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Old 01-24-2022, 08:26 PM   #41
pauwoo
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2078 Season (August 8th – 11th)

Austin Grackles (44-67, .396, 6th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (68-42, .618, 2nd NL West)
Austin is weighed down by their pack, in the rear with the gear, and unable to offer up much of any significance as they find themselves scraping the very bottom of the barrel in 2078. Their pitching is in absolute shambles, allowing ~5 runs a game, with a 1.43 WHIP, collectively, and a 4.49 ERA in aggregate… and that the offense isn’t much better should come as no surprise when you take a closer look at the standings to find that they have a -124 RDiff so far, are nearly as poor at home (23-30) as they are on the road (21-37), and are a league worst 14-21 in 1-run games. This is a club that couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat and couldn’t put one in the strike zone if you left them soft toss it, underhanded, to the backstop… They are, should our guys stay the least bit focused over these next four games, exactly what the Doctor ordered – an opportunity to course correct, to take back our rightful place at the top of the pops, and restore my battered & beat down faith in humanity…

111 of 162: Ryan Burg (8-8, 3.72) @ Trev Anderson (3-4, 3.95)
Loss, 1-3
. Ours is a malaise so all-encompassing, so loathsome and tiresome, that one has to wonder if we’ll ever find our way out of it… to lose, at home, to the collection of stiffs fielded by Austin is an unacceptable outcome, the kind of result that ends with a trip to the owners’ office, followed by a walk to the unemployment line. Here, after Trev made his triumphant return to the rotation, giving us a 5-inning clean sheet with only 3 hits and 7 K’s, Major Hansen was a major bummer, would fail to hold the line, gave up a 2-run BOMB to Austin’s Livan Frias, and all but ensured our demise. The offense was muted, with only Dom’s 2-for-4 day and SOLO SHOT making any noise, the baserunning suspect as Hamza got caught with his hand in the honeypot, and our fielding sloppy (Ian Hanan, ol’ butterfingers himself, committed his 9th fielding flub on the year). If our goal is to fade away, to skulk off quietly into the night, then we’ve really been on top of our game of late.

112 of 162: Dwaine Schilling (6-8, 4.16) @ Keith Baeza (4-3, 2.70)
Win, 9-7
. A 5-run top of the 7th for Austin, where they absolutely battered bullpen pitchers Jan Hernandez for 3 & Rishon Igarashi for two more, made a game of it for the Grackles late, but we’d right ship and usher this much-needed win home on a magnificent offensive effort from the La La’s and ‘solid’ pitching the rest of the way. Otto led the offense, put two out, knocked in 4, and did his little strut around the bases, PEPPER drove in two, one on his 18th double of the year and the other on a single, and we’d score 9 despite leaving 9 more stranded. Turnbull would get the save, his 39th, we’d overcome some ho-hum play and sloppy pitching, and secure a win that we only deserved by virtue of Austin playing even worse than we did.

Injury Alert: Keith Baeza went down with Mild Shoulder Inflammation so, to be safe, we put him on the IL and called up 30-year-old, Ignazio Armendariz, a solid, low velocity groundball type, to cover for him as we put Nakagawa on waivers when Trev came back and couldn’t get him back up until he clears…

113 of 162: Vin Uhlman (6-9, 4.74) @ Stephen Estevez (9-2, 2.14)
Loss, 1-2
. Ethan did his level best to get the offense going during the bottom of the 7th – he’d open the frame with a single, steal second during the next AB, and make it to 3rd on a WP… but, it was all for naught as three straight ground outs erased all his hard work and our run-starved offense stayed malnourished yet again. Estevez picked up his 3rd loss as his 5.1 inning, 4-hit, 2 earned outing went unrewarded by any run support once again, we’d leave 9 runners stranded, waste the ill-gotten gains of two swiped bags (1 each for Ethan and Hamza), and put forth the type of listless, meandering effort you’d associate with an unimaginative 18-year-old who thinks he should travel before getting serious about his future… we are, in effect, the son who tells his parents that he has decided to pursue comedy instead of following in the family footsteps of becoming a lawyer where the problem isn’t that he has chosen to throw caution to the wind and chase his dream, it’s that he’s just not funny. Like, at all. What a frustrating mess…

Injury Note: 2B Ian Hanan will miss ~4 weeks with a hamstring strain… bummer biscuits… and will be replaced in the lineup by SS Hetereki Ailani because he can play 2B and we don’t really have anyone else who can…

114 of 162: Joshua Moeller (9-10, 4.01) @ Peter Garcia (9-3, 3.80)
Win, 3-2 (13)
. A long, drawn out affair, where not much of note (unless you’re a fan of lockdown pitching) happened after each team had put a couple on the board prior to the stretch… from the 7th on we’d trade zeroes until Andy Shepard, mired in an 0-for-4 day as he made his way out of the on deck circle, stepped up to the plate and SCHMACKED a bases-loaded, walk-off SAC FLY to send the hometown faithful, or those of them who bothered to wait it out, into a low-key tizzy as we find the most ho-hum way to earn a series split against the worst team in the National League. Garcia went 6.1, allowed those early two, each on a solo homer, and fanned 8, and the pen stayed stout with recent arrival Armendariz putting in a hitless inning of work with a K, Turnbull giving us 3 innings and 4 K’s, and Rishon Shaw picking up his 5th win to improve his record to 5-5 on the year.

We’re still operating two games off Las Vegas’ pace… untenable.

Record: 70-44, .614, 2nd NL West
Up Next: A quick hop over the Detroit Rock City to face off against the former Leopard Tony Voorhis and the Motors… which would make a great band name you ask me. Like a garage rock revival type vibe with a female lead singer and Voorhis on the kit. Yeah, I can dig it.
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Old 01-25-2022, 07:56 PM   #42
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2078 Season (August 12th – 14th)

Los Angeles Leopards (70-44, .614, 2nd NL West) @ Detroit Motors (58-56, .509, 2nd AL East)
Detroit came out gangbusters to start the year but came crashing back down to earth during an 11-17 month of June before rebounding in July to post a 15-11 month to get themselves heading the right direction once more. Unfortunately, they’re on the same sort of ‘dog days of summer’ lull that we seem to find ourselves in… this set, 3-games of interleague buffoonery as it were, isn’t so much about who wins as it is about who can snap out of their funk first… and while, under normal circumstances, the smart bet would be laid on our club, Detroit will be bringing their 2nd-ranked AL offense to the table against our suspect bullpen and will pair that with a serviceable, 5th ranked staff that, given our current state, is more than capable of giving us some serious fits. If I was a betting man, and I am, I’d put it all on me drinking myself into a stupor over the course of these next few days, eventually waking up in some unknown place with my favorite watch gone and my wallet super light on cash.

115 of 162: Merl Crawford (11-4, 2.42) @ Matt Martin (11-10, 4.17)
Win, 3-2 (13)
. All knotted up, 2-2, at the stretch, and with only 4 hits and 2 runs each, Detroit’s Paulo Legna would put his club ahead on a run-scoring single in the bottom of the 7th that would hold until the top of the very next frame when Ethan brought the equalizer across on a 2-out single. From there we’d trade zeroes until the 11th when Ernie Sparacino, our light-hitting defensive specialist, snuck one through the infield to bring Hamza home, putting Donovan Turnbull on the mound in the bottom of the 9th with death on the line… and he’d not disappoint as he shut down the side and earned his 6th win of the year for his efforts. A good, hard-fought win against a real lunch pail and hard hat type of club that had an impressive 9-4 record in extras until we charged loss #5 to their account.

116 of 162: Trev Anderson (3-4, 3.69) @ Al Bundy (7-4, 3.69)
Win, 10-5
. Detroit’s Al Bundy, Polk High School’s favorite son, was no match for the La La’s in this one as he’d come unglued early when Hamza drilled a 3-run TRUCK during the top of the 1st that put us up by 4 runs before the contest even had a chance to get started… from there it was more of the same until we chased Al out of the game during the 4th frame, charging 6 runs to his account, and started in on the Motor City bullpen a bit. Ono drove 3 in and put one out, and Shepard drove two in, each on a single, while former Leopard’s Tony Voorhis (1-for-5) and Archie Imanov (1-for-4) couldn’t get it going against their former club. Trev gets the win, we’ve won our second straight, on the road, and the defense was stout in fielding two double plays… man, it feels good to be on the road, mowing them down like Otto is Rob Tyner on the microphone, with the rest of the club kicking out the jams behind him.

117 of 162: Dwight Beasley (4-0, 1.11) @ Trevor Dotson (5-10, 6.66)
Loss, 7-6
. The battle of two future studs, our own Dwight Beasley and the D’s Trevor Dotson (who I think they have up on the big club too early), did not live up to the hype… Beasley went 5.2, fanned 6, gave up 4 TRUCKS and SEVEN RUNS (not sure what my Skipper was thinking) while Dotson gave up 6 runs on 4.2 innings of work with 2 HR’s against and ZERO K’S… a pitchers duel this was not. Voorhis was scary, TRUCKED TWO, both off Dwight, and drove 3 in, Otto and Shepard followed his lead but it wasn’t enough, and, in this live action version of Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em robots we’d play the part of Dan Hardy to their Carlos Condit – we went for it, got after it, and, unfortunately, went out on our shield, taking the loss, instead of securing the confidence-boosting road sweep I so desperately wanted.

