Making The Move Upstate: A Buffalo Nickels Story

[dward1]

Last year in Zurich, this year the big meeting is back on USBL turf in the heart of Texas. Not San Antonio, interestingly, but Fort Worth.



Naturally when Pierce Carlson announced Fort Worth would be spot, whispers starting circulating about a franchise there to take on the WBA's Dallas Bulls. But that would come later, the big story was WBA commissioner Chris Hayes missing out due to unspecified health concerns. The man behind this global vision of baseball that has spread far beyond what many thought possible and yet still retained a big viewership here in the States has remained vibrant and full of energy into his mid-80s and we all wish him well, including his rivals at the meeting.

Richard Villani took his place as the lead man, with Sam Greene promoted to #2. The same owners were there, Lopez from SLC and Aliyec of Barcelona. The same management rep for the USBL was there in Michael Newby from the Riders, but as Marco Avila was fired from Mexico City, it was Rick Marshall of Sydney representing the WBA's GM's. Hector Chavez finally retired, meaning Will Goodnight of Raleigh is the new USBL player rep. Wilson Salinas is the rep for the WBA.


The New Guys

The Agenda
The first topic was a recap of the recently completed Nations League. 40 different national teams took part across 4 different 10 team leagues.
-A tier played in Phoenix (England beat Canada as the US shockingly finished outside top 2, France relegated)
-B tier played in Santo Domingo (Spain defeats Taiwan, Philippines relegated)
-C tier played in Johannesburg (Scotland defeats Belgium, Ukraine relegated)
-D tier played in Sao Paulo (Brazil defeats New Zealand, Sweden finishes last)

It was judged a success but a small one. International play is still a tiny portion of viewers and money though reports are Spain and Brazil both loved the tournament, even having a public viewing or two for the finals. Carlson loves the idea of Nations League way more than what he calls the "bulky, bloodless World Cup" with regions like Asia and the Southern Hemisphere not really having fans who support it.

We now have a schedule of Nations League and World Cup alternating, that will be subject to evaluation in 5 years.


Purchasing players
San Antonio Riders GM Newby wanted clauses inserted into every contract of lower tier teams that clubs from the top could buy their players for some price, he suggested $2 million. Richer clubs from the second tier have voiced opposition to this, as have poorer first tier teams thinking it will just make San Antonio even stronger basically. It's not a horrible idea, but it's coming from the wrong man. Fresh off his clubs 10th USBL title the year after signing two of the biggest free agents and with the Riders lining up a likely $23 million payroll for next year when no one else even reaches $13 million, they aren't the most popular club among the rest of the USBL. The motion sort of slid by as most basically didn't want San Antonio to be helped further.

Summer Market
Talk about the explosion in prices this summer was interesting as essentially everyone approved of the process. The indication is maybe twice as many players will test the Summer Market next year (16 and 17 year olds) as normal. The classic path of playing amateur ball after turning 16 and then making the leap at 19 or 20 doesn't make as much sense if you can grab 6 figures a few years earlier and spend time in the minors. This process is preferred across the board by the committees.

Carlson's Shock Expansion Plan
Before Villani could get to what he thought would be the tensest part of the meeting, Carlson jumped the gun. Last year Hayes showed his plan of adding dozens of new teams and a third tier to the WBA, and Carlson seemed cold toward it. Either he was faking then or he's put together an incredible amount of work over the past season. He put a map on the board with 32 new teams in what he calls the "Americana League". He said he had 16 more waiting if any fell through and that this "Americana League" would continue the USBL's tradition of emphasizing the best communities and the most unique flavors of America. The league would be divided into four geographical divisions

-Northeast (featuring two Baltimore franchises, Chesapeake, Providence and more)



-Midwest (finally a St. Louis team, plus Cleveland, Louisville, Grand Rapids and more)



-Southeast (two teams in DFW metroplex, one in Austin, a team in Tampa and St. Pete, and more)



-Southwest (heavy concentration in Arizona and So Cal with El Paso in the mix also)





Villani was stunned, no reports had come to him that the USBL was this far along. He had planned on talking in the secondary meeting, with just WBA/Euroleague/ASL about possible expansion and further integration of the leagues. He simply said "Looks good." Carlson broke out that high-pitched laugh so reminiscent of his father and asked "Looks good? That's all you have to say? You don't have your own plan ready?" Villani calmly and coolly didn't respond to this provocation but you could see it burned the former French ambassador to the US.

Villani eventually haggled a year delay in any expansion plans involving the USBL and WBA as Carlson cackled. "We're fine now, we are fine expanding...you just seem unprepared"

Champions League Qualification Reset
The idea shared by SLC's owner Mark Lopez was that too many teams from outside the very top are making the CL. Right now the top team from Europe, Asia, the WBA2 and USBL2 all have a shot to win a 3-game series to make it into the CL.

This has happened several times now. Since the first year it was an opton in '59, the Little Leaguers as they are sometimes called are 6-18 in qualification series, but are 4-4 the past two seasons.

Team (Record in Champions League)
2064: Washington and RB Salzburg (5-13)
2063: Las Vegas Lights and Real Madrid (6-12)
2061: Quebec (3-6)
2060: Shanghai (3-6)

This overall record of 17 wins and 37 losses for a .315 winning % doesn't add much to the competition, and only one team has made the knockout round in 6 tries. This has made the competition feel less elite, Lopez claims, and teams in the second tier feel like they have too much of a chance.

He wants the 3rd place team in both the USBL and WBA to return to an automatic spot ("Making the playoffs in our league is brutal, it should be rewarded with a spot in the competition and not another qualifier filled with luck.") Lopez wants these global competitions to feature teams at the top of their organizations, why should a second place team in Asia have precedence over a team who battled through the meat grinder of the WBA to finish in the top half? He has a point. Chris Hayes, the democratizer of these competitions, was not there to respond and Villani, ego still shaken maybe from the Carlson laugh, said nothing. The motion passed even with some noting the gap is closing between the top two leagues and the rest.

We will be seeing many more middle of the pack USBL and WBA teams, if you finish top half you are now guaranteed a group stage spot somewhere. And only the winners of the secondary leagues have a spot in global competition, no more second placers.




That wrapped things up for the Big Meeting, but the WBA's secondary meeting followed the next day was where a lot of juiciness was expected.

Day 2, Not As Big Meeting
Arriving Day 2 in Fort Worth were reps from the Euroleague, both tiers of the WBA and Asia along with a mysterious group of five.


English/Welsh megastar Carl West was there as was former Chicago Union now Samsung Lion outfielder Takahito Hiratsuka.



So were Barca GM Soren Walter and Manila head coach Liu-Liang Sui, coming off a Super League title.

Opening Salvo
Villani was more direct and less pleading than Hayes had been in the past, calmly offering the Asian group the opportunity for several teams to begin in WBA2 and even offered the hope of one beginning in the top tier if they directly joined with the WBA. The agreement the day previous taking away a qualifying spot for the ASL's #2 team and making it harder to make the CL had not put the Asian group in a good mood.


Sui said that we will agree to be under the WBA umbrella if we can get a direct CL spot, a second direct Global Cup spot, we get to keep the revenue from these tournaments, we keep our own league, and we keep our "2 Foreigner Rule".

Villani signed in frustration, everyone knew this wasn't a serious offer. The two sides remain massively off each other and the Asian Superleague will remain basically it's own entity.

Europe
With the USBL ready to expand, the WBA has to focus its grand plans from last year into something a bit more actionable. The potential two different leagues in the Americas have morphed into one division with teams to be named later.

