Aurora Storialis - The Borealis Blog

[Borealis]

April Returns Mostly Favorable
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

May 24, 2038: Somewhere over the Pacific – May has been a perplexing month. Aurora began the month with a game and a half lead, only to see it quickly disappear, falling behind by four games to Reno by May 10 - only to storm back and sit only a game back as the Borealis jet-set to Japan for a critical series with Niihama-shi, whom Aurora is a game behind in the wild card race (tied with Okinawa, four ahead of Tempe) - as the Ghosts trails Sovereign League leaders Toyama by 2.5 games.

Troubles for Aurora began in Yuma as the teams split a four game set - the Borealis bookending a pair of losses with a pair of wins. Aurora used a pair f homers by Ortega and Kowalski in the opening two frames to jump to a 4-0 lead and coast to an 8-1 win, as it was the bullpen who did most the work as it was a short outing for Brian Clark as he left in the 4th for an undiscosed reason... Game 2 was a game of long balls as Claudio Hernandez had a pair (numbers 3 & 4), while Yuma managed a pair off 'Lanza' and a 2-out shot off Fujii in the 6th, giving the Yumans the lead - and the win in a 5-3 loss for Aurora... Lewis Uige got the call in place of Ramon Gonzales, and 'Haggis' had nothing as Yuma roughed the Scotsman up for three homers - two solo shots by Vincent Powell, while Kyle Johnstine held Aurora to just 3-hits into the 7th... Aurora pounded out 21-hits in game 4 - including 7-2B (two each from Qing and Daikawa) and 'Matchbox's third homer of the series in a 13-5 win that had Aurora score 10-unanswered runs after Yuma took a 4-3 lead in the 4th. Hernandez was 3-5, with 3 R and 3 RBI...

It was a Yuma hangover as the club faced Tempe at home, and scored a total of 5-runs - after a 13-run, 21-hit outburst in the previous game. Ju-ao Zou held Aurora to 6-hits and a run in the opener, while Cluett also allowed just a run (on 3-hits) before he departed. The 'Hyena' would give up the winning run (in a 3-1 Apollos' win) as Twia continues to struggle to find consistency... It was Tempe's turn to flash some power in game 2, as they had 6-doubles and an Alejandro Garcia homer, while Shojiro Goto scattered 7-hits over his 5+ innings for a 5-2 win... Victorio Guerra gave up 3-runs on four hits and a walk in the 2nd - he allowed 5-hits on the day's 5.1 IP outing - and that was enough. Aurora fought back and loaded the bases in the 9th with 2-out, on three straight singles - and Munoz made it four, but Diakawa was thrown out at the plate trying to score the tying run - ending the game at 3-2...

Aurora opened a series in Duluth, finding themselves four games out of first and third in the wildcard standings, feeling lost - but they quickly found their stroke in Minnesota, and have kept it rolling since - winning 12 of their next 14-games.

They took two if three from Duluth - 9-1 and 8-0 wins, sandwiched around a rough 5-2 loss. Armando Batista was solid in his 5.2 IP performance, allowing just 3 H while striking out 6, with Ruben Ortega 2-4, a double and triple and 3 RBI on the game... Things looked good in game two, as Aurora led 2-0 - another Ortega triple and Kowalski's 6th homer - but Henry Cluett's excellent performance of 7-shut out innings exploded in the 8th before help could arrive - four straight singles and a Dave Petersen 3-run homer chased 'Professor Plum' with a 5-run outburst, giving Duluth the 5-2 win... Aurora turned to the minors this time around for Gonzales' start, and Jung-hyun Yi got the call from AA, and he amazed the 32,807 paid crowd with 6.1-innings of 3-hit, shut out ball, while Rocky Kowalski hit 2-homers and drove home 3 as Aurora punished Cooper Harris and Pedro Gonzalez for 4-runs apiece in an 8-0 win in Yi's major league debut...

Aurora continued their zig-zagging home and road pattern as they bounced back and forth across the Rockies, this time to face the Sandgnats at Northern Lights - a Crystal Lake team that is 4th in the Great Lakes, but just a game and a half out of first as things look to be tight all year in that division. Except, for the 'Gnats, it was bad news, as Aurora had found their groove and pounded the ball all series. The opener was an 8-1 win for the Borealis - only a 2-out, top of the 9th homer by Tony Torres preventing a shut out as 'Matchbox' had a pair of doubles and his 6th homer of the year - leading to 5 RBI on the day in support of Brian Clarks' 8-inning, 7-hit shut out performance... Game 2 wasn't much better as former Win-D and Shisa Scottie Shorland had nothing against Aurora - giving up 8-hitsna d 5runs in 5-innings.It was a classic Aurora singles parade - 12 of the Borealis' 14 hits were singles, with Ruben Ortega hitting his 5th homer, supporting 'Lanza's 7-inning, 6-hit, 2-run performance. Uige bounced back ofter his rough start earlier in the month to have 2-hitless innings in relief, as Aurora won 9-2... 'Nitro' and Batista faced off in game 3, and each found it rough. MacCowan was hit with two HR - one by Qing (his second) and Hernandez' first of two on the day (#8 on the year), while Armando allowed 11-hits and 5-runs in his 6 IP. Barry Rodriguez and 'Machete' would finish the three innings scoreless, while 'Matchbox's second homer made it a 7-5 final...

After s second straight Monday off day, Aurora was off to Bakersfield to face a Bears team that has struggled mightily this season, coming in with a 12-27 record - in 5th, 11-games behind Aurora (13 behind Reno, as Aurora has cut the four game deficit to two) and just 2-games better than last place Palm Springs. As bad as the Bears may be, you expect them to still play Aurora tough - and they mostly hung in there. Cluett and Mendoza (for a second straight time) matched one another - each allowing just a run, in a game that went into extra innings. It would be Aurora's 5th extra inning game, and with a pair in the 10th - Arundale and Munoz leading off with back-to-back doubles, Aurora plated two, making it 5-0 in extra innings for Aurora... David Simmons solo homer in the 2nd and a Daikawa triple and Silva double would give Aurora an early 3-0 lead - a second time they spotted the rookie Jung Yi with a lead - and for a second start he was not scored upon - this time allowing just 2-hits in 7.1 IP, as Aurora would win 7-0 - Yi's 2nd win in two tries... Aurora jumped to a 5-0 lead behind 'Slug' - David Simmons third homer - a 3-run shot off Juan Guerrero making it 5, but the Bears fought back with two in the 6th off Clark, and another two in the 8th off Barry Rodriguez (a Bernardo Romano 2-run homer), but after getting a lead-off single in the 9th off Gutierrez, Hyo-sang You hit into a double play to kill any hope - Aurora getting a 5-4 win, and a sweep of the Bears...

The Borealis stayed in California, sliding over from the Central Valley and into the Joshua Tree covered Mojave to face the last place Codgers, but Taki Takata jumped on a 'Lanza' offering with 2-out and 2-on in the first for a three-run homer, while Hung Bao held Aurora to 2-runs on 8-hits - Claudio Hernandez hitting his 9th homer on the year. Guerra's control did him in, as he walked six - two scored, in the Codgers 4-2 win in the opener... Aurora bounced back with Batista on the mound - who scattered 7-hits over 7-innings, allowing a pair, while Aurora had their turn with a pitcher who couldn't throw strikes - Tsugiharu Kamimura walked 6 in 6 IP as Aurora would win 5-2 - Batista's 5th win on the year... Aurora jumped all over Mark Stanford, scoring 6-runs off 8-hits - Ortega and Qing with back-to-back doubles with 2-out in the first giving the Borealis a 4-0 lead that they built to 7-2 by the 4th - and Qing made 8-3 in the 7th with his third homer of the year - Aurora's young catcher hit 3 all of last year in 178 AB - he has 82 on the year and is hitting a tidy .268 - .326 v R, as Henry Cluett picked up his fourth win on the year...

On The Farm
At AAA, free agent closer Tekle Louahla has 13 saves and a 1.00 ERA over 16 appearances and 18 IP - with 26 K and 6 BB... at AA, Mark Newton's shortstop experiment has ended, and he's back at 1B, hitting .269 with 3 HR and 14 SB; Hideki Nishikawa is hitting .290, with 6 HR and 16 SB' Declan Ingall is hitting .293 with 11-2B and 15 RBI... At A Ball, George Anderson is 4-1 with a 3.00 ERA, and in 7 starts has 35 K in 45 IP, with just 4 BB... Short A starts this week and with the Oceanic eyes will be on starting pitchers Leo Gerber, Dae-hyun Pak; 1B Jose Aguilar and Juan Carlos Sanchez; and SS Robert Godfrey...

What's on Tap
Four at the Ghosts - as mentioned at the top, and then a second trip to Duluth to face the 23-22 Warriors, who are 3.5 behind first place Kalamazoo. Aurora will be sending rookie Jung Yi to the mound in the opener as the youngster faces his stiffest competition of his young PEBA career. The Ghosts may have the 12th best average in the SL, but they've scored the 2nd most runs - thanks to the second most homers. Their pitchers have the 3rd best overall ERA with the lowest OAVG - setting up an interesting matchup with the Borealis's top rated ERA (thanks to the 'pen) and 2nd ranked offense, average-wise - though 6th in runs.

[Borealis]

Borealis Hit Draft Day Spinning Wheels
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

June 7, 2038: Aurora, Colorado – As we are fond of saying when things go sideways - it coulda been worse.

Aurora cruised past June 1 and slammed into a Draft Day wall (figuratively speaking, of course) after a two week stretch that included division leaders (Reno), division and wild card hopefuls (Niihama and Duluth) and Yuma. When you go against the best, who pray for no worse than a split, and that's what Aurora got - two weeks of 7-7 play. How they got there, and how they managed to do no worse in the Desert Hills standings than lose just a game? That's a whole other ball of wax.

