[Westheim]

Raccoons (89-67) @ Loggers (64-91) – September 27-29, 2027

Last shakes for the season, starting with a 3-game set in Milwaukee. The Raccoons needed one win to take the season series from the Loggers, but you never wanted just one win from the Loggers, really. They were fourth from the bottom in runs scored, second from the bottom in runs allowed, and lacked any significant strengths.

Projected matchups:
Rin Nomura (17-8, 2.66 ERA) vs. Francisco Colmenarez (3-4, 3.86 ERA)
George James (6-4, 3.63 ERA) vs. Philip Rogers (10-12, 4.36 ERA)
Jason Butler (0-2, 6.66 ERA) vs. Jorge Villalobos (8-17, 4.22 ERA)

The series would start with a southpaw from the Loggers, then two right-handers. Danny Soto (10-14, 5.10 ERA) could also slide into the series; him and Villalobos pitched the ends of a double-header on Thursday.

Game 1
POR: SS Stalker – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – LF Hereford – C Tovias – CF Magallanes – 3B Gerster – P Nomura
MIL: LF Cambra – SS Ferrer – C J. Young – RF W. Trevino – CF Coleman – 1B S. Garcia – 3B Parten – 2B S. Green – P Colmenarez

The Raccoons put a quick hurt on Colmenarez, ripping him for three runs in the opening inning when all four of their first four batters knocked out base hits. Stalker and Spencer hit sharp singles, Rafael Gomez buried a ball in the right-center gap for a 2-run triple, and then scored on Harenberg's single. Kevin would bring in another run with a productive groundout that plated Spencer in the third inning, and that 4-0 score was it for a good while then. The Loggers had their leadoff men on base in the first and second innings, once when Firmino Cambra led off with a single, but that ended up in Jim Young spanking into a double play, and then Nomura offered a walk to Willie Trevino in the second, but that inning would end on an unlucky scorched liner right at Gomez in rightfield. Through six, the Loggers had not done much more in terms of threatening, but Nomura also started the bottom 7th on 91 pitches, so a shutout was quite unlikely, and he didn't finish the inning either with three outs, or with a clean slate. Much the contrary – after a leadoff infield single by Ian Coleman, Nomura walked Steve Garcia. Jason Parten grounded into a double play, but Sam Green dropped an RBI single into shallow center, and Nomura lost PH Alexis Rueda, which brought up the tying run against last year's FL batting champ (who was loggering around at the .263 mark now), Cambra. In a rare move, the Coons went lefty-for-lefty, bringing Kearney in relief of Nomura, and the specialist secured a strikeout to end the inning. Portland pulled the run back in the eighth against left-hander Alex Gutierrez, who surrendered a leadoff double to Elias Tovias. The Critters moved the runner around with a groundout by Magallanes, then Butch Gerster's sac fly to center. That was the last run in the game; the Critters got sound relief from Dan McLin and Jeremy Moesker to finish the Loggers and claim the season series for good. 5-1 Raccoons. Spencer 2-5; Gomez 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI; Harenberg 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Gerster 1-2, BB, RBI; Nomura 6.2 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, W (18-8);

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – LF St. Germaine – P James
MIL: 2B Holder – SS Ferrer – C J. Young – LF Cambra – CF Coleman – 1B E. Arroyo – RF Rueda – 3B Dresch – P Rogers

With the exception of Manny Ferrer and Philip Rogers, the entire Loggers lineup was batting left-handed, so this was a meaty challenge for George James in what could or could not be his final start of the season (the season finale was pretty much between him and Nomura). The Raccoons scored first in this Tuesday affair with a groundout by Abel Mora to short allowing Elias Tovias to weasel home after having just hit a 1-out triple(!), but they would leave the bases loaded in the fourth inning when Adam St. Germaine grounded out weakly, stranding Tovias (walk), Mora (single), and Nunley (walk). All the while, George James had scattered plenty of runners, and while the Loggers hit into double plays twice, they also brought in Cambra when he drew a leadoff walk in the bottom 4th. The Coons' top of the order went on to waste a leadoff triple(!!) by their dear pitcher in the fifth inning when Ramos struck out, Spencer grounded out to Rogers, and Gomez flew out to Coleman. James, gritty if nothing else, responded by giving up a leadoff double to Corey Dresch in the bottom of the inning, but then pounced on a mediocre bunt by Rogers and fired to third base where Nunley tagged out the arriving runner. It was still all for nought; Kaleb Holder grounded into a fielder's choice to remove the pitcher from the base paths, then swiped second and went on to score when Ferrer's grounder up the middle eluded the Raccoons infielders.

