart of the plate, and then Roneberg made a great diving catch to rob Carr of a multi-rbi single. Meanwhile, Worsfold had found his rhythm, retiring the side in order in both the 4th and 5th. 8-5 Cowboys.

Rawnsley’s 2-out double in the 6th was followed by a Zhuo single up the middle, netting the Cowboys’ catcher his 4th RBI of the postseason. 4-run buffer. Central Coast got runners on the corners in the bottom of the inning, Wigmore beating out Carr’s throw to make his ground at 3rd, but they couldn’t capitalize, Arnott hitting into a 4-6-3 double play.

The lead was reduced to 2 in the 8th, Wigmore sending a line drive over the LF fence for a 2-run HR. 9-7 Christchurch heading into the 9th. Thunder closer Edward Hewat, who’d come out to keep his team close, left the field after the final out of the top of the inning clutching his arm. It was later revealed he had forearm tendinitis and wouldn’t be available for the rest of the series. Fingleson came to the mound for Christchurch, yet to allow a run this postseason in 3 appearances. Roneberg ground out 5-3. Salinas got punched out by a 158 km/h fastball, unable to get his bat moving. Liao hit a weak grounder up the middle and was an easy 6-3 out to end the game. Final score: 9-7 Christchurch and they were 1 game away from a Championship win. Worsfold (7.0IP, 7H, 5R, 4ER, 0BB, 2K) recovered after his shaky start to earn the win. Fingleson recorded his 4th save of the postseason, from 4 opportunities.



Game 4

Their backs well and truly against the wall, Central Coast sent out Matt Juhl again, who said pre-match, “I’m feeling good. Last game was last game. I can’t do anything about what happened then. All I can do is go out today and throw my best to keep my lads in it.”

Christchurch sent out Wayne Lewis (13-6, 4.38 ERA, 4.68 FIP, 1.50 WHIP), who was yet to pitch this series. Lewis, a born and bred southlander, had come up through the Cowboys’ organization, drafted by them in 2043 out of high school. He’d played in first-grade from 2048-2054 before heading over to the BL for 2 seasons as Santiago's marquee player, during which 2 seasons he’d earned more than he had in all his time with Christchurch. However, citing homesickness, he re-signed with his beloved Cowboys for 2057 and 2058, and couldn’t believe what they were on the cusp of achieving. “Playing for a Championship with them?” he said. “A dream come true. The opportunity to start what might be the deciding game? To be honest, I’m so excited I’m wetting myself a little bit.”

It looked like Lewis was more nervous than excited in the bottom of the 1st. He walked Salinas on 5 pitches, drilled Liao, and walked Wigmore to load the bases with no-one out and no offensive effort expended. Foreman ground into a 5-4-3 double play, but Salinas crossed home plate, putting Central Coast 1-0 ahead. That was how the score stayed, Lewis looking rather relieved as he headed towards the dugout at the end of the inning. Jackson came up in the 2nd with runners on the corners and 2 out. He singled wide of 2nd, scoring Rawnsley. 1-1. Budd led off the bottom of the inning with a double to the leftfield corner, advanced to 3rd on Jiang’s deep fly-out, and scored thanks to Roneberg's single back up the middle. Delaney doubled to put both runners in scoring position and the top of the order back up. Salinas singled up the middle, scoring both. Lewis seemed to spend a lot of time drying his palms on his pants. He recovered to get the next 2 outs, but had still given up 3 in the frame. 4-1 Central Coast after 2.

Liao robbed Carr of a leadoff HR in the 3rd, his leap snaring the ball just before it went into the crowd. Rawnsley doubled Hooks home to inch Christchurch closer, the score 4-2 mid-inning. That was still the score after the 3rd had been completed. Top of the fourth, Salinas came up with a magic dive to gather in Utting’s groundball smash, but couldn’t get the throw to 1st in time to retire him. Utting then went to 2nd on a wild pitch, to 3rd on a ground-out, and safely home on a ground-ball to the SS. 4-3 Central Coast after 4.

A 2-out error by Utting in the 5th saw the bases loaded, but Christchurch escaped without damage. The score remained 4-3 through 7, both pitchers settling into their work. Juhl (7.0IP, 8H, 3ER, 2BB, 6K) didn’t come out in the 8th, sitting tensely in the dugout watching proceedings. The Thunder used 3 pitchers in the inning, each doing their job, the scoreboard not changing. Lewis' (7.0IP, 7H, 4ER, 4BB, 2K) night was also done, his second half much better than his first half. Delaney singled with 2 outs in the bottom of the inning, then made 3rd on a bad throw from catcher Zhuo on his steal attempt. Salinas, who was yet to be retired, drew a walk, but Liao swung through a fastball for strike 3 to end the inning.

Domenic Purss came to the mound for the Thunder, hoping to close the game out. He struck out Murphy swinging at a 3-2 pitch outside the zone. Jackson drove one deep to RF but Liao judged it perfectly and gloved it for the 2nd out. Chavez popped out and Central Coast were still in the series! Final score: 4-3 Thunder. Salinas was 2-2, with 1 run, 2RBI, and 3BB.



Game 5

Manuel Salinas remained bullish about Central Coast’s chances of going back-to-back. “Hell yes,” he said. “Put it in print now: Thunder come from 0-3 to win in 7!”

Arthur Hammer would start for Central, while Jim Wills would throw for Christchurch. Angelo Caffyn hadn’t thrown since Game 1, but only winked when asked why he wasn’t heading out to the mound. “We play as a unit,” he said when asked again, “and we look at the big picture. Skip’s been impressing that into us the whole season.”

Breaking the pattern of the series, neither team scored in the 1st or 2nd. Murphy walked to lead off the top of the 3rd and nobody called Jackson’s towering pop-up into RF. It found grass and he found himself standing at 2nd, looking slightly bemused. Murphy held up at 3rd, but scored off Chavez’s sac-fly to give Christchurch first blood. 1-0 Christchurch after 3. Liao pulled off an absolutely stunning runnning catch in the 4th, both feet off the ground when the ball thudded into glove, to rob Rawnsley off an XBH.

Carr got plunked in the 6th, followed by an Aguirre double down the 3B line, putting 2 runners in scoring position with only 1 out. Hooks cashed in, his deep double to left-centre scoring both. 3-0 Cowboys. Wigmore singled first up in the bottom of the inning, and Foreman’s grounder also eluded the infield. Wigmore slid in safely to 3rd and the Thunder had the tying run at the plate with nobody out. Auger singled to right, scoring Wigmore. Foreman beat out the throw to be safe at 3rd. Budd ground into a 6-4-3 double play, but Foreman scored to bring it back to a 1-run ballgame. 3-2 Christchurch.

Utting cracked one down the RF line to lead off the 7th and didn’t slow rounding 2nd. Liao’s throw, though, was too good and Utting was tagged out, though not particularly happy with the call. Replays vindicated the umpires, however, not that Utting felt any better after that. Delaney tied the game up in the bottom of the inning, his linedrive just high enough to go over Hooks’ glove and into the leftfield bleachers. Either rattled, tiring, or both, Wills walked the next 2 hitters before getting replaced. A ground-out saw both runners advance, but Foreman could only ground out to 3rd to end the threat. 3-3 after 7!

Carr led off the top of the 8th with a double into the alley between centre and right. Aguirre was intentionally walked and Hooks was called out on strikes. Rawnsley got hold of one, but only as far as Liao’s glove in RF, and Zhuo got befuddled by a knuckle curve, striking out to end the inning. Auger, first up in the bottom of the inning, walked and was bunted to 2nd by Budd. Jiang was intentionally walked to set up the double-play, but Roneberg’s liner dropped safely into RF. Auger scored the go-ahead run, sliding in under the throw, and both the other runners advanced an extra base. Delaney was walked on 4 pitches and Central Coast had the opportunity to put the game out of reach. Salinas flied out to left, but deep enough to score the runner at 3rd. Then, somewhat surprisingly, Central Coast went for a double-steal. And pulled it off. Liao wasn’t able to score anybody, though, getting put out 5-3.

5-3 was also the score heading into the top of the 9th. Warren Gray drew closing duties for Central Coast today. He walked Utting on 4 pitches. Murphy singled to left, but Jackson ground into a 6-4-3 double play. Chavez, hitless, got frozen up by a heater at the knees and Central Coast were fighting on. Final score: 5-3 Thunder. Hammer (8.0IP, 6H, 3ER, 3BB, 6K) threw a smart game, while Wills (6.1IP, 7H, 3ER, 5K) probably shouldn’t have come out in the 7th, but still could’ve had the win next to his name.



