[Jiggy]

The 2055 season could not have gotten off to a better start for the Chicago Kingpins. By the end of May, the team had skyrocketed to a 23-9 start and boasted the best record in the Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE).

Then June came around. Chicago stumbled to just a 9-13 record that included a seven-game losing streak to close out the month. By the All-Star break, the Kingpins had fallen three games behind the State College Swift Steeds in the MiLPBE East Division, but the organization held out hope for a divisional title.

Though there the team is still holding out hope it can achieve that goal, the likelihood is much more remote after an equally chaotic July.

Chicago posted a 7-10 record in July, winning only one series during the month against the Florida Flamingos, who at 34-38 are tied for third place out of five East Division teams. The Kingpins’ recent struggles cannot be attributed to the strength of its schedule either.

July featured losing series against the Puerto Rico Ranas (29-43; the worst record in the MiLPBE), Louisville Lemurs (34-38; third in the MiLPBE East), the California Firehawks (33-39; second in the MiLPBE West), and the Amarillo Armadillos (31-41; tied for fourth in the MiLPBE West).

With the tumultuous start to their summer, the Kingpins (40-32) now seven games behind the Swift Steeds, a division deficit that seems daunting with just 36 games left to be played in the regular season.

“We started even better than I than I thought we would for the first couple of months,” Chicago general manager Tiktaalik said, “and then for the result to just nosedive is hard to take. We reverted to the mean, and then we just kept going down.”

That doesn’t mean Tiktaalik is ready to give up on the season.

“I do believe we’re still a good team and that this is more a run of epically bad luck than anything else. We’ve lost four games in extra innings this month and won zero. If we had won even half of those, we would be back to a winning record this month and things would be looking better.”

Over the course of the July, Chicago averaged 5.4 runs produced per game while opponents scored an average of 5.7 runs per game. During the downswing, consistency has sometimes seemed an issue. In their wins, the Kingpins scored 8.14 runs per game and allowed just 4.14 runs per game. In their losses, the Kingpins scored just 3.5 runs per game while allowing 6.8 runs per game.

“I think it’s more reflective of how we’ve been unlucky than anything else,” Tiktaalik said. “On average we’re still scoring and conceding runs like a good team, but the runs are coming in bursts in victories when we don’t ‘need’ as many, if you like.”

Because there are not enough user-created players to fill out MiLPBE rosters, minor league general managers are forced to utilize “bot” players to field full teams. These “bot” players can lead to unbalanced run scoring in certain game situations.

“Every team pretty much is running ‘bot’ relievers for half their bullpen,” Tiktaalik said. “They’re okay, but even the worst [user] player reliever is much better, so if you can knock the player pitchers out of the game and get into the bots, you’ve got a good chance of running up a decent score.

Rookie starter Casey Shaffer has emerged as a steadying presence throughout Chicago’s chaotic July. He started four of the seven games that the Kingpins won. He was the starting pitcher in only one game that Chicago lost, July 30th’s extra-inning 4-5 defeat at the Puerto Rico Ranas.

“I’ve been really pleased by [Shaffer’s] improvement so far,” Tiktaalik said of Shaffer. “It turns out earning and updating regularly do good things! He’s worked on his movement to keep the ball in the park, and his changeup, and it’s paying dividends.”

Meanwhile, Chicago’s All-Star veteran starters have seen their performances dip significantly since the mid-season break. Left hander James Daly is 1-3 with a 10.59 ERA over his four July starts. Right hander Jolene Mydog’s July ERA is 8.49 and she has not recorded a decision.

Tiktaalik doesn’t think their recent performances are indicative of any potentially worrying trends.

“They’re good pitchers,” Tiktaalik said. “Daly in particular is one of the best pitchers in the minors. Mydog also has a track record of great performance, although they’ve been susceptible to the long ball this year. I’m not too worried by a few bad blowups, and I’m confident they’re going to come up big for us still.”

At seven games back, Chicago has a steep climb to achieve the team’s preseason goal of winning the East Division and earning a first-round postseason bye. However, the Kingpins are one of just three MiLPBE teams with a winning record and are well situated for a postseason berth, where they can still vie for the franchise’s second World Series championship.

“The postseason is a lottery,” Tiktaalik said, “so a bye is helpful because it removes a bit of that uncertainty, but if we’re in the postseason then we’ve always got a chance of winning it all. So a bye would be great, but I think any season you make the playoffs is a successful one.”

July Series Recaps

July 9 – Louisville Lemurs 2 – Chicago Kingpins 10
July 10 – Louisville Lemurs 8 – Chicago Kingpins 4

Everything went right for Chicago in this, the second game of a series against the Lemurs that straddled the months of June and July. Shaffer threw 4.2 innings of one-hit, no-run baseball in the start for the Kingpins, while Mitch Goatbisky and Gaslight Gatekeep Girlboss allowed just two runs in 4.1 combined innings of relief, picking up the win and save, respectively. DH Tony Franzonello homered twice, driving in five runs, while third baseman Jim Copeland Jr. added three hits and three RBIs. Game three was a different story altogether. Daly was chased after just two complete innings, having yielded six earned runs. Collectively, Chicago pitching gave up 15 hits while its lineup. The early 6-run deficit was too much ground to make up despite home runs from Otijomyzarc Kove and Randy Fasttrack. The game three loss resulted in a series loss for the Kingpins.