Top 6th. Harenberg reached on a Holder error, but was then doubled up on Tovias' ghastly grounder. Abel Mora doubled to left, and then Nunley beat the range of Rueda in rightfield for a score-knotting RBI double. The Loggers bypassed St. Germaine here to get to James, and the Raccoons sent Rich Hereford to bat instead. And he struck out… Alberto Ramos hit a single and stole a base in the seventh, setting a new career-high with 42 bags on the season, but that didn't lead to a run, either, while the Loggers pulled out a new lead with the first career homer of Ruben Roque off Jonathan Fleischer in the bottom 7th. It would be the top of the order in the ninth for the Raccoons, trying to erase that 1-run deficit against ex-Coon Joe Moore. Ramos popped out, but Spencer reached on a grounder deep behind short that became an infield single. Rafael Gomez singled up the middle, and then they choked it away with Harenberg's foul pop and Tovias going down on strikes. 3-2 Loggers. Mora 2-4, 2B, RBI;

Game 3
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Hereford – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – LF Carmona – P Butler
MIL: 2B Holder – SS Ferrer – C J. Young – LF Cambra – CF Coleman – RF Stone – 1B W. Aquino – 3B A. Velez – P Villalobos

Villalobos was perfect the first time through the Coons' order, which was not something that could exactly be said of Jason Butler. The Loggers had pairs on base in the first and third innings, but both times choked up, in the latter case having Manny Ferrer crack into a hard 4-6-3 double play. Ramos hit a leadoff single in the fourth, was caught stealing, and the Loggers were also back to work in the bottom 4th. Cambra and Coleman both hit singles, Jason Stone walked, and the bags were full for Wilson Aquino, who ran a full count and … struck out. That was only the second out of the inning, though. Alberto Velez was still to contend with. The clueless Butler botched it with a walk on five pitches, forcing in a run, before Villalobos struck out. Ferrer's homer in the bottom 5th stretched the Loggers lead to 2-0, and Butler was yanked after a 2-out walk to Cambra, having issued 111 mostly pathetic pitches. Jeff Kearney retired Coleman on a grounder to end the inning. But the Raccoons absolutely failed to do anything against a guy that had already lost 17 games and was not willing to lose another one and held them to two abysmal hits in eight innings of shutout ball. Meanwhile, Raccoons pitching collapsed in the bottom 8th, where Juan Barzaga put runners on the corners, threw a wild pitch to plate the Loggers' third run, then walked three more guys with two outs, conceding another run. Josh Boles – with no save likely to materialize – then came out, gave up an RBI single to Cambra, and only then rung up Coleman to end the mess. Somehow, the Loggers then almost fumbled the 5-0 lead, allowing base hits to Cookie and Ramos in the ninth inning. Rich Hereford drew a 2-out walk from Yoo-chul Kim, loading them up for Harenberg, which brought in Joe Moore again. He ended the game with a strikeout. 5-0 Loggers. Kearney 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

Ugh.

As the final weekend dawned, there was still no above-.500 team in the CL South. The Aces led the division with a 79-80 record, so whoever made it out of there in first place would already tie for the worst division winner ever. They were up against the Thunder, who were "only" three games back, but already mathematically eliminated because the Bayhawks and Condors were both one game out of first place and played each other. A 3-way tie was also no longer possible.

Raccoons (90-69) @ Canadiens (93-66) – October 1-3, 2027

After choking time and again throughout the last eight weeks, the best the Raccoons could still get from the damn Elks was a tie in the standings, and for that they had to sweep the series in Vancouver, which was not bloody likely. The damn Elks had already claimed the season series, 10-5, and were looking to tear up some more Coon bums with their top-spot offense that had already piled up 801 runs scored.

