[JayW UK]

2029 Season Notes

Spring Training - There was still time for 41-year-old Anthony Barrett to find a new home, the three-time pitcher of the year signed on with OKC for one year at $2.5M hoping for one last hurrah before calling it a day. Barrett, a veteran of four world series, would bring a wealth of experience to the Outlaws pitching staff and his 218-121 record was second only to Vince Little in NABL history. With few options to man first base on the roster after the trade of Marc Baxter, Seattle turned to veteran Tanner Gosse, signing him to a 1-year deal while Chicago’s veteran OF Steve Burgess suffered a torn hamstring ruling him out until July at the earliest.
April 4th – Houston 2B Angel Valdez clubbed three homeruns in a Stars victory over San Jose. In doing so he became the first player in NABL history with multiple 3-homerun games having first achieved the feat back in 2023.
April 7th – In a somewhat strange move Dallas tried to sneak 1B Ron Gilfedder (the 2028 WL Homerun champion) through waivers, the move failed as LA pounced adding the slugging first baseman to their already powerful lineup.
April 13th – Denver LF Lewis Washington smashed three hits, all of them for extra bases (two doubles and a Grand-Slam!) collecting 8RBI’s, Denver still found a way to lose though, going down 11-10 to OKC in extra innings.
April 17th – in only his fourth start after recovering from the shoulder injury which cut short his 2028 season, Las Vegas star Dave Cahill threw a 3-hit shutout against Seattle taking just 87 pitches to dispose of the Pioneers. Ominously for the rest of the league, Cahill was looking back to his 2026 best, at 3-0 with an impressive 0.87 ERA and 28 K’s to just 3 walks through his first four games. All the Gamblers runs on the day were provided by a Claude Cummins 3-run homer, the 400th of his career, making him only the third player to reach the milestone in NABL history.
April 18th – after a disastrous 2-13 start to the season, which included six blown saves in seven tries by closer Lou Stephens!!, Washington manager Matt Hunt was forced into action, Stephens was moved to a setup role and replaced as closer by David Gonzalez, who had been signed in the off-season to be the Generals fifth starter. In his nine-year career playing in Boston, New York and Oklahoma City, Gonzalez had appeared in 321 games, starting 187 of them and forging an 80-58 record with a 3.56 ERA and although he had no experience of being a closer, he was deemed as the Generals best option for the role.
April 20th – Denver superstar Dixon Bodean collected his 400th homerun, joining Juan Santos, Gabriel Mendez and Claude Cummins as the only players to have reached the milestone.
April 22nd – during the third inning of the game between Las Vegas and Houston, Gamblers star Dave Cahill left the mound clutching his right shoulder, team doctors confirmed the Gamblers worst fears three days later, announcing Dave Cahill had suffered a torn rotator cuff and would miss the rest of the season leaving Las Vegas scrambling to replace his spot in the rotation. The Gamblers eventually settled on their long reliever and spot starter Shannon Hendricks for the role.
May 1st – Veteran Philadelphia pitcher Carlos Correa recorded his 2500th strikeout when he K’d New York 1B Ben Cox.
May 3rd – New York’s ace Vince Little became the first player in NABL history to reach 250 wins with victory over Philadelphia.
May 4th – Washington SS Christian Moore belted three homeruns leading his Generals to a 7-3 win over division rivals Boston.
May 11th – Boston SP Robinson Castro reached the 2000K milestone.
May 12th – Larry de Meza reached the 2500K milestone helping Tampa Bay to victory over Atlanta. On the same day Indianapolis suffered a major blow when SP Earl Stone blew out his elbow rupturing his UCL, the injury had a recovery time of a year at the minimum and would likely spell the end of his time in Indianapolis.
May 13th – Denver’s veteran closer Min-Jae Choi suffered a torn UCL ending his season. With a recovery time of at least 11-months and slated to be a free agent at the end of the season, 37-year-old Choi would have a tough decision to make on whether to continue to play or retire.
May 26th – Washington 1B Joey Buhler was injured in a collision making a play in a game against division rivals New York, team doctors announced the following day that Buhler would miss at least a month with a fractured foot.
May 31st – New York catcher Max Johnson suffered a torn ACL ruling him out for the season. Two days later Senators suffered another injury blow, this time SP Orlando Vicenteno suffered a triceps strain, his injury though turned out to not be too serious but still landed him on the DL until the all-star break.
June 1st – Dallas rookie pitcher Cristobal Chapa struck out 11 Phoenix batters on his first NABL start. Chapa fresh off leading Lowell Blue Thunder to back-to-back AAA championships had earned his call up with another dominant start to the AAA campaign.
June 3rd – Sanfrancisco SP Mike Powell hurled the fifth PERFECT GAME in NABL history, shutting down LA while striking out five. It was 26-year-old Powell’s first complete game of his career.
June 10th – LA RF Dustin Holt single handedly led the Lynx to victory, he collected exactly half of LA’s hits (2) both of them homeruns (including a Grand-Slam), while driving home all seven of their runs in a 7-5 smash and grab win over Oklahoma City.
June 11th – Las Vegas veteran RF Claude Cummins scored the 1000th run of his career, his achievement was overshadowed by the Gamblers humbling 12-3 loss at the hands of Dallas.
June 12th – Detroit catcher Jorge Maldonado collected two hits, both of them homeruns (a 2-run homer and a Grand-Slam) leading the Giants to a late come from behind 7-5 victory in Atlanta.
June 16th - Seattle star SP Matt Powell struck out 15 OKC batters in just eight innings of work, the Pioneers comfortably saw off the Outlaws 8-1.