Game 6

The series was now back in Christchurch, with Central Coast fighting tooth and nail, and perhaps with the momentum. They would send ace Aitcheson to the mound in the hopes of forcing a Game 7, while Christchurch would put Caffyn out, keeping Worsfold in reserve.

Good move or bad on Christchurch’s part? Only time would tell. Salinas singled off the 3rd pitch of the game and stole 2nd, beating a pitchout, 3 pitches later. Liao then singled and Salinas motored for home, diving in safely, pumping his fist as he jumped to his feet. Liao advanced to 2nd on the throw. Auger proceeded to single, moving Liao to 3rd, and Caffyn looked like a bad call. The gentle-throwing SP did strike out Foreman on 3 pitches to get 1 out, but then Zhuo couldn’t handle a pitch, chasing it to the backstop and allowing Liao to score. Wigmore singled Auger home and Christchurch were in all sorts of trouble early. Caffyn recovered to get the next 2 outs and end the inning, but a 3-0 lead after half an inning was nothing to be sneezed at.

Aitcheson proceeded to strike out leadoff hitter Chavez, freezing him up with a cutter, before getting Carr and Aguirre to send routine flyballs to the outfielders. Caffyn got through the top of the 2nd quickly, and Hooks led off the bottom of the inning with a double into the RF corner. Rawnsley’s ground-out advanced Hooks to 3rd and Zhuo blooped a single over the head of the SS to get Christchurch on the board. 3-1 Thunder after 2.

A Liao walk and Auger single saw runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs in the 3rd. An out later they pulled off a double-steal, Zhuo’s arm looking weaker than usual. Wigmore walked on 4 to load the bases, and Budd’s sac-fly scored Liao, who beat out the throw in a decision the Cowboys weren’t too happy about. Arnott singled up the middle. Auger held up at 3rd, but perhaps he should’ve gone, because Jiang got called out on strikes to end the threat and the inning. 4-1 Central Coast. Jackson and Carr singled in the bottom of the inning to bring Aguirre to the plate, 1 out on the board. Aguirre skimmed a 3-2 pitch over the head and glove of the 3B and into the leftfield corner for an rbi-double, and now the Cowboys had 2 runners in scoring position, the go-ahead run at the plate. Hooks drilled one to the alley in left. Foreman made good ground and extended his glove but the ball passed by just out of the reach. It bounced awkwardly and Foreman could only hit the cutoff man as Hooks headed into 3rd. 2-rbi triple and the game was all tied up. Aitcheson looked disgusted with himself, spending a good 30 seconds swearing into his glove. The game didn’t stay locked for long, though, Hooks scoring off Rawnsley’s sac-fly, and just like that Christchurch were in the lead. 5-4 Christchurch heading into the 4th.

Neither side had a baserunner through the 4th or 5th. Arnott singled in the 6th to break up the drought, and ended up on 3rd after a Jiang double. An out later Salinas tied the game up with a hot single to left, and stole 2nd on Zhuo to put 2 runners in scoring position with 2 out. Liao drove one to the base of the CF wall, ending up with a 2-RBI triple, and Central Coast regained the lead. Auger was intentionally walked and then Caffyn (5.2IP, 10H, 7ER, 4BB, 4K) was hoiked, replacement Hal Slater getting a ground out to end the inning. 7-5 Thunder after 5 and a half.

Hooks was having a whale of a game, the righthander drilling a 1-1 fastball down the RF line and into the bleachers for a solo HR. So far he’d hit a double, triple and HR, needing only a single to have a playoff cycle. That blast signaled the end of Aitcheson’s night (5.0IP, 7H, 6ER, 0BB, 4K), and reliever Teddy Wigley got the next 3 outs with no further damage. 7-6 Thunder. Chavez walked in the bottom of the 7th, but was gunned down hunting a steal. In the 8th, with runners on 1st and 2nd and 2 outs, Utting hit a regulation ground ball directly to SS Jiang. He gloved it, then dropped it, and all 3 runners made base successfully. Could Christchurch capitalize? No, as it turned out, Murphy’s weak grounder well-played by Salinas for a 4-3 putout.

Central Coast were retired in order in the 9th. Jackson headed to the batter’s box in the bottom of the inning, Christchurch facing a Game 7 unless they could pull something off. Warren Gray came out for Central Coast and Jackson’s flare to right was gobbled up by Liao. Chavez struck out chasing a high fastball and Carr’s fly to deep centre was hunted down by Roneberg. Final score: 7-6 Central Coast and Game 7 it was. Central Coast’s relievers got Aitcheson his 2nd win of the postseason, while Christchurch’s relievers gave their hitters a chance to win it.



Game 7

Sweaty palms all around, but probably more on Christchurch’s side than on Central Coast’s, seeing as the Cowboys had butchered a 3-0 lead.

Who would Central Coast send out for this all-or-nothing game? Brock Lawless (8-4, 3.50 ERA, 4.55 FIP, 1.15 WHIP), who hadn’t set foot on a mound since December. Worsfold would take the ball for Christchurch.

A 2-out Auger single was all Central Coast could muster in the 1st. Chavez walked to lead off the bottom of the inning, but Carr doubled up to send both hitters back to the dugout. 3 up, 3 down for the Thunder in the 2nd, all the contact so far on Worsfold weak. It could’ve been the same for Christchurch in the bottom of the inning, but a 2-out error by 3B Budd saw Zhuo safe on 1st. Utting doubled off the RF wall, but Zhuo pulled up at 3rd, the strong rebound giving him no chance to come home. Murphy grounded out 3-1 to end the threat. 0-0 after 2.

Hooks broke the deadlock in the 4th, leading off the inning with a 426 foot solo blast over right-centre. 1-0 Cowboys heading into the 5th. Hooks undid some of his good work in the bottom of the inning, though, failing to pick up a Budd single, allowing the runner to make it safely to 2nd. Arnott followed up with a hot shot down the 1B line for a single. Runners on the corners and nobody out. Arnott headed off for 2nd on the next pitch and Zhuo’s poor series behind the plate continued, his throw sailing into the outfield. Budd scored and Arnott wound up at 3rd. Worsfold was not a happy camper. Roneberg walked with 1 out, and Salinas then hustled to beat a double play to see Arnott score the go-ahead run. Liao’s single extended the inning, but Auger popped out to right to be the 3rd out. 2-1 Central Coast, both runs credited as earned.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 6th Aguirre made it a tie-game, bashing one into the RF stands. 2-2 after 6. Jiang singled to lead off the 7th and advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch. Roneberg struck out and Salinas was thrown out thanks to a nice play by Jackson at 2nd. That signalled the end of the night for Worsfold (6.2IP, 7H, 2ER, 2BB, 2K), who’d looked rattled with batters on base. Vanderven got the final out of the inning, leaving Jiang stranded at 3rd.

Heading into the bottom of the 9th the score was still 2-2. Lawless (8.0IP, 5H, 2ER, 1BB, 3K) didn’t come out to pitch, but had to be pleased with his first-up effort on return from injury. Duggan came to the mound and gave up a leadoff single to the hot Hooks. Rawnsley hit a sharp grounder up the middle but Salinas got across, stepped on the bag for one and fired to 1st for the double play, after which he bowed to the booing crowd. Zhuo bashed a line drive to the alley at left, but Foreman made a great running play to rob him of a hit and send the game into extra innings.

Whatever happened now would be a fitting finale for a super series.

Vanderven stayed on the mound and struck out Roneberg for the first out of the 10th. Salinas ground out to short, and Liao walked on 4 to bring up Auger, who could only hit a regulation grounder to 2B. Duggan hit leadoff man Utting to open affairs in the bottom of the inning, but then struck Murphy out on 3 pitches, the last 2 wicked sliders that froze him up. He then also struck Jackson out looking, this time with a fastball at the knees. Chavez drew a walk to bring Carr to the plate, Utting now in scoring position. Carr hit a soft one towards 1st and was a 3-1 out.

Into the 11th, Vanderven still on the mound. Foreman lashed a single to centre and Wigmore popped out. That finally brought to an end Vanderven’s admirable relief performance (3.2IP, 1H, 0ER, 1BB, 1K). Fingleson strode to the mound and got Budd to tap one back to him to start a 1-6-3 double play, thus ending the inning. Purss came out for Central Coast and looked a bit anxious when Aguirre lofted one deep to right. Foreman had room to make the play and Purss relaxed. Hooks struck out swinging and Rawnsley struck out frozen.

Arnott almost beat out the throw for a single to lead off the 12th but got put out 3-1. Jiang walked and Roneberg advanced him with a 4-3 ground out. Salinas nubbed one back to the mound and beat out Fingleson’s throw to put the go-ahead run at 3rd. Undeterred, Fingleson fooled Liao with a splitter to strike him out and keep the game locked up. Zhuo walked on 4 and Utting struck out chasing a fastball well outside. Murhpy flied out to left and Jackson ground out to 2nd.