Projected matchups:
Rico Gutierrez (12-11, 3.64 ERA) vs. Andy Purdy (7-2, 2.87 ERA)
Dan Delgadillo (9-11, 3.68 ERA) vs. Victor Govea (11-1, 2.13 ERA)
Rin Nomura (18-8, 2.62 ERA) vs. Rodolfo Cervantes (12-7, 3.79 ERA)

We hadn't faced Govea, one of three righties to come up in the series, before, at least not in a starting role. He had 37 appearances on the year, including 13 starts. He was 24, and our scouting report was not indicative of a guy who would schmooze up to a flat-2 ERA over 109 innings of work.

Game 1
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – LF Spencer – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – P Gutierrez
VAN: SS Byrd – 3B Anton – RF Coca – LF A. Torres – C R. Ortíz – 1B Myles – CF T. Campbell – 2B Crosby – P Purdy

Teams started out taking turns to score runs; Alex Torres hit a 2-out RBI single to score Tony Coca in the first, but Matt Nunley made up the difference with a 2-out RBI single of his own in the second inning. Matt Anton went yard off Rico Gutierrez to put the damn Elks 2-1 on top in the third, but Harenberg opened the fourth with a double to left-center, Tovias singled, and Spencer's grounder tied the game anew. Purdy then moved the go-ahead run to third base with a wild pitch before walking Mora, giving Nunley runners on the corners, which ended up in a double play to end the inning, because how could it ever not do so? Mind that Matt was playing for another contract here…

The next two innings were scoreless, and then it was Nunley's turn again in the seventh with nobody out and Abel Mora on second base after walking and stealing. No obvious double play on offer, Nunley found the gap between Torres and Tim Campbell for an RBI double, putting Portland ahead for the first time in the game, 3-2. Purdy got one more out, whiffing Rico, before the Elks wanted Ramos walked intentionally to bring up Stalker, who didn't have a great week so far, but sure improved his own lot with a booming 3-run homer to left that opened the score all the way to 6-2! Purdy was yanked for right-hander Joey Hopkins, who got the Elks out of the inning before any more damage could occur. Bottom 7th, a Harenberg error put John Byrd on base with one out, but Anton hit a hard one at Nunley for a double play. That was the last act in Rico's season as Daniel Rocha batted for him in the eighth and struck out against Hwa-pyung Choe, a few years earlier New York's toast of the town, but now saddled with a 9+ ERA.

Jonathan Fleischer then invited the Elks back into the game in the eighth. Coca singled, Torres walked, and even a double play that Ricky Ortíz hit into couldn't help the right-hander. He threw a wild pitch to plate Coca, 6-3, then walked Adan Myles to get yanked. Surginer replaced him and struck out Campbell to end the inning. The Critters did nothing in the ninth, bringing Boles in for a save chance in the bottom of the inning. He struck out Crosby and Manny Sanchez before Byrd found the gap for a double. Matt Anton flew out easily to Spencer, though. 6-3 Coons. Ramos 2-4, BB; Harenberg 2-3, BB, 2B; Tovias 2-4, 2B; Mora 1-2, 2 BB; Nunley 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Gutierrez 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, W (13-11);

An Aces loss to the Thunder meant that the league would have a new worst-ever division winner. Friday night, no team remained with a chance to go 82-80, with the Aces and Condors tying for the lead at 79-81, and the Bayhawks one game behind at 78-82. This was the last division race; the Capitals locked up the FL East on Friday with a 4-2 win over the Blue Sox.

Game 2
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Stalker – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – 3B Hereford – LF Spencer – CF Magallanes – C Rocha – P Delgadillo
VAN: CF Day – SS Crosby – RF Coca – LF A. Torres – C R. Ortíz – 3B Anton – 1B Myles – 2B Byrd – P Govea

