GLBL - Chicago Architects - The Quest for the Owner not to Fire Me

[DD Martin]

Great Lakes Baseball League
All-Star Game
Played June 22nd 2055
Chicago's Pier IV Ballpark
A - 40,000

A complete sell out crowd of 40,000 came out to the see the Canadian League All-Stars battle the Team USA All-Stars for bragging rights. The local fans got an opportunity to see a lot of their heroes as the USA was powered by Architects in this one.

In the third, Chicago’s Sean White and Traverse City’s Alexis Martin single, Toledo’s Dusty Murphy and Dwayne Adams single and sac fly them in. In the fourth, White hits a three-run home run. White wins All-Star Game MVP. USA 7, Canada 1.

[DD Martin]

Chicago Architects Post All-Star Break
June 25th through July 2nd 2055

As we start the post All-Star game break, we head into the 2nd half of the GLBL season with a 46-26 and leading both Toledo and Duluth by 5 games. We will face both Detroit and Traverse City at home. On the season we are 7-5 against Detroit but 10-2 against the TC Bears. Despite the lead in the South of the Border league we are still looking for potential additions to the squad to shore up any areas. I would honestly like another short RP in the bullpen to go with Wright, Shannon, Stott and Powell. While those 4 have mostly been solid, it doesn’t hurt to have another really good RP in that group. Fortunately for us Bill Lutz has returned to very good form after a horrendous start to the season. If we pick up another bullpen arm we might send JJ Walker down to AAA to work in the rotation. After a very good year last year, Walker has struggled and been an overall disappointment. We signed him to a long term deal so it is in our best interest to get him straightened out sooner rather than later.

We are also looking at CF as while Cris Luna was a highly thought of prospect, his bat has not come around as well as his defense. He is doing a bit better this season, but I am questioning our deal where I had to choose between which prospect CF to keep when we traded for Cedeno. We kept Luna (who was the #2 prospect) but I will say the kid that was just 2 spots lower has had a great season in Windsor. Mark Easson hitting 285/351/826 with 11 home runs. So comparing that production to Luna is not in our favor at this point.

The other spot that we are looking at in more of a long term way is 2B. Walker Dunse has moved back there with the acquisition of Pedro Farrulla to play SS. Walker has a player option on a $9 million dollar option for next season. Right now he is looking for 4 yrs and $14 per season to extend. That leads me to think that he will void that player option. Now it doesn’t mean that we can’t go after him as a free agent, or go after 2B Ken Noseworthy who we traded last month, but it is something that I would rather have more certainty about for next season prior. We do have 2B Bob Tobin (prospect #81) who could be ready and could be the answer, but I really don’t like to deal with could be’s. This is an area we are focusing on if we can.

Now let’s win a couple of series against two of the 2nd division teams in the US division.

Detroit Thunderbirds (31-41 4th US) vs Chicago Architects (46-26 1st US)
June 25th-28th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds

Game #1
A - 39,941
LHSP Dwayne Miller 3-6 5.29 vs Jose Cedeno 3-4 4.93

Chicago 11 Detroit 1
Prowler Ashley hits two home runs and a three-run triple. He finishes with six ribbies. José Cedeño (6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K) doesn’t give up any extra base hits. Chicago 11, Detroit 1.
2B W Dunse 2-5 2R, 1B R Osborn 2-5 R, 3B T Arnaud 3-5 DB R, RF J Ashley 3-4 DB 2HR 3R 6RBI BB, CF C Luna DB
CH HR - C J Duran (1) RF J Ashley 2 (14)


Game #2
A - 39,964
LHSP Brian Miller 2-5 5.20 vs Joe Johnson 4-0 4.09


Chicago 7 Detroit 4
Home Run Derby champion Reagan Osborn goes long twice. Both are solo shots. The game goes into the eighth tied, 4-4. A walk and two singles score one for the Tects. A double play and three more walks score two more runs. Chicago 7, Detroit 4.

LF S Amsden 2-5 HR R RBI, 1B R Osborn 2-3 2HR 2R 2RBI BB, 3B T Arnaud 2-3 HR 2R RBI BB
CH HR - LF S Amsden (2), 1B R Osborn 2 (29) 3B T Arnaud (10)

Game #3
A - 39,868
RHSP Bryan Wellon 1-2 5.23 vs Val Imbert 5-4 4.17

Detroit 10 Chicago 4
Chicago comes in looking for the sweep but unfortunately neither the pitching or hitting showed up enough to get the win. The T-Birds avoid the sweep. Dai-Lin Tah hits a three-run home run. Yan Heerens hits a two-run triple and two doubles. Detroit 10, Chicago 4.

DH J Aranda 2-4 DB, HR 1R 1RBI, 2B W Dunse 2-4
CH HR - 1B R Osborn (21) 3B T Arnaud (11), DH J Aranda (14)


Summary - We take 2 out of 3 against the Thunderbirds and will get a well deserved off day. During that off-day we decided to acquire another bullpen arm. TC was coming into town.and we struck a deal with them to bring over veteran (and I do mean veteran at 43) RHRP Kevin McAskill who was 0-3 with 15 saves in TC with a 3.40 ERA. The deal cost us minor league LHP Christopher Gore who was on the big league club last season, but who we were grooming to be a lefty RP down the line. We did have other options for the future pen so we decided parting with Gore was not a big deal for us and strengthened our bullpen for what we hope is a championship run.

Day-off 28th

Traverse City Bears 31-44 5th place US vs Chicago Architects 48-27 1st place US
June 29th-July 2 2055
At Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds

Game #1
June 29th, 2055
A - 39,758
RHSP John Nelligan 5-5 6.33 vs Jose Cedeno 4-4 4.93

Traverse City 3 Chicago 2
The Tects take a 2-1 lead into the ninth. A hit batsman, a single, a wild pitch, and an intentional walk load the bases with one out. Barney Tomiak grounds to first. The play is at home. Two outs. Pedro Villegas then lined a single to center. Two runs scored. Just the 3rd time we have lost on the season to TC so the season record is now at 10-3 in our advantage. Traverse City 3, Chicago 2.

SP J Cedeno 8IP 4H 1R 1BB 9K, 3B T Arnaud 2-3 RBI
CH Hr - CF C Luna (5)

Game #2
June 30th, 2055
A - 39,821
RHSP Walt Bader 3-7 6.75 vs Bill Lutz 6-3 4.62

Chicago 10, Traverse City 8
The Tects scored five in the second on three singles, four walks, and a run-scoring wild pitch. Walker Dunse singles in one run there. In the sixth, he doubled in two more. Chicago takes a 10-3 lead into the ninth. The Bears rally, scoring five and putting the tying run on base, but Bernie Stoddart strikes out to end the game. Chicago 10, Traverse City 8.

2B W Dunse 3-4 DB 3RBI R, C S White 1-3 2BB 3R, SS P Farrulla 2-4 R 2RBI
CH HR - None

Game #3
July 1st, 2055
A - 39,821
RHSP Jeremy Laybolt 0-0 2.37 vs Augusto Gonzalez 1-1 5.03

Chicago 6, Traverse City 5.
The Bears scored five early runs, with Earl Foote hitting a three-run home run. The Tects score their runs one at a time. They score one run apiece in the first, second, third, and sixth innings. They tied the game in the eighth on a Juan Durán solo home run. They won the game in the ninth on a Prowler Ashley walk-off homer. Chicago 6, Traverse City 5.

RF J Ashley 2-5 DB, HR 2R RBI, 2B W Dunse 2-3 BB R 2SB, DH J Aranda 2-4 2RBI DB
CH HR - C J Duran (2), RF J Ashley (15)

Summary - Another series win but we wanted that 1st game. We are now 12-3 against TC on the season but the big news we are entering that stretch of games against Toledo and Duluth on the road. With a 6 game edge on Duluth and an 7 game edge on Toledo. After a slow start against Toledo this season we have won 5 out of the last 6 against the Neptunes.

Chicago Architects 50-28 vs Toledo Neptunes 43-35
Game #1
Ballpark of Toledo
A - 39,581

Chicago 5, Toledo 3 11 innings
Toledo takes a 2-1 lead into the ninth. They get two outs, but two singles and walks load the bases. Luke Mews then plunks Prowler Ashley, driving in the tying run. Mews gets Reagan Osborn to ground out to end the threat. The game goes into extras. In the 11th, Osborn makes up for the failure of his previous at-bat by hitting a three-run home run..


CH Hr - 1B R Osborn (22)

[DD Martin]

July 3rd through 6th 2055

So after getting the first win in Toledo the club was fired up for the games on July 3rd and 4th. We had a real opportunity to put some distance between us and the Neptunes who had dominated the South of the Border USA division for the last 3 years running. We had SP Val Imbert slated for the 2nd game of the series on the 3rd and Jose Cedeno scheduled to go on the 4th of July. Never easy in Toledo, but the club was focused and ready to put some more distance between us and them.

Game 2
July 3rd 2055
Ballpark of Toledo
A - 39,859
Val Imbert 5-5 4.36 vs RHSP Wally Townsend 5-3 3.90

Chicago 5, Toledo 4
Matt Graves starts the game by singling, stealing second, and scoring on a Prowler Ashley single—all within the first four pitches of the game. Both teams scored a few early runs. Toledo’s Stephen Rice homers, Dusty Murphy doubles in a run, and Luis González singles in Murphy. Graves hits a sac fly, Sean White drives in Reagan Osborn by grounding out, and Walker Drunse singles in a run. Both teams score one more run later, but Toledo manages to hold a slim lead from the third inning on. Chicago 5, Toledo 4.

2B W Dunse 2-4 RBI, CF C Luna DB R
CH HR - None

07/03/2055 RF José Aranda was injured while running the bases (Chicago @ Toledo) Obviously this was a huge blow to the club. Aranda was hitting 294/365/874 with 14 HR’s and 56 RBI’s (2nd on the team). His diagnosis was a torn ACL of his left knee and he would be out until most likely late February or early March and miss the rest of the season. The scrambling began almost immediately to see who was out there that might be available. 3B Cruz Torres would get an opportunity in the next few games, but the question was were we comfortable with that. We had to get through these games until we could make any move. We had our work cut out too as we were facing Neptunes RHSP Ned Keddy who was the top pitcher in the South of the Border League.

Game #3
July 4th 2055
Ballpark of Toledo
A - 39,905
Jose Cedeno 4-4 4.83 vs Ned Keddy 7-3 2.97

Chicago 11 Toledo 8
The Neptunes scored four in the first. Dusty Murphy doubles in one, Carlos Figueroa doubles in two, and Philippe Labbé doubles in Figueroa. The Neptunes take a 5-2 lead into the seventh, where the script flips. The Tect’s sent 11 men to the plate and scored seven runs. Cris Luna leads off the inning with a double. He also ends the scoring with a bases-clearing three-run double. Chicago 11, Toledo 8.

LF M Graves 4-5 DB, HR 4R 2 RBI BB 2SB, 1B R Osborn 3-5 HR 2R 4RBI’s CF C LUna 2-4 2DB, R, 3RBI, SS P Farrulla 2-5 R
CH HR - LF M Graves (5), 1B R Osborn (23)

Summary - A huge sweep of the Neptunes and after starting the season 1-5 against Toledo we had won 8 of the last 9 games against them. We were now carrying a 10 game lead over 3rd place Toledo and were 7 out in front of Duluth who were the next team up on our schedule.

July 5th Off Day

Chicago Architects 53-28 1st in the US @ Duluth Sea Gulls (43-36 2nd in the US)
July 6th-8th
Duluth’s Sea Gulls Field

Game #1
A - 34,997
Bill Lutz 7-3 4.61 vs RHSP Mike Normore 5-2 5.40

Chicago Architects 4 Duluth Sea Gulls 1
Pitching against his old team, Chicago’s Bill Lutz (7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 7 K) worked four perfect innings before walking a pair in the fifth. He takes a no-hitter into the eighth where he gives up a leadoff single to Bill Whalley. Reliever Ken Shannon can’t quite complete the shutout: he gives up a home run to Carlos Sánchez. For the Tects, Thomas Arnaud and Cruz Torres homer. It was a great win for the Architects, but another damaging injury to our club as 1B Reegan Osborn was helped off the field with a knee injury. The Architects have been hit very hard by injuries all season long. Chicago 4, Duluth 1.

Summary - We would be waiting to hear the injury on Osborn, we were making arrangements for 3B Larry Davis to join us in Duluth for the 2nd game of this big series.

Later after the game at a local medical facility, Chicago’s team trainer made the call to my cell phone.

Tuesday, July 6th , 2055 - Chicago Architects: 1B Reagan Osborn was injured while running the bases. The Diagnosis: sprained knee. This is a day-to-day injury expected to last 1-2 weeks.

He let me know that while the injury could potentially be played through, he recommended that we rest Osborn and not push it. With the size of our lead at the moment, I made the call that we would do that and put Osborn on the shelf, but I also made another call the next morning. We were going to try and swing a deal.

[DD Martin]

July 7th-10th

Miguel Toledo trade

So after losing our 3rd player DH Jose Aranda to a season ending injury, and losing 1B Reagan Osborn for 1-2 weeks, the natural reaction was we needed a bat. Duluth was shopping several players as they had some younger players they wanted to bring up. We had previously inquired about one but with Aranda going down, finding a left-handed bat was something we wanted very badly.

Enter 3B Miguel Toledo to the discussion. The 30 year old switch hitter was a free agent after the season and a very good fielding 3B. Toledo has hit well this year (284/347/821 with 13 HR’s and 49 RBI’s) but has been up and down over his career. He’s very similar to 3B/1B Cruz Torres who has never gotten an extended chance with any club in the big leagues. The deal for Toledo who is very likely a rental as his salary demand for an extension is 5yrs $60 million. That’s a price with our budget that we probably won’t entertain in the off season.

We gave up a AAA prospect RP Gaston Cadet (Prospect #239 which wasn’t too high a price as we feel like we have a capable amount of RP’s in our minors. If the price had been higher we would have passed and just given Torres his chance. This way we have an option though if one is not hitting.

Toledo will join us in the Milwaukee series for game 3 of that set. In the meantime we will call up OF Tom Stone along with IF Larry Davis.

For Osborn’s spot we will bring back Larry Davis to get some starts at 1B. Davis hit over 340 in his first call up to replace 3B Arnaud and was tearing it up at AAA.

We will continue the series with the Duluth Sea Gulls 46-36 at Sea Gulls Field for the next 2 games, before we head to Milwaukee for a series against the Eagles 24-59.

Chicago Architects (54-28 1st in US) vs Duluth Sea Gulls (46-36 2nd in US)
Continued series July 7th and 8th 2055
Duluth’s Sea Gulls Field

Game #2
A - 37,455
Joe Johnson 4-0 3.84 vs RHSP Chris Collier 3-4 3.88

Duluth 5 Chicago 4
Duluth’s Jorge Rangel hits a three-run home run, and Joe Hunt hits a solo home run. Hunt also scores a run when lines a ball to left, the outfielder drops it, and he takes second, then takes third on a passed ball, then scores on a wild pitch. The Chicago manager said after the game, “We had the game right there for the taking, but we decided not to take it.” Duluth 5, Chicago 4.

CF C Luna 2-3 BB SB
CH HR - 3B T Arnaud (13), LF J Lambert (3)

Game #3
A - 39,479
Jose Cedeno 4-4 4.83 vs Dave Moss 2-3 5.79

Duluth 8 Chicago 1
With the series at 1-1, this shaped up as a big game. The Architects would face one of their former pitchers in Dave Moss in this game and he made them pay. Moss was clearly fired up before the game and only one of Dave Moss’s (8 IP, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K) bad pitches cost him: the one that Prowler Ashley hits into the outfield stands. Tects pitchers make many more costly pitches. Jorge Rangel homered twice, Carlos Sánchez once. In his second major-league game, Diego Barrón gets his first major-league hit: a home run! Congratulations, Diego! He later doubles and scores. Duluth 8, Chicago 1.

