Making The Move Upstate: A Buffalo Nickels Story

[dward1]

We remember last years preview, where we were slotted 9th. That allowed us to play the "no one believes in us" card, even though the modeling from our Upstairs Men suggested they were off about Yates and Duncan and that meant we were closer to third. We certainly won't be able to play that card that this year. Hopefully we get what we pay for...



We are across the board picked to win the league, even the Rochester coverage reluctantly picked up first. We have the best offense and best pitching staff, the gap between us and #2 is as large as the gap between #2 and dead last. But being promoted requires winning two series, even if we go 66-0 in the league. And that requires a bit of luck and strong starting pitching: Burns and Graves development and performance are the keys to making sure we don't slip up.

It will be different playing with a target on our back this season after sneaking up on teams last year. But there's no talent reason to not finish first in the league.

USBL2 Preseason Rankings
1. Buffalo Nickels

2. Memphis Blues
3. Madison Lakers
4. Richmond Eagles
5. Nashville Hounds
6. Kansas City Packers
7. Rochester Roosters
8. Palo Alto Redwoods
9. California Grizzlies
10. Charlotte Flyers
11. New Orleans Brass
12. Pittsburgh Rebels



We are even bigger favorites in the second tier than San Antonio are in the first tier after adding two of the best players in the world to last years champs. Jacksonville and Raleigh are bigger competitors also.

Teams we've matched up with the last two years: Cincy is ranked 7th and the Lights are ranked 10th. The relegation favorites are another one of the inaugural teams without a trophy: the Hartford Dark Blues, who lost one of those global elites in Jimmy Steen to San Antonio.

[dward1]

by Brian Brick for Buffalo Ball




“Don’t You…Forget About Me” that ancient tune that burst back onto the charts with a cover version 8 years ago roared throughout the speakers on repeat for 15 minutes after the final out on Sunday. It was quite a pointed and deserved blow, I have to admit. After the epic Finals vs the Lights, after the Global Cup run, after the enormous signings, after the unanimous Promotion predictions, we forgot about Rochester.

I was at the season recap presser with Thomas, I was at the Winter Meetings with the entire Upstairs Men, I was in Florida all 6 weeks of prep, and I was involved in the season opening interview. Not a single word about Rochester. The only focus was promotion and winning the league. How about beating your rivals an hour away who’ve you’ve only beaten in a season series once in six years? Well, make it once in seven years now.

An opening sweep, Farr got shelled, Burns got broken late and Graves got torched. The vaunted offense scored a measly 9 total runs. Maybe the goals were too long-term and the day-to-day focus just wasn’t there or maybe the Upstairs Men, who haven’t been here long, looked over and saw a middle of the pack team in dire financial straits and not the heated rival who hate us. They should know, I mean Rochester were the ones with the “Welcome Upstate Gerry Thomas” banner and Darren Chavis said “He’s not in Brooklyn anymore” when Thomas was swept to open the season two years ago. And now he’s swept again. It’s time to focus more on these rivalry games, they aren’t just another game. Getting swept here will ruin weeks and months of our fans lives and could ruin this so-well-poised season if we aren’t careful.

We weren't outscored by 8 runs in a series all last season. We were this week. So much for 'most talented team to ever play in this division'.

[dward1]

I'm so rattled I submitted this recap forgetting it was April, not March that we just went through. That's the kind of month we just had.

The opening series was like a punch to the mouth. Read about it in Brian Ball’s histrionic pages, I don't really want to go over that again. Baseball is baseball, it's hard to predict. We got ahead of ourselves based on our modeling and Rochester was more than happy to remind us the league's not over yet.

Series Star: Wayne Rigsbee (5-13, HR, 3 SB)

We finally got a win on the board against lowly Pittsburgh but then turned around and gave up 13 runs and lost on Saturday. Navdeep didn’t say a word for hours as Burnsy gave up 3 bombs and 8 runs.

I didn’t think I’d be fist pumping go-ahead home runs in the second weekend vs Pittsburgh but that’s what happened when Jaeden Burton put us ahead with a 3-run bash in the 7th. When the Rebels hit back-to-back bombs off Zamora in the 9th, I could hear a huge crash and then “What a pile of ****in jobbies”…that would be Lockie, I thought. Before he could go deeper into unknown lochs of Scottish cursing, that man did it again…Jaeden Burton hit a walkoff to save the fans ears. I could have hugged him I was so relieved but instead stayed calm and simply said “Well done boys, first series win.”

Series Star: Jaeden Burton (6-10, 2 HR)

Bases loaded bottom of the 9th, down a run to Palo Alto, Rigsbee up…and the 19 year old delivers!!! It’s way too difficult to win at the moment, these walkoff wins feel like we are careening down a hill out of control and just barely get back on the road in time.

A 6-1 early lead on Saturday looked easier, more like the calm cool driving machine we were last year. Looks deceive my friends. Navdeep I don’t think is sleeping at all around these Burns starts, the hits and runs are just hemorrhaging from Kerry. He’s allowed 26 hits in 15.2 innings, the K/BB ratio isn’t awful but the 9.77 ERA is, quite. Anyway, you look up and it’s 8-8 in the 7th. This time we didn’t need a walkoff, just a go-ahead hit in the bottom of the 8th from Jose Rodriguez. 3 straight wins where we take the lead in our last bat.

The next day is one ending in Y and guess what that means: we are batting in the 9th inning of a tie game. This time it takes us 3 chances before Joe Duncan finally walks it off in the 11th.

Winning is better than losing, but my god the way we are doing it makes a man tense and then slaphappy. Our relievers are probably happy they didn’t hear a few of the jokes made as we drank deep into the night and actually slept at Sahlen Field after our 'dominant' sweep of Palo Alto. Monday morning we might wake up and make some changes. We are somehow above .500, but have the 8th best run differential in the league, this isn't how anyone pictured us playing.


Series Star: BJ Peterson (9-13, HR, 2 BB)

Summary


Player of the month
Jaeden Burton (452/500/677…1177 OPS, 1.03 WPA)
Adam Stromgren (395/425/632…1057 OPS)

Team Stats
5-4
.348 wOBA, 3rd
5.25 FIP, 9th
+4 Zone Rating, 2nd

Race

[dward1]

The OG Upstairs Men group spent the night together at Sahlen, after our sweep of Palo Alto. OG because Mario Segura and Julio Martinez have kind of separated to do their own thing, maybe they don't want to be associated with Scottish soccer analysts who reign down curses constantly.

We decided we wanted to "do a Brad Pitt in Moneyball" as it's known, and shake things up. Lockie wanted to go the full way and ship malcontent Stromgren out, "He ****in' battered his mate last year", but we weren't prepared to go there.

Chris Bishop gets the callup, he's one of Rassie's favorites for a while and the stats he's put up are tough to argue with. Jose Rodriguez had a .518 OPS over 21 games to start the year, at 31 and making nearly $200k this is bad news for his future. If Bishop takes his chance, this might be the last we see of Jose.

Justin Carree had walked 9 and given up 5 bombs in 15 innings of 10.80 ERA, we knew we'd send him down it's just a matter of finding an arm to replace him. Nick Fernandez, who was at the spring camp and impressed with his curveball, replaces Carree.