Record: 72-45, .615, 2nd NL West (still 2 games back… running in place)
Up Next: A travel day to get back to Los Angeles and then a 3-game interleague set against the Charlotte Imperials.
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Old 01-26-2022, 04:47 PM   #43
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2078 Season (August 16th – 18th)

Weekly PR came out on our travel day…
Las Vegas Outlaws (121.8)
Buffalo Nickels (114.3)
Los Angeles Leopards (111.8)
Seattle Metros (105.6)
Salt Lake Alpines (101.6)

Charlotte Imperials (57-62, .479, 3rd AL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (72-45, .615, 2nd NL West)
The Imperials find themselves occupying the 3rd position in a weak division, have amassed a poor -13 RDiff, are bad on the road (25-34), and, at 5-9 so far this month, can’t seem to bank the wins necessary to make up some ground. At the start of the 2078 campaign, the punditry had them penciled in to finish at the top of the AL East table, along with Toronto, who lives in 5th, but with the ascension of Buffalo and Detroit’s better-than-expected showing, that prediction has turned out to be woefully inept. Instead, on the field of play, Charlotte has shown themselves to be a middle-of-the-road also-ran that pairs a 7th ranked AL offense with an 8th ranked staff… theirs is an undesirable lot, with a pitching staff whose average age is 30 years old and a Minor League System ranking of 15th. Their present looks bleak, the future seems anything but bright, and their past, 44 playoff appearances, 7 titles, feels like the sort of distant memory that may not have been real at all… listen, I hate to say it, but… their visit to Los Angeles Municipal Stadium could be exactly what we need to put a little streak together, to rebuild the confidence, and get back to our rip-roaring, raze the castle, no one gets out alive, way of doing business.

118 of 162: Dimitri Pimentel (9-3, 3.15) @ Stephen Estevez (9-3, 2.19)
Win, 6-3.
After cutting our lead in half during the top of the 7th on a 2-run DING DONG that gave them three runs during the frame, the Imperials would go quiet, content to just limp along as our bullpen, specifically Nakagawa (he’s back) and Turnbull, made mincemeat of their lineup the rest of the way. We scored our runs early, with each of the 6 coming in pairs all before the 5th frame and with each driven in by a different batter, got a run-scoring double from Ono, a run-scoring triple from Ethan, who also stole a bag (his 29th), and a nice, team first SAC FLY from Dom to open the scoring during the bottom of the 2nd. Nothing too overpowering from the La La’s here, just some good, hard-nosed, no-frills baseball where our only goal was to get the dub and move on.

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Elsewhere: Seattle’s SP David Arney twirled a complete game, 2-hit clean sheet with 10 K’s as the Metros thoroughly dismantled the Philadelphia Founders by a score of 12-0. LF Palmer Parker, a 2x Boyce Rigg recipient and widely considered one of the best in the game, fell victim to Arney three times during the contest during an 0-for-4 day where he left 4 runners stranded. With the win, Seattle improved to 66-54 on the year, taking sole possession of 1st place in the AL West with a 1-game lead over Vancouver and Salt Lake.

119 of 162: Nacho Valadez (3-12, 5.51) @ Peter Garcia (9-3, 3.75)
Loss, 3-4.
Unlike the first game, Charlotte would use the top of the 7th to pull ahead by a run as Mike Duncan sent a 3-run blast into the cheap seats to run their total up to 4 for the inning and we’d play their part from yesterday and go dormant the rest of the way… with 7 of our clubs 14 K’s coming from the bottom of the 7th on. Ethan and OH HONG each fanned three times, four other guys did it twice, we left 5 on base, hit into two double plays, and suffered through the indignity of another blown save as Grumpy Losito gave up the ghost almost immediately after taking over in the 7th… it was his 4th of those and 6th loss of the season – I’m thinking that the 2079 Leopards are unlikely to have room for him. Harsh? Yes. It is. But this is a results-oriented business, and, while his ERA looks tasty, when you dig a bit below the surface and weigh his worth, he’s found wanting.

Injury News… this sucks. Pittsburgh’s Tom Franzone will miss 5-weeks due to a broken collarbone. He’s hitting .336 with 24 TRUCKS, 79 RBI and 74 runs for the 66-55, 2nd place Pipers. It always sucks when a saves leading All-Star vote getter goes down near the end of the season, even more so when his club is desperately clinging to a 1 ½ game lead in the WC race.

120 of 162: Medardo Garcia (4-9, 4.01) @ Merl Crawford (11-4, 2.50)
Loss, 2-6
. Charlotte was impatient this time around, refusing to wait until the 7th to pull ahead as they put 3 bad ones on us during the top of the 5th, going up 5-2 for the game and refusing to relinquish that lead the rest of the way. Crawford got shelled, allowing 5 earned in less than 5-innings of work, we struck out as a club 7 times, Ono hit into a double play that killed any thought of making a rally attempt, and Otto was caught trying to get cute on the base paths. And just like that… we reenter the fog, losing ourselves in an all-encompassing miasma of poor play and worse execution, losing a home series for the 1st time this month against a ho-hum club with nothing to lose and even less to gain.

We’re now a full 3-games behind Las Vegas. For shame.

Record: 73-47, .608, 2nd NL West
Up Next: A tough, 3-game home set against the always dangerous Phoenix Coyotes.
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Old 01-26-2022, 08:26 PM   #44
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2078 Season (August 19th – 21st)

Phoenix Coyotes (63-58, .521, 4th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (73-47, .609, 2nd NL West)
The Coyotes have been doing their best Leopards impression so far this month with an identical 8-7 record but have won their last two contests while we went home on the losing end of ours… they’ve performed poorly against us head-to-head so far though, as evidenced by their 5-9 record against us, and continue to plod aimlessly along with their 10th rated offense that is as power starved as they are deficient at getting on base. They’re a club that, with a bat or two, would be a force in our division, peeling games off the likes of us and Las Vegas to shore up what is already and excruciatingly tight race in the NL West. Our hope here is that their offense will not suddenly ignite like it did their last time out, a 12-0 win over the New York Sluggers, and that our club will come into this set with a renewed vigor and take it to these chumps like we know that we can…

121 of 162: Damian Harris (7-6, 2.91) @ Trev Anderson (4-4, 3.90)
Win, 4-3 (13)
. As is customary lately, our pen gave up the ghost late, during the top of the 7th, and let the Coyotes sneak their way back into this one on a solo shot that knotted it up, 3 runs each. From there, a pitching duel was afoot until, during the bottom of the 13th, with one out and the bases loaded, OH HONG stepped into the box and blasted a walk off, SAC FLY to earn us a hard-fought victory and send the Coyotes off with their heads hung low in shame. Otto and Hamza each went 2-for-4, Isaac scored twice while McDonnell did nothing with either of his hits, Ono hit a bases-clearing triple to record 3 RBI, and our staff, save Trev who allowed three runs to plate, tossed a shutout from the 8th inning on to put us in a position to get it done. We’re not playing lights out baseball right now… far from it, actually… but it’s nice to see the club dig deep and earn one in front of our fans at home after what happened while Charlotte was in town.

122 of 162: Cuco Verhoeven (2-0, 0.71) @ Dwight Beasley (4-1, 1.92)
Win, 3-2
. Up 3-2 after 7-innings of work, Beasley reluctantly handed the pill off to the pen after allowing just 3 hits and 2 runs during the outing and would be rewarded for his willingness to do so as Rishon Shaw preserved the score during the 8th to earn his 19th hold of the year and Turnbull tossed a hitless 9th on 7 total pitches to earn his 41st save of the season. Shepard put a 2-run moonshot over the fence, Hamza hit a SAC BUNT, Ono a SAC FLY, and the defense produced three perfectly executed double plays to put the kibosh on as many ill-fated rally attempts by Phoenix… a good, workmanlike effort from the boys where we’d do just enough to get over on these guys, without the need for any extra frames to get things sorted.

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Elsewhere: LF Aitor Cubas, taking Seattle’s side during an unofficial game in the ongoing Cascadia Cup against Portland, went 4-for-4 with a double, a JACK, 5 total RBI, 3 runs, and a free pass to lead the Metros to a resounding, and convincing, 13-2 win in the Emerald City over the Pines. With the win, Seattle moved to 67-56 on the year, just ½ a game ahead of the other Cascadia Cup combatant, Vancouver. There’s still a ways to go, but, with three clubs within one game of each other in the AL West between Seattle, Vancouver, and SLC, I’m expecting some fireworks to decide the division.