DH S Amsden 2-4
CH HR - J Ashley (16)

Summary - Well after the injury to Osborn in game 1 of the series on Tuesday we gave up 1 game and came out flat in the matchup today against Dave Moss. Duluth closed the gap on us to a more manageable 6 games and there was some growing concern. Hopefully going to Milwaukee to face the struggling Eagles would be the tonic we need to snap out of it.

We also had made a pitch to SP Jose Cedeno’s agent about a contract extension. We will see if we can come up to an agreement with our “ace”. Even if he agrees to the deal we proposed, it will be the highest priced contract I have ever negotiated as the GM of the Architects.

Chicago Architects (54-30 1st place US) vs Milwaukee Eagles (24-60 6th place US)
July 9th and 10th (and 11th tomorrow) 2055
At the Nest in Milwaukee

Game #1
Val Imbert 7-4 4.44 vs RHSP Mitch Belding 3-4 3.39
A - 25,905

Chicago 9 Milwaukee 2
Matt Graves leads off the game with a four-pitch walk, steals second, and scores on a Thomas Arnaud single. The Tects never look back. Prowler Ashley, Walker Dunse, and Juan Durán hit home runs. Chicago 9, Milwaukee 2.

SP V Imbert 6.1 3H 2ER 1BB 7K’s W (7-5), 3B T Arnaud 2-3 2BB 3RBI R, RF J Ashley 1-4 HR 3RBI, R BB 2R, SS P Farrulla R
CH HR - RF J Ashley (17), 2B W Dunse (2), C J Duran (3)

Game #2
Augusto Gonzalez 1-1 5.68 vs RHSP Billy “Dude” Hill 4-9 5.28
A - 26,640

Chicago 5 Milwaukee 2
Chicago’s Augusto González (7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K) earns his second win of the season as Chicago gets offensive from three players whose names I don’t recall ever mentioning before, Tom Stone, playing in his second-ever major-league game, hits his first major-league home run. Congrats, Tom! Larry Davis, playing in his 16th major-league game, hits his second. The veteran of the trio, 24-year-old John Lambert, hits the fifth home run of his career. The Architects have been hammered by injuries, but young replacements are stepping up. Chicago 5, Milwaukee 2.

1B L Davis 2-4 HR 2R RBI SB, 2B J Lambert 3-4 HR R RBI,
CH HR - 1B Larry Davis (2), 2B J Lambert (4), RF T Stone (1)

Summary - Just what the Dr. ordered as the Archs salvage the 4 day sim with taking the first two games against Milwaukee who has now lost 7 straight games after dropping the last 2 against Duluth. The club is 7 up on Duluth and 8 up on Toledo as we have 1 more game in Milwaukee before we start another round of Canadian games. There are lots of rumblings in the league about potential deals and it feels like something big is going to pop. One of the local paper writers stated it wouldn’t be a quiet weekend and I was sure he wasn’t talking about us extending Jose Cedeno (below).

Jose “Pongo” Cedeno Extension

This was a decision we had been talking about in the office since the end of last season. Cedeno was arbitration eligible for the current 55 and also the 56 season. We ended up agreeing on a deal at $26.46 million for this season (55).

The question was do we go into the off-season facing a $30-31 million demand in Cedeno’s final trip through arbitration, extend him or let him test free agency. For a long time this year my mindset had been to trade him or let him test the market.

But then the injuries to two of our starting pitchers including ace Yale Hulburt who won’t be back until likely June next season and John Moore happened. Another thing was Cedeno started pitching better especially based on the saber stats. He made the all-star team was 2nd in the vote for US starting pitchers and was considered the #10 SP in the GLBL.

So we decided to negotiate with Cedeno’s agent. He wanted a 6 year $190 million dollar deal. We knew we would have to come up with a big deal but if we could buy ourselves some payroll room for next season that would be a huge deal. In the end after several attempts we found a deal.

56 season $15,000,000
57 season $27,000,000
58-60 season $34,000,000
61 season $34,000,000 club option with $8 million buyout

[DD Martin]

The Mega Deal

This is a deal that does not involve the Chicago Architects but involves both of the 3rd place teams in the GLBL. The South of the Border Toledo Neptunes (48-38 1 game behind Duluth in the USA)and the North of the Border Toronto Maples (46-40 3 behind 2nd place Owen Sound in Canada) got together and surprised an entire league. All told it is a 9 player deal with 4 players going to Toronto and 5 players headed to Toledo.

Toledo sent 4 starters off their team including 2055 All-Stars 1B Dusty Murphy, LF Dwayne Adams and 2B Carlos Figueroa along with SS Casey Cowley to Toronto. They also shed about $60,000,000 in 2055 salaries (they still owed around 40% of those salaries) and commitments for 2056 for those 4 players that would be closer to $70,000,000. So one might think this is just a salary dump, but here is some commentary from Toledo wise man the Ol' Gaffer.....

The news stunned Neptune fans. On a five game win streak and 1 game out of the playoffs, Neptune management dealt 4 all-star players. This must be an AI tease. It can't be real.

Rumors swirled that Canadian owner Sonny Lenormand (a Toronto native) must have been given the keys to Casa Loma. Others indicated that was a win-win for Sonny. 1) Helping his home town and 2) maximizing his profit in the Neptunes.

The Ol' Gaffer had a more realistic perspective however.
"I know the fans are upset at the moment, but soon they will realize this will improve out club long term and maybe even this year. Yes, it certainly helps financially as we can now keep our pitching staff. At least the starters are the best in the league. But if they are so good, how come we keep losing. Clearly hitting home runs, while exciting, has not proven to be a consistent winner. The per-trade club was 1st 3 years in a row, but only 2 league championships and 1 GLBL crown. Our fans clearly wanted more than that. Also, besides the offensive power that is sometimes displayed, the fans were not coming to the park (just to see us blow a lead.) as attendance was down almost 10%. Championships are built on Pitching, speed and defense and we only had 1 of those ingredients.

Thanks to our Toledo GM for allowing me to use their comments for this story.

They did acquire a starting 2B Xing-fu Sen (24) who was hitting 309/363/816 for Toronto and is controlable for 4 more seasons after this one. Sen is an outstanding defensive 2B and is pretty good at SS as well. He appears to be a very capable hitter as well.

Along with Sen Toledo acquired 4 prospects who could become big league players in the near future. They include 21-year-old prospect CF Vaughan Cowley who is #14 overall in the GLBL. Cowley is hitting 336/411/1013 at the AA level. They also grabbed #46 overall SP prospect Steve Powell who is 9-2 with a 3.68 ERA at the class A level. The other two players might be more of a projection but could be capable starters in time 3B Aaron Hill (#136) and CL Roy O'Brien (#148)

So how does this effect Chicago? I was asked by one of our local writers to comment on the deal and what effect it might have on our drive to win the US Division for the first time since 2050. "Some might say Toledo gave up on the season, and maybe they did but who are we to judge. They acquired some fine young talent that is more in line with their pitching and defense philosophy on building a winner. Their pitching could be touted as the best in the US Division especially with young Nick Keddy leading the charge. The feeling from what I gathered is that the attendance is down and their management team felt that this might not be there year. It is still a little early to write them off, but they did lose a chunk of their offense. But they will have a tremendous amount of payroll room to bolster their team via free agency in the off-season, and I have a feeling you will see them be agressive in the International Free Agency pool as well."

So now let's take a dive into the Toronto Maples. The Maples have the top starting led by All-Star (and best pitcher in the league) Motoyuki Inoue who Chicago will get to face later this week. Inoue is 13-3 with a sterling 2.42 ERA which is outstanding in this hitter era of the GLBL. The problem that Toronto has faced more often than not is their offense has not been able to keep up with either Thunder Bay or Owen Sound. For much of the season the Maples have been averaging closer to 4.5 rpg which was last in the Canadian division, but they have had a few offensive outbursts of late and increased it to 4.8 rpg. Still that is barely ahead of Hamilton and Kingston at 4.7 rpg. In contrast Thunder Bay is scoring 6.5 rpg and Owen Sounds is averaging 5.3 rpg. This deal addresses their lack of offensive output and gives their pitching some much need punch from their bats. While the payroll expense is huge for future seasons, the Maples had more than enough room to accomadate the roughly $24 million in remaining commitments for this season.

It is clear Toronto is going all in to nab 2nd place away from Owen Sound. If Toronto makes the playoffs, with the pitching they have they will become a very tough out in the playoffs and could arguably be called the best team in Canada even if they do not catch Thunder Bay who are rolling and leading the division by double digits.

There is no word at this time if Owen Sound is contemplating any moves to counter this offensive by the Maples, but there are still almost 3 full weeks before the trade deadline.

When Thunder Bay was asked for comments, they shurged the deal off and basically said "they were not thinking about the deal at all."

When Duluth was asked about the team, the team spokesman said that Duluth hadn't really thought this would be their year to make the playoffs and there is still no guarantee that they will. They will continue to stay their course, build with their pitching and youngsters and keep building. If they make the playoffs a year ahead of their internal plan, then that is just icing on the cake.

Will there be anymore deals in the GLBL? The most likely team is probably Owen Sound as the Waverunners are 3 games up on Toronto but have to feel that the Maples are much more of a threat now than they previously were.

On the other side of the equation with the trade deadline nearing, will Chicago make any further moves or are they set. GM Maritn simply stated, "We are always looking at ways to stregthen the club both now and for the future. So time will tell....."

[DD Martin]

July 11th through 14th, 2055

Things kind of feel anti-climatic after such a huge 9-player deal that could shift the balance of playoffs participants in both leagues. We will get a first hand look at the new look Maples later in the week for 2 games (1 this group of games, 1 in the next). But first up it is time to finish business with the series with Milwaukee first, before taking on Kingston and Toronto of the North of the Border league.

July 11th Chicago @ Milwaukee game 3 of the 3 game series

The Architects have taken the first two against the struggling Eagles who are currently in a free fall as the worst team in the GLBL. Not a lot has gone right for the Eagles 24-62 and losers of 7 straight games and are 2-7 in July after going 3-20 in June. Currently the Architects are 11-3 against the Eagles this season and looking for more.

Milwaukee does have a couple of position players that are quite good and probably the best is soon to be free-agent 1B Eric Molina (29 B-L). On the season he is almost singlehandedly providing the biggest charge of offense on the club hitting 305/396/987 with 22 home runs and 71 RBI’s. Milwaukee should do everything they can right now to lock him up to an extension or review trading prior to the teamline in several weeks. The other reliable bat in the lineup is 33-year old 3B Seung-jun Park who is also a free agent at the end of the season. Park is hitting a solid 313/393/877 on the year.

The pitching has not been good this year but one spot with some light is 24-year-old Mitch Belding. The RHSP is 3-6 on the season and carries a very respectable 3.97 on the season. Some of the starters are not bad, no top of the rotation arms but some solid pitchers who are just not having the best of seasons.

Game 3 July 11th 2055
Chicago @ Milwaukee
Bill Lutz 8-3 4.09 vs Kent Bennett 3-7 6.31
Game is at The Nest in Milwaukee
A - 28,974

Bill Lutz (5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 2 K) and three Tects relievers shutout the Eagles. Lutz who started the year in the doghouse because of horrendous performance has really come on strong in June and July. Cruz Torres and Thomas Arnaud both hit two-run home runs as the Architects complete the 3-game series sweep. Chicago 4, Milwaukee 0.

C J Duran 2-4 R, BB, DH M Toledo 2-4 SP B Lutz W (9-3)
CH HR - 1B C Torres (3), 3B T Arnaud (14)

July 12th-13th 2055
Chicago Architects (57-30 1st in US) @ Kingston Comets (31-56 last in Canada)

So far this year we are 6-6 against the Canadian teams halfway through the 24 games on the interleague schedule. If we want to have a 500 or better record against Canada for the first time in my history (4th season) in Chicago, these are two big games to win.

Kingston is led on offense by young CF Wyatt McBryde (23 B-R) who is in his 2nd full season of big league ball. Solid young hitter hitting 338/369/866 and has 36 doubles so far this year after hitting 33 last year. Much improved average and on-base average in his 2nd season. 1B/SP Roland Fuller is a star with the bat but might be better as a pitcher. Either way he is very good and appears that he has probably 2 more years of control (1 for sure). As a pitcher he is 5-7 with a 3.48 ERA and as a hitter he is hitting 299/346/920 with 20 homers and 53 RBI’s. Fuller is the best pitcher the Comets have.

Game 1 July 12th
Chicago @ Kingston
Joe Johnson 4-0 3.68 vs RHSP Ralph Lapthorne 3-7 6.73
Comet Field in Kingston
A - 9,584 (Yikes!)

Joe Johnson (6.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K)continues to shine as he improves his record to 5-0. Johnson is now 20-5 over the last 2 seasons with the big league club. Samuel Amsden goes 4-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and four runs scored. Chicago 6, Kingston 2.

LF S Amsden 4-4 HR 4R, RBI, BB, 2B J Lambert 2-4 RBI, RF J Ashley 3-5 DB 2RBI
CH HR - LF S Amsden (3)

Game 2 July 13th
Chicago @ Kingston
Jose Cedeno 4-5 4.94 vs LHSP Cal Henry 6-4 5.20
Comet Field in Kingston
A - 10,601

José Cedeño (5-5) celebrates his new $178 million contract extension by pitching 6 1/3 shutout innings. Oh, and Prowler Ashley has a pretty good day at the plate, hitting three home runs—all of them solo home runs. Cris Luna hits a two-run home run, and Thomas Arnaud hits a solo home run. Chicago 7, Kingston 1

RF J Ashley 3-4 3HR, 3R, 3RBI, BB, C J Duran 2-5
CH HR - RF J Ashley 3 (20), CF C Luna (6), 3B T Arnaud (15)

Summary - So our pitching of late has been dominant, but is it our pitchers or the less than offensive offenses we have been facing. We will get a test against Toronto next as they bring their new look offense into town along with their formidable pitching. Still we are off to a 10-2 start to the month as we are looking to maybe try and put things away with the division early. But it is still way too early to be thinking that way as coming up soon we will have a 2-week stretch with games both at home and on the road against Toledo and Duluth along with some more Canada games against Thunder Bay and Owen Sound. That is a 16 game stretch that could really tell the tale of this season. We split those games and we should be in good shape, but if we falter and open the door, either of those US teams could climb up the standings and make this thing interesting.

July 14th 2055
Game 1 of a 2 game series
Toronto Maples vs Chicago Architects
RHSP Motoyuko Inoue 12-3 2.42 vs Val Imbert 7-5 4.33
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A- 39,787

Simply put too much Inoue as the stud SP handcuffs the Architects for almost 8 innings. Motoyuki Inoue (7.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 9 K) picks up his lucky 13th win. The Maples scored four in the third with Peyton Coffman hitting a three-run home run. The new guys go 5-15 in the game but only account for 1 run. Toronto 4, Chicago 2.

LF M Graves 3-5 DB, R SB
CH HR - 1B M Toledo (1 in CH 14th on the season)

Summary - This game is why I do not want to see Toronto in the playoffs. Inoue can simply take over a game and there is very little you can do about it. In a 7-game series, depending on how things go he easily gets 2 starts and could get 3 if he went on short rest. That is a lot for any team to overcome. Right now Toronto is 2 games behind Owen Sound, but they already made up 1 game and have gone 3-1 since the trade.

[DD Martin]

July 15th through 18th 2055

Toronto Maples 49-41 3rd place Can vs Chicago Architects 59-31 1st US
July15th, 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds

A - 39,747
LHSP Harvey Moore 4-9 3.85 vs Bill Lutz 9-3 3.76

We had a pretty solid pitchers duel for 5 innings between the Maples Moore and Architects Lutz with Chicago up 2-1, but that all changed in the 6th inning. A six-run sixth propels the Maples to victory. Ron Read’s three-run double is the inning’s big hit. Harvey Moore (7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 8 K) wins his third straight start. Toronto 8, Chicago 4.