Daniel Rocha plated Rich Hereford with a sac fly in the second inning for the first tally in the contest, but a clumsy Delgadillo was all over the place and issued free base runners like there was a price for who could collect the most. In the first three innings, he hit a batter, issued three walks, a leadoff single to Govea, and got bombed with a Tony Coca 3-spot that flipped the score in the bottom 3rd. And it wasn't the only one that Tony Coca would hit… Bottom 5th, still a 3-1 game, Delgadillo allowed a leadoff single to Norman Day, then an infield single to Adrian Crosby. And here came Coca, saw, and conquered, with another 3-piece, this one hit the other way for a change. After four-plus innings and six runs, Delgadillo was yanked, and the bullpen took over the 6-1 trash can of a game. Before long, Tony Coca was at the plate again with two outs and two aboard in the bottom 6th. John Byrd had reached against Juan Barzaga, while Jeremy Moesker had put Adrian Crosby on. Dan McLin was brought in from the pen. NOT. ANOTHER. ONE. Just – NO. You hear me?? NOT ANOTHER ONE. Coca struck out.

For seven innings, the Raccoons did absolutely nothing to hurt Govea's stellar ERA and the swingman came out for another inning in the eighth. Cookie Carmona led off batting for McLin in the #9 hole and singled to left. Ramos also singled to left. Stalker singled to right, loading the bases with nobody out in a 6-1 deficit. There were all kinds of ways they could now blow this chance out of a hole. While Rafael Gomez' sac fly to right in theory put a run on the board, 6-2, it also took off steam. It also got rid of the pitcher, whom the damn Elks replaced with righty J.R. Hreha, who faced only Harenberg and allowed an RBI single up the middle. Rich Hereford was the tying run and would face Hopkins, popped out, and Spencer flew out to Day to squander it all. Top 9th, lefty attack against right-hander Sean Carlsen; Abel Mora batted for Magallanes and singled, and then St. Germaine was sent to bat for Rocha, but struck out. Cookie had remained in the game earlier and popped out to short. And Ramos grounded out to the pitcher… 6-3 Canadiens. Gomez 2-3, RBI; Harenberg 2-4, RBI; Mora (PH) 1-1; Carmona (PH) 1-2; McLin 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

In the sad spectacle that was the CL South, everything returned to the state of Friday morning by Saturday night. The Aces beat the Thunder, the Bayhawks beat the Condors, and now Vegas could avoid a tie-breaker if they beat the Thunder again. The winner between the Bayhawks and Condors on Sunday could get a tie-breaker if Oklahoma won their season finale.

Game 3
POR: LF Carmona – SS Ramos – RF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – C Tovias – 2B Stalker – CF Mora – 3B Nunley – P Nomura
VAN: CF Day – 3B Anton – RF Coca – LF A. Torres – C R. Ortíz – 1B Myles – SS Byrd – 2B Gura – P A. Muniz

Rin Nomura got the start after James had been meh on Tuesday, and he also had the chance to grab a share of the wins title in the CL if he could beat the Elks here on Sunday. For the Raccoons, Cookie Carmona batted leadoff in this game even after the Elks moved to left-hander Antonio "Furball"(??) Muniz (8-6, 4.01 ERA) for the season finale. If that didn't look like a farewell, nothing would ever do…

A win looked unlikely after the first inning, in which Ricky Ortíz hit a 3-piece right after Nomura had nailed Alex Torres with a fastball. Matt Anton was also on base and scored, having drawn a 1-out walk. But then Tovias opened the second inning with a jack, cutting the deficit to 3-1, and Stalker, Mora, and Nunley all tumbled on base, too, presenting three on, nobody out, and… ugh, the pitcher batting. Sometimes, though, the pitcher batting wasn't all that bad. Muniz came over the plate, Nomura lobbed a ball over the infielders, and it was 3-2 after the RBI single. Cookie was up next and was relentlessly booed despite not having done anything major in the series, or really all year long. That didn't change as he popped out foul. Ramos, though, dropped a blooper into shallow left to tie the score, and Rafael Gomez' hard RBI single to center put Portland on top, 4-3. That brought up Harenberg, and he made himself the last pitcher Muniz saw this season when he belted a ball over the wall in rightfield. GRAAAAAAAAAAAND SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMM!!!!!

