[DD Martin]

First homestand of the 2055 Season April 9th-15th

As the team arrived home to prepare for their season opening homestand, the team announced a few minor league signings.

SP Augusto Gonzalez was signed to a minor league deal with a 30-day big league call up clause. We were looking to add more depth and the 38-year-old RHSP was someone we looked at when we didn’t think the Jose Cedeno trade was going to go through at the deadline. Gonzalez toiled for Detroit in 2054 and was 5-13 with a 5.47 ERA. So maybe not that great of insurance but one has to remember the club he was pitching for. He could be a nice innings eater in a worse case scenario.

We also signed pitchers Steve Tait and Dick Koch to similar sort of deals. Again more veterans to AAA who we hope will stay the year even if we don’t call them up.

Next up the Traverse City Bears

TC was a ballclub that hung around in the playoff race until the last few days of the season when they were swept at home and out of contention by the Toledo Neptunes. The Bears had several star hitters and arguably have the best outfield in baseball with Ben Marshall, CF Cal Braud and RF Earle Foote. Foote had won the best player award for the last 2 years and he was going to be gunning for another one. Their pitching though was another issue. While they had some solid starters in Walt Marcotte and John Nelligan, there wasn’t anyone who really scared a team and the bullpen save for the ageless Kevin McAskill (43) wasn’t overly strong. McAskill was one of the players we were after but we were outbid by the Bears.

Chicago leads the all-time series 471-369 and won 15 out of 24 games last year. Over the course of the league's history Chicago has been a very dominant team. They have a large lead in all season series against the American clubs.

Traverse City Bears (4-2) vs Chicago Architects (4-2)

Pitching Matchups
LHSP Jerry Moore 1-0 3.38 ERA vs RHSP Jose Cedeno 1-0 1.17 ERA
RHSP John Nelligan 1-0 2.70 ERA vs RHSP John Moore 1-0 0.00 ERA
LHSP Kade Cason 0-1 9.00 ERA vs RHSP Val Imbert 1-0 0.00 ERA

Game #7 - Friday, April 9th, 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 36,690

Chicago Architects 13 Traverse City Bears 6
The home season opener was a tough one for the TC Bears and It turned into a long night for the Traverse City bullpen. The Architects score five in the first and seven in the second. Kent Noseworthy and José Aranda hit three-run home runs and then cruised to an easy victory. In the last 2 games the Architects have scored 30 runs. Chicago 13, Traverse City 6.

1B R Osborn 2-4 2R 1RBI BB, 2B K Noseworthy 2-4 HR, 2R 3RBI BB, C C Lee 2-4 DB R 2 RBI, RF J Ashley 3-5 HR 3R 2 RBI, DH J Aranda 1-4 HR 1R 4 RBI
CH HR - 2B K Noseworthy (2), DH J Aranda (2), RF J Ashley (1)

Game #8 - Saturday, April 10th, 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 36,996

Chicago Architects 14 Traverse City Bears 10

Where has the double-digit scoring gone today? Oh, it went here. The two teams combine for 15 runs in the first two innings.

Traverse City’s Alexis Martin* leads off the game with a home run. Pedro Villegas hits a three-run home run, and the Bears score five in the first. Chicago counters with four runs—three on a José Aranda homer. The Bears score two more in the second, making it 7-4, but the Architects once again score four—two on a Thomas Arnaud homer—and take the lead, 8-7. After that, Chicago does most of the scoring, with Sean White and Kent Noseworthy both going yard. Chicago pounded out 19 hits in this game with 7 of them for extra bases. Chicago 14, Traverse City 10.

*Martin’s nickname is “Midnight Toaster”. I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, and Googling the phrase just gives me kitchen toasters and a recipe for “midnight toast,” which involves bacon, avocado, peppers, and sriracha sauce on a ciabatta roll. That sounds pretty good, actually.

Too many good hitting days to mention with 19 hits, but below are the 4 home run hitters.
CH HR’s - DH J Aranda (3), 3B T Arnaud (3), C S White (2), 2B K Noseworthy (3)

Game #9 - Sunday, April 11th, 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 37,001

Chicago Architects 9 Traverse City Bears 2

The Architects entered this game with a chance to sweep and move into 1st place in the US Division and they did not disappoint the fans. Bears SP Kade Cason was a part of the Chicago team last season and his former teammates really hit into them, although they only scored 9 on this day after scoring 27 in the first 2 games.

Chicago sweeps Traverse City. Val Imbert (6.1 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 5 K) gives up his first run of the season, giving him a 0.67 ERA. Thomas Arnaud hit a two-run home run. Prowler Ashley hits a trio of doubles. Everyone in the Architects lineup gets a hit. The Architects hit 8 doubles and also added a home run for 9 extra base hits. Chicago 9, Traverse City 2.

RF J Ashley 3-5 3DB (8 in 9 games), 2R RBI, 3B T Arnaud 2-5 HR, DB, 2R 3 RBI, C C Lee 2-3 DB RBI
CH HR - 3B T Arnaud (4)

Summary - Wow what a display of hitting as Chicago pounded the Bears pitching staff for 36 runs, 45 hits with 20 being extra base hits. If we can keep that type of offense up, we are going to be very tough to beat. But the scoring this season in the GLBL is dramatically up (first season in OOTP 26) but it is just 9 games in. With a 7-2 record we are tied with Chicago’s former GMs new team the Duluth Sea Gulls who happen to come to town next.

