Baseball Comes to Middle America! (The Midwest Baseball Association)

[jksander]

1908 MBA Championship Series
Louisville Rivermen (107-47) vs. Chicago Internationals (98-56)

OOC: Starting with this season I plan to play out the postseason games. These will be the only games I play out each year, the rest of the seasons will be completely simmed.

September 23, 1907: This game started out as you’d expect, with both teams’ aces locked in and ready to control the pace and rhythm of the game. In the bottom of the third, Ben Morris got off a great hit into right field for a double, driving in a a pair to put us up 2-0, but moments later Burgess took a ball to the shoulder ... HARD ... and we had to pull him from the game. That’s gonna hurt us! We’ll be moving Octavio Delgado over to shorstop for the remainder of the game, and bringing in Sam Leonard to play third base and take over Burgess’ spot in the lineup. The game stayed at that margin into the top of the eighth, when two consecutive errors at first base allowed Chicago’s Kyle Doak to score a run, cutting the margin to one run. A passed ball allowed the runner to advance to third, but a spectacular 6-5 double play eliminated the runner at third and we got out of the frame still up 2-1. Chicago got themselves a triple from Alex Larralde to start the top of the ninth, and the tying run scored on a flyout in deep center field, with Ralph Ladd warming up in the bullpen. With a runner on first and two outs, we brought Ladd in, and a grounder to third and a quick throw to first base got the out we needed. Alas, in the bottom of the inning we flew out three times in a row, and this one was headed for extra innings.

Trey Bledsoe got himself a standing double with one out in the bottom of the 11th, and they walked Octavio Delgado, but with two outs Bledsoe saw an opportunity to try for a steal of third only to be picked off to end the inning. Ladd got us through the top of the 12th safely with just a hit and a walk, and Sam Leonard doubled to start the bottom of the frame. Jeremy Smith hit a sac bunt that drove Leonard over to third, and Eduard de los Santos got a line drive up the middle to drive in the winning run! It took 12 innings and more than three hours, but we got it done and beat Chicago 3-2!

Mike Morris, who was a last minute choice to start game one, gave us 8.1 innings of solid work, allowing only six hits and two runs (one earned) while throwing 114 pitches. But Ralph Ladd was the night’s winner, staying in for the remaining 3.1 innings with only one hit and one walk, throwing 45 pitches and giving us enough room to eke out the win! We picked up 12 hits through this one, with Ben Morris, Sam Leonard, Bobby Johnson and Mike Morris each hitting twice. Ben Morris drove in two runs, while Leonard, Trent Hall and Mike Morris scored on the ground. Brad Burgess’ arm injury remains undiagnosed, so he’ll be almost certainly out for game two.

September 24, 1908: Still no word on Burgess, who is being treated by our trainers and is not available for this second game at the Ballpark of Louisville, so Delgado will stay at shortstop today, with Leonard starting at third and Sean Impagliazzo taking the mound for his first start of this year’s playoffs. An error at first to start the top of the first inning didn’t set us off on the best ground, and though we got two outs in a row to follow, they did score a run when David Cole hit an RBI single and Manny Debesa scored the unearned run to lead 1-0 in the middle of the first. Impagliazzo struck out two batters to get out of the second, but the Internationals added a run in the top of the third, giving them a 2-0 lead in the early stages. An RBI single in the top of the third by right fielder Bill Hill increased the margin to three runs in the top of the sixth, and they made it 4-0 in the top of the eighth with a run scoring off a groundout at first. In the bottom of the ninth, Ben Morris opened with a single, but Delgado hit into a double play. Jeremy Smith got a hit into left, reaching first, stole second and third, but Bobby Johnson hit a flyout to left and the game ended as a 4-0 shutout.

Impagliazzo pitched the complete game, allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) while striking out a pair of batters, but we only were able to hit six times and we never got anything going that came close to a rally. Trey Bledsoe was visibly frustrated by the end, as he hit three times and was left stranded each time. Smith’s hit and two steals weren’t able to spark the desperate rally we needed, and we’ll head into hostile territory with the series tied 1-1, knowing that we need at least a win on the road to have a chance of bringing it back here to Louisville.

Thank God we just found out that Burgess’ injury is not going to keep him out the rest of the season, he just has a bruised shoulder. He will be available to play in Chicago when we play game three in two days’ time.

[jksander]

September 26, 1908: Chicago went up early with an RBI single in the bottom of the first, and we were just out of sync right from the start, so we were lucky to get into the top of the third only trailing by a pair, down 2-0. Our offense was dead on arrival, putting the pressure on McClain to stay as close to perfect as he could the remainder of the way. Our scoreless streak stretched on and on as we went into the stretch still trailing by two. They added a third run in the bottom of the seventh off a one-out sac-fly to center. In the top of the ninth Ben Morris picked up a single, but Burgess, with one out, hit one barely out of the infield for an easy throw to get Moris out at second. Jeremy Smith got a hit up the middle, and Chris Hughes came in to pinch hit for de los Santos, but he hit one straight to Cole at short, who made the throw to second for the final out ... Chicago whipped us again 3-0, and we haven’t scored a run in 18 innings, losing this one 3-0.