These are more moves made to jolt the rest of the team awake, we are very lucky to be above .500 right now and an awakening is needed quickly as we are headed to Sacramento to take on the 7-2 Grizzlies. I mocked them last year for trying to buy the league, now we have a higher payroll than them and the highest paid player in USBL2 history...I'll retract that please.

Did the moves work?

"Should we have traded Stromgren?" was my thought as my former Brooklyn player Andy Zepka circled the bases on a first inning Grand Slam. It was 6-0 and Farr hadn't recorded an out. The idea those two moves would instantly awaken the boys does not seem to have been based in fact.

But then, like a 62 degree March day after weeks of freezing rain, we got a glimpse of hope. It came from Burns and Graves, they two guys we were most worried about*. Burns went 6 innings, allowing 1 earned and then Graves was truly dominant on Sunday, going 7 innings without a walk, fanning 7 and allowing just 1 run. We won both games, one in extra innings and one by a single run naturally, but those two performances give us hope.

So does the fact we are somehow 7-5 with the 3rd worst run differential in the league, we are 6-1 in 1 run/extra inning games. Luck, baby, luck!

*if you recall, we were worried our rotation might not hold up in a short playoff series after we'd so thoroughly demolished the league. Maybe our minds weren't quite focused on the task at hand as you might say. They are now.

Series Star: Chad Graves 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K

[dward1]

Have we turned the corner? Have we turned two corners and are going the wrong way? Or have we turned 3 corners and are actually going the right way now? May was a confusing, but overall positive month, for the Buffalo Nickels baseball club.

After the California series we had our first Corner Turned on Sunday vs Memphis. After splitting the first two in one-run games, we put up 17 hits and backed Chad Graves well to pummel them 11-3 in the finale and tie them atop the full-of-parity league. This felt like a corner was being turned, we were back smashing teams and had somehow reached first despite such a poor start to the year.

Then we scored 2 runs total on Friday and Saturday vs Nashville, losing both to the Hounds. I obsessively called these two weeks (Memphis and Nashville) "The Music Highway". We came out 3-3, much more Keith Urban than Johnny Cash.

A rain delay forced us to play two vs Richmond on Saturday, and we had another Corner Turned moment, sweeping the Eagles behind excellent pitching from Farr and Burns. That Saturday debuted the new "Grigsbee's on Fire" chant to the tune of the famous old Northern Irish chant that is still belted throughout Belfast today in European qualifiers. Grigsbee had a 5 hit day on Sunday vs Nashville, then added 5 hits vs Richmond, seeing his average rocket up 60 points. But...we lost on Sunday.

Maybe Madison was the real Corner Turned moment of them all? It felt like a replay of the Palo Alto series earlier this year, we won twice via walkoff and once via a go-ahead bottom of the 8th hit. Zamora's performance was just absurd in the series, with 3.1 innings, 0 baserunners and 9 strikeouts. It was our second sweep of the season where we outscored our opponent by 3 runs.

The overall performance was a bit better, but the offense is still a bit of a puzzle. 8 of the other 11 teams outscored us in May despite our .357 OBP leading the league.


Players of the month
Jorge Zamora (13.1 IP, 0 R, 17 K)
Chad Graves (3-1, 26.2 IP, 22/4 K/BB, 0 HR, 2.02 ERA, 1.09 WHIP)

Rassie had raved over Graves and Bishop throughout last season, claiming they were ready to contribute at a high level. I thought he had gotten to close to "his" minor league guys and rotated him to scouting in other leagues for a while but he stuck with that take. Our scouts, Martinez and Segura, were sure neither one was more than a AA player. Now they are all saying Graves can play, but Rassie was first. On the season, Graves has arguably been our most important player, providing depth in his starts (6.1 IP per game) and quality (4 HR in 76 IP, 3.48 ERA in the league). Burns has slowly climbed back towards respectability, getting his first win and seeing his ERA drop below 6, but the signs of life are a little late and a dollar short. We've got coaches and analysts working with him all week on his breaking ball, maybe we are putting too much pressure on him?

Farr also has drifted towards respectability, his ERA is down in the 4.5 range now. He actually has a partner in the rotation for the first time in my time here with Graves.


Wayne Rigsbee (350/409/483)...
"Rigs-bee's on fire
your defense is terrified
said Rigs-bee's on fire
your defense is terrified
Risgs-bee's on fire
nananananana nanana na"

He has 14 stolen bases and is closing in on the overall WAR lead among hitters. This one is working out.

Chris Yates (387/406/484)...still just a 413 league slugging % this year, hopefully this is a sign of emergence

Who's Cold
Joe Duncan (283/306/383...690 OPS). It's a little worrying, Duncan had a 886 and 867 OPS the last two seasons with 379 and 361 AVG's, and this year he is all the way down at 305 and 764.

Jaeden Burton (224/328/224)...a hard crash after the sizzling April.


Month Summary



Race


The parity in this league has been a huge boost for us so far as no one has stretched out a big lead. Memphis, New Orleans and KC, the three most recently relegated USBL teams, have run differentials of +41, +27, and +41. We have one of +6. Those are the 3 teams right at the top with us. We will play both New Orleans and KC this month.

Total Stats
.332 wOBA, 4th, -.016 this month
4.40 FIP, 7th, -.85 this month
+11.8 Zone Rating, 1st, +7.8 this month

Jose Rodriguez has been called back up, Bishop has been ok since we called him up, really he started hot and has struggled since. Everyone agreed vs lefties he looked really bad, so Rodriguez is back to be half of an outfield platoon with Bishop and we go one pitcher short. We carry 10 position players, which I've done rarely. Fernandez goes back down after a few ineffective innings.

[dward1]

We've been joking among ourselves Upstairs about the Corner Turned? narrative so long that we've started unintentionally and unironically using it. I've tried to check myself a bit, but man if there's ever a game to turn a corner, it was this one.

We lost the opener vs New Orleans to fall into a 3-way tie with them and Kansas City for second and in the second game of the doubleheader (Friday was a rainout), Burns got absolutely destroyed. If we had any other options, he'd be in the bullpen right now. It's doing his confidence and development no good to get thrashed to a 6.70 ERA/1.63 WHIP right now. He left and we stayed down 8-1 into the 8th.

Stewart made it 8-4 with a 3-run blast, but it didn't change our win odds at all. The Brass walked two of our batters early in the 9th but got 2 outs so we were 4 runs down with 2 outs, 2 on.

Stromgren singled to load the bases and bring the tying run up.

Duncan rocketed a single, to put the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of recently recalled Jose Rodriguez, a Grand Slam would be such a story.

A seeing eye single would have to do, that's ok also. More realistic, right?

It was that man, John Stewart again who followed with the bases clearing double. 6 RBI's in the final two innings, Zamora came on and finished the game off before the Brass could realize what had happened. 8 late runs to win it.

We followed it with a win on Sunday, a series win and second place alone.

Boy, I'm a sucker for a good narrative.

[dward1]

June was in total basically a replay of May...9 wins, a +12 run differential, a sort of an odd atmosphere around the team, but in the end we've solidified our position in the table.

The New Orleans Corner Turn probably was not a full Corner Turn, we've just accumulated a bunch of slight rights so far, so while we aren't flying on the autobahn yet, we can see the access road up ahead.