Auger stepped up to lead off the 13th and yanked a 2-2 splitter into the RF stands to break the deadlock. Fingleson looked shattered but recovered to get Foreman out 4-3. Alastair Butcher came to relieve Fingleson and Wigmore slammed one over straightaway centre for a 448-foot HR. Suddenly Central Coast were 2 runs ahead, an incredible come from behind Championship victory within sight. Budd also hit one deep but Chavez had room to make the play for the 2nd out. Arnott flied out to left and Christchurch were up, in last chance saloon.

Chavez drew a 4-pitch walk. Carr popped out to 2nd. Aguirre hit a ground ball to 3rd and Budd whipped it to Salinas who fired it to 1st and that was the game and the series. Aguirre stood disconsolately at 1st for a good while, and Salinas, to his credit, didn’t rush over to rub it in, perhaps because he was mobbed by his teammates instead. Final score: 4-2 Central Coast and they were the latest back-to-back Champions! Purss got the win, throwing 3 innings of scoreless relief. Fingleson got tagged with the loss.



______________

Hurler of the Series: In a series where the starters got mostly beat up and the best relievers were from the losing team, HotS went to Lawless for his stellar return from injury in the highest-pressure game imaginable.

Slugger of the Series: Patrick Wigmore (.321/.387/.679, 3HR). For the losers, Hooks (.419/.438/.774, 2HR) had an excellent series.

______________

The Washup: The next day media hunted out a tired Salinas, who admitted he hadn’t slept that night, to get answers to some questions. First, ‘Had he ever doubted his prediction they’d come back from 3-0 down?’

“Of course not,” Salinas scoffed. “We were clearly the better team across the park, regular season record or not. We were always going to run them down.”

Second, ‘Had Aguirre been the first opposition player to shake his hand?’

“Yes,” Salinas said, grudgingly, before adding, “but maybe that was because he was closest, being the losing out and all.”

Third, ‘What’s your beef with Aguirre, really? What’s he done to you personally?’

“To me, nothing. But let me tell you a few things. Firstly, there’s a lot of folks here on the Central Coast who aren’t too fond of Aguirre. Why? Because as soon as he could, he was gone, after a bigger payday. Right when the team looked like it was building for a good tilt at the Championship. This was the club that had nurtured him right through, built a team around him, and he just up and left as soon as he was eligible for free agency. Bit ungrateful, don’t you think? And not only did he leave, but he went to a bitter division rival, and immediately started winning Championships with them. Yeah, there’s a lot of fans in my neck of the woods who don’t like the big man all that much.

“And as for me. Well, I was at Canberra. Loved the club, was loyal to club. Stayed there 9 years and wanted to be there longer. But then Aguirre hit the market again and suddenly negotiations, which had been going on most of the season, just up and stopped. Next thing you know I was a free agent and Aguirre was a Cavalryman. And then they start winning Championships without me. So I find myself here in the Central Coast and maybe the universe is paying things back a bit, because now we’re back-to-back Champions and we’ve done it without Aguirre, and now against him. At long last the loyal fans here have something to crow about and hopefully that’ll continue for a few more seasons.

“Everybody says Aguirre’s a nice guy, one of the best, an all-round good fellah. Yeah, I don’t buy it. Nobody in this game is that nice. You can’t win if you’re that nice. I bet he’s got a secret puppy-kicking addiction or something.”

The rant made headlines all over the baseball world, with a fair few quick to respond that Salinas had conveniently forgotten that Central Coast had also won the Championship in 2052, against Aguirre, who was still playing for Brisbane at that time. When chased down for comment himself, Aguirre shrugged and said, “I hit my 26th, 27th, and 28th postseason home runs in this Championship series. I think I’ll focus on that and what I hope to achieve next season rather than on a war of words with someone who’s also got plenty to be happy about if he spends a couple minutes thinking about it.”

Salinas’ response to that? “That’s loser talk, right there.”

[Izz]

2057 Championship Winning Thunder

25 y/o Cooper Cresswell was a kid who hadn't yet played higher than A-ball. For some reason, Central Coast added him to their playoff roster, officially to cover for injuries, though there were far more performed candidates available. Cresswell didn't see any action in the postseason and decided to wear the uniform of Central Coast's AAA-affiliate in the winner's photo. Not that Creswell had played for them, this season or any other time, either.

[Izz]

2057 Season Leaderboards

For the first year in some time there doesn't seem to be a clear-cut frontrunner for SotY.

[Izz]

April 20, 2058

The Australasian Baseball Coalition had never disappeared from public consciousness, but they had become something like background noise over the past year or so. But they weren't going away and today, on the first official day of the AUNZBL offseason, the ABC launched to moderate fanfare.



Their season would mirror the AUNZBL's in starting dates, for all their league levels. Their major-league season would likely run a couple days longer than the AUNZBL's due to the fact the ABC would have an All-Star Weekend, rather than the quick-fire January 1st affair the AUNZBL had.

Another surprise was the number of teams in the new league. Officially, they'd stated that 14 teams would play, with the prevailing view among media that it would be only 12 as it appeared no AUNZBL team was about to jump ship. However, the ABC would actually boast 16 teams split into 4 divisions - the same as the AUNZBL.

The ABC's big selling point was the inclusion of teams based in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The Jakarta Stars would represent Indonesia, and the Port Moresby Kumuls would fly PNG's flag.

There would be no inaugural draft, each team having recruited players from the local independent competitions in Australia and NZ, as well as those in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. The ABC Commissioner boasted that this new competition had "talent to more than rival that in the AUNZBL" but those with a more objective viewpoint were of the opinion that while there were a few guys who mightn't be out of place in the game's premier league, the majority of players were somewhere between AA and four-A level.

It was also the ABC Commissioner's hope that some AUNZBL stars would be signed up before the end of the offseason, thus bolstering their selling power. He stated that the ABC clubs could "beat any AUNZBL contract offer without blinking."

The AUNZBL had remained tight-lipped about its rival over the last 18 months and continued to be so following the launch announcement. Anonymous sources claiming to be close to the Commissioner's Office proclaimed all kinds of different feelings emanating from the AUNZBL camp, from fear to shrugged shoulders.

A quick snapshot of the ABC league setup:

[reds1]

The AUNZBL has some competition! I really like that league logo.

[Izz]

Originally Posted by reds1

The AUNZBL has some competition! I really like that league logo.

Thanks I made it using justafan's logo creator. Wish i had the logo creating skills a lot of other folk around these parts have!

[Izz]

2057 Awards

Gold Gloves

Pitcher: Eddie Zglinicki (Melbourne Aces)
Catcher: Adrian Lane (Hobart Prospects)
First Baseman: Richard Moore (Brisbane Bandits)
Second Baseman: Dylan Glynn (Cairns Crocs)
Third Baseman: Matthew Utting (Christchurch Cowboys)
Shortstop: Terry Yabsley (Darwin Diggers)
Left Fielder: Marshall Hooks (Christchurch Cowboys)
Center Fielder: Guillermo Julio (Newcastle Roos)
Right Fielder: Roy Haynes (Melbourne Aces)

Rookie of the Year

23 y/o 1B Ronald Aitken had won exactly 0 RotM awards during the season but came away on Awards Night with the Rookie of the Year gong. He appeared in 158 games for Cairns in 2057, starting 156 of them, and hitting .263/.371/.418, 145-552, with 84 runs, 36 doubles, 1 triple, 16HR, 73RBI, and 88B, with a 2.1 WAR, a 17.1 VORP, and a 108 OPS+. The kid still had plenty of development left in him, according to Cairns’ scouts, and would be a keeper for years to come.



Canberra’s Elijah Lutz (.300/.344/.514, 19HR, 105-350, 2.0 WAR, 21.1 VORP, 122 OPS+) got the silver medal, while Perth’s ‘Real Deal,’ Jose Ramirez (13-10, 3.57 ERA, 4.26 FIP, 1.21 WHIP, 160K from 174.0IP, 1.6 WAR, 36.6 VORP, 130 ERA+) finished with the bronze.

Skipper of the Year

Christchurch might’ve fallen at the final hurdle once again, but that didn’t stop manager Lou Blenkhorn winning Skipper of the Year for leading the Cowboys to more than 100 wins during the regular season. Blenkhorn, whose big-league managing experience prior to Christchurch was an unhappy season in Melbourne, had seen his charges to 2 Championship series in 2 years at the helm, and was completely confident they’d be back there again next year, and would finally “get the job done.”