For starters - or maybe middlings - Aurora held Yuma to a five runs over their four game series sweep of the Yumans; the Arroyos score 4 R in game 1 and Henry Cluett allowing a solo homer in game 3, while the offense pounded out 41 hits and 21-runs. But for the second time in as many series with Yuma, Aurora suffered what fans are calling the 'Yuma Hangover' - noticed in early May after a grueling four-game split with the Arroyos, which was followed by a three game sweep at the hands of Tempe. This time, to was Reno who beat up the Borealis, sweeping them - just as the Borealis had regained first place in the division - albeit by a half-game, with their sweep of Yuma. Just like that, Aurora was back to 2.5 games out.

But if we go backwards, we see more of the counter-productive behavior. Aurora began the 2-week span with four games at Niihama, and gaining a well earned split - beginning with Jung-hyun Yi's third start - 7.1-innings of 2-hit ball - but ending with 'Werewolf' blowing a tight 1-run lead with an 8th inning Santiago Aranda 2-run homer - turning a 5-4 win into a 6-5 loss. Perhaps more frustration was it was the second time in the series that Kichida surrendered a 2-out, 8th inning 2-run homer to lose a game. Arguably Aurora was 2-pitches away from a sweep; how different would the standings look this morning? Aurora then went on to Duluth, where 'Professor Plum' had nothing in game 1 and seemingly got no one out (6-runs in 3.1 IP), and then Aurora's bats found nothing in game 3 - as 'Scrawny' Murphy shut the Borealis out. Only the efforts of Yi in game 2 (earning his 4th win in four outings) kept Aurora from being swept.

Looking upon the two-week, Raul Munoz was 18-51 (.353) with 5-2B, a HR and 12 RBI; 'Litterbug' was 9-26 with 5-2B; Masamichi Daikawa was 13-42 with a pair of triples; Aleman was 14-46 with 5-2B and a triple; and Angel Silva continued his Royal Raker push with a .300 week that included 4-2B, a triple and homer, 11 R, 6 RBI and 6 SB (in 8 attempts). 'Otter' continues to be running second in SL average, currently at .373, leading the SL in hits, SB and WAR - and if early voting is any indication, he could be the top SL vote getter in the All-Star game.

Jung-hyun Yi came aboard and has shown no fear in the big leagues. He won all three starts - though he finally gave up runs in his fourth career start - at Duluth. during the stretch in question he posted a 1.37 ERA, and struck out 14, walked 4 in 19.2 IP. Not So Neat was Victorio Guerra - though to be fair, Cluett and Clark weren't super sharp, either - who managed just 13.1 IP in his 3 GS - allowing 16 H, 8 R, 4 HR and walked 7, as his post-freshman All-Star appearance has continued into sophomore struggles. The bullpen faced their own struggles as Kichida allowed 5 R in 3.2 IP; Icharia 6 R in 3 IP; Howard 3 R in 5.1 IP; and Fujii 3 R in 4.2 IP. If not for the efforts of 'Hyena' and 'Machete' over their combined 16.1 IP with just 1-run allowed, the team ERA (and W-L mark) would have been far worse (than it's 3.96). Aurora was out homered nearly 2:1 (16-9, then again - Aurora hit 9 HR), and in general, the teams stats look like a team off a 7-7 stretch; they looked... mediocre.

Down on the Farm
The only interesting things at this point are the play of SLRC and Mokule'ia. The Oceanic opened Short A play looking for their 7th straight playoff spot and 6th straight division title - and much like the parent club, during their first two weeks, sit at 7-7. The Rapids Blancos are 26-21 in the Mexican Division, and are 8 GB of Rosarito - shocking. They are in a tight race for the second wild card.

The Draft
Aurora will not have a number 1 pick in this years draft - lost to compensation for signing Rocky Kowalski this past offseason - though thus far, that seems a fair trade with a .326 average, 9 HR and 29 RBI - all three second best on the team. Aurora does not have a their second round pick - it was shipped to San Juan for Barry Rodriguez (who is 4-1, with 2 S, a 2.59 ERA over 31.1 IP, 35 K, 8 BB and a 0.86 WHIP and .171 OAVG), nor do they have their 3rd round pick (sent to NO for Castanieda). They do, however, have New Orleans 2nd round pick (Castanieda) and Arlington's 2nd (from the G-Rod trade - who is hitting .177 for the Bureaucrats). Aurora also has their full complement of picks from the 4th round on.

What's on Tap
Today - an off day and the draft. Tomorrow at home with Duluth and then they hit the road to Palm Springs for the way-peskier-than-they-should-be Codgers. Looking ahead, things don't get easier - even with a second series, at home, with Palm Springs, as Crystal Lake, Niihama and Fargo all visit Northern Lights by month's end, with a quick road trip to Kzoo squeezed into the mix. While Palm Springs struggles not to have the worst record in the PEBA, Kzoo leads the Great Lakes, while the 'Gnats and Dinos bring up the rear in that division - though Crystal Lake's and Fargo's 27-30 records are deceptive, and they are just 4.5 GB of the Badgers. The Ghosts have the 2nd best mark in the SL - trailing Toyama by 1.5 games, and they are 2.5 games ahead of Aurora in the wild card race.

[Borealis]

Borealis Bounce Back
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

June 21, 2038: Kalamazoo, Michigan – Perhaps we will look upon the weekend of June 4-6 as a wake-up call. Maybe we will look upon the two weeks that followed as a mirage. Maybe this week's trip to Kzoo and a home engagement with Niihama will provide a more telling narrative. Which ever of the three storylines you would like to support, one thing is true - Aurora took care of business the past fortnight, and won four series (one a sweep) that they should win if they are serious about a division crown and a playoff spot.

With a series at Northern Lights against Duluth - the rudderless Warriors, with the announcement that Ricky McCoy had yet again resigned, it was Henry Cluett throwing one of his better games (1 ER in 7.1 IP) and Angel Silva - continuing to swing a hot bat, who was 4-5 with a homer and a double. Duluth jumped out early with 2 unearned runs in the first - then Aurora scored 7 in 6-innings for a 7-3 win. In game 2, Duluth scored a pair of solo runs of rookie Jung Yi - making it 5-runs in 2 GS v. Duluth and no runs against the rest of the SL, but 3B David Simmons saved the day with a 7th-inning grand slam - part of a 5-run inning giving Aurora a 5-2 win. Cooper Harris was sharp for Duluth in game 3; Brian Clark was not - as 5-solo runs gave Duluth a 5-0 lead after 7 - but Aurora fought back late as doubles by Kowalski and Montoya gave the fans hope, but Duluth salvaged a 5-3 win in game 3.

A trip to the Mojave followed the series win, and the Codgers were looking to continue their pesky play when Aurora was in town. They touched 'Lanza' for a 4-0 lead in game 1 and a 5-2 lead off Batista in game 2, but in both cases Aurora came back for wins - Jose Aleman was 3-4 with 3 RBI, Claudio Hernandez had a 2-run HR in game 1; Aurora pounded out 19-hits in game 2 to score 9-runs over the 5th, 6th and 7th innings. 'Litterbug' shockingly hit his 2nd homer of the year and Aleman his first, Munoz and Daikawa with triples and Munoz, Arundale and Ortega all with doubles as the club battered all three Codger pitchers in the game. Cluett was on the mound looking for a sweep - and as good as he was to start the week, he was bad to end it as the Codgers came from behind to score 7-runs off Cluett - a 3-run 6th breaking a 4-4 tie, giving the Codgers a 7-4 win.

Aurora welcomed the Crystal Lake Sandgnats to Northern Lights and game 1 was a nail biter. Yi continued to look sharp as he allowed just a run over 5.2-innings, but Kitamura was the equal, allowing an 8th inning triple to Aleman - who was singled home by Silva to tie the game. The game would go to the 11th, when 'Matchbox' lead off with a double - and after moving to third on a groundout, he would score on a game winning single by Lan Qing. Guerra continued his struggles - helping the 'Gnats to a 4-0 lead and the usually dependable 'Haggis' surrendered another 2-runs to score a lone win - a 6-1 sweep averting victory.

It was back to facing the Codgers as the stretch of games came to a close, but this time Aurora never let the Codgers to get a chance. Batista gave up 5 H and a run over 7.1 IP and Hernandez hit a 3-run homer - his 12th, to finish 3-4 with 4 RBI, securing a 9-1 win for the Borealis. Game 2 was much similar as 'Otter' was 4-4 and Kowalski and Munoz had 3 RBI each - each with a homer (Munoz' 5th and Kowalski's11th), as did Hernandez (his 13th). In game 3, Aurora continued an onslaught, as Juan Rodriguez and Jose Aleman doubled in the 2nd, Munoz tripled and Angel Silva hit a pair of homers - one leading the game off in the first and the second with 2-outs in the 2nd - homers in consecutive AB in consecutive innings. Yi would pick up his 6th win, going 6 IP and allowing 4 H and 2 R.

As Aurora went 9-3 and took advantage of a 4-game losing streak by Reno (and a 3-8 stretch) to regain the division title by 2-games. Munoz (.429), Aleman (.425) and Silva (.408) all hit over .400, while Arundale (.391) and Qing (.302) also hit over .300. Aurora had 14 HR - allowed just 9, struck out 52 times - while their pitchers chalked up 90, and stole 33 bases in 40-attempts - Silva was 13-16. Jung-hyun Yi continues to look very good - posting a 2.25 ERA in 3 starts, while the others - especially Guerra and Clark, looked rugged. 'Hyena' was the sharpest in the 'pen, with 7.2 IP and single run allowed (HR), with 8 K. 'Machete' had a pair of saves.

