The IBL's Alaska Avalanche

[SurfRat61]

Best of luck this year against your old friend, Chicago. Hopefully, this year is revenge for last year's 4-0 broom job. See you at the top!

[gehrig38]

2027 LCS GAME 1's
Young and Harvey walk to start the game, double steal and score on an RBI ground out in the 1st.
It stays 1-0 into the 3rd before it goes:
Young 6-3
Harvey BB
Covington 2B, RBI
Lopez 1B
Carnaxide 1B, RBI
Holland 2B, RBI
Olson Sac Fly, RBI, Bright's day ends and it's 5-0 after Acosta comes in and gets Vaughn.
Chicago gets 1 back after a Zmelik triple and Rodriguez RBI single, 5-1 after 3.
Asiman Swagat hits and RBI single in the 7th to end Stan Hall's day (6.2-9-2-2-2-7) after 124 pitches.
5-2 after 7 full as Sheppard gets the last out.
Enrique Garcia singles in Kevin Olson after his single and stolen base to make it 6-2.
In the bottom of the 8th Sheppard gets 2 outs but, Carlson is called on to get Barrios with 2 on, and he reaches on an error to load the bases. Cisco Casas comes in to face Zmelik and gets him to fly out to deep right to end the 8th, 6-2.
Casas works around 2 9th inning singles to end it, and give us a huge game 1 win.



EL Paso beatup Juan Gamboa and Pat Kelley was strong into the 8th before Segura and Martinez homered to end his day.

[gehrig38]

LCS GAME 2
Christian Holland opens the scoring in the top of the 4th with a 2 out RBI double to plate Alex Covington. 1-0 at the end of 4. John Drake at 4-1-0-0-0-1 on 44 pitches, Mike Jones 4-4-1-1-1-2 on 51.
Enrique Garcia drives in Kevin Olson in the top of the 7th to make it 2-0 but Luis Chavez and Jesus Becerra go back to back with solo homers in the bottom half to tie it at 2 after 7.
Drakes line 7-5-2-2-0-2 on 92 pitches, Jones 7-6-2-2-2-4 on 93.
John Drake gets the 1st two outs in the 8th before a Swagat single and Jake Carlson has to come on and get Castro on a 1 pitch comebacker. 2-2 after 8.
Ugh...
Jesus Becerra leads off the bottom of the 12th with his second HR of the day, a walk off, off reliever Ron Alexander. Series tied 1-1.



The 51's jump all over Maurice Paterson for 7 runs on 11 hits in just 2.2 IP to even the series.

[gehrig38]

LCS GAME 3's
Chicago opens it up but we answer to make it 1-1 after 3, and then a disastrous turn of events. Antonio Gonzalez gets hurt and on the next pitch Carlos Hernandez is hurt and has to come out. The pen, with O'Neill coming in, gives up 2 in the 4th and 2 in the 5th while Dana Hall goes 8-7-2-2-2-6 for the win. Ugh, ****ty game.
Hernandez was fine after the game, but Gonzalez tweaked a hammy and will be DtD for 3-4 days.



The Diablos grab another early lead and get a dominant start from Morris to take a 2-1 lead.

[gehrig38]

LCS GAME 4's
Tim Harvey's RBI single scored Kevin Olson in the bottom of the 3rd to make it 1-0 after 3. Buckley at 3-3-0-0-0-2 on 45 pitches, Bright 3-2-1-1-1-2 on 47.
A Buckley error and Walters single lead to 2 runs in the 5th, and that's where it is after 6, Buckley's day ends with a 6-7-2-1-1-3 line on 103 pitches. Bright still in, 6-4-1-1-1-5 on 90.
Ron Alexander is on, as Durham is still banged up.
Damn. 4 errors. Buckley, Covington, Vaughn and Garcia make errors leading to 3 unearned runs, and a 3-1 series deficit now. Bright goes 8-7-1-1-1-6 on 116 pitches and McBrieve works around Mike Walton's PH HR leading off the 9th.



Vegas goes for 7 in the 1st three innings but their pitching isn't up to the task as El Paso gets 9 over the 1st 4 and holds on for a 10-7 win and a 3-1 lead.