CF C Luna 2-4 HR R RBI
CH HR - CF Luna (7)

Summary - We win 2 games against Kingston and drop 2 at home against Toronto. In both games our bats are shut down, which doesn’t happen often. Lutz had been pitching lights out for the last 2 months and was solid through 5 but his walks crept up again and that is what caused a lot of his troubles early in the season. We will need to watch that, but really unless we make a move for a SP (and we might) there really aren’t a ton of options. It really isn’t Lutz that I would be looking to replace though in the rotation. JJ Walker will soon get a chance once again to right himself in the big leagues if he can show well at AAA.

Next up is a 3 game home series against Milwaukee and a sweep would be nice.

Milwaukee Eagles 25-66 last in the US vs Chicago Architects 59-32 1st in the US
July 16th through 18th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds

Since we last saw the Eagles they had won a game at home against Kingston and broke their 11 game losing streak. Hopefully they do not get hot here against us. We had started negotiations to grab an outfielder who could play CF and preferably was a lefty or switch hitter. Yes we have Cris Luna and he has shown signs of life hitting 333 in July. Yes he is and still is our CF of the future, but we have no ready depth behind him besides 2B/U player John Lambert. Both are right handed so if our desire to remain very flexible in our handiness, we will see what’s out there.

Milwaukee vs Chicago
Game 1 - July 16th 2055
RHSP Kent Bennett 3-8 6.12 vs Augusto Gonzalez 2-1 5.20
A - 39,933

Milwaukee’s Cory Seguin homers in his third straight game. The first was a solo home run, yesterday’s was a two-run home run, today’s was a three-run home run. Obviously, he will hit a grand slam tomorrow. Unfortunately for the Eagles, those are the only runs that they score. Chicago scores three in both the sixth and the seventh. Pedro Farrulla and Prowler Ashley both homer. Ashley also singles in a run. Chicago 7, Milwaukee 3.

2B J Lambert 3-4 3R SB, RF J Ashley 2-3 HR, BB 2R 3RBI, SB, 3B T Arnaud 2-3 DB, BB R, SS P Farrulla 2-3 HR, BB R RBI
CH HR - RF J Ashley (21), SS P Farrulla (2)

Milwaukee vs Chicago
Game 2 - July 17th 2055
LHSP Donald Hubbard 5-7 5.70 vs Jose Cedeno 5-5 4.68
A - 39,714

Milwaukee’s Dave Hepburn goes 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored, and an RBI. Eric Molina hits a two-run homer. Molina, the most dangerous hitter in the Eagles lineup, set the tone for this one with that 1st inning home run. Milwaukee 5, Chicago 2.

3B T Arnaud 2-5 DB R, 1B L Davis 2-4 2DB RBI
CH HR - none

Milwaukee vs Chicago
Game 3 - July 18th 2055
RHSP Bryan Houston 0-2 7.71 vs Joe Johnson 5-0 3.36
A - 39,885


SP Bryan Houston (21) making just his 3rd big league start, had the best game of his young career for Milwaukee outdueling Joe Johnson through 6 innings. But then the bullpen came into the game to try and win the series for the Eagles. Trailing 2-1 in the seventh, Chicago scores one to tie the game. Samuel Amsden hits a pinch-hit single, driving in Larry Davis. The Tects won the game with two more runs in the eighth. Sean White singles in the first, Miguel Toledo the second. Chicago 4, Milwaukee 2.

LF M Graves 2-4 (breaking out of a little slump) 3B T Arnaud 2-4 DB 2R, 1B L Davis 2-4 R RBI
CH HR - None

Summary - That middle game where the bats got shut down. That was a troubling one for me and leadoff man LF Matt Graves has not been the same as he was when he came out of the gates hot. Graves has basically been hitting around 260 for the last 2 ½ months but his on base percentage has plummeted in June and July. While I love his speed 45 stolen bases in 51 attempts, I need more out of my leadoff guy. It’s also not lost on me that we are without 1B Osborn the last 2 weeks and DH Jose Aranda who is out for the season. Between then was 37 home runs and 120 RBI’s. Osborn will be back likely after the upcoming Detroit series. Aranda’s replacement Miguel Toledo is hitting 231 with a home run and 4 RBI’s in 7 games. 1B Larry Davis is hitting 297 with a home run and 3 RBI’s in the 10 games he has replaced Osborn. Neither is doing terrible but neither have been Arnada and Osborn.

The Graves and Luna spots in the outfield and their off and on hitting woes led us to make the following trade.

Chicago trades for OF Jose Gomez from Maples

BNN has learned the Toronto Maples have reportedly worked out a deal with the Chicago Architects. Sources close to the Maples indicated that a trade has been reached in principle where 23-year old minor league RF Dennis Holden and 23-year old minor league RHP Allan Berger will be swapped to Toronto with 31-year old LF José Gómez heading to Chicago. Neither organization would comment on the report, saying it was club policy not to speak about a trade until it was finalized.

So far this year, Gómez is batting .273 with 5 home runs, 22 RBIs and 25 runs scored.


We brought in someone that we had interest in during the off-season in OF Jose Gomez (31 B-S) to become a part of the rotation in the outfield with CF Cris Luna and LF Matt Graves. Gomez brings in quality defense that the scouting service rates as 4 stars in both CF and LF, while my scout says just 3 in CF. We are hopeful that Gomez will give us another quality bat. While this will likely be just a rest of the season deal, we will talk to Gomez about the potential for staying on long term.

We gave up SP Allen Berger who was our 17th best prospect (rated #146) who was pitching well at AAA with a 2.96 ERA along with 19 saves and a 3-3 record. There was another pitcher asked for, but we settled on Berger and RF Holden our #30 prospect and far down on our OF depth chart.

With the acquistion of Gomez, 2B John Lambert drew the tough and unfair assignment of going down to AAA for a couple of weeks. Lambert has played well and will be back when the rosters expand and will very likely be on the post season roster as well. By sending Lambert who had options still, veteran SS Simon Lefevre kept his job as backup 2B/SS (for now).

[DD Martin]

July 19th through 22nd 2055

Chicago Architects 61-33 1st in the US vs Detroit Thunderbirds 41-53 4th in US

Just a 3-game set against Detroit in the Motor City for today. The Thunderbirds are well out of the playoff race entering the series 11 games back of the wildcard. They are clinging to 4th place by a couple of games over the TC Bears. On the season we are 9-6 against the T-Birds.

The T-Birds are led 29-year-old OF Stan Gillis who is hitting 338 on the season with 18 home runs and 79 RBI’s. Gillis is scheduled to be a free agent after the season and another player who one has to wonder why the club hasn’t locked him up. Maybe the club has tried as he is well known to value money and the club hasn’t had a winner since the 2047 season when they went 88-56 and won the South of the Border division title. That season capped a 5-year run of playoff appearances (4 division titles and 1 2nd place finish) as well as the clubs last GLBL World Series title win in 2043.

Rookie Mal Johnson (21) is having a rookie of the year candidate type of season with the bat, hitting 296 with 18 home runs, 18 doubles and 61 RBI’s but his fielding at 1B makes one wonder if he is destined to be a DH. But maybe with some off-season work, he can turn his defensive woes around.

Detroit’s struggles have been primarily with its pitching and defense ranking 6th in starters ERA and 5th in defense. The only real bright spot in the rotation is SP Bill Clary 6-6 3.73 ERA. Clary was someone we tried to acquire last July before settling on Jose Cedeno and Yale Hulburt. LHSP Dwayne Miller has had a disappointing season 5-7 with a 5.42 ERA as the T-Birds were likely counting for more from him when they signed him to a 4-year $59 million dollar deal in the off-season.

Chicago vs Detroit
Game 1 - Tuesday July 20th 2055
At Thunderbirds Park
Val Imbert 7-6 4.36 vs RHSP Bill Clary 6-5 3.73
A - 18,564

Both starters, Chicago’s Val Imbert and Detroit’s Bill Clary, pitch well enough to win, giving up just two runs, but both get a no-decision. In the eighth, Chicago’s pesky leadoff man Matt Graves singles, moves to second on a wild pitch, and beats the throw home when Larry Davis singles to left. Chicago 3, Detroit 2.

SP V Imbert 5IP 6H 2R 1BB 6K
CH HR - None

Chicago vs Detroit
Game 2 - Wednesday July 21st 2055
At Thunderbirds Park
Bill Lutz 9-4 4.35 vs RHSP Joo-Seok Kim 6-9 6.70
A - 18,513

Chicago came out swinging today and it started off fast. In the top of the first, Chicago’s Miguel Toledo hits a grand slam. The Tects scored seven in the inning. They proceed to score four runs in an inning twice. Thomas Arnaud hits two home runs and finishes the game with five RBIs and four runs scored. Chicago 17, Detroit 6.

3B T Arnaud 3-5 2HR BB 4R 5RBI’s, DH M Toledo 2-5 HR 2R BB 5 RBI’s, CF J Gomez 2-4 DB SB 2R 2RBI BB, SS P Farrulla 3-5 2R 2 RBI
CH HR - DH M Toledo (2nd 15 overall), 3B T Arnaud 2 (17),

Chicago vs Detroit
Game 3 - Thursday July 22nd, 2055
At Thunderbirds Park
Augusto Gonzalez 2-1 5.22 vs LHSP Dwayne Miller 5-7 5.42
A - 14,416

After yesterday’s romp the Architects did not sweep the Thunderbirds and appeared disinterested in the game along with the small crowd of 14,416 that must have come in not expecting much. Detroit’s Dwayne Miller (6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K) makes one mistake to Prowler Ashley, which Prowler sends into the bleachers. All nine T-Birds batters get a hit, and eight of them score runs. Paul Larocque hits his first major-league home run. Congrats, Paul! Alan Stout, Larry Thomson, and Stan Gillis homer as well. Detroit 11, Chicago 1.

Nothing to note, total of 4 hits although the Archs did receive 6 walks and did nothing with them.
CH HR - RF J Ashley (22)

Summary - We took 2 out of 3 in Detroit and yet that last game left a very bitter taste in our mouths. Expectations are high in Chicago and maybe my own are too high as the club has a 9 game lead and it just doesn’t feel like we are running away with things. Maybe it's just watching last year's World Series winner Thunder Bay thundering along in the North of the Border division and leading the circuit with a 67-30 record.

SP Augusto Conzalez might have started his last game. He has been really up and down and that is often expected with a #5 SP, although we would like to find a better solution. Gonzalez is a team captain though and a veteran who has been through many seasons, and he will remain with the club. The most likely person that will be leaving is RP Bradley Sentner 1-1 1 save 5.62 ERA. He has a solid 8.7 k/9 ratio but has a penchant to give up the long ball having seen 14 balls leave the ballpark in 49.2 IP. He is a team leader but we have a younger version of Sentner in Richard Herschel waiting in the wings and is also a leader. We also will consider moving up JJ Walker to start for Gonzalez depending how things go in Traverse City.

Speaking of the Bears we are headed there next for a Friday-Sunday 3 game series. After an off-day on Monday 26th we will start what I consider a crucial stretch of the season for us with 3 games at home against both Toledo and Duluth. Then 2 Canadian Series matchups with Owen Sound coming in for 2 games and then we head off to Thunder Bay for 2 games. We wrap up that stretch of 16 games without an off-day, with 6 on the road against Toledo and Duluth. If we survive that stretch of games and win 8-10 of the 16, then I will feel pretty good about things heading into the last 28 games (after those 16) that will remain. But first we need to take care of business with Traverse City!

[DD Martin]

July 22nd through 25th 2055

Just a 3-game series with the Traverse City Bears. We are on the road for this series and this year we have just dominated the Bears going 12-3 so far this year. Somehow the fans are still showing up at over 30,000 per game, but some of the locals have started calling the 40-57 Bears, the Bad News Bears. At home on the season they are just 22-28 and it is hard to believe that this team was in the running for the playoffs last season until the last week of the season.

The Bears last won the GLBL World Series back in 2051 so it has not been that long ago that they were on top of the mountain, but this year has been a real drag. The biggest culprit of their fall has been pretty much squarely on the pitching staff. Their starting pitchers ERA is 6.05 which is dead last in the South of the Border. In comparison our starting pitchers have a 4.91 (which sounds just awful to me) which is 2nd in the South of the Border division. The Bears have started 9 different pitchers so far this season and they are in talks about perhaps adding another guy to those ranks, but more on that later. The only real bright spot from a starting pitching source has been the surprise re-emergence as a starting pitching the man with 2 first names, William Charles. Charles has been with the Bears his entire career after being a 6th choice in the first round in 2040. He started 53 games back in 2049-2050 but has only started 7 games in the last 3 seasons before this year. On the season Charles is 7-4 with a 3.38 ERA.

The offense is led by the best ⅔ of an outfield in the league in CF Cal Braud (26) hitting 346/372/905 with 6HR and 47 RBI’s and RF Earl Foote (26) who is angling for his 3rd straight NOTB Lake Superior Best Player award. Foote is hitting 354/442/1.012 with 13 HR and 79 RBI’s. OF Ben Marshall isn’t a bad 3rd part of the outfield but has only been in LF for about ½ of the club's games and played in CF when Braud was injured. He has DH’d quite a few times as well. The only knock on Braud is his durability as he frequents the DL which seems like it is more often than most. When he is out of the lineup that leaves Foote exposed and unprotected in the lineup.

If the Bears can straighten out their pitching they could once again be a first division club, but until then they will be in the lower end of the spectrum. Expect them to be taking a hard look at any arms that are available in the off-season.

Chicago Architects (63-34 1st in the US) @ Traverse City Bear (40-57 5th in the US)
July 23rd through July 25th 2055
Games played at TC’s The Den

Game 1 Friday July 23rd 2055
A - 31,253
Jose Cedeno 5-6 4.74 vs RHSP Philip “Muscles” Reid 0-0 3.96

All this game’s runs are scored one at a time. Traverse City’s Alexis Martin and Chicago’s Thomas Arnaud hit solo home runs. Arnaud also hits an RBI double. Matt Graves drives in two runs despite going hitless: one run scores on a groundout, the other on a sac fly. Chicago 5, Traverse City 2.

SP J Cedeno W 6.2IP 7H 2R 2BB 2K, 2B W Dunse 2-3 DB BB 2R SB, DH M Toledo 2-4 DB R, 3B T Arnaud 3-4 DB HR 2RBI R
CH HR - 3B T Arnaud (18)

Game 2 Saturday July 24th, 2055
A - 32,453
Joe Johnson 5-0 3.36 vs RHSP William Charles 7-4 3.48

The Traverse City Bears converted a terrific effort from starter William Charles into a win over the Chicago Architects at The Den. William Charles (5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 K) and three Bears relievers combined on a two-hit shutout. His record improves to 8-4. The Bears improved their record to 41-58 by beating Chicago. Both hits are Pedro Farrulla singles. Traverse City scores all their runs in the third. Alexis Martin hits a sac fly, Cal Braud doubles in a run, Earl Foote triples in Braud, and Barney Tomiak singles in Foote. The Architects Joe Johnson suffered his first loss of the season (5-1 3.58) Traverse City 4, Chicago 0.

SS P Farrulla 2-3
CH HR - None

Game 3 Sunday July 25th, 2055
A - 31,857
Val Imbert 7-6 4.33 vs RHSP John Nelligan 6-5 5.70

All nine Bears batters get at least one hit, and everyone except Barney Tomiak gets at least one RBI. Leadoff man Tomiak singles twice and scores twice. Bernie Stoddart, Bob Harris, and Cal Braud all homer. The only real bright spots for the Architects was the continued hot hitting of OF Jose Gomez and the first 2 hits since he was activated off the DL for 1B Reagan Osborn. Traverse City 11, Chicago 5.

