The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance

CL is ready to go for 2027. Starting the season with Merlin Ricks on the DL is not going to help, but he should be back in time for week 2. Had to make some tough decisions on who would make the cut for the 26 man roster. Decided to go with 8 relievers this season. Mixed up the rotation a little bit this year as well as an interesting switch at closer.

Best of luck to everyone in the IL

I am pretty excited about the season. The Zephyrs will have 10 new faces on the roster. It was a bit of a bummer that we spent a decent chunk of change on free agent Knuckleball Pitcher Seon-Chin Pak only to see him go down with a 12 month rotator cuff injury in spring training. The good news is we are eagerly anticipating 2 pitchers coming off of long term injuries. Connor Hurst and Hector Rivera are each close to returning from 10 month injuries. Last but not least I am eager to see what kind of season we get from Rowan 'Bleeder' Stuart this year. He looked good in his 300 AB as a rookie.

Youth will be served in Canton, as the opening day lineup will feature 22 yo OF Felix Rodriguez and SS Roberto Salazar getting their first Opening Day starts. Alexander O'Neal, an off-season trade acquisition, looks to add some pop to the lineup at the DH spot. This appears to be a hangover year as the Longshoremen finally get the disastrous Chris Long contract off of the books (via trade to Kentucky for Hector Marroquin), and the not-so-disastrous-but-still-expensive DH/3B Emilio Manuel contract off of the books. Manuel will bat leadoff and play 3B, at least against righthanders.

On the pitching side of the equation, 23 yo Rule 5 draftee Marty Snijders has won the 5th spot in the rotation, and fellow 23 yo Rule 5 draftee Ferri Pronk will begin his PEBA career as a mop-up man and lefty specialist out of the pen (despite an atrocious exhibition season performance). Twenty-five year old Bob Erickson, a former #5 overall pick, will make his debut in the pen, and is likely the next man up in case Snijders (or #4 starter Bill Martin, who is a starter prospect-turned- suspect-turned reliever-turned-back-into-a-starter) falters in the rotation. Jim Willis (24), Anthony Gregory (28), and Will Douglas (28) will join Pronk and Erickson as PEBA rookies who will begin the season in the Longshoremen's bullpen. The only two "veterans" out there are second year man Iwao Rin, who rode a strong spring back into the closer role after losing it down the stretch last season, and Matt Allison, who has compiled a 5.58 ERA in 317.6 PEBA innings.

New Orleans is locked and loaded, and ready for opening day!

Borealis-Bears... That's like back in the old days, before MLB blasted it's self in it's drug-infested feet and vanished, Giants-Dodgers, Red Sox-Yankees... When it comes to rivalries and Opening Day, it doesn't get better!!

Provost was Outstanding, expected Bears SP Neil Maes had a meh spring - but throw the spring stats out the window! Maes has had our number on more than one occasion...

The biggest question on The Front Range is: will the bullpen be improved over last years model - a model that cost Aurora a shot at the championship...

The second biggest question: Will the two former-Duluthians meet their new teams expectations...

uh.... Rosters already expanded to 40???

Managed to seak 1 win by SS followed by a 2-1 series win over Canton. Pitching has been an absolute fun house so far but we've been hitting well.

The best news in Toyama is the signing of 2 players on cheap, 1-year deals to help fill some holes. RP Eijiro Nakagawa gives us some relief help against lefties and played for the Claymores last season. A personal favorite, 1B Mike Harris, comes in to start in one of our weakest positions. I traded for Harris back in Hartford and he had been teamless since his contract ran down at the end of 2026 so it's good to see him follow me to Toyama.

Borealis wrote:uh.... Rosters already expanded to 40???

Apparently so. Makes life much easier, doesn't it?

The game, for reasons I'll never understand, changed the roster expansion date to April 6. We'll have that fixed next sim.

It did that last year too for some reason.

Also looks like our game logs are not correct...

I'll take the start at 6-1 though

wow, 3-4 start, Not what we were looking forward to, But it is early and will not be too worried just yet.

no statslab ... guess I just gotta wait til I am home to find out anything

A nice and surprisingly good start for the Zephyrs. We also managed to land a starting pitcher who will be slotted in as our #1 starter. We may have overpaid a bit but the last time the Zephyrs overpaid on an San Juan Winter League Free Agent we went on a pretty good run.

Schizo week for the Borealis as we start the season losing 3 in a row to Bakersfield (two of which were 2-1 games), then salvage a game out of that series (also 2-1), then a sweep of the Evil Evas in Japan - that featured a 15-inning game in which Shin Seiki had 5-solo homers - 4 in the first 3 innings, off Carlos Rivera... How's that for a Not So Neat and Neat all wrapped up in a single game!!

Provost was untouchable in the Spring - then gives up 3-runs and walks two (though in a total of 9-innings - I keep early start pitch counts low and build, he struck out 12)... 'Chief' Neives threw 7-scoreless in his first Aurora start, allowing 6 H, no BB and 4 K... As Luck would have it, Edgardo Diaz gets the SP Short Straw and heads to the 'pen, - and leaves his first outing with a biceps issue... Felix Pena gets a bad hammie and is out 6 weeks...

Keeping with the Not So Neat injury thread, 2 games in and River Pope has an oblique that'll shelve him for 5 weeks or so... 'Fudd' Martinez didn't do much in Pope's stead - 3-22, 10 K... But definitely on the Neat side, Britt (12-24, 4-2B) and Tomas Flores (13-29, 4 HRs) are the hot bats to start... of Flores' two homers, 2 were in the same game v. the Evil Evas - 'Tugboat's 8-inning, 3-hit shut out... Not Neat are Carlisle, Martinez, Castro and Loetzsch, all out on descending Interstate numbers...

What's on Tap
Two surprising clubs - the Hot Neo-Tokyo squad, who gave us fits last year, and the Cold Codgers, who we don't expect to stay cold for long...

Well my team is a bit sad Mauro 'Noodles' Rocha was claimed off waivers, my accountant is happy. That saves me 13.5 million over next 3 years and while he was once the star of my rotation, 2 major injuries brought his stamina down to a 3 and I didn't have room for him anymore. I wish him all the best in Scotland.

Also I needed this sim to be 2 days shorter as my Rule 5 pick was injured for a few days and I could have put him on 60-day DL. He may be going back to his original team soon also. I did a quick glimpse of Rule 5 picks this season, so far all but 3 have been kept.

No complaints about my team's start 6-1. but need my OF to start hitting their weight soon or it might be a very short lived hot start.