Harry Lyerly and the Denver Brewers of the WPK

[BirdWatcher]

EDIT: WHOOPS! That should read September 7-9, 1973. Sorry.

The Brewers hit the road and start in Phoenix where they take on the 4th place Speed Devils for 3 games.

In game 1 the Brewers suffer a heartbreaking loss in a low scoring, back and forth game. The Brewers take a 2-1 lead in the top of the 8th inning but then give up 2 runs in the bottom of the frame and lose 3-2. Erik Sloan gives the Brewers a good start, allowing just 1 run on 6 hits in 7 innings pitched but gets a no-decision. The normally rock steady Jaden Francis takes the loss, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits (1 HR) in his inning pitched. Francis falls to 2-3 with 2.64 ERA. Chad Brown (.290/.312/.359) continues his hot stretch at the plate, going 2 for 5 with 1 run scored in the loss.



The Brewers bounce back, as they often do, in the second game of the series, and get a 6-4 win. Matt Helm was mediocre in the start, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and a pair of walks in 5 innings pitched. Justin Bismark, who replaced him in the 6th, was credited with the win and improves to 3-0 with a 3.25 ERA. Sam Pruiett has been pitching great lately and worked the final 2 innings for his 5th save (3.42 ERA.) Joe McPhillips (.271/.369/.486) was named Player of the Game and went 1 for 3 with 2 runs scored, 2 walks, and hit his 6th HR of the season. Ryan Rodgers (.355/.463/.454) went 3 for 5 in the game and scored 1 run.



Cheol-han Lee picked a bad time to go through a rough patch. Fortunately, in this one his teammates picked him up. Lee allowed 6 runs (4 earned) on 7 hits in 6 innings pitched. When he left the game the Brewers trailed 6-4, having tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the 6th. There are 2 key facts to keep in mind about the Phoenix Speed Devils. One is that they have 3 great left-handed hitting power hitters. The other is that they have 3 premiere relief pitchers in their bullpen (though they are all right-handers.) So when trailing late to the Speed Devils you just have to hope to capitalize on some mistakes and scratch out a couple of runs any way possible. What you don't expect is to score 10 runs in a single inning. But in this game, that is exactly what the Brewers accomplished. With the 10 run 8th inning the Brewers ended up winning 15-9, giving up 3 runs to the Speed Devils in the bottom of the 8th but then closing the door. Eric Marino picked up his 1st win as a Brewer with a solid inning in relief. As you might imagine there were many stars on offense. Pat Rondeau (.369/.394/.453), heating up lately and looking very much like he will win his first batting title, went 4 for 6, scoring 2 runs and driving in 1. Bobby Erbakan (.353/.406/.484) contributed a 3 for 6, 2 run, 4 RBI game and hit his 23rd double. Andrew Kennedy (.347/.388/.461) went 2 for 6, scored twice and drove in a pair, and hit his 32nd double. And Jordan Stephens, although he gave up hits to the only 2 batters he faced, did hit a towering homer, his 3rd of the season, when he was brought in to pinch hit in the 7th (prior to taking the mound.)



With the series victory the Brewers gain a bit of ground and though they remain in 3rd place they only trail by 2 1/2 games.

[BirdWatcher]

The Los Angeles Spinners Kerry Krieg tossed the 2nd no-hitter of the WPK season today (the first was a perfect game by Ray Hartwig who not long after suffered a career ending injury.)

[BirdWatcher]

For a team that looks like they will probably fall short of winning the pennant, it is pretty impressive that the top 4 hitters (batting average) are all members of the Brewers. Now that Ryan Rodgers has had a few more starts lately to get himself into the qualifiers, he is just behind teammate Pat Rondeau for the MGL batting title. With Bobby Erbakan and Andrew Kennedy not far behind.

As a team the Brewers are hitting .295 with an OBP of .351, both tops in the league (and in fact, in all of the WPK) and an OPS of .755, second in the MGL only to the Phoenix Speed Devils, who have hit over 100 HR's more than the Brewers.

And in 8th place is former Brewer Ruben Souffront.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers travel to Charlotte to take on the reigning MGL champion Sting, who are languishing in 8th place at this point of the season and have been mathematically eliminated from contention for a while. This is a 4-games in 3 days series.