[gehrig38]

LCS GAME 5s
Wow, stunned, distraught. One of the top defensive teams in the IBL falls apart at the seasons most crucial point, and folds up in the biggest games. Stan Hall threw a ball away in the 1st and that lead to a 4 run inning, 3 unearned runs, and Jorge Trujillo went 7.1-5-1-1-1-3 as the Iron Pigs rebounded from a game 1 loss to steamroll us in 4 straight. Hall ended the day 7-10-5-2-1-8 in 118 pitches.

SERIES MVP Ed McBrieve 2 Saves 5 IP 10 K's 1.80 ERA




Vegas jumped out early again and managed to hold on with 5 over the final 2 innings as Mike Lewis went the distance.

[gehrig38]

LCS GAME 6
Series MVP Joe Rhodes hit his 3rd homer and the Diablos withstood a late Las Vegas charge to win their first Coastal League Pennant.

[gehrig38]

El Paso after their 1st, Chicago their 6th.

[Orcin]

Eek! Unbelievable. The Revenge of the Pigs continues!

[cmdrsam]

Heck of the time for the defense to come apart. Tough break. But you aint going no where. You'll be back and probably better than this year. Lets go Avalanche!

[gehrig38]

Rob Bright twirls a masterpiece behind a 15 hit 9 run Chicago attack. Was hoping to see an El Paso shocker, but I'm not feeling it.

[gehrig38]

Um, ok. It appears Chicago is making a statement of some sort.

[gehrig38]

Not so fast? Diablos in a rout, home teams doing the killing right now.

[gehrig38]

Could be the backbreaker, an extra inning win on the road to go up 3-1. Castro going down has to be a sliver of hope for El Paso.

[gehrig38]

And... Surprise? Nah. An unprecedented 3rd straight title for the dynasty from Chicago. Chester Walters takes home MVP honors going 10-22 with 7 Runs 2 HR's hitting .455 with a .500 OBP.

[gehrig38]

A look at how it went down, and a WS Summary

[gehrig38]

2027-28 Off Season

Tulsa Drillers sold to O'Bryan...

HIRINGS FIRINGS:

The following IBL personnel were fired after the end of the 2027 campaign

FRONTIER LEAGUE

Green Bay Blizzard (70-92 36 GB) : GM Nick White (3rd year 216-270) 5 years as Houston GM, 1 Michigan and 5 in El Paso)

Columbus Clippers (84-78 22 GB) : GM Ron Quick (4th year 358-290) 1 year in Providence (2022)

COASTAL LEAGUE

Philadelphia Patriots (87-75 2 GB) : MGR Kenny Young (3rd year 256-230) made the post season last year. Short fuse? 3 years as Voodoo MGR before this job

Fresno Grizzlies (63-99 25 GB) : GM Ramon Pichardo (6th year) made the post season 2022, 24, 25, 26 and tanked this year, 1st losing season ever by a club he GM'd.

San Antonio Silver Stars (61-101 32.5 GB) : GM Angel Hernandez. Tied for the worst season in Franchise history, just the 2nd 100+ loss season. Angel has been their GM since the inception of the IBL. MGR Oliver Gidley (1st year as manager after 4 as bench coach, but 983-962 lifetime, 5 post season appearances. 7 years as Diablo's manager (12-18) and 4 as the manager of the Avalanche (19-22). Moved from the bench to the managers office last off season) Was the Coastal League Manager of the year in 2014 and 2015 with El Paso.

OFF SEASON NEWS

San Jose lands Carter
The Sharks have shipped the 7th overall pick in the 2025 Amateur draft, Ernesto Davila, and SP Luis Cardenas to Edmonton for 27 year old OF Bob Carter. Carter is a ++ corner defender who can play a decent center, with a good power bat from the right side. He's got about a seasons worth of PT over the past 3 years and those overall numbers are about what scouts think his ceiling is. San Jose will put him in the cleanup spot and they pay a price to do it. Cardenas is a 31 year old who'll take a rotation spot for a period of time as their prospect mature, but Davila is the real prize. He was taken 2nd overall in 2024 by New Orleans and failed to sign. He may be a starter, but the questions around his ability to work deep in games remain. Came into the season as the #27 prospect and tossed a no-hitter this year. A 3 pitch guy who works in the mid 90's with an outstanding fastball.

