[Westheim]

Raccoons (78-58) vs. Crusaders (79-57) – September 8-10, 2026

Every game was golden now, and none more than the six remaining against the Crusaders, who were up in this Tuesday-Thursday series as well as in a distant time at the very end of the season. By virtue of an Elks loss on Monday, the Crusaders were up a full game on both of their fiercest competitors, but that was nothing a Portland series win wouldn't be able to fix for now. They still had a pathetic batting average, .239, third-worst in the CL, and were only eighth in runs scored, so worse than the Raccoons, but their pitching was the finest, they had the best starters' ERA, the best bullpen ERA, and the fewest runs allowed, and we were in a boatload of trouble. The season series, however, showed the Raccoons up significantly: 8-4 for the Critters through a dozen.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Anderson (9-6, 3.77 ERA) vs. Eddie Cannon (10-9, 4.36 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (10-5, 2.64 ERA) vs. Carlos Marron (14-6, 1.77 ERA)
Rin Nomura (6-4, 3.07 ERA) vs. Mike Rutkowski (15-8, 1.97 ERA)

Oh boy. Three right-handers are coming up. The Crusaders had two key relievers on the DL in Steve Casey and Gilberto Castillo – which is a ****ty battle plan; get choked for eight, then upend Travis Giordano.

Boatload o' trouble!

Game 1
NYC: C F. Delgado – CF Shaffer – 3B Schmit – RF Ellis – 2B McWhorter – LF I. Vega – 1B Douglas – SS R. Soto – P Cannon
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – 1B Harenberg – RF Kopp – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – LF Carmona – P Anderson

Abel Mora hit a leadoff single in the bottom 2nd and took second base by force, which took the double play off on Tovias' grounder and after Matt Nunley had popped out. Mora was at third with two outs for Cookie, whom the Crusaders judged so little that they did not break out the intentional walk, and Cookie lined a soft one to center for a 2-out RBI single, the first run in the game. Even better, Anderson lined a ball up the leftfield line for a double that drove Cookie all the way to home plate and put the score at 2-0 after two innings, however the Crusaders made up a run immediately in the third inning. It was unearned thanks to Harenberg overrunning Lance Douglas' grounder. Douglas stole second base, advanced on Robby Soto's groundout, then scored on Cannon's fly to right. The Crusaders continued to not need many base hits to stir up some damage. While the Coons had a single each in the third (Stalker) and fourth (Cookie), they scored neither runner, and allowed Tom McWhorter to tie the score with a solo shot in the top 5th. It was two hits, two runs for New York, compared to six hits, two runs for Portland.

There were still more chances to miss. The Coons had Spencer and Harenberg (the latter with an intentional walk) aboard in the bottom 5th when Terry Kopp smacked into an inning-ending double play, but the Crusaders got a gut-squeezing leadoff double from Cannon in the sixth and left him stranded, too. In short order, the Coons took a 3-2 lead on Elias Tovias' 410-footer in the bottom 6th, then blew it on Ivan Vega's solo shot in the seventh. That one knocked out Anderson, with Jeff Kearney retiring PH Jamie Richardson to end the seventh. But that was not it for solo home runs. Bitterly, switch-hitting Nate Ellis took Josh Boles deep to left in the ninth inning, giving the Crusaders their first lead in the game, and there was Travis Giordano to try and nail it down. He retired Nunley, Jamieson, and Koel in order to end the game. 4-3 Crusaders. Carmona 2-3, RBI;

And that was the one starting pitcher NOT with a stat line from out of this world…

Game 2
NYC: C F. Delgado – LF Espinosa – 3B Schmit – RF Ellis – 1B J. Richardson – 2B McWhorter – CF Douglas – SS Kane – P Marron
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Gerace – 3B Nunley – C O'Dell – RF Carmona – P Delgadillo