CF J Gomez 3-4 TP, HR 2R 4 RBI’s, 1B Reagan Osborn 2-4 SB
CH HR - J Gomez (1 with CH, 6th overall)

Summary - A very annoying weekend in Traverse City. We just didn't look very into this series. Maybe its over-confidence of having beaten them so much. Maybe its the summer duldrums of a long season. Whatever it is that game on Saturday produced 2 hits and they were by all people than our SS Pedro Farrulla who is not necessarily known for his bat. But give Farrulla credit, he has played great defense at SS and allowed 2B Walker Dunse to return to his more natural position at 2B and he has managed to hit 295 with us. The batting was not expected, but maybe we (and a few other clubs) sold him short.

One player who has been struggling in July after a torrid start to the year is C Sean White. Since July 1st is only 9 for 70 (129) with 2 doubles and 6 RBI's. With White struggles we are seeing more and more of C Juan Duran who is hitting 300 since his return from the DL.

While it was great to get 1B Reagan Osborn back, his return saw him just go 2-12. Hopefully he will find his stroke soon.

RF Jim Ashley has a slight ankle sprain and probably played more in the last 2 games than he should have. His afternoon in Sunday's 11-5 loss was cut short when he was ejected for aruging balls and strikes with the umpire. Clearly the veteran Ashley was trying to light a spark in his team who seemed to be sleep walking, and he immediately when in and got ice on his ankle. Ashley will see very limited action in the series against Toledo starting Tuesday.

An Architect hitter won the player of the week for the 2nd straight week. RF Jim Ashley won it last week, and this week 3B Travis Arnaud won the honor.

Trade Announcement

As was hinted after the Duluth series, P Bradley "Hurricane" Sentner has been dealt. In a minor move Sentner was sent to the pitching starved Traverse City Bears for a minor league prospect. The prospect is 2B Miguel Rojas (20) who was signed by the Bears as an international amatuer in March 2052. He appeared in 56 games with the Bears class A affiliate and hit 226/319/667 with 4 home runs and 21 RBI's.

After the deal was announced, reporters caught up with the Architect's owner Georgory Bocquet Jr. who was seen doing cartwheels down the teams office hallway. He was excited because the move saved the Arch's roughly $450,000 in salary for the remainder of the season. Not quite off-setting the $1.75 million the club had to cough up to acquire OF Jose Gomez.

[DD Martin]

The 2055 Draft Review

We had the 11th pick in the draft this year. Windsor had the #1 overall pick in the draft and once it started they wasted no time in choosing CF Thierry “Dynamite” Gauthier (21 B-R) who quickly vaulted up to the #1 overall prospect in the GLBL.

Here are a listing of the 1st round draft picks and their associated prospect rankings.
1.) Windsor selects CF Thierry “Dynamite” Gauthier #1 overall prospect
2.) Milwaukee selects SP Pat Crudge (20 T-R) #15 overall prospect
3.) Detroit selects SP Herb “Tippy” Boyar (19 T-R) #2 overall prospect
4.) Kingston selects SP Jimmy “Moriarity” Brown (22 T-R) #3 overall prospect
5.) Duluth selects SP Ezra “Rodeo” Rainey (21 T-R) #6 overall prospect
6.) Hamilton selects SP Roy “Shortcut” Lapointe (21 T-R) #42 overall prospect
7.) Toledo selects 2B Chris Moulds (21 B-R) #20 overall prospect
8.) Traverse City selects 2B Vincent Fernandez (19 B-L) #35 overall prospect
9.) Toledo selects SP Brian Axworthy (19 T-L) #36 overall prospect
10.) Owen Sound selects 3B John “Waco” Meilleur (18 B-L) #71 overall prospect
11.) Chicago selects SP Mike Hayes (18 B-S T-R) #44 overall prospect
12.) Thunder Bay selects 1B Xavier Maisonneuve (22 B-R) #7 overall prospect

Seven pitchers were taken in the 1st round, a CF, two 2B, a 3B and a 1B. As we came up on the clock to make our pick we thought long and hard about taking Maisonneuve. He has an elite hitting tool but lacks power as a 1B. He bats right handed and we have a lot of right hander hitters in our organization, so we decided to pass and take the pitcher. If we had drafted Xavier, he would be applying his craft in LF as I believe he could be a very good hitter, but he has no speed at all. Still that bat and eye could be a very valuable #2 or #3 hitter someday, even if he is at DH.

Who we decided to take was SP Mike Hayes. During my tenure here in Chicago I have been trying to rebuild the pitching staff. We went after a lot of arms during last season acquiring Jose Cedeno, Yale Hulburt, Bill Lutz and also signing as a free agent JJ Walker. This off-season we acquired another SP in Val Imbert. These guys are all in their 30’s except for Walker so having some fresh arms who are inexpensive in the near future will be good to keep our team hopefully in contention year after year.

SP Mike Hayes is a 6’1 180 lbs right handed pitcher from North Dakota. He currently is clocked between 90-92 MPH as an over the top finesse pitcher. He figures to top out on the radar gun at 92-95 someday. Our scout feels that “when he is fully developed his repertoire should include a good fastball, a good change up, a nifty slider and a decent sinker. He has “fringy” stuff but makes up for it with pinpoint control. Hayes could rise to the level of a #3 SP or better”. OSA scouts love him even more saying “Hayes projects to have a 4-pitch repertoire. He pounds the zone and has good movement on his pitches which should help keep the ball in the park. Hayes might not have the talent to anchor a rotation, but would likely be a #2 guy for most teams.

Hayes has been at class A Marquette where he has started 10 games, going 6-2 with a 2.75 ERA in 75 innings. He is only walking 2.6 batters per 9 and is striking out 7.6 batters per 9. We like what we see in Hayes so far.

With our 2nd round pick we choose what I think is one of the better power bats in the whole draft in OF/1B Ronnie Crosby (18 6’1 200lbs B-R). He is rated the #76 prospect in the GLBL and is currently playing at Class A Marquette where he is hitting 293/380/903 with 7 HR 33 RBI and 32 runs scored. Our scout says “Crosby has tons of raw power and someday he’ll challenge for home run titles. He is very patient at the plate and should draw plenty of walks. He could be a solid defensive LF. Crosby has potential to unleash his obvious talent both on the field and at the plate. OSA feels that besides the power which they agree on, “he understands the strike zone and should use that to his advantage. While he doesn’t make consistent contact, he projects to be an above average big league LF.”

In what some might call the steal of the 3rd round (based on prospect rankings) CF Don Hill was our pick. Hill is currently ranked as the #43 prospect in the GLBL and is hitting 325/429/1.046 with 9 HR and 33 RBI’s with 36 runs scored at class A Marquette. To be a center fielder Hill will have to work some more on his defensive abilities. While he has great range (4), his arm and judgement (2) need work. Our scout really likes him in LF but he has the ability to play all 3 OF spots. Hill is a line drive hitter with a great work ethic. Our scout says “He doesn’t get perfect reads but his sheer speed makes up for it. He projects to be an above average contact hitter and is developing raw power that will rival that of an everyday player.” OSA likes him better as a LF and states “ Hill has the talent to flourish in the majors. He’s a sure handed LF with the ability to pick the ball up off the bat. He has the potential to display above average power from the right side of the plate.”

Our 4th round pick is RHRP Bill Greenberg (17 6’0 175lbs T-R). Greenberg ranks as our 17th rated prospect and falls in at the #145 ranking overall. We had really been looking to take another pitcher in the 3rd round but things didn’t fall our way on that. Greenberg has immediately become the closer at class A Marquette where he has pitched 20 innings with a 1.80 ERA and 14 saves. He is striking out 11.7k/9 and walking 3.6BB/9. He currently tops the radar gun at 94-96 and scouts feel he could reach 100+ someday. This kid is a great young man with high loyalty, adaptability, work ethic and baseball IQ traits. Our scout feels that he might eventually be a key man in our bullpen. He will be rated high in strikeouts every year but walks will sometimes be the price for that. Control is his biggest concern and one we hope to work on.

#5 pick 1B Cedric Hodges is a 19-year-old switch hitter who stands 6’2 and weighs 210 lbs. While playing mostly 1B in high school we see him with some ability to perhaps a corner OF spot although with his arm he would be better served in LF than RF most likely. Our scout says “He has plus power potential and has an above average contact potential and could hit for a 310 average.” OSA feels he should develop into an average big league ballplayer. Hodges didn’t make our top 25 prospect list falling in at #36, but we feel he does have a strong upside. He is hitting 318/400/920 with 8 HR and 34 RBI’s 32 runs scored at class A.

Here are the rest of our picks


#6 SP Tom Bradshaw (18 T-L 6’2 185lbs) #24 and #234 overall
#7 3B Gabe O’Neil (18 B-R 6’2 200lbs) #18 and #169 overall
#8 RP Wilbur Crosby (21 T-L 5’10 180lbs) #37 and #378 overall
#9 2B Jesus Sanchez (18 B-R 6’3 185lbs) #34 and #340 overall

Our #10 pick C Josh Maclean didn’t make the Marquette squad and was released.

Overall picking in the #11 slot I think our draft was pretty good. We picked up 3 top 76 prospect talents in the first 3 rounds. We continue to be the #2 overall organization in the prospects rankings based on our top 5 guys.

[DD Martin]

The Trade Deadline - July 31, 2055

Today we played a game against Duluth which is the first in our 3-game home series against them. That will be covered with a report on the full 3 game Duluth series and the 2 game series against Owen Sound. These are my thoughts heading into the trade deadline.

On this morning before the Duluth series we have a 9 game lead over the Sea Gulls and an 11 game lead over the Toledo Neptunes for the South of the Border regular season crown. My gut says we don't really need to do anything with just 40 games left in the regular season, but that doesn't stop me from seeking ways to try and improve this team or come away with something for the future if I think we can handle that sort of trade and not rock the boat.

If I were to make a deal, this is what I would be looking for at the top of my list. A LHSP that could come into the club, even as a rental to shore up our 5th spot in the rotation. Not to say I am looking for a #5 starter, but I am fairly comfortable that the 4 steady guys (Jose Cedeno, Val Imbert, Bill Lutz and Joe Johnson) we have currently give us a more than fair chance to win any game they start. Now could we find a #5 starting pitcher to plug into that spot in our lineup that was not specifically a LHSP, probably. But our entire starting group including the current 5th and 6th options (August Gonzalez and JJ Walker) are both RHSP's. Walker is at AAA and has pitched well in AAA since going down so we could just bring him up and that would solve the #5 "problem". But he isn't a lefty and I am not sure that this season, he is any better than Gonzalez who is a team leader and veteran.

The candidates for a LHSP that I have interest in and could be available.

#1 on that list is the ageless wonder, Hamilton's 44 year old Gabriel Rodriguez. Now some might say why would you want such an old fossil? Well this "fossil' is the GLBL's all time winningest pitcher and with his next win would crack 300. He is under contract for another year, which is not a priority for me and actually is a negative to me as I try to balance out our finances and keep the owner from stringing me up on the CF flag pole. But if he were available he could be the shot in the arm that we need to win the whole thing so I could deal with a payroll problem for next season or be inclined to stay out of the off-season FA market.

Hamilton is 52-52 on the season and in 4th place in the North of the Border division. They trail 2nd place Toronto by 6 games and with the moves Toronto made, it seems that would be a very steep hill for the Mounties to climb. So would Rodriguez who started his career in Hamilton (first 6 seasons), then spent 8 in Kingston and 4 with Owen Sound before coming back the last 6 seasons with Hamilton be available. After a phone call the answer I got was a swift "No". Ok no harm in checking.

#2 on the list was with division rival and still playoff contender Toledo. Now a lot of talk in the Neptunes camp is that this isn't their year, even though they have the 2nd best run differential in the GLBL behind Thunder Bay. They are playing at a -10 games below their pythagorean record and are just 11-20 in 1-run games. So while I wouldn't normally enter a discussion with a playoff rival during the tail end of a season, I figured why not see. The target was the player they got from Thunder Bay when they flipped the $29 million dollar contract of LHSP Carlos Perez (Now there is someone I would have loved to have gotten a month ago if I could make the contract work and honestly if I had known he was on the market I would have figured out a way to make it work and traded the prospect capital to make it work.) for the last year of LHSP Cliff Simpson's $20 million dollar deal. Now there is around around $5.5 million left on Simpson’s deal for this year and theoretically I have $5.23 million in budget space. The deal would absolutely enrage Mr. Bocquet Jr. but then I kind of like pissing him off only to show him my way is the right way.

So I made that call and surprisingly Toledo didn't hang up on me. I was informed that Simpson (34) was actually openly discussing an extension that would be 4 years and oh $40+ plus as his opening offer. Not an outrageous sum, but I was really looking at Simpson as a rental and I will get more into that later on. Simpson was 9-4 on the season with a 3.99 ERA (he was 6-0 in a mostly long man role with Thunder Bay with a 3.41 ERA). So he had pitched overall very well (yes a 3.99 ERA in the GLBL equates to a 121 ERA+ in this league). When I heard about the extension possibility that was a quick indication to me that would raise his price and might put him out of the range I was willing to go. We are thinking about what we would offer and how it would impact what we might want to do with the International FA prospect that will be available tomorrow 8/1).

The 3rd and least likely of the deals was a reach in my opinion. Owen Sound is in the fight for its playoff life but the pitcher I was targeting was not a starter and least not with them. I was looking at 40 year old Jay Bryant who had a 3.20 ERA in 45 set up innings. I felt he had what it took to be a SP and so did he in talking with scouts who knew him. He had started regularly since 2051 with Toledo when he made 26 starts. He mostly has pitched out of the bullpen with Toledo and Owen Sound since then except for 2 starts in 2052 for the Neptunes. He was a free agent at the end of the season, his salary was cheap and maybe he could be had. Unfortunately, all I got was a fast busy signal at the other end of the line. Whether they hadn't paid their phone bill or just took the phone off the phone because they are focused on trying to claw back the games they have lost in the standings to Toronto since that Mega-Deal.

That was the end of my pitchers that I was truly looking at. Now when I am more concerned about a rental than signing someone long term. Well we have a lot of money tied up in starting pitchers next season with over $50 million in 4 guys. That's a little under 1/3 of our budget space (say $160m for payroll). The other was I was hopeful that just turned 21-year-old #12 prospect LHSP Curt Hopkins would be ready to take his turn in our 2056 rotation. We had 3 other SP's that we were very high on as well looking for places in the starting 5 over the next 3 seasons. There really aren't any trades that I can see out there that I would trade any of those 4 youngsters. I see them as our 2060 starting rotation, at least 4 spots in it.

So while we tick down to the deadline did we discuss any other players? The answer is yes to some degree. I inquired about Thunder Bay 2B Ron Hinton who we really tried to sign when he was a FA in 2054. He went to Thunder Bay and is a left-hand hitting 2B and his contract ran for 2 more seasons at $9.5 million. He wasn't starting for the Caribou so we did inquire about him. We never really got into a discussion because TB wasn't sure they wanted to deal a player who was contracted beyond this season since they are so far over budget they won't be involved in FA this off-season. I also was unsure if 2B Walker Dunse would exercise his player option or return. If he returned I had two 2B at $18 million total and that was too much. Dunse can play SS but he really is just average at best defensively at short (much better at 2B). Hinton is average at 2B defensively but the metrics show his range is suspect so that kind of soured me a bit. I did like the lefty bat though.

We discussed internally whether to trade C Sean White who had a great 1st half of the season but has fallen off the cliff not even hitting his wife's weight in July. He has a player option for next year at $8.5 million but would love to sign a 6 year $105 million extension. So my guess is he would opt out. So if there was some great deal out there, sure I would entertain it because I am really comfortable with Juan Duran (23) at catcher and have last year's playoff hero Lee playing and being very angry at AAA. Nothing really came of the White discussions we had and it is probably for the best. I mean he has been a big contributor to this year's club and we are trying to win this season.