McClain took the loss, a complete game nine-hit effort with a walk, a strikeout and three earned runs. We again picked up six empty hits, led this time by Morris who hit twice. If we’re going to get out of International Park with a win and avoid the sweep over the next two days, we’re going to need to figure out our hitting woes and find a way out of this godawful slump.

September 27, 1908: Sean Impagliazzo, on three full days’ rest, got the start today with us needing a win in the worst possible way. After 19 scoreless innings, we finally got a run on the board with an RBI double by Bobby Johnson in the top of the second, giving us a 1-0 lead. But in the bottom of the fourth they tied it up with an RBI triple by first baseman Max Berry, and this one was back in limbo. Moments later they took the lead with an RBI double by Bill Hill, sending us into the top of the fifth trailing 2-1. Jeremy Smith had a heroic hit in the top of the sixth with runners on the corners, bouncing a sharply hit ball off the wall at center field, stretching it into a triple that drove in the tying and go-ahead runs, giving us a 3-2 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth. Chicago tied it once again with an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, and Impagliazzo loaded the bases with a walk and just one out, and the game quickly got out of our control. An RBI single by Alex Larralde scored two more runs for the Internationals, and we were lucky to get into the top of the eighth just trailing by that 5-3 margin, and without any additional offense to speak of, we limped into the end of this one looking thoroughly defeated. Chicago took a 3-1 series lead with the two-run win, and we go into tomororrow’s game needing a win ... and to have an incredible run of luck if we want to make an improbable comeback.

Impagliazzo allowed nine hits in his eight-inning complete game, with two walks and five earned runs, giving him a 4.24 ERA through his two starts during this series. We hit six times and at least managed to come up with some runs this time, but we simply don’t look like the same team that won 107 games and dominated the Ohio River League all year. Our bright spot today was Jeremy Smith, who hit twice, scored a run and drove in two more, giving him a .312 average in the series, while Johnson hit once and drove in a run, bringing his series average up to .267.

September 28, 1908: Mike Morris started today for game five, and all was well until the bottom of the third, when he loaded the bases and they took advantage with an RBI single that drove in the first two runs of the afternoon, giving Chicago a 2-0 lead heading into the top of the fourth. They added a run in the bottom of the fifth, and we didn’t get our first hit of the game until the top of the sixth. Chris Whalen pinch hit for Morris with one out in the top of the eighth, driving in our first run of the game with a double, but we couldn’t turn it into a rally. Ralph Ladd came in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth, while Michael Lewis, who had pinch hit into a groundout at first in the prior inning, stayed in at LF and Ben Morris transitioned to center. Ladd got us through the eighth without incident, bringing up Delgado and the heart of our order in the top of the ninth trailing by a pair. But they set us down one, two, three, and it was pandemonium as the fans rushed the field and we left with our heads down, having lost the game 3-1, and with it the series.

Morris lasted seven innings with seven hits, a walk and three earned runs, and Ladd put up a valiant effort with a two hit eighth inning, but we only managed three hits the entire game ourselves. Whalen’s hit got him an RBI, and Johnson scored a run without a hit. But for the most part this was just an embarassing end to a series with a lot of promise and no results. Our championship drought will extend past the three decade mark with the 4-1 series loss, while the Internationals celebrate their ninth title, and their fifth in the last nine seasons.

September 30, 1908: Right fielder Tony Juarez and backup shortstop Gustavo Quinones have both chosen to retire at age 36. Our owner is livid about our collapse in the Championship Series, and it is clouding his memory about how well we’ve done relating to every other goal BUT win a title. In a few weeks we’ll be back to the drawing board when free agency begins.

[jksander]

October 8, 1908: The Gold Gloves were announced today: Mike Morris won his second in a row as a pitcher, while Jeremy Smith won his second, but this year at first base instead of at right field. Brad Burgess was no shocker when he won the award at shortstop, and Trent Hall won again in center field. I’m pleased with those results, which confirm just how much stronger our defense was all year compared to other teams in our division. Unfortunately we were outhustled in the playoffs, but that doesn’t take anything away from the dominance of our regular season run.

October 10, 1908: The Silver Sluggers have been officially revealed, and we had two: Brad Burgess at shortstop and Ben Morris in left field! Both are back to back winners.

October 11, 1908: Third baseman Octavio Delgado was named Ohio River League Rookie of the Year, hitting .329 with 28 doubles, six triples and a homer, batting in 50 runs with 5.8 WAR. His defense at third base was adequate, but he’s got a lot of room to improve before being considered Gold Glove caliber.

October 12, 1908: For the second year in a row, the ORL Pitcher of the Year came from our team -- but this time around it went to 32-year-old Cameron McClain who went 25-10 with a 1.73 ERA through 343.1 innings, striking out 52 batters and walking just 26! He had an 0.98 WHIP and 6.3 pitching WAR, improving to 200-174 with a 2.21 ERA through his entire major league career. The vote was not unanimous; he beat out Sean Impagliazzo in an 11-5 tally of first place votes, winning by just 18 points overall. He finished second in the voting for this award last season as well, finding his consistency since being signed to the roster in December of ’06 after Chicago declined to offer him arbitration. If he can keep pitching like this another few seasons, he’ll be surefire first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Cincinnati’s Steven Nichols, age 26, finished third in the vote with a 30-19 record and 2.16 ERA, striking out 50 and pitching through 450 innings for 5.8 WAR. He has a 51-38 record and 2.39 ERA in his two year career.