Kerry Burns took a perfect game into the 7th against the best hitting, worst-pitching, last place team in the league, the Charlotte Flyers. He was then maybe topped by Graves, who then delivered just the second shutout by a Buffalo pitcher in our three years here.

Graves consistency has been unmatched and we needed it the next week, Kansas City caught us in the table by bludgeoning Farr (10 runs in 2.2 innings) and Burns (6 runs in 5.2 innings), but Graves avoided the painful sweep with 6.1 innings of 1-run ball. After giving up 6 and 5 runs in two of his first three starts, Graves has delivered 9 consecutive quality starts and his ERA is down to 2.88. He has fought himself into the Pitcher of the Year conversation and it's not a fluke, he's avoiding HRs (0.6) and walks (1.5) with a reasonable strikeout rate (7.2).

The month ended in beautiful fashion. We opened our series against Rochester in typical '64 Nickels fashion, meaning nailbiting one-run wins. Jorge Zamora delivered one of the best relief performances you will ever see Friday night, facing 9 batters and striking out 8. Sunday was a party as we at least split the Upstate Rivalry this season, sweeps at each ballpark for the home team. They've faded from the playoff chase and continue to have to deal with their financial problems.


Month Summary



Players of the month
Jorge Zamora (9.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 17 K)-He's taken it up an extra level this year. To think we started him off as an ineffective starter when we arrived. I think, and Wellington agrees with me, that his path is one Kerry Burns might head on. Anyway, the last 3 seasons of opponents OPSes against Zamora
2062: .688
2063: .573
2064: .437!

A .193 OBP against. 15 straight scoreless appearances covering 25.1 innings. Ace.

Wayne Rigsbee (354/475/562)…the speed machine we dreamed of him being has ground to a halt (3 steals, 4 caught this month) but the guy is all over the basepaths and is tied for 2nd in WAR among USBL2 hitters

Chad Graves (38 IP over 5 games, 5-0, 1.66 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 28/4 K/BB, 1.2 WPA)...it's the same three guys as last month. Graves won pitcher of the month in the USBL2 for his June.

Who’s Cold
Jared Farr (21 IP, 7.29 ERA, 1.81 WHIP)…it looked for a while as if Farr would stabilize and head under 4 for his ERA on the way to another great season but these last 3 starts he’s allowed 19 runs. His walk rate is a worrying 3.2 after two seasons around 1.8, Farr is the largest example of so many of last years core guys who have slipped this season).



We knew some regression would come but for Farr, Stromgren and Duncan to go under average has been a shocker. Some columnists have suggested it has something to do with all the attention on the new boys but I find that absurd. One theory from Myron is Yates and Farr got that huge arbitration boost (up to around $600k) and it won't go down in upcoming years, and that they feel "made".

For Duncan it's all in the BABIPs, his career BABIP was .405 coming into this season and now it's a much more regular .297. We hoped he'd be a once-in-a-lifetime hard-hitting BABIP king but it's hard to do. There are only 2 players with BABIPs >.370 and 3000+ PA's in the WBA/USBL and both are barely over. He never walks and has minimal power, so really his value does come from huge BABIPs.



Kerry Burns (22 IP, 7.15 ERA, 1.72 WHIP)…Navdeep is actually positive about Burns performance this month pointing to his 3.40 WHIP, which is basically even with Graves for the month as he’s limited his homers to one over the month and has a 17/5 K/BB ratio). The hit rate is just so large, there is an idea Upstairs that we put too much faith in Dombroski and Haynes becoming dominant two-pitch starters and didn’t realize that they have basically the best pitches in the world. Burns has two very good pitches, but no breaking ball. Wellington’s theory is that the slider is a better pitch to have if you only have two and that the lack of breaking ball is contributing to Burns’s .357 BABIP. Gill still believes it’s luck…he’s lost objectivity truly.

Race/Standings


Memphis is looking for a bounceback year after their relegation following 31 consecutive years of USBL service. New Orleans has crashed recently and are out of the race for now.

[dward1]

There were some murmurings of what was going to happen after the Big Winter Meeting, but I don't think the baseball world was fully prepared for what was about to happen on when the bell rang on July 2nd and the Summer Market opened. 16 year olds across the world were about to have their value massively increase against a player in similar position last year.

The caps were gone in every league, but there was a train of thought that the WBA teams would not open up and spend much more because the teams had tended to be cautious in the market before.

When you start by looking at the second tier, that hypothesis remains true: WBA2 teams spent about $160k on average this season, actually a drop from last year! That trend...did not hold elsewhere.



Almost $10 million more poured into the Summer Market this season, an increase of nearly $160k per club. If this continues, and it surely will, we will certainly see an influx of players switching from the Winter Market after amateur ball at 19-20 and simply reclassifying to come out at 16 or 17 in the Summer Market. How this will effect the teams and the game on the field is yet to be seen...could it benefit the big clubs more, it does seem that way on first glance: this year the most expensive player went to San Antonio and the other 3 7-digit players went to Raleigh, who could quickly approach Big Club status. They spent just north of $7 million on international amateurs alone this year, when you consider their big league squad is just at $10 million, that's quite the statement of intent for building a future squad.

But it's hard to predict changes of this sort in the future, what we see in front of us for now is enough to tell us the finances of the sport have shifted.


CODA: Are the Lamigo Monkeys trying to get around US tax authorities by keeping their spending below $10,000?

[dward1]

Now this is Buffalo baseball. Through our first eleven series of the year we had muddled along with a +8 run differential, with a run rate of 4.7 per game. In the five series since we are at +50, with a run rate of nearly 9. The dam has broken boys and the runs are flowing like wine and the hitters are flocking together like the salmon of Capistrano.

I'm talking a little place called top of the table...well tied for it.

The month began with us running our winning streak to seven games with a pummeling sweep of Pittsburgh, we scored 23 runs in the first two games and then that man Chad Graves fired his second shutout of the season on Sunday. He starts on Sunday but he's clearly the team ace by now.


Just the look that says 'Ace. Pitcher of the year.'

A rocky set vs Palo Alto followed, where the only game we won came in a Burns start where he gave up eight and had to be saved by Zamora with 3.1 scoreless out of the pen and an offensive explosion. This was Burnsy's third start of the year he's allowed 8 runs. Somehow we've won two of them. Even in a 6-1 loss on Sunday, Graves was able to keep his quality start streak going.

Then came the biggest stretch of our season so far. California, Memphis and ourselves had clearly separated from the pack as the top three and we all looked likely to make the playoffs, but that one seed and the bye remained a huge prize.

We hosted the Grizzlies and twice put up double digits on them to take the series.

The Graves Consecutive QS Starter: 12. Bishop made it 7 hits in his last three games with a double on Sunday...I sent Rassie a screenshot of his message from last July that directly said "Bishop and Graves are ready to help the big club out" with my new caption 'maybe I should listen to this Rassie Smuts guy'. Those two have put up nearly 6 WAR so far...minor league development is what we have to do with our budget if want to eventually compete in the USBL and without these two (really Graves is 80% of it) we'd be a totally different team this year. Props to minor league coaches and to Rassie for his planning and work with them.

Then we went to Memphis just one game back of the top spot. They led the league in runs, in runs against, in strikeouts, in wOBA, in FIP. They've looked like a top tier team all season stuck in the second tier.

Friday night Jermaine McAlister absolutely befuddled us, throwing a walk-less shutout with 10 K's.