The team has an off-day on Monday but then begins an early season test with 3 games against the Sea Gulls (7-2). This is the club that beat us out of the playoffs in our first 2 seasons in Chicago by 1 game, including a 1-game playoff in the 1953 season.

Duluth Sea Gulls (7-2) vs Chicago Architects (7-2)

With Toledo scuffling to start the season (3-7) these are the two teams that are leading things. With Toledo in the mix these are the 3 teams that should be the top contenders for the 2 playoff spots in the US Division. Duluth should have been a factor last year more serious than they ended up, but they underplayed their expected win total by 6 games. I don’t expect that to continue.

In the off-season Duluth made the biggest splash by signing International Free Agent Jorge Rangel (24) who appears to be destined for power stardom. While he likely won’t hit for a high average he will crush the baseball and take a walk, so his OBP should make up for his lack of batting average (a perfect player in today’s MLB). The big question is where will this guy play. He was billed as a second baseman, but he is likely either a LF, a 1B or a DH. He probably will eventually become a decent fielding LF, but I don’t think he has the glove for 2B. So far this season Rangel is hitting 353 with 7 RBI’s but has not connected on his first big league home run as of yet.

Chicago leads the all time series versus 476-365 and won 13 out of 24 a year ago.

Probably Starting Pitchers
Duluth vs Chicago

RHSP Emmanuel Lucas 0-0 15.00 ERA vs RHSP Yale Hulburt 1-0 4.50 ERA
RHSP Chris "Gator" Collier 1-1 3.97 ERA vs RHSP Jose Cedeno 2-0 3.29 ERA
RHSP Dave "Mayor" Moss 0-0 2.92 ERA vs RHSP John Moore 1-0 6.10 ERA

Game #10 - Tuesday, April 13th, 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 35,181

Chicago Architects 7 Duluth Sea Gulls 6
Duluth comes out of the box swinging, scoring three in the first. Chicago quickly comes back and takes the lead. They score two in the first and four in the second. Reagan Osborn hits a two-run home run. The Gulls peck their way back, one run at a time, and tie the game in the sixth on a Joe Hunt solo home run. The game remains tied going into the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth, Prowler Ashley singles and steals second. Reagan Osborn then hits a fly ball to right, which Mark Laursen loses in the lights! Chicago wins on a walk-off error. Chicago 7, Duluth 6.

RF J Ashley 2-5 DB 2R SB, SS W Dunse 2-5 DB 2R 2RBI SB, 1B R Osborn 2-5 HR, R 3 RBI
CH HR - 1B R Osborn (2)

Game #11 - Wednesday, April 13th, 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 36,702

Duluth Sea Gulls 6 Chicago Architects 5
Chicago leads for most of the game. Their biggest hit is a Reagan Osborn two-run home run. They take a 5-2 lead into the eighth and the bullpens blows the game. Duluth’s Mark Laursen ties the game with a three-run home run. In the ninth, António Zamora wins the game with a pinch-hit solo home run. The teams remained tied at the top of the US Division with 8-3 records. Duluth 6, Chicago 5.

SP J Cedeno 7IP 8H 2R 1BB 5K, SS W Dunse 2-4 R BB, 1B R Osborn 2-4 HR, 2R 2 RBI BB, SB, 3B T Arnaud 2-3 R, RBI
CH HR - 1B R Osborn (3)

Game #12 - Thursday, April 14th, 2055
Chicago’s Pier IV Grounds
A - 36,758

Chicago Architects 5 Duluth Sea Gulls 4

With the first two games of their series split, whoever wins this game leaves the series in first place. The lead changes several times, and neither team ever leads by more than one run. Let’s pick it up in the fourth, where António Zamora singles in Alejandro Escobar and gives the Gulls a 2-1 lead. That one-run lead lasts one inning.
In the fifth, Chicago’s Walker Dunse singles in a run, then gets doubled in by Reagan Osborn. Chicago takes the lead, 3-2. That one-run lead lasts one inning.
In the sixth, with two outs, the Gulls rally on two singles, a run-scoring wild pitch, and a run-scoring single. Duluth leads, 4-3. That one-run lead lasts one inning.
In the seventh, Prowler Ashley doubled in two runs. Chicago takes the lead, 5-4. That one-run lead lasts…the rest of the game. Chicago 5, Duluth 4.

SP J Moore 5IP 6H 2R 4BB 8K, RF J Ashley 2-4 DB(10) 3 RBI, LF M Graves 2-2 2R SB, CF C Luna 1-2 2R
CH HR - none


Summary - What a week at home going 5-1 against TC and Duluth. The scoring was definitely down in the Duluth series with each game being a 1-run affair.

RF Ashley right now has 10 doubles in the first 12 games of the season. A ridiculous amount and if he stayed even close to the pace he is on he would shatter the GLBL record for doubles in a season (62) held by former Architect Antonio Mendez who retired after last season.

Next up is our arch rivals last season, and the team that won the division on game #145 (season is 144 games in the GLBL) but then we won the playoff series against. The Neptunes are off to a 4-8 start and we hope to continue that misery for them, but we will have to do it in their home park. After that series, the interleague games with the Canadian teams start and Canada has just whooped up on the US clubs for at least my first 3 seasons in the league. We were 9-15 against the Canadian clubs last season despite winning 83 regular season games (83-61).