Nothing else was happening despite us floating rumors about potentially 2B Dunse, OF Samuel Amsden and 3B/1B Cruz Torres who will likely be on the waiver wire in the morning as we are going to bring back 2B/U player John Lambert.

So the clock is ticking.....will there be any deals? Will the clubs break the single season record for trades in a full season which is 13 (we are at 10 heading into the deadline). Stay turned, but I will say while we haven't made a deal yet, there have been 2 announced so far.

[DD Martin]

July 31st 2055

The trade deadline saw 4 deals completed in the GLBL and yes Chicago ended up making the last trade before the deadline.

Trade #1
Thunder Bay traded one of their 4 starting pitchers that they use regularly in Yakumo Hasegawa. Some might wonder why they did it since they will likely win the North of the Border race with a 10 game lead. Was this a rare moment of fiscal responsibility by the club trading away the 37-year old and his $22 million dollar salary for next year and a player option that will likely be exercised for $23 million in 2057? The Caribou also had an issue that the top catcher in baseball is going to likely walk after the season as Cecil Phillips and void his player option of $15.7 million. The Caribou got their replacement for the future in 21-year old C Jesus Silva (#25 prospect overall). They also pickedup utility OF Herb Schurman who is under contract for $8 million the next 2 seasons and a CF prospect.

Hamilton making the grab for Hasegawa being 6 games out of the wildcard might seem like a gamble too, but the Mounties never give up and in this case they got their man. Hasegawa is still rated the #10 overall pitcher in the GLBL. Will it help them make the playoffs this year? Will it help them in the next 2 seasons? They better hope so or it might not have been worth trading such a good catching prospect as Silva.

Trade #2
Duluth traded a trio of players to Windsor for C Ken Waters. This was a short term upgrade as Waters is a free agent at the end of the season as is current Sea Gulls C Joe Hunt. This allowed the Gulls to DFA C Ken Flynn. Windsor also retained 100% of Waters remaining salary. The rumor is that Duluth will be very active with the money they have in the IAFA market.

Trade #3
Toledo has its season decimated by its won loss record in 1-run games with an 11-20 record. One of the main reasons is the bullpen. This trade for soon to be FA Santiago Costa is definitely going to help address that situation. While Costa's at surface numbers aren't great (5.45 ERA), a closer look suggests that maybe he has been done in by a bad Kingston defense (sub 4 FIP). Kingston receives 23 year old AAA SP Fletcher Charette (6-7 3.23 ERA)

Trade #4
Yes we pulled the plugg and it was with some long thought on our end. After losing the Friday night game (7/30) to Duluth we entered serious discussions with Toledo for LHSP Cliff Simpson. This was a tough decision for many reasons, because adding Simpson's salary would effectively take us out of the top end of the IAFA bidding. Adding Simpson adds $5.2 million dollar to our payroll for this year and that tops us out. So the conversation turned to who would we give up. One ask was for SP Ruben Marin who is one of our 4 prospect SP's that we are just not going to move at any cost. Not now anyway and probably not in the future. After negotiating around several players we agreed to trade LHRP Jerry Powell who as a low cost RP option ($1.7 in 55 and 56) had performed great for us. He wasn't really a piece I wanted to let go but I decided that the other player asked for was part of our future and younger and cheaper. So we agreed to a deal where we sent Powell and minor league prospect OF Albert Hewitson who is a solid to great defender in the OF and decent contact hitter with some power. He was a player I was eyeing for promotion next spring as a backup OF but he wasn't highly thought of by the GLBL scouting association as far as prospect ranking.

I will say I offered higher level prospects than what we gave up but both clubs were looking for similar things and hopefully this rental will work out for us and I won't regret trading a solid LHRP and future OF depth.

[DD Martin]

July 30th 2055 thru August 3rd 2055

This series coming up is against both Duluth and Owen Sound for 5 games at home. After those games are done we embark on a very tough 8 games on the road against Thunder Bay, Toledo and Duluth.

So far this season we are 9-6 versus the Sea Gulls as we try to hold them off and take the South of the Border regular season title. The are led by the $100 million rookie Jorge “Hatch” Rangel who after a slow power start is hitting 257 on the season with 17 home runs and 56 RBI’s. DH Jerry Wickett who was rumored to likely be leaving the Sea Gulls at the end of the season is putting up some reasons why he should maybe be retained. Wickett is hitting 295 with 16 HR and 44 RBI’s from the leadoff spot. While Wickett isn’t much of a fielder the 29-year-old looks like a productive lefty bat. CF Carlos Sanchez (24) looks like more of a corner OF defensively, but he has had a great sophomore season with the Gulls hitting 316 with 17 home runs and a team leading 64 RBI’s. Journeyman RF Mark Laursen is having a fine season as well hitting 287 18 HR and 63 RBI’s.

On the pitching side veteran closer Herve Smart is having a good season with 22 saves and a 2.59 ERA.

Duluth Sea Gulls 58-45 2nd in USA vs Chicago Architects 67-36 1st in USA
July 30th thru August 1st 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds

Game #1 - July 30th 2055
Dave Moss 3-5 6.15 ERA vs Val Imbert 7-7 4.56 ERA
A - 39,927

Chicago got solo home runs from Thomas Arnaud and Pedro Farrulla. Duluth’s Colin Wright singles in one run in the sixth, then doubles and scores in the eighth. In between those runs, Jorge Rangel doubles and scores. A big win on the road for Duluth as they cut Chicago’s lead down to 8 games in the USA. Duluth 3, Chicago 2.

SP V Imbert 5-2 3H 1R 1BB 9K, C J Duran 2-4 DB
CH HR - SS P Farrulla (3), 3B T Arnaud (19)

Game #2 - July 31th 2055
T Gross 6-6 4.44 vs Jose Cedeno 7-6 4.48
A - 39,586

Chicago’s Pongo Cedeño (7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K) and Matsusuke Yoshida (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) shutout the Gulls. It’s the 33-year-old Pongo’s 70th career win. He led the league in wins with 17 just three seasons ago. To reach 300 wins, you just need 13 more seasons like that, Pongo. Oh, and one more season of nine wins. Cris Luna and Thomas Arnaud homer. Chicago 7, Duluth 0.

CF C Luna 3-4 HR R 3RBI, 3B T Arnaud 2-4 HR 2RBI R
CH HR - CF C Luna (8), 3B T Arnaud (20)

Game #3 - August 1st 2055
W McNeely 5-9 5.26 ERA vs JJ Walker 4-3 6.25 ERA
A - 39,609

In an unlikely pitchers duel, there were only seven hits total in this game. Duluth’s Will McNeely (7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K) gives up a single in the second. He retires 15 of the final 16 batters he faces. Chicago’s J.J. Walker (5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 9 K) also gives up a single in the second, but he gives up a second-inning home run, too. Joe Hunt hits it. Duluth 2, Chicago 1.

CH HR - None

Summary - Dropping 2 out of 3 was not great. The bats in games 1 and 3 of this series were pretty quiet. Hopefully that will not be a new trend. Thank good for Jose Cedeno coming through in a big game in that middle game. He is going to cost a lot of money but I still think this guy is one of the premier pitchers in this league. At least he better be at the price we are going to be paying him the next 6 seasons.

Next up is a 2 game home series against Owen Sound who is fighting for 2nd place and the wildcard spot in the Canadian North of the Border division.

Owen Sound Waveriders 59-48 T-2nd Canada vs Chicago Architects 68-38 1st in USA

We lost the first 2 games of the series against the Waveriders this year up at Owen Sound. Hopefully we can return the favor. The Waveriders are in a fight after the pitching rich Toronto Maples made a play for 4 bats from Toledo earlier in the month. The move has paid off for Toronto as they have quickly made up a 3 game deficit.

The Waveriders have arguably the best bat in Canada with 1B Pablo Parrel 323/390/973 with 23 HR’s and 90 RBI’s. Surprisingly he seems to be resting for this first game against the Architects. We will take any advantage that we can get. LF Josselin Leroy (36) is a veteran who is always a consistent hitter who is hitting 278 with 24 HR and 76 RBI’s for the Waveriders. The pitching staff is led by a pair of RHSP’s in Jonathan Honore 8-6 3.94 and Maynard Nicholson 10-6 4.01.

Game #1- August 2nd, 2055
RHSP Paul Arthur 8-7 4.63 vs Joe Johnson 5-1 3.83
A - 39,823


The Architects take a 4-1 lead into the ninth, where Jerry Gaulton doubles with the bases loaded, tying the game, then scores on a Rodney Collins single. The Waveriders take the lead, 5-4. In the bottom of the ninth, Sean White singles, gets sacrificed over to second, and scores the tying run on a John Lambert single. Samuel Amsden then doubles in the winning run. Chicago 6, Owen Sound 5.

C S White 2-3 BB 3R, CF C Luna 2-3 HR, TP, R 4RBI, 2B J Lambert 2-4 DB RBI SP J Johnson 5.2IP 2H R 1BB 6K’s
CH HR - CF C Luna (9)

Game #2 - August 3rd, 2055
Colin Millar 8-5 4.80 vs Val Imbert 7-7 4.44
A - 39,622

Architects receive a solid pitching outing from SP Val Imbert (5.1IP 5H 1R 2BB 4K W 8-7) and then the bullpen holds on for dear life in securing the 2 game sweep and ending the season series against Owen Sound at 2-2. José Gómez and Matt Graves homer but Gomez suffered an injury to his arm making a throw in the 5th inning. . Chicago 4, Owen Sound 3.

C S White 2-3 DB BB
CH HR - LF J Gomez (2), LF M Graves (6)

Summary - A big sweep for us against Owen Sound as we hold onto an 8 game lead over 2nd Duluth and 13 over 3rd place Toledo. With that big of a lead a playoff spot almost feels assured.

Losing Jose Gomez to any sort of injury is not ideal. He was hitting 400 with 2 home runs and 14 RBI’s in the 13 games that he has been with us. The injury is a mild shoulder strain that could last 2 weeks. He probably won’t be available to play in the field much, but he could DH and probably PH for us so for now we will not DL him.

The addition of LHSP Cliff Simpson is one that I think will help us greatly. It gives us a durable 5th starter ahead of both Augusto Gonzalez and JJ Walker who have both been up and down this season. Walker will briefly go to AAA Saugatuck to play for the Joe’s. He will be brought back up in about a week when the rosters expand.

At the halfway point in this critical 16 game stretch we end up 6-2. Duluth is 6-1 while Toledo is 1-7.

Next up - An 8 Game road trip to Thunder Bay, Toledo and Duluth.

[DD Martin]

August 4th thru 12th 2055 - The Road Trip from Hell

We start out a very important and tough 8 game road trip which is the 2nd half of the crucial 16-game 17-day trek. We started this with 8 games at home where we went a very solid 6-2. Now we have games at Thunder Bay (2), Toledo (3) and Duluth (3).We would be thrilled getting a split in these. 8 games as it would likely make our spot in the post season almost assured. So far this season on the road our record is 35-18, while at home we are 35-20.

First up is Thunder Bay

Chicago Architects 70-38 1st in the South of the Border vs Thunder Bay Caribou 70-38 1st in the North of the Border

A rematch of last years GLBL Championship Series that the Caribou won in 6 games. Both of these teams have big leads in their respective division so we might be looking at a rematch at the end of the season.

The Caribou boast a potent line with 4 players coming in with at least 22 home runs led by former Chicago player DH/3B Sean Lane’s 29. They also have arguably the best catcher in the GLBL who could likely be a free agent after the season if he declines his player option.

The Caribou recently moved one of their starting pitchers, Yukumo Hasegawa. They landed a top ranked catching prospect who will likely be counted on to take over sometime next year for Phillips and a few other pieces. Will that hurt the Caribou in moving Hasegawa this season in the playoffs? Who will step up into their #4 spot in their rotation? Thunder Bay uses a very strict limit on its starting pitchers, usually around 18 batters which allows them to mostly use a 4 man rotation and rely heavily on their bullpen. You can’t argue with their success over recent seasons.

Chicago @ Thunder Bay
Game #1 - August 4th 2055
A - 39,785

Bill Lutz 11-4 4.68 vs RHSP Bill Cannon 4-7 5.12

Chicago out-hits Thunder Bay (10 to 9) and out-homers Thunder Bay (2 to 1), but Thunder Bay out-walks Chicago (9 to 3) and out-scores Chicago. Walks, walks and more walks. Lutz has reverted back to the walking machine that he was to start the season. Thunder Bay 10, Chicago 3.

C S White 2-4 R, 2B W Dunse 2-4 HR R RBI SB, SS P Farrulla 2-4 RBI
CH HR - 1B R Osborn (25), 2B W Dunse (3)

Chicago @ Thunder Bay
Game #2 - August 5th 2055

SP Jose Cedeno 8-6 4.38 vs LHSP Ralph Baxter 6-4 3.62

The Caribou sweep this meeting of first-place teams. They win this game in a very Caribou way: lots of home runs. Emerson Coleman hits two. Gerald Powers, Michael Jackson, Ron Hinton, and Robinson González hit one. Thunder Bay 9, Chicago 6.


CH HR - DH J Gomez (3) 1B R Osborn (26)

Summary - Well that was not the start we were looking for this road trip. Thunder Bay had our number in this 2 game set as they take 3 out of 4 on the season. With the 2 loses we now have a 10-10 record against the Canadian teams and a 500 record in the crossover games would be our best in my 4 seasons. There are only 4 games left against the Canadian clubs that will be played in late August.

SP Bill Lutz unfortunately looks to have reverted to his early season form. In April he was removed from the rotation with an 11+ ERA but then came back with a strong May/June before hitting another rough patch in mid July. Walks have been a killer for him and the acquisition of Cliff Simpson seems even more important now. Simpson is going to go first in the Toledo series which is up next.

August 5th-7th 2055
Chicago Architects 70-40 1st in the US vs Toledo Neptunes 59-51 3rd in the US

Off a rough 2-game set at Thunder Bay it’s time to shake off those loses and focus on wrapping up the South of the Border title. On the season, after losing 5 of the first 6 against the Neptunes the Architects won 11 of the next 12 to take a commanding 12-6 lead in the season series.

The Neptunes are definitely sporting a new look offense after trading away 4 starters to Toronto. It doesn’t appear to have affected their scoring much as they are still scoring over 5.3 runs per game.

Looking deeper at the Neptunes, there has been a lot of talk about run differential. This season Toledo is 11-20 in 1-run games. Which for a team that outscores opponents like they do that is a really telling number. Is it the bullpen, yeah probably some but with Mews and Cooper they aren't terrible in the late inning guys. What is telling is that Toledo has played 25 games that would be considered “blowouts”. The definition of a blowout (in this analysis) is a game decided by 5 runs or more. Toledo is an incredible 23-2 in those games and has outscored their opponents by a count of 235-70 in those games. That is a +165 difference. Included in those games was a 20-0 win, a 23-4 win and a 15-2 win. In their other 79 games their run differential is -18 and their record is 33-46.

I have not checked but I can't imagine another team playing in that many "blowout" games. Milwaukee has played in 21 of those types of games and until this month was 7-7 in those but now is 8-13.

In a bit of a surprise Chicago had played in 28 of these blowout games, but the Tech’s record is only 17-11 in these types of games. Actually the number of losses in these types of games was a bit alarming to me. But Chicago makes up for 11 blowout losses with a 22-10 record in 1-run games.

Clearly Toledo, when they are on, they are unstoppable winning 92% of these blowout games. But in 75% of the games they play they are rather ordinary based on record and run differential. Since their mega-trade starting on July 11th, if you think that might impact the offense, they are 5-1 in these sort of blowouts.