123 of 162: Landon Sampson (12-6, 2.10) @ Stephen Estevez (10-3, 2.22)
Win, 1-0 (12)
. It’d take an act of Congress, and wasn’t pretty, but your boys came through in the clutch and gutted out a win to secure a much-needed HOME SWEEP over a division rival and more than worthy opponent. Estevez went tit for tat against Sampson, finished with 3 hits allowed, nothing earned, and 10 K’s over 6.2 innings of hard scrabble work while Landon worked for 6, allowed two hits, nothing to plate, and fanned 5… in the end it was fielding dynamo and fan favorite, even if he’s a little long in the tooth, PEPPER GRANT who’d come through in the clutch with a 12th inning, walk off, run-scoring single to send Phoenix back to the desert where they meet up at home with the Las Vegas Outlaws…

Record: 76-47, .617, 2nd NL West
Up Next:
San Jose is headed our way for 4 games contested in beautiful downtown Los Angeles.
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Old 01-27-2022, 01:00 PM   #45
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2078 Season (August 22nd – 25th)

Another week, another Power Ranking…
Las Vegas Outlaws (119.1)
Los Angeles Leopards (118.2)
Seattle Metros (104.7)
Toronto Maple Leafs (102.3)
Pittsburgh Pipers (100.9)

San Jose Seals (66-57, .544, 3rd NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (76-47, .618, 2nd NL West)
Currently struggling through their toughest month of the season, the San Jose Seals look like a shell of their former selves so far in August where they’ve amassed an embarrassing 5-13 record to drop themselves a full 12 games off our division leaders’ pace. The problem, it seems, is that their once strong offense has suddenly gone cold, dropping from their lofty perch of 5th best in the NL down to 7th in less than a month… and, while their pitching staff has continued to turn in strong performances, it hasn’t been enough to lead them out of the darkness just yet. We’ll look to take advantage of that over these next 4-games, and, as winners of three in a row after sweeping Phoenix our last time out, are hoping that our current form is good enough to improve the 7-6 head-to-head record we have against the Seals so far.

124 of 162: Emerson Barros (2-4, 4.63) @ Peter Garcia (9-3, 3.78)
Win, 8-2.
Our early, 6-2 lead, was extended by 2 more in the bottom of the 7th when Andy Shepard brought Otto around on a 2-run TRUCK, completely deflating the opposition and all but entering this win into the permanent record. Garcia got us started off on the good foot over 6.1 innings of work where he’d allow only 2 runners to plate while fanning 4, and Igarashi closed the show admirably over the final 2.2 innings, needing a scant 34 pitches to do so. Offensively, we went off – 4 doubles, a triple, and two homeruns as a club, 3 total RBI for Shep, 2 more for Dom, and a swiped bag for Otto, his 22nd, would round things out nicely for us as we managed to take the first of four in spectacular fashion.

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Elsewhere: SP Toni Cartwright, a 26-year-old lefty putting in work with your CITY OF COMPTON Raiders, spun a complete game shutout against the Abilene Roughnecks, fanning 7 and surrendering 5 hits. Compton would hang on to win it with very little run support by a score of 3-0. Cartwright is pretty much ready, we just don’t have room for him in Los Angeles this year… but with several from our staff working on the last year of their deal, I expect to see him on the big club in 2079.

125 of 162: Brody John (9-9, 3.52) @ Merl Crawford (11-5, 2.66)
Win, 4-3
. Our offense sputtered along a bit, scoring single runs in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 7th when Hetereki Ailani broke the 3-3 tie with a run-scoring ground out… yeah, not the most exciting way to manufacture a run, but hey… the result is the most important thing, and we’ll make our living as a function over fashion outfit if that’s what is required. Another good effort from the staff – Merl went 8 strong, allowed 3 runners to plate on 6 hits and fanned 8, and Turnbull, back on that good stuff lately, recorded his 42nd save of the year during a laborious, 19-pitch top of the 9th.

126 of 162: Julen Morales (6-8, 3.10) @ Trev Anderson (4-4, 3.89)
Score, 6-5
. A 4-run, bottom of the 7th knotted it up for us at 5 runs each, and a lights out performance by the pen from the 8th on would help keep it that way until our offense could be bothered to put this one to bed during the bottom of the 9th as Andy Shepard produced a run-scoring walk… a walk off walk ladies and gents! And, with the way we’ve been putting it down lately, I can’t think of nothing that screams LEOPARDS BASEBALL with more vigor than a walk off walk. Mullens went 3-for-5 with a 2-run TANK and 3 total RBI to lead the offense, Nakagawa and Armendariz tried to give this one away, allowing 3 and 2 runners to plate each, respectively, after Trev left early with a boo boo, and Rishon Shaw secured the win, his 7th, over the last 2-innings of the contest. All in a day’s work, folks…

A nice comeback, walk off win to run our consecutive game winning streak up to 6!

127 of 162: Knox Hussman (6-13, 4.16) @ Dwight Beasley (5-1, 1.98)
Win, 5-0
. An early, 398ft 2-run TRUCK from OH HONG during the bottom of the 1st was bested by a 430ft 2-RUN BLAST from DOM a few batters later during that same frame to set the tone from the jump… and, once set, both clubs would go quiet until the bottom of the 7th when OH HONG sent a solo shot over the fence just to make sure our home town crowd was still awake. Beasley came correct – 7 innings, 2 hits, nothing earned with 6 Ks – and now has two solid performances under his belt after giving up 4 JACKS three appearances ago, and Nakagawa was nearly flawless in relief, preserving the shutout and fanning 2 over the final two frames of the game. 7 straight for the La La’s… LET'S GO!

Record: 80-47, .629, 2nd NL West
Up Next: We’ll welcome the Big Bad Wolf to Los Angeles for an incredibly important 3-game set against Las Vegas that could decide our division even though we’ll have 32-games left to play afterwards…
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Old 01-27-2022, 08:16 PM   #46
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2078 Season (August 26th – 28th)

Las Vegas Outlaws (80-46, .635, 1st NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (80-47, .630, 2nd NL West)
In some circles, there is a belief that, at +5 against the Pythagorean, Las Vegas is punching above their weight so far in 2078… that said, they have the 2nd best RDiff at +111 (only our +164 is better), are adept at winning 1-run games (22-17), and, at 10-5 against us head-to-head so far, would seem to have our number. For our part, if we are going to show out against our rival here, now would be the time as we’re coming in hot, on a 7-game winning streak, footloose, and fancy free… If we can’t get it done against these guys here, at home, during the regular season, then any route to the World Series that goes through Las Vegas looks awfully prohibitive from my perspective.

128 of 162: Jack Sanchez-Flores (13-7, 4.44) @ Stephen Estevez (10-3, 2.12)
Win, 1-0
. Sanchez-Flores and Estevez locked horns over the 1st 6-innings of this contest before we turned it over to the pen, with five of our relievers getting some burn, to close this one out… and, offensively, it was Otto’s clutch 8th-inning solo homer that’d give us all the cushion we’d need to preserve our winning streak, up to 8-straight now, against our most reviled divisional foe. Our staff recorded 12 K’s in total, with 9 of those belonging to Estevez, and we somehow avoided an all-out donnybrook as Stephen hit three batsmen during the game… had this not been such an important game, and had Estevez not had a good case for those HBP’s to be accidental, we’d be talking about suspensions right now… but, since that isn’t the case it’s all joy juice and Band-Aids in Los Angeles with 2 more games to go.

And just like that, given that we were a scant ½ game back prior to game #128, we’ve reclaimed our perch at the top of the table, and are comfortably looking down our nose at the riff raff below us once more…

129 of 162: Cam Murphy (11-4, 2.67) @ Peter Garcia (10-3, 3.74)
Win, 9-4
. A 1st inning GRAND SLAM from DOM served as an emphatic opening salvo for us and represented a lead we’d not relinquish over the course of the game as we handled the Outlaws from pillar to post, during a rabble rousing 9-4 home victory to run our streak up to 9 and put us one game away from a season-defining sweep over Sin City. Ethan and Ono would each contribute two doubles and two RBI for the game, Mullens secured his 30th steal on 35 tries, and OH HONG and DOM each controlled their emotions after being hit by pitches before the stretch… could’ve been some get back from yesterday, we don’t care… to the winners the spoils go and right now its all champaign wishes and caviar dreams in La La Land…

130 of 162: Shizuka Takeuchi (10-8, 3.86) @ Merl Crawford (12-5, 2.70)
Win, 2-1
. We’d run our streak up to 10, complete an improbable HOME SWEEP, and improve our head-to-head record against Las Vegas to 8-10 after gutting out this tight, taut affair to the delight of Leopards supporters everywhere… Ono was the show early, bringing in our 1st run during the bottom of the 4th on a double, and OH HONG secured the difference-making RBI-single during the bottom of the 8th to usher in a victory by the slimmest of possible margins. The staff was great again – Merl went 6.1 scoreless innings, Major Hansen kept the clean sheet intact during a 1.2 inning hold, and Turnbull secured his 44th save despite loading up the bases during the bottom of the 9th and walking in a run before striking out the last batter of the game.

You can’t stop the train.

Record: 83-47, .638, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll head to Austin for some bourbon, a bit of barbeque, and some baseball as we close out August with a 3-game set contested in the Capital of the Lonestar State.
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Old 01-28-2022, 12:46 PM   #47
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2078 Season (August 29th – 31st)

Los Angeles Leopards (83-47, .638, 1st NL West) @ Austin Grackles (51-80, .389, 6th NL West)
Nothings changed with the Grackles since the last time we met… things, especially those which are dire, are just more pronounced, visible from space, and obvious even to our sports casual onlookers… their pitching is still in shambles, the offense a mess, and, as a club they are putting up a league-worst -166 RDiff on the year. Their park often takes on the look of a ghost town, they’re not a ticket that any of the locals are clamoring for, and, provided we stay focused and not let our bravado embarrass us here, should be a club we can dispatch with relative ease to close out August on a nice upswing after getting off to an 8-7 start to the month.