Down on the Farm
At Montserrat, 2nd round pick (49th overall) 'Vowels' Ueda jumped out to a quick start in Rookie Ball with a 14-30 first week with 3-2B and 2 HR - 10 runs scored and 7 RBI. He was also 4-5 on SB... Aurora's top pick, Yataro Sugano (38th overall) wasn't quite as good (.250), but has a pair of doubles, a homer, 5 R and 6 RBI... Last years 3rd round pick (91st) Pedro Lujan hit .385, with 2-2B and a homer with 5 R and 7 RBI... Also a 3rd round pick last season (89th), Toshimichi Ohayashi (10-2, 2.43 ERA last year at R) had a pair of starts - got a win, and struck out 15 and walked 2 over 10.2 IP...

At Mokule'ia, 7th round pick Henry Bojorquez was 10-33 with a pair of homers and 7 RBI in his pro debut.

What's on Tap
Three with Kalamazoo - a Badger team that has just sweep Reno, who is 41-29 and leads the Great Lakes, and Niihama-shi who are 44-27 and 2.5 games back of Toyama and in 2nd place. Aurora ended April and began May with a 4-game split with Kzoo - whose offense has been a mixed bag - despite being 4th in HR (led by Ornelza with 20 and Perez with 18) and a pitching staff that has been outstanding - if for allowing a fair number of homers. After a pedestrian 15-14 May, they have been 12-5 in June. The Ghosts may have the 11th worse average in the SL, but they have some of the highest number in the league in hits, OPS, HR - they are a tough matchup for Aurora - while their pitchers are a step behind the Badgers.

Meanwhile, Aurora continues to lead the SL in average with the fewest K's and most SB. Their pitching continues to be - like the Badgers and Ghosts, near the top of the SL leader boards.

[Borealis]

Aurora Flexs Muscles
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

June 28, 2038: Aurora, Colorado – The Borealis made it six-consecutive series wins after their dismal sweep at the hands of the Zephyrs on the month's first weekend. Aurora sat 2.5 GB of Reno after the sweep, and after the off day on the Monday, 3-games back the Borealis were. What a difference three weeks will do as after a pair of series wins - a rugged 2-1 win over Kalamazoo and a tense, playoff atmosphere sweep of Niihama-shi - Aurora has regained the division lead - by 3.5 games, a 6.5 game swing in the standings; and once again with the 2nd best mark in the SL - 3.5 games behind Toyama - and only the usual suspects in the IL (Florida, West Virginia and Kentucky).

It was a week of 1-run games. Aurora would lose the weeks opener to the Badgers, 7-6, after taking a 6-3 lead heading to the bottom of the 7th. David Simmons and Rocky Kowalski both homered in support of a fine effort by 'Slug', but then Barry Rodriguez came on and Provost and Holbrook were far to slow in recognizing what every fan saw - he had nothing - giving up four runs; a 2-out, bases loaded double by Pancho Garcia - the .205-hitting Pancho Garcia, to lose the game.

Game 2 really set the stage for the week, as the teams traded 1-run innings - and the lead, as Aurora would see another lead - and then another in the 10th, evaporate. It was 2-2 into the 10th after Sam Olson homered in the 7th off Icharia, and it was Masamichi Daikawa hitting his first career homer to give Aurora the lead, only for Claudio Perez - no stranger to home runs, tie it in the bottom of the 10th. In the 11th Simmons and Arundale singled, and with 2-out, so did Aleman to give Aurora the lead - and win after 'Machete' recovered from Perez' blast and pitch a perfect 11th.

Armando Batista would allow just a run off 4 H and 3 BB - good enough to win his 8th game in 9-decisions while Kowalski homered twice (that's 14 on the year) and Simmons hit his 7th in a 7-1 rubber game victory. Rocky was 3-4, including the 2 HR, with 4 RBI - giving him 43 on the year.

The club returned home for a meetup with the Ghosts - after losing 2 of 3 in Japan last month - including a 1-run loss. This time it was Aurora's turn to flex their tight game stuff. The Ghosts would open the game up with a pair of solo homers from Aranda (16) and Zambrano (14) off Cluett, who scattered 6-hits and 3 BB over 6 IP, while Fernando Valdez was cruising along - until the 7th when 'Matchbox' touched him for his 14th HR, putting Aurora on the board. Then in the 8th, with 1-out Silva singled and Munoz walked - ending Valdez' night. Earl Lucas came in and on a 2-0 pitch, Kowalski smoked a double - scoring two runs, giving Aurora the 3-2 lead. Gutierrez came on and instantly caused trouble - walking Esteban Rodriguez. Pedro de la Cruz, though, helped 'Machete' out - despite his erratic ability to throw out prospective base stealers - nailing Rodriguez as he tried to get in scoring position - and helping clinch the win, 3-2.

Game 2 - much like game 2 with Kalamazoo, was once more tight and back and forth as for the second time the Borealis faced Luppe van Dam - and for the second time he was involved in a 1-run decision. And once again, Aurora rookie Jung-hyun Yi was stingy against one of the top offenses in the PEBA. Both teams scored a manufactured run in the 2nd - using sac flies to get the job done - and then Aurora scored another solo run in the 3rd off a sac fly. It stayed 2-1 into the 6th, when Gilberto Fernandez hit a 2-run homer off Yi - just the 3rd HR allowed by the rookie in 57.2 IP, but the Ghosts were up 3-2. It would stay that way for an inning, then with 2-out, Aurora strung three-hits together - an Arundale single and doubles by Aleman and Montoya to tie and then take the 4-3 lead that Barry Rodriguez (this time) and Gutierrez would hold - with 'Machete' picking up his 19th save. Of note, Yi struck out 10-Ghosts while walking just 1.

It was more of the same as Aurora entertained the largest crowds of the season - who saw once again the teams trading blows out of the gate: Niihama with a sac fly in the top of the 1st and Devlyn Hale balking home Kowalski after a 1-out single and a Munoz single that sent him to 3rd. In the bottom of the 3rd Aurora traded singles for outs, with Ruben Ortega getting the 2-out RBI single to score Munoz. Niihama got that run back in the 5th as Esteban Rodriguez tripled to start the inning, scoring on a sac fly. Aurora would take the lead again, this time by the long ball - Jose Aleman with a 2-out solo shot - making it 3-2. It was the Ghosts' turn next for a long ball - Pedro Flores led off the 8th with a deep one, tying the game at 3. But unfortunately for the Ghosts, in a series of traded salvos, game three got too late, and when 'Litterbug' tripled home David Simmons in the bottom of the 8th, it would be the winning run - as Rudy Howard would strand a 2-out single for the save (his 2nd on the year).

One note of encouragement as Aurora wins the season series 5-2, despite giving up 11 HR - while hitting just 5, the Borealis out hit the Ghosts .288 to .217 and despite giving up 21 BB, their WHIP was only 1.11, compared to the Ghosts 1.42 - outscoring the Ghosts 31-23 - reflecting the tense, tight ballgames these two teams have played; particularly considering the Ghosts are #2 in the SL with 114 HR (1.4/game), taking the 3rd most walks, with the 3rd most XBH and, oddly, the 5th most runs. Be forewarned Front Range fans - you may have caught the Ghosts at an opportune moment.

Meanwhile, Aurora continues to lead the SL in average and is 2nd in OBP - despite being 13th in walks. It is encouraging that Aurora is 12th!! in home runs - thank you Rocky Kowalski. They have the fewest strikeouts and lead the SL in SB - so add it all up, and at least for now, their 'put the ball in play' theory is paying dividends.

Until it doesn't.

Down on the Farm
The big story worth mentioning is 2nd round pick (49th overall) Juichi Ueda is lighting it up at Rookie ball. two weeks in and he's hitting .468, with 15 runs scored, 5 HR and 18 RBI. 'Vowels' is looking impressive.

What's on Tap
For starters, Fargo comes to town, and Aurora gets their first look at rookie sensation, SP David Garcia in game 1, squaring off against 'Lanza'. Then it will be Neo-Tokyo to follow to start a 7-day stretch of games solely with the Akira - which includes the break-neck flight to Japan for four and three at Okinawa to end the first half. For the squad it poses some interesting dilemmas: Those playing in the All-Star game, they have the half-way around the world flight to Edinburgh, and those who are not - do they stay in Japan, as Aurora opens the second half at The Evil Evas. Either way, with Fargo 9-games under .500 and last in the Great Lakes and Neo-Tokyo 19-games under .500 and 23 GB in the Rising Sun - Aurora is faced with a golden chance to make some hay in the positive direction, before the get Okinawa, who are tied with Shin Seiki for 3rd in the Rising Sun, at 43-33. But, beware - Fargo is always tough on Aurora, and a trip to Japan is always fraught with danger. I would think the Borealis will be happy to end this 17-game stretch without an off day with the division lead - and maybe even increased some. Coming back to Northern Lights on on July 19, for their first look at the surprising Malts, looking up at Reno? That could be devastating.

Oh - and amongst all that - the trade deadline is sneakingly-sneaking up on us... just saying...

[Borealis]

Break Brings Rosey Outlook
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

July 12, 2038: a seedy bar, Tokyo, Japan – It was a dangerous road for the Borealis as they stared down an All-Star break that came with them in Japan and ended with them needing to be back in Japan, as a 7-game road trip to Neo-Tokyo and Okinawa rang-in the break, and a road series at The Evil Evas will bring them out of the break - a dangerous proposition, to say the least. But 7-straight games with the woeful Akira felt like a trap - Aurora teams in the past might have struggled - especially in Tokyo - and any trip to the Land of the Rising Sun has always been full of danger for the Borealis. Okinawa's power laden lineup smelled like all sorts of trouble - and starting it all with Fargo, at Northern Lights - a team that in recent years have had Aurora's number? Sheesh...