October 13, 1908: With his batting Triple Crown this season, there was no doubt who was going to win the ORL Most Valuable Player award this year. Brad Burgess won his second MVP crown in a row, and through three seasons as a major leaguer he’s hit .306 with nearly 400 hits, 56 doubles, 108 homers, 282 RBIs, 220 runs scored and 36.6 career WAR. He cut his strikeouts in half this year, so his work at the plate on being more patient in looking for good contact has been paying off. And defensively, between 2B, 3B and SS over these three seasons, he’s totalled 856 putouts, nearly 1,400 assists and 130 double plays, with an efficiency rating of 1.127, playing shortstop an average of 143 games per year over the last two years. He struggled in the postseason offensively this year after taking the hit to his shoulder in game one, but he’s still young and has plenty of time to build a postseason legacy.

October 22, 1908: We’ve made a trade with the Evansville Crescents, sending them 24-year-old minor league second baseman Kevin Gausman and veteran catcher Mike Andreen for 31-year-old right fielder Brooks McCarthy. Through eight seasons in Evansville, McCarthy has hit .304 with 116 doubles, 45 triples and seven homers, batting in 369 runs while scoring 391! He won ORL Gold Gloves in left field in 1906 and 1908, and is very popular both locally and nationally. He has two more years left on his contract at $1,900 per, with a player option in 1911 worth $1,900 as well, and gives us veteran outfield depth both in right field behind Trey Bledsoe and in left behind Ben Morris.

We’ve mostly got the roster we want for the upcoming year, though we’re shopping for a potential gold glove-level catcher to bridge the gap between now and when Chris Heikes is ready t come up from the minor leagues.

November 19, 1908: We’ve found our short-term catcher -- and potentially our long term one if Heikes takes longer to develop than expected. Mike Stricklin, a newcomer to the MBA at age 28, grades out as an above average big league catcher with solid contact and at least moderate power, and he’s got an excellent arm and is an above average rated blocking catcher. He’ll immediately take over the starting job, with de los Santos and Campbell backing him up. We signed him to a two year deal, getting $2,200 this year and $2,500 next year, and if he performs up to expectations, he’ll get an extension offer next offseason.

January 1, 1909: Louisville has a new member of the Hall of Fame! Rocky Benston, who pitched for us from 1883 through 1891, had a nomadic career, starting in Fort Wayne, then (after leaving here) playing for Lexington, Owensboro, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Detroit before retiring in 1896 with a career record of 287-351 and a 2.81 ERA. He struck out 600 batters and had 55.3 total WAR during his 15+ year career. This was his eighth year of eligibility and he got in with 76.8% of the ballots. Two other pitchers got in (no batters, yet again!) ... Randy Apreza threw for 13 seasons with Detroit, Huntington and Fort Wayne and was a first year ballot inductee with 76.8% of the vote (lifetime stats: 225-159, 2.33 ERA, 628 K’s, 1.07 WHIP, 41.2 WAR), winning two championships and the 1895 ORL Pitcher of the Year Award. The other inductee was Jason Felt, with 76.4% of the vote in his final year of eligibility -- playing for half the teams in the league between 1883 and 1894, he still managed to go 251-271 with a 2.66 ERA and 404 complete games, with 38 career shutouts. He also won two titles and the 1888 GLL Gold Glove for Pitching.

April 5, 1909: We had a pretty quiet offseason here in Louisville this season because, to be honest, we feel like our team was already ninety percent where we needed to be, and making changes for change’s sake would be risking stifling the clubhouse atmosphere. We’ve got players who want to be here, stars the fans love to come out to see, and despite our poor showing in the Championship Series last fall, we’ve won back to back pennants and are ready to go for a third.

Here’s our opening day roster. We start the season with six in a row on the road, in Owensboro and Huntington, before getting a week at home against Pittsburgh and Evansville.

Starting Lineup (con / gap / pwr / eye / avd / def)*
C - Mike Stricklin, 28 (70/45/50/45/80/55)
1B - Jeremy Smith, 36 (60/65/45/45/65/55)
2B - Bobby Johnson, 33 (70/45/45/50/80/65)
3B - Octavio Delgado, 27 (75/55/50/55/80/65)
SS - Brad Burgess, 23 (60/70/80/65/50/80)
LF - Ben Morris, 26 (65/75/45/55/80/75)
CF - Trent Hall, 25 (45/45/80/40/45/80)
RF - Trey Bledsoe, 23 (75/55/45/50/80/55)

Bench
C - David Campbell, 33 (60/45/45/45/70/40)
C - Eduard de los Santos, 31 (70/45/50/50/80/45)
1B - Scott Craighead, 33 (55/45/45/45/70/35)
1B - Michael Levine, 39 (60/50/50/45/65/40)
2B - Evan Walker, 34 (55/45/45/50/65/55)
3B - Juan Garcia, 29 (50/45/40/45/65/45)
LF - James Davis, 25 (60/45/50/45/75/65)
LF - Chris Hughes, 34 (60/60/50/50/70/40)
LF - Chris Whalen, 31 (60/45/50/50/75/50)
CF - Jamal Meriwether, 28 (50/40/35/50/70/55)
RF - Travis Linden, 33 (70/45/45/50/80/50)
RF - Brooks McCarthy, 31 (65/55/50/45/70/60)