My mood was gloomy before this game, even though technically Dan Delgadillo was also in the top 3 in ERA in the Continental League and certainly a match for Marron; but the problem was that our offense was likely not. However, there was rain in the forecast, so maybe the weather could deal damage to Marron? Although, completely unexpectedly, the Coons did squeeze out a counter against Marron in the first inning: Mora hit a 2-out double, Harenberg was brushed by a pitch, and then Gerace singled to right. With one out, Mora probably wasn't gonna score, but there were two, and he DID score thanks to the early jump. Nunley grounded out to strand a pair, and now Yusneldan just had to be perfect from here and – oh dear, leadoff walk to Nate Ellis, double by Jamie Richardson, and in the top 2nd the Crusaders had runners on second and third and nobody retired. While I didn't dare looking, Delgadillo rung up McWhorter, got Douglas on a great Mora hustle coming in from centerfield for a catch so shallow that Ellis had not the whiff of a chance to go and score, an intentional walk got rid of Mike Kane, and then Marron struck out on pure acid. Slappy, can I exhale now? Is it over? Are we champions?

We weren't, and we weren't likely to become some. The rain struck in the top 3rd, with both pitchers at around 40 pitches. Delgadillo returned afterwards, but had already a man on, surrendered a game-tying RBI triple to Andy Schmit, then the go-ahead sac fly to Ellis. Delgadillo wouldn't last five thanks to rain and the general high urgency, departing in a 2-2 tie (attained with Tim Stalker's solo homer in the bottom 3rd), but Felipe Delgado and Schmit aboard with two outs in the fifth. Billy Brotman came on and struck out Nate Ellis to leave Dan with a no-decision. Marron had used fewer pitches after the delay, probably being affected less, but that also meant that the Crusaders were walking in a thin line as the game turned into the bottom 6th. Justin Gerace hit a leadoff single over the head of McWhorter, and at what point would the Crusaders twitch and go to the sterling pen? Not yet! With Gerace starting early, Matt Nunley drove a ball to deep center, over the head of Lance Douglas, and the speedy Gerace had no problem coming home on the double, giving Portland a 3-2 lead! But in a pattern all too familiar, the Coons left Nunley on base when O'Dell and Cookie grounded out, and Kopp went down on strikes in the #9 hole. And then they couldn't hold on to the lead, either. Alvin Smith retired two in the seventh, then put Juan Espinosa on base. Espinosa stole second on a terrible throw by O'Dell that almost got away, then scored on Andy Schmit's single off Josh Boles, and we were even again. Costilow and Kearney squeezed through the eighth, still in a tie, before Jonathan Snyder took over in the ninth. The good thing was that the plentitude of left-handed New York bats had by now mostly been pinch-hit for as the Coons had paraded all their left-handed relief into action, and that mostly only right-handed bats were left over. The bad news were a leadoff walk to nondescript Dean Hill to begin the ninth, but Snyder pulled through the inning by retiring the next three. The walkoff rally had to begin with Cookie, facing Giordano again. He hit a 3-2 pitch to shallow right for a single, which put Tovias, having arrived in a double switch along with Snyder, into an obvious bunt spot. That one worked well, the winning run went to second base, and another single by another singles slapper would do. However, Spencer grounded out to third, and Jamieson struck out when he batted for Tim Stalker, stranding Cookie on second base and sending the game to extras.

Roger Allen greeted Snyder with a leadoff jack in the top 10th, putting the Coons behind the #8 ball again. Giordano also hung around for another inning, but allowed a leadoff single to Abel Mora. Worse yet Ivan Vega overran the ball for an extra base, so the tying run was at second base. And they got him home – albeit excruciatingly slowly on a poor groundout by Harenberg, then Gerace' easy fly to center that allowed Mora to tag third and go home. Nunley's 2-out single didn't figure to be much with Omar Alfaro now hitting for Snyder, but Giordano threw a wild 1-2 pitch to move Nunley to second. In a whiff, Butch Gerster was sent to run for him, because Nunley was unlikely to come home on a single (and Bullock was already in the game at short), however the more pressing problem was the unlikelihood of Omar Alfaro hitting a single. Of course he struck out. Bottom 11th, Jarod Spencer hit a 2-out single off Casey Moore but was caught stealing. Bottom 12th, Daniel Bullock drew a leadoff walk(!), then advanced on Mora's groundout, but that was speed at second and a single would do! The Crusaders walked Harenberg intentionally for the first time in the game, but then also walked Gerace not quite as intentionally, but with three on and one out, they also were in the weeds department of the Coons lineup as Butch Gerster came up. Moore, though, was out of control now. He threw one ball, two balls, and Gerster got a sign (written on cardboard) from the dugout that if he swung, he'd be abandoned in an orphanage. He didn't swing, Moore never threw a strike, and with a 4-pitch walk completed, the Coons walked off on Butch Gerster's first career RBI. 5-4 Furballs! Spencer 2-6, 2B; Bullock 0-0, BB; Mora 3-6, 2 2B; Gerace 2-4, BB, 2 RBI; Gerster 0-0, BB, RBI; O'Dell 2-4; Ohl 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, W (7-4);