Things in particular felt scary when 'Haggis' allowed a 2-0 game to bloom into a 5-0 game to open the Fargo series against the Dinosaurs' young phenom pitcher in what would be a 6-2 loss... Aurora would bounce back in support of Armando Batista in game 2, as Aurora would hold on for a 5-3 win in front of a quite disappointing crowd of 36,000 fans, with Batista upping his mark to 9-1... Game 3 saw Fargo jump ahead early on Cluett, but Angel Silva was 4-5 with 3 RBI and Raul Munoz 3-4 as Aurora would take a 3-2 lead - a lead that Cluett would surrender with a lead off homer in the 8th by Troy Mireles. Aurora would eventually earn the split when in the bottom of the 9th, with 2-out, Silva and Masamichi Daikawa hit back-to-back doubles - Masamichi on an 0-2 pitch, driving in the winning run - a 4-3 series win - Aurora's 7th series win in a row.

Neo-Tokyo followed Fargo to town and in the opener of what was essentially a 7-game series, Jung-hyun Yi would scatter 9 H, and allow only a pair of runs, while the Akira starter, Sandro Levorato wasn't so lucky - allowing 7 R on just 6 H - including Jose Aleman's 4th HR for three runs in the 4th - making it a 5-2 game. Daikawa was 3-5, scored a pair and had 3 SB in the game, and Ruben Ortega had a 2-out bases-loaded double in the 5th to blow the game open - a 10-3 win... Brian Clark once more pitched well, allowing just 2 unearned runs - but his teammates supported his fine effort with a 4-run 7th, that included a 2-run double by Qing. Clark evened his mark at 5-5... The clubs traded blows in game 3, alternating scoring innings through the 5th - which left Aurora ahead 5-3 - Angel Silva hitting his 8th homer, while Rocky Kowalski was 3-3 with his 15th HR on the year. Aurora's 6-3 win supported a better outing by Victory Guerra, who has struggled much of the year to find the consistency he had in the first half of his rookie season.

It was one of those quick, Far East turnarounds as the teams flew all night to open a four game set in Tokyo the next day. Despite opening the scoring in the first, Aurora found themselves behind by the second as a David Simmons error led to a pair of unearned runs. Claudio Hernandez hit his 15th homer in the 6th to tie it and a Kowalski 2-out RBI single in the 7th would give Aurora the lead - a lead Kichida and 'Machete' would hold (Gutierrez' 23rd save)... Henry Cluett pitched one of his best games of the year when Aurora needed it. Yung Sergio Sanchez pitched a complete game against the Borealis - going up just 5 hits and a pair of runs - but 'Professor Plum' was better over his 7 IP - 3 hits and a run. All the scoring was in the first - then zeros the rest of the way. Raul Munoz hit his 4th homer of the year in the top of the inning - a 2-run shot, while a Gary Charron run scoring double in the bottom half was all the Akira would muster. The 2-1 win (saved by a 2-inning, 1 H, 2 BB tight rope by Kichida) guaranteed the Borealis their 9th consecutive series win, with a 4th game to go... The Battle of the Brian's - Clark v. Gutierrez - won by Clark on The Front Range, would be won in Tokyo by the Akira's Brian - a rough, tough 3-2 loss for the Borealis - who saw Neo-Tokyo score three runs early and hold this time - Aurora getting a pair in the 7th off four straight hits - but neither 'Matchbox' or Munoz could get the hit to tie the game. Clark may have been saddled with the loss, but Lewis Uige pitched 3.1 innings of strong relief, allowing just 2-hits.

It was the most powerful team in the SL that greeted Aurora next - the Shisa of Okinawa, and for Aurora to have a chance they needed to keep the homers to a minimum - and hit a few themselves. In game 1, Paul Oglethorpe hit a pair (a solo shot and a 2-run homer), while Jose Aleman's solo homer was Aurora's lone HR - but in the 'keeping it close' department, that worked as Aurora singled the Shisa to death with 14 H - 12-singles, while Okinawa had 11 hits and a whopping 25 LOB - 6 by Ortiz! Free agent pitcher Juan Acosta saw his record even out at 6-6 with a 4.50 ERA after allowing 11 H and all 5 Borealis runs. Meanwhile 'Lanza' didn't get past the 4th - along 7 H and 2 R - but Fujii. Icharia, Barry Rodriguez and 'Machete' held the Shisa to just a run for a 5-3 Aurora win... Something about facing his old team brings the best out in Richard Neely, and he pitched a 2-hitter against Aurora - allowing just a run - but his bas luck was that Armando Batista pitched 7-innings of 3-hit ball, also allowing just a run - Juan Ramos hitting his 24th of the year. This game would head into the 10th tied at 1, when the wheels fell of the Shisa wagon. Okinawa All-Star outfielder Dan Bean would drop Ruben Ortega's flyable for a lead-off error - so upsetting Shirai More that he hit Lan-quing Qing with the next pitch. 'Litterbug' bunted them over, and after David Simmons was walked ALemand and Kowalski singled - plating three - giving Aurora a 4-1 win - and yet another series win - their 10th in a row... Game 3 was interesting - then it was not - and then, it oddly got very interesting once more. Aurora took a 4-3 lead into the 5th - Claudio Hernandez hit his 16th homer (3-run shot) and Kyoichi Nagata hit his 21st (a 2-run job). Then in the 5th, Aurora sent 15-batters to the plate to face three pitchers and score 10-runs! Ortega opened it up with a homer after a pair of walks (his 10th), then doubles by Qing and Simmons, followed by four singes and a grand slam homer by Munoz (his 5th). Okinawa showed some pride - scoring 6-runs in the 6th and 7th to make it a 14-9 game - the score it would finish with. In a true showing of the baseball gods evening things out, Henry Cluett would get the win - his 9th, with a stat-line of 5 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 4 BB and a K. Go figure.

And that, dear fans, brings us to the All-Star Game - being played in Edinburgh, as the Scottish Claymores host this years game. Aurora sits atop the Desert Hills with a tidy 10-game lead over Reno - and just 2.5 games behind Toyama for the top record in the SL, at 59-29. It's been Angel Silva leading the way - and leading the SL for most of the season, with a .366 average and 62 SB. Raul Munoz has surged in a rebound year and the past two seasons being downers, and he's hitting .327 with 68 RBI. Free Agent signee Rocky Kowalski has played like one of the best acquisitions in Aurora history, with a .320 average and 16 HR with 55 RBI, and second-year star, Masamichi Daikawa, who was late to join the party, is hitting .336 with 34 SB in 38 attempts in 60-games since his call-up after the G-Rod trade (who is hitting .218 for Arlington). Aurora has a shockingly (for them) high HR total of 77 - which is not last - nor is it 2nd to last, and joining Kowalski's 16, 'Matchbox' has 16 and Ortega 10.

Batista is 10-1, 3.21 ERA and Cluett is 9-3 despite a hefty 4.19 ERA. Clark checks in at 5-6, 3.81, Guerra 4-6 and 4.40 - but the big story on the mound - and a big contributor (aside from a surprisingly potent offense - ok... more consistent) to the teams lofty record, has been rookie Jung Yi - who is 8-0 with a 1.78 ERA since he was called up when Ramon Gonzales went on the DL. He already has 4-shut outs and a pair of 1-run games out of his first 11-career starts. Hector Gutierrez had 26 saves in 38 appearances - and his 7-1 record (to match his 1.44 ERA) belies his 2-blown saves and the Borealis' abilities this year in close, 1-run games and in extra innings - 18-10 in 1-run games and 8-1 in extras.

What's on Tap
First off, the All-Star Game - and Angel Silva was the top vote getter in the SL and will be a starter. Also selected for the game was Rocky Kowalski and Hector Gutierrez. It will be 'Otter's 3rd ASG, Kowalski's second and Gutierrez' 3rd, coming off his second Shutdown Reliever Award in three-years.

Aurora will open the post-break schedule at The Evil Evas - who are 50-39 and 3rd in the Rising Sun, and always dangerous in their home park. Aurora will then return home for a series with Madison for the first time this year, before heading on a long, month ending road trip through Crystal Lake, Reno and Tempe. This will be a tough test for Aurora as they head to the trade deadline - the Evas, Malts and Zephyrs are playing good ball - even if Madison's 50-50 record is 6.5 games out of the wild card. Perhaps the biggest question will be whether the Borealis turn a trade or two at the deadline. Over the years we have seen them move on a reliever or two - but with a talented 'pen that is tops in the SL with a 2.67 ERA, that could be a tight fit.

[Borealis]

Stumble to Start 2nd Half, Streak Follows
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

July 26, 2038: Reno, Nevada – It's not surprising that the Borealis stumbled out of the gate, post-All-Star Game - they do it seemingly every year. This year, after a 3-game drubbing to The Evil Evas - games which really weren't as close as the score indicated, the Borealis bounced back to sweep Madison and take 2 of 3 from Crystal Lake - another blown opportunity by the bullpen preventing the sweep and leading to some consternation.

But first the All-Star game - a 7-1 beat down by the Imperial League who hit 6 HR in the game. Angel Silva started in CF and hit leadoff and was 0-2 with a walk and a K. Rocky Kowalski was a sub, and he came off the bench to replace Ryo Takahashi, and the Aurora LF crushed a homer to left - an impressive shot - in his lone AB. Closer Hector Gutierrez did not make it into the game, as he was lined up to pitch the 9th.