The Euroleague's planned expansion has been put on hold as the WBA's new overtures are to incorporate the league fully as it stands into the new third tier. Carl West and Soren Walter basically openly said they'd do almost anything to join the WBA system. The Euroleague has been a minimal success, with the league title passing between 6 different teams hands in the first 6 years, no rivalries or storylines have truly developed. It's well-backed financially and will give into to the demands to drop any foreigner rule quickly. That's a second division and 24 total teams.

Group of Five
Ideally, Villani wanted Asia to be division three but with that blown up, his second option was the mysterious group of five there today. Businessmen from Pakistan, England, Australia, South Africa and India were ready to talk a new league. But Villani's thoughts of having this group form the 3rd division of his new third tier quickly came crashing down.

"We know the similarities between baseball and cricket, we think we know how to market the game in our countries better than you. And we think our fans want to see our players playing. We want foreigner rules as well, that's a red line. We have enough talent and people in just our countries alone to build a league to rival yours." said the very bold but possibly misinformed Dilip Tata, a Mumbai-based mogul who led the way.

What became clear was Tata had his own agenda that didn't have anything to do with the WBA and was basically there to announce the new Commonwealth League. This league was basically Hayes' idea from last season that they took and made their own. With Indian money and the Indian market backing it, it's hard to overcome that momentum. Tata already has the 12 teams and where players can come from. He unveiled a huge map to show the room



Anything colored is the Commonwealth Zone, players from those regions are eligible for this league and nobody else.

There had been debate over including Canada as the worry was players from Canada would just overrun the league as they couldn't convince a Canadian team to join, but in the end the quality of players and the historical Commonwealth association won out. They want to start play as soon as possible, as early as the 2066 season.

"I think we can get 80,000 people out to watch when the Indian teams play each other or we play a Pakistani team" bragged Tata. That remains to be seen.

Where Else?
This leaves a 3rd tier of the WBA looking at an Americas Division and a European division, but still 8 teams shy of the proposed USBL proposal. There've been whispers of a oil-backed bid from the Middle East that could provide another division, or the WBA could go to two divisions of 16 with Euro expansion and a 16-team Americas division instead of 12. They are a bit on the back foot now and need a clearer plan by next Big Meeting as Carlson will be waiting to laugh.

[dward1]

It was a very quiet offseason. When you have no money you don't really have much to do. Farr's arbitration number is getting really high, this is his last year in arb, but what are we going to do?

We wanted to resign Bobby Sullivan, who was coming off two brilliant years at Portland and would have come to Orlando with a shot to make the big club, but he wanted a bonus or a minimum deal and we can't even afford that. He's gone to Hartford and will be a solid depth piece for them.

We love scooping up cheap, high potential Winter Market guys for 10, 20, or 40k bonuses over the year but this year we can't even do that. We signed just 2 Winter Market guys to go along with a few retreads we think other teams messed up on. That means we only got 3 "Fresh Blood" players this season:
OF Ron Splan, from the summer
3B Ben Blackwell
and LHP Adam Faulk

Both those last two have questionable character profiles and our new scout hates them, just hates them. Our new scout also is, an Upstairs Man promoted into a position of power. Rassie Smuts got his start analyzing cricketers and producing great viz on a blog I found online. He joined me in Brooklyn and had worked as a Player Development analyst with me for 8 years now. He was the one tooting the horn of Chris Bishop and Chad Graves for an entire year before Graves burst onto the scene with 4.8 WAR last year. He was involved in the final year of BJ Peterson's development as well and I trust this guy fully. Mario Segura was a great scout, but didn't quite work in a team as well as I wanted. He's gone now.

So is Julio Martinez.



He rarely communicated and wouldn't come to the Upstairs Men pre and sometimes postgame meetings. That's where all the real work gets done. It became a bit awkward so I figured why not one of the Upstairs Men to take over his job? Wellington Moor, the financial and roster construction wizard is of course the guy for the job. From rugby financials in Auckland to now being the assistant GM in Buffalo. Rassie and Wellington will now each have at least 3 or 4 employees under them (more in Rassie's case with all the part time analysts and scouts involved across the country), so they don't just report to me anymore they are in positions of power.

Wellington might have to do some financial magic to get us out of this cap hell if we don't get promoted soon.

My player go-between of Myron Til, the former sprinter, has always had to go Upstairs after pregame. I wondered why that is. He should be in the dugout during the game, that's when these guys go to war. Myron needs to be there, see how they react. See how Farr can be talking about the politics involved in the WBA/USBL Big Meetings before noticing that Mike Lentz's bat speed is slowing down, see how Adam Stromgren always scans crowd for potential hot chicks to give his number to, see how nervous Ben Buchanan always gets before he might possibly go in, and more. To be in the midst of battle with these guys is what his job literally is. He has earned some respect, but the lack of baseball background limits his coaching skills. He's there to be a conduit for us to get some of our ideas through and for basically a guy for players to trust as well. It's a tough position, but he's a special character.





This certainly puts the focus on me and my team in a big way, but we aren't getting fired anytime soon. Gerry Thomas, the most respected name in managing (still?) gets mega-contracts with can't be fired for anything baseball clauses.

This leaves Lockie Wheeler and Navdeep Gill as the remaining Upstairs Men with the same, old title of "analyst" though of course we dress it up. "Performance Analysis" for Lockie and "Opposition Analysis" for Navdeep, but they will take care of everything. After the announcement, Lockie greeted me in that special Scottish way of his "You think I'm a numpty, eh? Not class enough?" You never can tell when he's joking or actually pissed off, I think he's joking. Navdeep just gave me his report on how Burnsy'd looked so far in his Orlando workouts, unsurprisingly he sees a bounceback season.

[dward1]

The playing squad was exactly the same as our last game vs Seattle when we arrived in Orlando to begin preseason work.



No moves had been made all winter to change the first team squad. Now, we did have eyes on a couple of minor leaguers this spring to see if they could threaten for a place.

OF Steve Cordoba is just 21 but has so many of the traits we salivate over: speed, defense, smarts and work ethic. Last year he started in Syracuse in his first year in the system, dominated there and got the promotion to Portland. He struggled there, but he's one that has Buffalo written on him in the future.

Nick Fernandez, Carlos Trujillo and Antonio Hernandez are basically veteran bullpen depth. Cool to see Trujillo pitch in the Nations League B for Puerto Rico. As a USBL team we don't have too many chances really to have our players get in international competition as they are all American. Wayne Rigsbee did lead off for the US but sadly Peterson and Zamora didn't make it. Only one other player, 20 year old OF Bendt Carstensen got into a Nations League team. He played in the D tier with his Danish passport.

But Carstensen wasn't here in Orlando. Former big leaguers Josh Cross and Victor Zavala are, though Zavala's struggles last year in Portland have hurt his stature in the organization. He is now behind an intriguing middle infield prospect Corey Collins. His bat came along in a big way at Syracuse last year and is now working at SS, if he can really improve there he could eventually be a Mallow replacement.

The one that new scouting director Rassie Smuts can't wait to watch is the young gun Enrique de la Cruz. He was one of those small bonus babies in the Winter Market (we got him for $10k right after moving to Buffalo in late '61) and he has exploded since and dominated throughout the minors. He started as a reliever and then after a 1.40 ERA in 2063 between Syracuse and Portland was made into a starter last season and delivered quite well. If he shows improvement this year he could be ready to make the move to Buffalo. Farr is leaving next year almost certainly, there will be a rotation spot open...

The focus this year is much more on performance in the Cup and less on seeing how people will settle in, last year everyone watched every move Rigsbee and Burnsy made, we were trying to figure out who would start in the rotation, and it was tough to actually focus on winning. Crazy to think Graves was just a possible option this time a year ago, shows you how important Orlando and the Cup are.