A shake up on the weekly PR… who? what?
Los Angeles Leopards(134.9)
Vancouver Mounties (110.1)
Brooklyn Citizens (106.1)
Las Vegas Outlaws (105.6)
Buffalo Nickels (101.3)

Prior to the game, our team trainer, Hidetoshi Hasagawa, informed me that RP Grumpy Losito will miss 4-weeks of time due to elbow inflammation. This ushered in the return of Keith Baeza who was on a rehab assignment… he’ll be slotted in as our #5 and Beasley will move back to the pen. Also, today’s game was cancelled due to poor weather, scratching what would have been Dwight’s last start. Double-header for the 1st two…

131 of 162: Trev Anderson (4-4, 3.83) @ Ryan Burg (9-11, 4.05)
Win, 5-2.
Despite being outhit, 7-5, through the first 6 ½ innings, we’d carry a 2-1 advantage into the stretch and hold on for dear life as our bullpen came through for us once again with a little insurance in the form of an 8th inning solo shot from Otto and a run-scoring single from Ailani to help them on their merry way… in the end we’d outhit them 12-9, outscore them 5-2, and get the win despite our pen threatening to come undone when Major Hansen gave up a run, followed by Turnbull loading the bags before settling into it to secure his 45th save of the season… which is good enough for 2nd in the league, 4 saves short of the leader, Las Vegas’ Johnny Dial.

132 of 162: Stephen Estevez (10-3, 2.03) @ Dwaine Schilling (6-10, 4.30)
Win, 4-1 (10)
. What turned into a long slog of a day after our second of two games required extras to get things sorted ended on a positive note as Otto’s 2-run DINGER put us up 3-1 during the top of the 10th with another coming courtesy of a Satoru Ono solo shot that was more than we’d need to secure a series win in Austin and our 12th straight victory. The pitching was stout once more as Estevez let only one runner find his way home during 6.2 innings of work, while our pen kept things scoreless the rest of the way with Turnbull sniping the win late after Otto’s 10th inning heroics.

133 of 162: Peter Garcia (11-3, 3.86) @ Vin Uhlman (8-11, 4.81)
Win, 2-1
. Down 1-0 after 6, Ethan would knot it up for us during the top of the 7th on a solo dinger and Otto would put us ahead with the same before the bottom of the frame… from there our pen took over, as they’re wont to do, and turned Austin away for the 3rd time in a row to complete our 4th straight sweep and 13 consecutive win overall… in addition to lights out pitching from Igarashi and Hansen (both earned a hold), the ending would feature a Hi-Def, 4 K bottom of the 9th from Turnbull to notch his 46th save of the year that went something like this…SS Larry Williams struck out swinging at a 2-2 Slider, C Rafael Baca fanned on a 2-2 fastball, CF Edison West struck out on a 2-2 slider, which got by Dom leading to him taking 1st, and, finally, DH Dylan Tucker got caught looking at, you guessed it, a 2-2 slider to call it a day. Welp… you don’t see that every day.

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Record: 86-47, .646, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll enter the last full month of the regular season, winners of our last 13, and on a mission from God… taking a day off to check into our Philly hotel and get our bearings before locking horns with the Founders over 3-games.
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Old 01-28-2022, 06:26 PM   #48
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2078 Season (Final August Standings & Leaderboard)

A quick look at how the standings look with August officially in the books
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Our league leaders…
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And your Los Angeles Leopards… (attached)
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Old 01-29-2022, 12:02 PM   #49
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2078 Season (September 2nd – 4th)

Los Angeles Leopards (86-47, .646, 1st NL West) @ Philadelphia Founders (56-77, .421, 5th NL East)
Poor Palmer Parker… stuck languishing near the bottom of the pack as the member of a subpar squad. Philly is operating well off the pace at 18 games back in the NL East, rank 8th in runs scored, 11th in batting average, and boast a staff ranked one slot above the woeful Grackles at 11th in the National League. They’re just not an example of a good club… what they are, instead, is an example of a poor club holding one of our leagues top talents hostage while the front office attempts to make things right… but, when you couple the fact that their management has a history of making poor decisions with Parker’s contract expiring at the end of this year, what you get is a stormy future in the city of Brotherly Love as Palmer will most assuredly bolt to the club of the highest bidder during the offseason…

134 of 162: Merl Crawford (13-5, 2.60) @ Steve Allen (7-10, 3.11)
Win, 6-2
. We’d pour 6 runs on before the stretch, earning 2 in each of the 3rd, 4th, and 6th innings of the contest thanks to Otto’s 2-run Jack in the 3rd, PEPPER’s 2-run TRUCK in the 4th, and Ailani’s 2-run, two-bagger in the 6th. And that’s where we’d leave it as Major Hansen came in during the bottom of the 6th, giving us 2.2 innings of work with SIX K’s, before handing it off to Igarashi who closed the show on only 5 pitches. That’s 14 in a row now… our boys can do no wrong.

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Elsewhere: Your boy, Michael Brisk, former Los Angelino currently doing the dirt for the Portland Pines, went gonzo on the New York Sluggers as he turned in a complete game, 3-hit shutout with 9 K’s to lead his club to a 3-0 victory at home. At 64-70, and underachieving per the preseason predictions, the Pines haven’t had much to celebrate this season… that’s where having a big name on your club like Brisky comes in handy… at his best he’ll inspire the base and help to sell tickets regardless of what the standings look like.

135 of 162: Keith Baeza (4-3, 2.67) @ Jonny Garcia (11-12, 4.46)
Loss, 5-6
. OH HONG was our catalyst during the top of the 1st, opening the scoring with a 2-run dinger off Starter Jonny Garcia and was our savior later as his solo homer during the top of the 9th that looked like it would be the winning run until Philly’s Thiago Leyva brought the equalizer in during the bottom of the frame on a double. During the top of the 10th, PEPPER, doing his best OH HONG impression, put one out to reclaim the lead only to have it erased during the bottom of that frame on a Josh Largent solo shot as the Founders refused to go away… finally putting an end to our winning streak on a Ethan Masson solo shot against Rishon Shaw with 2-outs already on the board. Fair play to Philly… they gutted this one out, refused to roll over, and put our streak to bed much to the delight of their hometown fans.

136 of 162: Stephen Estevez (10-3, 1.94) @ Linden Brittingham (8-10, 4.83)
Win, 3-1
. Down and out early after last nights let down, it’d take us until the 7th to get anything across, putting up 3 runs during the top of the frame with 2 of those driven in on a double courtesy of Ethan Mullens. With the engine primed, and our opponent understanding that we wouldn’t just go off quietly into the night, OH HONG would drive in another on a SAC FLY during the top of the 8th to run it up a bit before Turnbull came on for the bottom of the 9th to close things out for us… he was shaky, loaded them up, let one score on a hit into a double play, and, finally, fanned the last batter to earn his 47th save, get us back into the win column, and send us off to the airport on some good vibes. D-Batteries be damned…

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Elsewhere: Case Tunnel, former Leopard, though a less popular one than Brisky, put it down something fierce for his new club, the Buffalo Nickels, during a complete game, 3-hit shutout with 9 K’s during a 7-0 win over the defending champion Vancouver Mounties… Buffalo now leads the AL East by a whopping 8-games, while Vancouver’s lead in the AL West is still tentative at 3 games ahead of the neighboring Seattle Metros.

Record: 88-48, .647, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll head home, because that makes sense, to begin a 7-game homestand with three against the lightly regarded New Orleans Pirates.
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Old 01-29-2022, 06:48 PM   #50
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2078 Season (September 5th – 7th)

New Orleans Pirates (55-82, .401, 6th NL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (88-48, .647, 1st NL West)
Dead last in the NL East and nearly dead last in the entire National League with only the dreadful Austin Grackles below them in the pecking order, the New Orleans Pirates are an example of futility… here’s an organization that gets everything wrong… their minor league system is only rated 10th, the free agents they do attract all seem to get lost in New Orleans’ black magic, and their revenue seems to erode with each passing year. At the rate they’re going the franchise will fold, cease to exist in its current form, only to be reborn again in some undeserving town… look, the pitching is bad, ranked 10th in the NL so it could be worse, and the offense has reached depths that no other NL team could stomach with their 11th overall rating in runs scored, average, and OBP representing its strengths while every other category we track finds them ranked 12th… here, like our last time up in Philly, the trick will be to maintain our focus, to not play down to the level of our competition, and to give a good account of ourselves as we begin to steel ourselves up for a sprint to the finish.

Just noticed that the weekly PR was in my inbox…
Los Angeles Leopards (125.5)
Brooklyn Citizens (108.9)
Pittsburgh Pipers (105.9)
Buffalo Nickels (104.3)
Las Vegas Outlaws (102.9)

137 of 162: Carson Vespa (8-13, 4.00) @ Trev Anderson (4-4, 3.75)
Loss, 0-1
. New Orleans’ Carson Vespa had his good stuff tonight… he was feeling it, as they say. He’d twirl a complete game, 4-hit shutout against the best offense in the National League, on our turf, and on an economical 103 pitches. Rishon Shaw, on the bump to spell Trev Anderson who went 7-strong for us, fell apart yet again, and allowed the game-winning, solo homer during the bottom of the 9th. We didn’t do much tonight… just 4 total hits for the club, each of them singles, Hamza was caught trying to steal 2nd, twice, and, sadly, 47,864 of our fans paid to see it.