Okay, back even. Problem is, we still will face a monster in the rubber game, and we burned both of our best relievers.

Game 3
NYC: CF Ugolino – 1B Espinosa – 3B Schmit – RF Ellis – LF R. Allen – 2B McWhorter – C Leal – SS Kane – P Rutkowski
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Gerace – 3B Nunley – C Tovias – RF Alfaro – P Nomura

Dice were out as soon as the second inning. After Nomura had struck out the side in the opening frame, the second saw him more a-struggle, issuing a walk to Roger Allen and allowing a 2-out double to Armando Leal. Those two were in scoring position with the left-handed Kane up and first base open. But Nomura had already three left-handed trophies on his belt – how was a left-handed batter EVER going to get another hit off him? He pitched to Kane, and Kane struck out, leaving two adrift. The Raccoons actually loaded the bases in the bottom 2nd. Harenberg, who was homerless for a week, worrisomely, led off with a single, Tovias walked, and Alfaro hit another single, bringing up Nomura with two outs and all bases occupied. He grounded to McWhorter, and the veteran unleashed a poor throw to first that Espinosa could not come up with – a run scored on the error! That was not all, nope, for once, the Coons pounced, and pounced HARD. Jarod Spencer hit a liner into the gap for a 2-run double. Rutkowski stalked Walker, err, walked Stalker, then allowed a soft line into left to Mora that fell for an RBI single before losing Harenberg to a walk in a full count, pushing in another run. He threw the anchor on Gerace, striking him out for the second time in the game, but the wholly unearned 5-spot put the Raccoons into a WONDERFUL spot.

Thank goodness Nomura was ON. He rung up nine through four innings and did not allow a Crusader on base before the Coons loaded them up again in the bottom 5th, this time without the aid of an error, but also without an out on the board. Mora singled, Harenberg doubled, Gerace walked after laying off the junk food. Nunley largely killed the inning with a 4-6-3 double play, but up by five the Raccoons would be entirely happy with the insurance run. Don't disturb Nomura's yusaburu with a long inning! Espinosa would finally reach base for New York with a 2-out single in the sixth, but Schmit got rung up for K #10 and that was that. And even though it was 6-0, it didn't get dull. Nomura ripped a double down the line with one down in the bottom 6th, then moved to third on a Spencer single, only for Stalker to smack into a double play. Nomura drilled Ellis to begin the seventh, put McWhorter on with a sorry bloop, but then got a double play from Leal to clean up and end the inning. That also put him at 105 pitches. The Raccoons took Justin Stewart apart in the bottom 7th with a Mora single, Harenberg single, Gerace's run-scoring groundout, then an RBI double by Nunley, 8-0, before the inning fizzled out. Nomura was back out for the eighth, because there were left-handed bats up and there was my known reluctance to go lefty-for-lefty on the mound, especially when all southpaws had been used the previous day and the team was up by eight. Kane popped out and Nomura rung up Vega and Fabien Ugolino in quick fashion, and suddenly he was an option for the ninth! Except that the Coons hit for him leading off the bottom 8th. At 115 and up by eight there was no need to risk anything. Steve Costilow retired the Crusaders in order in the ninth. 8-0 Critters! Spencer 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Mora 2-4, BB, RBI; Harenberg 3-3, BB, 2B, RBI; Nomura 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 13 K, W (7-4) and 1-3, 2B;

The Elks completed a 4-game split with the Loggers on Thursday, which meant that before the weekend games, all the top three were exactly even at 80 wins, 59 losses. The Titans were 4 1/2 behind after winning three of four from Indy, including a double-header on Monday.