This year we want to state our intent with at least a Knockout Stage run. In 3 years so far we are 18-18 with 0 appearances in the Final 16. This year sets up nicely with a reasonable schedule and a top-heavy group. We got drawn with both Global #1 LA and #2 Brooklyn (LA finally took it over from my old boys with their amazing season last year...only better one was mine in 2061). But besides that the final two spots look open. Let's get to it.

[dward1]

The focus is completely on winning, the warmup has gone very well in the 3 weeks leading up to the Cup and we are ready to go. Graves officially gets the ball opening day...



Jose Rodriguez with a pair of bombs against the lefty vs OKC, has he been inspired after last years demotion and losing his job vs righties?

Farr delivered a solid start and we came back to beat the fading Roosters. Their hometown hero Jake Lynch is still a free agent and they can't afford to pay him. It's a franchise in trouble.



Burnsy delivered his first ever complete game against Kansas City, Navdeep's reports that he might be ready to step up look prescient...after just one game. BJ Peterson with a brace (2 homers) vs Pittsburgh as he is absolutely scalding the ball.

The undefeated push ended in ignominy. Farr gave up a Grand Slam in the second to make it 6-0 against Seattle, then drilled the next batter to spark a brawl. Just a bit of wrestling, maybe the Rainiers taunting about us the Qualifier last year sparked it, that's what Farr says. I don't believe him, think he was just angry his ERA got annihilated.



I guess that's how you come back from a 12-0 loss. The numbers against Salzburg were comical: Joe Duncan had 5 hits and was our 3rd best hitter. Peterson had 5 hits and another HR and was our 2nd best hitter. Bishop delivered a Hat Trick. 4th time in Nickels history one guy hits 3 HRs. First two times was Sean Kirby, who had a career 140 OPS+ for the team before being sold for $2 million to San Antonio after his 7th season.



Burnsy's 2nd straight CG (and second ever) got lost in the shuffle almost, except to Navdeep.

Bill Brienza of the Iowa Dusters (28/0 K/BB ratio in Cup) absolutely carved us up but we hung close to the CL champs due to a solid Graves start and we scored 2 in the ninth to tie it up. A Rigsbee walkoff won it but Peterson was the star with another brace of bombs...his OPS is at 1680.

The team that had such anemic power when we arrived now leads the 70-team tournament in home runs. This is a continuation of the process in our first three years:

2062: .84 HRs per game
2063: .98
2064: 1.07

Miami has such a deep lineup, we got 1-hit and struck out 10 times but that lineup impressed me even more than the start from Mark Jones. They've developed so much over the years. It helps when you can pay $3.4 mil a year to one player sure, but they've developed some studs.

At this point we are 6-2, tied with LA and a surprising Frankfurt for 2nd behind Brooklyn. We just need to finish in the top 4, I don't care about seeding. OKC and San Diego are strong teams just a game back.



One thing that is worrying me is Rigsbee's performance, his average is under the Mendoza Line. Could it be burnout? He's gone from those 30-50 game, low stakes amateur seasons to playing 88 high stakes games for us and then 9 more leading off for the national team? It's still early but in the Cup it's really driven home just how talented he and Peterson are. Even the very best teams would feature those two guys and many great teams don't have anyone on their level. They are way too good for the second tier, we need to get out of here.

Forwards to the next set...



Burns crashes and "burns" here...no CG against Dallas.

But we bounce back in enormous fashion with the best game I've ever seen a Buffalo pitcher throw. Chad Graves kept the Jacksonville lineup, which I think is probably the best in the world, scoreless through 8 innings. He struck out a career high 11. Rigsbee hit a brace of home runs...the number of times we are having someone hit 2 or 3 bombs in a game is wild. Peterson twice, Bishop, Rodriguez and Rigsbee. 5 times in 10 games.

The next day made it 6 in 11 as Adam Stromgren got in on the Brace Bounty. Yates and Mallow added one each and we now have 8 more home runs than any other team in the world.


Now we just need a win vs Hartford and we are in, as we are tied for 3rd with Frankfurt at 8-3. Kia and San Diego are a game back.



We lost, but it didn't matter. Frankfurt lost to LA and while San Diego won against Marseille, that caused a 3-way tie and our run differential saw us crawl into the Knockout Stage. First time since I've been here and just the third time ever for the franchise, the 2055 and 2059 Nickels made it.

We draw Boston, a rematch of the 2063 Global Cup Qualifiers, in the first round. It's a best of 3.



Knockout Stage
The 2055 team lost in the first round while in 2059 they beat the Magic to get to the Elite 8 before falling to eventual champ San Francisco. We possibly have LA looming in the Elite 8 here but first comes the focus on Boston.

Game 1
Our series is set in Jacksonville, with its iconic pool in dead center and Wayne Rigsbee cleared it with a 452 foot nuclear bomb in the first inning.

Bishop went a foot better in the 3rd, 453 feet, with a 3-run hydrogen bomb?

Graves struggled but we took a 2-run lead to the 9th for Zamora, can't ask for anything more. But he blew the save.

A good chance in the 10th went missing then we settled in and got comfortable. Real comfortable, an 8 PM start ticked past midnight on the east coast. We couldn't score but Rieger was cruising. The game ticked over to the 13th, when we went to the 14th I told our guys the postgame meal was available in the clubhouse. I think it was Chipotle but I mean, it was 2:00 AM, guys were starving. "Don't eat the whole burrito now Yates" I yelled as three players nearly sprinted through the tunnel.

They turned to a SP in the 16th around 3:00 AM, we still rolled with Kuruc, our last reliever. Stromgren finally broke the tie with a HR, the first run of extras, in the 18th.

They loaded the bases with 1 out in the bottom half and got a sac fly, before we rolled on, into the 19th. When I went into the clubhouse, most of the burritos were gone. 3 hour old, eaten Chipotle has a certain smell.

They were truly on their last pitcher now, Dave Cartwright was their 3rd and final starter the 8th Colonial pitcher of the game. Kuruc got in trouble in the 19th and we finally turned to a starter and Burns bailed us out. To the 20th.

Rigsbee started us off so well so long (days?) ago, now will he finish it? A 2-run double gave us the lead again. And Burns finally finished it off. An absurd 21 inning, 8 hour and 34 minute game. It was 4:39 AM and there were about 25 very drunk people left in the stadium. I gave one of them a Chipotle burrito and showered and went to Waffle House with all the Upstairs Men (should I still call Myron, Wellington, and Rassie this?) and my treat. I think we ordered $120 worth of Waffle House as we pored over the box score.

-Jaeden Burton walked 10 times all league season the first year with us, he walked 6 times in this game.
-We struck out 27 times and won.
-Joe Duncan had 6 hits, 3 doubles and 0 RBIs.

Just an absurd box score that will be studied for years. As I finished up my 3rd plate of bacon, it was 7:15 AM and Jacksonville was coming awake for Friday morning. I went back to a very satisfied sleep.




Game 2
About 9 hours later we were back at the field. We were exhausted, but they were really exhausted. Boston manager Dan Hallman told the press "It's a bullpen game without much of a bullpen. We'll see how it goes." We had a few of the fulltime sportswriters for the Athletic show up to talk to us about some "Oral History" of the 21 inning game the night before.

We had a fresh Jared Farr so advantage us. And it did work out that way...for a while. Farr gave up 4 runs in the 5th and suddenly the game was tied again. But they still had 4 innings to go and not many pitchers to get there, finally the dam broke and our exhausted bullpen patched it together while theirs broke. They have a season to look forward to and didn't push anyone to crazy, injury-risking extent...we would up seeing a position player pitch in a Cup game! We win it 11-5 and advance to take on the #1 team in the world.