Rotation (Stuff / Mov / Ctrl / Sta / Hld / Def)*
SP1 - Sean Impagliazzo, 25 (65/75/45/65/65/55)
SP2 - Cameron McClain, 33 (60/70/65/55/55/45)
SP3 - George Driscoll, 30 (45/75/55/50/80/50)
SP4 - Mike Morris, 29 (45/70/55/50/45/65)

Bullpen
Closer - Ralph Ladd, 30 (45/70/65/35/50/20)
Middle - Mike Stoneburg, 29 (50/70/50/50/65/35
Middle - J.R. Potter, 34 (75/70/45/25/55/45)
Long - Matt Chabak, 32 (65/70/35/45/40/50)

* Defense rating only at key position

[jksander]

April 6, 1909: We didn’t start the season as smoothly as we did last year, going 3-3 during our opening road stretch. But tonight’s first home game of the season against Owensboro went swimmingly -- we scored a run in the bottom of the third, added another pair in the fourth, and then batted around in the sixth to add four more, which proved to be enough. We won the game 7-1, led by Burgess who hit twice and drove in a run, and by Mike Morris who hit three times for two runs and an RBI while pitching a complete game with only the one earned run and nine hits. It was nice to see him earn the win this time ... his debut on the road saw him go nine innings without a run, only to have Ladd lose the game on a walkoff in the bottom of the 10th.

April 20, 1909: Octavio Delgado fractured a rib during practice yesterday, and will miss at least a month of games. Chris Hughes will have to step up in the interim, because we are trying to find our footing during a rough start to the year. We’re currently 7-6 and in fourth place, three and a half games behind the Lexington Roughriders who have started out 11-3. Trey Bledsoe, Jeremy Smith, Chris Hughes, Bobby Johnson and Trent Hall have all started out in slumps, so our lack of offense has been putting incredible strain on our pitching staff to be perfect.

May 1, 1909: We finished the month of April with a stretch of eight wins and just three losses, as our bats started making contact and we climbed our way into third place with a 15-9 record, just half a game back of Cincinnati and 2.5 games behind the Roughriders, who are now 17-6. We’ve made a trade with Indianapolis to improve our position at first base, bringing in 31-year-old Jon “Juke” Felker in exchange for a pair of minor AA players and $2,500 cash. Belker is hitting .267 so far this year with three doubles and five RBIs, but our scouts have been watching him and praise his adaptability and his impressive gap power, and Jeremy Smith is starting to show his age. At the very least we’ll have a “next man up” with an above-average bat, ready to go.

Brad Burgess has been a bright spot so far in our early goings ... during the month of April he hit .375 with eight home runs, 20 RBIs and 17 runs scored, seeming to pick up right where he left off last season! All our starters have ERAs under 2.50, and George Driscoll, pitching third in the rotation, has an impressive 4-1 record already and is averaging less than one earned run per game, while striking out nine batters! He currently has the best ERA in the league, while Impagliazzo (4-2, 2.48 ERA, 54.1 IP) is currently leading the ORL in strikeouts, with 15, trailing only David Castro in Chicago, who has struck out 17. Speaking of Chicago, they’re on a roll as per usual ... an 18-6 record has them already five games up on Minneapolis (12-10) and Indianapolis (13-11), the only other teams in the GLL with winning records.

May 15, 1909: Over the last two weeks, the Lexington Roughriders have gone all-in to take us on. They had one of the top three farm systems in either league, but have made moves with Cincinnati, Fort Wayne and Chicago to trade a great deal of that system to get players to keep us from three-peating as ORL champions. They’ve brought in 33-year-old second baseman Jan MacLellan from Cincinnati (.355, 50 hits, 10 triples, 3.0 WAR), 28-year-old left-handed ace Joe Kaczmarczyk from Fort Wayne (7-5, 1.71 ERA, 12 K’s, 0.97 WHIP, 1.8 WAR) and ... the big one ... 33-year-old legendary shortstop David Cole from Chicago (.341, four doubles, three homers, 16 RBIs, 3.0 WAR). Reportedly Chicago was ready to promote their 22-year-old shortstop of the future, and Louisville’s offer of cash plus three minor league prospects was too much to turn down.

At the moment we’re 24-12 and in second place, half a game behind Cincinnati (25-12) and a game and a half up on Lexington (23-14), but I suspect the race is going to get a lot more complicated from here.

May 30, 1909: We just got some absolutely TERRIBLE news. Brad Burgess, who has been hitting .348 with seven doubles, 13 homers and 41 RBIs, tore his labrum and is going to miss at least two months of the heart of this season. He tore it during yesterday’s 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Tie-Knockers that extended our win streak to nine games. Without him we lost tonight 2-0, and his absence from the heart of our order is definitely going to hurt us ... how much will remain to be seen. For now we’ll carry on with Delgado at short and Chris Hughes playing third, but that’s not an optimal long term solution -- we’re going to need to find a strong third baseman to carry us through defensively, as well as a shortstop who can back up Delgado as well.

