The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance

As described by Aurora, scrappy is a fitting description of this Bears team that continues to hang in the Wild Card race. Last week we went 2-5 and with 4 against the Sandgnats and 3 against Duluth, this past week could have spelled the end for the Bears. But that's not how it went... we split 2 of 4 against the Gnats, winning the last game of the set with a 2-0 shutout win. We then came home to host Duluth, and shut them out 4-0, 1-0, and 2-0, to earn a sweep fully comprised of shutouts. There have been a slew of injuries and a couple trades geared towards rebuilding, and yet somehow we're 1 out of the Wild Card just as we start to get healthy. In 1-2 weeks, we will get OF Gilbert Murray back after missing him for nearly the whole season. If he can get back into shape and help us push into a Wild Card berth it will be a HUGE addition to our lineup.

Another cool thing is our AA-affiliate Sherwood Park had about the best week a baseball team can have. They went 6-0 and outscored the opposition 50 to 4. Yes, a 46 run differential in one-week. The team is absolutely crushing the competition lately and is a nice assortment of some of our best prospects, and a few veterans added to the farm for depth. Our AAA club is a really toxic environment so we've held a few guys down in AA that could probably be in AAA, so that's part of why they are winning so much. After a 12-10 first month, they've gone 79-32 the rest of the way to land at 91-42 with a week to play.

Look for the Caribbean Rivalry to tighten up as Havana hosts Florida for a 4 game series and then hits the road travelling to West Virginia. Our recoed against them combined is 6-10. San Juan will be playing host to Amsterdam and Hartford. We're expecting the division race should tighten up a bit when the final tally is made.

Hartford gets hit by the injury bug once again. This time it was rookie Walter Daniel (4-5 weeks) who has been on an incredible streak since his call-up early in the season. Daniel has been the IL rookie of the month for the past 2 months and has been a major player in our success this season. Not great with a few key wildcard defining series against Kentucky, San Juan, and Havana on the horizon.

Just when I thought the bullpen was stabilizing, the entire staff throws a rod. I know all five starters are capable of dominating over a 30-day period, so we'll just have to roll the dice and hope Ito, Hatsutori, and Bright can get it back together in September. I'm also just crossing my fingers and hoping Craig Taylor and Jeremy Martin got enough garbage innings in to get locked in for September. Michael Ayers seems over his post-trade hiccup and Alfonso Ochoa has been as-advertised so as long as the fresh meat settles in the bullpen might improve to "not terrible" in September.

Speaking of "Fresh Meat", late-season addition Scott Morris has struck out in a hilarious 38% of his plate appearances. He hasn't really shown any signs of being able to shake off the rust, so it may be time to pull the plug...

Harpoon wrote:Hartford gets hit by the injury bug once again. ...

To paraphrase Airplane! :

Looks like I picked the right week to start sniffing glue.

I feel I am dead in the water right now. I do get a bunch of guys back within two weeks but probably too late. In the meantime, I have signed FAs Phil Echols, Christian Ramey and Rod Martin to fill the gaps. They took too long to decide though.

Can't trust the kids with the controls while the boss is gone

During the five weeks I was gone on vacation, the team lost 19 of our 30 games
That pushed us well outside playoff contention, and we have now passed the trade deadline.

All is not lost, the team isn't a total catastrophe and can still be competitive in 2026, but things will need to be carefully pieced together to make another run. There is still enough zip and financial clout to potentially piece something together, but time is running thin. The good news is, we now finally have a balanced attack of offense and pitching. Something the team desperately needed for the last few seasons.

The focus is now squarely on 2026!

Trendsetters wrote:The good news is, we now finally have a balanced attack of offense and pitching. Something the team desperately needed for the last few seasons.

The focus is now squarely on 2026!

KyT focus is on beating those hated Trendsetters and eventually catching the F-heads. Bears, we are watching you too.

(glad you made it back safely Reg...)

I hope you get a chance to beat us this year!

Rod-rod looks like he's raking for you at least.

Bears wrote:I hope you get a chance to beat us this year!

Rod-rod looks like he's raking for you at least.

Rod-Rod is doing well ... 80ab 5hr 15rbi batting .263 and slugging .537 ..... I will take that

AND his morale is GREAT

Maes of course is in a very good mood scamming us...

The Dinos have been taking it as of late with a nice 7 game losing streak and only one win in like the previous 12 games total. One bit of solace is in the fact that we are one of the unluckiest (or perhaps worst managed?) teams thus far with a -8 Pythagorean record thus far. According to Pythag, we should be 63-58 and in the wild card race, instead we stand 55-66 nicely with the 8th overall selection in our grasps for the next draft.

And now I lose my top power hitter (Carlos Ryan) for 2 weeks.

I'm actually sensing a trend with sims.

When Reg runs the sim, I win but someone gets injured.

When Dan runs the sim, I lose but everyone stays healthy.

Ugh, was expecting 2 uneventful games while we await the return of Gilbert Murray but looks like he'll be replacing all-star centerfielder King Bailey who will take another trip to the DL.... It's been a rough few weeks for him.

08/02/2025 Injured (high ankle sprain), out for 4 weeks.
09/02/2025 Injured (recurring back spasms), out for 4 weeks.

Rod Martin's first week back in the Show: .458, 7 RBI, 2 HR. Made the box scores fun to read again. Now why didn't he sign two weeks ago when I first offered?

Anyway, three guys coming off the DL this week and another who has a few more days left.

Tough injury going down the home stretch. 3B Matsusuke Hamada goes down for 6 weeks, the rest of the regular season, with a broken thumb. That really blows up my lineup. His 29HR power surge was somewhat unexpected and a very welcome bonus. His downside was a mediocre glove, rating at a projected 162 game -7.56 ZR at 2B.

Well, I'll be inverting that relationship for the rest of the year with the promotion of my top positional prospect 2B Errol Landry. His .284/.333/.703 line shows decent contact and good-enough OBP but a near total lack of power. He does hit LHP much better (.328/.355/.820), which is a serious need up in SS.

His biggest advantage will be glove. Over 162 games he projects to a fantastic +19.83 ZR at 2B. That's double the best ZR at 2B in PEBA this season. That will be a welcome boost to a team with the 3rd worst defense in the SL at -31.5 ZR.

Still, it's sad to possibly see Hamada's career in SS come to a close with an injury. He's near the top in several career categories in SS including WAR (3rd - 28.8 ), HR (3rd - 201 )and Hits (4th - 1081). I can't completely rule out bringing him back. But with his asking for $116M/5 going in to his age 36 year, its not off to a great start.