The Evil Evas jumped all over Aurora rookie Jung Yi - scoring 7-runs in 4 IP - and only home run in the mix, taking a 7-1 lead after 4. 'Haggis' and 'Chattahoochee' did their part to keep the Evas' offense at bay, while the offense put on a spirited rally in the 9th - getting the score to 7-6 as a HBP, two-singles, a walk, a ground out and two wild pitches brought up 'Matchbox' with 2-out in the 9th as the tying run - but he topped the first pitch back to the pitcher to end the game... Brian Clark allowed a homer and Twia allowed two in the 8th as Shin Seiki took a 4-0 lead to the 9th - where Daikawa tripled - his third hit of the game - all the hits Aurora had on the night. Masamichi would score on a grounder to help Aurora avoid a shut out, but the had no answer for Jorge Castillo on the night - a complete game, 3-hitter with 5 K and no walks... Victorio Guerra was treated worse than his young teammate Yi was, as he didn't make it out of the 2nd inning - having given up 5-runs. It would be 6-0 by the time Aurora got something going in the 8th off Alfredo Gonzalez and Shin Seiki 'pen. A triple by Aleman in the 8th, followed by doubles by Kowalski and Hernandez made it 3-runs , with 2-out, but Kowalski husted around third - only to be thrown out to end the inning - instead of Ortega coming up as the tying run. de Roode would pitch a perfect 9th, and the Evas had the sweep...

Armando Batista pitched one of his best games of the. year in the opener against the Malts - except Juan Garanzuay could say the same as game 1 would be scoreless after 9 IP. Aurora would get 5-hits, while Batista held Madison to just three - but in the 10th, would load the bases with 2-outs - and allow a single that scored a run - but Silva saved the day with a pinpoint throw to nail Juan Ramos at the plate. After a walk to Aleman and a Kowalski single in the bottom of the 10th, former-Auroran Kelsey Buck came in - but Claudio Hernandez would double home both runs - giving Aurora a 2-1 lead. Thanks to the blown save, 'Machete' picked up his 8th win... Two swings of the bat made the day for Aurora in game 2 - a game that looked a lot like a reversal of fortune of an Evil Evas game. Raul Munoz hit a 3-run homer in the first (his 7th) and Angel Silva hit his 9th, in the second - a 2-run shot, making it 5-0 before Madison could recover. Thomas Woods would homer in the 7th - the lone run Cluett would surrender on this day - 7 IP, 6 H, 6 K, and no walks... Game 3 was a classic reversal of fortune game - Madison jumped out to a 6-0 lead off Yi, on 4 H and 4 BB, but Aurora responded with 3-runs of their own in the 5th - Munoz with a 2-out, bases-clearing double to make it 6-3 - and Aurora kept scoring. An Aleman RBI single in the 6th to score de la Cruz; a de la Cruz single in the 7th scoring Munoz; and then in the 8th, leadoff walks to Simmons and Aleman proceeded another home by Munoz (his 8th) for a crazy 9-7 win, sweeping the series...

The Borealis headed off to The Lake and it was a classic Aurora-Crystal Lake match-up: 'Slug' v. 'Nitro'. Clark was excellent on this day - holding the 'Gnats to 5 H over 7 IP - and it was just a 7th inning homer by Bai-lou Run that ruined the shut out. Jose Aleman touched MacCowan with a 2-run homer - his 6th, and Lan-quing Qing hit his 4th homer of the year in the 8th for a 4-1 Borealis win. The white hot Raul Munoz was 3-5 and boosted his average to .344 - keeping himself just behind Silva in what is becoming an exciting SL batting chase. 'Machete' picked up save 28... Game 2 was also a thriller as the teams exchanged solo runs over the game. Kowalski homered in the first, only to be matched by MacGruder in the second as both 'Lanza' and Rich Jones were touched for runs right out the gate. Aurora would manufacture a run in the 3rd - Kowalski with an RBI groundout after Daikawa was safe at third on a throwing error by Roberto Ortega - and then scored a third run in the 6th as Qing singled home 'Matchbox', who had doubled. Ortega would get that run back with a 7th inning homer off Icharia, but despite having baserunners throughout the day, that was it for Crystal Lake - a 3-2 loss - Guerra picking up his 5th win, and Kichida earning his 2nd save... As mentioned above, Aurora was looking at a sweep of the 'Gnats as they carried a 6-4 lead into the 9th - after blowing a 4-1 lead that built off Jose Aleman's 7th homer (a 3-run shot), but Hector Gutierrez allowed four singles in the 9th - and the two tying runs, then in the 11th, Barry Rodriguez surrendered a walk and a single, and with MacGruder looking to just hit a sac fly, did better than that with a 3-run homer to salvage the series...

What's on Tap
Aurora enters a dangerous stretch of the schedule as the head to Reno and Tempe this week - and as we pass the trade deadline Aurora will play their rivals twice more - including a second road series against each, with a four-game set against Toyama stuck in the middle. There will also be two-, 3-game sets with the Bears - dangerous spots as Aurora battles for the Desert Hills title and chases the Win-D's for the SL's top seed. Cluett, Yi and Clark will face the Zephyrs as Aurora holds a 6.5 game lead over Reno and 14-games over Tempe.

[Borealis]

Toughest Stretch Starts Unevenly
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

August 9, 2038: Aurora, Colorado – Pick up a schedule and analyze as you like - pick out the toughest stretch the Borealis were/are to face this year, and you may be hard pressed to find a tougher one. Sure - if you did this to start the year, you might have thought differently, but this current stretch may take the cake as the season has played out. Reno three times and a Tempe squad that refuses to surrender for another three series - throw in the Win-D's and the Evil Evas as the PEBA season rolls through the Dog Days of August and into Labor Day - and you have plenty of reason to think the six week stretch is... laborious.

And that's just what happened over the opening third of the stretch - despite picking up Pedro Macias and jettisoning David Simmons to Manchester, Aurora's bats primarily struggled against Reno, Tempe and Bakersfield - who filled the role of speed bumps to make our lives all the more stressful as the Borealis' longtime rivals look for nothing better than to disrupt Aurora's road to the division crown. As a group over the past 13-games - 13-games that saw the Borealis go 3-3 v. Reno and 2-2 against Tempe, the club hit just .235, while Aurora's opponents hit .249 with 21 HR - 8 more than the Borealis - with Henry Cluett and Brian Clark - a pair of old Stalwarts, getting roughed up. The top hitter on the week was the scorching Raul Munoz - the only Borealis to hit over .300. Pedro Macias in his first fortnight with Aurora was 10-40 with 4-2B and 2 HR - and 7 RBI, tied for best on the club. But Daikawa struggled to .182 and 'Matchbox' hit .158 and Kowalski hit .214, with a team high 3 HR.

On the pitching front, rookie Jung-hyun Yi looks to have recovered after a couple of rough starts and over three starts he posted a 1.83 ERA - allowing just 4-runs over 19.7 IP - though he did allow 4 HR, he was otherwise outstanding. Armando Batista was also very solid, allowing 4-runs in his 12 IP - picking up a pair of wins. The bullpen continued to look ragged - and likely with no help coming until September (and more on that later). That said, closer Hector Gutierrez had 6-appearances and earned 5 saves - that's 33 on the year - a PEBA leading figure, with a 1.35 ERA - allowing just 3-hits, 1-run (a solo homer) and 14 K and no walks. The two-time Shutdown Reliever is living up to his press clippings for sure.

As far as pitching reinforcements are concerned, the 'other' Gutierrez - Martin, down at AAA, has split his season with the Sun Dogs starting and relieving, and over 62.2 IP he has a 3.30 ERA with 53 K and 21 BB - all numbers that are better than those he set last year in his 29-games with Aurora - in 1/3 of an inning less time - he's making sure he's seen and is hellbent on taking someone's job - even if his teammates at Thornton respectfully refer to him as 'Mr. Sunshine'. He's taken the long route after his promotion from Crystal Lakes IC and being traded to Aurora - this being his 8th professional season - but he seems ready to make the jump for good - and Aurora will have to deal with the numbers game.

That game will have to involve the enigmatic Ramon Gonzales, who after yet another injury - this time a 2+ month elbow strain and 6-rehab starts at AAA, his rehab time is over. Aurora's decision after a 1-3 run and a 5.40 ERA? He and his $21.5M salary - and $19.4M player option, have been plopped down onto the DFA. The expectation is he will not be picked up with that heavy ball and chain wrapped around his neck, in which he will either accept a brief demotion to AAA - his clock on the DFA ends on the 23rd - 9-days before roster expansion - 9-days that include three-games with Reno and a pair with Shin Seiki. That's 9-days where one of the bullpen will have to suck it up for a brief demotion.

But that is not all - at the 11th hour, Aurora struck a second trade - one that was more about insurance for the season - and beyond, as they sent their 5th round pick next year and Short A pitcher - and former top-selection from the 2035 draft, Leo Gerber, to Kalamazoo in exchange for former-Ghost, Anthony MacDonald. MacDonald had fallen out of favor with Kalamazoo after he posted a 4.59 ERA after 20 starts, and had been demoted to their 'pen and the Badgers began actively shopping him around. Aurora is hopeful that a change of scenery - at least on the home front, will help, as nearly half (9) of his starts were quality starts - to which, 9 is the same number of QS as has Brian Clark. and Henry Cluett - with his 4.28 ERA, has 12 QS. MacDonald was activated and assigned to Thornton for the time being - he'll get a September call-up, and he made his first AAA start and allowed 3 R, struck out 7 and walked 1.

Highlights
Aurora would win the opener of the first Reno series - handily, 8-2 as they jumped all over Martin Brown - including hers by Munoz and Hernandez, but the next day, they blew a 4-1 lead - disappointing as Yi pitched well enough to deserve a win, but the 'pen was once again a let down - Twia and Barry Rodriguez allowing runs to tie the game - and 'Machete's lone hiccup over the two weeks - a walk-off homer in the 11th to Ricardo Losa - who had homered earlier in the game off Yi. That would become an even bigger outcome, as Aurora would lose the next two games - 5-1 to Reno on four hits and 10-3 to Tempe on 6-hits.