We were now off to Milwaukee, the Elks had Indy on their plate, and the East Coast teams would be amongst themselves.

Raccoons (80-59) @ Loggers (58-81) – September 11-13, 2026

The Loggers had just let the Elks stumble, so this was not an auto-win here. The Coons had to do something to stay above the waterline. Of course the Loggers were rancid, in the bottom three in both runs scored and runs allowed, and with a -118 run differential overall, but the Coons were only 9-6 against them on the season, either. However: there was an absolute storm of injuries to the Loggers team as well. With Willie Trevino, Ian Coleman, and Ron Tadlock (among others!) all on the DL, most teeth had been pulled from an already weak lineup, and they had scored more than three runs only twice in eight attempts this month.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (14-5, 3.62 ERA) vs. Philip Rogers (3-11, 5.55 ERA)
Mark Roberts (12-9, 2.99 ERA) vs. Danny Soto (9-9, 4.31 ERA)
Kyle Anderson (9-6, 3.73 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (12-5, 3.05 ERA)

That should be three right-handed bats, bypassing the pair of southpaws they had in the rotation.

Game 1
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Gerace – 3B Nunley – RF Kopp – C O'Dell – P R. Gutierrez
MIL: RF V. Diaz – LF Hyland – 1B R. Amador – SS Ferrer – 3B A. Mesa – CF S. Green – C T. Williams – 2B M. Hill – P Rogers

After nobody on either team reached base in the first two innings, although Rico was soul- and zone-searching with a few 3-ball counts, Brett O'Dell hit a 1-out single in the third to become the game's first runner. Gutierrez promptly got him forced out with a poor bunt, but then the Coons churned out straight 2-out hits. Spencer singled, Stalker singled and scored Rico. Mora hit a 2-run double off the fence in the right corner, and then Harenberg singled to right, but Mora was thrown out at home plate after being sent by a greedy team, ending the inning in a 3-0 score. The fourth saw the bags full again, but the Loggers walked O'Dell intentionally with ONE out to get there, and Rico didn't disappoint them, hitting into a double play to end the inning. Rico had other issues, too, like not making wipeout pitches. The first 12 Loggers in the game all put the ball in play, and while all were retired, things remained worrisome after a leadoff walk to Manny Ferrer in the bottom 5th, then a wild pitch. Alex Mesa struck out, but Rico also walked Sam Green before Travis Williams and Matt Hill made poor outs on the infield to bail out the Coons' meandering southpaw. Then the Loggers went down on four pitches in the bottom 6th…

Top 7th, bases loaded again, now with two outs after a Gutierrez single, Stalker single, and Mora walking on five pitches. That brought up Harenberg who still had not homered in ten days and who could conceivably put this one to bed, yes, please? OH A DRIVE TO RIGHT!! Past Diaz, not out, but in, and all the way to the fence! Gutierrez in, Stalker in to score, here comes Mora – bases-clearing double for Kevin Harenberg!! Oh, the trades we do!! Meanwhile, Rico Gutierrez came within seven outs of an unlikely no-hitter, while walking Ferrer again in the bottom 7th. Sam Green hit a 2-out single, but Gutierrez got Williams on the umpteenth poor grounder of the game. Vinny Diaz had a 2-out single in the following inning, which again did not spark a rally. Rico was on 96 pitches through eight, so although he was by no means sharp, he sure was effective and he would also get to try his paw at the ninth and another shutout. But before that Gutierrez could get a shot, another Gutierrez got shot; that was Alex Gutierrez, a Loggers lefty, that the Raccoons stripped down and ate alive for three runs, most key being a 2-run triple by Justin Gerace. Bottom 9th, up by nine, Rico got Roberto Amador to ground out to Kyle Koel, a defensive replacement for Harenberg at first base, then popped out Ferrer. With two outs, Jon Berntson walked, Sam Green singled, and Rico would have one last shot against Travis Williams, a .177 righty, and he eviscerated him with the best pitches of the game for only his second strikeout of the night! 9-0 Furballs!! Spencer 2-5; Stalker 2-5, RBI; Mora 2-3, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI; Harenberg 3-5, 2 2B, 4 RBI; O'Dell 2-3, BB, 2B; Gutierrez 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 2 K, W (15-5) and 1-4;

This was Rico Gutierrez' fifth career shutout … AGAINST THE LOGGERS. He has eight in total for his career, three this season, and of those three, two against Milwaukee.

