The Chicago Skyhawks

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Record:86-66
Position: 1st (+6)
Runs Scored: 802 (2nd)
Runs Allowed: 770 (10th)
Defense: .662 (12th)
Power Ranking: 106.2 (4th)
Owner Mood: Ecstatic ; Fan Interest: 63

• Bullpen came up huge and Ian Drewes 2B (43) HR (24) and 2 RBI (101) powered the offense in a 4-2 win to complete the 3 game sweep of the Patriots. O'Hira (W) Crowder Cueva and Velez (S) went 5 on 3 hits 1 run and 4 K's.
• 7 different Skyhawks had 2 hits apiece including SP Arvid Udo and Dave Robinson hit 2 HR's (9) and drove in 4 (33) in an 11-3 win to open the series against Columbia. Udo (14-9) took a shutout into the 7th. He gave up 3 earned on 8 hits with 9 K's.
• Ian Drewes went 4-5 hitting 2 2B's (45) with an RBI (103) while Ken Evans was 2-4 2B (37) 3 RBI (103). Dave Robinson drilled his 10th with 3 RBI's to back rookie Javier Oliva (4-4) who went 6.1 innings on 6 H 5 K and 1 earned run (3 runs total). Evans (20) and Morales (17) both had errors in the 10-5 win over Columbia.
• Kenny Evans went 4-4 with an RBI (104) but Dean Millwood (11-16) and Jim Hernandez Save #32 shut everyone else down yielding 6 hits and 1 earned. Eric Molstad (13-11 4.09) went 8-9-3-3-1-3 in the loss.
• Huge 3 game set with Washington coming up. 4 games up with 12 to play.
• Before anyone found their seats it was 3-0 Washington as they scored 3 on 5 hits in the top of the 1st. But Almodovar would settle in and toss the next 6 on 4 hits 1 run and 6 K's to win his 16th. Pam Pininferino went 4-5 hitting his 26th HR and driving in 4 (82) while Dave Robledo continued his stellar rookie campaign with a three run shot to break it open.
• Our top 3 in the lineup: Pininferino .321-26-82, Drewes .344-24-103, Evans .334-27-104.
• Angelo Aguayo is back off the DL. He will be slotted into Javier Oliva's spot and Javier will move back 3 days for some extra rest.
• A first inning Ken Evans error (21) would open the flood gates and before we hit it was 6-0. But this team is now clicking on all cyclinders and the offense led by Ian Drews 3-4 HR (25) and 4 RBI's (107) came all the way back for a 7-6 win to open up a 6 game lead and close out the week.
• Next week: 1 vs Washington 3 @ San Francisco 3 vs Las Vegas

In the past 14 days the club has turned the entire season of inconsistency around.
Going 10-3 outscoring opponents 86-47 and playing incredibly consistent. 10 games left and 3 against the WL's best in San Francisco. To be honest I am now not so sure we don't have a shot if the offense and pitching stays this hot. I don't want to get my hopes up simply due to the fact this team has some gaping holes and the better teams have been able to exploit that.

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Record: 90-69
Position: 1st Clinched
Runs Scored: 843 (2nd)
Runs Allowed: 800 (10th)
Defense: .664 (11th!)
Power Ranking:
Owner Mood: Ecstatic ; Fan Interest: Jumped to 67 after clinching the division.

• Last Week: (4-3) 0-1 vs Washington 2-1 @ San Francisco 2-1 vs Las Vegas
• A back and forth final game saw the Eagles hold on for 7-5 win to move within 5 with 9 games to play. Angelo Aguayo wasn't terrible giving up 5 in 6 innings but 3 home runs and Ian Drewes 8th error were deciding factors.
• 3 game set vs San Francisco coming up.

Game 1 vs San Francisco and it goes to the bottom of 9 with the Prospector's up 4-0 and SP Jason DiBacco trying to get the CG shutout win...
Drewes 1B
Evans 1B
LHP Orlando Delgado comes in
Horton BB
Wright 1B (4-1)
Gonzalez FC 1 out (4-2)
Santiago BB
Granda 1B (4-4)
PH Guerra BB
Robledo 2B (7-4)
Drewes 6-3 2 outs
Evans IBB
Horton K 3 outs...
7 runs on 5 hits 3 walks....
Velez throws a perfect 9th with 2 K's for his 5th save.
Washington wins to keep it at 5.
Miami clinches the Western League Central.