138 of 162: Joseph Hinder (10-8, 4.10) @ Peter Garcia (12-3, 3.75)
Win, 13-1
. After being shut out last night, the boys came correct during game 2, and ran roughshod over the woefully inept New Orleans Pirates… we scored 10 runs prior to the stretch and 3 more after to run it up and, hopefully, put these yokels back in their place. OH HONG led the charge – 4-for-5, with 3 TANKS, a double, 6 RBI, and 4 runs – Otto tried to keep up with a solo shot and 2 total RBIs of his own, Ethan hit a double, scored four times, and swiped three bags, and, in total, the club hit 9 extra base hits, 5 of which were dingers. Garcia, after 5 hard-scrabble innings of work, picked up his 13th win of the season and Nakagawa got the pill in long relief, closing it out for us over those final four frames, adding 5 K’s to Garcia’s 9 for a total of 14 between the two… HONG tied the regular season club record for most homers in a single game – I imagine that Otto’s on that list somewhere too, but can’t be sure.

Note: Ian Hanan is back from injury, he’ll return to the big club directly which means that 2B Hetereki Ailani is headed back to Compton… in 48 games with the big club, Ailani hit .205/.250/.227 with 3 runs and 4 RBI – that’s not wonderful.

139 of 162: Gabe Uruburu (4-6, 3.90) @ Merl Crawford (14-5, 2.62)
Loss, 2-4
. So, we were shut out in the first game, exploded for 13 in the 2nd, and then could only manage 2 in the 3rd to lose the series, at home, against the 2nd worst team in the National League? The heart of our order combined to hit 2-for-16, PEPPER hit into a double play during an ill-fated rally attempt, Ian committed his 10th fielding flub of the year in his first game back, and we left four runners stranded over the course of the game while our bullpen, Igarashi to be specific, came unglued once again giving up the game winner and one to grow on during his 2.1 innings of ho hum work. Not a good look, not a good set… I guess, after that 14-game outburst, someone had to come along and put some bad ones on us sooner or later.

Record: 89-50, .640, 1st NL West
Up Next: Montreal’s in town for the next four days…
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Old 01-30-2022, 01:56 PM   #51
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2078 Season (September 8th – 11th)

Montreal Alouettes (66-73, .474, 4th NL East) @ Los Angeles Leopards (89-50, .640, 1st NL West)
Any attention paid to the Alouettes roster by the Montreal brass has been focused, almost exclusively, on its pitching staff. It’s paid some dividends – 4th in runs against and strikeouts, 5th in starters ERA and FIP, ranked 4th overall in the NL behind our La La’s, Brooklyn, and Phoenix. Unfortunately, that focus, and the degree to which Montreal’s management is capable of it, was limited to the mound, and, as a result, they haven’t put much around their pitchers leaving their club a bit frayed at the ends. For every advantage afforded to them by their staff, the offense specializes in squandering it with subpar performance – 9th in average, 11th in OBP, 12th in runs scored, OPS, and wOBA – and, outside of LF Harlem Peterson, the Alouettes are devoid the skills required to do enough on that side of the ball to be anything beyond a pedestrian ball club. Here, we have an opportunity to get back on the horse after embarrassing ourselves against New Orleans, provided the boys stay focused on the task at hand and don’t act like these games are gimmes.

140 of 162: Adam White (7-6, 3.28) @ Keith Baeza (4-3, 2.83)
Loss, 3-8
. We’d get the ball rolling early with a 2-run DING DONG from Satoru Ono during the bottom of the 1st and he’d drive in another on a SAC FLY only two short innings later… unfortunately, as we let off the gas, they’d put it into gear, knotting things up during the top of the 4th with a 2-run shot courtesy of 1B Rex Fogg followed by a solo bomb from C Darby Helton. Then the flood gates opened as Montreal kept pouring it on, driving in an additional 5-runs on 3 more TRUCKS with Baeza and Igarashi taking the brunt of the damage… on the bright side, if that’s a thing when you lose by a score of 3-8, Harlem Peterson was charged with a GOLDEN SOMBRERO after Baeza K’d him twice, Igarashi once, followed by Turnbull entering the 4th strikeout into the permanent record during the top of the 9th.

141 of 162: Bentley Hawkins (12-11, 3.39) @ Stephen Estevez (11-3, 1.93)
Win, 4-0. Our staff would get some get back against the Alouettes, holding them scoreless here after having it handed to us yesterday with Estevez turning in a 5-inning, 2-hit, shutout before handing it off to Major Hansen for the 3.1 inning save. The offense got after it a bit as well – Kumar Bovie put a 2-run TANK out during the bottom of the 2nd, OH HONG did the same during the bottom of the 7th, Mullens stole his 32nd bag, Otto his 26th, and we managed to bring 4 across while leaving 8 others stranded. Estevez and Hansen, with 14 Ks between them, also had 4 batsmen on the verge of a GOLDEN at 3 K’s each – Harlem Peterson, Leo Bullock, Cleveland Hunter, and Darby Helton each narrowly avoided that dubious distinction as their offense settled into their normal routine during game two.

Elsewhere: Our A-ball club, the Watts Warriors, have officially been mathematically eliminated from the postseason… I mean, it doesn’t matter in the larger scheme of things, but would have been fun to see them make some noise during their inaugural season. Of course, after they started with a 1-17 run, it was to be expected.

142 of 162: Vincent Urquhart (8-10, 3.71) @ Trev Anderson (4-4, 3.49)
Win, 11-3
. Up 4-3 at the stretch, with Montreal posting each of their 3 runs in the 5th & 6th, and looking to rally, Otto Isaac clubbed a GRAND SLAM during the bottom of the 7th that put us up 10-3 (we’d scored two in the frame already) and way out of the Alouette’s T-Rex reach. Otto finished 2-for-5 with 5 RBI and 2 run, OH HONG went 3-for-5 with 3 RBI and a run, and PEPPER went 2-for-4 with 2 riblets and a run while the staff effectively threw a combined shutout as all three of Montreal’s runs were unearned tonight.

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Elsewhere: 2B Telma Taveras, of the Miami Herons, finished 4-for-4 with TWO DINGERS, 5 RBI, and 4 runs during his clubs 14-6 dismantling of the Las Vegas Outlaws… always good to see Telma, who I like to think of as a bootleg Heathcote Kinton, have himself a sublime day at the plate and even better when it comes at the expense of those brigands from Sin City. Also, and perhaps this is more important, the Los Angeles Leopards became the first MLB club to earn a ticket to the dance. Division is still up for grabs as they say, but it’s next on our list…

143 of 162: Norm Rodriquez (15-8, 2.42) @ Peter Garcia (13-3, 3.63)
Win, 1-0
. We’d defeat Montreal 3 times in a row, shutting them out for the second time over that same stretch, and prevail in what was a tight, taut affair against a club that has no business playing us this close. Our only run of the game came on a Satoru Ono solo shot, on 1 of our 3 hits during the game, 2 of which belonged to him as well… it’d be just enough to get us over here as our staff came up smelling roses with Garcia earning his 14th win on 7 innings of work while Rishon Shaw, Reynaldo Igarashi, and Donovan Turnbull combined to record the games final 6 outs, 4 by K and the other 2 by ground out. Rishon, it should be noted, left early with an undisclosed injury…

Record: 92-51, .643, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll head off to Las Vegas for the last time during the regular season, shacking up at the Waldorf Astoria for three days while the club tries to win out against these guys to improve our head-to-head record against them to 11-10 on the year.
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Old 01-31-2022, 11:42 AM   #52
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2078 Season (September 12th – 14th)

Injury Alert: Our trainer, Hideotoshi Hasagawa, hit me up via text message to let it be known that Rishon Shaw would miss the next three weeks due to an oblique strain… not great. I also got a text from my cell phone provider to remind me that my bill is due… also not great, I’m supposed to have someone who does that sort of thing for me.

Los Angeles Leopards (92-51, .643, 1st NL West) @ Las Vegas Outlaws (86-56, .606, 2nd NL West)
Here we have a battle pitting the #1 power ranked squad (ours) against the #2 power ranked club (theirs) on their turf, in front of their fans, where they’ve beaten us in 8 out of 9 contests. Those are long odds no matter how you shake it… and, look, I don’t know what it is about this town, this club that gives us such trouble – the late nights trying to win it all back, the coconut-scented lotion wafting through the air ducts of every Gentleman’s club on the strip, or just that the club in the dugout across from ours has our number… it’s a mystery. What I do know, however, is that these games are nearly as important as the ones we played the last time they lined up against us – then we were trying to reclaim our post at the top of the NL West, now we’re trying to salvage some pride and gain a bit of confidence that we can win in Vegas before we find ourselves facing off with these guys in the playoffs. It’ll be tough, they’re every bit as good as they say with an offense rivaled only by our own and a pitching staff who, when at their best, is capable of giving anyone fits.

