Baseball Premier League

[NYY #23]

New Orleans Gators (10-7) @ Dallas Texans (11-5)



The game between the Gators and the Texans would feature two of the top pitchers in the league, Aaron Jackson for the Gators and Cameron Cotter for the Texans. It wouldn't turn out to be a pitching duel though as the Gators would jump out to an early 3-0 lead in the fourth when Justin Sanchez singled and scored on a wild pitch, and Fred Fallen tripled home the second run of the inning then scored on an error.

Dallas would continue to chip away, but an insurance run in the eighth gave the Gators the 4-3 win. Aaron Jackson would earn the complete game win after giving up 3 runs on 7 hits, While Cotter took the loss giving up 4 runs (2 unearned) on 6 hits.

Note: Forgive the small logo. I can't get the Gators to load correctly anymore, it's either giant, or tiny.

[NYY #23]

San Francisco Legion (10-7) @ Los Angeles Bombers (11-5)



For twelve inning the Legion battled it out with the Bombers before Paul Reardon drew a bases load walk in the bottom of the twelfth that allowed Los Angeles to walk off winners.

Mario Perres was swinging the hot bat for Los Angeles with a 4-5 night at the plate while scoring 3 runs. Josh Karic would leave with a no decision after 10 innings, allowing 5 runs on 12 hits, and Kyle Osterkamp would pick up the win with 2 innings of shutout relief.

[NYY #23]

Washington Generals (10-6) @ Philadelphia Phillies (11-5)



It was a high scoring affair in Philadelphia as the two teams would combine for 13 runs on 21 hits, but it was the Phillies who would pull off the 7-6 win.

It would be the Generals who would strike first with 5 runs in the first and another in the second. Washington would get singles from James Maijala, Josh Moore, Shawn Hays, Juan Cascante, Shane Johnson, and Jeremy Ellison that would put them up 5-0.

The Phillies wouldn't score until the bottom of the fifth when they scored two, but added 5 runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for good. Both Frank Cosmano and Dave Austen would drive in two runs for the Phillies, with Tad Quinn picking up the win despite a shaky outing.

[NYY #23]

Houston Oilers (11-68) @ Milwaukee Bisons (10-6)



On a day when the Bisons pounded out 13 hits they would have trouble scoring those baserunners, but they were able to score 4 runs, which was enough to advance to the second round of the playoffs, defeating the Houston Oilers 4-2.

Jon Whitis would have three hits for the Bisons, while Sam McGovern Jacob Dunlap, and Chris Brazel would each pick up two. Matt Kelley would earn the win for the Bisons after allowing 2 runs in 7 hits in the complete game.

[NYY #23]

While all three divisions in the Continental League look wrapped up with the Massachusetts Generals leading the East by 10 games, the New Orleans Crescents leading the Central by 9 games, and the Salt Lake City Bees leading the West by 13 games it looks like it'll be a four team race for the final Wild Card playoff spot between the Portland Moose (83-60), Nashua Huskies (83-60), Arizona Wrens (82-61), and Minot Mallards (79-64).

The Mallards will be at a disadvantage when Sylvester Loucks went down with injury. Loucks was 24-14 with a 1.94 ERA on the year.

The Federal League features some more exciting races with the Florida Rockets leading the Albany Woodcutters by 3 game, and the Reading Railers by 3 1/2 games in the East. In the West it's the Seattle Aviators with a slim 2 1/2 game lead over the San Diego Sailors, who went 20-9 in August to close the gap.

[NYY #23]

Chicago Blues (11-5) @ Miami Hurricanes (12-4)



With Blues starter Aaron Swain out of the game the Miami Hurricanes finally put together a rally in the bottom of the eleventh with three consecutive singles by Bob Farina, Brenton Maxey, and Jose Chavez. With no outs, the bases loaded, and the game tied at 1 the Blues left Matt Mitchell on the mound, and Chris Barta hit a long drive to centerfield which would score the winning run on of the game on a sacrifice fly.

Ed Lowe would pitch all eleven innings for the Hurricanes while allowing just 1 run on 8 hits while walking 3 and striking out 5 to pick up the win.

[NYY #23]

Danbury Hatters (10-6) @ Arizona Wildcats (10-6)



John Patrick did it all for the Arizona Wildcats in today's playoff game against the Hatters. On the mound Patrick would pitch a complete game while allowing just 1 run on 8 hits, walking none and striking out 4. With the bat Patrick was 3-3 with a run scored as the Wildcats rolled 4-1 over the Hatters and will advance to the third round of the playoffs.