[dward1]

LA is the #1 team in the world. They edged past my old Brooklyn Atlantics last season into the top spot with an incredible trio of starters as they averaged 3.4 runs against or fewer for the third straight season and won the Super Cup, Baseball Cup and finally, finally the WBA title. Those 3 starters combined for a 74-27 record and an ERA of just around 3.10.



Herman Downie left in free agency at 39 for a 2-year deal with Washington and guess what? They call up Ryan Shuler, the #3 WBA prospect who in 7 starts so far has struck out 52 and has a 3.00 ERA. Suffice to say, Los Angeles are an enormous problem for us as they would be for anyone.

Game 1
It's Graves vs Dombroski, who we tried to get last offseason and in retrospect were crazy to ever go for. My former relief ace in Brooklyn was turned into a dominant starter since I left. He was the one who then inspired us to sign 2-pitch Burnsy thinking he could be the next Dombroski. I hope he becomes half that.

Today Dombroski was one of the best, fanning 12 over 8.1 innings and even though their star CF, Kieran Fleetwood, was tossed in the 2nd inning, they had plenty of offense.

Game 2
Now it's Fernando Ruiz, maybe the greatest pitcher ever seen in the WBA or USBL. The all-time pitching leader in WAR has a career 149 ERA+, a nearly Pedro Martinez level of dominant.

But Adam Stromgren got his 7th home run of the tournament in the first inning and we led 3-0. Kerry Burns was emulating his prototype through 3, only allowing an unearned run but another came in the fourth and then a 3-run bomb in the fifth turned the tide. Truly, we didn't stand much of a chance against these guys, we just aren't on the same level. LA wins the series with a 7-3 win.


Cup Thoughts
Overall I'm very pleased with our efforts. The sheer amount of home runs has me excited for the regular season, hopefully we can just blow away the competition and finally win the league. Farr's struggles have me wondering if we might be trying de la Cruz this season in the rotation, crazy that the guy who won Pitcher of the Year in 2063 might be at risk of losing his spot in 65.

An enormous tournament from Joe Duncan (.462 AVG) was great to see, Stromgren's 7 bombs have me thinking those two might be back. BJ Peterson was top class, but Rigsbee only had a .735 OPS.

Farr gave up 6 HRs in 25.2 IP and only struck out 15...6.90 ERA.

The team as a whole had a .837 OPS (113 OPS+) and a 4.53 ERA (97 ERA+).

We played well, accomplished the Elite 8, pocketed 200k and lost to the best team in the tournament, who would go on to win the Cup for the second straight season. Second straight year the Reign swept the Early Work tournaments: Super and Baseball Cup.

[dward1]

Season Preview


We have been comfortably ranked the best team in the league...again. That was true last year however and it wound up not being true as Memphis topped every run category on their way back to the top tier. They knocked down Cincinnati, who brings back the veteran ace Brad Patterson who pledged his future and probably the rest of his career to the Spartans with a new 5-year deal. They are ranked second.




That might be a risky one for the Spartans with a 34-year old pitcher whose stuff is declining fast, but Patterson basically is the franchise. He’s by far the most famous player in the league still. Cincy is our main competitor, their 3rd starter is former Nickel Trevor Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick started ’63 as our 3rd starter, bombed completely then did just enough for Mexico City to have Cincy pick him up.



Nashville and Richmond are the other true playoff contenders. The Hounds rely on ace Tony Herdzik (2.93 ERA over 3 seasons in Nashville) while Richmond have US national team catcher Josh Marinelli leading their charge (967 OPS in the league last year).

Middle of the pack teams: Charlotte Flyers, California Grizzlies, Kansas City Packers



The Packers and Grizzlies both just missed out on playoff berths last year and are quite big clubs who feel like they deserve a top tier slot. Charlotte has spent huge this offseason as they want to build something up to eventually bother in-state rivals and top 10 team Raleigh.

Bottom Half Teams: Palo Alto Redwoods, Madison Bucks (who have rebranded with a new logo and nickname)



Both these teams have some elite talent they are kind of wasting. The Bucks do have a young star in Mitch Howser who they picked up in a shrewd deal with Dallas. Howser is just getting his career under way alongside who many think is the best player in the second tier, Zach Craggs. Craggs is heading toward free agency in a couple years but the Bucks lack of depth has held them back a bit.

Pedro Vargas has ticked down a bit in the last few years from what looked like a perennial MVP candidate as the Redwoods have floated around .500 (34-35-33-35-32 wins the past 5 years).

Cellar Dwellers: Pittsburgh Rebels, New Orleans Brass, Rochester Roosters (what a shame).



Our rivals are in huge trouble. Last year was their worst ever season at 28-38 for a 9th place finish, if they do that again it will be a massive overperformance. Dustin Evans, their most reliable pitcher is gone, and franchise heart Jake Lynch is still a free agent. We play them in the annual Upstate Rivalry to open the season and my god if we can't win the series against them this year, when will we ever?

In the top tier, Memphis are projected to struggle mightily and face the drop. The Lights are a mid-table team again according to the "experts". To run away with first, guess who? Oh yes, the team with a $23 million payroll, $10 million higher than #2...San Antonio again. Memphis's $4.1 million payroll pales in comparison.



What to watch for
Key points I will be watching for are 1: is Burns ready to make the leap to at least a mid-4 ERA starter that we don’t have to fret over these huge blowup innings every other start. 2. Is Farr truly losing it? If he is, it will be Rassie’s call for if de la Cruz is ready…I don’t think we will call him up unless he’s ready to start.

Offensively I will watch to see if Rigsbee’s Cup was just a blip and he’s still the uber-stud of last season and if Duncan and Stromgren’s early returns signify a return to 2063 levels.

I want to establish an order in the bullpens Lefty Roulette.



Buchanan was great in the Cup (21/1 K/BB) while Kuruc really struggled but they and Rieger seem to swap effectiveness month by month, it’s frustrating at times but overall they all wound up with good numbers last year. It just would be nice to know which one is peaking in big game. The entire bullpen is 30+ so we will be watching for any signs of slippage.

[dward1]

WWWWWWWWW.

That is how we've started the season. We almost blew a big early lead in Rochester opening day but a Chris Bishop 3-run home run moved us from trailing to leading in the 9th and from then on it was full speed ahead.

Our first home series, against hapless Pittsburgh, was a bloodbath. We outscored them by 23 runs on the weekend and they scored just 4 runs. Kerry Burns delivered a 3-hit shutout on Sunday to cap the celebration off.

It almost felt like we underperformed when we swept Palo Alto, because every game was a 1-run game.

A +34 differential comes about when you lead the league in runs and runs against, Joe Duncan and Wayne Rigsbee are playing amazing defense, which we never thought they would, as our DEFF is at an absurd and probably unsustainable .721.

Rigsbee is still not hitting, the very slight almost stick-figureish frame is getting a lot of attention from our sports science guys Keemo, Nick and Rakeem. 6'4'', 180 is like DJ LeMahieu minus 35 pounds. They think it might just not be enough to keep up his power over the years and he needs to workout more. Rassie once told me he thought last year was an overperformance, and that Rigsbee won't be a .330 hitting, .1000 OPS-ing guy in his career and that he rode an unsustainable .390 BABIP last year. He's got to be better than the .700 OPS guy he is through 110 ABs this year though, please.

Players of the month
You get a long list when you go 9-0 and win games by an average of 4 runs.

