[JayW UK]

2035 Season Notes

Pre-season – with several of their young stars closing in on free agency and able to command hefty salary increases, San Jose GM Larry Westheim made his move. Keenly aware of ownership’s desire to keep spending under control, Westheim packaged 26-year-old catcher Eduardo Cabrera off to Dallas in return for middle reliever Dave Day and 20-year-old shortstop Jaime Perez (#54 on BNN Pipeline). With the headache of Cabrera’s imminent contract demands gone, the Spartans filled the vacant catcher role for the upcoming season by naming back up James Andersen the starter for 2035.
April 4th – Houston star Steve Blanton came a single short of hitting for the cycle going 3-5 and driving in 7, as Houston steamrollered Phoenix 13-2.
April 5th – Seattle’s veteran pitcher Pedro Escobar, now 37, had a day to remember against one of his former teams, pitching a NO-HITTER against San Diego.
April 10th – St. Louis veteran shortstop Richie Rambeaux went deep for the 400th time in his career in the Reds loss to Chicago.
April 18th – Omaha’s LF Daniel Garcia collected his 2500th hit as the Braves downed Houston 5-3. Garcia became only the fifth player in NABL history to reach the milestone.
April 29th – Atlanta pitcher Greg Marshall struck out 15 against Miami as the Flames cruised to a 9-3 victory.
May 11th – on the comeback trail after his elbow injury the previous August, Dallas pitcher Juan Rangel suffered a relapse while on a rehab assignment forcing him to go under the knife again, ruling him out for the season.
May 14th – Philadelphia star Matt Henderson collected three hits in his team’s 3-1 defeat against Boston, his third hit on the day was the 2000th of his career.
June 5th – Boston RF Jared Guest scored his 1000th run as the Pilgrims beat New York.
June 7th – Denver’s star 2B Jack Underwood had a day to remember, going 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles and a homerun, while driving in six teammates as Denver crushed Seattle 11-2. His fourth inning homerun was the 300th of his career.
June 9th – Houston’s Steve Blanton slammed three homeruns and collected 5 RBI as Houston came from behind to beat Los Angeles 9-7.
June 12th – Denver 1B Jamie Boden slammed his 400th career homerun as the Wildcats slumped to a 5-3 defeat against Las Vegas.
June 16th – after underwhelming play from their 1B position (a combined .199 average with just 5 HR from 3 players) Charlotte made a move, sending starting pitcher Gerald Helton to Boston for 1B Broderick Hill and MR Julio Diaz.
June 26th – veteran OKC shortstop Mario Cristo suffered a broken elbow in an on base collision with Austin CF Angel Lopez, both players ended up on the DL with Cristo ruled out for the season and Lopez missing five weeks with fractured ribs.
June 27th – Indianapolis star Jesus Alarcon came up short against Las Vegas, going 0 for 3 on the day and ending his hitting streak at 33 games, the second longest in NABL history.
July 2nd – With young catcher Aaron Payton needing more playing time Chicago decided to move on from incumbent starter Eduardo Moreno, sending him to Boston for RF Alan Lutolz and 20-year-old SS Floyd Bailey.
July 3rd – with the team stuck in purgatory, not good enough to challenge for the playoffs and not bad enough to bottom out, Houston chose to cash in on their all-star infielder Steve Blanton, sending him to Tampa Bay for a fistful of prospects (including BNN pipeline #93, CF Julius Spencer).
July 4th – Indianapolis SS Pancho Sousa suffered a strained ribcage sending him to the disabled list for 5 weeks.
July 10th – Philadelphia’s rotation suffered a blow as John Ford (7-6, 2.50 ERA in 18 starts) suffered a torn labrum ruling him out for the season. The game got worse for Philly as after Ford left the bullpen struggled, letting a 7-2 lead evaporate and surrendering a walk-off Grand-Slam to Boston 1B Alberto Rangel to lose the game 8-7.
July 11th – Boston RF Jared Guest collected his 1000 career RBI.
July 12th – Boston made a move to improve their pitching, adding Leo Wright from Austin for five minor leaguers, the main draw being a pair of top 100 prospects, C Max Mitchell (#84) and SS Jose Rocha (#98).
July 16th – San Jose were left reeling as star pitcher Ivan Lopez suffered a partially torn UCL ruling him out for the season and probably part of the next season too. Lopez was leading the WL in wins when he went down (13-4, 3.17 ERA) and the rest of the Spartan pitching staff would have to step up if San Jose were going to defend their World Series title.