Yup, they hate him.

As an aside, while they had been spiritually eliminated in May, this game also erased them from mathematical contention.

The 3-way tie became a 2-way tie as the Elks dropped their game to Indy, but New York beat Boston.

Game 2
POR: 2B Spencer – SS Stalker – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – LF Jamieson – 3B Nunley – RF Kopp – C O'Dell – P Roberts
MIL: RF V. Diaz – LF Hyland – C J. Young – CF S. Green – SS Ferrer – 3B A. Mesa – 1B T. Williams – 2B M. Hill – P D. Soto

Three hits, a strafed batter (Harenberg), and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Terry Kopp produced two runs for the Raccoons in the opening inning, and it didn't get much better for Danny Soto, who allowed a leadoff single to Roberts into shallow center in the top 2nd, then a Spencer double. Abel Mora hit a ball off the wall to drive in two more, and Matt Jamieson would get the score to 5-0 in the early going with an RBI single to center. That should be enough for Roberts, you'd think, but think twice maybe, because Roberts had not been gold for a while now, doing better than a 70 Game Score only twice in his last nine attempts, and being tagged for five runs twice, although he was 2-0 in three attempts against the Loggers this season.

The Loggers had no base hits the first time through the order. Phil Hyland dropped a single into left in the bottom 4th, was caught stealing, and after that Sam Green tripled. That would have been funny if Manny Ferrer hadn't jacked a 2-out 2-piece right afterwards, followed by a deep Alex Mesa drive that caused Jamieson to shed some sweat in deep left to make the catch, and it was 5-2 after four. Soto was knocked out in the top 5th after singles by Jamieson and Nunley. A Hyland error fielding the Jamieson ball put the lead runner at third base by the time Kopp flew out to Sam Green in center. Jamieson went and scored, colliding with Jim Young at home plate, but both emerged unhurt from the encounter as it was now 6-2. Make no mistake, the Loggers were still in this one; they were hitting the ball well off Roberts, but mostly into outs, but when a Harenberg error put Matt Hill on base in the bottom 5th we got nervous. Alex Gutierrez – on in relief again – bunted the runner over, but Vinny Diaz struck out to end the inning, the fourth victim for Roberts in the game and #183 this year. The ball kept flying though, and in the case of Green's drive with two outs in the sixth it flew outta here once more, a solo homer to get the Loggers back to 6-3, and Alex Mesa's leadoff jack in the seventh made it 6-4 already, and it knocked out Roberts. Kevin Surginer replaced him and struck out the side. Additional offense would not be unwelcome for Portland, but they got Mora on with a single, he stole a base, but that put Harenberg on intentionally, and then he got forced out on a Jamieson grounder, and Nunley flew out to Sam Green to strand two. Ohl and Kearney took care of the 1-2-3 batters in the bottom 8th, setting up Snyder, who allowed a mighty fly to left to Sam Green that was caught by Jamieson, then a pair of softer singles to Ferrer and Mesa, bringing up the winning run in left-handed pinch-hitter Ruben Roque. (Who?) Snyder rung him up, then got Jon Berntson to fly out easily to Abel Mora to end the game. 6-4 Raccoons! Spencer 2-6, 2B; Stalker 2-5; Mora 3-5, 2B, 3 RBI; Harenberg 1-2, 2 BB; Jamieson 2-5, RBI; Carmona (PH) 1-1;

The Elks won, but the Crusaders LOST, and thus the Raccoons were in first place by themselves for the first time since… the final day of May!

