[dgally]

Opening day of the 2027-28 season. We should be playing October baseball again this season with some further developed young BP arms and the returning rotation our strong points. As for prospects, we're still 2-3 years out for anyone to make a difference. 2025 1st rounder SS Hazelwood stands closest, starting this year in AA.

We open the season with two series at home. Our first series against Monterrey, we show up without our bats, scoring only one run the first two games. We find our bats in the 3rd game, striking for 12 runs but having the injury bug strike back. Guiterrez goes down for 3 weeks and Grizz Guzman goes down for 3-4 months with a torn meniscus. Devastating. We don't have a ton of depth either. 1-2

We go onto the picked over free agent market and find Marrero, a 1b who can play 3rd. We sign him to a 1yr/1.5 million contract. That'll do.

The second series has Guadalupe visiting and they don't like the bagels or the air in Montreal as we record our first sweep of the season. 3-0

Hitting the road for the first time of the season, we land in Naucalpan. We set the tone for the series as McWilliams goes 8.1 of perfect baseball before surrendering a hit. Still, we carry the momentum and other SPs take note as we sweep the Big Trains away. 3-0

Next is the windy city where the wind is blowing in. Our pitching continues to dominate and we take 3 of 4, ending out streak of 10 straight. 3-1

Dallas comes into Montreal for the next series. Our pitching comes back to earth but our offense holds strong and we take the series win. 2-1

Guatemala follows Dallas. We drop the first but take the next two. We have yet to drop a series since our very first against Monterrey.

That changes however when we head down to Tijuana who are off to a hot 15-7 start. Their baseball is OBP for days. We feel that to our core as McWilliams walks a record 8 in 5 innings. We walk 4 more that game. Buck pitches game 2 and holds the Ropes to 1. But they come back and score 12 the next day, taking the rubber match. 1-2

We get Gutierrez back and shift Marrero to 3rd. He's been a solid contributor, batting .330 with 4 HR and 13 RBI.

Last road series of the month puts us in sunny San Diego. In the first game, our BP collapses as they give up 6 runs between the 7-8th and we lose 7-6. But we get a pair of QS from our T-brothers, Taveras and Turrieta. We take the series 2-1.

We have one game against San Luis, the team we lost to in the playoffs and team Mike Bryan, our AS 1b signed with. He's off to a heck of a month and the following day takes the batter of the month award. Still, we have Buck on the mound and he shuts down all bats, including Bryan who went 0-4 on his return to Montreal. We win the game, 3-1. 1-0

Can't complain. We carry our Spring Training right into the season, finishing a flashy 18-8. Our closer, Bobby Rodriguez, whom we picked up last year, is off to a dream start. He even picks up pitcher of the month with 10/10 saves and a 0.75 ERA. Love to see it.