June 1, 1909: Last night Sean Impagliazzo pitched a five-hit, 7-0 shutout of the Huntington Appalachians, and today it was announced that he’s won this month’s ORL Pitcher of the Month award! In May he started seven games and won all of them, striking out 20 batters through 66 innings with an 0.41 ERA! He is now 11-2 for the year with a 1.35 ERA, 35 strikeouts and an 0.83 WHIP through 120.1 innings, leading both leagues in strikeouts at 35 (Castro is in second place with 34).

We went 22-5 during the month of May, taking over first place in the ORL, though the red-hot Lexington Roughriders are right on our tail with a 36-15 record, having only lost one game since they completed their final blockbuster trade for Cole. We’re going to have to trust our depth and see if we can plug a couple holes with free agent minor leaguers on our bench, but I can guarantee the rest of this season is going to be a battle. Hopefully we get Burgess back by August for the stretch run! Losing Cole didn’t hurt Chicago any ... they’re now 39-13, up 11 on the Indianapolis Grey Stockings and Detroit Arsenal who are both tied at 28-14 for second place.

[jksander]

June 2, 1909: We’ve signed Nate Gilchrist, 31, as a backup middle-infielder, fully capable of playing second, third and short at a major league level with high leadership ability. He’s been a free agent all season, after Indianapolis let him go after an ACL tear last season. We’re paying him $500 on a single season deal to add depth, he is not expected to start on a regular basis.

June 18, 1909: We went into a four-game road series against the Roughriders (45-18) trailing them by a single game in the standings, and we won the first three of those games, by 3-0, 2-0 and 10-1 margins. Unfortunately we lost our middle infielder depth in Gilchrest, who strained a hamstring sliding into second and is out at least two months. So much for his comeback, he’s almost certainly too fragile now to continue playing at this level consistently. We lost the game tonight by a 3-2 margin, but were able to flip our spot in the standings ... we’re now a game up on Lexington, as this race (and rivalry) continues to heat up! Our next games against them are July 8th, 9th and 10th at the Ballpark at Louisville.

July 1, 1909: We went 9-3 after the Lexington series, finishing the month with a 56-24 record, leading Lexington (52-27) by 3.5 games. Cincinnati remains in the mix with a 44-34 record, 11 games out of first, but the race is clearly shaping up again between our two Kentucky programs for the ORL pennant. Green Bay (44-35) has leapt into the mix in the GLL, trailing Chicago (49-29) now by just 5.5 games, with the Detroit Arsenal (41-38, 8.5 GB) still in the mix. Indianapolis has fallen to fifth place with a 39-41 record, and Fort Wayne (35-43, 14 GB) looks like they’ve given up the fight entirely. Green Bay suddenly being in the race is a shock -- they haven’t finished above third since 1904, and their last pennant in the GLL was in 1895 (with their lone title back in 1881). Do they have what it takes to stay in this and give Chicago reasons to sweat?

Right now without Burgess we’re getting by offensively with an overall team effort, not any one flashy player. Chris Hughes, in his fifth year as a Riverman, has been our most consistent bat with a .301 average, seven doubles, nine triples and 31 RBIs while stealing 27 bases. Ben Morris has a .278 average and leads the team with 12 triples, adding 14 doubles, 27 RBIs and 26 steals as well. Jeremy “Charlie Hustle” Smith remains valuable at age 36, hitting .287 with 10 doubles, five triples, 20 RBIs and an incredible 53 steals, which leads the league. His speed on the basepaths for his age is unmatched, and he now has 644 stolen bases in his career.

Sean Impagliazzo, at 26, is clearly cementing himself as the most consistent young pitcher in the game. So far this season he has won 15 games with only five losses, has struck out 49 batters, and has a 1.48 ERA through 182.0 innings. He should win his 100th game before the season’s out and then some, and he’s in the conversation already for another Pitcher of the Year award if he can stay strong down the stretch!

July 3, 1909: George Driscoll pitched a two-hitter tonight against Cincinnati’s Continentals, and our bats had a great night as we stumped them on their field by a 3-0 margin! Ben Morris hit three times and scored a run, while Octavio Delgado had a two hit effort with an RBI. Driscoll has had three three-hitters this season, but this was his first with just two allowed.

July 12, 1909: We took two out of three games from Lexington here at home this past weekend, winning 6-5 in the 10th in game one, outlasting them 3-2 in game two, and dropping game three in a 6-2 game that got quickly out of our control thanks to Impagliazzo giving up six runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh, forcing us to go to the bullpen earlier than usual. Following the head-to-head series, we now have a 62-27 record, leading the Roughriders (58-31) by four games in a divisional race that remains tight. Burgess is expected to miss another three weeks, and he may get a rehab assignment to AAA Dayton to ensure he’s at full strength before he returns.

July 14, 1909: Ben Morris strained a hamstring during practice, and will miss at least six weeks. Damn! That’s not going to help us, though at least we do have significant depth in the outfield. Trey Bledsoe will take over in left field, with Brooks McCarthy moving into right field, while he recovers.