Now let's not **** up the Sunday game…

Game 3
POR: 2B Spencer – LF Jamieson – CF Mora – 1B Harenberg – 3B Nunley – RF Alfaro – C O'Dell – SS Bullock – P Anderson
MIL: LF V. Diaz – 2B Rinehart – C J. Young – 3B A. Mesa – SS Ferrer – 1B R. Amador – CF Hyland – RF Roque – P Villalobos

The Raccoons put up a quick run as Spencer singled, stole second, then scored on Jamieson's single. Mora hit into a double play, making Harenberg's following double somewhat less useful, and the Loggers turned things around quickly with a walk drawn by Jim Young and then Mesa's 2-run homer in the bottom of the inning. Anderson opened the third with a single, however, and then Spencer was gently tickled on the chest by a Villalobos pitch to put two aboard. Jamieson drove a ball to right, but Ruben Roque caught the ball; Anderson however raced for third base, putting them on the corner for Mora with one down. Although Mora flew out to Hyland in centerfield, the ball was plenty deep and Anderson got to dash home to tie the game. Harenberg then grounded out to Roberto Amador.

The fourth inning was the second moment where Daniel Bullock proved actually worth the oxygen this week. Nunley and Alfaro had hit singles to begin the frame, but O'Dell had struck out rippin'. Bullock hit a liner perfectly well into the gap, and while Diaz prevented it from reaching the warning track, it was plenty deep for an RBI double to score Nunley, but Alfaro was kept at third base thanks to the strong defensive play. Anderson got *drilled*, loading them up for Spencer, who was sniffing 200 base this and was only eight removed; also unretired in the game, but hit into a double play, textbook 6-4-3 style to end the inning. However, the Coons tagged on in the fifth with a Mora single, Nunley RBI double, Alfaro RBI single, O'Dell single, and then finally Bullock popping out foul to keep it at 5-2. What was up with the offense? They were suddenly exciting!

Also still exciting and totally not dead yet were the Loggers, who hit not one, but TWO triples in the bottom 5th. Hyland got on with a three-bagger, scored on a groundout by PH Jon Berntson in the #9 hole, and then Diaz hit another triple with two outs, but was left on by Jeff Rinehart. The Loggers were back on the corners with nobody out in the bottom 6th after a Young double and Mesa single, and things got dicey now, because those were the tying runs. Anderson got to see Ferrer, a right-hander, who flew out to Alfaro in shallow right, but that was it. Josh Boles came on for Amador, who was not pinch-hit for as a counter-move, and walked to load the bases. Then Phil Hyland hit a grand slam on an 0-2 pitch.

That got the Loggers fans chirping, while the Raccoons felt a giant hole open underneath their paws. No-no-no-no! This was supposed to be the game to fortify first place before things got tough again next week! Well, tough luck, Boles had blown it. The team, out-hitting the Loggers 12-7, now trailed 7-5 thanks to a lack of homers. It only got worse. Matt Nunley drew a leadoff walk in the seventh, was thoroughly ignored, and instead Jeff Rinehart hit a 440-footer off Nick Derks in the bottom 7th, 8-5. Top 8th, leadoff pinch-hit single by Tim Stalker off Travis Feider, who was replaced with righty David Warn. Spencer hit into a fielder's choice, and Jamieson grounded to short for what looked like a mood killer, but Ferrer misfired the ball and the error brought up the tying run with one out. Warn lost Mora on balls, and that brought up Harenberg, who had no home runs on the week, and this was the PERFECT spot. And he hit a 1-1 pitch into a double play. That was that, except that Phil Hyland hit a 450-footer off Steve Costilow in the bottom 8th. 9-5 Loggers. Jamieson 2-5, RBI; Mora 1-2, 2 BB, RBI; Nunley 2-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Alfaro 2-4, BB, RBI; Stalker (PH) 1-1;

We out-hit them 13-9. We also left 13 on base. They left NOBODY on base.

NOBODY.

