[Westheim]

Raccoons (35-39) vs. Condors (44-29) – June 28-30, 2049

Four games in three days with the team leading the CL South. The Condors were sixth in runs scored and second in runs allowed, with a +64 run differential (Coons: +6 and dropping), while having the best team batting average at .277, but the fewest homers in the CL (31). Their defense was first in the league, and yet somehow the Raccoons were up 2-0 with a rainout on them.

Projected matchups:
Victor Merino (5-5, 4.73 ERA) vs. Sam Geren (3-6, 5.57 ERA)
Brett Lillis jr. (0-0) vs. Mike Zeigler (5-7, 5.45 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-6, 3.64 ERA) vs. Matt Weber (6-2, 3.90 ERA)
Dave Hils (6-4, 4.95 ERA) vs. TBD

Zeigler was the only left-hander here. The Condors would have to scramble something to make ends meet here, much like the Coons. We gave Brett Lillis jr. – the #15 pick in 2044 – his debut in the second game on Monday, while they had not enough pitchers to make the three days’ worth of starts at all, with their other two starters, Kevin Daley (10-3, 2.19 ERA) and Ramon Montes de Oca (8-5, 2.55 ERA) both having pitched on Sunday. Things remained interesting!

The Raccoons would use their two extant third basemen the wrong way round, since Tim Rogers was tabbed for demotion to activate Lillis for Game 2.

Game 1
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Blackburn – LF G. Cabrera – 1B Yamamoto – C Mittleider – 3B Ottinger – CF Burkhart – 2B Watanabe – P Geren
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Gurney – C Gonzalez – RF Nigro – SS Adame – 2B Seymour – 3B Rogers – P Merino

Herrera doubled, Gurney singled, and Gonzalez and Nigro both brought in a first-inning run with a groundout and a single, respectively, but the Condors had an all-righty lineup against Merino and I was much afraid, and within reason; the Condors were in scoring position in each of the first three innings, sometimes just in passing, like when Tim Burkhart socked a solo homer in the top 2nd. Brian Blackburn had already hit a long double off the fence in the first, but had been stranded, and then Merino also showed rather wonky command and began to walk batters. Rich Seymour drove home Brian Nigro with the 3-1 run in the bottom 4th, but Merino exploded in the fifth for an infield single by Chris Navarro, who stole second for the second time in the game, and then a barrage of four 2-out base hits, starting with Gil Cabrera, who drove in a run, and continuing with Shuta Yamamoto, the former Critter tying the game, and Jon Mittleider as well as Reed Ottinger, and somehow Merino buggered out down only 4-3 after the ordeal.

The Coons counterattacked (!) in the bottom 5th, though. Watt, Herrera, and Gonzalez loaded the bags on a single and two walks, and Nigro’s sac fly to center tied the game. Alex Adame came up with an RBI double to left, 5-4 Portland, and while Seymour struck out to end the fifth, he only did so after Sam Geren had plated Gonzalez with a wild pitch, 6-4. Merino dragged himself through six, after which Preston Porter was taken deep by Jon Mittleider for a solo homer in the seventh. Nate Norris defended the 6-5 lead in the eighth, getting Moreno ready. No insurance was available; while Eduardo Avila drew a walk from David Fox in the bottom 8th, he also got struck-out-thrown-out with Wade Gardner to end the inning. Moreno then did the next-best thing to giving up an outright game-tying homer, walking Navarro to begin the ninth. Navarro was 2-for-2 in stolen bases on the day, and had 31 for the season now. The Condors however tried to bunt him to second, yet Blackburn popped out trying. Gil Cabrera lined out to Watt on the first pitch. And Yamamoto struck out…! 6-5 Raccoons. Watt 1-2, 2 BB; Herrera 2-4, 2B; Nigro 1-2, BB, 2 RBI; Maldonado (PH) 1-1;

Tim Rogers went 0-for-3 and was demoted as a .167 hitter, while Brett Lillis jr. was activated.

Sadly, Brett Lillis sr. could not be with us for his son’s debut. He was receiving in-patient treatment at an upstate facility for his out-of-control tuna addiction.