August 1, 1909: This was a tough end-of-the-month for us, going 8-7 over the last two and a half weeks of baseball action, to finish the month with a 70-34 record, just half a game up on the Roughriders of Lexington (69-34). The good news is that Burgess should begin a rehab assignment in Dayton tomorrow, and should be ready to return to the team within the week. The Chicago Internationals (68-35) lead the GLL by a dozen over Detroit, with Green Bay (54-49, 14 GB) still within at least moderate striking distance, but Cincinnati in our league is 17 games out, leaving just Chicago, ourselves and Lexington with legitimate shots at playing in the postseason in seven weeks.

Impagliazzo and Driscoll have combined for 39 of our 79 wins, and Impagliazzo already has 69 strikeouts, which is four off his career high for a season, to go with his 1.50 ERA, by far his best start in an already impeccable career thus far. Trey Bledsoe is day to day with a sprained ankle, but has led the team this year with a .304 average, 22 doubles and 36 RBIs, while Chris Hughes has a .322 average, 11 doubles, 41 RBIs and 46 stolen bases. Jeremy Smith is currently leading the league in stolen bases with 67, to go with 13 doubles, 23 RBIs and a .272 batting average.
 
August 10, 1909: Brad Burgess returned to the team this morning, getting in his usual workouts before playing in the first of three road games against the East St. Louis Locomotives, and he got two hits in four opportunities -- he didn’t score any runs, but it was great to see him out there, and we pulled off a 3-1 victory in the game to improve to 77-35! Here’s hoping he can stay healthy and propel us to our third pennant in a row.

September 1, 1909: Lexington got a game back against us by beating us two out of three in a road series against them at the end of the month, and they’ve done the unthinkable and pulled ahead of us in the pennant race, with a 90-41 record! We’re currently 87-44, three games back, and this is a nightmare scenario for me with my contract expiring at the end of the season ... we’re still 20 games up on Huntington in second place, but after back to back pennants and losses in the Championship Series, is ownership going to tolerate not even winning the pennant? These final four weeks are going to be intense as hell, and with our team back to full strength health-wise, I am hopeful we can put it into an extra gear and get back on top. We only have three games left against Lexington head to head, and they’re on September 7th through 9th here at home. We’ve also got a brutal road slate remaining, with 17 of our last 23 games taking place on the road, while the Roughriders have 12 home games and 11 road games remaining.

Burgess came back with a vengeance, and is currently hitting .335 on the season with 11 doubles, 19 homers and 57 RBIs, with 5.5 total WAR despite only playing in 70 games this season.

September 7, 1909: We beat the Roughriders today 4-0, but lost Ben Morris again as he strained his back trying to make a defensive play and will miss at least the next two weeks. The win pulled us to within a half a game of the Roughriders, but injuries continue to dog us down the stretch.

September 8, 1909: Bledsoe went off this afternoon with three hits two runs and three RBIs, while Burgess added three hits, a run and an RBI as our lineup put the Roughriders on blast to win 13-5! We’ve now got a half game lead on them and are starting to build some serious momentum, having won five of our last six games to start the month of September. One game left against the Roughriders ... can we complete the sweep?

September 9, 1909: Unfortunately we could not. We went back and forth in this one, taking a 1-0 lead in the first but then seesawing our way into extra innings. It all came down to the 13th, with Lexington taking the lead for good on a Matt Roy RBI single to win the game 4-3 and retake the lead in the race for the divisional crown. They kept Burgess hitless through six at-bats, though Smith hit three times for a run and an RBI.

September 22, 1909: Ben Morris is back in the lineup and we’re just one game back against the Roughriders, with just five games left in the season. This one’s going to hurt for one team, as someone’s going to miss out on the playoffs with 100 or more wins under their belt.

September 24, 1909: We officially tied with Lexington today in the standings at 102-50, thanks to an 8-2 win against the Huntington Appalachians here at the Ballpark at Louisville, with Jeremy Smith leading off with two hits and three RBIs, while Eduard de los Santos hit once and scored three runs on the ground. Mike Morris pitched a complete game with 11 hits and two runs (only one of them earned) to get us there.

September 25, 1909: We lost a tough one against Huntington today by a 3-1 margin, while the Roughriders shutout Evansville in a 2-0 win, led by Dave McGauley, who pitched a two-hitter and thoroughly dominated the Crescents. We need a win tomorrow and a loss by Lexington to force a playoff, or our season’s over. This is nailbitingly intense, the ultimate pennant finish for both teams.

September 26, 1909: We did what we could do on our own, surviving a late-game collapse against Huntington (we were up 6-2 after three!) to win our final game of the regular season by a 7-6 margin. Trey Bledsoe led with three hits, a run and three RBIs, and Driscoll pitched a complete game with just four of his runs earned, with nine hits against us. But it was all for naught ... Lexington shut Evansville out 6-0 behind a five-hitter by Javon Pratt, and we will miss out on a chance to rematch against Chicago in the Championship Series. Instead, it’s the Roughriders who made the huge mid-season trades they needed to make, pulling off the first pennant win in franchise history. Let’s face it, we can only call ourselves heartbroken right now, but we had our destiny in our hands at multiple points this season, and there’s going to be a ton of work to do in the offseason if we want to avoid this fate next year.