Aurora would find their stroke - for a day, in game 2 v. the Apollos, as they touched up Will Taylor and the 'pen for 13 hits in a 7-4 win that stemmed the tide for the moment - after Reno had cut a 6.5-game lead to 5 - but the streaking Zephyrs continued their winning ways as Aurora went into the waning hours of the trade deadline with a 6-0 loss to rookie Ernest Smith - a 2033 10th round wonder find, watching their lead drop to 4-games. Aheurora's own rookie pitching sensation, Jung Yi, though, did his thing - holding Tempe to just 2-hits and a John Pulsifer 1st inning homer over 8 IP - then he watched Kowalski and Macias homer in the 8th and 9th innings to secure a 4-1 win. Yi upped his record to 9-1 with a 2.95 ERA; keeping Reno - who held off a furious Bakersfield rally, to keep the lead at 4-games.

Monday was an off day for Aurora, but Reno was at Yuma and Michael Farmer pitched a 2-hit shut-out with 10 K's and send Reno's streak into reverse - and that would end up a good thing for Aurora.

Although Reno would bounce back to take the next two games form the Arroyos, the Borealis matched that 2 of 3 series win with their own against Bakersfield - winning the opener 4-3, losing a tough 3-2 game in which Brian Clark gave up 3-homers - all solo shots - two of which were to Bernardo Romano - the second in the 8th after Lan-quing Qing hit a 2-run homer to tie it in the 7th, that was Qing's 6th homer on the season - he had 3 all of last year. Aurora would bounce back in game 3, 8-2.

And thus Reno came to The Front Range - the lead four games - so Aurora could rest assured that they would minimally remain in first by the end of the weekend. Reno launched themselves in the opener as they toughed Cluett for three homers and took a 4-0 lead after four turns at bat. Aurora answered - Pedro Macias with his second homer in Aurora blue cut the lead in half - but the Borealis could not penetrate the Zephyr 'Pen - with Rookie Draftee Sensation Anthony Soame picking up his 6th save of the year - and more significantly, Reno cutting the lead to three. But it was Yi back on the mound in game 2 - allowing just a run (Steve Boyers 6th homer) while Aurora beat Martin Brown a second time in a week as Kowalski's 3rd inning homer stood up as the winning hit in a 3-1 win, with 'Machete' showing the rookie in the other dugout how to do it - striking out the side on 11-pitches.

With the lead returned to 4-games, 'Lanza' took the mound for the rubber game and after 6-, 4-hit, shut-out innings, he left with a 1-0 lead, only to see Rodriguez cough up another lead in the 7th. The tie game did not remain such for long as Toby Ayers - who went the full 8-innings, gave up a 3-run homer to Ruben Ortega and Aurora had the win - they made up for the series loss in Reno a week earlier, and their lead in the division was back up to 5-games.

Down on the Farm
It's worth noting that Aurora made one last trade - making it three trades as July closed, this one with Arlington, sending A Ball catcher Jorge Silva, who was a scouting find in the spring of 2035, and Juan Leon - who was an International Free Agent signee (for a max $466K contract bonus) to the Bureaucrats in exchange for Rookie Ball catcher Luis Pagan - who was a 2035 scouting find as well. Pagan was hitting .269 with 6-2B and a homer in 16 at Kilauea and .241 with 2-2B and 4 HR at Cairo. The move may seem odd as Aurora drafted two catchers this year - Jim Perkins, hitting .268 with a homer, and Kumanosuke Yoshioka, whose hitting .277 with 5-2B and 8 HR, but the starting catcher at Montserrat - Vicente Carvajal, was ready for promotion to Mokule'ia - after hitting .327 with 8-2B, 5 HR and 22 RBI in 40-games for the Mystique, and the Borealis like to carry three catchers at Rookie Ball - and as GM Will Topham said, "we are thin in the organization at catcher, and though Pedro (de la Cruz) and Qing (Lan-quing) are doing a nice job for us right now, we do need to be serious about developing our future backstop for the major league club.' He also suggested they have had their eye on Pagan for a couple of years.

What's on Tap
It's the Win-D's coming to Northern Lights for four - with the difference between the top two teams in the SL being four, in what should be an exciting series. Then it's down to the Sonoran Desert for three with Tempe in what will end up being consecutive weekends, home and home series with the Apollos.

[Borealis]

Aurora Takes Advantage of Division Heavy Month
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

August 28, 2038: Aurora, Colorado – The Month felt promising after taking 5 of 7 games - including a clutch series win over Reno at Northern Lights, but the Toyama came to town, the the team the Borealis has been hounding in the overall standings all season put the beat down on Aurora - taking 3 of 4, and boosting their lead in the SL to 6-games over Aurora, making the chase for the top seed seem all but done. But... it's baseball and two-weeks later, an 11-3 stretch within the division - despite a pair of gut-wrenching 1-run losses at Bakersfield, and Aurora ups their division bulge back up to 8-games, and they see Toyama's lead drop to 3.5-games.

It has been a weird stretch - starting with Angel Silva's bat suddenly disappearing - hitting .211 over 57 AB, moving through Stewart Arundale getting hurt; a shoulder inflammation that the medical staff says will put him on the shelf for 6 weeks - possibly to the last week of the season. The loss of Arundale brought the birth of Hideki Nishikawa's major league career, as last years top pick impressing so much he blazed though the minors and deemed ready enough for the big time - and he hasn't disappointed, 11-33 with a pair of homers - and just as impressive, drawing 10 BB and striking out just once! Rocky Kowalski hit .352 with 5 HR, Pedro Macias hit .319 with 4 HR, despite 11 K, and Raul Munoz continues his rebound season - looking much like the hitter he was his first couple of seasons, hit .340 over the week with 5-2B and a homer and currently has taken over the SL batting title chase, is just three-hits behind Silva for most hits, and now has 36-2B, 2nd behind Doug Knox' 46.

The end result of it all is Aurora has hit .297 over the 14-game stretch - holding their opponents to a 'not the end of the world' .248, but uncharacteristically out homering their opponents 23-17.

Aurora's pitching has looked mostly solid - despite the rugged efforts by 'Lanza' - efforts that have temporarily landed him back at AAA - a place that 'Haggis' also had a brief stay as Aurora struggled to make room on the 26-man roster to accommodate the return of Ramon Gonzales from rehab. Ramon stepped right into a pennant race after an extended rehab and held Reno to just a run over 5 IP, on 2-hits and a walk - striking out 7. It was about this time last year that Gonzales returned from multiple injuries, only to pitch well down the stretch. Perhaps for the highest paid player on the roster, he will repeat the performance.

Continuing to be a bright spot is Jung Yi - who upped his season mark to 11-2 - despite an impressive 8-shut out innings over Bakersfield, that become a 1-0 loss. Yi allowed just 3-hits and 2-walks, striking out 9, but it was 'Machete' with the extra-inning loss - allowing a two-out single and double to earn his third loss. Also pitching well out of the rotation is Armando Batista, who was 2-0 over three starts and a 1.21 ERA - striking out 21 in 22.1 IP. He's 14-2 on the yearend a 3.16 ERA. Aurora has won 12 of his past 14-starts and 17 of his past 21 starts dating back to May 1, which the team lost a third straight start of his (after opening 2-0). With an expected 6-more starts, Armando has a chance to match his career high in wins, which is 17 back in 2035 - when he had a 2.39 ERA.

Looking at the club statistically as roster expansion is just four days way, the 83-45 Borealis are on pace to reach 100-wins for the first time since 2027 - the end of a 7-year streak reaching the century mark. The 10-year current streak of not reaching that level - with 6-post season appearances and one PEC, is obviously the longest such streak in the club's 32-seasons. To get there - and have a legit chance of making another appearance in the PEC, they'll need to continue to lead the league in hitting (currently .282) and OBP. They are 5th in runs, and that's a level they can ill afford to drop from - if anything, they'll need more if they are to take down a Rising Sun behemoth. The biggest number, though, is HR. They are a surprising 13th in the SL with 125 HR. Now 13th doesn't sound great, but they have 36 more than all of last year - and after harping on this blindingly bright and glaring weakness holding the team back this past long-long number of years, the team finally have found a stroke - thanks in no small part to Rocky Kowalski, who has 25 HR, and Pedro Macias - the trade deadline pick-up who already has 8 HR in 27-games.

We don't need the Borealis to hit more HR at a greater pace - we always just needed them to hit more, to take advantage of their historic tendency to lead the league in average. When you need three hits to score a run, over a lengthy season, that's a hard ask - and this year, with Kowalski - and the addition of Macias, the entire club seems to have picked up the pace. Perhaps everyone is seeing better pitches as a result of a fear of putting guys on base. Imagine that.

Down on The Farm
Thornton and Gatineau have been lost causes all season long - and with some of the young talent kind of jumping the line, it makes it hard to be successful. But the trend in the lower minors - of playing well and competing for playoff spots continues. At A Ball, SLRC continues to struggle to keep up with Rosarito (they are 8-games back), but their 8-39 mark is the second best in the BCL - third best in all the NAFTA, but with 9-games left to play, Jackson Hole (GLO) and Mexicali (FLA) may have something to say about where that final tally stands - but a playoff spot is what they have. Lucas MacHendrie is leading the offense with his best year since being an 11th round pick in the '34 draft - hitting .290 with 17 HR and 80 RBI. SS Gabriel Galvan, hitting .313 on the year will be missed and a strained hamstring has him on the shelf for four weeks. C Henry Bojorquez is hitting .324 on 10-games since being promoted from Mokule'ia, where he struggled at .232. He may be struggling throwing out runners at A Ball, but the pitchers all love to throw to him.

