Tricia Takanawa
October 31st, 2026
The Aurora Borealis/Duluth Warriors series drew a total of 356,194 fans over the 6 game series. The fans saw an amazing no-hitter from Edgardo Diaz in game 3 and a very close series overall. Aurora was not shy when they wished Evas would have won out over Duluth during the Divisional series, as the Warriors handled Aurora pretty well during the season. Our line up faired very well posting 17 HRs, 60 RBIs, .296 during the 2026 season. Our pitching posted a mind-boggling 4.58 ERA mainly due to the poor bullpen after the starters played well. However, in the League Championship, things played out much differently. A .191 batting average as a whole was underwhelming. 6 starters posted under .200 batting in the series, Barry Wallace struggled mightily going 3 for 20, Roberto Cisneros was 1-12, Ieyoshi Ishikawa was 1-18... We could have ended the series sooner if those players played much better. Hopefully, they pack a better punch for the PEBA Championship. The series was lead by heavy hitters Cole Middleton who took advantage of the 8 at bats he had, Harley Schneider .333, 1 HR, 1RBI, Guillermo Justavo .308, 2HR, 5RBIs. Guillermo Justavo was again named MVP of the series. He has shown that he is ready to play at a high level.
Duluth pitching must play well as Julian Thomas and Ruben Hernandez can't carry the team all by themselves. They both posted an ERA of 1.29 against Aurora and hopefully they bring the heat for the next series. Overall no matter what happens no one would have bet that GM Mark Kierstead who tore a playoff team apart upon arrival and put in his own pieces would be playing for it all. This has been a long road ahead as Duluth has never won it in the 19 years the league has been around. Can Kierstead pull it off? We will see...