[NYY #23]

New Orleans Gators (10-7) @ Los Angeles Bombers (11-5)



The Gators had an uncharacteristic sloppy game in the field, committing three errors in their 4-3 loss to the Bombers. Aaron Jackson would take the loss after allowing 4 runs in 8 innings.

Josh Karic picked up the win for Los Angeles while Travis Losch and Justin Barone each picked up 3 hits.

[NYY #23]

Milwaukee Bisons (10-6) @ Philadelphia Phillies (11-5)



With the score tied at 1 in the bottom of the fourteenth Phil Burda led off the inning with a single. Tad Quinn stepped to the plate next, and after already pitching 14 innings Quinn laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt. An intentional walk and an error loaded the bases for the Phillies, and when Eric Sims popped out to first base it looked like the Bisons might escape the jam, but Dave Austen delivered a walk off single to give the Phillies the 2-1 win and advance to the next round.

Quinn would allow just one unearned run on 11 hits in 14 innings, walking 3 and striking out 8. Brad Benson took the loss in relief, pitching 2 1/3 innings while allowing just the one unearned run.

[NYY #23]

Arizona Wildcats (10-6) @ Miami Hurricanes (12-4)



23 year old Ian Garcia hit just .206 this year but he's been a different player since the playoffs started going 5-8 coming in to today's game, and he continued his hot hitting today going 4-4 at the plate, driving in 2 runs, and scoring a run.

Ed Lowe added a single and drove in two runs for Miami while picking up the complete game win as the Hurricanes advance to the Championship Game.

[NYY #23]

Philadelphia Phillies (11-5) @ Los Angeles Bombers (11-5)



After pitching 14 innings his last start Tad Quinn breezed through the first three innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth and again in the fifth inning, giving up 7 runs.

Josh Karic didn't run into any difficulties for the Bombers though, pitching a complete game four hit shutout, striking out 7 and walking one to pitch the Bombers into the Championship Game.

Justin Barone, Morgan Ower, and George DiNardi each had two hits for the Bombers.

[NYY #23]

Los Angeles Bombers (11-5) @ Miami Hurricanes (12-4)



The National Baseball League Championship Game would feature a matchup between Josh Karic of the Bombers against Ed Lowe of the Miami Hurricanes. The Bombers would get on the board first in the top of the first when George DiNardi tripled and scored on an error and they'd add their second run of the game in the bottom of the third when DiNardi would single home a runner.

Karic would run into trouble in the bottom of the third inning when he allowed a pair of RBI doubles to Jose Chavez and Ed Lowe. Lowe's double would score two runs and give the Hurricanes the 3-2 lead.

Lowe would keep the Hurricanes ahead until the eighth inning when Travis Losch would single home the tieing run, and two batters later Morgan Ower would single home the go ahead run. The Bombers would add an insurance run in the top of the ninth when Mario Perres singled home the Bombers' fifth run of the game.

Karic would improve to 3-0 in the postseason with a complete game, allowing 3 runs on 9 hits and securing the National Baseball League Championship for the Los Angeles Bombers.

[NYY #23]

Cowboy Jones would lead the Massachusetts Generals with 31 wins against just 9 losses to go along with a 1.98 ERA as Massachusetts captured the Continental League East title. The Generals would score the second highest amount of runs in the league and win the division by 12 games.

The Nashua Huskies would finish second in the division, but secure the Wild Card in the Continental League to head to the playoffs. While the Generals have the second best offense in the Continental League, it's the Huskies who outscored every team in the league. 26 year old right fielder Ryan Charvat drove in a team high 98 runs this year.

The Portland Moose paired George Cooper (30-13, 1.63) with 25 year old Art Brennan (27-13, 1.87) at the top of their rotation to great success. It’s the other pitchers that are struggling for the Moose, and they'll need to find at least one more solid starter in order to compete.

35 year old second baseman Lee Welsh of the Pilgrims improved his batting average 35 points to .286 this year while driving in 51 runs.

25 year old Orval Overall won 28 games this year for the Worcester Hearts. He gave Worcester 384 2/3 innings with a 2.64 ERA.