June 20th – Los Angeles RF Dustin Holt hit for the cycle but the Lynx fell short against Dallas going down 4-3.
June 27th – Phoenix 2B Dustin Polk collected the 2000th hit of his career in the Eagles victory over Minneapolis.
July 1st – Just over a year after being traded from Cleveland, Minneapolis 1B Clarence Davis was sent back east, this time to Detroit for OF Roberto Cornell and MR Roy Wrightson.
July 3rd – Atlanta 3B Julio Ramirez destroyed Philadelphia, almost singlehandedly winning the game for the flames collecting six hits, four of them doubles and driving in nine runs!!
July 13th – RF Hun-ho Park collected three hits, all of them homeruns, unfortunately his heroics didn’t help as New York ultimately fell to Miami in extra innings.
July 16th – Seattle catcher Stephen Miller suffered an oblique strain forcing him to miss 9 weeks and opening up playing time for rookie Jesus Maldonado.
July 18th – LA’s Lucio Martinez belted three solo homeruns helping the Lynx dispose of Sanfrancisco.
July 21st – Dallas Mustangs pitching phenom Cristobal Chapa suffered bone spurs in his elbow forcing him to the DL for the rest of the season, ending his impressive rookie campaign (his rookie numbers were 4-1 with a 1.75 ERA and 102 K’s)
July 22nd – New York’s prized off-season acquisition SP Vince Little suffered a torn elbow flexor tendon putting him on the shelf for at least 10 months.
July 23rd – Houston closer Robert Grove took just five pitches to retire the side in the ninth inning of Houston’s 3-2 victory over Denver and in doing so collected the 300th save of his career.
July 25th – Washington SP Frank Wilcox suffered a shoulder injury putting him out for the rest of the season.
July 26th – Miami catcher Curt Pitts took three different Cleveland pitchers over the wall, smashing three homers and driving in five runs, leading the Everglades to a 12-3 victory.
July 28th – In an effort to shore up their rotation after the loss of Frank Wilcox, Washington sent LF Tatsui Aoyama and pitching prospect Chandler English to Atlanta for veteran SP Gary Miller (8-5, 4.00 ERA)
July 30th – Boston LF Stephen Thomas (in the midst of an excellent season .309, 25 HR, 96RBI in 103 games) was shipped along with CL Miguel Santana to Tampa Bay for SP Claudio Gonzalez.
August 1st – New York 1B Ben Cox suffered a groin injury landing him on the DL and ending his season.
August 14th – Denver catcher Domingo Villanueva became the sixth player on the season to hit three homers in a game when he accomplished the feat against Sanfrancisco, The Gold had the last laugh though, winning the game 8-6.
August 16th – Chicago SP Benny McCauney suffered a shoulder injury shelving him for the duration of the season.
August 18th – Kansas City ace Mark Fort became the second player on the season and sixth all-time to throw a PERFECT GAME when he blanked Oklahoma City.
August 24th – Kansas City star 1B Michael Jennings drove in two to reach 1000 RBI for his career, the Tornadoes fell short though, going down 5-3 to Minneapolis.
September 3rd – Dallas starting catcher Carlos Barron suffered a broken kneecap sending him to the DL and ruling him out for the rest of the season.
September 4th – LA’s 38-year-old veteran pitcher Felipe Sanchez struck out four against Seattle to reach 2000K for his career.
September 4th – In a waiver trade Washington added an experienced arm to their bullpen in the shape of Beau Bass and BNN’s No 16 prospect RF Tomas Mendivil from Tampa Bay, sending 2B Ronson Daley the other way.
September 5th – Miami catcher Curt Pitts certainly enjoyed playing Cleveland, smashing six hits (including a two-run homer) and collecting 6RBI’s on the way to leading Miami to victory.
September 6th – Kansas City’s young star, RF George Shipp hit for the cycle, going 5-5 including two doubles and 2RBI’s helping the Tornadoes down Houston 6-3.
September 7th – Detroit CF Orlando Gonzalez (hero of the 2028 world series) suffered torn ankle ligaments ending his season.
September 8th – Detroit suffered another injury blow, this time starter Bradley Starks injured his elbow ruling him out for the season. Another playoff hopeful Seattle suffered an injury blow of their own, losing young star LF Kirby Watts to a torn PCL ruling him out for at least 8 months.
September 18th – Tampa Bay’s Larry de Meza pitched a NO-HITTER, striking out ten and allowing two walks while blanking St. Louis.
September 21st – Playoff bound Kansas City lost starting RF George Ship for the rest of the season to a hamstring injury.
September 24th – San Diego CF Jorge Sanchez collected his 2000th RBI in a crucial Mariners victory over Sanfrancisco.
September 26th – Detroit’s postseason hopes took another hit when 3B Ryan Scott suffered a back injury forcing him to the DL and ending his season. The Giants would be without the services of three key players (SP Bradley Starks, CF Orlando Gonzalez and 3B Ryan Scott) for the defence of their crown.
September 30th – Boston announced that star SS Joseph Davis had signed a 3-year extension with the team.
October 2nd – at the conclusion of the regular season, Philadelphia released pitcher Carlos Correa after a particularly poor campaign. The former pitcher-of-the-year posted a career worst 3-14, 5.09 ERA resulting in his release and leaving his future in question.
November 1st – Two of the games biggest stars, Gabriel Mendez and closer Min-Jae Choi announced their retirements. Mendez left the NABL second on the all-time list for homeruns (472) and third all-time in hits (2457) while Choi retired with the most career saves (537).