Saturday we faced Mike Saum. Saumer's 14.1 K/9 rate is the highest in any pro league ever. No one in the USBL, WBA or even the MLB has ever had a higher K rate than the Saumer's, with his wild array of pitches (forkball, screwball, changeup, cutter, and slider). This Saturday, he got 10 to fan, but a burst in the 5th got us 3 runs. Rigsbee delivered a 2-run bomb and then Yates followed to make it back-to-back. Kerry Burns delivered a clean 7 inning, 2 run performance and we evened the series. Burns has now won 5 consecutive decisions and has gone 7+ IP, 2 runs, 0 BB in 3 of his past 4 starts...blades of starter ability poking through the concrete sidewalk of the .302 AVG against?

Sunday was peak Buffalo Baseball. Well, click and let's let's take a look.




The team HR count is rising...3 was the most in a month pre-July, in July Rigsbee had 5, Peterson had 5, and Yates hit 3. Burton, Mallow and Bishop chipped in a pair.


Month Summary


Team Stats
.341 wOBA, 1st, +.009 from 2 months ago
4.03 FIP, 5th, -0.37 from 2 months ago
+17.8 Zone Rating

Players of the month
Wayne Rigsbee (1217 OPS...this guy might be good. 5 HR, 5 steals in 12 games and now leads the league in WAR. Won batter of the month.)
Chad Graves (3-1, 1.44 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 24/5 K/BB...this guy might be good. He now leads the league in wins and ERA.)

BJ Peterson (1097 OPS)
Chris Bishop (980 OPS)
Matt Mallow (875 OPS)
Jaeden Burton (863 OPS)...the punch from the C/SS hitting 8/9 makes this a totally different lineup

Who's Cold
John Stewart (173/189/250 439 OPS)

USBL2 Race




Summer Market
We signed just one player in the wild Summer Market, an outfielder from West Virginia, Ron Splan. Our scouts love him, a lot more than the industry does as we got him for just $62k. He combines a ton of the skills we love: intelligence, speed, and power. Can he hit the ball solidly enough to make it to the show? Contact is his big worry.

[dward1]

The fight for the first spot and the bye that seemed fully on when we thrashed Memphis 17-0 has completely dissipated over the first half of August. And that's almost completely down to our rotation turning into a one-man band. We've played three series since Memphis: Nashville, Richmond, and Madison. Chad Graves has, despite losing his Quality Start streak at 14, won all three of his starts. Graves (14-3) is one win away from tying the USBL2 record for wins and two from breaking it, with three series left.

So that sounds good right, 3-0 on Sundays?

Well, Kerry Burns has lost all three of his Saturday decisions. For a long time we kept thinking “Well, Burns will figure it out, he’s young and getting used to the pressure and the level. That fastball is just too good to lose.” That time is pretty much over. Navdeep has stopped getting so nervous during Burns starts, he’s sort of given up and has been worn down, when Richmond got to him for four runs and Burns just struck out two, Navdeep just kept on working like it wasn't any thing. He's abandoning his boy.

For Farr, we kept thinking, “It’s Farr, he’s the pitcher of the year, he’s got a 3.38 career USBL2 ERA, he’s a great pitcher.” He's lost all three August Friday decisions as well and his league ERA has climbed to 5.72. The first game of August, immediately following the Memphis 17-0 win, was the worst performance of our team of the year. We hit 3 batters, were thrown out 3 times on the bases not even trying to advance, threw a pair of wild pitches, and had 1 extra base hit and 0 walks in a dreadful, dreadful performance that signified what was to come over the next three Friday and Saturdays.

Farr was always killed by BABIP in the USBL with KC (.359) but our elite defense had seemingly solved that problem, it was always what Lockie said "A belter defense vs a rubbish defense makes a pitchers career". But this year, that BABIP is up at .330 and when the extra walk per 9 is added in, that leads to a pretty poor pitcher. The groundout rate is down 5% as the balls are just jumping off opponents bats more this year. Line drive rate up, walk rate up, hit rate up. We are left with one excellent starter and two weak links.



Our pattern-filled 3-6 (LLW each series) has seen the #1 spot and bye seemingly slip away as we are four games back with nine games to play. Richmond has suddenly surged into the playoff picture. Luckily California was swept vs Nashville or our playoff berth would be more at risk. We have just a three game gap on the Grizzlies right now.

As it is, it's hard to feel confident about even winning the Wild Card series, knowing we will have to win once with Farr or Burns on the mound.

[dward1]

The big story will be my Brooklyn reunion when they come upstate in the fourth set. Eight key players remain for the Atlantics, but it looks like they could miss out on the WBA title for the first time since '58 as they just got swept out west by LA to fall 4 games back.

They will be the huge favorites to win the group with Boston and Quebec set up again. Those two have had several deep battles in recent years in the WBA2, before Quebec finally escaped last year and are now actually sitting in the CL spots in the top tier.

A few weeks ago we were thinking about setting up our rotation for a Cup run, now our focus is a bit split with our struggles in the league meaning we can't afford many more slip ups there.

[dward1]

Our 3-6 stretch had sent us careening into possibly shaky territory. We were headed toward the final nine games of the season and the start of the Cup of the Americas.



After a Monday workout (Navdeep watching the spin rates on the Trackman as Lockie tried to calmly explain to Kerry Burns what he needed on his still nonexistent breaking ball...I'm not sure if Burnsy even understood Lockie through that accent), BJ Peterson told all the Upstairs Men and the dugout coaches to go on and head home. Players only.



I have no idea what he talked about, I won't pry but I can see what happened on the field. The very next day Jared Farr looked like a new pitcher. He went all 9 innings (only 3rd time in 91 starts with us) and struck out 10 (only second time with us) in a Cup win over Pittsburgh. The next day, still breaker-less, Burns went 7 scoreless with a season high of 8 K's as we swept the Rebels. The mood in the team never really dipped, but it was immediately back up.




On Friday Bishop had a 2-homer game, and Saturday he hit a go-ahead 3-run bomb in the 8th on his way to winning player of the week and while Burns gave up 6 on Sunday, we took it to the 14th inning before Stewart walked it off for the second time this year. A sweep of New Orleans steadied our playoff hopes.

The next weekend officially locked up our spot as we allowed just 6 runs vs the Flyers and Graves broke the USBL2 record for most wins in a season, he's now 16-3.


Month Summary


League Race


Unfortunately, Memphis hasn't let up at all. We'd need to sweep Kansas City (who is now just a game off third) in the final set as Memphis gets swept in Madison to set up a one-game playoff for the bye. Unlikely.

Players of the month
BJ Peterson (1006 OPS...earlier in year was put in category with others who had struggled to match last years production, he's climbed back above last years OPS+ at this point)

Wayne Rigsbee (940 OPS)


Who's cold
Matt Mallow (430 OPS...we've never worried about his bat because he's the best defensive shortstop in North America, but his OPS is at 572 for the season now through 276 ABs and he will be 32 next year)

Adam Stromgren (626 OPS...he has not turned it around, OPS+ remains below 90)

American Cup Update
Our overall seven-game win streak was broken with a Wednesday loss to Richmond throwing us into a 3-way tie at the top of Group A. Shockingly, Brooklyn is not in the picture, they were swept by Quebec meaning they are in fifth place. They have been eliminated in the WBA as well, their six-peat there will not happen. Could this be the beginning of the end of the Atlantics dynasty?