In the opening game of a Monday doubleheader, the Brewers get another fine start from Harry Lyerly. Harry gets a season high 13 strikeouts in his 8 innings pitched, giving up 1 run (unearned) on 7 hits. He also gets plenty of run support in an 8-1 victory. Lyerly improves to 14-6 with a 2.78 ERA. Mike Foster (.278/.310/.394), in the midst of a disappointing season, has a fine game, going 3 for 5, scoring twice and driving in 2, and hitting his 10th HR of the season.



The Brewers drop the night-cap, 5-1. Steve Green takes the loss and falls to 8-12 with a 4.28 ERA. He gave up 4 runs on 6 hits in 7 innings pitched. Not much good to report about the team in this one, although Pat Rondeau did throw out a runner at 3rd base for his 12th outfield assist of the season.


The team bounces back with a 10-5 win in game 3. Eric Johnson wasn't sharp in his 3 innings as he gave up 3 runs on 7 hits. But the bullpen was mostly strong with Jaden Francis pitching 2 spectacular innings (5 K, 0 hits, 0 BB) to earn the victory and improve to 3-3 with a 2.56 ERA. And rookie Justin Bismark worked the final 3 innings, allowing just 2 harmless hits, and got the save, his 2nd, and now has an ERA of 2.84. Bobby Erbakan (.353/.407/.491) was 2 for 4 with 5 RBI in the game and hit his 10th HR of the season. He also hit his 24th double of the season, a 2-out bases loaded knock that drove in all 3 runners to cap off the scoring in the 5 run 6th inning. Mike Foster (.282/.314/.397) had another fine game, collecting 3 hits in 5 at-bats, scoring 2 runs.


The Brewers get the series victory with a 9-3 win in the final game. Erik Sloan worked 7 innings, giving up 3 runs on 7 hits, and sees his record move to 13-8 with a 3.49 ERA. Pat Rondeau (.368/.392/.456) led off the game with a rare home run, his 2nd of the season. And Ryan Rodgers (.365/.475/.465), chasing Rondeau for the MGL batting title, went 3 for 4 in the game and hit his 5th triple of the season.



In spite of the 3-1 series win the Brewers remain in 3rd place, 3 games off the pace. With 14 games left in the season, time is running out on the Brewers even as they are playing pretty well. And they do not face the L.A. Spinners again though they do have 2 games at Brooklyn in the penultimate series of the season. All the Brewers can do now is keep plugging away and hope the Aces and Spinners stumble a bit down the stretch run.

[BirdWatcher]

The Jacksonville Wolf Pack get their 4th SJL pennant as with 10 games left in their season they are officially the 1973 SJL champs. The Wolf Pack last went to the World Series in 1970 and last won it in 1966 (having also won in 1965.)



It appears they might have to wait until the end of the season to see who their opponent from the MGL will be, with the Brewers hanging in there in a very close 3-way race.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers return to Denver for their last home stand of the year, starting with 3 games against the Phoenix Speed Devils.

Game 1 sees Cheol-han Lee return to form after two consecutive sub-par outings. Lee picks up his league leading 6th shutout as the Brewers prevail 7-0. In getting the complete game shutout Lee allowed just 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 9. He improves to 18-7 with a league best 2.70 ERA.
Among the many offensive stars in the game for Denver are the two Joe's- Willemse and McPhillips. Joe Willemse (.333/.314/.364), making a strong case for inclusion on the 25-man roster in 1974, went 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored. Willemse is also already displaying his great glove work. Joe McPhillips (.289/.394/.484) went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI and looks like a future gold glover in center field. Another young player who continues to build a case for being a member of the team next season is 24-year old first baseman Greg Tietz. Tietz (.375/.423/.597), who was so impressive earlier in the season in a stint with the Brewers, just keeps raking since being brought back up on September 1st, and went 3 for 5, hitting his 1st double of the season.



Game 2 was more of the same, as the Brewers scored 5 times in the 1st, 3 more times in the 3rd, and 4 more in the 5th, en route to a 12-3, well, rout. It was a better start by Matt Helm, as he lasted 7 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits, striking out 7 and walking 3. Helm improves to 7-9 with a 4.34 ERA. Andrew Kennedy (.354/.395/.463) was one of the hitting stars, as he had 3 hits in 4 at-bats, scoring twice and driving in 3 runs. Kevin Curtis (.226/.347/.318) had a good game, hitting his 10th double and driving in 3 runs.