Game 2
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Blackburn – LF G. Cabrera – 1B Yamamoto – 3B Ottinger – CF Burkhart – C R. Cruz – 2B Watanabe – P Zeigler
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Malonado – 2B Gurney – RF Avila – 3B Luna – C Gardner – LF Medina – P Lillis

Two groundouts and a fly to left gave Lillis a scoreless inning to start his career, but Yamamoto doubled to open the second. Lillis also walked Ricky Cruz, but also got his first career K from Tim Burkhart, and handled a comebacker from Shintaro Watanabe to remain unscored upon. And that was about as good as it got. The Condors whipped him for three hard hits in the top 3rd, taking a 1-0 lead on a Cabrera double that plated Navarro, and by the fourth he was basically stuck – and the baseball gods had turned against him, too. The Condors had a walk, TWO infield singles, and scored another run that way, but he also nicked Blackburn with two gone to load the bags and then had to applaud Watt for racing down a Cabrera drive in center to strand a full set of runners. Through four innings of 6-hit, 2-run ball, he threw 80 pitches, and we deemed that enough. We still had Altreche and Hitchcock to get some distance here (plus the two southpaws, who hadn’t pitched in the opener), but the kid was done.

Altreche then exploded the score with the breathtaking fifth-inning sequence of error, balk, walk, RBI single, single, grand slam, all with one out in the inning, and that was before I tell you that the grand slam was hit my Mike ******* Zeigler. By now I had seen enough of that act; with the score what it was and the Coons not exactly threatening to rally – they loaded the bags once but then Maldo grounded out to Watanabe and that was that – Altreche was left in for 55 pitches, or three innings of 5-run ball, and once he was removed told to pack his **** and **** off. Kevin Hitchcock got blasted for three more runs in the eighth, two of them on a Burkhart homer, and my wrath only grew, while Zeigler completed an 8-hit shutout. 10-0 Condors. Watt 2-4; Gardner 2-4;

Okay, time for some house cleaning. There were ample roster moves on Tuesday.

First, Brett Lillis jr. (0-1, 4.50 ERA) was returned to AAA to recover emotionally. I also had some recovery necessary, but there was no AAA to assign me to, ha-hah! – Yes, Maud, I will eat the banana you peeled for me. – I will eat it later. – Yes, Maud, I will eat it later. – Fine, Maud, I will eat the first slice now. – (munching) Are you habby mow?

Orlando Altreche (3-5, 5.82 ERA) needed purging. Nobody wanted a piece of his bum when shopped overnight, he refused an assignment to AAA, and thus became the second pitcher released outright from the roster this season, and it was still June. Kevin Hitchcock (0-1, 4.70 ERA) had no right to refuse an assignment to AAA, and was thus sent back to the Alley Cats. These spots were taken by Danny Cancel (0-0, 3.60 ERA) and Polibio O’Higgins, the next debutee in line.

O’Higgins, 22, was a failure in our books already. He had cost $570k to sign out of Venezuela in July of 2043, and had absolutely not expanded his arsenal as projected. Run-of-the-mill righty reliever with fastball, curve, but at least the fastball was 99. He was also hellaciously undercooked, but I had to wait on the waiver wire to churn out something good… He had a 7.36 ERA in AAA, but that was with a .414 BABIP, though, so maybe he’d thrive in Portland. (shrugs) What the **** do I know about baseball??

The final roster spot was grabbed by 3B Ed Crispin, batting .297/.368/.464 in 64 AAA games. He was the third-sacker with a balanced scouting profile that we had gotten from the Rebs in exchange for mostly Josh Rella in ’47. Crispin was also 22 and a lefty batter, so didn’t gel well with Luna.

Game 3
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Blackburn – LF G. Cabrera – 1B Yamamoto – C Mittleider – 3B Ottinger – CF Tortora – 2B Watanabe – P Weber
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Gurney – C Gonzalez – SS Luna – 3B Crispin – 2B Seymour – P Wheatley