While the last place Providence Whalers don't have much to be proud of they have to be pleased with the pitching of Joe Kostal who won 7 more games this year and cut down his ERA by over a half a point. Kostal finished the year with a 27-18 record and 1.85 ERA.

[NYY #23]

It was Harry McIntire and the New Orleans Crescents who ran away with the Continental League Central Division, finishing 18 games ahead of the Dallas Tycoons. McIntire was an impressive 32-11 with a 1.64 ERA on the season, striking out 318 batters in 395 innings.

Walter Coleman's season helped illustrate how it was a year to forget in Dallas. Coleman was 16-25 this year with a 2.36 ERA. Perhaps the most memorable game for Coleman was a 1-0 loss in which he held Nashua to just 1 run in 15 innings, and still came away with the loss. Dallas will need to improve their offense if they are going to compete next season.

One of the few bright spots in Baltimore was 32 year old starting pitcher Chris Iosue, who went 25-13 with a 1.74 ERA this year.

Harry McNeal now has a 1.86 ERA over the past two seasons with the Wolverines, striking out 429 batters in 773 innings. Despite his performance on the mound McNeal has a 39-43 record during that time for the Wolverines, who lost over 100 games for the second year in a row.

The Texas Longhorns were the second of three teams to lose over 100 games in the Central Division after making their Premier League debut. While the Longhorns scored the fourth highest amount of runs in the league they gave up the 17th most runs, being outscored 804-681. 34 year old Colin Disley had a year he'd like to forget, going 12-28 with a 4.95 ERA.

At 37 years old Dummy Stephenson is still producing for the Lincolns, leading the team with a .268 batting average, 6 home runs, and 59 RBI for the last place Lincolns.

[NYY #23]

Addie Joss turned in another strong season for the Salt Lake City Bees going 32-11 with a 1.32 ERA, striking out 257 batters in 389 1/3 innings. With Joss, Doc Scanlon (27-16, 1.53), James Drohan (10-5, 1.35), and Joe Lake (25-11, 2.07) in the rotation the Bees were able to survive an injury to Rip Ragan (17-11, 2.30). With 115 wins the Bees enter the postseason as the favorite to repeat as Champion.

Christy Mathewson of the Mallards will give Joss a run for his money in the race for Pitcher of the Year after going 29-15 with a 1.37 ERA. Sam Crawford led the Mallards with a .284 batting average, 4 home runs, and 75 RBI.

The third place Arizona Wrens led the league in stolen bases with Manny Soto swiping 70 and Ben Foley swiping 68 to lead the team.

The Clippers traded leading hitter Fred Holmes to the Wolverines in exchange for CF Jimmy Barrett, who hit just .184 for the Clippers after hitting .281 for Michigan.

Things have really gone downhill in Grand Island as the Prairie Dogs lost 105 games this year. Ricky Blough (25), Crese Heismann (27), and Ed Hughes (28) each lost more than 20 games this year.

The last place Beavers had two pitchers lose 30 games this year, Josh Vinson (31) and Martin Pitts (31) with Mike Christopherson (25) and Tom Jones (26) each losing over 25.

[NYY #23]

The Reading Railers narrowly won the Federal League East by 1 game over the Albany Woodcutters, the closest race in the Premier League. Matty McIntyre led the team with a .310 batting average while driving in 50 runs as the Railers' number three hitter.

The Woodcutters were hurt down the stretch when 2B Tom Stankard went out with injury. At the time of his injury the 24 year old Stankard was hitting .303.

The Florida Rockets finished in third place just three games behind Reading. The Rockets will need to find another starting pitcher other than Oscar Jones (25-20, 2.18) if they are going to win a very winnable division.

After hitting .286 last season Jose Ramos was one of the best hitters on the Peaches, but age may have finally caught up to the 39 year old, who hit .261 this year and missed 56 games with injury.

The Charlotte Champions may have a true ace on their hands in 26 year old Henry Thielman, who went 20-25 with a 1.94 ERA, but Charlotte will need to improve their offense, which was ranked 17th out of 18 teams in the Federal League.

All four of the Dodgers starting pitchers will be on the wrong side of 30 next year, a bad sign for a team that gave up 780 runs this year.

[NYY #23]

Gary Hansen went 33-10 with a 1.40 ERA to lead the Giants pitching staff which allowed the fewest runs in the league as the Giants won 123 games during their first year in the Premier League. The Giants will head into the playoffs as the team to beat with a strong all around team.