The Lexington Roughriders (104-50) will be challenging the Chicago Internationals (98-56) for the MBA Championship. Chicago has been the GLL Champion now six years running, and they’ve won three of the last five titles.

[jksander]

October 8, 1909: The Lexington Roughriders had home-field advantage to start the MBA Championship Series, but they lost game one 3-2 in a 10-inning effort, coming from behind in game two to force a second extra-innings affair, winning that one with a walkoff run in the bottom of the 10th to win 6-5. With the series even, Lexington went to Chicago and took game three in a 9-3 blowout, then won 6-5 in a nailbiter in game four to take a 3-1 series lead. But the Internationals won their third consecutive MBA Title by sweeping the remaining games 6-5 (12 innings), 7-3 and 7-4, making one wonder can ANYONE take out this juggernaut team? For the ninth time in the last 16 seasons there’s been a title won in Chicago.

October 9, 1909: Owner Phil Gibson has given me a two year extension to my contract, giving me a raise to $3,100 per year as I get to continue to work to bring the Rivermen the title this city deserves! We’ve got some work to do with Chris Hughes, who voided his last year of his contract and will become a free agent if we don’t get him extended before the arbitration period ends in three weeks. We’re also in talks with Ralph Ladd, who failed to meet the vesting requirements of his contract, so he too could wind up in free agency if we can’t reach an agreement.

In other news, 39-year-old first baseman Michael Levine has decided to retire from baseball. He played in the majors for 16 full seasons, spending the last four of them here in Louisville, though the last two years he was more of a leader from the bench, teaching our young players and helping keep the clubhouse atmosphere welcoming as we fought for pennants. He’ll finish his career with a .284 batting average, with 2,167 hits, 286 doubles, 83 triples, 20 homers and 1,148 runs scored, driving in 662. His 55.1 career WAR should eventually make him a Hall of Fame candidate, though how the MBA Press Association will vote is always something of a mystery. At the least he DESERVES to be a rare entry into the HOF as an offensive player.

We got the hot-stove season going in a big way this afternoon with a move toward building our farm system, something our owner Gibson has made a top priority. We’ve sent right fielder Chris Whalen, 31, and right-handed reliever Matt Chabak, 32, to the Green Bay Green Stockings along with $17,500 in cash, for BNN top ten prospect Morgan Harrison, 21, who plays second base and who has a ton of upside both offensively and defensively for us. It’s time to make some moves to build for our long term future via trades, while looking to the upcoming free agency season to make the impact signings we need to get over the championship hump.

October 13, 1909: Nate Gilchrest and Ralph Ladd each agreed to one year deals at their current pay rate to continue to have a spot on our major league roster, though their places on the team will have to be sorted out. Gilchrest in particular is an interesting example of a player valuable for his off-the-field skills, even as he may be a long-term injury risk ... he’s a team leader and though eventually we may have to part ways with him, paying $500 for his services in 1910 seems like a fair concession.

October 14, 1909: Third baseman Chris Hughes has signed a five-year extension worth $7,500 in total to remain a Riverman, likely to finish his career here. He’ll earn $1,500 per season through the rest of his contract, a well-earned extension after going .315 this season with 15 doubles, 12 triples and 61 stolen bases! The 34-year-old third baseman has 1,491 career hits, 598 stolen bases and a career average of .287, with 539 runs batted in, along with the 1904 Gold Glove at first base from his final year in Evansville. Fan excitement regarding the extension has been high, and I suspect season tickets are going to start selling faster in Deecember now that they know it’s a done deal.

October 17, 1909: The Gold Gloves for the league were announced this year, and this time we were dominant, winning five of the nine awards for defensive prowess: Mike Morris won his third in a row as a pitcher, while Mike Stricklin won his first ever as a catcher. Jeremy Smith and Jan MacLellan won at first and second respectively, and Trent Hall took home the award at center field again. David Cole (Lexington) won the shortstop fielding award with Burgess missing a large chunk of the year, and Lexington also picked up the third base award via Savatore Correa, and the right field award via Jaime Pena. Owensboro’s Matt Wheeler was the only player on another team to get any recognition, as our team and the Roughriders secured our status as the two teams to beat defensively.

October 19, 1909: We had three Silver Slugger winners this season! Jeremy Smith won the first base award, his fifth overall and second at the position, having put up a .290 average, 28 doubles, 11 triples and 55 RBIs while stealing 106 bases, placing second in the league in that latter metric. Meanwhile, Jan MacLellan won his second in a row at second base in his first season as a Riverman, hitting .299 with 20 doubles, 24 triples, two homers and 52 RBIs -- this was his fifth Silver Slugger of his career as well. Finally, even in his shortened season, Brad Burgess won the award at shortstop, hitting .350 with 18 doubles, 26 homers and 77 RBIs, putting together 7.7 WAR as he took his third Silver Slugger in a row at the position.
 
October 21, 1909: Sean Impagliazzo is only 26 years old, but he now owns two Ohio River League Pitcher of the Year awards! This year he went 30-8 with a 1.51 ERA, striking out 110 batters with a 0.88 WHIP through 369.2 innings of work, giving him 6.9 WAR! He’s only been in the Midwest Baseball League for four seasons, but he already has a career record of 106-52 with an ERA of 1.79 and 302 strikeouts, with 143 complete games and 35 shutouts, with two career one-hitters.