The Raccoons continued to play horrendous baseball on Tuesday. Navarro reached base to begin the game on a clumsy error by Matt Watt, stole a base, and scored an unearned run before long. While the offensive braved the storm by doing nothing, Wheats kept getting sabotaged and/or sabotaged himself, like in the top 4th, where Yamamoto reached with a leadoff single to center, gained one base when Herrera overran the baseball, and another when Wheats balked him to third base. He scored on Mittleider’s groundout then, 2-0. Wheats would go seven innings in a decent effort, but was readily outpitched by Weber, who came in on short rest, lasted only six innings, but also conceded only one measly hit to the Critters, a Gurney single in the second inning. Leonardo Ramos replaced him in the bottom 7th and immediately took a tumble down the nearest set of stairs. He nicked Maldo, Gonzalez singled with one out, and Eddy Luna slapped an RBI double to right-center. That made it 2-1, with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position for … debutee Ed Crispin, who was 0-for-2 at that point. I callously shrugged. Sometimes you have to throw the young ones into the breach. Crispin struck out, and so did Seymour. Wheats *still* got off the hook, though, because Mittleider lost strike three, kicked the ball halfway to Eugene, and thus allowed Ruben Gonzalez to score anyway. Nigro batted for Wheats, but grounded out. Rats. Mike Lynn blew the tie (blowing leads required you to have one first…) right away in the eighth, walking the leadoff man Alex Lopez and giving up a double to Gil Cabrera with two outs. O’Higgins made his debut in the ninth, going 1-2-3 on the 6-7-8 batters, but thanks to double plays hit into by Herrera in the eighth and Gonzalez in the ninth, the Raccoons failed to make up the deficit late… 3-2 Condors. Gurney 2-4; Wheatley 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K;

It's getting ugly out here.

Game 4
TIJ: SS C. Navarro – RF Blackburn – LF G. Cabrera – C Mittleider – CF Burkart – 1B Tortora – 3B A. Lopez – 2B Watanabe – P R. Montes de Oca
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Gurney – SS Adame – C Gardner – 3B Crispin – 2B Seymour – P Hils

Maldo doubled and Gurney homered in the first for a 2-0 lead, which didn’t sound like something Dave Hils couldn’t suck in half just by tipping his hat, but the Raccoons’ starter continued a recent run of halfway-decentness and didn’t allow a run (albeit on four hits) in the first three innings, then whacked a leadoff double to right-center in bottom 3rd. Watt walked, but then the inning went into the bin rather quickly, and Hils, Watt, and Gurney, who was nicked, were all stranded once Adame grounded out to Navarro. Bottom 4th was the first major league hit for Ed Crispin, singling to right with one out. He was on base but briefly, with Rich Seymour finding a double play right away.

Hils held together for five innings, but the problem was that he went beyond that. Brian Blackburn tripled into the rightfield corner to begin the sixth, scoring soon on a Gil Cabrera sac fly, and then Burkhart tied the game with a homer to left. Crispin would draw a 2-out walk in the bottom 6th, stole second base, but went nowhere from there as the inning didn’t get past the bottom of the order. The next inning brought a double by Watt off Dusty Gaddy, making me giddy, and the run did get home for a 3-2 lead… on two walks and a Gurney sac fly. And then Adame grounded out pathetically… That held up in the eighth, despite Navarro hitting a leadoff single off Hils, who was yanked for Ponce. PH Benito Mendoza hit into a fielder’s choice, and while Mittleider hit a single off Ponce, Burkhart flew out to center rather easily to end the inning. The Coons scratched out a tack-on run in the bottom 8th, however – yay, yay, yay! – when Gardner got on base against David Fox to begin the frame, was bunted to second by Crispin, and singled home by Eduardo Avila, who pinch-hit in the pitcher’s slot. Moreno would secure the split, striking out three lefty hitters in the ninth inning… *whilst* walking Watanabe with two down, and Watanabe was a righty hitter. 4-2 Coons. Gurney 1-2, HR, 3 RBI; Crispin 1-2, BB; Avila (PH) 1-1, RBI; Hils 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, W (7-4) and 2-3, 2B;

Raccoons (37-41) @ Titans (44-33) – July 1-4, 2049

Boston was still chasing the damn Elks, now 3 1/2 games out. Offense was their main issue, as they sat last in runs scored in the league. Pitching was not an issue – they were also giving up the fewest runs, but more on that in a second. Overall they only had a skinny +21 run differential, and a 4-3 lead in the season series.