We've got Quebec this week in Montreal, the road to the knockout stages is in our hands. We do clearly have our three toughest opponents remaining.





Goodbye...
I won't ever celebrate someone else losing their job and I made very complimentary remarks in the press...but I still remember that "He's not in Brooklyn anymore" comment with that smirk after you swept us my very first series here. Rochester has fired Darren Chavis and Dave Diaz, both of whom had been there since the beginning of the franchise.

[dward1]

by Brian Brick for Buffalo Ball


We are headed to the playoffs for the second straight season.

You are headed toward a 10th place finish, your worst ever.

We've got Gerry Thomas, the world famous GM and manager.

You've got literally no one as your GM and manager.

We've got Wayne Rigsbee and BJ Peterson, two of the best young players anywhere in the world as our stars.

You've got a bunch of 30+ year olds on the downside of their career.

We've got the potential of big money in the Champions League or Global Cup upcoming.

You are stuck in financial hell and will lose your local hero Lynch this offseason.

I guess you can still be proud we've only won the season series once in seven years against you but that's all you have. That's all you have Rochester.

[dward1]

Memphis had shockingly lost their first two games in the final series against a surging Madison and we had won our first two, knocking a dangerous lefty-heavy Kansas City team out of the playoff hunt. Suddenly we had Chad Graves on the mound and were maybe a win away from forcing a one-game playoff for the bye. A bad time to have your worst start of the season. That's what happened, it didn't wind up mattering anyway as Memphis beat Madison anyway, leaving their late charge just a game shy.



The playoffs are set, we will play in the first round best-of-3 again, this time against Richmond. The winner gets Memphis.

Reunions

First there was the matter of the Cup of the Americas to deal with. We came into set 3 tied for the lead and taking on Quebec, we took a 5-2 lead into the 8th inning where Jorge Zamora had a shocking meltdown, walking 4 and blowing the lead. The walk-off came off Buchanan in the 10th but it was that 8th inning that threw our campaign off stride. Carlos Carrillo, a journeyman we beat last year in this competition when he was with New York, allowed just 4 baserunners in 8 innings on Wednesday and we were back at .500 and staring at a big hill to climb.

It became impossible the next Tuesday when my old team came to town. Brooklyn came upstate, just days after being eliminated from the WBA race and ending their six-peat dreams. We scored 5 late runs to force extras but a 3rd consecutive Cup loss meant we were 3-4 and would need to win our last 3 and get very, very lucky to advance.

We got a win the next day behind Graves to make it a happier reunion, but the standings didn't break our way. Another 5-5 Cup campaign. The results give us hope overall that when we break through, we will be competitive. Also giving us that hope is what the Lights did this year, sitting in 2nd place for most of the season before a late-year collapse saw them drop to .500.



Boston won our group and made it all the way to the finals before being dropped by San Antonio. LA made the semis as they pushed to make it 4 trophies from 4 competitions this year, they will go for a fourth in the Champions League as they've finally gotten over the hump as it were against Brooklyn.

First Round Preview

It's hard to even consider losing here and ending our season so soon. Richmond are pretty much a nothing team to us, they just had a +7 run differential this season. We are clearly the superior team. They have a massively top heavy lineup, with 3 truly huge threats and then 3 or 4 massively weak points. Nate Green, a contact hitting extraordinaire, has really torn us up these last few years.



We are much the better team, especially with Farr throwing better since that players only meeting (3.29 ERA and 42 K's in 38.2 IP). We will be very nervous of course, it's a 3-game set, anything can happen. If we must face a game 3 with Kerry Burns on the hill, Navdeep might literally puke when they score their first run.

If we lose here, the project is in a bit of danger as we will bring in basically no money this year, leaving us very little room to do anything going forward. And that will be more and more true every year we don't either make a huge Cup run or earn promotion. This is step one of what needs to be at least three steps this postseason. Messing up here is not the plan.

Let's Go, Buffalo.

[dward1]

Game 1
God damn, I was nervous. I worked out extra hard in the hour before the game, not watching BP or seeing the fans filter in. I wanted all that nervous energy out, but as I had the last meeting minutes pregame with Navdeep, Wellington, and Lockie and I still felt as nervous as I’d ever been.


how I pictured myself before the game

There had never been these negative consequences to losing in Brooklyn really, any loss could always be simply made up next year. Now it felt as if failure here was like failing a sprint test in high school football, that means you have to do it again and you are already tired, it gets harder each time.

My nerves were eased early, but my pessimism shone through when I wondered if we should sell him to a big club this offseason if we don’t get promoted and fund us for three seasons.

Other than that Borchert was matching Chad Graves, who was dominating. Gravesy had allowed just 2 hits through 6 innings without a walk. But a run was never going to be enough, I could feel it in my bones. Each inning we didn’t score worried me, when the Eagles got back to back knocks to start the 7th I got the pen going.

That man Nate Green was up, 2 men on, no one out and he loaded the bases with another single. Graves got a popup for the first out and I was out at the mound immediately. I never make mound visits and he seemed shocked to see me. He assured me he was good and I left him in. Then…this.

Zamora came in but he allowed another to score before escaping. They turned to their relief ace Mike Proffitt in the 8th and both held their end of the deal and we went to the bottom of the 9th down 2 runs. The finale will be delivered via video.

[dward1]

We now faced the situation we've dreaded for a while, having to get wins from both Farr and Burnsy to keep our season alive. It can't end this early, can it? At least good Farr has returned since the players-only meeting, his strikeout rate has soared and walk rate has cratered as he's pitched to a 3.29 ERA.

Game 2
We got Bad Farr from the get go, a 4-pitch walk opened the game. That runner would come around to score. We responded via Rigsbee in the second with a three-run bomb, he's up to 18 bombs on the season...I wonder if he and Peterson might make the national team this year.

Farr came back out after we took the lead, and even though I always talk about the fact we don't focus on shutdown innings because every inning should be a shutdown inning, this time it would have been nice. Instead they rocked three very hard doubles to cut the lead to 4-3.

We loaded the bases in the bottom of the 4th, the bottom of the order of Burton and Mallow have been very good so far. The middle of the order had a chance to break the game open...and didn't. Yates, Peterson and Stromgren didn't even threaten. That 1 run lead felt positively puny.

And it was, Farr gave up yet another screamer double which turned into a run, tie game.

In the 6th, Zamora had to come in after Rieger got into a mess, bases loaded with one out. Popup and a strikeout. We might get 3 players on the national team at this rate...Zamora has just been unbelievable. The game was still tied.

Our third candidate for the national team, El Capitan BJ Peterson, was 1-8 with 4 K's in the playoff. No longer...a John Sterling impression was roared from the crowd as he rounded the bases after a 2-run bomb...the lead was more than a run, 6-4!

Could Zamora take us home? He cruised through the 7th. He cruised through the 8th. In the 9th, that man Mincey singled again but he struck out Hebert. 1 out and a man on and I headed to the mound for the second time of the season and second time of the series..



He'd thrown 41 pitches already and threw 28 yesterday. I told him we trusted him and left him in. A 8 pitch AB led to an infield single and I had to pull him, the velo was down 4 MPH.