So say Toledo is actually the best team in the USA as the defending 3 -time US division champs have a superior run differential than both Chicago and Duluth.

Game 1 - Friday August 6th, 2055
Toledo’s Ballpark of Toledo
Cliff Simpson (first start for Chicago 9-4 3.99 ERA) vs Nick Keddy 10-4 2.89 ERA
A - 39,763


Cliff Simpson starts his first game for Chicago against the team that just traded him, Toledo. Simpson takes a shutout into the eighth. With two outs, he gave up two singles and a monster home run to Specs Ogawa. Still three runs over eight innings ain’t bad. The only problem is that Toledo’s Nick Keddy had his best stuff. He gives up a single on his first pitch of the game. The second pitch sees that baserunner get caught stealing. He then retires 23 of the next 24 batters he faces. (He walks a runner in the fifth.) Keddy strikes out 10, including striking out the side in the second. He comes out to pitch the ninth, walks the leadoff man, and gets pulled. Reliever Luke Mews allows that runner to score, but that’s the only run that Chicago scores. Toledo 3, Chicago 1.

SP C Simpson 8IP 8H 3R 2BB 5K L,
CH HR - None

Game 2 - Saturday August 7th, 2055
Toledo’s Ballpark of Toledo
Joe Johnson 5-1 3.86 vs Walt Connel 7-1 3.86
A - 39,865

It’s the same score as yesterday. The Neptunes scored three in the fourth. Stephen Rice singles in one, and Specs Ogawa doubles in two. Walt Connel (7.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K) takes a shutout into the eighth. He walks the leadoff man, gets pulled, and reliever Santiago Costa gives up an RBI double to Miguel Toledo. The Tects lose their fourth straight game. Toledo 3, Chicago 1

LF M Graves 2-4 RBI CS
CH HR - None

Game 3 - Sunday August 8th, 2055
Toledo’s Ballpark of Toledo
Val Imbert 8-7 4.40 vs Christopher Brouchard 4-8 3.78
A - 39,895

Toledo’s Christopher Bouchard (8 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K) gives up just one run. It scores via a hit batsman, a single, and a not-an-RBI double play. Stephen Rice hits a two-run home run. Playing in his first major-league game, 22-year-old second-sacker Zheng-Ze hits a home run. Later in the game he singles in a run. Congrats, Zheng-Ze! Toledo 6, Chicago 1

CH HR - None

Summary - losing 5 straight on the road wasn’t what we expected on this 8 game trip. We felt a 500 trip would have been great but that has flown out the window and we head to red hot Duluth who is now just a mere 4 games behind us in the standing.

What went wrong in Toledo, just about everything. LHSP Clint Simpson had a fine start in game 1 of the series but there is a reason Nick Keddy is the unquestioned top pitcher in the US division.

The Architects scored just 3 runs in the 3-game series, while collecting just 9 hits in those 3 games. I’m starting to think we left our bats at Pier IV Grounds. We now need to stop this losing streak and get things going, but Duluth is the hottest team in the GLBL.

Will the Architects snap out of the funk or are we going to have a real race in the US division when just a week ago we were talking about wrapping up a post season berth.

Monday August 9th, 2055 - off-day

Chicago Architects 70-43 1st in the US @ Duluth Sea Gulls 66-47 2nd in the US
Tuesday August 10th through Thursday August 12th, 2055

Thankfully the Architects had an off-day on Monday to lick their wounds and find their bats. This is a huge series and we have teams going in opposite directions. The Architects have lost 5 straight on the road while the Sea Gulls have won 7 out of 8 in August and have gone 12-2 in their last 14 games. When we started this stretch Chicago had an 8 game lead, it is now down to just 4 over the 2nd place Gulls.

If the Architects are going to win any games on this trip, they have to get their bats going. While scoring 9 runs in 2 games at Thunder Bay, we only managed 3 runs in 3 games against Toledo. 2.4 runs per game is not going to cut it in this league. The Architects have won 10 out of the 18 games played so far between the two clubs. If we can somehow right the ship and take 2 out of 3, we will leave with a 5 game lead. If we continue our plunge into darkness, we will be just 1 game ahead of Duluth when we leave town.

Game #1 - Tuesday August 10th 2055
At Seagulls Field in Duluth
SP Bill Lutz 11-5 4.98 vs RHSP Dave Moss 3-5 6.03
A - 39,808

The Gulls come into this series just four games behind the Tects. Will Duluth close the gap further, or will Chicago reassert themselves? In a three-run second, Duluth’s Jerry Wickett triples in two. Carlos Sánchez, who just won Player of the Week, singles in two in the fourth. Chicago’s Matt Graves does his part trying to keep the Tect’s in the game. He doubles and scores, then hits a pair of solo home runs. His teammates don’t help him out. Duluth 6, Chicago 3.

LF M Graves 3-4 2HR, DB 3R 2RBI
CH HR - L Graves 2 (8)

Game #2 - Wednesday August 11th 2055
At Seagulls Field in Duluth
Cliff Simpson 0-1 3.38 ERA vs LHSP Tim Gross 7-7 4.51
A - 39,642

Duluth’s Tim Gross (8 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K) retires the first 16 batters he faces. The Gulls batters get runners on base every inning, but they don’t break through until the fifth, when Rafael Morales singles in a pair. Again recently acquired Cliff Simpson pitches well but his teammates offer him no support. The Gulls add a third run in the seventh off a reliever: Alejandro Escobar triples and scores on a wild pitch. In the eighth, newly acquired Ken Waters hits a two-run home run. Duluth 5, Chicago 0.

SP C Simpson 6IP 8H 2 R 2BB 4K
CH HR- none

Game #3 - Thursday August 12th 2055
At Seagulls Field in Duluth
SP Jose “Pongo” Cedeno 8-7 4.27 vs Will McNeely 7-9 4.86
A - 39,658

The Gulls sweep the Tects, narrowing Chicago’s lead to a single game. Will McNeely (7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 8 K) and Bruce Peraca (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) shutout Chicago on three hits, all singles. Jorge Rangel, Colin Wright, Joe Hunt, Carlos Sánchez, and Mark Laursen all homer. Hunt’s is a three-run home run. Sánchez and Laursen homer on consecutive pitches in the eighth. Chicago loses their eighth straight game. Duluth has won 15 of their last 17 games. Duluth 7, Chicago 0

CH HR - None

Summary - That was just ugly baseball over the last 9 days. With our best team in my 4 seasons in Chicago, we hadn’t dropped 8 straight games until now. In the Duluth series the Architects scored 3 runs on 8 hits in the first game and then followed that up with 3 hits and no runs in the last 2 games. Chicago scored 15 runs in 8 games and yeah 1.8 rpg just isn’t going to get it done.

I feel sorry for SP Cliff Simpson (who is on his 3rd team of the season). He has pitched well in 2 games and has 2 losses to show for it. The club has just scored 1 run in these 2 outings since being acquired.

Duluth has closed the gap on us to just 1 game as they went 14-2 in this critical 16 game stretch that we defined while we went 6-10 (after starting 6-2). Toledo is now just 7 games back. Last season the Neptunes ran off a similar run that Duluth just did to end the season and came from 6 back to tie the Architects for the regular season title and then win it in an extra game.

This club needs to head home and find their bats and hitting mojo once again or this could be one of if not the greatest collapse in GLBL history.
The next 6 games are at home against some of the dregs of the South of the Border Division. If we can't get healthy against them, then this is going to be a season to never forget and not in a good way.

I have had some game issues the last week so that is why this version is so long to get caught up. Stupid 202 Error!!!!

[DD Martin]

August 12th through 18th
The Return Home

After a road trip that everyone wants to forget, the club returns home and we really need to get our bats going. The pitching hasn’t been outstanding, but in this league it has been good enough most nights to have won some of those road games. We need to get back to hitting like we have been for most of the season.

Fortunately, returning home where we have a 35-20 record and facing two teams in the bottom half of the US division had better lead to a winning result. Honestly the bare minimum if we want to keep pace is to go 4-2 but it would be great to sneak another win or two. Traverse City is sitting in 5th place, has a 49-67 record and 21-35 on the road. No excuse not to win this series. After the Bears roll in, Detroit follows with a 53-66 record good for a distant 4th place in the US and has a road record of 23-37.

As I said, no excuses.

Instead of concentrating on our opponents we are going to focus on our hitters in the month of August (which covered the last few home games before that mess of a road trip.


LF Matt Graves was the only position player to hit over 225 on the road trip as he checked in with a 316 batting average. Graves, who has 49 stolen bases heading into the home stand and has only been caught 10 times this season, shows that even with some hitting we just didn’t have anything offensively. Graves had a 1 out of 5 stolen base success rate during the road trip. Before the 8 game slide he was 48 out of 54 for a 89% success rate.

As a team during that trip we had 205 at-bats with just 33 hits, for a team batting average of just 161. With 17 walks that brought our on-base percentage to just 225. With 7 doubles and 4 home runs that brought our slugging in at 254. So the road trip slash line was 161/225/479. That number just isn’t for some slick fielding shortstop, that number is for the entire team! So you have to look no further than those numbers or 1.88 rpg we scored over the 8 games.

On the bright side of things it is roster expansion time. We called up several pitchers including JJ Walker who had a very solid start his last time out. We also brought up RP Richard Herschel who is a team leader. That gives us 14 pitchers on the staff so if we have any negative blowouts hopefully we will use a couple of the less effective pitchers in those types of games. There is also some thought about bringing up SP Stan Storey who we picked up in the Ken Noseworthy trade. Between Thunder Bay’s AAA club and ours, Storey is 13-7 with a 3.09 ERA. With the club struggling, any thought of bringing up one of the guys who we believe will be one of our staples in the very near future, Curt Hopkins, has gone out the window for now. He might get a call up in a week or two just to get a feel for things, but I do not want to put that kid in the pressure cooker with the way the club is playing right now.

On the hitting side, we brought up several guys including RF Jim Harris who is a light hearted sort of a guy who might be able to loosen things up in the clubhouse if the guys are feeling tight after that road trip. We also brought back 3B/1B Cruz Torres who went unclaimed when we DFA him 2 weeks ago. The plan was if he went unclaimed that we would bring him back as a switch hitting bench bat. He might even get some time over DH Bob Toledo who has been a huge disappointment since coming over from Duluth. Toledo is hitting just 182/252/515 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI’s in 28 games. His regular playing time is about done I would say. We also brought back 3B/IF Larry Davis and 2B/U John Lambert. Both are hitting around 300 on the season and if they can heat up might see some extended playing time.


Traverse City Bears 49-67 5th in the US vs Chicago Architects 70-46 1st in the US
August 13th through 15th 2055

We have done well against the Bears all season going 13-5 so far. We will have this series at home and then in the final week of the season we will head to TC for 3 games. First things first, we need to end the losing streak. To do so we face our old friend Bradley Stenter who is making his 3rd starter for the Bears since we traded him. He beat Milwaukee his last time out.

Game #1 - Friday August 13th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 39,655

RHSP Bradley Stenter 2-1 4.82 vs Joe Johnson 5-2 3.91

The Tects snap their losing streak. Joe Johnson (7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 K) wins his first game in one month and one day. Thomas Arnaud and Prowler Ashley homer. Chicago 5, Traverse City 1.

1B R Osborn 2-4 RBI SB
CH HR - 3B T Arnaud (21), RF J Ashley (23)

Game #2 - Saturday August 14th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 39,702

RHSP William Charles 8-6 3.88 vs Val Imbert 8-8 4.41

The Tects scored seven runs in the fourth. Samuel Amsden hits a two-run double, and Prowler Ashley hits a two-run home run. The Architects belt out 11 hits as the offense finally shows up again. Chicago 8, Traverse City 5

SP V Imbert 6.1IP 4H 2R 1BB 4k W, LF S Amsden DB R 3RBI, 1B R Osborn 2-3 R, RBI, BB, SB, RF J Ashley 2-4 HR R 2 RBI, CF J Lambert 2-4 TP R,
CH HR - RF J Ashley (24)


Game #3 - Sunday August 15th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 39,672

RHSP John Nelligan 7-7 5.46 vs Bill Lutz 11-6 5.32
The Bears scored four times in the second, with Eddie Guy hitting a three-run home run. They score twice more in the third and never look back. Bill Lutz drops his 3rd straight decision and has been removed from the Chicago rotation for his next turn. Traverse City 8, Chicago 4.

2B W Dunse 2-4 R
CH HR - LF M Graves (9)

Summary - Not a great way to end things, but we did take 2 out of 3 and end the 8 game slide. We showed some signs of offense in the series scoring 17 runs in the 3 game set. The one concerning thing is that 1B Reagan Osborn who was on a player of the year pace before his injury kept him out 2 weeks is not driving in many runs. He has hit 3 home runs and driven in 11 RBI’s since his return from injury July 23rd. When he went out he was hitting 350 with 23 home runs and 66 RBI’s. We truly need to get him back swinging a power bat in the middle of our lineup.

Lutz has been an enigma this season. He’s won 11 games, but has gone through very hot and extremely cold streaks. Right now he is in a cold streak and we will probably hold him out of his next scheduled start against Milwaukee, although that might be the team we should start him against. Right now we are leaning to putting him in the bullpen and working long relief where he was great in early May before making his return to the rotation later that month.


Next up Detroit

Detroit Thunderbirds 53-66 4th place in US vs Chicago Architects 72-47 1st place in US
August 16th through August 18th 2055

We lead the season series against the Thunderbirds 11-7 and have a season ending trip to Detroit to finish up the year. Detroit is playing out the string and trying to remain ahead of Traverse City for 4th place in the US. They do have an emerging star in 1B Mal Johnston who is probably an easy shoe-in (unless I am forgetting someone) for the USA rookie of the year as he is hitting 308 with 24 home runs and 78 RBI’s on the season. Grumpy RF Stan Gillis is having a season that could give TC’s Earle Foote and Chicago 1B Reagan Osborn a run at the US player of the year. Gillis (29) who is a free agent at the end of the season is hitting 325 with 24 home runs and 99 RBI’s.

Game #1 - Monday August 16th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 39,738

RHSP BIll Clary 8-7 3.67 vs Clint Simpson 0-2 3.43

Cliff Simpson (7 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 4 K) makes his third start as an Architect. Like the other two, (1) he pitches well enough to win, and (2) the team loses. Detroit’s Art Loder and Paul Larocque homer. Larocque also steals two bases and singles in a run. The Architects only manage 6 hits. Detroit 5, Chicago 4.

LF M Graves 2-4 DB RBI SB (50)
CH HR - none

Game #2 - Tuesday August 17th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 39,950

Joo-Seok Kim 7-11 6.79 vs Jose Cedeno 8-8 4.40

Chicago takes a 2-1 lead into the eighth. Detroit’s Mal Johnston hits a two-run home run, giving the T-Birds a 3-2 lead. But in the bottom of the inning, Chicago’s Thomas Arnaud singles in the tying run, then scores on pinch-hitter Cruz Torres’s double. Chicago 4, Detroit 3

SP J Cedeno 6IP 6H 1R 3BB 7K, 1B R Osborn 3-4 DB R RBI
CH HR - None

Game #3 - Wednesday August 18th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 39,609

LHSP Dwayne Miller 8-8 5.55 vs Joe Johnson 6-2 3.71

Detroit ties the game, 2-2, in the seventh on a Florent Bernier triple and an Alan Stout double. Chicago wins the game in the bottom of the ninth on a Thomas Arnaud two-run home run. Rookie LHP Ed Reedin picks up his 1st career victory in relief. Chicago's big 3 hitters Osborn, Ashley and Arnaud all hit home runs. Chicago 4, Detroit 2

SP J Johnson 6.1IP 5H 2R 1BB 5K, 1B R Osborn 2-3 HR R RBI,
CH HR - RF J Ashley (25), 1B R Osborn (27) and 3B T Arnaud (22)

Summary - We end the homestand with a 4-2 record winning 2 out of 3 against both Traverse City and Detroit. We scored 29 runs in the 6 games so just under a 5 rpg clip. The team has been averaging 5.6 rpg so we are still down. We have been resting OF Jose Gomez who can’t seem to shake the shoulder injury. He has been available for high leverage pinch hitting duties but we will likely keep him out of the Milwaukee series and try to have him ready for the stretch run. He seems to be the bat that has replaced injury DH/RF Jose Aranda who’s injury has really seemed to have an effect on the offense. Even with the improvement offensively the team still doesn't feel like it is hitting on all cylinders like we were before the start of August.