Projected matchups:
Victor Salcido (1-4, 3.83 ERA) vs. Kyle Turay (8-3, 2.47 ERA)
Bubba Wolinsky (6-5, 4.34 ERA) vs. Jake Jackson (5-3, 4.24 ERA)
Victor Merino (6-5, 4.82 ERA) vs. Dave Serio (5-5, 2.51 ERA)
Jason Wheatley (5-6, 3.48 ERA) vs. TBD

The Titans had injuries, lots, including starters Victor Scott, Jose Villalba, David Barel… and also Thomas Turpeau (0-0, 6.17 ERA), who was something like a third-string swingman, and was ALSO ailing now. It would be his turn on Sunday, and he was the only southpaw they had around currently. Leo Estrada was the only position player on the DL.

Salcido went on short rest in the opener with Wolinsky still suspended for the opener.

Game 1
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 3B Luna – 1B Gurney – RF Nigro – SS Adame – C Gardner – 2B Seymour – P Salcido
BOS: 2B T. Thompson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – CF T. Lopez – RF C. Jimenez – LF Mangual – C I. Davison – SS J. Rodriguez – P Turay

The Coons hit four singles from their first four batters in the second inning, which was not enough to score a run when Pat Gurney was caught stealing before Nigro, Adame, and Gardner loaded up the bases for Seymour. He got a sac fly to Chris Jimenez in right, giving a 1-0 lead to Salcido, who struck out. And young Salcido sure made a run for it, especially on short rest. He allowed three hits and a walk through five innings, but also kept it on the ground and got two double plays to help himself out and needed just over 60 pitches for five innings. He had a long 1-2-3 sixth with two full counts, but didn’t put any between the 8-9-1 batters aboard, then gave up a 2-out single to Tony Lopez in the seventh. Since the Coons were terrible at this point and couldn’t hit a barn from the inside, that was the tying run, and Salcido balked it to second base … but then got out of it when Jimenez grounded out to Seymour, keeping it 1-0.

The Coons also coolly kept it 1-0 with a hitless, hopeless eighth, while the bottom 8th saw Julian Ponce give up a double to Ruben Mangual, the only lefty stick he saw. Porter rung up Ian Davison, got Jose Rodriguez on an easy pop, but then was lifted for Lynn when another lefty stick showed up to pinch-hit, Elias Rodriguez, a 22-year-old first-sacker that had yet to start a big league game, but this was his 11th appearance. He stuck to one career RBI, grounding out to end the eighth. The Coons still did nothing in the ninth, which left Moreno no cushion against the top of the order. He struck out Tom Thompson, but then Nate Massey and Jeff Wheeler whacked back-to-back doubles to tie the ******* game. Lopez and Jimenez left Wheeler stranded, though, and we got to play extras, yay…

Nigro and Gardner drew walks off Jordan Ramos in the tenth, but the Coons continued to be unable to land a base hit and stranded their runners with a K to Seymour and a fly to center by Crispin. Nate Norris made it a quick end at least in the bottom 10th. Ruben Mangual tripled to center, but also tore out a leg colliding with Eddy Luna at third base. Manuel Arellano pinch-ran for him, and scored easily on a Davison grounder. 2-1 Titans. Salcido 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K;

Woof.

Well, at least Mike Preble came off the DL for Friday. Roberto Medina (.267, 0 HR, 0 RBI) was sent back to AAA. The Titans however put Turpeau to sleep for the year with radial nerve compression and went on to figure out what Plan G was going to be.

Game 2
POR: CF Watt – SS Adame – 1B Maldonado – LF Preble – 3B Luna – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – 2B Seymour – P Wolinsky
BOS: 2B T. Thompson – RF C. Jimenez – 1B Wheeler – CF T. Lopez – 3B Massey – C Youngquist – LF Mangual – SS J. Rodriguez – P Ja. Jackson

Gurney singled home Adame off seven-year Critter Jake Jackson in the first inning, and the Coons tacked on in the second, where Avila hit a double, and was on third base with two outs. It kind of hurt me to see Jackson walk Wolinsky with two down, but that brought the top of the order back and Watt slapped an RBI single to left in a full count. Adame grounded out to Jose Rodriguez, though, ending the inning. Wolinsky was fine the first time through – he was absolutely not fine the second time through, which began with 1-out singles in the bottom 3rd by Thompson and Massey. They pulled off a double steal, and then Jeff Wheeler and Tony Lopez pulled off a double blast, both to left, to make it a 4-2 Titans game. Three more singles after that, and then ANOTHER 3-run homer by Jose Rodriguez. Jackson struck out after EIGHT straight hits, including three homers. That was all for Wolinsky…