[gehrig38]

Poor John Byrd. .295-32-94 with a .344 OBP wins Rookie of the year just about any season, except when you split that season half and half between leagues! A closer in the Koufax race and both Rookies of the year are pitchers for the 1st time ever.

[bigrevkev55]

I am really enjoying this and am inspired to do something like this once I can afford to purchase the game. I moved to Anchorage after college and quickly had 4 kids (hence the reason I can't afford the game...ha) so it holds a special place as in my heart. I loved the midnight baseball games and always wished for more. I am really enjoying following your franchise.

[gehrig38]

2028 BUDGET TALKS
As ecstatic as Mr Lane was with the season, it didn't come through when I received the 2028 budget. A reduction of 4 million dollars puts us at 27th out of 32 clubs. We have no money to do what we need in the draft, free agency or player development so the first move is to shed payroll. Before I can realistically look at how I want to shape this roster I need to get capital to do it. There are some contracts I picked up for the run that I can move (O'Neil, Lopez) if I can find someone with budget room and young talent to return.




And it takes all of a day to find willing partners...

White Caps snag O'Neil
West Michigan has agreed to take all of Chet O'Neils remaining dollars (43.4M over the next 3) and return a prospect our scouts really like in INF Juan Castro. A burner who's likely to play 2B, and hit in the 2 or 8 hole depending on how well his bat develops. At 18 the feeling is he was rushed by a large margin, and we'll send him back to rookie ball for at bats and seasoning. We also swap 1st rounders, which moves us up just 1 slot, but we'll take it. The move immediately sheds 12 million off the '28 budget. Fan reaction is understandably negative (67 to 64), but this is a good move for us. Mike Bowman is ready to assume that spot in the rotation.



Alaska, Houston finalize major swap
The Houston Roughriders today acquired 30 year old OF Pedro Lopez, 26 year old SP Cam Hale and 23 year old INF prospect Henry Allen for 25 year old Randy Johnson and 22 year old SP prospect Everett Gray. The Roughriders were will participants given the recent news of a 60+ million dollar payroll opening, and took the 73M and 5 years of Lopez's contract willingly. He's a RH power bat that the Avalanche were ok moving but the price in potential pitching could be huge. Many feel Johnson is on the verge of becoming the premiere left handed pitcher in the game, at 6'11” he's got the body for it. The “Big Unit” is slated to move into the rotation. Unfounded rumors were swirling at this same press conference about a 'spin off' deal involving the big lefty, which no one would confirm.



UPDATED BUDGET NEWS
We've just lopped off about 20 some million to our payroll going forward. At 65.5M now. It's minimal breathing room for anything else, but it's breathing room. I have just 2 remaining big salary guys (Hall and Drake) and am not interested in moving either. The potential move is Matt Edwards, who's likely going to command 5+ million in arbitration and want an AAV closer to 10 if I try to offer him a long term deal. Luke Stover is ready and he and Carnaxide could platoon as a R/L split. Problem is 5M for a .400 OBP catcher who just won a gold glove is pretty affordable....

On top of all this I've been working on another payroll slashing/prospect getting deal that looks like this.
Alaska would send SP John Drake, C Matt Edwards, DH Mike Walton and RP Keith Hansen to the Philadelphia Patriots for 1B and the IBL's #1 prospect 21 year old Chris James. The deal moves another 17.25 million off the books, freeing up more than enough cash to do what needs to be done in FA, scouting, and the draft, and I think it also puts a stamp on rebuilding the organizations minor leagues on both sides of the ball. This kid is a huge bat, outstanding defender and in need of more A ball at bats.
RJ takes the rotation spot, Stover and Carnaxide take over catching, Cole Martin moves into a full time DH/1B slot and I can find a FA arm (preferably lefty) to replace Hansen (and the others leaving, Durham, Carlson).

Need to think it over, huge move, fans are going to be pissed.