Game 3 was something else entirely. Crazy is mostly what it was. First, after his impressive 13 K outing last start, Harry Lyerly had his worst start of the season, giving up 6 runs on 5 hits (including 2 HR's, 1 of them a Grand Slam) and 2 walks with no strikeouts in just 1 2/3rds innings pitched. Second, after finding themselves down 6-1 heading into the bottom of the 7th inning, the Brewers plated 6 runs to take a 7-6 lead, with the big blow being a Joe McPhillips 2-out Grand Slam. It was the 2nd of 3 Grand Slams in the game. And the 3rd one was hit by Phoenix again, this time off Jaden Francis in a disastrous 8th inning where he gave up 5 runs while only recording a single out. Francis took the loss to fall to 3-4 with a 3.20 ERA. (Lyerly's ERA went up to 3.05.) Trailing 11-7 heading into the bottom of the 9th, the Brewers staged one last comeback attempt and did in fact score 3 runs to get to within 1 of the Speed Devils but leave the bases loaded when Jordan Stephens grounded out into a fielder's choice to end the game. Phoenix wins 11-10.
Let's give some more love to Joe Willemse (.368/.350/.395) who went 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored in the game. And Joe McPhillips (.294/.394/.503) who was 2 for 4 with 5 RBI. And on the subject of young players starting to make names for themselves on the Brewers roster: Josh Schaeffer (.327/.418/.480) was 2 for 4 with 2 runs scored, 1 driven in, 1 walk, and hit his 14th double of the season. Though he also committed his 9th error in right field. He has good range and a great arm but he is error prone.



With the series win the Brewers are just 1 1/2 games off the lead, which is now held by the L.A. Spinners as the Brooklyn Aces have lost 3 in a row and are just 1 game ahead of the Brewers.

[BirdWatcher]

It is that time of the year where we enter the WPK Time Machine and discover the identities of future players whose relatives currently play in the WPK.

This year it was a very short trip.

It was learned the current Phoenix Speed Devil back up center fielder Kenny White has a cousin who will be eligible for the next amateur player draft. His name is Darian Burdzy and like his cousin his primary position is center field. He profiles similarly to his cousin as most likely a 4th outfielder if and when he reaches the big leagues.



We also found out that 29-year old Brooklyn Aces relief pitcher Angelo Hernandez has a kid brother who also aspires to be a big league pitcher. The brother, Lucas Hernandez, looks like a hard thrower who might struggle with control issues. Only time will tell if he can master his control enough to bring his nasty fastball to the WPK some day.

[BirdWatcher]

So I started thinking last night that it might be fun to try to supplement this thread with some YouTube videos about the WPK.

I've never even thought about doing anything like this before and I really don't even know where to start. Though I have been poking around the web today looking for advice/ideas/tutorials. And taking a quick first look at software I might need, microphones, etc.

I've never liked the sound of my own voice so there is a chance that might hold me back from doing this.

But, on the other hand, I can see where it might be enjoyable to expand upon some aspects of the WPK world and the Denver Brewers organization in a different medium, with more potential to show and not just tell. I'm thinking very much of smaller (perhaps 10-15 minutes) videos that don't try to do what this thread does but rather serve as companion pieces.

So I guess where I'm going with this is that I would welcome any feedback, ideas, suggestions, advice, etc.

Thanks!

[Palaaemon]

Bird,

I think this Youtube idea of yours is a FANTASTIC idea! I would love to help you with this endeavour. Message me my man.

Have a great night!

[BirdWatcher]

Okay, will do. (The messaging you part. Probably tomorrow. Not yet sure about the other part.)

[pauwoo]

Sounds cool - do it. And, no one likes the sound of their own voice (except Sean Connery, Morgan Freeman, and Fran Drescher).

As for suggestions - I have none... well, that’s not entirely true - have fun with it. If you’re having fun making it, we’ll have fun watching it. Fun is infectious.

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers continue their final home stand of the season with a 3-game series against the Charlotte Sting.

And in the first game the Brewers need extra innings and a walk-off sacrifice fly off the bat of Andrew Kennedy in the bottom of the 10th but they get the 4-3 win after blowing an early 3-0 lead. Steve Green got the start for the Brewers and actually left the game without having allowed any runs. However, the Sting had loaded the bases against him with only 1 out in the 6th when he was removed with slugging left-handed hitter Cody Kane up. Young lefty Jeremy Walker struck out Cane. But the Denver manager (that would be me) made a mistake and left him to face the next two right-handed hitters, who both singled, bringing in the 3 inherited runners. Jose de los Santos was the last of 5 pitchers for the Brewers in this one and had one of his best outings of the season, working 2 scoreless innings (allowing 1 hit) and he got the win to improve to 3-2 with a 3.48 ERA. Joe Willemse (.419/.400/.488) continued his impressive week with a 4 for 5, 2 double (3) game. Spencer Wilson (.254/.335/.390) hit his 5th HR of the season, a 2-run shot in the 4th inning.