We go to Milwaukee next where we take on the last place Eagles. We also enter that series with a 10 game road losing streak. Winning the series would be great and should be expected. Ending the road losing streak on night one of the series feels like it is important. Let’s hope we can sweep the struggling birds.

At the bottom instead of the usual batting stats you will see the hitting stats from the road trip from hell.

[DD Martin]

Back on the Road
Can we break the losing streak?

Chicago Architects 74-48 1st Place in US @ Milwaukee Eagles 36-86 Last in the US
Friday August 20th through Sunday August 22nd 2055


The Architects venture back out on the road for a brief 5 game trip that will take them to Milwaukee to face the 36-86 Eagles for 3 games and then off to Hamilton for 2 games to start the last of the Canadian portion of the schedule.

We have lost 10 straight on the road and if we can’t beat the Eagles on the road, well we might not win another road game all year. A bit harsh but even though the club is 4-2 since the roadtrip from hell, it just doesn’t feel like the team that raced out to such a commanding lead just 1 short month ago. We are only 6-11 in the month of August and we are starting to put ourselves into a familiar position. I have seen this story play out before and it generally doesn’t end well.

On the year Chicago is 14-4 against Milwaukee so we have been dominant against them, but then who hasn’t been. To end our losing streak on the road we are not going to go with SP Bill Lutz, who leads the team in victories with 11 but is in poor form right now. Instead we are going to take a risk and try to inject some life into the club. SP Stan Storey who we acquired from Thunder Bay back in May is going to make his big league debut. Storey is 13-7 with a 3.05 ERA between his two AAA clubs this year. He deserves a shot at proving himself. I don’t know with the returning John Moore and more importantly Yale Hulburt coming back next season (at some point in Hulburt’s case) if there is room for Storey in the rotation. He could be an interesting trade candidate or it could be Moore or even Lutz. Pitching is needed in this league and based on how Clint Simpson is pitching, and he proves us a lefty starter, we might try and re-sign him. The jury is out on that still.


Game #1 - Friday August 20th, 2055
Played at Milwaukee’s The Nest ballpark
A - 28,911

RHSP Stan Storey (13-7 3.05 ERA at AAA) vs RHSP Billy Hill 6-13 4.71

Chicago gives the ball to Stan Storey, a 25-year-old who came over in May in the Kent Noseworthy trade. In his first-ever major-league appearance, Storey throws 7 1/3 shutout innings in his big league debut and picks up the win (7.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K) Congrats, Stan! It is quite the pitchers duel between Storey and Eagles SP Billy Hill (6IP 5H 1R 2BB 3K). Prowler Ashley drives in one run with a single and another with a home run. Chicago 2, Milwaukee 0.

LF M Graves 2-5 DB, R, RF J Ashley 2-4 HR R 2RBI SB
CH HR - RF J Ashley (26)

Game #2 - Saturday August 21st, 2055
Played at Milwaukee’s The Nest ballpark
A - 34,332

SP Cliff Simpson 0-2 3.58 vs Kent Bennett 5-12 6.40

They must love their baseball in Milwaukee despite the team’s struggles the last few seasons. Over 34,000 fans showed up and it wasn’t a buy 1 get 1 ticket promotion either. Chicago scored five times in the sixth inning. Cris Luna doubles in three, Walker Dunse singles in Luna, and Cruz Torres scores on a sac fly. Cliff Simpson (6.2 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 7 K) earns his first win in an Architects uniform and his 10th win on the season. Chicago 6, Milwaukee 3.

3B T Arnaud 3-5 R, RBI, 1B R Osborn 2-4 2R BB SB, CF C Luna 1-3 DB R BB 3RBI, DH C Torres 2-4 R, C S White 2-5 DB R
CH HR - none

Game #3 - Sunday August 22nd, 2055
Played at Milwaukee’s The Nest ballpark
A - 34,815

Jose Cedeno 8-8 4.30 vs Mitch “Hypnotist” Belding 4-8 4.54
Milwaukee’s Mitch “The Hypnotist” Belding (5.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K) as he put the Chicago hitters under a hypnotic trance. He pitched well, but he needed one more out to earn the win. The Eagles go ahead in the sixth. Cory Seguin doubles in a run, and Randy Hiscock singles in another. The mystifying Jose Cedeno has a rough game against the usually sleepy Eagles lineup. Milwaukee 6, Chicago 1.

RF J Ashley 2-4 DB R, DH L Davis 2-3 BB, 2B W Dunse 2-3 BB
CH HR - none

Summary - Well the Architects ended the 10 game road skid in the first game of the series but even while winning 2 out of 3 and having won 6 out of their last 9, things just don’t seem all that great. The offense is still in a funk as we manage just 9 runs in 3 games against a really bad Milwaukee pitching staff. We did however stretch out our lead in the division to 2 games over Duluth and it remains 7 over Toledo, but now its off to Canada for the last of the painful (for US teams) series against the Canadian clubs. So far on the season we are 10-10 against teams from the North but US teams. So far this year the Canadian teams have dominated the inter-league play with a record of 71-49. That is at least the 4th straight season of domination (during my time in the league and I might research it further in the off-season).

Stan Storey certainly pitched well enough to earn another start, the question is when will it be and against who? Maybe when we get back around to Milwaukee, Detroit and Traverse City. I do not see it coming against either Toledo or Duluth, but it all depends. He pitched great, but it was against a struggling Eagles offense.

Next we go to Hamilton to take on the hard charging Mounties 66-59

Chicago Architects 76-49 1st in the US @ Hamilton Mounties 66-59 4th place in Canada
Monday August 23rd and 24th 2055

On August 10th the Mounties found themselves 57-57 in 4th place and 6 ½ games out of the wildcard in the North of the Border League. Since that time they have gone 9-2 and are now in the thick of a fierce 3-team fight with Toronto and Owen Sound. Toronto leads the wildcard race and is just 1 game up on Owen Sound and Hamilton. So we get to face another “hot” team on the road. We really want to split these two games at worst so it is always nice to win the first game……

Game #1 - Monday August 23rd 2055
At Hamilton’s Harbour Field
A - 22,778

Joe Johnson 6-2 3.66 vs RHSP Sean “sleepy” Moore 6-12 4.33

SP Joe Johnson did not have his best stuff and left after 4 innings. On the other side of the diamond Sean “Sleepy” Moore made Chicago sleepy enough to allow his club a chance. Hamilton’s Rodeo Leroy hits a two-run home run, Glen Dickie doubles in a run, Terry Foster hits a solo home run and a sac fly. The Mounties have won 10 of 12. Hamilton 7, Chicago 5.

We are now up to date with the league. This morning's 4 day sim took us to Hamilton for game 1 of the 2 game set there. Tomorrow we will finish off that set and come home to face a Windsor team who is trying to make it a 4 team race in for the North of the Border Wildcard, but they are 6 games back. Then we begin a 6 game homestand against Toledo and Duluth. Those games will likely settle the USA League. Toledo and Duluth also play each other 1 more time and just finished 3 games against each other where Toledo did us a favor and won 2 out of 3 games.

[DD Martin]

Finishing off the Canadian Games

After suffering the loss on the road against Hamilton we come back with 1 more with the white hot Mounties and then start our final homestand of the season with 11 games. First up will be North of the Border 5th place team, the Windsor Vigilantes. Then South of the Border last place Milwaukee. Taking at least 4 out of 5 against these two teams seems pretty critical. Then we host the two biggest series of the season against 3rd place Toledo and 2nd place Duluth. If we can avoid being swept in both of those series then a playoff spot seems secure.

But first it's the 2nd game against the Mounties.

Game #2 - Tuesday August 24, 2055
Chicago @ Hamilton
@ Hamilton’s Harbour Field
A - 33,723


Val Imbert 9-8 4.34 vs RHSP (21-year old rookie) Roy Lapointe 2-3 5.03

The rookies step up for Hamilton. Recent draft pick Roy Lapointe (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 K) holds the Tects to one run and just 3 hits and the bullpen takes it the rest of the way. R.C. Burt hits a three-run home run. Hamilton 7, Chicago 1.

Nothing to talk about
CH HR - None

Summary - Hamilton has come from nowhere and is now threatening to gain the wildcard spot as they are in a 3-team race with Owen Sound and Toronto. Can the Mounties stay this hot? Will Thunder Bay who has gone on the skids since taking 2 against us at the beginning of the month hold everyone off? They should since they had 12-13+ game leads on all those teams at one point.

For us the loss dropped us into a tie for first in the USA with Duluth. It will be good to be home and hopefully with Windsor and Milwaukee coming up we can regain the lead.

Windsor Vigilantes 62-65 5th in Canada vs Chicago Architects 76-51 T-1st in the US
Wednesday August 25th and Thursday August 26th 2055

The Vigilantes come to town and we need to win both games to even up our record against the mighty Canadian teams to 12-12. The Architects split the first 2 games at Windsor back in June. The Vigilantes are holding faint playoff hopes alive and these are truly must win games for them, but they are also important games for us as well.

This is the start of an 11-game homestand where we could clinch a playoff spot and if we are lucky clinch the division title. Time to finish the season strong and be ready for the playoffs. Let’s get it going!

Game #1 - Wednesday August 25th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 39,906

RHSP Kawanari Ohayashi 9-3 4.28 vs Stan Storey 1-0 0.00

Chicago’s Reagan Osborn is walked three times. He doubles and singles in the two times he’s given pitches to hit. He steals two bases and scores three runs. Sean White hits a two-run triple. Chicago 9, Windsor 5

RF J Ashley 2-5 DB 2R RBI, 1B R Osborn 2-2 3BB DB 2SB 3R, C S White 2-5 TP, R 4RBI, CF C Luna 2-4 DB BB R RBI
CH HR - None

Game #2 - Thursday August 26th 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 39,589

RHSP Kevin Simonin 6-5 5.15 vs Cliff Simpson 10-6 3.88 (1-2 in Chicago)

Windsor plates four in the fourth, with Carlos Alomar tripling in the last two. That gives the Vigilantes a 5-3, and they take that lead into the late innings. The Tects score one in the eighth. Thomas Arnaud singles in Reagan Osborn. In the bottom of the ninth, with two on and one out, Prowler Ashley doubles in the tying run. With two outs and the bases loaded, Sean White singles in the winning run. Closer Pat Wright picks up his 8th win of the season (8-3). This was a big sweep for the Architects as Duluth lost both of their games and Chicago holds a 2-game lead in the South of the Border standings. Chicago 6, Windsor 5.

P A Gonzalez 3.1IP 1H, 0R BB 2K, LF M Graves 2-5 DB R, 2B W Dunse 0-4 BB 2R, 1B R Osborn 3-5 R RBI, C S White 2-5 HR 3RBI R
CH HR - C S White (14)

Summary - A sweep against Windsor closes our inter-league battles with the Canadian teams at 12-12. More importantly is with Duluth losing 2 games we have re-taken a 2 game lead in the USA division.

It’s great to see C Sean White start to reheat. White had an outstanding first half of the season, but had slumped badly in July around the time we called up C Juan Duran. If we can get White going again down the stretch and into the playoffs, our lineup will be that much better. CF Cris Luna has also had a good 2nd half of the season. Luna’s batting average is now up to 252 on the season where he was hovering around the Mendoza line and lower for the first few months.

The homestand continues with Milwaukee coming next.

[DD Martin]

The Start of the US Division portion of our Final Homestand of the Season

We enter this last 15 game stretch of the season with 9 games at home and the final 6 away. We have Milwaukee at home first, then the big series against both Toledo and Duluth. The goal is to secure a playoff spot first with our clinching that is set at 9. Then we will focus on holding off Duluth who enters this last run of the season just 2 games behind, but considering they were tied for first just 2 days ago, we will take the 2 game lead.

The Eagles enter this series with a virtual lock to have the #1 pick in the draft and be on the clock. They are behind North of the Border last place Kingston by 12 games so it would take a tremendous turn of fortunes for the Eagles to fall out of the #1 slot and avoid 100 losses. The Eagles won 56 games last year going 56-88 so they have already surpassed and they look to have their worst record in the history of the franchise this year as no Eagles team has ever lost 100 games. Toronto is the only North of the Border team to ever lose 100 games in a season with 101 in 2025 and that record looks to fall. In GLBL history Toledo holds the all time top 3 spots in most losses with 109 in 2015, 106 in 2035 and 105 in 2045. In 2055 the Neptunes will not threaten that record as they are still in the thick of the race.

On the season we are 16-5 vs the Eagles.

Milwaukee Eagles 38-91 last in the US vs Chicago Architects 78-51 1st in the US
Frisday August 27th through Sunday August 29th 2055
At Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds

Game #1 - Friday August 27, 2055
A - 39,620
RHSP Mitch “Hypnotist” Belding 4-8 4.40 vs Jose “Pongo” Cedeno 8-9 4.39

Just 5 days ago “The Hypnotist” Belding helped Milwaukee to a victory over Chicago. This time Chicago’s José Cedeño (9 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K) pitched a complete game. He gives up a second-inning home run to Kennelly Mulford, then retires 13 batters. Thomas Arnaud doubles in one run and homers in another. Prowler Ashley singles three times and drives in three. With our win and Duluth’s loss to Toledo our lead over the Sea Gulls increased to 3 games, and we stayed 6 ahead of Toledo. Chicago 9, Milwaukee 1.

RF J Ashley 3-4 R, 3RBI SB, 3B T Arnaud 2-4 DB, HR 2R 2RBI, CF J Lambert 2-4 HR 2R RBI
CH HR - 3B T Arnaud (23) CF J Lambert (5)

Before the game on Saturday we made a few more call-ups from the AAA Joe’s. We decided that this Milwaukee game would be a good time to see what 2 kids could do as we hoped they would be a part of next year's club. SP Curt Hopkins 6-10 4.73 ERA (21 #12 prospect) and SS Cristo Sandoval (21 #10 prospect) were called up. Both would be starting against the Eagles.

Game #2 - Saturday August 28, 2055
A - 39,829
LHSP Donald Hubbard 7-11 5.33SP vs Curt Hopkins (0-0 0.00 big league debut)

Milwaukee takes a 5-1 lead into the eighth, where Chicago scores six. All six runs are scored with two outs. Reagan Osborn and Samuel Amsden singled in runs. Larry Davis doubles in Osborn. Miguel Toledo walks with the bases loaded, and Cris Luna singles in two.

The outing was short for Curt Hopkins who faced 3 batters allowing a 2-run home run and getting 1 out before leaving the game with a minor injury. SS Sandoval went 0-2 before he was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 8th inning. Chicago 7, Milwaukee 5.

CF C Luna 2-4 2RBI, 3B L Davis 203 2DB BB R RBI,
CH HR - C J Duran (4)

In an effort to rest our big starting 4 pitchers, we decided to let rookie Ed Reedin make the start for the 3rd and final game against Milwaukee. Clearly we were showing a sign of disrespect to the Eagles starting a 21-year-old rookie 1 day and a lefty who had only pitched in a few games in the big leagues. We felt it was a calculated risk to take so that we could have Jose Cedeno, Joe Johnson, Cliff Simpson and val Imbert ready for Toledo and Duluth next week.