Hurler of the Year

Clint Aitcheson and then light years to second place. His 23rd win of this season was the 164th of his career and he was yet to hit 100 career losses, finishing 2057 on 99. At times during the playoffs he got his fastball up to 160 km/h, and his regular season OPS+ was 157, by far the best of his career. He definitely had a year to remember, and said himself during his acceptance speech that he “might never hit these same heights again.”



The season’s other 20-game winner, Isaac Russell (21-5, 3.04 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 1.12 WHIP, 3.9 WAR, 64.6 VORP, 152 ERA+) came 2nd, and Cameron Worsfold (19-5, 3.76 ERA, 4.75 FIP, 1.25 WHIP, 1.5 WAR, 45.2 VORP, 123 ERA+) 3rd.

Slugger of the Year

Who would take out Slugger of the Year? For the first time in many a season there seemed to be no clear-cut contenders. Sean Carr, league-leader in WAR, but who’d missed the last month of the season due to injury? Justin Auger, 2nd in the WAR stakes, and with 49HR on the season? Beau Snell, who’d demolished the previous season record for hits and who led the league in BA? Fei-hsien Chang, who topped the league in SLG, OPS, and XBH? None of those guys seemed all that tantalizing, but somebody had to win it, and most pundits leading up to the Awards figured - without tons of enthusiasm - that it’d be one of those 4.

And the winner was... 31 y/o Justin Auger. Auger had also snared SotY in 2051, when he seemingly came out of nowhere and lit up the league. He’d never been quite as good again, but this season wasn’t too far off, judging by advanced metrics. He hit .278/.392/.574, 168-605, with 121 runs, 30 doubles, 1 triple, 49HR, 132RBI, 116BB, and 7SB. He had 734PA, and had a WAR of 7.4, a VORP of 71.3 and an OPS+ of 150.



Chang (.316/.386/.604, 38HR, 7.1 WAR, 77.6 VORP, 156 OPS+) came in 2nd, and Snell (.379/.434/.492, 9HR, 7.1 WAR, 83.2 VORP, 143 OPS+) got the final podium spot.

[Izz]

2057 Career Leaderboards

Aguirre needed just 141 hits to overtake Mildren as the all-time best, and 93 to surpass Snijders in 2nd spot. Just 10HR separated him from 2nd spot on the all-time HR board, and 28 would see him knock Mildren off top rung on that ladder too. 2058 certainly seemed like it would be the year that Aguirre laid complete claim to the title of GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), at least for the near future.

34 y/o Rex Herbert needed 44 more saves to be the second pitcher to 400 career saves, and was of the opinion that he'd "definitely get there, and why not next season?" In 2057 Herbert had recorded 38 saves, the same mark he'd reached in 2056. He'd only broken the 40 saves barrier once before, in 2051, finishing up with 43 that season, but 44 certainly wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

2057 Career Leaderboards

[Izz]

Offseason

2057 Notes

League ERA hit an all-time high, ballooning to 4.63. BA also jumped, up 4 points to .269. The debate around whether the mound should be re-raised once again became a hot topic.

The Aces’ season BA of .297 was 2nd-best all-time, behind only the 2045 Metros who hit at .302. The Aces did, however, set new season records for at-bats, with 5853, and hits, with 1739.

The 694 walks Darwin drew in 2057 was 2nd-best all-time, behind their 2053 incarnation, who earned 708 free passes.

Highlighting the dearth of quality pitching, Auckland set new heights for season ERA, getting smacked around to the tune of 5.63 runs every 9 innings. They surpassed the 2052 Perth Heat by a few decimal places. This year’s Adelaide team found themselves 3rd on this inauspicious ladder, having conceded 5.57 runs every 9 innings.

The Metros also surpassed the 2038 Crocs for worst season WHIP, setting a 1.654 mark across the season.

The successful Heat also set a couple not-so-good pitching records this season, the 711 walks they gave up the worst ever. Their BB/9 of 4.34, unsurprisingly, was also at the wrong end of that ledger.

BL Wrap-up

The BL decider also went to 7 games, Guayaquil coming back being 3-1 down to absolutely trounce Managua in the decider, romping home 16-2.

36 y/o Hao Li (.348/.410/.479, 10HR), playing for Georgetown, won Novato del Ano. He led the league in BA and hits (154). In 2056 Li had turned out for Darwin, and had started his ML career in 2044 for Whangarei. All up, he hit .280/.330/.416, with 164HR, for 5 different teams, across 11 and a bit major league seasons.

29 y/o Mark Newton (15-5, 2.70 ERA, 3.23 FIP, 1.19 WHIP) of Belo Horizonte won Jarra de Oro. The Upper American was also a rookie, having come up through the Newcastle system and featuring in their big-league staff from 2050-2056.

32 y/o Stefan Lock (.328/.408/.642, 35HR) dominated the BL in 2057, winning Bateador de Oro at a canter. He led the league in SLG, OPS, wOBA (.422), HR (35), RBI (109), runs (76), ISO (.314), XBH (65), TB (278), and WAR (6.2). He set new season records in HR, RBI, and total bases. He was only the 2nd player in BL history to drive in more than 100 runners in a season. Likely a free agent in a couple weeks, many began wondering whether Lock would return for another stint in the AUNZBL. Just shy of 33, he still had a few good seasons left in him, and he had left the AUNZBL without achieving as much as many thought he should have, so possibly had a point to prove. Lock wasn’t drawn on his future when media prodded after the BL Awards Night, saying that he just wanted to “have a good time for a few weeks” before thinking about where he’d play next.

League News

20 Apr: 39 y/o Adrian Duggan (177-136, 3.96 ERA, 4.21 FIP, 1.26 WHIP) retired a champion. Duggan played from 2042-2057, with Perth and Central Coast, winning 3 rings with the Thunder (though he played very little part in the 2052 campaign thanks to injury). 7 times he recorded at least 10 strikeouts in a game, and was voted to 3 All Star Games. In 2047 he finished 2nd-runner-up for HotY.

Notable Club Happenings

Adelaide: 2-year skipper Luis Soto got punted, thanks to leading the Venom to 103 losses in the season.

Canberra: GM Rick Bolitho was fired after 10 years at the top. He’d been at the helm for Canberra’s 3 Championships from 2053-2055, and had seen the team make 7 consecutive postseasons from 2051-2056. However, this year’s 71-91 return wasn’t good enough and despite acquiring an Aguirre replacement in Lopez, Bolitho’s future was elsewhere.

Kununurra: As predicted, Ian Graham didn’t last longer than 1 season as Pioneers’ GM. Apparently Graham, who’d completely gutted the roster that had captivated the league in 2056, had been working 80-hour weeks most of the season. Perhaps he should’ve been working less, to get an objective view of the havoc he was wreaking.

Melbourne: Skipper Wendell Kay retired, age 62. He’d been in charge of Melbourne 2 seasons, the only 2 seasons he’d managed a team, and had seen the Aces to the playoffs both times, in 2056 breaking a 24-year postseason drought. The reason for his retirement? Quite simply, according to Kay, “Stress.” Being a big-league manager wasn’t so good for the blood pressure or heart valves and he wanted to live to a ripe old age.

Notable Free Agent Signings/Player Contract Extensions

30 Mar: Hobart gave 24 y/o Maurice Clemens (.244/.328/.447, 80HR) a 3-year extension, buying out the rest of his arbitration. He already had 4 years major-league service time, and had hit 57 of his career HR in the last 2 seasons.

30 Mar: Whangarei moved to lock up 28 y/o Marty Okolita (33-25, 3.85 ERA, 3.69 ERA, 1.21 WHIP) for the next 5 years at an affordable price. Amazingly, the strikeout machine didn’t quite have 3 years of ML service time yet.

2 Apr: 27 y/o All Star catcher Yen-nien Liu (.297/.373/.457, 48HR), one of the few bright spots for Auckland fans in 2057, agreed to a 3-year contract extension.

7 May: Central Coast moved to keep 33 y/o Rory Budd (.270/.330/.400, 103HR) on the roster for a while longer, working out a 2-year extension with the 3B, the 2nd year being a player option. Budd had won 3 Championships with the club since being traded to them by Wellington and said he “loved the Thunder to bits.”

9 May: Crocs’ fans were excited to hear that 27 y/o C Gary Baker (.299/.368/.497, 118HR), who many felt was “criminally underrated” outside Cairns, would not be going to free agency next week. Rather, he had signed a 5-year contract extension, his yearly salary “far more commensurate to his ability” according to Cairns’ GM Carlos Sosa.

12 May: The first former AUNZBLer turned up in the ABC, though not in the conventional method. 28 y/o LF Su-wu Zhang (.258/.292/.386, 40HR) had played for the Metros from 2052-2055 before being released and heading to the NABA, where he signed with the Midland Warriors. The Perth Sharks today swooped and purchased his contract from Midland and Zhang was zipping back off to Australia.