The Brewers won with a bit less drama in the second game. When Denver starter Justin Peacock had to leave the game after getting the first two outs of the game, Eric Johnson came in to replace him. (Peacock suffered a mid-calf strain fielding a come-backer to the mound and is expected to be fully recovered in just a few days.) Johnson was solid for 4 1/3rd innings, giving up 2 runs on 3 hits, striking out 3 and walking none. And the 2 runs scored on the first 2 batters he faced- giving up a single to Cody Kane and a 2-run HR to former Brewer Jamison Bash. With the offense giving good run support, Johnson earned the win to move to 7-2 with a 4.45 ERA. (This has been a pattern with Johnson all through his pro career- he never puts up very impressive numbers but he almost always wins quite a bit more than he loses.) The big hit for the Brewers was Jonathan Koch's (.305/.326/.457) 5th inning 3-run HR. It was Koch's 18th homer of the season and pushed his RBI total to 105. Andrew Kennedy (.354/.394/.461) was 2 for 4 in the game and scored twice.



Having moved into 2nd place, just 1/2 game behind L.A., the Brewers looked flat early on in the final game of the series, as Sting starter Jalen Cotton held them scoreless for the first 8 innings. Fortunately, the Brewers got good pitching performances from Eric Sloan and reliever Jaden Francis. Sloan gave up 1 run in his 7 innings pitched- a solo HR by former Brewer Ruben Souffront (who also doubled in the game)- while striking out 5 and walking none. Jaden Francis pitched the last 2 innings, flawlessly, striking out 3 and allowing not a single baserunner. Cotton was still on the mound in the bottom of the 9th, going for the shutout. But the Brewers were having none of that. Andrew Kennedy opened the inning with a single on the second pitch he saw. That brought up Mike Foster. Hero Mike Foster. He liked what he saw on the first pitch. And the fans liked what they saw when as the ball was sailing out into the left-field stands. Francis gets the win and improves to 4-4 with a 3.10 ERA. And the Brewers get a 3-game sweep just when they most needed it.



L.A. won also so the Brewers remain 1/2 game behind them in 2nd place. The Brooklyn Aces have now fallen to 3rd place but are just 1 game back. (Phoenix was eliminated awhile ago and are limping towards the finish line, having lost 8 of their last 10 games.)
The Brewers have 1 more home series, against the 6th place Baltimore Lords. After that the Brewers travel to Brooklyn for 2 games and then down to Baltimore to finish the regular season with 3 more games against the Lords. The Lords are the only team in the league the Brewers have a losing record against this season. Granted, many of those games were early in the season when Baltimore got off to a great start and was in 1st place for some time.


Buckle up folks, we are in for a wild ride!

[BirdWatcher]

The Brewers wrap up the home portion of the 1973 regular season with a 3-game series against the 6th place Baltimore Lords.

And in game 1 the Brewers keep their September success going with an 8-3 win behind staff ace Cheol-han Lee. Lee works 8 innings giving up 2 runs on 8 hits to improve to 19-7 with a 2.68 ERA. Joe Willemse (.417/.400/.542) continues to build a case for inclusion on the 1974 active roster by going 2 for 5, hitting his 1st big league HR, and driving in 3 runs from the lead-off slot. Mike Foster (.288/.324/.409) is finishing the season strong after having a very weak first half and went 3 for 5 with a triple, his 3rd of the season. Young catcher Zacharias Martell (.375/.545/.375) had his best big league game yet with a 2 for 3, 1 RBI, 1 walk performance.



Harry Lyerly picked a bad time to hit the skids. Lyerly, who was having another fine season, has now had 2 consecutive disastrous outings as he lasted just 5 innings in this one while giving up 5 runs on 8 hits (1 HR) while striking out 4 and walking 2. The offense didn't help, only managing 2 runs on 4 hits against the Lords starter Chris Sutherland (6-7, 4.47). Lyerly falls to 14-7 with a 3.21 ERA. The best performances in the game were by two young left-handed hitters trying to prove themselves and win jobs with the Brewers in 1974- Joe Willemse (.431/.415/.549), who went 2 for 3 in the game, and Greg Tietz (.368/.415/.618), who slammed a pinch-hit 2-run HR in the 5th inning to account for all of the Brewers scoring in the 8-2 loss. This was Tietz 6th HR in just 85 plate appearances this season.