In other news

September 7 – Only five games are on in the Continental League, but of those two go extra innings, and see both teams tally runs in an add-on frame but play will continue for another hour. Falcons and Knights both score two in the 10th, but it takes the Knights 14 innings to win 8-7, while Thunder and Bayhawks both plate one run in the 13th, but it takes Oklahoma City 18 innings to secure a 5-4 walkoff win.
September 8 – SFB LF/RF/1B Jon Correa (.285, 13 HR, 54 RBI) is out for the season with a pretty bad concussion.
September 8 – The Wolves break out for seven runs in the sixth inning against the Scorpions, which is not nearly enough to put a chink in the armor for Sacramento. The Scorpions score five or more runs in an inning three times in the game and run away in a 17-7 rout.
September 9 – OCT SP Mike Homa (14-9, 4.07 ERA) could face a year on the sidelines with undisclosed elbow ligament damage.
September 11 – SAC C David Drews (.309, 28 HR, 94 RBI) drills a walkoff home run in the 11th inning for the lone tally in the Scorpions' 1-0 win over Dallas.
September 11 – IND SP Brian Leser (2-7, 4.20 ERA) retires after several setbacks in his recovery from a torn rotator cuff. The 32-year-old right-hander went 73-77 with a 4.18 ERA in a 10-year career playing for four different teams.
September 11 – WAS 3B David Flournoy (.284, 10 HR, 47 RBI) retires due to the ill effects from a severe concussion. The 27-year-old from Colorado was only allowed a 3-year career, batting .278 with 29 HR and 165 RBI between Oklahoma City and Washington.
September 12 – The Indians not only get crushed 12-0 by the Canadiens, but also are held to two base hits by 30-year-old VAN SP Warren Polito (15-10, 2.96 ERA).
September 13 – A home run by RIC C Matt Dehne (.243, 9 HR, 63 RBI) is all the scoring in the Rebels' 1-0 win over the Cyclones.

Complaints and stuff

Philosophical question – are four walks by a struggling reliever in the bottom 12th the only way for the Coons do win a do-or-die game? Take into consideration that they can't even win a game in which the Loggers leave nobody on base. But we ARE in first place, even if it smells in first place, and even if the Titans are our next opponent. After that, the Falcons for four, including a makeup for a postponement earlier this season.

Both the Titans and Elks had walkoff wins on Sunday. Boston beat New York in 14, while the Elks blew up a 3-1 Indians lead with two homers in the ninth, including a 3-run walkoff shot by Tim Campbell, a 26-year-old rookie that was a fourth-rounder in 2021. It's his first career dinger. Just be glad it didn't come off Snyder on September 29…

Down the stretch – games remaining per team – strength of schedule – playoff chance as divined by BNN:
POR (82-60): CHA (4), VAN (4), BOS (3), IND (3), NYC (3), SFB (3) – .499 – 47.9% (+17.6%)
VAN (82-60): NYC (4), POR (4), BOS (3), LVA (3), MIL (3), TIJ (3) – .533 – 22.6% (-0.6%)
NYC (81-61): IND (4), VAN (4), ATL (3), MIL (3), OCT (3), POR (3) – .491 – 27.7% (-17.9%)
BOS (78-65): OCT (4), ATL (3), IND (3), MIL (3), POR (3), VAN (3) – .497 – 1.8% (+0.9%)

The Elks now have the worst strength-of-schedule, but they also have the most games left with direct competition, so they are now most in control of their own fate. But both us and them still play all three of the direct competitors; the Crusaders and Titans are done with one another.

We have secured a 10-5 record against the Crusaders this season, giving us our first winning season against them since '21.

What is funny about Rico Gutierrez' shutout barrage against the Loggers is that he has FIVE shutouts against them, and he never seems to strike out many. Those two were the fewest he ever had in a shutout, but he also whiffed more than six only once in a Milwaukee shutout; eight in a game this July, the front end of his back-to-back shutouts then.

Fun Fact: Nick Brown had 18 shutouts in his career (all with the Raccoons), and Kisho Saito had 17 shutouts with the Coons (and 20 in his career). Between them and while wearing the brown cap, they have a grand total of one shutout against the Loggers.*

That is actually true (but beware the brown cap condition and Saito's days with the team that shall not be named right now), and Brownie has the lone Loggers shutout in question, a 4-hitter in the penultimate game of the 2006 season, yet Rico has five against them. The Loggers!

*There are two Saito shutouts unaccounted for in the achievements tab on the BNN page compared to his career totals, which puzzles me, but I also can't find one for him in all of my data of things of the past. Maybe an OOTP 12 problem?