Kerry Burns (2-0, 2 ER in 22.2 IP, 0.79 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 19/5 K/BB)....still only two pitches but a completely dominant month after a strong Cup performance. He only just turned 21...
Chad Graves (2-0, 12/2 K/BB in 19 IP, 2.84 ERA, 1.16 WHIP)
Ben Buchanan (7.1 hitless, scoreless innings)
John Stewart (1069 OPS)
Matt Mallow (901 OPS)
Adam Stromgren (1005 OPS)
BJ Peterson (1005 OPS)
Chris Bishop (1148 OPS) and Jose Rodriguez (1371 OPS) combining for one amazing outfielder


Who’s cold
Wayne Rigsbee (628 OP)
Joe Duncan (689 OPS…a cool down from the .462 AVG in Cup)
Chris Yates (668 OPS)

[dward1]

Last year we had one even average starter. While Chad Graves lost the pitcher of the year race to McAllister of Memphis, he was the best pitcher in the league in my book. Farr and Burns floundered in the 5s and put us in the position of riding the pen so many Saturday and Sundays (including a brutal stretch where we lost 6 straight games on Sat/Sun). That scenario is gone this season. Farr just won Pitcher of the Month as he leads the league in ERA (2.43) and Burns is not far behind him in 4th (2.83).

Farr ripped off a 21 inning scoreless streak this month and his K rate has skyrocketed. He struck out double digits in 3 of his last 4 games with 39 total. All his peripherals are so much better than last year
K: 7.5 -> 9.2
BB: 2.7 -> 1.1
HR: 0.9 -> 0.8

Sometimes they say that contract year can inspire a pitcher, especially one in our league where you have to wait so long to make it. I'll be happy for him to sign a big deal somewhere if he keeps pitching like this and leads us to the promised land.

Rigsbee's early struggles seemed over when he homered in the first game of the month and then had a 4-hit game in the second to take us to 11-0. I told the guys after that game, "Let's see how far this ride goes". It was not going far, as we got decimated 12-0 on Sunday against the Grizzlies.

“We dedicate ourselves anew daily” is one of my favorite phrases pulled from Ed Tom Bell and that was my pregame message vs Madison after our streak had ended. Yates pulled a hammy Friday as we started a new winning streak. Jose Rodriguez was dedicating himself at least twice daily this offseason, Yates missed 8 games and Rodriguez kept crushing. He has a 1029 OPS in 76 AB.

Rigsbee's slump busting start of the month was a facade, he free-fell down to a .634 OPS and didn't hit his second bomb of the month until the last day of it. For a while Peterson had been dragged down with him, leaving us without the peak services of the two guys who carried us last year but yet 14-1. Not the worst place to be in. Peterson eventually bludgeoned his way out of his slump.

One of our 4 losses on the month came when Zamora melted down completely vs KC walking four and hitting a man. He's just been a standard good reliever this year (3.30 ERA) and not the superhuman Mariano-esque player of last year.

We seem to be on our way to first place, we have a +61 run differential while second place is just at +21. There seems to be no other elite team like the Lights and Memphis were the past few years, but we aren't even halfway done. Keep focused and grinding.


In other news
In other notes: Nick Leisch got to 100 career USBL2 home runs, making it all 3 of the Triple L’s for Rochester in Triple Digits. Lentz is the all-time leader at 130, then St. John and Craggs from Madison who are both still slugging for the Wisconsin side, then Lynch at 112 and Leisch at 100.



Lynch wound up signing for San Antonio, where he’s lined up to play a backup role on one of the best teams in the world who have quickly jumped to a lead again in the USBL.

California seems to have packed it in already, the Grizzlies are a game under .500 and 3 games back of second playoff spot but they see us so far ahead of the pack and they’ve traded away their big bat Josh Stanton (career 120 OPS+).

USBL2 Race


Month Summary


We've still won every series and that will drive us each week now as we look to accelerate away and not risk drifting into that awful First Round range.

Players of the month
Jared Farr (4-0, 36.2 IP, 42/5 K/BB, 1.72 ERA, 0.85 WHIP)
Adam Stromgren (997 OPS)
Jose Rodriguez (915 OPS)


Who's Cold?
Chris Bishop (372 OPS)
Chris Yates (490 OPS)...these two struggles have opened the door wide for Rodriguez to grab a fulltime job
Wayne Rigsbee (729 OPS)...the midweek work in the weight room is showing up. He's up 5 pounds and unleashed a huge home run on the months final day. It's still fingers crossed time though, to see such a talent regress like this second year can be excruciating
Jorge Zamora 5.56 ERA in 11.1 IP

[dward1]

We ran it to 9 consecutive series won when we topped New Orleans to open the month. How long could it go? 9. It could go 9 consecutive series. We need to stop pushing for these streaks, as soon as we bring them up, they die.

Despite scoring 17 runs in the first 4 innings of the game on Saturday, we lose the series against Charlotte. On that Saturday, Rigsbee hit homers in each of the first two innings, delighting a home crowd that had been desperately urging him on to break his slump. We've seen a lot of these explosive games. He has games of

8 total bases
6 total bases twice
5 total bases twice
4 total bases six times

so that's 54 total bases in 11 games, in the remaining 25 games he has just 9 total bases. 17 hitless games. Those are what's killing his season.

We rolled into Cincinnati leading by just three games. The Spartans had bigger worries though as their ace and franchise legend Brad Patterson was having big problems. He had just signed a huge 6 year extension in the offseason, but seemed to be breaking down. He’s 34 and his strikeout rate is halving, those are not facts you want to read about a guy who is about to start making huge cash for many years.

But he did enough on Friday as Graves took a beating, allowing 6 runs to see his ERA climb to 4.23. The Cincy offense is no joke and have passed us by the end of the month to have the highest number of runs scored in the league.

Farr held them down on Saturday in a 6-3 win to ease the pressure they were applying in the table. The rubber match saw our old friend Trevor Kirkpatrick take the hill against us. He left us went to Atlanta's double A team, was traded to Mexico City and after a mediocre year started off really struggling in Cincy. He had an ERA of 9.00 in the Cup and it was 7.38 in the league coming into June but Cincy stuck with him despite the enormous outcry in the press. He'd delivered back to back complete games in the first two starts in June coming into our matchup.

Here he pitched like someone angry to be released. Kirkpatrick delivered 10 innings of work and Cincy overturned an early 4-0 to go to extras where catcher Brent Schwain hit his first ever homer as a Spartan to walkoff Zamora.

We’ve lost back to back series and suddenly our early season cushion is slipping. The lead over Cincy was down to 2 and New Orleans was within 3. Kirkpatrick is your June pitcher of the month, racking up 35 innings and 4 wins in his 4 starts. Sometimes it pays to stick with a guy.

Luckily up next was Rochester. If we were limping off back to back series losses, they were on the edge of amputation, coming in with 1 win in June. They would leave with 1 win. A 1-11 month for Rochester and a massive bit of medicine for us, not only do we sweep the Upstate Rivalry (only second time we've ever won it in the eight seasons together) we stabilize our league campaign. Kerry Burns got his first career double digit strikeout game on Sunday.

Month Summary


USBL2 Race


The hope of coasting to the #1 seed was a bit premature. We still have the best run differential by 31, but Cincy and New Orleans are playing great lately, Charlotte even has won 7 straight. We are just past the halfway mark, and in past years we've been chasing the Lights and Memphis at this point so I'm happy to at least be in first.

Players of the month
Chris Bishop (1143 OPS)
Jose Rodriguez (1015 OPS)...they've turned Chris Yates into a part-time player. Don't get injured is the lesson, you might get Pipped. Yates, the second highest paid hitter on the team at $690k heading into his final year of arb next year, only had 14 ABs in June.

Ben Buchanan (8.1 IP, 0 R, 16 K). He's moved to the top, clearly, in the Lefty Roulette. The guy who struggled to reach 5 or 6 K/9 as a starter has 53 strikeouts in 35 innings this year out of the pen and a 0.59 WHIP.

Jorge Zamora (13.1 IP, 7 baserunners, 2 runs, 1.35 ERA, .53 WHIP)...he's back.