• Game 2 sees the offense hammer Prospector ace Mike Garcia for 7 earned in 4.1 IP to drop him to 16-9 2.65.Joey Artrip (what a rule 5 win) goes 3-4 3 R 2 HR 6 RBI's and Ken Evans 2 RBI's tie him with Ian Drewes at 107 for the team lead.
• A 4-3 Washington loss in San Diego clinches just the 2nd post-season berth in franchise history and puts our magic # at 1 for the first ever East Division title.
• Javier Oliva tosses a CG but Bill O'Hare's 56th home run in the bottom of the 8th ices the 5-3 win for San Francisco.
• Washington loses to clinch at least a tie for the division title.
• Antonio Almodovar, in what will likely be his last regular season start, went 7.1 IP 6 H 6 K 1 unearned run (Ken Evans 22nd Error) to win his 17th (17-8 4.13). Joey Artrip was 3-3 2 2B (21) and is hitting .334-14-49.

Western League East Division Title Goes to Skyhawks
The Chicago Skyhawks clubhouse more closely resembled a college party tonight as the team officially captured it's second ever Eastern Division Title.
Laughter abounded and loud music blared as players and coaches alike celebrated the accomplishment.
'It's not often you get to kick back and let loose with your teammates,” said closer Franklin Velez. “We earned the right to party a little bit and then we can focus on getting it done in the playoffs.”
GM Curt Schilling agreed.
“I'm proud of this team, they deserve this. We set goals in camp and we stuck to them, all of us.”
It's the 2nd division title in the teams 18 year history and they are still seeking their first PBL Championship.

• With 4 to 5 games left for everyone the post season is rounding out.
• Miami, San Francisco and Chicago are division winners. Phoenix has clinched the 1st WC spot and Washington holds the 2nd by 1 game over New York and 5 over Long Beach.
• In the Eastern League Baltimore, Dallas and San Antonio clinched.
• El Paso is 2 games up on both Tampa and Detroit and 4 up on Memphis.
• Tampa, Detroit and Memphis are all battling for that 2nd spot in the play in game.
• Chris Brown couldn't get past the 2nd before coming out and complaining about his arm again. (I actually think this is a game bug).
• New York and Washington are now tied in the race for the 2nd WC spot.
• Detroit falls to 1 game behind Tampa for the 2nd EL WC spot.
• Tampa SP Marco Delgado fanned 6 in 6 IP to end the regular season 14-10 2.55 and 299 K's.
• Tied 2-2 in the 8th Ian Drewes PH bases clearing 2B proved to be the game winner. Kenny Evans hit his 28th HR and committed his 23rd error.
• Next week: Off Day 3 @ Nashville Season Ends

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• El Paso clinches the EL top WC spot on our off day.
• Playing starters sparingly these final 3 games.
• Washington and New York, fittingly, will square off in New York for the final 3 games of the season.
• The Eagles scored 2 in the top of the 11th to beat the Empire 6-4 and take a 1 game lead in the WC race. A win tomorrow clinches it for Washington, a NY win means it gets decided on the seasons final day.
• In an almost exact replay of Tuesday's game Washington scores 2 in the top of the 10th after Juan Torres 2nd HR of the game, a 3 run shot, tied it in the bottom of the 9th.
• Washington and Tampa clinch the final post season spots.
• Tampa started Marco Delgado on short rest trying to get into the post season and he responded with a CG striking out 10 in a 3-2 loss. The 10 K's give him 309 on the year making him the first pitcher in league history to strike out 300 hitters in a single season.
• Season ends with a 16-2 rout of Nashville on the final day. Dave Robinson doubled, homered twice and drove in 4. In the final two months he hit 12 HR's and drove in 41 over 44 games.
• Matt Robinson (BOS) at .356 and Gustavo de la Torre at .376 took home their respective leagues batting titles. De le Torre's 248 hits were the 2nd highest single season total in league history.
• AAA Chicago was beaten in the playoffs 3-2 by Anaheim Rattlers, Dallas's AAA affiliate.

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• Washington and Phoenix in the Western League WC and Tampa at El Paso in the Eastern League.
• San Francisco and San Antonio will meet the WC winners
• Dallas will play Baltimore and Chicago plays Miami in the Division series other matchups.

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• I will go with a 4 man rotation: Almodovar (17-8 4.13), Molstad (14-12 4.33), Aguayo (8-10 4.75) and Arvid Udo (14-10 5.15). Brown, and Oliva will be in the bullpen, Mike Wright and Andres Hernandez will be bats and legs as well as defense off the bench.
• Miami will go with RH Mike Cooper (16-8 2.88) RH Esteban Collazos (17-8 3.61) and LH Tiburcio Goulo (16-8 3.80) in the 1st three games. Those three arms neutralize the fact that the Sun Dogs were just 31-29 vs LHP.