144 of 162: Merl Crawford (14-6, 2.62) @ Cam Murphy (12-5, 2.81)
Win, 4-3. Crawford
gave us 5 innings of work, allowed 5 hits and 3 runs while fanning 5 to earn his 15th win of the year and Donovan Turnbull recorded his 49th save in 55 tries to close the show on only our 2nd victory in Las Vegas this season. PEPPER’S run-scoring double coupled with DOM’S solo homer kept us within striking distance until backup infielder Ernie Sparacino’s 2-run TANK off Cam Murphy in the 4th put us over the top… we’d rely on our pitching and defense from there to earn the rare, hard fought victory in Sin City. A little light on highlights but a confidence booster nonetheless…

Elsewhere: Michael Brisk, of the Portland Pines, was at it again… the former Leopard has been on something of a roll lately and seems intent on closing the book on 2078 on a high note. Check out his last three outings…

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145 of 162: Keith Baeza (4-4, 3.21) @ Shizuka Takeuchi (10-10, 3.54)
Win, 6-1.
Our 5-run top of the second, punctuated by an OH HONG GRAND SLAM deflated the Outlaws early and the club, mostly Baeza & Armendariz, would keep them at arm’s length from there as we found a way to win another in Sin City, securing our first series win against the Outlaws on the road in 2078. Kumar Bovie finished 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run, Ian Hanan hit his 21st double, and the defense kept Las Vegas at bay with a tasty McDonnell-Hanan-Ono double play.

Elsewhere: Your CITY OF COMPTON Raiders secured a wildcard slot in this year’s AAA postseason on a barely acceptable 72-69 record. It’ll be a tough slog through the bracket if we are to rise above our station to claim some postseason hardware… also, because this popped up when I advanced the save by a day, Inglewood has also secured a Wild Card slot in the AA Playoffs on a slightly better 76-63 record… if they can win out it will be the first Continental League Championship for the Sentinels in team history.

146 of 162: Stephen Estevez (12-3, 1.86) @ David Ouwerkerk (9-5, 3.99)
Win, 6-4.
SIX STRAIGHT. Up 4-1 early and looking like a repeat of yesterday’s game, the Las Vegas Outlaws refused to go away, knotting things up in the bottom of the 8th with Angry Eloy Delando’s run-scoring double representing the tying run during the frame. Fortunately for us our offense wasn’t done as Ethan drove in his 3rd and 4th run on a 2-run TRUCK off Vegas’ closer Johnny Dial to put us ahead with our closer, Donovan Turnbull, showing up theirs to shut the door on our ROAD SWEEP over the Outlaws on 8 total pitches during the bottom of the 9th. With the sweep we’ve low key redeemed ourselves in their park after being throttled here in 8 of our first 9 games in Nevada this season and have improved our 2078 head-to-head record against these jokers to 11-10 on the year… all good things.

Record: 95-51, .650, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’ll have tomorrow off to travel down to Mexico City where we’ll battle the Jaguars for three games before returning stateside to take on the Coyotes.
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Old 02-01-2022, 11:34 AM   #53
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2078 Season (September 16th – 18th)

Los Angeles Leopards (95-51, .650, 1st NL West) @ Mexico City Jaguars (65-82, .442, 5th NL West)
When your program reads, “Hey! At least we’re not Austin”, you know you’re in a bad way… and, while the Mexico City program most assuredly does not say anything of the sort, it may as well. Directionally, Mexico City looks like a club without a compass, headed nowhere fast, and unlikely to be competitive anytime soon. They’ll line up at 5th in our division, 7th in the wildcard standings, with the 12th ranked staff in the National League, and an offense that looks awfully toothless since they traded Heathcote to Buffalo. And, even though we’re coming in hot, Mexico City remains a tough place to play, so, should our focus waver at all, this set could end up being more daunting for us than it should…

147 of 162: Trev Anderson (5-4, 3.32) @ Justin Torres (4-4, 4.92)
Win, 3-2.
We’d take a couple on the chin early with the Jags putting runs on us during the bottom of the 4th and 6th frame to knot things up before both offenses went on self-imposed embargos until the top of the 10th when Ethan broke the tie with a what turned out to be a game-winning solo-shot. Turnbull gets the save, his 51st, Nakagawa the win, his 9th (even though he’d also be charged with a blown save in this one), and Mullens managed to keep the crowd from falling asleep with a hard-earned steal, his 33rd, during the top of the 8th.

148 of 162: Peter Garcia (14-3, 3.47) @ Lee Myers (9-10, 3.21)
Loss, 3-4
. OH HONG showed up, went 2-for-3 with a solo-shot and 2 runs, but it’d not be enough as Mexico City’s late run during the bottom of the 8th broke our 3-3 stalemate and held firm as their closer, Paul Williams, held us in check during the top of the 9th to secure the win for the home team. Peter was just okay, let three come across, fanned 6, in 5-innings of ho-hum work, the pen, Armendariz specifically, couldn’t keep it together, and, as a result, our 7-game winning streak would come to a crashing halt. On the bright side, I got a line on some really good tacos tonight and when I checked it this morning, I found that I still have quite a bit of Mezcal left – things could get weird.

149 of 162: Merl Crawford (15-6, 2.70) @ Ben McGillicuddy (7-11, 4.37)
Win, 11-4
. After waking up in an unknown, nondescript place, next to an unknown, nondescript woman, I managed to make my way to Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu park to witness Ethan Mullens’ 2-run homer, one of 4 for us, in the top of the 7th, that put us up 10-2 at the time. We’d get one more and Mexico City 2 more but, by that point, the deed had been done… we’d be leaving town on another series win, improving our head-to-head record against the Jags to 12-5 on the year, and primed to go on yet another run as we grind our way through the last bit of the regular season… Otto put his 40th ball out of the park during a 1-for-4 day, OH HONG brought two in on a double, PEPPER brought one in on a double of his own, Ian Hanan led the team with 3 RBI’s, and we put up 11 total runs while leaving 7 more stranded. Merl was brilliant, gave us a tip-top, 7.1 innings of work to earn his 16th win on the year and Dwight Beasley finished this one off, allowing those two late runs and still finding a way to get it done. A good series win for the La La’s…

With the loss, Mexico City was officially eliminated from the playoffs. Mathematically and otherwise.

Record: 97-52, .651, 1st NL West
Up Next: A long flight from Mexico City to Phoenix, AZ followed by 4-games in the desert against the Coyotes.
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Old 02-01-2022, 07:26 PM   #54
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2078 Season (September 19th – 22nd)

Los Angeles Leopards (97-52, .651, 1st NL West) @ Phoenix Coyotes (73-75, .493, 4th NL West)
After finishing at 12-15 in August, with a 6-9 start to September thus far, Phoenix has unofficially put themselves out of the cake at 5-games behind the San Jose Seals for the final wildcard slot. Should they be eliminated, it will mark the 3rd time in the four years since winning their 3rd championship that the Coyotes have missed the postseason. And, for a club that went to the playoffs for 14 straight seasons (2060 – 2074, with that title coming in 2074), and its fan base, that’s just not going to work. Here’s a club with an ‘astronomical’ market size, good fan loyalty, and plenty of cash in the kitty to make a hasty return to prominence as early as next season… for now, however, they’ll have to settle for the role of also ran as we attempt to brutalize them one more time before the year is through…

150 of 162: Keith Baeza (5-4, 3.09) @ Cuco Verhoeven (4-2, 2.80)
Win, 6-1
. Phoenix’s only run would come at Baeza’s expense, late, as he was likely left out there 1 or 2 batters too long, but, by then we’d already charged the bulk of our 6 runs to the Coyotes’ account, putting this one to bed before we’d even entered the 5th frame. Otto Isaac went 3-for-5 with a double and a TRUCK, OH HONG hit two, two-baggers running his season total up to 25, and Ian Hanan added some insurance with a top of the 9th SAC FLY to put this one even further out of the home teams reach.

151 of 162: Stephen Estevez (12-3, 1.84) @ Dejuan Burns (5-14, 3.99)
Win, 2-1 (11)
. In a war of attrition where both starters came correct, we’d get the nod on a late, top of the 10th run-scoring single from Nash Aguilar and award Donovan Turnbull with the win, his 8th, as the last man on the mound (he also has the distinction of being the guy who blew this one). There’s not a lot here to work our way through… the pitching was stout, the offense anemic, and, once the dust had settled, we found ourselves to be the last man standing. I mean, cool, we’ll take it.

152 of 162: Trev Anderson (5-4, 3.33) @ Kikuzo Ueno (13-13, 3.25)
Loss, 2-3
. Phoenix, unwilling to let us reel off our 100th victory on their watch, came correct in this one, breaking a 2-2 tie during the bottom of the 7th to send us back to the drawing board tomorrow. Scott Kaszuba was nearly the whole show for the Coyotes, going 3-for-4 with two RBI’s – one during a 2-run bottom of the 2nd and the other a game-winning single in the 7th – as Trev gets saddled with his 5th loss of the year. Tough day at the plate for the club – no extra base hits, with one of our runs coming on a single and the other on a OH HONG SAC FLY… lame. Would’ve liked to hit triple-digits in this one.

Elsewhere: Tom Franzone and his Pittsburgh Pipers have clinched a playoff bid after defeating the New Orleans Pirates by a score of 3-1. Tom Franzone didn’t take part as he’s currently putting in work with the Annapolis Corsairs (Pittsburgh’s Triple-A club) on a rehab assignment… he put one out for them tonight during a 5-4 win in the AAA Playoffs against the Corona Condors to extend the Corsairs series lead to 2-0… almost seems unfair. Compton, by the way, is up 2-0 against the Kelowna Silvertips in those same playoffs…

153 of 162: Peter Garcia (14-3, 3.53) @ Damian Harris (8-6, 3.04)
Win, 2-0
. Peter Garcia led us to the promised land, ushering in our 100th win on an 8-inning, 5-hit shutout with 4 K’s and Ethan provided all the necessary run support during a 3-for-5 effort that included a solo-shot during the 5th and an RBI single in the 9th. Hanan hit his 24th two-bagger, OH HONG his 27th, we secured two double plays, each with Hamza’s help despite his error in the game and became the first club to reach triple digits for wins by a country mile as the next closest club, Las Vegas, is currently sitting on 90 of those.