The Coons went on to use their new runts of the litter for an inning and small change each, with neither Cancel nor O’Higgins giving up a run, although they both had quite a few runners aboard. The Coons scored two in the fifth; Adame got on, stole second, and was singled home by Maldo, who eventually came in on a sac fly by Eddy Luna after Preble had singled him to third base. But that was also it. There were only two Coons runners after that fifth inning, and that was not nearly enough to score another run, let alone five to win… Lynn and Norris also got to participate in blowout relief, which aggravatingly enough was scoreless all the way through… 8-4 Titans. Adame 3-5, 2B; Preble 3-4, 2B, RBI; Agila 2-4, 2 2B;

Game 3
POR: SS Adame – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – LF Preble – 2B Gurney – 3B Luna – RF Avila – C Gonzalez – P Merino
BOS: 2B T. Thompson – RF C. Jimenez – 1B Wheeler – CF T. Lopez – 3B Massey – C Youngquist – LF Mangual – SS J. Rodriguez – P Serio

On day two off the DL, Gurney singled in two in the first inning, plating both Adame and Herrera for a new lead to flunder away. It would be a bit of a challenge though, given that Maldo doubled home a pair with two outs in the second, making it 4-0 by chasing home Ruben Gonzalez and Armando Herrera. It got even better, with Luna, Avila, and Gonzalez loading the bags with one out in the third. Merino batted and grounded out to the right side, allowing Luna to score, and then Adame singled home the other runners, 7-0…! Meanwhile, Boston had three singles the first time through, but Merino faced the minimum in the first three innings; the Titans found two double plays (Jimenez, PH Jordan Giammarco), while Tony Lopez was caught stealing. The Raccoons responded with another 2-spot on ex-Coon Jon Craig (the white one) in the fourth inning, those runs driven in by Luna and Gonzalez, and Ruben Gonzalez struck again in the fifth. Craig had already walked in a 2-out run facing Avila, and then Gonzalez pushed a 3-2 through the right side for another 2-out single. What the actual heck was going on, and where were my Raccoons??

Well, whoever the guys in the brown shirts were, they stopped scoring after a dozen. The Titans got a run off Merino in the bottom 5th, which Lopez opened with a double to center and came around to score. Tony Lopez hit another double in the seventh, but that one amounted to nothing. Merino finally got stuck in the eighth inning, loading the bases with a single, a walk, and a hit batter. Preston Porter came in to face Jeff Wheeler with two outs, and got a fly to Avila on the first pitch. Avila brought home another run against Victor Acevedo in the ninth inning, but then of course Danny Cancel had to get bombed for three runs in the bottom 9th… 13-4 Raccoons. Adame 2-5, 2 RBI; Herrera 4-5, BB; Preble 3-5, BB, 2 2B, 2 RBI; Gurney 2-5, BB; Seymour (PH) 1-1; Gonzalez 4-5, BB, 3 RBI; Merino 7.2 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, W (7-5) and 1-5, RBI;

That was probably all the runs for the next six games, fumbled away prematurely.

Sunday then brought a spot start from right-hander Bill Flattery (3-4, 2.43 ERA). It would be his third start of the year, and in his first one he had shut out the Coons for eight innings in June…

Game 4
POR: LF Watt – CF Herrera – 1B Maldonado – RF Preble – 2B Gurney – SS Adame – 3B Crispin – C Gardner – P Wheatley
BOS: 2B T. Thompson – 3B Massey – 1B Wheeler – CF T. Lopez – C Youngquist – RF C. Jimenez – LF Mangual – SS J. Rodriguez – P Flattery

Due another clown shoes game, the Raccoons drew two walks in the first, but couldn’t buy a hit, then saw Youngquist double off the wall in right before Jimenez blooped a ball between Preble and Gurney in shallow right. Gurney caught a lunging Preble’s cap, Preble caught a snout full of grass, and Jimenez caught an RBI double. Rodriguez then whacked him home, too, and the Titans were 2-0 up on a despairing Wheatley, who struck out to begin the top 3rd. Watt also made an out, but Herrera got on, then scored on a Maldo double to center. Better yet, Mike Preble crashed his 11th homer of the year, flipping the score to 3-2 Coons. Wheats did his best to buckle down and allowed only one more hit through five, while Maldo singled home Matt Watt with two outs in the top 5th, 4-2.