14 May: This year’s crop of free agents filed. The top 5 were:

34 y/o 1B Patrick Maggs
33 y/o SP Lance Ralston
29 y/o 2B Bert Arnott
34 y/o SP Angelo Spear
29 y/o CF Tom Doig

Some of the other players testing the market were:

35 y/o SP Cameron Worsfold
29 y/o SP Damian Flemming
29 y/o CF Tom Doig
35 y/o 3B Tommy Hillson
31 y/o SP Matt Juhl
38 y/o 1B Blair Toohey
35 y/o SP Nathan Beckett (the 2nd year of his 2-year deal with Kununurra was a player option, which he exercised with speed)
32 y/o SP Connor Chapman
33 y/o 2B Manuel Salinas (perhaps his Championship series antics had backfired on him - already some analysts were chuckling at the possibility of Christchurch signing him, though with 4 of the Cowboys’ rotation going to free agency they surely had their priorities on the mound rather than the infield)
28 y/o SP Brock Lawless
29 y/o SP Christos Goddard
30 y/o SP Ted Heathcote
31 y/o CL Caspar Buffey
31 y/o C Mitch Donahue

Overall it looked to be a pitching-heavy free agent season. Central Coast were the biggest losers, shedding 10.5 WAR. The Cavalry lost 7.9, the Diggers 6.2, and Christchurch 5.2, to round out the teams who lost 5 or more. The Venom somehow gained 4.0 WAR! Of course, the thought on the minds of most pundits was who would the ABC lure across with the promise of big money?

22 May: Damian Flemming (59-75, 4.20 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 1.45 WHIP) was the first free agent to sign in the AUNZBL, agreeing to a 6-year deal with Cairns.

24 May: Everybody involved was grinning ear-to-ear at the presser announcing Patrick Maggs (.305/.378/.522, 344HR) had signed a 2-year deal with Melbourne.



25 May: Angelo Spear (181-130, 3.95 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 1.21 WHIP) said he signed a 2-year deal with the Heat because of “their core of young talent.” The 2049 HotY felt certain that the Heat would be real contenders over the next few seasons and wanted to “stake his claim with them.”



27 May: Brisbane and Bert Arnott (.282/.366/.423, 83HR) put pen to paper on a 7-year deal. Arnott would bring some defensive starch to the Bandits’ middle infield.



29 May: Turns out Central Coast and Manuel Salinas (.326/.417/.389, 34HR) had been in contract negotiations but hadn’t been able to finish them before free agency struck. Salinas today re-signed with the club for 2 seasons, his salary for 2058 reportedly less than half what it had been in 2057. The 2nd year was a player option, though as Salinas kept saying in the presser: “The Central Coast really feels like my home now.”

29 May: Hobart signed Brock Lawless (68-62, 4.57 ERA, 4.77 FIP, 1.32 WHIP) to a 7-year deal, saying the rangy pitcher was due to “bust out.”

29 May: 2048 #1 draft pick Mitch Donahue (.261/.323/.439, 123HR) certainly looked like his career would be remembered as “average to mediocre.” But maybe he’d be revitalized within the Blue Sox setup, having today signed a 4-year contract with the club.

3 Jun: Further strengthening their pitching, Perth signed Caspar Buffey (38-38, 226 sv, 3.29 ERA, 2.97 FIP, 1.18 WHIP) for 3 years. Buffey’s aim was to be the team’s closer which, if achieved, would hamper Rex Herbert’s bid for 400 saves.

4 Jun: Blair Toohey (.263/.373/.398, 179HR) would continue his career in the AUNZBL, for another season at least. He’d signed a 2-year deal with the Aces, his 2nd year being dependent on him getting 550 plate appearances in 2058. The indefatigable Toohey was of the opinion that 2058 was “Melbourne’s year to break the drought.” The Aces had 1 Championship trophy in their cabinet, won all the way back in 2025.

4 Jun: For 41 y/o Young-tae Lee (.281/.392/.437, 330HR), however, it looked as if he’d played his last AUNZBL game. The 10-time Championship winner, 10-time All Star, and 1-time SotY was headed to Guayaquil for the 2058 season. Over the course of his illustrious 21-and-some year career Lee had recorded 2848 hits, including 524 doubles and 35 triples, driven in 1447 runners and walked 1802 times. His career WAR was 77.4, and his OPS+ 124. Would he qualify for the Hall? Almost as soon as he headed to the Lower Americas the debates began. No other player had won 10 Championships, and he was well up there in plenty of statistical categories, but his eventual inclusion certainly didn’t seem like a sure thing.

5 Jun: 32 y/o Stefan Lock wouldn’t be heading back to the AUNZBL anytime soon. He’d signed a 3-year deal with Asuncion. So far in the BL he’d hit .281/.357/.560, with 97HR across 3 seasons.

11 Jun: Also heading to the BL was 35 y/o Christos Hutchinson (.312/.371/.397, 19HR). Like Lee, he’d signed with Guayaquil, but for 3 years. Hutchinson, the all-time AUNZBL triples leader (126), said his only regret was not having won a Championship. Still, he felt that he’d accomplished everything else he could, having reached 2500 hits during the season, and having maintained a very good career BA.

16 Jun: Cairns continued with their big signing push, this time claiming the scalp of superstar Lance Ralston (149-111, 3.51 ERA, 3.45 FIP, 1.28 WHIP) on a 2-year deal. When asked, ‘Why Cairns when so many other competitive franchises would’ve been chasing your signature?’ Ralston responded, “Ego maybe. I’d like a few years down the track for people to say ‘that Ralston was the guy who pushed the Crocs over the top.’ In short, I think we can win Championships here, but I think they’ve had a few pieces missing the last few seasons. I think I’m one of those missing pieces.” It didn’t take long for media to dub Ralston with the new nickname ‘The Missing Piece.’ While Ralston had never been quite the dominating pitcher he was before his shoulder injury in 2052, he was just as intelligent and still regularly regarded the best overall pitcher in the league. In 2054 he’d set a new season record for ERA (2.08).



17 Jun: Central Coast management were pretty excited by their new acquisition: Tom Doig (.259/.322/.476, 181HR), on a 4-year deal. Doig was above-average defensively, and while he would never be a .300 hitter, last season he slugged 37HR, so definitely had pop. According to skipper Hayden Stanley, Doig would “reinforce our lineup, giving Foreman more good ABs just as Foreman was already giving Auger more good ABs.” Yes, he did say ABs instead of at-bats...



23 Jun: Central Coast added another strong arm to its stable of starters: Nathan Beckett (125-113, 4.30 ERA, 4.39 FIP, 1.27 WHIP) for 2 years, the 2nd a vesting option requiring 25 games started. Beckett just wanted to forget about a “horror year” in Kununurra, saying he could “already see that the Thunder is a much more professional organization, and one that the fans can be proud to root for.”

28 Jun: The Thunder weren’t done adding pitching, snaffling up Ted Heathcote (88-57, 3.75 ERA, 3.77 FIP, 1.20 WHIP) on a 2-year deal. Heathcote hadn’t pitched at all in 2057 due to injury, but said he still felt “good as gold,” and couldn’t wait to get back out there. Christchurch, the team Heathcote had been on, said they were “disappointed” the talented pitcher hadn’t re-signed with them, especially as “they’d stuck with him through that horrific injury,” but they could understand his desire to head back to Central, where he’d played from 2049-2055.

28 Jun: Christos Goddard (55-49, 4.03 ERA, 4.39 FIP, 1.44 WHIP) was off to Juarez in the BL, having agreed to a 3-year deal. Most analysts were disappointed he’d headed offshore, saying he would’ve fit in anywhere from 3-5 in most rotations in the league.

8 Jul: Amazingly, no AUNZBL free agents had yet signed with the ABC, who had been making very little noise up to this point. They made a lot of noise today, though, calling a press conference where they accused the AUNZBL and PU of colluding to prevent players signing outside an AUNZBL-sanctioned league. They had ample evidence, they said, and were quite prepared to take this to court. Neither the AUNZBL or PU made any reply to the allegations.

15 Jul: Perth strengthened their lineup by adding veteran Tommy Hillson (.293/.354/.504, 174HR) on a 3-year deal. Hillson, nicknamed ‘Grandpa,’ joked at the presser, “I really do feel like a grandpa surrounded by all these kids.”

26 Jul: Cameron Worsfold (120-123, 4.51 ERA, 4.67 FIP, 1.40 WHIP) was headed to Brisbane, having signed a 2-year contract.