There can't be anything more frustrating than winning 108 games and losing the division by 15 games and sitting home for the playoffs, but that was the reality for the Minnesota Vikings. 24 year old Brad Hort was 8-10 with a 2.76 ERA last year, but put everything together this year going 30-12 with a 1.89 ERA.

After winning the Central Division last year the Cubs fell to third place in the new look division, finishing 28 games behind the Detroit Giants. 29 year old second baseman TJ Veal was healthy all season and hit .273 while driving in 74 runs.

The Louisville Sluggers lost 101 games this year and with the 13th ranked offense in the league their nickname may be somewhat of a misnomer. The team does have 23 year old Rube Gardner who hit .305 with 75 RBI and 26 year old centerfielder Ray Pray who hit .268 with 70 RBI, but it's a steep drop off after those two players.

Despite scoring the sixth most runs in the league the Rebels managed to lose 101 games due in large part to a poor pitching staff. 24 year old Lew Richie improved to 16-24 with a 2.59 ERA this year, dropping his ERA by 1/2 a run. He'll need to continue to improve along with 23 year old Chris Eaton (19-22, 3.13) and 19 year old Kymani Brazile (5-12, 4.00) in order for the Rebels to be competitive.

It was even worse for the Badgers who had the 5th best offense, but lost 104 games. 42 year old Adonis Terry was 16-28 with a 4.63 ERA and is reaching the end of his career.

[NYY #23]

The Seattle Aviators improved by 18 games this year to capture the Federal League West division by 7 games over the San Diego Sailors.



George Engel led the Aviators with a 1.61 ERA and also had a team best 338 strikeouts while going 28-13 to lead a strong rotation that featured Nick Altrock (26-14, 2.23), Jesse Tannehill (29-11, 1.91), and Glenn Liebhardt (30-12, 2.76).

The San Diego Sailors finished in second place 7 games behind the Aviators, but will be going to the playoffs as a Wild Card team. The Sailors scored more runs than any other team in the Federal League with their offense led by Roy Thomas (.302, 64 RBI).

Despite finishing with 105 wins this season the Grizzlies will be sitting at home for the playoffs. 30 year old Jim Buchanan won more than 30 games for the second straight season going 33-12 with a 1.30 ERA while striking out 322 batters in 387 innings.

The Las Vegas Aces moved Harvey Cushman from the rotation after he went 12-14 with a 2.57 ERA in 26 starts. He was replaced in the rotation by 30 year old Alex Hardy who went 14-8 with a 3.35 ERA.

33 year old shortstop Scott Fitzpatrick may be the closest thing to a 'star' for the 100 loss Hollywood Stars after hitting .272 with 56 RBI and 65 runs scored.

The Washington Huskies finished in last place in the division for the second straight year. 29 year old third baseman Aaron Tollefson led the team in batting average for the second straight year.

[NYY #23]

Nashua Huskies (100-72) vs. Salt Lake City Bees (115-57)



After winning 100 games during the regular season the Huskies ran into a brick wall named the Salt Lake City Bees, who swept the Huskies in four straight games to advance to the League Championship Series.

The Bees' pitching dominated all series with Doc Scanlon winning the series MVP after allowing one earned run in 18 innings and winning two games. Addie Joss and Joe Lake each added a win for the Bees, who outscored the Huskies 20-5 during the series.

[NYY #23]

I feel like I spent more time planning how the Premier League was going to turn out than any other league I've ever done before, and did multiple rounds of testing to make sure things worked out well. Yet once I got started everything got pushed to the side, and things went down a slightly different path. Then of course I decided to scrap the whole promotion/relegation concept and continue on.

Basically the history of this was region leagues to a promotion/relegation association to multiple leagues, and I've been in what I suppose is the fourth phase, consolidation back down into one league. I probably should just scrap this whole thing and started off fresh with a much smaller league. There are just too many teams and league to keep my sanity. I've been planning on going through and slowly dwindling teams down to an acceptable number, but I'm going to take a big bang approach.

I'll go through the remaining playoff series quickly, but I'm going to merge things together following the 1906 seasons down to 48 teams while creating minor league affiliates spread across the east, west, north, and south. Teams will play an 88 game season starting in 1907, and after 1907 I'm thinking about only keeping the top 6 teams in each region and going down to a more reasonable 24 team league, with four divisions of 6 teams. I'm going to see how the 1907 season feels before making the final determination though.