Out in Hawaii, there are 23-games left for the Oceanic, where Ewa Beach (FLA) has blown away the division on the league, and Waimalu (also GLO) holds onto second in the Aloha division, 2-games up on Mokule'ia - with Hilo (NJ), Mauna Loa (CL) also in the hunt for a wild card spot. The Oceanic has 6-straight playoff berths on the line - as well as a 5-year hold on the division, which is coming to an end. Jose Sanchez is hitting .319 and catcher Victor Carvajal is hitting .317 - his promotion causing Bojorquez', while Josh Whiskin - who was slow to adjust to Short A after a dominating three seasons at Montserrat, has his average up to .251 with 16 HR.

The Mystique, who made their first Rookie League playoff appearance two-seasons ago and won the whole thing last year, finds themselves 13-games behind Aruba (WV), and a game behind Santo Domingo (SS) for the second place playoff spot. with 23-games left - including three at Santo Domingo, there is plenty of time for Montserrat to make it a third straight season in the playoffs. Aurora's top two picks in this years draft are playing splendidly - Juichi Ueda is hitting .360 in the lad-off spot, with 14 HR and 42 RBI and Yataro Sugano is hitting .256, but with 16 HR and 37 RBI. Pedro Lujan, a 3rd round pick last year, is at .284 with 9 HR. It's worth noting that Rupert Muijen, who was slowed by an injury at the end of his HS season, and had an ugly pro debut, has allowed just 1-run in his last three starts and is 3-3 with a 3.40 ERA, with 46 K and 8 BB in 39.2 IP.

What's on Tap
Aurora will head into the home stretch of the season with two more against Palm Springs and then a trip to Japan and a series with Shin Seiki - before returning to the States for three at home with Reno - the last head-to-head games before the final series of the season. With call-ups expected we anticipate Victorio Guerra to return to the club - but what his role will be may well depend on how Ramon Gonzales fares in his next start against The Evil Evas. It's worth noting that the Evas are looking vulnerable of breaking one of the most amazing streaks in sports history - Since joining the PEBA in 2021, they have not missed the playoffs, and only once since their birth in the LRS - in conjunction with the PEBA, have they missed the spot-season - inn 2009, when they finished 2nd. The Evas are 3.5 games behind Okinawa, in 4th place - the new playoff format aiding their hopes, as they are 6 GB of Reno, who holds the second wild card spot - for now. Aurora will see Shin Seiki once more - September 20-22, sandwiched between two huge series with Niihama - as the Ghosts will no doubt look to drop the hammer on The Evil Evas.

And note - the Evas and Ghosts will close out the season - as will Aurora and Reno - with Okinawa closing with Toyama and Crystal Lake. If nothing else in the SL is true for now, it's the wild card may go down to the wire.

[Borealis]

Strong Play Continues, Playoffs on Horizon?
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

September 6, 2038: Madison, Wisconsin – The pundits are calling it now - kind of like calling a presidential elections State returns after the polls closed - seemingly way to early to be making that call - and yet with 26-games remaining, an 11-game lead over Reno, and a .453 opponent win % left on the schedule - and Reno's sitting at .526 with a pair of series with Toyama, as well as Niihama and the Borealis still on the agenda - on The Front Range, no one is taking anything for granted until that Magic Number (currently at 16) reaches zero.

But Aurora has been playing well of late - winners of 8 of their last 10, 14 of their last 16, and since the trade deadline, they are 23-10 - while Reno has been 16-17. - turning a four-game deficit into eleven. But that's not to say that pitfalls exist - and that the closing-out-the-season series with the Zephyrs will be meaningless. Aurora still has this week's trip to Madison - always a difficult task for Aurora, and then they host the powerfully dangerous Shisa to start a 12-game homestead that includes Fargo, Bakersfield and The Evil Evas - from whom Aurora took a pair from this past week in Japan. Shin Seiki has struggled much of the season and find themselves in the unusual position of looking from outside the playoff window - 2.5 games back of both Okinawa and a surging Tempe Apollos squad; 6-games behind the 2nd wild card - the Reno Zephyrs. The Evas have never missed the playoffs since the PEBA-LRS merger in 2021, and only once in club history. Reno - on this even-odd rollercoaster of a stretch, seeks their 4th playoff spot in 8-years, and 8th overall, desperately want to join the party and see how the playoff cards lie - as one of ten of the original PEBA clubs who have yet to win a PEBA title.

Meanwhile, Madison - just a game over .500, and 6-games out of the 3rd, newly added, wild card - would just be happy to make the playoffs for the first time - and they know that any chance of doing that would have to start with a strong showing this week against the Borealis and Bakersfield - and Shin Seiki next week. Madison was swept by Aurora back in July - post-All Star Game, as part of a 9-game losing streak that took them from 9-games over .500, 2nd in the Great Lakes (2 GB of Kzoo) and just a game off the pace in the WC (and just 3 GB of the top WC spot) to 8.5 GB in the division and to their current 6 GB of the 3rd WC - which at least speaks to a more consistent level of play - even if it's just .500 ball.

So, if past lesson's regarding collapses haven't already taught us to be patient, then heed this message - there be traps out there waiting to gobble the Borealis and spit them into the wild card mix.

But looking back over the past week and a day, Aurora did have a tidy 6-2 record as they finished a rare 4-game sweep of the Codgers - a 10-3 win that included the even rarer feat of the Borealis hitting three homers in the first inning - a 2-run shot from 'Matchbox' a 2-run shot from 'Smitty' (more on Nishikawa's hot start later) and the Ortega making it back-to-back with a solo homer - giving starter Henry Cluett a 6-0 lead that he held for his 14th win - making it the 5th time in his 7-full seasons that he's reached that mark. Not to be outdone by that 1st inning outburst, in the final game of the series Aurora scored 7-runs in the 2nd - Kowalski with a 3-run homer and Pedro Macias a 2-run shot - as Aurora has been experiencing a power surge.

A power surge indeed - they have 140 so far, and instead of hovering around 15th or 16th in the SL - and far behind their next closest rivals, they are 11th thus far - and have hit the most HR since the 2022 season - their ThreePeat season - and are on a pace that would give them a team top-ten seasonal number.

The homer giveth and the homer taketh away, as Aurora's chance of a devastating sweep of the Zephyrs ended in the first game of their series as 'Werewolf' gave up a 9th inning homer to Testsu Hayagawa - giving Reno's top 2038 draftee Anthony Soame his 11th save of the season. In three outings against Aurora he has allowed only a single baserunner - on a walk - with 3 K over 3 IP. Aurora's rookie Jung-hyun Yi would comeback in the next game and show why he should get serious consideration for the Wunderkind Award as he threw 7.2-innings of 3-hit ball - striking out 7 in Aurora's 3-1 win - upping his record to 13-2, dropping his ERA to 2.56. Aurora closed out the series win with another big-crooked number in game three - this time without the aid of a HR - instead a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double by Jose Aleman adding to the 6-run outburst in a 10-2 win.

It was not a good week for Toshikuni Kichida - not only did he give Reno the walkout win for their only win in the series, he had also allowed a 'de facto walk-off' homer to Shin Seiki in the opener of their series as the Borealis to a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th - killing an outstanding performance by Ramon Gonzales - 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 7 K and a BB - giving him nothing but a workout. The positive news of the day was the outing by Gonzales - his second of three (he was the winner in the 10-2 win over Reno - 5 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 6 K and no BB). Since returning from his 7 GS rehab outing at Thornton, he has two wins and a 1.59 ERA - walking two and striking out 16 - in a de ja vu moment from last season.

Brian Clark and the bullpen shut the Evas out in game 2, 4-0, and in game 3 - after a poor start by Armando Batista (4 R in 5 IP; the 7th time he's allowed 4+ R in his 27 GS), Aurora managed to came back and tie (homers by Munoz and de la Cruz contributing to the rally) - then fall behind by two - only to take the lead off a 3-run, game winning homer by Claudio Hernandez (#22) - with Hector Gutierrez earning his 40th save.

Down on the Farm
After a tough loss to Gakidou (NII) - blowing a 3-1 lead and losing in 11-innings, the Rapids Blancos finished a game behind Mexicali (FLA) in the Mexican League (9 GB of Rosarito - WV) - but their 85-43 record was 16-games better than the next best teams, and so SLRC will open the NAFTA playoffs on the road - at Mexicali, whom they were 7-2 against - and winners of 4 of 6 at Mexicali.

Mokule'ia, meanwhile, is well out of the division as Ewa Beach (FLA) has it wrapped up, but in the thick of an intense wild card race between Waimalu (GLO), Mauna Loa (CL) and Hilo (NJ), with just 2-games separating the four teams. The 60-35 Oceanic have 15-games left - including three with both Hilo and Mauna Loa - as well as Osakayama (TOY, 45-50), Yasu (HAV, 46-49) and Kilauea (ARL, 24-71)

Montserrat (44-32), also with 15-games left to play, have a harder road to travel if they are to defend their IBC crown. They are all but mathematically out of the Paradise League race, and they've fallen 4 GB of second place Santo Domingo (SS). The clubs finish a three-game series this week - two games remaining - with the Mystique with the chance to cut the lead to two - a vital happening as they finish the week with 1st place Aruba (WV) - whom the Decepticons finish the season with. Both clubs also have Puerto Plata (AMS) and Punta Cana (BAK) on their schedules, while Montserrat has Port Royal (SJ) on their schedule and SD have last place Charlotte Amalie (YUM).

What's on Tap
Four with Madison - with Guerra, Clark, Batista and Cluett on the mound - Guerra getting the nod for a start to give the staff an extra day's rest as we head down the stretch, and then the start of 12-straight on The Front Range with the Shisa coming to town - Yi, Gonzales and Guerra facing the power-laden Shisa with Royal Raker candidate Pablo Garza and his 48 homers (6-shy of Steve Boyer's record 54).