Record: 100-53, .653, 1st NL West
Up Next: Back at home with Austin on the docket over the next 3 days…
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Old 02-02-2022, 01:00 PM   #55
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2078 Season (September 23rd – 25th)

Austin Grackles (59-94, .385, 6th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (100-53, .654, 1st NL West)
With a mere 10 days left in the regular season, the players getting paid by the Austin Baseball Club, LLC, down to a man, have their minds focused elsewhere…. on vacation plans, sweet fishing spots, prime tee times at any of our nation’s finest golf courses… for all intents and purposes, their season has been over since August, and fair play to them for continuing to show up, do their best, and try to put on a show for the handful of Grackles fans that have stuck it out in 2078… here the goal isn’t so much to win as it is to make it through the set unscathed…

154 of 162: Vin Uhlman (10-11, 4.15) @ Merl Crawford (16-6, 2.69)
Win, 2-0
. Our offensive work was light, came early, and was enough to get a result since the Grackles struggled mightily with our pitching as Merl went 7 strong, allowing 3 hits and nothing earned while fanning 7 before turning it over to Igarashi, who held it together for us in the 8th on 16 pitches, and Turnbull who entered his 53rd save into the permanent record. Miguel Soto, back up because of roster expansion, hit a run-scoring double to drive his MLB RBI total up to 12 on the year.

With this win we’ve officially captured the NL West for the 16th time in team history. Hopefully we can parlay this success into our 2nd World Series title in club history.

155 of 162: Joshua Moeller (11-13, 3.47) @ Keith Baeza (6-4, 2.88)
Win, 5-4
. Lee Rolan, our backup backstop, would deliver us the win during the bottom of the 8th on a run-scoring double, breaking a 4-4 tie that had held strong since the 5th frame. The pitching, while not as resolute as the 1st game, got the job done with Baeza only allowing 2 earned with a 3rd coming across due to Hamza’s fielding flub, and Turnbull securing his 54th save on 17 total pitches… not a ton to parse out offensively – Ono drove two in and now has 93 riblets on the year, Otto sits at 101 RBI’s after he brought one across in the 3rd inning on one of his two doubles, and Lee Rolan, our man of the match, gave a good account of himself during a 2-for-4 day that included the game-winning run-scoring double and another RBI on a single earlier in the contest. 3 wins in a row now and up to 102 on the year!

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Elsewhere: Mack Ramirez, holding it down in Pittsburgh while Tom Franzone finished his rehab, went 4-for-4 with TWO TANKS, FOUR RBI’S, and 2 RUNS to lead the charge for the Pipers in what turned out to be a gut-wrenching 8-9 loss at the hands of in-state rival, the Philadelphia Founders… not how he drew it up, I’m sure, but a noteworthy performance, nonetheless. Also, elsewhere… Your CITY OF COMPTON RAIDERS advanced to the 2nd round of the AAA playoffs in dominant fashion, sweeping the outmatched Kelowna Silvertips on the road as LF Justin Burton led the charge for the series with a .375 average and .444 OBP with TWO TRUCKS and 8 RBI… the Tijuana Goats, on the other hand, eliminated our Double-A outfit, the Inglewood Sentinels, 3 games to 2, and will advance to the 2nd round where they’ll face off against the Louisianna Black Bears.

156 of 162: Ryan Burg (9-13, 4.04) @ Stephen Estevez (12-3, 1.78)
Loss, 1-3 (13)
. Austin, ever the resilient band of brigands, knotted this one up on a D.J. Wilders solo-shot during the top of the 8th, and would add two more to the cause during the top of the 13th, each on a single, to salvage some pride by hanging a loss on us in our last meeting of the year. Estevez did enough to get the nod, but our offense didn’t give him the support, and the recently returned, after a short stint on the IL, Grumpy Losito struggled to hold the line, giving up those two bad ones that, ultimately, spelled our doom.

The Brooklyn Citizens have punched their ticket to the dance. They’re still locked in a divisional battle with Pittsburgh at a scant 1-game back… and their road to it, with Philly and New Orleans left on the schedule, looks to be much easier than Pittsburgh’s route that goes through Miami and Montreal.

Record: 102-54, .653, 1st NL West
Up Next: Mexico City is in town, returning the favor after we visited their house less than a week ago for three games…
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Old 02-02-2022, 06:52 PM   #56
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2078 Season (September 26th – 28th)

Word that the Vancouver Mounties have officially won the AL West was met with a deep yawn and casual indifference.

Mexico City Jaguars (69-87, .442, 5th NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (102-54, .654, 1st NL West)
Mexico City’s post-Heathcote offense, once ranked 1st in the NL, has been in something of a tailspin and now sits in 6th, and their staff, an eyesore from the very beginning, continues to put the most terrible version of themselves forward… not unlike the Austin Grackles before them, every person on this club, down to a man, clubhouse attendant included, have one eye on trying to maintain some modicum of professionalism and the other on vacation. Fair play to them for even showing up. That’s a long trip with nothing to think about!

157 of 162: K.J. Judd (9-15, 4.39) @ Trev Anderson (5-5, 3.38)
Win, 8-3
. We were in smash and grab mode early, putting 6 bad ones on the Jags during the bottom of the 2nd, with two more applied in the 4th on a 2-run double from DOM (his 32nd double of the year), and would throw it in neutral from there as Minor Leaguer, and post-expansion call-up, RP Ramiro Marte earned his first save as a pro in 3-innings of work where he’d allow only 1 hit while fanning another on 47 total pitches. Good stuff from OH HONG, 3-for-5 with an RBI and 2 runs and Hanan, 2-for-4 with a 2-run dinger, and Trev, who’s had trouble collecting wins despite pitching well all year, officially recording his 6th win on the year.

San Jose clinched the WC, Phoenix was officially eliminated from post season play, Miami punched their ticket to the dance, and Heathcote’s new club, Buffalo, has officially won the AL East.

158 of 162: Jaxon Dupre (5-9, 3.20) @ Peter Garcia (15-3, 3.37)
Win, 8-4
. We’d improve to 104-wins on the year behind another smashing offensive performance against a staff whose main function is to be smashed… Otto went 2-for-2 with a triple, a jack, 3 RBI’s, and a run while Peter Garcia picked up his 16th victory on a 6.1-inning day where he’d allow 4 hits, 2 earned, and 3 walks while fanning 7. We’d get triples from Otto, his 3rd, and Ethan, his 2nd, a SAC BUNT from OH HONG, who also committed his 1st fielding flub of the season (he normally DH’s, so…), and a swiped bag from some kid named Astonall systems go as we work to run out the clock on the regular season.

Seattle clinched a wild card spot on the AL side of the bracket…

159 of 162: Justin Torres (4-4, 5.05) @ Merl Crawford (17-6, 2.59)
Win, 3-0
. We’d close out the season series against Mexico City with a sweep, punctuating what was a dominant 15-5 head-to-head effort against America’s pants in 2078… Ethan and Ian brought in the runs, Ethan's on a solo-shot, Ian’s on individual 2-out RBIs, that Aston kid was at it again, collecting his 4th swiped bag on the year, and our staff stayed resolute to keep Merl’s 18th win from slipping away… a hold for Grumpy, his 9th, followed by save # 55 for Mr. Turnbull.

Elsewhere: Big ups to Toronto’s Dick McTaggart

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Oh, and Boston clinched a WC berth in the American League… so, that’s cool for any Bostonians out there.

Record: 105-54, .660, 1st NL West – this has been my best season as a GM in the save, ever…
Up Next: We rest for a day then finish things up against the always tough San Jose Seals in the Bay Area…
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Old 02-03-2022, 10:59 AM   #57
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2078 Season (September 30th – October 2nd)

Los Angeles Leopards (105-54, .660, 1st NL West) @ San Jose (84-75, .528, 3rd NL West)
As the 3rd, and final, NL West entrant to the 2078 Playoffs, San Jose has given a great account of themselves this season, contending during a year that many pegged as a rebuilding campaign. They’ve achieved on balance, pairing the 6th ranked offense with our leagues 4th ranked staff, but have faltered a bit after the all-star break, amassing a 32-38 record after going 52-37 before it, and are now performing 4 games below the Pyt. No bother, however, as they will be getting some of that much-coveted playoff money, and, as a wildcard club, have as good a chance as any of doing some damage to the bracket. These 3, while meaningless from a seeding perspective, could give them the opportunity to find some areas they can pick at against our club, so, our goal here will be to stay healthy and not tip our hand too much (to the degree that not tipping our hand is possible after a 162-game season).

160 of 162: Keith Baeza (6-4, 2.89) @ Brody John (10-14, 4.00)
Loss, 2-3
. San Jose played us tough, keeping things close enough for them to strike during the bottom of the 9th, walking us off on a 2-run double that would’ve been a 3-run double had they needed the extra run by Mario Marshburn… offensively, we struggled to produce with only PEPPER and that Aston kid doing any damage, and, while the pitching was stout, Turnbull blew his 8th save of the year during a 9th inning where he’d strike out the first batter, give up two singles, walk the bases-loaded, and then give up the game busting double to Marshburn during his 5th loss of the year.