Who's Cold
Adam Stromgren (658 OPS)...his early season 4 digit OPS was probably not sustainable...the strikeouts are a worry, that's what led to his disaster season last year and 13 came this month.

John Stewart (609 OPS)

Matt Mallow (.146 AVG, 534 OPS)


In Other News
Steve Cordoba, a prospect OF who we love in part for his off the field atributes, had a meltdown in Portland. He made contact with an umpire after striking out and was suspended for a week. His defense is showing signs of possibly being truly elite and while he's frustrated with battling the tough home field to what he feels is a stagnating offensive season, we like what he's doing on the field. Can't be bumping umpires though.

Top prospect Enrique de la Cruz is putting together a season that says "I'm ready." We want him to keep starting in Portland, there's clearly no opening up here yet and the more innings the better. It's pretty clear he will replace Farr next season, the only question is whether we will give him some Cup of the Americas starts to ease the load...it's something me, Rassie, and Lockie will sit down and map out.

Speaking of Farr, he sent me a message saying how much he loves Buffalo and he wants to stay. He wants to stay so badly it will just take 7 years and $9.5 million. For a team that's $3 million over the cap right now, basically doubling it up. Sorry Jared. We can't even sign anyone on the summer market this season.

The opening up of the Summer Market truly came at a terrible time for us. The increase in prices and increase of players rushing to come out early combined with our financial situation means we are basically going to totally miss out on signing anyone this year. We need to get to the first league quickly or our minor league system is at risk of rotting.

[dward1]

Jared Farr had just finished off his second shutout of the season. For the second time, the victim were the Madison Bucks. For the second time, Farr ended the game with a strikeout. For the second time, Farr then unleashed double barrel "**** yea! **** yeaa!!" and stomped toward home before violently embracing Jaeden Burton. And for the second time Bucks manager Jamie Hubbard was not happy. The first time was just him complaining in the press about Farr showing no respect for the opposition, this time he directly exchanged words with Farr on the field.

Hubbard has managed in Madison since they got a franchise and isn't usually a hothead, something about the outspoken Farr just gnaws at him. Maybe it's the political issue, Farr often lets everyone know just how "globalist" the WBA is and how he seems to suspiciously love the lack of foreigners in the USBL a bit too much for that fact alone. Hubbard is a worldly guy whose only big league appearances came in the Baseball Cup in 2034 for Toronto and whose wife comes from Morocco. That's all sheer speculation, maybe he was just angry his team got shutout twice and fell 3.5 games behind the final playoff spot. Maybe he was just frustrated he had to face this top of the order, who were in absolutely flying form all weekend.



Farr racked up his 100th strikeout of the season with that final out and moved to 14-0. He's a favorite to win the Pitcher of the Year the year after everyone wondered why he had fallen so far from the previous years Pitcher of the Year campaign.

We don't have worries like Madison, a 10-2 month has basically sealed a top two playoff spot for us. 3rd place Kansas City is 11 games behind with 18 games to play. Cincinnati have kept pace though, remaining just 4 games back with our final series of the year coming against them.

It was a month to savor, until the very end. A routine sweep of Pittsburgh started it. On Sunday vs Palo Alto BJ Peterson hit a 3-run blast in the 1st inning, a Grand Slam in the 2nd, then came up in the 3rd with 2 men on and got walked to deafening boos. He then got walked with the bases loaded in the 5th...more boos. He got walked twice more, winding up tying the Nickel record for RBIs with 8 and walks with 4. Don't think those two have ever been linked like that before, or will be again.

Chad Graves had struggled a bit early in the year but his 2-hitter vs California made it 3 complete games in 4 starts: 2 shutouts and this 2-hit, 1 run gem. By the end of the month his ERA was down to 3.19.

The next day, Peterson delivered another Brace, making it 4 homers in 3 games. By the end of the month his OPS was up to 966. In his 3 seasons in the USBL2 he has OPSes of 972, 979, and 966. And WAR per 156 games of 8.3, 8.5, and 8.5. An incredible player, and one we can't really claim as he was already here when we got here.

Everything is cruising along at basically the level we'd imagined for two years. This was the team we'd put together, the team we dreamed about. In the final game of the month though, came a bit of a speed bump. John Stewart, a glue guy, went down with a bad injury trying to score on a single. Nick Hilley told us it's a hammy and it's bad: 6 weeks minimum.

Stewart's career 713 OPS doesn't look like much, but he's an elite baserunner, great defender at third, and amazing clubhouse guy who has never missed a game in our four years here. And we have no one else with experience, or really the skills to play third, on our big league club.

The Options
Josh Cross, who used to play third for us, is in Portland now. But he has a 625 OPS. No chance.

Chris Willet is pounding the ball in Portland for the second straight year, with a SLG near .500. His OBP is very worrying and he's been playing first base all season though.

Actually playing third at Portland is the Nebraskan God of Walks, John Johnston. He earned an invite to Orlando and spring training last year but then a disastrous season saw him not invited back. This year he's at a .365 OBP.

The option we are currently going with is former 2057 bonus baby Jesse Lovinger, who has surged through the system this year. Starting at Syracuse, he's racked up nearly 4 WAR already playing elite level third base and getting on base above a .400 clip. The leap from Syracuse to Buffalo in just a month is a huge one, we hope he's ready.

If Stewart gets back at the exact earliest date Hilley says, he will be ready for day one of the playoffs. Fingers crossed he attacks his rehab well and Lovinger integrates into the squad without any bumps.


Month Summary


USBL2 Race


It's a bloodbath for that final playoff spot

Players of the month
Jared Farr (4-0, 1.59 ERA, 1.09 WHIP)

Chad Graves (3-1, 1.71 ERA, 0.85 WHIP)...with our starters gibing us length we barely had to use the bullpen at all. Zamora's 5.2 innings would be I'm guessing the fewest he's ever thrown in a month under us, by some margin. I joked with him about it's easier to earn your money this way...hope he didn't take that too personal as he is on an incredibly team friendly number just nearing his 6th year of service time.

BJ Peterson (1134 OPS, 5 HR)

Adam Stromgren (1089 OPS, 4 HR)...Stromgren as a rookie hit 1 homerun in 55 games in his disastrous '62 campaign that threatened his future with us. Here is his career progression.
.018 HRs per game in '62 -> .17 -> .11 -> .27

Wayne Rigsbee (1023 OPS)...it's so nice to see Rigsbee climbing the charts and showing up at the top of our pregame charts and rankings we do daily again. So nice.

Joe Duncan (988 OPS)...kind of quietly having a monster season again, hitting .374 in all competitions

Who's Cold
Chris Bishop (639 OPS)


In other news
Two of the newer players in the league have quickly become favorites of Wellington's, not for anything they do on the field but purely for their names.

Wellington is a massive country music fan, not what you'd expect for a New Zealander, so he keeps talking about wanting Colt Isbell to release his new record "Jack and Jill" with cover art featuring a bottle of whiskey and a short denim-shorts clad young, tanned blonde.

He also couldn't stop talking about how he was going to order a few abstracts after the game from California's new outfielder, Bill James. He does indicate the new direction the Grizzlies are moving, getting their younger guys more time.

San Antonio is outside the playoff spots in the USBL. They've missed the playoffs just twice in the past 11 seasons but are now tied with Jacksonville for the last spot. Our old rivals the Lights have surged within a game of the playoffs while our role models the Iowa Dusters remain in 2nd, a game behind the Las Vegas Magic.

[Englishtide73]

I see you have an 8 team champions league. I was just wondering I see one of the seeds is WBA1 now my question is how do you determine who’s number 1. I thought you had several leagues in the WBA.
I have 7 leagues and I run a 16 team champions league. 14 automatics 2 from qualifying. I’m thinking of changing it. I also have a Europa style league I call 2nd Fiddle championships.