4 Aug: Christchurch finally got a free agent pitcher! Matt Juhl (81-68, 4.04 ERA, 4.49 FIP, 1.28 WHIP), who’d lost 18 games in 2057, but was still chased hard by plenty of teams, signed for 4 years with the Cowboys. The 3-time Championship winner with Central Coast said he was “looking forward to bringing the silverware to the South Island.”

8 Aug: A month had passed since the ABC Commissioner publicly accused the AUNZBL and PU of collusion. Still, no players from any of the AUNZBL, BL or NABA had signed with the new league. Today, the ABC formalized its threat of legal action, approaching the courts in the hope of filing an injunction against the AUNZBL to end perceived ‘restraint of trade.’ The hearing wouldn’t be held until the middle of September, meaning that if gaining an injunction were successful there wouldn’t be all that many free agents left to chase. Once again, neither the AUNZBL or PU made any public statement regarding the situation.

10 Aug: Hobart added another pitcher to their rotation, snaring Connor Chapman (98-85, 3.89 ERA, 3.98 FIP, 1.23 WHIP) to their stable. Chapman had signed a 5-year deal.

17 Sep: No resolution had been arrived at in the ABC-AUNZBL-PU dispute, so it was off to court. No media were allowed into the private hearing, with only a court press release issued the following day. An injunction had not been awarded, the release stated, and to fully resolve the matter, especially given the accusations and evidence presented by all sides, the judge felt it necessary to send it to judge-only trial. The trial date would be set in October, but would likely take place in January or February. The ABC cried foul but stopped short of accusing the justice system of helping stall the matter, the AUNZBL said very little, and the PU said, “We’re really not sure if it’s in the best financial interests of our players to sign with a league that is offering contracts commensurate to what our players are earning now, but has no way to prove financial viability and is not willing to allow its teams and team owners to undergo public financial audits as a way of ensuring such. That’s really the issue before the courts, which will be decided in due course. Until then, we wish the ABC all the best.”

Notable Trades

20 Apr: The morning of the first official day of the offseason, 3 players found themselves leaving their teams for new pastures. Hobart decided to cash in on 35 y/o Arnold Dethridge’s (52-50, 4.08 ERA, 4.66 FIP, 1.35 WHIP) surprising season, trading him along with some money to Adelaide for 29 y/o CF Jeremy Skinner (.260/.370/.360, 18HR) and a 21 y/o kid who looked like he might get a look in as a major-league outfielder a couple years down the track.

28 Apr: 37 y/o Martin Valentin (.274/.323/.436, 299HR) was headed back to Wellington, the Sluggers trading him and a pitching prospect to the Fury in return for 27 y/o C Alastair Houghton (.298/.358/.441, 13HR). Houghton had only been a backup catcher at Wellington and his prior club, Christchurch, but would probably become Whangarei’s everyday guy as current #1 catcher, 35 y/o Jerry Skuse, quickly declining, was likely to be allowed to go to free agency. For Valentin, this would be the 3rd different stretch he’d spent in Fury colours.

2 May: Kununurra sent 25 y/o LF Lou Albury (.262/.311/.366, 12HR) across to Sydney in exchange for 2 prospects.

2 May: Adelaide traded 28 y/o SP David Rowlands (36-31, 4.81 ERA, 5.09 FIP, 1.49 WHIP) to Canberra, getting 2 prospects, 1 hot, 1 not, in return. Canberra were happy with their end of the deal, too, of the opinion that Rowlands wasn’t able to play to his potential in the Venom set-up.

5 May: Kununurra made another early offseason move, acquiring 30 y/o Ovidio Arvelos (.258/.381/.356, 17HR) from Brisbane, along with a pitching prospect, in return for 32 y/o SP Jeremy Challinor (110-135, 4.50 ERA, 4.40 FIP, 1.39 WHIP). Arvelos, who’d been the BL’s biggest talent prior to coming to the AUNZBL, had a good 2057, hitting .296/.416/.388, with 6HR, and 103 walks.

4 Jun: A blockbuster Winter Meetings trade that had a fair few Brisbane fans wondering if their GM had imbibed a bit too much of the strong stuff. Brisbane sent 29 y/o star Lance Fookes (.295/.344/.522, 156HR) to Wellington, getting back 30 y/o LF Jean-Louis Villard (.261/.316/.425, 135HR) and a 21 y/o pitching prospect with a whole lot of upside.

7 Jun: If their trade activity so far this offseason was anything to go by, Kununurra had already given up on 2058 and were instead hoping to cram their coffers with as many prospects as possible for another tilt in a few seasons. They sent 26 y/o, often-injured Oliver Wonnocott (.308/.356/.420, 12HR), plus cash, to Perth in exchange for 2 kids, one a decent-looking OF prospect and the other a young reliever who’d been hanging around AAA the last couple seasons.

4 Jul: The Cowboys were desperate for starting pitching, and with nearly all the good free agents gone elsewhere, they had to look to trade. They found a trade partner in Brisbane but the question the fans were asking the next morning was: Was it worth the price? Christchurch acquired 25 y/o pitcher Claudio Banda, (8-11, 5 sv, 5.44 ERA, 5.18 FIP, 1.65 WHIP) who had never started a game in the majors, plus a 21 y/o hitting prospect who might be major-league ready by 2059. In return, they had to give up 27 y/o LF Marshall Hooks (.237/.290/.434, 62HR), who’d impressed in 2058, his first season as an everyday player, hitting .277/.327/.573, with 41HR. Christchurch figured Banda, who threw a good fastball and curve and a poor changeup, would be a decent starting pitcher for them in 2058. The late night baseball shows took to calling the Costa Rican ‘Band-Aid.’

Notable Injuries

29 Aug: 24 y/o Rhett Baxter made his big-league debut for Whangarei as a March call-up last season, looking pretty overmatched even though Sluggers’ management had big wraps on him. In the lead-up to Spring Training, Whangarei sent him out as part of the group who would front media (this group differed day by day). They might’ve been regretting their choice by lunchtime, however. A reporter, in a one-on-one slot, began grilling Baxter about his troubled upbringing. Instead of it being a rags-to-riches angle, the journo instead focused on some juvenile convictions Baxter had accumulated, as well as some of the people he used to hang out with. It didn’t take long before the journalist got a reaction. He’d just asked, “So, what would you say to all those guys you left behind, abandoned basically, so you could make good while they’re still battling it out just to remain off the streets or out of jail?” Baxter leaped out of his seat and tackled the reporter, both sprawling into a cameraman. The scuffle didn’t last long, the two pulled apart, the reporter repeating ‘criminal charges’ over and over as he was hauled to his feet. To make matters worse for Baxter, as soon as he tried to put weight on his right leg he fell again, gasping in agony. He’d fractured the foot, likely when it contacted the journalist’s chair.

A few days later Baxter, in a moonboot, issued a public apology for his actions. The journalist apologized too, but more for the confusing nature of his question. No charges were pressed and Whangarei management refused to make any comment on the matter.

22 Sep: New Sluggers’ catcher Alastair Houghton would miss up to a month of the season with a strained oblique.

23 Sep: The Prospects would be without Norman Ladds for at least the first month of the season. The 33 y/o had a fractured wrist.

25 Sep: Christchurch’s borderline rotation was struck a blow before the season even started, 34 y/o Wayne Lewis set to miss the entire campaign with a torn flexor tendon in his elbow.

26 Sep: 35 y/o Sterling Powell had come back for another shot at the AUNZBL after spending the last 3 seasons in the Lower Americas. He’d signed with Hobart for 2 years, but would have to postpone his comeback until next season. He needed an elbow ligament reconstructed and best estimates at recovery time were 10-11 months.

NABA Wrap-up

The Evansville Peacemakers won the NABA Regular Season comfortably, finishing 4 games ahead of the Carmel Generals, and won Game 1 of the NABA Cup just as convincingly, trouncing Carmel 12-4. However, the Generals weren’t about to lie down, and won the next 2 games, both in Evansville, to claim the NABA Cup. It was the Generals’ first win in their first postseason appearance. This was Evansville’s 5th trip to the Cup, but they were yet to win it.

25 y/o Manuel Espinoza (.293/.343/.500, 12HR) had originally been drafted by Havana in the BL in 2050, but never broke out of the BL minors. After becoming eligible for free agency at the end of the 2053 season he signed a deal with Canon City in the NABA but remained on their reserve roster until the latter part of last season. After finally getting an opportunity to play in 2058, Espinoza shone, winning a Best Fielder Award in RF as well as the NABA’s Rookie gong.