161 of 162: Stephen Estevez (12-3, 1.73) @ Julen Morales (9-10, 3.12)
Win, 9-5
. The offense came alive for us with OH HONG leaving his fingerprints all over this win with a 3-for-4 day with 3 RBI and 2 runs, inching his RBI total up to 98 on the year, and DOM went off for us, driving in 4 on a 3-for-4 day. Estevez, all tiger blood and Adonis DNA will complete the 2078 campaign with a 13-3 record and a 1.82 ERA, and Ramiro Marte gets his 2nd save as a pro in a 3.2 inning effort to close this one out for us… his line wasn’t great, but what can you do? 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 4 K’s, 1 HRA.

162 of 162: Trev Anderson (6-5, 3.43) @ Knox Hussman (10-15, 3.97)
Win, 5-3
. We’d close the door on the 2078 regular season winning our 107th game with Ethan leading the way on a 2-for-4 performance that included a 3-run TRUCK and 2 runs… OH HONG ran his RBI total up to 99 on the year, missing triple digits by a single riblet, with a solo-homer, his 34th, Otto added an RBI on a single, and Ethan stole his 35th bag missing out on leading that category in the Major League by just one to Portland’s Carl Best who finished with 36. It would have been his 2nd time leading the league, in consecutive years, had our Skipper turned him loose more often.

The Portland Pines and Toronto Maple Leafs each secured one of two final Wild Card slots left in the AL on the final day of the regular season.

Some Achievements… Ethan led the NL with 35 swiped bags, Otto led the majors in dingers at 42, Stephen Estevez led the majors in ERA at 1.82, and Merl Crawford won the most games in the NL at 18, tying him with the AL Leader, Seattle’s David Arney, for most in the Majors…

Record: 107-55, .660, 1st NL West
Up Next: Playoffs, baby!
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Old 02-03-2022, 03:10 PM   #58
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2078 Playoffs (Wildcard Round)

The Wildcard round saw the PNW get shutout of the playoffs as both Portland and Seattle fell during their respective series, 2 games to 1… Portland succumbed to the Boston Shamrocks while Seattle was bested by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Meanwhile, in the only league that matters (to us, at least), Brooklyn advances over Miami to meet us in the 2nd-round, while the big bad wolf, Las Vegas, did the same by sweeping San Jose and moves on to face Pittsburgh

We avoid them for at least one more round (if we have what it takes to get past Brooklyn).

Bracket is attached for your viewing pleasure.
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2078 Playoffs (Round 2 – October 11th – 12th)

Brooklyn Citizens (2-1, .666) @ Los Angeles Leopards (0-0, .000)
The Citizens meet us in Los Angeles after dispatching the hard-charging Miami Herons, 2 games to 1, in the Wildcard series… They were led offensively by a hot Joseph Zody who hit .429/.529/.429 for the series and will likely be one for us to watch, while their staff gave a great account of themselves with studs like Matthew Krebs, Cole Guzman, and Steven Barbaccia holding Miami scoreless and SP’s Bradley Hughes & Josiah Kawka turning in sub-2.00 ERA’s. And, while there are no “desirable” opponents at this stage of the game, everyone is legit, I’d be lying if I said that I’m not happy we’re getting these guys instead of Las Vegas…

1 of 7: Josiah Kawka (0-0, 1.98) @ Stephen Estevez (0-0, 0.00)
Loss, 3-4
. After putting three on the board, 1 run each during the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th, Brooklyn would knot things up in one fell swoop prior to the stretch on a 3-run TANK from C Laz Braun and then play us tight the rest of the way… finally going up by a run late on a Charles Vecera run-scoring single during the top of the 9th. From there Stephen Barbaccia would take over, allowing a double from Satoru Ono in our first AB before getting three straight pop ups from Hamza, Pepper, and Ethan to close the show. This certainly wasn’t how I drew it up, going down a game, at home with our Ace on the mound… Rishon Shaw did what he does – blowing it for us by allowing three runs after taking over from Estevez – followed by Grumpy Losito giving up the game winner to take the loss. Otto and OH HONG each managed to get some hits, we hit four doubles as a club, showing that we can bat it around a little bit, but left 6 stranded when we should have only left 4 of those out there… what a frustrating mess.

2 of 7: Bradley Hughes (0-1, 1.80) @ Peter Garcia (0-0, 0.00)
Win, 2-0
. We’d even things up on the timely hitting of Ono & Dom and a magnificent, team shutout from our staff… Garcia gave us 5.1 innings of work, allowing just 3 hits and nothing earned before handing it off to Trev Anderson who came through with a 2.2 inning hold followed by a 9th inning save from Grumpy Losito on 12 total pitches with two of his outs coming by strikeout. Hughes would call it a night early, leaving in the second after experiencing some discomfort on the mound, giving us an opportunity to get at their pen a little bit. And, with that, a run-scoring double from Ono opened up the scoring during the bottom of the 4th with Dom’s solo-shot increasing our output to 2 during the very same frame as we win game two by the skin of our country teeth, heading east to Brooklyn on a mission to take no less than 2 of 3.

Elsewhere: Buffalo has taken a 2-0 lead in their round two series against the Toronto Leafs, while each of the other series are knotted up at 1 game each and headed to the lower seeded teams park for a 3-game set…. Good opportunity for Boston, Brooklyn, and Las Vegas to give their fans a win to remember.

Post-Season Record: 1-1, .500
Up Next: We’ll head to Brooklyn for 3-games in New York.
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2078 Playoffs (October 14th – 16th)

Los Angeles Leopards (1-1, .500) @ Brooklyn Citizens (3-2, .600)
While the sample size makes it impossible to draw any real conclusions, it should be noted that we finished a paltry 1-2 in Brooklyn’s Park this year, 5-2 overall, as we look to buck that ‘trend’ this time around. We aren’t without our problems, however, as Hidetoshi Hasagawa (heart surgeon, #1), let us know that Turnbull will require two weeks to recover from some ill-timed elbow tendinitis… so we’ll be relying on some of our bullpen arms a bit more than I’d like to no matter how highly its ranked… frankly, some of these guys have the, admittedly anecdotal, tendency to give up the ghost when we need them most. In other news… Brooklyn lost Bradley Hughes for the remainder of the playoffs due to a strained shoulder he sustained during game 2. So, there is that.

3 of 7: Merl Crawford (0-0, 0.00) @ John Aivazian (1-0, 1.29)
Win, 2-0
. With things knotted up, 5 runs each, at the stretch, and with each of us already deep into our bullpens, ours would hold firm while Brooklyn’s fell victim to an anti-climactic SAC FLY from Otto during the top of the 8th to bring Ethan across representing the winning margin for us as we moved to 2-1 for the series thus far. Shepard drove two in during a 2-for-5 day, PEPPER hit a 2-run moonshot to knot things up for us during the top of the 6th, we hit 3 doubles as a club, and turned Ethan loose on the basepaths a little bit, giving him all the room he’d need to record his first steal of the post-season… and the pen, as mentioned above, was resolute with Trev spelling Merl early after our starter got brutalized for 5 runs during the bottom of the 1st, Baeza sniping the win by following up Anderson’s hitless appearance with 3.1 hitless innings of his own, and, finally, Grumpy Losito turning Brooklyn back in the bottom of the 9th on 21 pitches to secure his 2nd save of the postseason.

4 of 7: Stephen Estevez (0-0, 1.35) @ Cole Guzman (0-0, 0.00)
Win, 7-1
. What started as another tight, taut affair in Brooklyn would quickly devolve into a bloodbath after our La La’s went off for 5-runs during the top of the 8th, punctuated by a bases-clearing, 3-run double from Ian HananEstevez picks up his first win of the series after putting in 6.1 hard-scrabble innings of work, allowing only one runner to plate while fanning 10 others, and Rishon Shaw closed it out for us with a 2.2 innings save on 31 pitches, 21 of which were for strikes. Some great work from the club today… 3 doubles, a SAC FLY from Hamza, four players drove runs in, 5 players scores, and we plated 7 despite leaving 6 more stranded over the course of the game.

Elsewhere: Buffalo won their series against Blood Rival, the Toronto Leafs, 4 games to 1, in Toronto… for shame. Buffalo is making a serious run at the crown.

5 of 7: Peter Garcia (1-0, 0.00) @ Josiah Kawka (0-0, 2.87)
Loss, 4-5
. We’ll head back to Los Angeles, up 3-2, after getting walked off during the bottom of the 9th when Brooklyn 2B Sam Kilgour took Grumpy Losito yard for a 2-run, game-winning DING DONG, running his record to 0-2 during the post season with one blown save. Close throughout, and all knotted up into the 8th, we’d go ahead 1 on a run-scoring double from DOM but fail to hold on to the lead as Brooklyn gave everything they got back and then some. Three total two-baggers for the club, a SAC FLY for Hanan, another swiped bag for Mullins, and a double play during the bottom of the 8th just weren’t enough here as 1 bad pitch was our undoing… bummer biscuits.

Post-Season Record: 3-2, .600
Up Next: Two more back in LA to close out Round 2 of the playoffs… we just need to find a way to get one of them!
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