[dward1]

Originally Posted by Englishtide73

I see you have an 8 team champions league. I was just wondering I see one of the seeds is WBA1 now my question is how do you determine who’s number 1. I thought you had several leagues in the WBA.
I have 7 leagues and I run a 16 team champions league. 14 automatics 2 from qualifying. I’m thinking of changing it. I also have a Europa style league I call 2nd Fiddle championships.

Yes it’s a bit confusing. There are the WBA and the WBA2, two different tiers of the league. So if you win the WBA2 you make the qualifiers but the top 3 teams from WBA make it in automatically.

I also have Global Cup which is a Europa League type deal

[dward1]

Last years loosening of the rules on Summer Market saw spending rocket up 53%, from $19 million to $29 million total. Well this year we saw a flood of entries as almost every junior player eligible and good enough made himself eligible to be signed. Guess what? We saw another big rise in money spent. We were up from $29 million to $42 million this year as the money keeps flowing. Some highlights:

Lucien Sellier, a French outfielder, signed with his cultural home in Canada. The Habs made him the first ever million dollar player outside the USBL. For Quebec, this was just one part of a massive spending spree. The top tier teams in the WBA spent $9.3 million, a modest 13% rise from last year, but that is misleading as Quebec went on a binge, spending $4 million themselves.



Quebec in their second year back in the top tier took advantage of that rise in revenue (from ~$8 million in final year in WBA2 to ~$13.5 million these last two years) to buy a whopping 18 players this summer. Their scouting setup traveled the globe: Belgium, Germany, Taiwan, Philippines, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, France, Japan Australia and Spain were all places they signed a player. GM Joel Trivette says this is a calculated strategy "It's the best way to spend your money, it sets the club up for the future in a way that free agents don't. You always need players coming through from your pipeline."

The USBL knows that and knows that well. The reason they spend so much are twofold: one every American player has 70 teams competing for them, driving up their prices as the 24 USBL and USBL2 teams can only sign Americans. So any player they sign was competed for by 23 other desperate teams and then 46 global teams who can also dip their toes in (Quebec signed 4 Americans for example). Another reason is these players are contracted to the club for 9 years once they make the big club, in the WBA it's just 4. So many teams take an opposite strategy to Quebec's and save their money for the more impactful free agent market. USBL2 teams often get priced out of the market as players prices rocket up.

A good case to look at are the Lights of Las Vegas. Promoted just two seasons ago, they have splashed the cash this summer. $3.9 million went into buying 15 players, highlighted by 1B Paul Winders and OF Jason Higginbotham. The entire second tier was only able to sign 9 players, signifying just how important making the jump into the top tier is.

The Magic maybe made the biggest overall splash. They signed 7 players, not a special amount, but signed the two most expensive players in Xavier Cancio and Gene Long for a combined $3.3 million.

The biggest story however was the rise of Europe. With the Elita money pouring in and Elita backer Adam Aliyev, the owner of Barcelona, pushing teams to prepare themselves for joining the prospective WBA third tier, the teams responded. What had been a sleepy league, spending a total of $1.4 million the past two years, exploded and spent $6.3 million this year. The suspected easing of foreign player rules (currently teams are allowed 6 non-Euro players) helped as well. Danny Rubio, a highly regarded American, didn't go to San Antonio or Raleigh for example but will be making the trip to Piraeus as Olympiacos spent nearly $900k on him.

Bayern Munich almost reached a million buying a Canadian third basemen but what was interesting was even lowly teams like Fortitudo Bologna were spending, the Italian side signed up 10 players. The Summer Market is growing and becoming more global, the winners are of course the young men taking home 6 digits when they used to be happy with a $25k signing bonus. Other winners will be those clubs with good scouting operations, identifying players earlier is tougher and those good at it can create a gap.

The losers are certainly the USBL2 teams, who now are having to compete at a financial level and with more teams looking at the players that used to sort of slip through the cracks. The USBL2 is the league with the least financial firepower as well. The success of the Dusters and Lights in the past few years has given hope to all the teams down there, but this could be an obstacle.

[dward1]

Heading into August, we knew we were 15 games away from the #1 seed and finally, that beautiful bye. We held a 4-game lead on Cincinnati and were cruising along well, well enough to begin mapping out our rotation for the just beginning Cup of the Americas that would fill our midweeks during the Dog Days. Well enough to begin planning for next year, by getting rid of our pitching coach Matt Bailey, a legendary teacher, but one whose price tag was just too large. The financial trouble we'd gotten into was such a mess it was time to just eat the huge chunk of cash he had left and start fresh next year basically.

All of these things were laudable ideas and good planning, but suddenly midway through August we had lost 6 of 7 in the league and the lead was down to 2 with that final series against the Spartans looming like the big boss at the end of the video game.

Jared Farr's dream of an unbeaten season had come crashing down in Kansas City as we were swept away by the Packers. Luckily for us, Cincinnati hadn't made up even more ground as we lost for the second time in a week to a walkoff with Jorge Zamora on the mound.

It turned out to be those normally putrid Pittsburgh Rebels and the friendly and cozy confines of Charlotte's CBI Park that saved us. The Rebels swept away Cincinnati in a shocking set to re-establish a comfortable 4 game lead. The next weekend, we clinched, in an orgy of runs in Charlotte. The tiny field (132 park factor for home runs) has always suited us and boy did it this weekend. 45 runs over the 3 games. Friday night: 6 bombs, Saturday night: 4 more, both nights Peterson bombed a Brace, Sunday night: a measly one and only 9 runs. We had escaped the Dog Days to clinch the title, mainly because Cincinnati didn't take advantage of our struggles.

The Spartans will take on New Orleans in the First Round and we will rest. We rest because our Cup campaign is already over...

Cup of the Americas
A tournament that had been widely panned when first announced has found it's late-season groove. A big part of that is who has won the first 5: Toronto, LA, LA, New York, San Antonio. Blue bloods through and through. What was originally thought of as an inconvenience by many and something to grit through by some has become a title worth winning.



We will play our old friends the Lights, in the midst of another solid season in the top tier, for the first time since our tough loss to them two years ago. This will really be a good reality check for just how we can do next year, as we will face three middle of the pack USBL teams.

Jesse Lovinger was off to an amazing start, the rookie had 7 hits in his first 4 games since replacing the injured John Stewart. What a start for a guy who was in Syracuse to start the year. His first 7 hits were singles but then his 8th was a huge triple to get a big win vs California. The next day though a critical 9th inning error led to a brutal loss to the easiest team in the group.

BJ Peterson hit a walk-off HR next Tuesday but we lost on Wednesday to Raleigh before then splitting in Salt Lake in Set 3.

We were 3-3, hosting Washington. Graves allowed 12 hits in the opener and we scored 1 run on Wednesday as our playoff hopes were crushed. We swept the Lights to get a little feel-good at the end, but for the 3rd year in a row we finish our Cup of the Americas campaign at 5-5.


Players of the month
BJ Peterson (1066 OPS, 9 HR in 22 games)...he ends the season with a league leading 1043 OPS, 20 HR and 69 RBI. The RBIs set a league record and the HRs are tied for 7th...a MVP award has to be coming for BJ.

Jesse Lovinger (998 OPS)...Stewart has had a setback as he tried desperately to come back from the severe hammy strain. He's worked with Nick Hilley, in what some call a frantic mood. Stewart knows the financial situation we are in and sees the impact the rookie Lovinger has made. While the rest of the team celebrated Lovinger's walk-off Grand Slam vs Cincy, Stewart packed his things and headed to his car. He suspects his contract will not be renewed and his hammy doesn't seem close to being even 75%. Lovinger will be on the playoff roster.