July 12 – Chicago Kingpins 5 – Amarillo Armadillos 6 (12 innings)
July 13 – Chicago Kingpins 1 – Amarillo Armadillos 3
July 14 – Chicago Kingpins 4 – Amarillo Armadillos 2

It appeared like Chicago was well on its way to a game-one win after hanging four runs in the top of the sixth inning. The rally was capped by a two-RBI triple from Copeland and propelled the Kingpins to a 5-2 lead. However, Amarillo chipped away, plating a run in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to tie the game before winning on a walk-off single from right fielder Adelbert Steiner. Chicago struggled to score in game two despite eight total hits, leaving nine men on base. Armadillos starter Jeronimo Ovechkin threw 6.1 innings and allowed just one earned run in the start. The Kingpins salvaged a win in game three thanks to the combined efforts of Shaffer (4.1 innings pitched; one earned run allowed) and Bauer Bottom (4.2 innings pitched; one earned run allowed). Chicago’s offensive attack was balanced, with Alyssa Jakob, Kove, Bartholomew Brown, and Copeland each recording multi-hit games.

July 16 – California Firehawks 10 – Chicago Kingpins 1
July 17 – California Firehawks 7 – Chicago Kingpins 12
July 18 – California Firehawks 8 – Chicago Kingpins 7 (11 innings)

Daly ran out of gas in the fifth inning, giving up four earned runs in that frame alone to see his Kingpins team fall behind 6-0 to open the home series against the Firehawks. Chicago managed just one run in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI-ground out off the bat of Brown. California starter Nova Montagne was sensational, throwing eight complete innings while giving up just one run off of two hits. Jakob and slugging first baseman Luigi Lanikai led an offensive charge in Chicago’s game-two victory, each recording three hits and three RBIs. Lanikai’s three-run home run in the fourth inning gave the Kingpins a 7-5 lead and relievers Jack McMorris Jr. and Al Dugger fended off the California offense enough to secure the win. Chicago came up just short of a miraculous comeback in game three. The Firehawks lit Mydog up for six runs over four innings pitched. Chicago plated a run in the fourth and then exploded for six runs off of six hits, including two home runs, in the bottom of the fifth, seizing a 7-6 lead. California was able to tie the game in the top of the sixth, where it remained deadlocked until the top of the 11th when Harvey Brinkley Jr. hit a bases loaded sacrifice fly off Kingpins reliever Beeg Yosh to plate the series-deciding run.

July 20 – Chicago Kingpins 5 – Florida Flamingos 2
July 21 – Chicago Kingpins 8 – Florida Flamingos 3
July 22 – Chicago Kingpins 3 – Florida Flamingos 10

Game one featured another solid outing from Shaffer, who threw 5.1 innings and allowed just two hits and two runs, both unearned. The game was tied heading into the seventh inning before being broken by a solo home run from Fasttrack. The Kingpins added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth while Girlboss shut down the Flamingos over the final 1.2 innings to earn her eighth save of the season. Chicago hung crooked numbers in the second, eighth, and ninth innings en route to a game-two win. Franzonello drove in four runs on a 2-for-4 day while Daly posted his best start of the month, permitting just two earned runs off of four hits over six complete innings. The victory gave the Kingpins their only series win of the month. Chicago could not complete the sweep in game three, however, as Florida smashed 13 hits and scored 10 runs with just eight innings worth of offense.

July 24 – Kansas City Hepcats 8 – Chicago Kingpins 5 (15 innings)
July 25 – Kansas City Hepcats 3 – Chicago Kingpins 7
July 26 – Kansas City Hepcats 7 – Chicago Kingpins 3

Game one against the West Division leading Hepcats went deep into the night before Kansas City finally broke through with three runs in the 15th inning. Both bullpens were sensational. The Hepcats called on seven relievers who all answered the bell, combining to throw 10.2 innings while giving up just two earned runs. Meanwhile, the Kingpins used five relievers of their own, who in turn allowed just three earned runs over 11.2 innings pitched. Ultimately, Chicago’s bullpen ran out of steam first. Game two turned in the Kingpins favor on a two-out, two-RBI double from Copeland in the fourth inning. The hit gave Chicago its first lead of the game. Kansas City tied things up in the top of the fifth, but the Kingpins rallied again with a two-run homer from Lanikai in the bottom of the fifth. Relievers Ouro Kronii and Checo Perez shut out the Hepcats over the final four innings to secure the win. Kansas City reversed the score in game three, scoring the game’s first seven runs and keeping Chicago scoreless all the way until the eighth inning. Daly was charged with the loss after yielding 6 earned runs on six hits through 4.1 innings.

July 28 – Chicago Kingpins 11 – Puerto Rico Ranas 10
July 29 – Chicago Kingpins 2 – Puerto Rico Ranas 3
July 30 – Chicago Kingpins 4 – Puerto Rico Ranas 5 (10 innings)

The Kingpins closed out the month of July with a series loss at Puerto Rico. Chicago almost blew a nine-run lead in game one. Goatbisky allowed six runs (four earned) in the seventh inning and McMorris allowed three runs (two earned) in the eighth without recording an out before Girlboss took charge and recorded the final six outs to secure a one-run win and their ninth save. The Ranas rebounded with back-to-back walk-off wins to take the series. In game two, it was a ninth inning walk-off home run by Giggity Giggity Goo against Kingpins stopper Girlboss. In game three, it was a walk-off single by Daquavion Davis Jr. against McMorris.