Professional hitter Andrew Kennedy helped lead the Brewers to a 13-6 victory in the rubber match. Kennedy (.357/.395/.467) went 4 for 5, scoring 3 times, driving in 4 runs, and hitting his 7th HR of the season. The game was back and forth early on with Brewer starter Matt Helm giving up 5 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits in 5 innings pitched. But the bullpen was mostly rock solid and the offense propelled the Brewers to another September win. Helm got the win to improve to 8-9 with a 4.32 ERA. But the best pitching performance of the game was provided by Sam Pruiett, who worked 3 nearly flawless innings, allowing just 2 hits as he was tiring towards the end of his appearance, striking out 4 and walking none. Joe McPhillips (.303/.406/.506) had a good game, going 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, and hitting his 11th double.



With the series victory the Brewers are still in the race although they sit in 3rd place still, 2 games behind the leaders- L.A.- and 1 game behind 2nd place Brooklyn. Chances are slim with time running out but at least the Brewers are putting up a good fight down the stretch.

Next up is a 2-game series in Brooklyn that will likely dictate whether the Brewers stay in the race until the end.

[BirdWatcher]

Nate Bennett, the 34-year old slugging right fielder for the Philadelphia Mud Hens, has become the 1st WPK player in the league's nearly 9 year history to hit 300 career home runs.




Bennett is an 8-time All-Star who became a Mud Hen this past off-season as a free agent after playing his first 8 seasons as a member of the Boston Berserkers. Although his overall production has tailed off in his early 30's (his defensive value being curtailed by a lack to mobility), Bennett remains a consistent power threat and a plus hitter. His closest competitor for the HR career title is 37-year old Jamison Bash, who trails him by more than 30 jacks.



If Bennett can continue at his present pace or close to it for several more years it is still possible he can finish his career with 400 or more homers, setting a high bar for younger sluggers like Cody Kane and Jesse Cibula to aim for.

[BirdWatcher]

With their chances to win the MGL dwindling in spite of some very good play by the Brewers in September, they need a good showing in their 2-game series against the recently hot Brooklyn Aces.

But it was not to be.

In game 1 the Brewers were shut out by up and coming 22-year old Aaron McNally (the 2nd overall pick in the 1969 draft.) Erik Sloan gave the Brewers a solid start- allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits over 7 innings pitched, with 6 strikeouts and no walks. But the Brewers couldn't get anything going on offense and lost 3-0. The Brewers sloppy defense- 4 errors, including Chad Brown's 37th of the season- certainly didn't help matters. Pat Rondeau (.364/.387/.451) strengthen his batting title chances with a 2 for 4 game.



The Brewers made things interesting at least in the late innings of the second game, but still fall 7-5. After trailing 7-0 going into the 7th inning, the Brewers nearly come back and a 2-out, 2-run homer off the bat of Oscar Vargas (.243/.311/.337), his 3rd of the year, gets them to within 2 runs but Josh Schaeffer then strikes out to end the game. And, for all intents and purposes, the Brewers season. Cheol-han Lee struggles in his last start of 1973 and fails to get to 20 wins as he allowed 6 runs (5 earned) on 11 hits in just 5 innings pitched and falls to 19-8 with a 2.81 ERA. Bobby Erbakan (.347/.403/.474) went 3 for 4 in the loss. Mike Foster (.287/.322/.411) hit his 12th homer of the season. The Brewers continued their error problems on defense as Jonathan Koch committed his 7th error and 3-time gold glove catcher Kevin Curtis committed 2 miscues to raise his 1973 error total to 15. (While the Brewers are 3rd in the MGL in Zone Rating, they are 9th in errors.)



Although they are not exactly mathematically eliminated yet, the Brewers chances to win the MGL this season are now virtually nil. They have 3 games left against the Lords in Baltimore in which they hope to at least get to 95 wins and finish the season respectably, though at this point they almost certainly will have to settle for a 3rd place finish.

[BirdWatcher]

With just 2 days remaining in the 1973 regular season, it appears that the MGL is headed for a dramatic finish with the very real possibility of a tie-breaker game being needed to resolve things.

Unfortunately that dramatic finish will not include the Denver Brewers who have been eliminated from contention in spite of getting a 3-1 victory in the first game of their final series against Baltimore.