Roiled by an 8-spot, the Elks got the jitters, too. Tovias and Stalker reached on consecutive errors by Ted Gura and Alex Torres with new pitcher Mike Daniels on the mound, and then it got worse. Mora singled to load them up, and Nunley drove in a pair with a single to right-center. An 11th run scored on Nomura's groundout, and Cookie grounded out to Gura to end the massive frame. After that, the Coons fell apart a bit – Alberto Ramos left the game in the third inning with a tweaked quad. Ah, at least not his damn spine again… Daniel Bullock replaced him. Also, Rin Nomura had always been **** with big leads… in the bottom of the third inning he allowed straight singles to the first three batters, then walked Ortíz to push a run across. The damn Elks would get another run on John Byrd's sac fly, but Nomura regained control with a K to Myles and Gura popping out, as much as one could be considered "in control" with five runs allowed in three innings. It hardly got better for him. Stupid Alex Torres hit a solo homer in the fifth, and he also bled singles to Myles and Byrd to yield another run. He barely crawled through five with an 11-7 lead…

So that made the game the pen's problem. The damn Elks shortened the score to 11-8 in the sixth with Norman Day's long homer off Steve Costilow, while the Coons offense couldn't topple even Hwa-pyung Choe anymore. They appeared like they had shot ALL their bullets and now had nothing left to offer but to throw a few rocks at the Elks. But the Coons wanted this game, and they still had the tough part of the pen to defend the 3-run lead for three more innings. Kevin Surginer needed ten pitches to dispose of the 4-5-6 batters in the seventh, then also retired Byrd and Gura to begin the eighth. Jeff Kearney then rung up PH Chris Mendoza to move the game to the ninth. The Critters stranded a pair in the ninth inning against Hreha, so Josh Boles could save one more for a final tally of 18 here. He would face the top of the order. Day flew out to Rich Hereford in leftfield. Anton was punched out. Coca flew out to Mora in center. 11-8 Critters. Ramos 2-3, RBI; Tovias 2-5, HR, RBI; Nunley 4-5, 2 RBI; Spencer (PH) 1-1; Surginer 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K;

In other news

September 28 – In a tight pennant race in the CL South, career quad-A player C Vince Murry (.390, 2 HR, 13 RBI) nets the Aces a crucial come-from-behind, 10-7 win over the Condors with a walkoff grand slam off TIJ CL Pat Selby (7-7, 3.29 ERA, 34 SV).
September 28 – The season of IND INF Mario Pizano (.260, 10 HR, 54 RBI) ends with a broken hand.

Complaints and stuff

With slight regret I noticed that at last sanity prevailed in the CL South. The Aces won their finale against the Thunder and thus gasped themselves to an 81-81 finish. Good enough for the playoffs in the South. They would have been fifth, 22 games out, with that performance in our division…

In the minors, the AAA Alley Cats and AA Panthers finished soundly below .500, but the Aumsville Beagles won their division with a dubious 75-65 record this season, only to get rounded up in four by the Norfolk Expos, the Bayhawks' single-A team. That Norfolk team won 101, so there was probably better talent on them…

Why did Jason Butler take another shot at being murdered by a line drive? Because there was absolutely nobody in the minors that deserved even a look. I talked about Jamie O'Leary a bit a few months ago, who would have made the move from Ham Lake, but … eh… no, there was no point in getting him up right now. He ended the season 7-10 with a 4.45 ERA in 23 starts after making five starts in Aumsville to begin the year, where he went 1-2 with a 1.85 ERA. Boy's got some stuff, but not enough to fool major league hitters right now. He will be 24 and in AAA to begin the next season.

Fun Fact: The Portland Raccoons ended the season with a new franchise record for stolen bases for the third straight season, improving from 113 SB in 2025 to 115 in 2026, and finally 118 in 2027.

The previous season high before the last three years? 2014, when they stole 99. More than half of that (52) was Cookie Carmona, and Sandy Sambrano chipped in another 31. Nobody else had more than four, and four were only achieved by Jason Bergquist. Walt Canning had three. Finishing fifth on the team with two each were Joe Cowan, Jason Seeley, and Matt Nunley.

Matt Nunley, the stolen base threat? That never happened.

Matt Nunley will be 37 come Opening Day. He had the worst offensive season of his career. His defense was about the same (roughly +7 ZR, give or take a few tenths) as the last five years with the exception of '25, when he somehow lost value on defense for the only time in his career.

Will even one between him and Cookie Carmona be brought back for '28?