30 y/o Paddy Guthrie (10-4, 3.28 ERA, 4.19 FIP, 1.15 WHIP) hailed from Brisbane and played in the minors for Hobart, making it as high as AAA. He then headed to the NABA, playing 3 seasons with Evansville before giving the AUNZBL another go, playing the last month of the 2056-57 season in Darwin’s AAA-affiliate. After a few months “assessing his options” he headed back to Evansville, signing up for the 2058 and 2059 seasons. It was a good move, for he had a terrific 2058 campaign, and won the Yosemite Award to cap it off.

30 y/o Armando Santos (.278/.383/.559, 17HR) had once been touted as having AUNZBL potential. However, once he became a free agent in the BL he headed to the Upper Americas instead, signing with Canon City. His season was good enough to see him win the Yellowstone Award. Up for free agency again, was it possible he’d have a tilt at the AUNZBL this time around?

Other Notes

27 Aug: In an obvious attempt to wrest attention away from the AUNZBL, the ABC kicked off their Spring Training a few days before spring was officially declared. It definitely did get attention, though before long the general consensus was that the ABC’s overall hitting and pitching was a good deal lower than the majors, though some of the sluggers the ABC had unearthed could send the ball a long way.

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Christchurch were the biggest WAR losers on the eve of Opening Day. Cairns and Hobart had made the biggest gains.

[Izz]

2058 Preseason Predictions

Coastal: Cairns' offseason moves looked set to pay dividends, with it being picked that they would run away with the Coastal Division. Darwin and Perth would finish tied for 2nd, but below .500.

East-West: Central Coast would continue their dominance, finishing with the best record in the league. Newcastle would finish 2nd in the division.

NZ: Despite their weak rotation and less formidable (than last season) lineup, Christchurch would take out the NZ division, 7 games ahead of a competitive Fury.

Southern: Hobart's moves would also pay off, as they would win the division comfortably, Melbourne their closest competitors but not in the hunt.

Wildcard: Fury and Roos, with Melbourne providing competition but ultimately missing out.

Slugger of the Year: Central Coast's John Foreman was the favourite pick, with Richard Moore, Justin Auger and Ismael Aguirre to make up the chasing pack.

Hurler of the Year: Last year Ethan Humphries was picked to break out, but ended up breaking down instead, spending the majority of the season on the DL with a partially torn UCL. This season he was picked to be HotY when all was said and done, 2057's big winner, Clint Aitcheson, hot on his heels along with Ralston and Hobart's Bradley Boston.

ABC: Alice Springs, Sydney, Kalgoorlie, and Jakarta were picked to be the postseason teams, though most analysts felt picking anything for the inaugural season of the new league was a crapshoot. Zhu Que (Alice Springs) and Adare Subadia (Kalgoorlie) were predicted to be the best hitters in the league, while Rhys Susanti (Jakarta) and Tristan Agar (Alice Springs) would be the best pitchers.

[Izz]

2058/2059 Season - October Game Watch, Week 1

It appears from this season forward that a visual record of virtually every AUNZBL major-league game is available in the archives. While it would be too great a task for this historian to watch each game and still continue this narrative in a timely fashion, it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to watch 1 game per season day and provide a match report of it.

Every game watched will be chosen randomly (the only rule being that the same match-up cannot be watched twice in row, barring playoffs) thanks to the roll of an eight-sided die, so it’s a given that some great games will go unseen, some great accomplishments will be missed, some great plays will go unnoticed. But that’s the nature of the beast, and even an ordinary game of baseball is still far better than almost anything else.

The regular monthly recaps will continue as per usual.

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Oct 1 Opening Day: Crocs (0-0) versus Adelaide (0-0)

Opening Day Theatre - Venom Out-Bite Crocs

The 54726 Venom fans in attendance for the first game of the brand new season would be hoping that the 32 km/h wind gusting out to centre translated to a few longballs for their lads.

On the mound for Cairns, new ace Lance Ralston. For Adelaide, Greg ‘Buzzard’ Ahern, 17-game loser in 2057, but with a K/9 of 8.6.

The fans got to see a HR in the 1st, but to Ronald Aitken of the Crocs rather than a hometown hero. John Roberts boosted 1 into the bleachers over left-centre in the 2nd to give the fans something to cheer about and Adelaide the lead. A 2-out error in the 5th gifted Cairns the tying run, but Malcolm Pickhills took any bluster out of the Crocs with a monster 450-foot blast over leftfield that landed on the stadium roof.

Ralston (6.0IP, 6H, 4ER, 1BB, 9K) was yanked after giving up a leadoff walk in the 7th and his replacement, Scott McAuley, quickly gave up a 2-run jack to Jayden Pye, the fans on their feet to watch the ball just squeak over the rightfield fence. Adelaide added another run in the inning to go into the 8th with a commanding 4-run lead. Ahern (7.0IP, 5H, 2R, 1ER, 3BB, 8K) took a seat in the dugout for the 8th, looking both satisfied and anxious. He needn’t have worried, Bruce Pye and Bailey Naylor doing a fine job to close the game out. Final score: 6-2 Adelaide in a game that saw 21 strikeouts.



Oct 2: Heat (0-1) vs Pioneers (1-0)

Late Fire Propels Heat to Victory

22 y/o Barry Dean on the mound for Perth. He went 11-15 with a 5.95 ERA in his rookie season, but during ST looked like he’d grown into his potential. He was up against Eddie Rayner, who was only 27 y/o but had that veteran air about him. He’d had a horror 2057, going 9-18, but was confident of a return to best form in 2058. With a pretty poor offensive team supporting him, he’d have to do most of the work himself to turn that W-L around.

Quentin Welch’s solo jack to lead off the 2nd got the scoring started, and marked Perth’s first HR of the year. Fei-hsien Chang duked a 2-out 2-run bomb in the 4th to extend Perth’s lead. Rayner then gave up back-to-back doubles to Tadakuni Sasaki and Tommy Hillson to see another run score. Meanwhile, Dean allowed no hits through the first 4, racking up 5 Ks, his only baserunners thanks to a pair of 2-out walks. Ovidio Arvelos got Kununurra on the board in the 5th, doubling to lead off, advancing to 3rd on a passed ball and scoring thanks to a sac-fly. Gareth Kellet doubled home Bert Blenkhorn to make it a 2-run game, and then reduced the deficit to 1, charging around 3rd to slide home safely after Manny Chavez singled.

The Pioneers turned a 4-6-3 double play in the 6th to pour water on a possible rally but couldn’t capture the momentum in the bottom of the inning, unable to add to the score. They did equal things up in the 8th, though, Chavez’s solo HR ending Dean’s night (7.0IP, 4H, 4ER, 5BB, 8K). Jose Ojeda then pushed the Pioneers into the lead for the first time with a 448-foot shot into the upper RF deck.

Kununurra closer Jarrod Culaham came out in the 9th, having hurriedly warmed up. Welch ground out to 1st, Chang was retired 6-3, and PH Ben Zorn should’ve been out the same way except Chavez couldn’t handle the throw. A very costly error, as it turned out, Hillson driving his 2-2 pitch into the bleachers for a 2-run HR, putting Perth back in front. Culaham would get a blown save, and possibly a loss, chalked up next to his name, but it was surely one he didn’t deserve.

Caspar Buffey strode out for Perth, having also hurried through his warmups. He struck out Blenkhorn with a 158 km/h fastball. Steven Pickhills lined a single to right, which was well cut off by Chang. Rhys Jolly froze up with the count 2-2 and was called out on strikes. PH Logan Eissens popped out to substitute catcher Damon Glatz and Perth had won it! Final score 6-5 Heat. Rayner (8.0IP, 9H, 4ER, 2BB, 3K) kept the ball up in the zone too much, but nearly came away with a win.



Oct 3: Metros (1-1) v Blue Sox (1-1)

Spank Me Sally - Blue Sox Give Metros a Whopping

24 y/o Robinson Saldana started for the Metros. He'd won a spot in the rotation following ST but most expected him to get regularly beat up unless he could keep his pitches down in the zone, as he got very little movement. For Sydney, Marty Palmer, who went 12-15 last year. A so-called 'traditional' pitcher, Palmer threw a 4-seam fastball, curveball and changeup and usually kept his team in the hunt.

The 22 km/h wind blowing out to right might've put a smile on the 5 left-handed hitters in the starting lineups.

Barry Budd hit Saldana's 2nd pitch of the game 434 feet over straightaway centre to start the scoring. Auckland equalized in the 2nd, but fell behind again in the 3rd when Matt Panther crushed one way up into the bleachers behind right-centre. Cody England reached on an error, which seemed to rattle Saldana, who walked the next 2 to see the bases loaded with 0 out and the meat of the lineup due. Saldana got the first out, a force at home plate, and induced a nubber from Joshua Angwin who somehow beat out the throw for an infield single. 1 run scored. Mitch Donahue also nubbed one to nearly the same spot but was thrown out by half a step. Still, another run scored and then Ryan Wie drove in 2 with a single to left. 5 runs in the frame and Saldana was done (2.2IP, 4H, 6R, 3ER, 2BB, 3K).