Ben Buchanan is in to close it out. And he gets the first man. We are one out away from tying it up, then he induces a slow tapper in front of the plate...but it's just far enough for a second infield single. Two infield singles in the bottom of the 9th...what a cruel game. At that point it felt natural that the next batter drive in two runs, and that's exactly what he did. Tied in the 9th.

Joe Duncan, with 1 career steal, gets absurdly picked off in the bottom half of the inning and we go to extras...again. With our season, our global hopes and maybe our project here on the line.

Buchanan got through the 9th and then it was our chance...the bottom of the order built up a platform again. Stewart and Burton singled and Mallow got hit by a pitch with one out, the bases were loaded for Rigsbee. No better scene for the man...but he struck out. The fans had seemingly already planned on a celebration and were dumbfounded.

That left Yates. And on the first pitch he made everyone forget about Rigsbee...a walk off single from Chris Yates and the series was evened. The pressure lifted, we are one game away.


Game 3
Kerry Burns on the hill with our season on the line in a deciding game 3. Navdeep was watching cricket in the gym when I arrived, his reports for the day done. He would not stop watching cricket or leave the gym the entire day, I assume he was obsessively checking the score but no one checked that.

We were worried about Burns of course but after last night's close call it felt almost pre-ordained we would go through. Ray Rambo though looked dominant early, striking out 5 of the first 8 batters he faced until Matt Mallow evened the score with a big home run.

Bishop got his first hit of the playoffs to make it 2-1 in the 4th and Burns was cruising. But we'd all seen too many of these "cruising" starts where suddenly he imploded to feel safe. A single to start the fifth induced bullpen action. Another single followed. Zamora was basically done, Lockie said he'd be our worst option today based on his CNS/lactate readings, Buchanan was down a bit also, could we get 5 innings from Rieger/Tucker/Kuruc? I decided to let Burnsy try and wriggle out of this.

He got 0-2 on Mincey...and allowed another single. Bases loaded. I stuck with Burnsy, I could imagine Navdeep setting a PR on bench with his adrenaline pumping here. Gary Hebert up, we bring the infield in...and get the double play!!

We turn to Kuruc now and he gets the lefty. Burns gets through 4.2 IP, but that's exactly what we needed. 2-1, Nickels.

Kuruc dominates. He looks like a new guy, he retires the first 10 batters he faces on just 35 pitches.

In the 8th, the worry of insurance runs breaks, Chris Bishop drives home 3 on a bomb. We are going to the finals and taking on Memphis. Barely.

[dward1]

To Memphis we go, a little less fresh than last years trip to Vegas. Last year we cruised past Madison without breaking too much of a sweat, this year we lost the first game and played two extra inning games. Lockie has even some of the position players down a bit on their CNS readings. But it's the Finals, adrenaline should boost that up.

It's a similar setup to last year really in a way, Memphis leads the league in runs scored, starter ERA and bullpen ERA. We really thought we'd be the best team in the league, but oh well, time to beat the best team in the league.

Game 1
Chad Graves is a dominant pitcher but he can dominate without dominating you thanks to the defense behind him sometimes. One of the top 10 GB% pitchers in the league he was rolling through Memphis's lineup using the grounder and the gold glover at short in Matt Mallow. 3 double plays and 0 strikeouts through 5 innings, and 0 runs.

That gold glover had drilled a solo bomb and we led 1-0. The fly balls started coming in the 6th and 7th but no runs scored and we stuck with our guy Gravesy into the 8th with a 1-0 lead. A single, an old school sac bunt (the ultimate sign of respect from the highest scoring team in the league) and a flyout led to another tough call: rested Zamora or Graves. We stuck with Graves and the next man tied the game with a single. Only 94 pitches!

Zamora came in and our offense continued to have the firepower of a European matchbox as we headed to extras for the third time in four games. I haven't slept before 3 AM any of those nights and won't again tonight.

That's because Toshiyasu Aoki drilled a walk-off bomb off Zamora in the bottom of the 10th. We lose the opener behind our ace...behind the 8-ball we go.



Game 2
I was joking with Myron Til in the pregame meeting about what snack I like to eat as we go to extra innings because these games are so close and tight and going long.

Today...did not. Farr allowed a leadoff homer, ok no big deal. Then before he recorded another out, he gave up a 3-run homer. The game was essentially over by the 3rd inning, when Memphis led 8-0.

Farr came into the playoffs hot but has crashed and burned again...his season long numbers will look quite ugly. What also looks ugly are our promotion hopes. We've reached step 2 now twice of the four step process
Step 1: Make the playoffs
Step 2: Make the Finals
Step 3: Win the Finals
Step 4: Win Promotion Playoff

but we now need 4 wins in 5 games against a better team. Come on Kerry Burns.



Game 3
Burns, again in a monster situation. They bring back their ace from Game 1, we learned not to do that last year. Graves will get two more starts if we are to win the series if we bring him back on 2 days rest or not.

Burnsy knows he's on a short leash but started well again, maybe that helps him? Maybe he's a Big Game Pitcher? McAllister, their ace, didn't quite look like the same guy as Game 1...Lockie had his spin rate and Effective Velocity down a bit and the hits came early and hard and we jumped to a 4-0 lead.

Burns allowed just his 3rd and 4th baserunners of the night in the 5th inning, but that was enough to hook him. Buchanan came in and promptly allowed both those to score and then polished off the 5th and 6th easily. Sometimes I think he has a "not my runs" thought process even though we've told him time and time again we are judging you on your performance, not your ERA. We are smarter than that.

Anyway, our offense went cold again and the early possible coasting win turned into another grinder late. Grinding with a lead and Jorge Zamora isn't too bad though, Zamora fired an 8-out save allowing 1 baserunner to get us back into the series.

Back to back strong outings from Burns in huge situations...hope he might be a true USBL starter blooms eternal in Navdeep's mind...he doesn't say anything anymore about Burns but I can see him thinking it.



Game 4
Graves is back and even though he's not really dominating, he's keeping them off the board. They put a man in scoring position in each of the first three innings, but none scored.

We face Mike Saum, who threatened the all time global strikeout rate record before fading down the stretch to a measly 12.9 K/9. We threatened twice early but didn't score either. Our offense was getting no traction against these Memphis arms.

In the middle innings we kind of just settled in to watch a classic. I love pitchers duels, when you can see just from how the guys are moving that they are locked into a zone. There's nothing quite like it in sports, outside of maybe a truly great golf round.

These guys were cruising, Graves got to 11 straight set down with his 6th strikeout to end the 7th inning. Saum was showing a bit of weakness, he walked 4 batters, all on 4 pitches, but had allowed just 2 hits. He answered in the 7th.

Gravesy made it 14 straight in the 8th...all on fly balls, the same thing happened in game one the inning before he finally gave up his run. Wellington came down and asked if the fly balls concerned me, I just said no. 14 straight, I mean, come on.

Saum got to double digit in K's. We went to the 9th.

Leadoff man singled to end Graves's 14 straight streak. He was on 108 pitches and cruising, the single was just a normal single but what to do. Zamora was low on gas after yesterday's 2.2 IP, but last time we gave up a run leaving in Graves...we don't overreact to 1-game samples here, he's the best pitcher in the league, he's our guy. I didn't even visit and Graves got a double play on the second pitch...a soft groundout later and 9 shutout innings are in the book.