Game #3 - Sunday August 29, 2055
A - 39,636
RHSP Bryan Houston 1-5 5.97 vs Ed Reddin 1-0 7.27

On this day, the game did not pay off. Milwaukee got to Reddin in the 3rd for 4 runs and added 2 more in the 5th. Milwaukee’s Kennelly Mulford goes 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs scored, and two RBIs. Both times Mulford scores it’s because Schnozz Park doubles him in. Luo-Lang Petit homers. Milwaukee 8, Chicago 3.

LF M Graves 3-5 R 2SB, 1B M Toledo 2-5 2DB RBI,
CH HR - none

Summary - So we only took 2 out of 3 against the Eagles, but as Toledo took 2 out of 3 against Duluth we had picked up a game and now led Duluth by 3 games and Toledo by still 6 games. Our magic number to clinch a playoff spot was now 7 games and with Toledo in town next before Duluth. It would sure be nice to take care of business here and not have to be too concerned with the final 6 games on the road. But even if we clinched the US side of things we would still be fighting with Thunder Bay for the best overall record and the home field advantage that went with it. We currently are up to 2 games on Thunder Bay.

Next up - The Biggest Series of the Season against Toledo and Duluth

The story continues after I was away for most of last week. The stats below are just the month of August as you can see the team wide hitting slump we had been in. Also ignore the "z" next to our name, we hadn't clinched anything yet.

[DD Martin]

This is It!!! The Two Big Series that will Decide the USA Division

We have our rotation set for these games. We would like to get the playoff spot clinched before we head into our final last 6 games on the road. It would be nice to clinch the division so that we can rest players and while trying to have the best overall record, health is more important to me.

For the Toledo series we will have Joe Johnson, Cliff Simpson and Jose Cedeno lined up to face the Neptunes. We can go a long way towards wrapping up a playoff spot with a sweep here, but the goal in these games is not to get swept ourselves in either series. With 3 and 6 game leads over Duluth and Toledo, we can afford to stub our toe, but not break them in getting swept in either series.

On the season we are 12-9 against the Neptunes but they just swept us at their place 2 weeks ago. We are 10-11 against Duluth on the year. In a marketing move we have raised our ticket prices from $33 to playoff pricing $38 for these games. Our owner is still mad that we are not making money this year so every little bit helps. If we get into the playoffs we can make $10-16 million in extra revenue that would turn our finances around to a slight profit. Of course he wants extreme profit so he won’t be happy. But he gave me the budget for this year and I used it. We slightly overspent it by a couple of hundred thousand.

Toledo Neptunes 74-58 3rd place in the US vs Chicago Architects 80-52 1st in the US
Monday August 30th through September 1st 2055
At Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds

Game #1 - Monday August 30th, 2055
A - 39,636
RHSP Christopher Bouchard 6-8 3.52 vs Joe Johnson 6-3 3.77

In the fourth, Chicago’s Pedro Farrulla walks with the bases loaded. Then Matt Graves hits a grand slam. Toledo batters have no luck against Chicago starter Joe Johnson (5.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K). The Neptunes score some late runs against the Tects bullpen, but it’s too little, too late. Huge win for the Architects as they go up 7 games in the standings over 3rd place Toledo and are that much closer to clinching a playoff spot. Chicago 8, Toledo 5.

SP J Johnson 5.1IP 3H 0R 0BB 8K’s, LF M Graves 2-5 HR SB, R, 5RBI’s, RF T Stone 2-4 DB 2R SB, CF C Lambert 3-3 2R, 2RBI, 2SB, Sac Fly, C S White 2-3 DB 2R BB
CH HR - LF M Graves (10)

Game #2 - Tuesday August 31st, 2055
A - 39,632
RHSP Wally “Magoo” Townsend 11-7 4.09 vs Cliff Simpson 1-2 4.14

Chicago’s Reagan Osborn is a top MVP candidate, and he helps his case today. Osborn hits a two-run home run in the first and an RBI double in the third. SP Cliff Simpson (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K) wins his second game of the season and holds the Neptunes down. LF Matt Graves again steps up with 3 hits, including a triple and scores 3 runs. It’s a big win for Chicago as they move ahead of the Neptunes by 8 games and inch closer to clinching a berth in the GLBL playoffs. Chicago 7, Toledo 1.

LF M Graves 3-4 TRP, 3R RBI, SB (56 on the season), 1B R Osborn 2-4 HR R 3 RBI’s,
CH HR - 1B R Osborn (29)

Game #3 - Wednesday September 1st, 2055
A - 39,854
RHSP Nick “Tangles” Keddy 15-4 2.45 vs Jose Cedeno 9-9 4.22

Chicago takes a 3-1 lead into the eighth, where Toledo scores seven. Ken Armour and Gray Dijkstra both doubled in their first at-bat of the inning and single in their second. Xing-Fu Sen’s double drives in two. The Neptunes keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Toledo claws back to 7, but they are 4 ½ behind 2nd-place Duluth who beats Detroit again. Toledo 8, Chicago 4.

1B R Osborn 2-4 R, DH J Gomez 2-4 R, RBI
CH HR - None

Summary - So we met our objective and did not get swept taking 2 out of 3. Winning the last one would have been a nice bonus, but we are feeling good heading into the showdown with Duluth. We have an off-day while Duluth will be playing a game against Detroit today. If the Sea Gulls win they will be 2 games out before we start play.

The Sea Gulls swept Detroit so they are indeed coming into town with a chance to take over the division lead by sweeping us. Duluth has been a pain in our side ever since I started with Chicago in our first two seasons. And here they are again just waiting with an opportunity to rain on our parade. With the off-day we have on Thursday we have reshuffled our rotation to ensure that Jose Cedeno will pitch on Sunday. We will have Joe Johnson pitch on short rest Friday after having pitched a gem on Monday. Then we will give Val Imbert a start on Saturday. Maybe we should have gone with Imbert on Friday who was fully rested and given Johnson another day, but we are looking beyond just this series.

This is our last 3 home games of the season……Let;s at least clinch a playoff spot and hopefully take a step closer to our first outright division title.

Duluth Sea Gulls 80-55 2nd place in US vs Chicago Architects 82-53 1st in the US
Friday September 3rd through Sunday 5th 2055
At Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds

Game #1 - Friday September 3rd 2055
A - 39,720
RHSP Will McNeely 9-10 4.38 vs Joe Johnson 7-3 3.60

The Gulls come into this three-game series trailing the Tects by two games. A sweep would put the Gulls in first place. The Gulls take a 3-1 lead into the seventh, where the Tects score four. Those runs scored on four singles, an error, a wild pitch. Duluth’s Will McNeely (6.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K) takes a no-hitter into the fifth but ends up with the loss. The calculated risk with Johnson only going 4.1IP works even if he wasn’t sharp giving up the 3 runs. The alarming issue is 3B Travis Arnaud left the game in pain in the 5th inning. More on that after the trainer gets a chance to look at him. The victory gives Chicago a 3 game lead over Duluth and they could clinch a playoff spot tomorrow. Chicago 5, Duluth 4.

2B W Dunse 2-4 3RBI, 3B J Lambert 2-2 2SB R,
CH HR - None

Trainer’s report
Friday, September 3rd , 2055 - Chicago Architects: 3B Thomas Arnaud was injured in a collision at a base. The Diagnosis: strained rib cage muscle. This is a day-to-day injury expected to last 2 weeks.

Not what we wanted to see. The decision to shut down Arnaud and fill in with Larry Davis, Miguel Toledo and Cruz Torres is an easy decision to make. We want to rest Arnaud and hope he is ready for the playoffs. 2B/U John Lambert was also hit by a pitch in this game and left the game in the 8th. Fortunately it's just a bruised ankle and he will be ok.

The question entered my mind if Duluth was purposely trying to injure our players……

Game #2 - Saturday September 4th 2055
A - 39,966
RHSP Mike Normore 9-5 5.66 vs Val Imbert 9-9 4.44

A well rested Val Imbert (8 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K) pitched a brilliant outing and Pat Wright (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) finished off the shutout of Duluth for his 28th save. RF Prowler Ashley and SS Cristo Sandoval homer. For the 21-year-old Sandoval, that is not just his first major-league home run, it’s his first major-league hit. Congrats, Cristo! The win gives the Tects a four-game lead with seven to go. With the win and Toledo’s loss on Friday, Chicago has clinched its 2nd straight playoff berth. Chicago 3, Duluth 0.

LF/RF T Stone 2-4 2SB, RF J Ashley 204 HR, R RBI, SS C Sandoval 1-3 HR R 2RBI
CH HR - RF J Ashley (27), SS C Sandoval (1)

Game #3 - Sunday September 4th 2055
A - 39,692
RHSP Chris "Gator" Collier 5-8 3.71 vs Jose Cedeno 9-9 4.21

Perhaps the best pitching duel of the season takes place in the Windy City today. The two teams combine for just five hits. Duluth’s Chris Collier (7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K) strikes out the side in the first and retires the first 11 batters he faces. The first batter to reach base reaches on an error by the shortstop. The next batter doubles, but Reagan Osborn is unable to score. He then retires 10 of the last 11 batters he faces, walking one. Collier gets a no-decision.

Chicago’s José Cedeño (8.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K) also gets a no-decision. He strikes out the side in the seventh, and takes a one-hit shutout into the ninth. There, in the ninth, he gave up two singles either side of a strike out. He gets pulled, and Pat Wright (9-3) strikes out two batters either side of an intentional walk. Duluth leaves the bases loaded. In the bottom of the ninth, Matt Graves doubles—just Chicago’s second hit of the game. A sac bunt moves him to third, and a Prowler Ashley line drive to left is deep enough that the speedy Graves scores easily. Chicago 1, Duluth 0.

CH HR - None

Summary - Wow what a series as we unbelievably sweep Duluth. With that sweep we are now 5 games out in front of Duluth with 6 games left to play. Thunder Bay seems to have righted their ship and have matched us win for win over the last 6 games. We remain with a 2 game edge for the overall home field advantage.

SP Jose Cedeno who is just 9-9 on the season but will finish the regular season with a 4.02 ERA. He has come on like gangbusters in the 2nd half and while his won/loss record is not impressive, his ERA since June 1st is 3.02 and he has been among the top 2-4 in WHIP and WAR all season. I am feeling better about the commitment made to Cedeno for the next 6 seasons.

With that edge I now feel like we can perhaps work in a lot more rest days in these last 6 games on the road. Of course we still need to win at least 2 games to clinch (if Duluth goes 6-0) but our magic number is just 2.

John Lambert is ok and will be seeing lots of action in the last week of the season. We will continue to rest 3B Travis Arnaud and primarily use Larry Davis at 3B.

[DD Martin]

The Last 6 Games of the Regular Season

We head into the last 6 games of the regular season likely needing to go 3-3 to secure homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. To win the South of the Border US Division we need to win just 2 games or a combination of 2 wins or 2 Duluth loses.

We go to Traverse City first to face the Bears who we have had our way with for most of the season but they have played better in the 2nd half of the season. On the year we are 15-6 against TC. After that series we head north to the Motor City to take on the Thunderbirds who we have gone 13-8 against this year. Both teams are virtually tied for 4th place in the US division with the Bears record at 60-78 and Detroit at 60-79. Pride and draft pick position is what is on the line for these two clubs.

We will keep it fairly short for these games as there is not a ton on the line and the playoffs are upon us.

Chicago at Traverse City
September 6th, 2055

The bottom of the USA table sweeps the top of the table. Traverse City’s Cal Braud goes 4-for-4 with a walk and four singles. He scores once and drives in two. Ewan Heseltine homers. Earl Foote goes 3-for-4 with three singles and two RBIs. Eddie Guy doubles in two. Despite the loss, Duluth also loses its game so our US magic number is now 1. Traverse City 8, Chicago 4.

Chicago at Traverse City
September 7th, 2055

Chicago’s Jay Johnson (6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K) pitches well, but he leaves the game with the game tied, 1-1. Traverse City’s Philip Reid (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 11 K) pitches one of the best games of his young career, striking out 11. He, too, gets a no-decision. Chicago wins it in the eighth. Walker Dunse doubles in a run and then scores on a sac fly. With the win Chicago clinches the USA Division title over Duluth. Chicago 3, Traverse City 1.


Chicago at Traverse City
September 8th, 2055

An error, a walk, and a two-run Barney Tomiak double scores two Bears in the first. Three errors, two walks, two single, and a sac fly score four Bears in the third. Chicago’s Bill Lutz (2.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K) ends his day with one of the odder pitching lines you’ll ever see, having allowed five hits, six runs, and zero earned runs. The Tects bullpen shuts down the Bears for the rest of the game, but the (self-inflicted) damage had been done. Traverse City 6, Chicago 3.

Summary - Not exactly a great performance by the team in Traverse City, but a division title clinching win none the less in game 2. We continue to rest players and now we look to put that to the test even more. RF Jim Ashley who has had a great season will be getting most of this series off. 1B Reagan Osborn will also be resting at least the last 2 games of the series. You will see a lot of 2B John Lambert at 2nd and also in CF. SS Cristo Sandoval will continue to get valuable time at SS as we want to keep both 2B Walker Dunse and SS Pablo Farrulla fresh for the playoffs. Tom Stone will get multiple starts in the corner OF spots for the resting Jim Ashley and even Matt Graves.

As we head to Detroit, we have a 1 game edge over Thunder Bay but we are not going to send out our main starting 4 pitchers. Bill Lutz started the last game at TC and had a rather quick and bizarre stat line for that game. Next up will be JJ Walker who has had a rather disappointing season for the Architects. He will be followed by LHSP Curt Hopkins and RHSP Stan Storey. Hopefully even with a makeshift lineup and starting staff it will be enough to hold off Thunder Bay who is Hamilton who is trying to lock down the Canadian Wildcard spot.

Chicago at Detroit
Friday September 10th 2055

Detroit’s Dwayne Miller (6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) gives up a first-inning run on an error, a single, and a sac fly. That sac fly is actually the second of 15 straight batters he retires. Dai-Lin Tah hits a two-run home run. Detroit 4, Chicago 1.

Chicago at Detroit -
Saturday September 11th 2055

The T-Birds take a 4-1 lead into the seventh, where they score six more runs. Trace Brunel homers. Scott Bond and Florent Bernier both collect three hits and two ribbies. Now while the Architects are not looking to injure any key players, they don’t want to be on a losing streak heading into the playoffs. With their 3rd straight loss, Chicago has opened the door for Thunder Bay. Detroit 10, Chicago 2.

Heading into the Last Game of the Season

The only thing left is home field advantage. Thunder Bay holds the tie breaker so it will take Chicago winning and Thunder Bay losing for the Architects to have the advantage if they were to meet in the GLBL Championship Series.

Chicago at Detroit -
Sunday September 12th 2055

Detroit’s Mal Johnston hits a three-run home run in the first. The 21-year-old first baseman ends his rookie season batting .304/.383/.550 with 32 home runs and 98 RBIs. I expect we’ll be seeing him for many years. Chicago comes back and takes the lead, scoring runs one or two at a time. Miguel Toledo, Matt Graves, and Jim Harris all hit solo home runs. Detroit scores some late runs, but they come up short. Chicago 7, Detroit 6.

Hamilton 4, Thunder Bay 3.

With that loss by Thunder Bay, Chicago will hold the homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

Summary - Well the long regular season is over and we finished with a GLBL best 87-57 record. That is 5 games better than the pre-season publications and 2 better than the 85 games that I had predicted at the start of the season. Our depth was tested throughout the regular season especially with the early season-end injuries to SP’s Yale Hulburt (our #1 SP going into the season), and #4 SP John Moore. Add in the mid-season injury to DH/RF Jose Aranda and you have 3 key contributors that were out for more than half the season. It can be argued that we had the most significant long term injuries this season, but we did what we set out to do, win the US Division.

Now we turn our attention to the GLBL Playoffs where we will meet the 2nd place Duluth Sea Gulls in a best of 7 series.