The only drama left with the Brewers is over which member of the team will claim the MGL batting title, Pat Rondeau or Ryan Rodgers. At the moment Rondeau still holds a very narrow edge, .363 to .361.



The two teams remaining in contention in the MGL, the Brooklyn Aces and the Los Angeles Spinners, are both playing great and are each playing one of the 2 worst teams in the league.

[BirdWatcher]

Brooklyn gets a narrow victory over San Francisco while the L.A. Spinners were crushing the Portland Wild Things and so we go into the final day of the regular season with the two teams tied for the lead in the MGL with 98-63 records.

[BirdWatcher]

The final series of the 1973 regular season for the Brewers is against the Lords in Baltimore.

Going into game 1 the Brewers were still clinging by their fingernails to the very slightest of chances to win the the MGL. (It would require winning out and having the two teams ahead of them lose their last three games and that would result in a three-way tie.) But even after winning the game 3-1, the Brewers were eliminated from contention as both L.A. and Brooklyn also picked up wins on the day. The Brewers got maybe Steve Green's best start of the season in the win, as he allowed just 1 run on 6 hits with 5 strikeouts and no walks. Green finishes the season with a 9-12 record and an ERA of 4.15. Green also hit his only triple of the season. Jaden Francis pitched the 9th for his 4th save (3.03 ERA.) Joe Willemse (.403/.391/.500) went 2 for 4 but also committed his first error of the season (playing shortstop in this game.) Ryan Rodgers (.361/.475/.466) went 2 for 4 and hit 2 doubles to get to 30 on the season.



Harry Lyerly's late season struggles continued in the second game of the series as he lasted just 5 2/3rds innings, giving up 6 runs (though only 3 were earned) on 4 hits while walking 6 and striking out just 3. The Brewers lose 9-2 and Lyerly finishes the season at 14-8 with a 3.26 ERA. On the positive side, Joe McPhillips (.294/.390/.510) went 2 for 4, scoring twice and driving in 2 runs with both of his hits being home runs. McPhillips displayed his good power potential this year with 9 HR"s in 228 plate appearances. On the other hand, he did commit his 3rd error of the season and it was a costly one as it set up a 2-out, 3-run HR in the 1st inning.



The Brewers get a good start from Eric Johnson and an 8th inning offensive explosion to win their final game of the 1973 season, 8-3. Johnson pitched 6 1/3rd innings, giving up 2 runs on 8 hits but didn't get the decision in the game. He finishes the season with a 7-2 record and a 4.34 ERA. Eric Marino got the win and improved to 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA and looks to be a part of the bullpen next season. Pat Rondeau had a great final game of the season to clinch his 1st batting title. Rondeau (.364/.388/.449) went 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored. Andrew Kennedy (.355/.392/.465) wraps up a break out season with a 2 for 4, 2 RBI (90), 1 double (33) game. He finishes the season with exactly 200 hits. It was also a break out season for Jonathan Koch (.301/.321/.446) and he went 2 for 4 with 1 run scored and 2 more RBI to get his team-best total to 108. Oscar Vargas (.243/.313/.353), known much more for his glove than his bat, hit probably the most impressive home run of the year for the Brewers with his towering shot in the 5th inning that traveled 528 feet.



So the Brewers finish the season in 3rd place, 4 games out of 1st but with a respectable 95-67 record.
More Brewers season wrap-up coming soon but first, who won the MGL?
Was the 1st ever tie-breaker game required to determine who will face the Jacksonville Wolf Pack in the World Series?

[BirdWatcher]

In the end no tie-breaker game was required as the Brooklyn Aces lost on the last day of the season to the San Francisco Velocity in a match-up of talented young hurlers Gibson Fiedler (S.F., 18-11, 3.17) and Aaron McNally (BRO, 14-17, 3.39).

Meanwhile the Spinners were getting a great start from their team captain Jose Santos (18-8, 2.47) in a 4-1 win over Portland.



The Jacksonville Wolf Pack let the foot off the gas and coasted to the finish line, going 3-7 in their last 10 and losing 4 in a row to end the season. They still finished with a WPK best 103 wins. The poor Pittsburgh Roadrunners, in spite of having one of the most talented young players in the game in Bill Winchester, finish 52-110.

[pauwoo]

Denver missing the dance bums me out, Bird. But - my support for the franchise is unwavering as I have no doubt they will retool and reclaim their place at the top of the table - let's get it brew-crew!