Do we deliver the well-deserved win? No...Saum makes it 11 straight retired.

In the top of the 10th it felt like we were transported to 1954 or something as Graves headed to the mound to a true, deep standing ovation. With one out he hit a batter and left to another standing O. Warrior.

We brought in Kuruc to face a line of lefties. Our 3 bullpen lefties Kuruc, Buchanan and Rieger had been about equally as good all year and the hierarchy wasn't clear. Kuruc's dominant outing game 3 vs Richmond put him at the top...what was that we said about one game...nevermind. Here he got a groundout. 2 down.

Efren Jansen...to the gap, triple. 1-0. Memphis.

Ace closer Steven Brooks comes in, he was 32 for 32 in saves before this game. After this game, he was 33 for 33 in saves. Our 4th extra innings game of the playoffs and the second time we lost with Graves on the mound. He's gone 17 innings, 2 runs and we've lost both games. 1 run of support. Now we need 3 straight wins.



Game 5
Adam Stromgren's hot start to the playoffs has been long forgotten. He came into this game 0-for-the-series (15 ABs) and while he isn't late, per se, he comes into the clubhouse 1 minute before reporting time while the other 17 guys have been there for 30 minutes. It's the kind of thing I don't notice until now, when I'm casting around for blame in my mind.

Here though, a walk from him starts a second inning rally. But the crucial blow comes from Chris Bishop, driving a 3-run blast to open up a 3-0 lead.

Farr is looking like 2063 Pitcher of Year Farr...Mallow makes a web gem to end the 4th, Memphis looks uncomfortable in the box.

Top 7, Farr still rolling. Strikeout, strikeout, strikeout. Fist pump, guttural roar, the signs of a guy getting something off his back.

A blooper in the 8th ended Farr's night, what a truly awesome performance. Just his 3rd 10-K game as a Nickel and it comes in an elimination game in the Finals.

Zamora makes a manager sleep well...he closes it out with minimal stress. We are going back to Memphis, 3-2 to the Blues.



Game 6
Pitching dilemmas continue to pick at me. I had two days to decide whether to bring Graves back on 2 days rest for Game 6 and then maybe do the same with Farr in Game 7, or go fully rested Burnsy here and then turn to Graves in Game 7. We have to win both and Burns is throwing the ball well, I told him on the travel day that we were starting him.

He just said "ok"...he's a tough one to read. A 20 year old making his 3rd mega start of the postseason as a rookie with no previous pro experience.

We jumped all over McAllister, back on full rest this time. Rigsbee walked and Yates tripled, before the USBL2 record 30,000 could sit down we led 1-0.

However, fitting with our overall offensive performance vs Memphis, we couldn't get that second run home. I swear during the middle innings we always lead by 1 and just can't ever extend it.

Burns had allowed a baserunner in each of the first three innings, but no runs. In the fourth they put together 3 singles to load the bases with one out. I had the bullpen going but left Burnsy in with a huge knot in my gut. This game could be out of hand soon was what I felt...but he got a strikeout. 2 down. Then he got a soft roller to Mallow who picked it up...and threw low, and it skipped past Stromgren. 2 runs scored. Immediately my mind went to him strolling in at 4:59 today, but on the replay it was all our gold glove shortstop's fault. Just a schoolboy mistake...pressure makes odd things happen. 2-1, Memphis.

BJ Peterson leads a rally in the 7th with a single and some fantastic baserunning to advance and score on a Joe Duncan single. We are tied up and cooking with grease.

In the bottom of the 7th, Burns exits. What a playoffs by the young man (15 IP, 1.8 ERA, 1.07 WHIP). We play lefty roulette and go with Rieger this time instead of Kuruc. Leadoff double. Wrong pick. After a long sac fly, Rieger was out and Zamora comes in. "Please save us Jorge" has been my late inning strategy. Even the great Z couldn't do it this time, another sac fly broke the tie.

Mr. 33 for 33 is in to try and get 6 outs to close the game, Steven Brooks. First 3 come easily. Top 9, our last hope. The last chance before we face an offseason in the second tier, with no money and a payroll ratcheting above our budget each season.

BJ Peterson, the captain leading things off.

2 hopper to third. One away.

Stromgren, that one minute man, 3 pitch strikeout looking at a fastball in the meat of the plate. 0 for the series.

Joe Duncan, our last hope, swings at the first pitch and lines it to left. The sweet contact bat delivers. Jose Rodriguez pinch runs and we send him on the first pitch like the old timers say Dave Roberts did back in another league long ago...but Rodriguez is out. And the series is over. Our promotion dreams are over.

Memphis has won the 2064 USBL2 Finals.




I mean what can you really say. We scored 12 runs in 6 games. They have great pitchers, but we should have done better than that. Stromgren was 0-for-the-series, but Yates and Stewart also had sub-.500 OPSes in the playoffs. BJ Peterson struggled as well, only really Mallow, Duncan and of course Rigsbee delivered.

Our pitching was fine outside of one disaster from Farr and our defense was outside of that killer error from Mallow. Truly, Memphis was a better team this season. We didn't deliver all year on our potential and didn't deserve to win this series.


What's next: a best-of-3 against WBA2 #2 Seattle to try and get our spot in the Global Cup back and make another big, money-spinning run. And boy, do we need it. Next years budget is in at $3.2 million...promised salaries are at $5.9 million.

[dward1]

Honestly, it was hard to even get inspired to get the boys off the mat. Promotion or bust was basically our motto all season and now that was off the table. The Global Cup is a nice trophy to win, but we came so close last year we kind of knew that was our best shot. Inspiring guys with guaranteed contracts to play for money so we can salve our financial wounds didn't seem like a good idea. I wound up trying to convince them to "show the world" how good we are and build a legacy of global play. As I left the room I knew it hadn't really worked.

Seattle was in a similar position to us, the WBA2 does not have playoffs but they had finished the year tied and then lost the title in a 1-game winner-take-all playoff against Washington. Being a WBA affiliated team, unsurprisingly they had a bigger payroll ($7.9 million is just 3rd in the league) and access to wider talent pool (4.5 regulars rated 3.5 stars or above with several Canadians and a Haitian among their top players).

The first two games were in Seattle and honestly the vibe was very low. Pregame was down, BP was down, even when we won the opener the feeling was down. Objectively it was an impressive 7-4 win that we broke open after it was tied 2-2 in the 9th but it still felt like a dead rubber for some reason.



The next day we took on Canadian national team member and WBA2 pitcher of the year Norris Macdermid. Even Navdeep's scouting report on him was kind of half-assed to be honest, looked like he just spent 15 minutes on BaseballSavant. No one called him on it. Macdermid fanned 10 and Farr's gutsy Game 5 performance was long forgotten as he struck out nobody over a 6 IP, 4 R game. We got hided.



When we lost the deciding game, there truly was a feeling like "Alright, vacation and recharge."



Maybe we put too much pressure on winning promotion and then wound up losing focus in a crucial competition that could have been a money-spinner, but now we wound up with maybe $100k after last years $3 million haul.



A sleepwalking and heartbroken Nickels team drudged their way through a qualifier loss. No official Global Cup appearance this year from us.

The season is over.