July 19th – Phoenix CF Ramon Mendez recorded six hits, all of them singles as Phoenix fell 6-1 to Dallas.
July 21st – Sanfrancisco’s star catcher Sancho Guerra hit for the CYCLE as the Gold thumped San Diego 14-2.
July 25th – Chicago CF Josh Deric collected six hits (6-for-7, 2b, 3b, 5 RBI) and helped the Zephyrs down Atlanta 9-5.
July 26th – Sanfrancisco catcher Sancho Guerra was at it again, leading the Gold to a beatdown of Houston, collecting five hits and belting a Grand-Slam on his way to 7 RBI’s, as SF cruised to a 15-3 win.
July 27th – Oklahoma City closer Kikaku Aoki, in the midst of another strong season (5-2, 2.50 ERA, with 24 saves), suffered a shoulder injury sending him to the DL for four months.
July 28th – Detroit’s 23-year-old starter Greg Hardy hurled the first shut-out of his career a NO-HITTER against Philadelphia.
July 29th – Philadelphia strengthened their infield by weakening their pitching, sending starter Ieyoshi Matsumoto to Indianapolis for SS Roberto Paz and 1B prospect Bart Dlugpolski.
August 1st – The Mustangs announce that star LF Alfonso Sosa would be remaining in Dallas for the next five years after signing him to a lucrative $90M contract extension.
August 2nd – San Jose’s star 3B Tom Sterling clubbed three homers (all of them solo shots) as the Spartans squeezed past Las Vegas 6-5.
August 3rd – Charlotte LF Stephen Thomas went 2-4 with a solo homerun as the Express came from behind to defeat Atlanta 3-2. The fifth inning homerun that Thomas hit was the 300th of his career while he also collected his 1000 RBI.
August 6th – Superstar Dixon Bodean scored the 2000th run of his career, helping Baltimore hold off Boston 4-3.
August 7th – OKC’s first round draft pick from 2033 Stephen Hart found himself on the wrong side of the law, arrested on a DUI charge. In the days following his arrest he was released by OKC leaving him on the outside looking in and wondering if any teams would give him another chance.
August 8th – Phoenix 2B Pedro Gomez hit for the CYCLE (5-for-5, 3 RBI) as the Eagles crept past Austin 5-4.
August 10th – Chicago catcher Aaron Payton suffered a broken elbow in the Zephyrs defeat to Cleveland ending his season, with the club light on qualified catchers Chicago turned to journeyman Vince Farley and over the hill veteran Richard Watson to fill the void.
August 11th – Boston RF Jared Guest collected another career milestone, this time his 2000th hit.
August 17th – star pitcher Jim Jacques left Charlotte’s win over Detroit early with pain in his throwing arm, the club’s fears proved correct the following day when he was diagnosed with a torn bicep sending him to the DL for the remainder of the season.
August 18th – Philadelphia star Matt Henderson was hit on the hand by an errant pitch breaking his thumb and sending him to the DL for four weeks.
August 28th – Houston 2B Angel Valdez collected his 2000th career hit in style, belting a walk-off RBI single as Houston beat Las Vegas 4-3.
September 5th – Philadelphia ace Shane Olson overpowered Washington striking out 17 of the 26 batters he faced as the Independence snuck past the Generals 2-1.
September 16th – Chicago were dealt a blow to their playoff hopes when 1B Julio Cruz suffered a back injury ruling him out for up to 4 weeks, meaning he would not return to play until the World Series (if Chicago got there)
September 18th – Pancho Sousa’s first year in Indianapolis ended early as he suffered a shoulder injury ending his season having played in only 115 games.
September 22nd – San Jose’s star 3B Tom Sterling strained a triceps muscle sidelining him for three weeks, ruling him out of the first two playoff series (he would be eligible to return were SJ to reach the World Series)
September 25th – Dallas catcher Eduardo Cabrera suffered a broken kneecap ruling him out for 7 months.
September 30th – On the final day of the season Minneapolis LF Jose Campos slammed a trio of homeruns driving in all five of the Bears runs as they fell 7-5 to Omaha, a win which ensured the Braves first ever winning season.
November 4th – At the conclusion to the season a clearly emotional Chicago manager Eddie Gray announced his retirement from the game after 22 years. His career took in stops at four clubs (DEN, KC, TB, CHI) winning over 1300 games and included being named WL manager of the year and leading Denver to a World Series title way back in 2015.