And Wheats showed second-half form (it was July after all!) and made it through to the eighth with just one more Youngquist single against him; he left after 105 pitches after getting a groundout from Tom Thompson, with the final five outs to be collected by the pen. Julian Ponce entered to face Massey and *maybe* Wheeler, but walked Massey on four pitches and surely didn’t get to face Wheeler. Preston Porter did the honors and got a 6-4-3 double play. Jim Cushing held the Coons off base in the ninth, bringing Moreno in with a 4-2 game in the bottom 9th and Maldo removed for defense, which was happening often these days… The 4-5-6 whiffed, popped out, and grounded out to Crispin to grab another 4-game split. 4-2 Raccoons. Maldonado 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI; Wheatley 7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K, W (6-6);

In other news

June 29 – SFB 3B/SS Josh Jackson (.291, 1 HR, 13 RBI) beats the Loggers, 6-5, with a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the ninth.
July 2 – PIT SP Joe Feltman (8-7, 4.49 ERA) comes up with a 3-hit shutout in a 5-0 win over the Capitals.
July 4 – The Mines acquire SP Jerry Cruz (4-3, 4.08 ERA) from the Pacifics by shedding two prospects. The deal includes #31 SP Ivan Torres.
July 4 – Salem sends MR John Steuer (2-1, 2.45 ERA) and seven figures in cash to the Indians for two prospects.

FL Player of the Week: DAL LF/CF Juan del Toro (.324, 9 HR, 48 RBI), hitting .478 (11-23) with 2 HR, 8 RBI
CL Player of the Week: OCT LF/1B/RF Steve Humphreys (.266, 12 HR, 47 RBI), clipping .357 (10-28) with 3 HR, 7 RBI

FL Hitter of the Month: SFW LF Mario Villa (.381, 11 HR, 58 RBI), batting .384 with 6 HR, 29 RBI
CL Hitter of the Month: OCT 2B/SS Jonathan Ban (.343, 5 HR, 37 RBI), hitting .417 with 1 HR, 15 RBI
FL Pitcher of the Month: RIC SP Zach Tubbs (7-5, 3.59 ERA), hurling for a 5-0 record with 1.54 ERA, 36 K
CL Pitcher of the Month: SFB SP Kevin Nolte (7-6, 2.83 ERA), pitching or a 4-0 mark with 1.79 ERA, 29 K
FL Rookie of the Month: SFW C Blake Mickle (.338, 2 HR, 7 RBI), all of that in June
CL Rookie of the Month: CHA LF/RF Danny Ceballos (.336, 1 HR, 11 RBI), batting .343 with 1 HR, 10 RBI

Complaints and stuff

Superficially decent week given the opposition and the myriad of challenges, but they surely were not a blast to watch as they went 4-4 with two 4-game splits. Couple more inauspicious debuts, another couple dozen at-bats of Maldo looking like an old man… that sorta schtick. We’ll get Matt Waters back early next week, whatever that will mean.

Since Waters is signed to such a team friendly contract, he’s certainly quite unlikely to be traded this early. With a speedy rebuild he could be the centerpiece of the offense of the next Coons team challenging for the postseason. Same for Wheats. Everybody established is certainly up for grabs – not that they’d all find grabbers.

Unfortunately, the international free agent pool that came out this week isn’t all that deep after all. We’re probably not going to spend too much dosh there, and thus the excitement is out of this season and probably the next few, too.

Fun Fact: We have already used 39 players this year.

The 2044 Coons used 39 players the entire season…! In 2045 and 2046 it was 40 players each. And knowing how stable things were, probably the same 40 players…!

Oh well. Empires rise. Empires fall. Baseball always has a new Opening Day though.