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Phoenix starter Brad McHugh was removed 11 pitches into the top of the 1st inning and the Phoenix bullpen was on the hook for 8.1 innings the rest of the game. They responded by holding down the fort and SS Jose Rodriguez went 3-5 driving in 2 as the Phoenix Devils beat the Washington Eagles 8-2 in the Western League wild-card game.

An 8th inning double by El Paso catcher Jaden Williams broke a 4-4 tie and sent the Diablos to the next round of the Eastern League playoffs.

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Mike Cooper 16-8 2.88 vs Antonio Almodovar 17-8 4.13

I think it's a mismatch two months ago. Today? I don't know. We swept them just a few weeks ago and the team is playing better than it has all year. Defense, I think, will be huge.

I'll just let the box score tell the story. Almodovar took a perfect game into the 5th, and allowed just 1 hit through 6. I am unsure why he was pulled but I am not going to second guess in October.



San Francisco beat Phoenix 2-1 in game 1 of their series
San Antonio beat El Paso 8-4 in game 1
Baltimore beat Dallas 3-1 in game 1

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Esteban Collazos 17-8 3.61 vs Eric Molstad 14-12 4.33

Had it right there in our hands.



San Francisco beat Phoenix 4-3 Series now 2-0 SF
San Antonio beat El Paso 4-3 Series now 2-0 SAN
Dallas beat Baltimore 11-7 Series tied 1-1

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Angel Aguayo 8-10 4.75 vs Tiburcio Goulo 16-8 3.80

The defense and bullpen cost us when we could least afford it. Up 6-4 going into the 7th, that has to be a win in October.



San Francisco beat Phoenix 10-6 Series now 3-0 SF
San Antonio beat El Paso 8-7 Series now 3-0 SAN
Dallas beat Baltimore 5-0 behind 26-year-old Juan Asencio's 5-hit 86 pitch CG SHO. 1 K 0 BB Dallas leads the series 2-1

Devastating news out of Baltimore as closer Jim Freiberg suffered a torn UCL and will undergo Tommy John surgery this week. Freiberg was coming off a career year in which he went 4-3 34 Saves 2.65 ERA. They turn to veteran Bill Santos who struggled this season in a middle relief role. He led the league in saves in 2033 (48) and 2034 (38).

I was expecting San Antonio, San Francisco and Baltimore to make up the two teams in the World Series. I feel like Dallas winning would be a huge upset.

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Arvid Uto 14-10 5.15 vs Dustin Griffin 15-13 4.43
If you don't get starting pitching you can't win. On the bright side, Ken Evans is having a monster series.




San Francisco beats Phoenix 5-4 to sweep the 4 game series. Prospector CF Tony Hernandez wins the WLWC MVP
El Paso got a combined shutout from Anton Oken and Roberto Santos to stay alive with a 4-0 win. Seres now 3-1 San Antonio
Baltimore beat Dallas 5-1 to tie the series at 2 games apiece.

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Antonio Almodovar 17-8 4.13 vs Mike Cooper 16-8 2.88



Nestor Diaz is available off the DL now. I don't know that going from the DL to a post-season series is in his or our best interest.


San Antonio takes the series with a 9-5 win. Stallion 3B Michael Valentine wins the series MVP
Baltimore beats Dallas to take a 3-2 series lead.

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Eric Molstad 14-12 4.33 vs Esteban Collazos 17-8 3.61

Miami 5 Chicago 1

The game was over before we hit. Eric Molstad went 7 powerful innings, unfortunately, they followed a 5 run 1st inning that ultimately ended our season.
Miami 3B Ricardo Moctezuma took MVP honors going 10-28 2 HR 11 RBI

Baltimore won the series over Dallas 4 games to 2.

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• San Francisco Prospector's vs the Miami Sun Dogs
• San Antonio Stallions vs the Baltimore Blackbirds
  
• I truly feel like the league's 4 best teams are still standing. No real upset to be had but I am betting on the Stallions pitching staff to carry them.
  
• Also, San Francisco had announced it had signed 40 year old ace Mike Garcia to a 3-year 20.1m contract extension after ousting Phoenix in 4.
  
• Baltimore swept San Antonio 4-0! CF David Banda went 7-16 with 4 HR's in the 4 game series. He homered once in game two and 3 times in game 3.
• San Francisco took out Miami 4-2. Newly signed ace Mike Garcia kicked off the series with a 3-hit shutout striking out 7. Prospector RF Jose Perez took home MVP for the series (10-19 2 HR)

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• GM1- Baltimore 11 San Francisco 6
• GM2- Baltimore 2 San Francisco 1
• GM3- San Francisco 9 Baltimore 8
• GM4- San Francisco 9 Baltimore 1
• GM5- San Francisco 4 Baltimore 3
• GM6- Baltimore 3 San Francisco 0
• GM7- San Francisco 7 Baltimore 4
• San Francisco wins it's 2nd PBL World Series and LF Bob Vanegas takes world series MVP honors. 14-27 3 HR 8 RBI.
  