[dward1]

LA finally tops Brooklyn

After five straight WBA titles for Brooklyn while LA was settling for second tier trophies like Super Cups, Cup of the Americas and Global Cups, the Reign finally bested their rivals this year. A late season home sweep of the Atlantics when the teams were close provided breathing room and capped a massively successful season. They won the Super Cup and Baseball Cup titles in the preseason and rode their three veteran starters to the championship.



They sniffed around a Quadruple or even a Quintuple but lost in the semifinals of the Cup of the Americas, and then as the only true sour note in a sweet season, also lost in the semifinals to Brooklyn in the Champions League.

It's the best season we've seen, maybe ever, and comes just in time with the rotation trio 37, 33, and 33.


The stunning rise of the Iowa Dusters
No team had ever made the playoffs after playing in the second tier of the USBL until this season when the Dusters led the league comfortably all season and won the top spot. They couldn't hold off San Antonio in the playoffs however, and the Riders went into double digits in titles.

The season wasn't over for the unassuming club from Des Moines, however and they made the CL knockout stage for the second consecutive year. This year they got past Toronto and into the final where they faced Brooklyn...and beat them.



A plucky little small-market team from Iowa in the USBL wound up winning the Champions League. It's something most complained would never happen. While Iowa did use that CL money from last year well, their payroll is still short of $10 million. Toronto and Brooklyn were both at $17 million with LA at $20 and San Antonio at $22. All teams that lost out to Iowa.

"Small markets will never make it with this financial system"
"Closing the borders means we can't compete with the WBA"
"How can a team from Iowa compete with one in London"

No one will be saying things like that anytime soon.

Iowa legendarily took a long time to break out of the USBL2, making the playoffs 6 straight years before finally winning promotion in 2061. They solidified quickly with a .500 season in '62 before falling just short of the playoffs via a one-game playoff in '63 at 39-28, then this season pushed on to 44-22 and history. They become the 15th different team to win the Champions League.

Washington returns

Baseball looked basically dead in the nations capital. The Statesmen had started their career well, winning the 2036 and 2039 WBA titles but had faded to mediocrity throughout the '40s with two CL appearances masking a poor decade. They were relegated in 2052 but quickly bounced straight back but a putrid 17-49 campaign in 2058 sent them back down. Their first year back in the second tier they played to a 17-37 season in front of not even 7,000 fans. And that's where they stayed, not playing even a .500 season in their first 5 years in the second tier, until shockingly this season. A win against Seattle in the winner-take-all finale after they tied with the Rainiers and out of nowhere, the Statesmen are back.

The fall of Chicago

One goes up, one goes down. The Union lost the Pro/Rel playoff to the Statesmen and now one of the founding members of the WBA heads down to the second tier. The Union have come so close to winning their first ever title the past two seasons. 32 seasons without winning anything can grate on a team, particularly when you've been playing in a league setup to allow anyone in it to share in the financial bounty and win titles.

Last year they made the TBC finals, losing to Brooklyn 3 games to zero. It was by far the closest they'd ever been to winning anything. Until this year, when they made the finals again and lost 3 games to 2 to LA. Maybe in the midst of these Cup close calls, the Union lost track of themselves in the league. They will have to find themselves in the second tier.

Lights impress in maiden year
The Las Vegas Lights sat in the playoff spots for a long time in their first year promoted from the second tier, sitting above the Magic and outdrawing their crosstown rivals.



They eventually wore down and finished 31-35 while the Magic finished 5th and made the Global Cup finals, but it was a statement of intent from the Lights. They want to run Vegas.


Salt Lake's Slide continues

As a Vegas rises it makes narrative sense to see Salt Lake fall. The clean-cut, Mormon-heavy, family-friendly club that had beaten the odds to see a small market club climb to the heights of the Global Rankings has now seen back to back rough years. They made the USBL playoffs every year from '57-'62, winning the 2059 title and competing in the Champions League 5 times. In '63 they slumped to a .500 season and this year dipped below at 29-37. Maybe it's rebuilding time over the next few seasons as many of the big money signings will be running out their contracts, but it's sad to see. Family friendly, clean fun, small market dynasties are hard to build and probably harder to rebuild. Lean years may be coming for the Swarm.

[dward1]

Overall
A disappointing season despite hitting it huge on the Rigsbee signing and the Graves promotion. Rigsbee won the MVP as a rookie and paid off in enormous fashion while Graves came up just short of pitcher of the year. At this time last year neither one were clearly in our squad. Without those two, we'd have won 10 or 11 fewer games according to WAR so instead of 53-35 overall we'd have been a sub-.500 team. 4 key contributors from last year faded to near irrelevance as our "Promotion or Bust" (what I wrote last year here) push ended in Bust. We will have to basically bring back the same squad next year, there is a pitcher or two in Portland that is interesting but we would have to do serious excavation work to get any money free to sign new players.

League: 2nd in regular season, beat Richmond 2-1 in First Round, lost in Finals 4-2 to Memphis
Baseball Cup: 6-6, missed knockout stage
Cup of the Americas: 5-5, missed knockout stage
Global Cup Qualifiers: lost 2-1 to Seattle

Pitching

We allowed 4.3 runs per game, the same as last year and tied for the 2nd best rate in franchise history. Graves lost out by just 6 points to Jermaine McAllister of Memphis in the Pitcher of the year voting. He had a significantly better year than Farr did last year, when he won. He had more length than Farr and held the rotation together as the other two disappointed greatly. Farr will have a huge arbitration price tag, but we will pay it. We don’t have anyone else really and arb payments sort of slip through the cap, so it’s not like we have any other option. He and Burns will have to be much much better if we want to win the league and get promoted next season.

The bullpen was excellent, I didn’t even realize how good Kuruc was until I saw these stats. He still doesn’t have my full and unabashed trust, but no one does besides Jorge Zamora. What a man that Zamora. He had a 2.27 ERA and A+ grade last year, he comes back this year with an impossible 1.36 ERA and sub-1 WHIP.

Carree is likely gone from the organization.

Pitching Grades
A+: Chad Graves, Jorge Zamora
A-: Jason Kuruc
B+: John Tucker
B: Ben Buchanan, Josh Rieger
C: Jared Farr
D+: Kerry Burns
F: Justin Carree


Hitting

We scored 5.2 runs a game, a tick down from last years 5.3 and tied for the 5th best number in franchise history. It was a two-man band with Rigsbee and Peterson smashing the ball and dominating all year. They were a rookie and 2nd year man. The future is very bright for those two, but it’s dimmer for Stromgren/Yates/Duncan. All of whom merited an A grade last year for OPSes around 880, this year that was 130 points lower. A huge problem and a big worry. Matt Mallow’s also fell 100 points, the glove is great but I’d appreciate a bit more with the bat.

Jaeden Burton has been an amazing signing that solved a huge hole we had at catcher. He’s got a career .782 OPS, the guy just hits.

Hitting Grades
A+: Wayne Rigsbee, BJ Peterson
B+: Jaeden Burton
B-: Joe Duncan, Chris Yates
C+: Chris Bishop, Adam Stromgren, John Stewart
C-: Matt Mallow
D-: Jose Rodriguez


Rough Offseason Plan
We could I guess sell Rigsbee or Peterson for huge money but that's just not going to happen. The only question is whether to offer arb or not to big money guys Yates and Farr but we certainly will as we wouldn't be able to afford replacing them otherwise. There's not much else to do.