Jose Rodriguez (965 OPS)...what a bounceback. A candidate to not have his contract renewed last year ends the regular season with 50 RBIs and a 156 OPS+.


The pitching ended the league season as follows
Chad Graves (10-5, 3.35, 1.13, 6.7 K, 1.3 BB, 0.5 HR/9)
Jared Farr (16-1, 3.23, 1.11, 8.0 K, 1.8 BB, 1.0 HR/9)
Kerry Burns (12-3, 3.67, 1.25, 7.3 K, 2.4 BB, 0.6 HR/9)

[dward1]

For the third straight year we are back in the Finals. This year, though, we got to rest as we won the bye. And the First Round tipped in our favor, the tougher Cincinnati Spartans lost Games 2 and 3 and we will take on the much less scary New Orleans Brass. The Brass have the lowest budget of any team in the world but still feel as if the top tier is their home. They were an original team in the USBL back in '33, and have a major title in their cabinet when they won the Baseball Cup in 2037. Outside observers were surprised it took as long as it did for them to be relegated when it finally happened in 2062, the market just never has supported big spending. But the core New Orleans faithful view it as their right.



The matchups
Matt Mallow (9-6, 4.21, 1.34, 7.9 K, 3.2 BB, 1.3 HR/9)
vs
Chad Graves (10-5, 3.35, 1.13, 6.7 K, 1.3 BB, 0.5 HR/9)

Andy Boyd (10-6, 3.42, 1.17, 6.1 K, 2.3 BB, 0.9 HR/9)
vs
Kerry Burns (12-3, 3.67, 1.25, 7.3 K, 2.4 BB, 0.6 HR/9)

We've decided to go with Burnsy in game 2 ahead of Farr...the peripherals indicate Burns has earned it. Farr was 16-1 in the league, but has an ERA over 7 in his 8 Cup starts with HR rates above 2.

Juan de la Garza (10-6, 4.12, 1.25, 8.0 K, 1.9 BB, 1.5 HR/9)
vs
Jared Farr (16-1, 3.23, 1.11, 8.0 K, 1.8 BB, 1.0 HR/9)

De la Garza and Maddock are susceptible to the long ball and it's not a park factor deal, their Shrine On Airline stadium plays neutral, down in the swamp.

It's the first of the three Finals where we are the better team. Not only are we the better team, we are comfortably the better team. With the new global competition rules, only the winner of this series will play in the Champions League or the Global Cup and of course only the winner has a chance to take on Memphis for the spot in the USBL. Just to show how important that is for us, the lowest budget in the USBL is over $7 million, our projected budget next year is at $3.2 million. We need some space to work with...too many more years down here and our minor league system will completely rot, we are already cutting way back on signing prospects, Matt Bailey is gone because he is so good basically, we can't afford a pitching coach like him, and development and scouting budgets are going to be majorly slashed. We need this.

Let's Go Buffalo!

[dward1]

In our pregame meeting before Game 1, I didn't feel nervous at all, it was weird. I asked Lockie what he thought, "The class gap is huge, don't be daft and we'll handle these guys". Confidence felt through the roof, as Lockie so Scottishly pointed out, it should be. We just finished off a regular season where we won the average game by 3 runs and New Orleans just didn't match up with us. We had to do it on the field though. It started at home

Game 1
The singles wouldn't stop coming against Chad Graves, but he did a solid job holding off the runs. He finally left in the 7th with 11 hits allowed, but just 2 runs, with the score 3-2 to the good guys. Luckily there was no hemming and hawing for who to bring in this year, Ben Buchanan clearly won out in the Lefty Roulette challenge. While Rieger and Kuruc had big problems with the long ball, Buchanan crafted a season long ERA in the low 2s over all three competitions and 52 innings. A WHIP below 1 and he'd become a weapon right behind Zamora as far as usage and trust. Here he delivered 4 big outs, allowing Zamora to get the final 3. 1-0, Buffalo

Game 2
It's a sign of the progress Kerry Burns has made that you can't even tell it's a big Burns start day when you see Navdeep anymore. Last year he went through the 7 stages of grief during Burns's battles to keep his ERA below 6. This season, a comfortable ERA in the high 3s has eased Navdeep's silly worries that he was going to lose his job over this signing and really turned our team into a force.

7 shutout innings from Burns were almost lost in the narrative of this game that was completely written in the 3rd inning. A 3-run second had us off to a good start when with 2 outs in the 3rd and a man on Chris Bishop came up to bat.

Single.

Jaeden Burton? Single.
Matt Mallow? Single which ended starter Andy Boyd's day. Reliever Chris Morris would try to stop the bleeding.

Jesse Lovinger? Single.
Joe Duncan? Single.
Adam Stromgren? Single.
Wayne Rigsbee? Single.

7 straight singles led to 6 runs scoring and the game being blown open. We took both at home, New Orleans was limping badly heading back to the bayou. Time to step on throats was my postgame message.

Game 3
We got the news they would be bringing back Matt Maddock on two days rest about 4 hours before game time. There was no consideration of rushing Graves, our past experiences with that burned us and Lockie's measurements have indicated medium and long term damage gets raised when we do it. Plus, we are up 2-0 and have a 16-1 and former Pitcher of the Year on the hill anyway.

Rigsbee lifted off in the first to make it 1-0...and then the game settled in. Farr cruised through three innings easily. Then 4, then 5. In the 6th with 2 outs and 2 men on we lifted him even though he'd allowed just 4 baserunners. Ben Buchanan has just earned that much trust. He repaid that trust again, delivering 4 spotless outs.

Matt Maddock was immense. That first inning homer was the only sniff we'd had and he cruised through 7. We handed the ball to Zamora with a 1-run lead in the 8th. His 7 losses this year were a career high and many came in walkoff fashion so I can't say there weren't nerves when Lovinger made an error in the 8th, but Zamora erased them immediately with a double play. 1-0 the final, they haven't scored in Game 2 or 3 and we are a game away from reaching Step 4.

Game 4
"Don't feckin give them any hope" screamed Lockie as we came off the field after our pregame workout.

And Wayne Rigsbee delivered quickly again. Another 1st inning home run to give us the lead and we are off. A worrying early season start has very slowly been eased throughout the season, Rigsbee's weight room work has paid off. BJ Peterson cleared the bases with a triple in the 3rd and it was 5-1 and the title was within reach. Buchanan was finally scratched for a run as they got 2 in the 6th, but he and Zamora combined yet again. They were the only relievers to pitch in the 3 close games and they combined for more than 3 innings each time. 3 saves for Zamora, 4 wins for Buffalo and for the first time under our leadership we are champions!






We've made Step 1 (make playoffs) and 2 (make finals) the past two seasons but for the first time we've gotten to Step 3 (win finals). There is one more step left to reach the top tier and it will be much more difficult than Step 3. New Orleans, honestly, had no business competing with us. Memphis, however, do. They showed it last year beating us in the regular season and the playoffs, but they finished last in their first USBL season back and will be battling to stay in the league. A 5-game losing streak to end the season meant they finished 2 games behind Milwaukee and we get a rematch.

[tquigley4]

Congrats on the big win! Long overdue and well deserved. Good luck in the promotion series as well!

Ive been following this thread for a while now, just wanted to applaud your work and writing, I'm very much enjoying this universe and I'm excited to see more!

Keep up the good work!

[dward1]

thank you, but it's not looking good right now. looks like I've got a corrupted save and the last backup was at the start of this season. It's depressing almost

[tquigley4]

Oh no... that is depressing. Good luck trying to fix it/catch back up if necessary

[dward1]

the game was corrupted, my last backup was at the start of this year so this dynasty might be coming to an end here as I'm likely just going to sim through the year, thus ruining many storylines and my whole mental belief in the narrative and world