• Mike Garcia started 2 games, 14 IP 11 H 9 K 3 R 0 ER and was 0-1 in the series.

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• AWARD WINNERS
• Western League MVP- Pal Rasmussen (Umlaut) (NY) .266-56-138 (O'Hare was the runner up and Skyhawk Ian Drewes took 3rd)
• Western League CY- Chris Policastro (SAN) 22-5 2.74 His fourth and also his fourth in a row.
• Western League Reliever of the Year- Joe Cutler (WAS) 6-3 38 Saves 2.92
• Western League Rookie of the year- David Robledo (CHI) .327/.384/.468 36 2B 8 HR 81 RBI 74 R (teammate Joey Artip was the runner up)
  
  
• Eastern League MVP- Sal Hernandez (BAL) .345-39-125
• Eastern League CY- Mike Garcia (SF) 17-9 2.63 His third. (Teammate Kyle Gaynor finished 2nd in the voting)
• Eastern League Reliever of the Year- Roberto Santos (EP) 7-2 43 Saves 3.34
• Eastern League Rookie of the year- Gustavo de la Torre (DEN) .376/.414/.578 league leading 248 hits and the EL batting title

No Skyhawk won a gold glove or silver slugger.
I also started the Mariano Rivera award this year which is just the Rolaids award renamed.

San Francisco's Jimmy Kelly took home his 5th Manager of the year award. In his 21 year career, he has made 14 playoff appearances (his first 8 years were spent managing Memphis where he went to the post-season 7 times and won 2 world series) and won 4 world series titles. He's a legend in every which way.
Baltimore's Tyler Parnell has been the skipper for the lifetime of the club. He's made 12 postseasons and won 3 titles (including the very first in 2020). This is his 4th manager of the year award and 2nd in the past 3 years (he won it in 2038 when they also won the title).

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I was actually excited about this meeting.
Mr. Segura was actually giddy. Happy all our goals were met and most exceeded. He was eternally grateful for the Aaron Maynard situation being resolved. But as is his custom yesterday is over, tomorrow is coming.
“Curt I really want to see the team defense improve, a lot. I don't know that we can do much with Kenny at 3B other than hope he gets a bit better, but to rank in the bottom 3 all year is embarrassing.”
Didn't argue that one.
“I would love to see our attendance hit 34,000, we will be raising ticket prices so that should be huge given the attendance records we set this year”.

The largest single-season attendance number in club history was set in the inaugural season of 2023. 2,097,900. That was 18 years ago. In between that and today, the largest year was 1,876,653. Last year it was 1,544,656.
This year? 2,500,451. We crushed our goals and also set a new franchise record with 91 wins.
Our season ticket staff has set a ticket price of 9.75, still way down the leader-board in terms of ticket price but that's also a 41.3% increase. Fans are starting to catch on, loyalty is slowly climbing but interest ended up at 67.

In closing he told me he was keeping the budget at 75 million but would certainly be looking to increase that should the club keep the upward trajectory.
I was not “disappointed” per se, it would have been nice to have more money. But we go into the off-season with 17.5 million for free agents and 16.8 million for extensions. If I can't work with that there are bigger problems.
The 2040 season ended with our payroll at 46.7 million. Our projected payroll including arbitration estimates is 44 million even for the 2041 season.

My first priority is to get Ian Drewes signed.


We are moving the Iron Pigs out of Chicago and the Bears have just been relocated to Minot, North Dakota so we have the market almost all to ourselves now.
The AAA Chicago Iron Pigs are now the Abilene Roughnecks. Relocating to Abilene Texas. Their uniforms look fantastic.