Sydney were only just warming up, though, sending 13 hitters to the plate in the 4th, scoring 7. Yong-jun Chu restored some dignity with a 3-run HR in the 5th, but they soon descended again, stuffing up a hit-and-run play later that same inning to see a strikeout and the runner thrown out at 2nd to end any chance of a comeback rally. Replays showed the 3-2 fastball was way outside the zone.

Sydney added 2 more in the 6th and Palmer (6.2IP, 6H, 4ER, 3BB, 4K) came from the game in the 7th, carving a relaxed figure in the dugout. Auckland battled on, adding 3 more in the 8th (2 via a Yen-nien Liu HR) but it was really a bridge too far, the deficit still 8. Final score: 15-7 Sydney. Somewhat bizarrely, Budd was subbed off in sight of a cycle, and only needing a single to get there.



Oct 4: Prospects (2-1) v Thunder (1-2)

Prospects Come From Behind in a Home Run Derby

Bradley Boston was Hobart’s 4th starter, despite being picked by a lot of experts to have a big year. He would take on Arthur Hammer, who’d held onto the rotation spot he’d fought his way into last season.

Damon Liao opened the scoring in the bottom of the 1st with a solo blast over left field, and Patrick Wigmore followed up with a 424-foot drive over left-centre to make it back-to-back homers. Central Coast weren’t done wowing the fans, though, John Foreman crushing an 0-2 fastball to a similar part of the stands. 3 consecutive taters and Boston looked shell-shocked. He recovered to get the next 2 outs but left the field shaking his head.

In the 2nd Boston struck out the first 2 hitters before inducing a ground ball out and this time he left the field pumping his fist. The home run fest continued in the 3rd, Nigel Anderton getting Hobart on the board with a solo shot over left. Liao took a stunning catch in the 5th, slamming into the rightfield wall in the process, to rob Luke Maggs of an XBH and a possible RBI. The RF followed up with an rbi-single in the bottom of the inning, driving home Salinas, who’d tripled. Tom Doig collected his first RBI as a member of the Thunder later in the inning, only coming to the plate because Hobart was unable to turn a double play the batter before. Doig’s single ended an unhappy outing for Boston (4.2IP, 8H, 5ER, 1BB, 3K).

Maurice Clemens moved Hobart within 2, his fly down the leftfield line just staying fair, the shot also scoring Gu Luo. In the 7th, with runners on the corners and 2 out, Clemens was up again. The 25 y/o, who’d slugged 30HR last season, once again delivered, this line drive also carrying the distance for a 3-run HR. Just like that, Hobart had the lead. Hammer then delivered a fastball high in the zone to Tim Broomhall, who gave the crowd in the RF bleachers something to catch. That was the 7th HR of the game and Hammer (6.2IP, 10H, 7ER, 4BB, 6K) headed to the showers, his night a real mixed bag.

Hobart’s closer Isaac Canavan come out in the bottom of the 9th, protecting a 2-run lead. He struck out Rory Delaney with a monster curveball, but gave up a single to late sub Robert Qiao. Salinas singled up the middle and the winning run was at the plate. Up came Liao, who was 4-4 and oh-so-hot tonight. He hit one hard, but straight along the ground to 2B Clemens, who started the game-ending 4-6-3 double play. Final score: 7-5 Hobart, their bullpen proving the difference, throwing 4.1 scoreless innings of 3-hit, 1-walk ball.



Oct 5: Roos (3-1) v Aces (1-3)

Late Charge Not Enough to Bounce Newcastle to a Win

27 y/o Jesus Solis had made 57 appearances out of Newcastle’s bullpen in 2057, starting 1 game as injury cover, but was hoping to nail down a spot in the rotation this season. Solis had 4 pitches (fastball, slider, changeup and forkball), none of which were especially outstanding, and often talked about “subtlety and variation” being the main weapons in his arsenal. Sam Vader was Melbourne’s #5 starter, having bounced around between the rotation and bullpen the last 2 seasons. 32 y/o Vader was a control pitcher who got very little movement.

Snell led off the bottom of the 1st with a stand-up triple over the head of the CF. He came home next at-bat, Jayden Downes’ hot grounder stopped by Al Ayliffe at the edge of the infield but giving the 2B no chance of making an out at home or at 1st. The hurt continued for Solis, the next 2 hitters singling and another run scoring. 2 outs later Christos Spargo singled Vern Bull home and Melbourne had an early 3-run advantage.

Light rain began to fall in the 2nd but stopped soon after, doing nothing other than making the ground slick. Melbourne scored 2 in the inning, the 2nd run thanks to a balk call. Solis gave the umpire a good glare. Newcastle’s Mitchell Cox singled in the 3rd, and advanced to 3rd when Bull threw the ball into the outfield attempting to stop his steal attempt. Guillermo Julio singled him home to open Newcastle’s account.

Solis (2.1IP, 8H, 6R, 5ER, 0BB, 1K) was yanked in the bottom of the 3rd. He’d thrown 73 pitches in 2.1 innings. Melbourne scored 2 unearned runs in the frame. Marcos Lopez made it a 4-run game with a 2-run jack in the 4th and the scoring died down for a while.

Bottom of the 7th and 2 nubber infield singles in a row saw Melbourne load the bases with 1 out. They managed 1 run. Newcastle rallied in the 8th. Back-to-back doubles from Paddy Mildren and Cox with no outs followed by a Po-sin Liang rbi-bloop-single to centre an out later brought Newcastle within striking distance. Vader (7.1IP, 9H, 6ER, 1BB, 3K) came from the mound, replaced by Isaac Hodgson, who had a 40.50 ERA from 3 prior appearances. He gave up a single, struck out 1, and then gave up another single, to see Liang score. Ayliffe struck out for the 4th time in the game to end the inning.

Melbourne closer Craig Lewis had the opportunity to record his first save for the season. He induced a regulation 5-3 for the first out, a popup to 2B for the 2nd out, but then clipped Cox to bring the tying run to the plate. Julio singled to centre and Liang singled to right, scoring Cox. 1 run in it and Lewis looked decidedly nervous with Alou at the plate. Alou battled to 3-2 before swinging through a low fastball to end the game. Final score: 8-7 Melbourne.



Oct 6: Pioneers (1-4) v Prospects (4-1)

’Bulldozer’ Norris Key to Comfortable Pioneers Win

Blair Norris, the recipient of the Pioneers’ solitary win so far, would be up against Brock Lawless, Hobart’s #1 starter. Neither pitcher threw a conventional 4-seam fastball.

An Arvelos sac-fly scored Nick Ahern in the 2nd to open Kununurra's account. Hobart pulled off a double-steal with 1 out in the 3rd and an out later Anderton drove both runners home with a double to the alley in right. Prospects to the lead. Bert Blenkhorn put Kununurra back in front in the 4th, bashing a 2-out 3-run HR over left, and then Steven Pickhills added insult to injury, also going deep over LF. An early shower for Lawless (3.2IP, 6H, 5ER, 0BB, 2K) who didn’t seem to have his best stuff today.

Norris had brought all his tools to the game, however, easing through the first 6 innings, though he was helped out a couple times by nice running catches by CF Rhys Jolly. Chavez put Kununurra a further run ahead with a 4-bagger over right centre in the 7th. Norris notched up his 10th strikeout in the 8th, 74 of his 99 pitches to-date strikes. Pickhills lofted a fastball 422 feet over left centre in the 9th for his second HR of the night, putting Kununurra 5 runs clear.

Culaham came to the mound in the 9th, even though it wasn’t a save situation. The last time he’d pitched was on 4 days ago, when he blew the save against Perth. He struck out Anderton with an almost perfectly placed sinker, and then struck out Luo with a sinker that looked like a ball until the last moment when its legs fell off to just touch the top of the strike zone. Clemens walked but Broomhall ground out to 2nd to end it. Final score: 7-2 Kununurra.

Norris (8.0IP, 5H, 2ER, 0BB, 10K) only allowed 1 baserunner between the 4th and 8th, getting better as the game went on. His efforts netted him the #3 performance of the day on the official AUNZBL site.

[Eugene Church]

Wow!

You've got a good dynasty going!

Plan to go back and read it all and get immersed in the AUSZBL

The league logo is outstanding.

Do you have any aborigines playing in your league?
I had some on my IPA teams in Tuckanarra and Wynnamac... I was never sure that my aborigine names were authentic.