November 9, 1909: The league is buzzing over the news that the Rockford Black Hawks over in the GLL have signed Nick Bertrand (3B) and Austin Cappelli (SS), two of the best free agents in the current class. Finally it looks like someone in that league is interested in battling Chicago for the big weapons! Rumor has it they’re in on a few pitchers to improve their rotation, so I’m going to be intrigued to see how the race goes in that division this year.

The issue for us is that we don’t see anyone in the current free agent market that is a significant enough upgrade to make the leap. I’m scouring the league for potential trade options, but at this point the biggest news is that we may have catcher prospect Chris Heikes ready to come up to the major league level! We’ll say more closer to spring if his development program goes well. But right now we still feel we’re right on the edge of where we want to be. I’m not going to throw money at people who aren’t going to be able to make us a better ballclub just to say we did something.

November 28, 1909: Okay, so we did make ourselves a free agency deal, signing 32-year-old Thomas Dixon as a backup to Brad Burgess at shortstop. He’s a capable backup at short and second, giving us middle infield depth and a solid contact hitter to boot. He’ll get $1,000 per year over a six year span to do just that. He has no expectations of being a full-time starter, but he’ll play regularly and be a valuable contributor.

January 1, 1910: Another year, another pitcher gets into the Hall of Fame ... this time it was Michael Berglund, who played the bulk of his career with Owensboro and Rockford. With a career record of 272-280 with a 2.90 ERA and 523 strikeouts, Bergland had 59.4 total WAR while playing from 1882-1895. This was his final year of eligibility and he got in with 94.1 percent of the vote in his final opportunity. No offensive player got more than 24.9 percent of the vote this year.

March 3, 1910: Spring Training begins today, and top prospect Chris Heikes has gotten an invite to come show if he’s ready to make the big league roster or if he’ll be back in the minors this season. At 22, he’s got the defensive ability to do the job, but whether he’s got the skill yet to survive as a hitter in the league remains to be seen. But he showed improvement last year at AA, hitting .184 overall with 11 doubles and 20 homers, batting in 59 runs. So it’s going to be an end-of-March decision whether we keep him up as a backup option.
 
April 4, 1910: We handled ourselves well in the spring training season, putting up a record of 23-7 to lead the ORL. Chicago led the GLL with a 22-8 record, but Bloomington, Green Bay and Rockford all look solid this year. Could this be the year we get a Great Lakes pennant race? Our league looks like the Louisville / Lexington show yet again, with the bulk of the rest of our league looking like .500 would be good results. Chris Heikes hit .225 with a double, a homer and six RBIs, and I plan to keep him up as a backup fielding option as a catcher for sure. We also had right-handed starter Andy Lopez, 24, up for spring training, and he went 2-0 with an 0.60 ERA, five strikeouts and a .192 BAPIP through 30 innings of spring work. But he’ll start his season at AAA this year, though we may need to make room for him at the major league level next year, or he’ll come up if we have any injury trouble.

We open the season with a home series against Owensboro on the 7th. Here’s our opening day roster for the season:

Starting Lineup (con / gap / pwr / eye / avd / def)*
C - Mike Stricklin, 29 (70/45/50/45/80/75)
1B - Jeremy Smith, 37 (60/65/45/45/65/50)
2B - Thomas Dixon, 32 (65/60/60/65/75/75)
3B - Octavio Delgado, 28 (70/55/50/55/75/60)
SS - Brad Burgess, 24 (65/70/80/65/70/80)
LF - Ben Morris, 27 (65/75/45/55/75/75)
CF - Trent Hall, 26 (50/45/80/40/45/80)
RF - Trey Bledsoe, 24 (75/55/45/50/80/60)

Bench
C - Chris Heikes, 22 (45/40/45/45/45/75)
C - David Campbell, 34 (60/45/40/45/65/35)
C - Brett Ohms, 31 (55/45/50/45/65/60
1B - Jon Felker, 32 (55/70/70/75/45/65)
2B - Bobby Johnson, 34 (70/45/45/50/80/65)
3B - Nate Gilchrist, 32 (55.45/45/45/70/60)
3B - Chris Hughes, 35 (60/65/50/50/70/40)
LF - James Davis, 26 (60/45/50/45/75/65)
CF - Ethan Martin, 31 (55/45/45/45/65/45)
RF - Dave Borden, 34 (60/55/50/45/70/40)
RF - Ben Johnson, 27 (65/50/50/45/80/60)
RF - Brooks McCarthy, 32 (65/55/45/45/70)

Rotation (Stuff / Mov / Ctrl / Sta / Hld / Def)*
SP1 - Sean Impagliazzo, 26 (65/75/40/60/65/55)
SP2 - Cameron McClain, 60/70/65/50/55/45)
SP3 - George Driscoll, 31 (45/75/50/55/80/50

Bullpen
Stopper - Mike Stoneburg, 30 (50/70/50/50/65/35)
Middle - Mike Morris, 30 (50/70/50/50/45/60)
Middle - J.R. Potter, 35 (75/70/45/25/55/45)
Middle - Ralph Ladd, 31 (45/70/65/35/50/20)

* Defense rating only at key position