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• Brooklyn canned GM Steve Badger and manager Rusty D'Amico. D'Amico spent 7 years on the bench in Memphis as the Hitting Coach before coming in on a 3 year deal. He's out after 1 year and a 73-89 record. Was probably the most disliked manager in the game. Not by players but other managers. He's the guy that's going to 'reinvent' the game. Hits his pitcher 8th and seemed to make a ton of bad moves all year.
• GM Steve Badger is a PBL Legend. He's been at the helm of Brooklyn since 2021. 8 Playoff appearances and 2 WS titles. More importantly 7 post seasons in the last 10 years, including 6 division titles (including last year). He's the kind of guy that will likely be on the market for about 15 minutes.
• Blackheart owner Eric Miller has less than zero patience and while their payroll is 10th and has always been in the top half he's a nightmare when it comes to getting money at the deadline. The only plus is he is absolutely hands off on the baseball ops folks. He wants to win, every single year. Can't blame him, it's his money. He is the sole owner of the Brooklyn franchise.
• They wasted little time. Signing former Skyhawk GM Curt Conboy to a 5 year deal and inked former minor league SS Francisco Rodriguez to a 1 year deal. Rodriguez has no managing or even coaching experience but is seen as a future star.
• Las Vegas owner Nick Van Allen passed away at the age of 72. His son Nick Van Allen Jr will take over and things will change. His dad wanted a winning baseball team and didn't care what it cost. Jr has made it clear he's a Peter Angelos guy. He wants to make money, period. If they win, great, if not no biggie as long as the club is profitable. Unfortunately for fans one of the first things that came out of this was the fact that Van Allen Jr wants veteran Alex Jaramillo out.
  
• The Denver Grizzlies were sold by owner Eduardo Miranda. Auto tycoon Bobby Gordon purchased the club. Mr. Gordon is said to be a good guy who will spend money.
  
• Soon after that conference Denver GM Chris Lesch announced the club would not be bringing back 2 time manager of the year and two time world series winner Brian Dragonette. A 4th straight season at the bottom of their division appears to have been the reason.

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Ian Drewes declined his player option and declared free agency. I sort of expected that after the year he had. I will do all I can to get him back in the fold if the money isn't stupid.

Sort of blindsided when Nick O'Connell announced he was retiring. That will NOT be an easy void to fill.

The end of the season prospect report is out, and we fell to 2nd place in organization rankings.

1. Javier Oliva #2
2. Jon Boisjolie #20
3. Mike Wright #37
4. Clete Black #55
5. Alex Irizarry #67

Both our #1 pick this year and a 16-year-old we snagged out of the international pool are in the top 75 already.

Tampa P prospect Victor Tinajero is the #1 ranked prospect. Our scouts love him. 5-star potential, at 22 he's already made his mark saving 18 games with a 1.00 ERA for Tampa. Long term I think everyone projects him as their opening day starter.

Keith Feldmann finished 5th and Javier Oliva 6th in AAA Pitcher of the year voting.

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• I have 13 arbitration eligible players and 3 pending free agents.
• Granda asked 3.25m received 2.6m Club win
• Chris Turner asked 332K received 260K Club win
• Udo agreed to a 1 year 1.76m deal and we avoided arbitration
• Beau Crowder asked 332K received 250K Club win
• Franklin Velez and the club agreed to a 1 year 700K deal and avoided arbitration
• Ricky Cueva asked 320K received 250K Club win
• Chris Brown asked 875K received 850K Club win
• Keith Feldmann asked 326K received 220K Club win
• Brad Denz asked 332K received 200K Club win
• Ricardo Gonzalez asked 462K received 462K Player win
• Chris Driskell asked 332K received 200K Club win
  
• So 8-1 with 2 deals avoiding arbitration. Saved just north of 1 million all told.
  
• The free agents are Ian Drewes, Eric Molstad, and Alex Trevino.
• I have decided I will offer all three qualifying offers in the hopes both Molstad and Trevino refuse. All three are compensation eligible. Drewes I am working with but if Trevino and Molstad both accept I will find room for them. Trevino likely in the long relief emergency starter role and Molstad as hopefully my 4 or 5. I hope that will be because of the youngsters improving and potentially signing a big-time arm.
• Drewes ends up filing and both Trevino and Molstad accept their offers.
  
  
  IAN DREWES NEGOTIATION
  
• Ian Drewes wants 9 years and 79 million. He made 3.28 million this season.
• After my response at 5 years with an AAV a bit above 6 he came back at 9 years 78 million. (8.67 AAV)
• After some back and forth I offered him a 9 year 68.9 million dollar deal with an opt-out after year 5. 5.67, 6.67. 7.67 7.67 8.67 and the opt-out with 4 years at 7.67 on the other side of that opt-out. That was the deal he has taken back to think through.
• After declaring free agency Drewes agent got back to me and said his price tag has changed. He's now seeking 10 million a year, close to 11 actually, for 9 years...
• We've now gone back and forth and I've come up to 9 with an AAV close to 8, and he's not budging. I didn't think I'd lose him but now I see no way to retain him at that price.
  
• I am not offering arbitration to reliever Ryosuke Ohira nor OF Jeff Davis. Both salaries are potential arbitration awards are nowhere near the players value.