[Borealis]

Pitching Propels Borealis into Postseason
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

September 20, 2038: Aurora, Colorado – You wouldn't know it if you looked back a week, when the Okinawa swept the Borealis - at Northern Lights, on the back of aa 7-2 HR edge in the series - giving Aurora their first 4-game losing streak of the seasons - and 5th 3-game losing streak on the way - that includes a sweep at the hands of this week's opponent - The Evil Evas, who are fighting for their playoff lives against those same Shisa from Okinawa.

While the Sovereign League wild card race already has the Ghosts in the postseason mix, Reno, Okinawa, Shin Seiki and Tempe are just 4.5 games apart for the last two spots - and even the hot Duluth Warriors aren't far behind if a couple of teams falter. Meanwhile, Toyama will hold onto the top seed in all likelihood - barring a nose dive, while Aurora - with a magic number of just 2 over Reno; leading by 12.5 games, have all but settled into the 2nd seed - for the 5th time in six seasons - with only one Alliance Tournament (League Championship) appearance to show for it; last year's 4-1 thumping at the hands of the Win-D's.

But rebound the Borealis did, as they made up for a 2-5 week - they split four with Madison - a pair of 1-run loses in the mix, and went on to sweep both Fargo and Bakersfield - both at Northern Lights as Aurora's early season heavy road schedule comes home to roost in September; 9 of their final 13 games are on The From Range (four games @ Yuma) - with just 9 of the September closing 30 games on the road.

They took care of the Dinos with dominant pitching - shutting them out over the first 21-innings, before Fargo scored their first run - a 4th inning pair of doubles off Henry Cluett doing the trick. It's worth noting that Fargo's pitching kept their mostly young line-up in the games, allowing just 2-, 3-, and 3-runs to Aurora. Cluett - to his defense, did pitch 8-innings and allowed just 5 H and 2 BB as he picked up his 15th win. Batista threw 6 IP and allowed just 3 H while striking out 7 as he upped his record to 16-2 - the best win % in the entire PEBA, while Brian Clark went 6.2 IP, allowing 4 H, 2 BB and 6 K - evening his record at 10-10. Oddly enough, neither team homered in the series as Aurora's hot bats cooled off for a bit.

The homer bat did return when the Bears came to town as Kowalski (#28), Hernandez (#26), and Silva (#12) each homered to support pitching that continued to do the trick against the Bears - allowing just 4-runs to Bakersfield, after holding Fargo to 1. Jung Yi held the pairs to a pair in the 4th, but he would leave the game tied as Jeff Mendoza continued his trend of pitching well in a bit of a comeback season. Barry Rodriguez would get the win with 2.2-innings of shut out, 1-hit ball - with Kowalski with the 2-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th handing him the win - the 9th of the season for Rodriguez. It was like old times with Henry Carter on the mound in game 2 for the Bears, and he would be chased in the 6th (and pick up his 13th loss along the way) - after 'Lanza' finished his run 6-inning outing - allowing 5 H and a run, with neither starter around for Aurora's 5-run outburst in the 7th. Icharia closed the final 3-innings with just a hit and 4 K in a 10-1 win for Guerra - his 6th on the year.

Bakersfield's young Oliver Flores was on the mound for game 3, and the youngster who was a 12th round pick by Havana in 2034 showed the promise that scouts have raved about. He would throw 7-, 4-hit innings at Aurora and allow just 2-runs, while 'Slug' went into the 7th with just 5 H and a run (a Jamarillo homer) and 5 K. He would earn his 11th win as Twia and 'Machete closed the door on a 3-1 win - with Gutierrez getting his PEBA best 44th save.

With that, Aurora is playoff bound and virtually the Desert Hills champ.

On The Farm
For A Ball San Luis Rio Colorado, it was a devastating turn in the wild card round with Mexicali (FLA). After losing the first two 9-2 and 7-1 in Mexicali, the returned to SLRC and won 8-6 and 3-2. The clinching game 5 saw Mexicali take a 1-0 lead in the 1st, only for the Rapids Blancos tie in the 3rd. Mexicali came right back with a run to take the lead, only for SLRC to tie it in the 4th. Mexicali scored yet enough single run in the 7th - but that was enough to win the game and knock Aurora's A Ball club out of the NAFTA playoffs.

Over is the Pacific, Mokule'ia had a clutch week, sweeping contending Mauna Loa (CL) as part of a 6-1 week that leaves them tied at 68-40 with Hilo (NJ) and Mauna Loa - each just a game behind the Waimalu Nene (GLO). With two games left, anything is possible as the Oceanic close with Kilauea (ARL, 26-82), Hilo finish with Waikiki (HAR, 28-80), Mauna Loa close with Lanai (PS, 51-57) and Waimalu end their season with Kobayashi (OKA, 58-50).

Down in the Paradise League, the defending champion Montserrat Mystique, struggled off and on all season, fell behind Aruba (WV) and Santo Domingo (SS) and never could catch up - failing to make the IBC Rookie playoffs. It's worth noting that with one game to play, finishing 53-36 currently has them with the 7th best record - which would be playoff eligible in the Hanguk and Tasman Leagues. Aurora's top draftees - Juichi 'Vowels' Ueda (.352, 18 HR, 53 RBI) and Yataro Sugano (.264, 20 HR, 44 RBI) had fine seasons - along with last years 3rd round pick Pedro Lujan, who hit .288 with 12 HR and 63 RBI. Also worth noting was Jonathan Mason - a 3rd round pick as well in 2037, who missed all of last season with Tommy John surgery, but came back to begin the year, made 15-starts and as 1-3, but had a 3.13 ERA and struck out 58 over 69 IP. He walked 25, so that his WHIP was 1.13 - not horrid, and quite a bit higher than his high school career number at Lakewood HS, but nonetheless, promising.

What's on Tap
The final two weeks of the season. The penultimate week with Shin Seiki and a trip to Yuma, then back home for the Codgers and Zephyrs - with here's hoping that those games don't mean anything - or that would mean it was a really ugly week...

[Borealis]

Borealis Waste Little Time, Clinch Division
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

September 27, 2038: Aurora, Colorado – Indeed - the Aurora Borealis wasted little time clinching the Desert Hills crown as with a magic number down to two after a 6-game win streak, they made it 7 - coupled with a Reno 3-0 shut-out loss to Toyama, beating The Evil Evas 6-2, and with that Aurora wins the division for the second year in a row, the 5th in 6-years and their 22nd all-time.

The division crown also brought home the 2nd seed in the play-offs and a well earned bye in the first (wild card) round of the playoffs. The Win-D's, with a 109-47 mark take the top seed - for the 4th time in 5-years. Aurora has a 100-56 record at the moment, the first time in 11-years they've reached that plateau, going back to 2027 - the end of a 7-year streak that began with Aurora's famous Three-peat. This is the 18th time the club has won 100+ games.

The question of who Aurora may face in the Divisional round is truly up in the air. Niihama has secured the top wild card spot, and they will play the second place team - Currently Reno sits second - three games better than Okinawa and Shin Seiki - with Tempe a game behind them. Fans in the High Desert will have a nervous week as Reno, who is 12-11 for the month of September and 27-25 since August 1, will have to face the Apollos four times with a four game lead, and then the Zephyrs finish the year with three at Northern Lights Park - either desperately looking for wins, or breathing a sigh of relief with a spot clinched. While Reno battles Aurora for their potential playoff lives, Tempe will head to the Central Valley to face Bakersfield - who, if anything, are looking to finish ahead of Yuma in the standings.

Looking at the two clubs in the Rising Sun hoping to take advantage of this year's added wild card team, Okinawa hosts Toyama and finishes with four against Crystal Lake, while The Evil Evas look to dish out the hurt on another team that still have playoff aspirations - opening the week with four against Duluth - who are just 2.5 behind Kalamazoo, and then the Evas finish with Niihama - whom Shin Seiki have beaten 6-times over the past two weekends - part of a 16-7 month, including 4-, 1-run games - three of which were this past weekend. Those 6-games were in Shin Seiki, so we shall see how they fair heading into The Maze.

Kalamazoo or Duluth will play the last wild card team - and should the Great Lakes champ win that series - be it against Shin Seiki, Okinawa, Reno or Tempe, they will face Aurora and Toyama will face the Niihama-other WC match - yet another year that we would see the Rising Sun cannibalize itself isn the Divisional round. Should the Badgers-Warriors lose, then the Ghosts - presuming they win, would head to The Front Range. Any other combo we will leave for another day, as for now, we only know three of the playoff participants.

Looking back, it was a good thing Aurora took care of business promptly, with a 6-2 win that was highlighted by homers by Macias and Qing, because the next day The Evil Evas took out their frustration with a brutal 21-8 win, in which they scored in every inning but two and pounded out 19 H. The loss matched the worst performance that Armando Batista had had all year - 7 RA, which he also surrendered on 8/10 against Toyama. That loss began a 3-game losing streak that included a 5-3 10-inning loss to the Evas (Mike Rose 2-out homer off Gutierrez, after Aurora tied it in the 9th) and a 3-2 loss at Yuma with JCG getting the 2-out walk off double. Aurora would end up splitting the four-games with Yuma - with Ruben Ortega's 8th inning grand slam clinching win #100.

On The Farm
Aurora's minor league campaigns have come to a close, as Mokule'ia - in a bitter four-team race for the two wild card spots - also saw a heartbreak walk off loss in the season's finale against Kilauea (ARL) - dropping them into a tie with Mauna Loa (CL) - forcing a 1-game playoff for the second WC spot - leaving many fans asking why the PEBA expanded their major league playoffs and not the minor leagues. Fans have been buzzing the radio talk shows demanding GM Will Topham bring that issue up at the Winter Meetings. Needless to say, the frenzy of chatter followed the Oceanic's 5-2 loss to the Vulcans.

What's on Tap
The Codgers and Zephyrs at Northern Lights, and then the waiting game. While the Borealis are certain to provide ample ABs for everyone, Stewart Arundale comes off the DL and is expected to play in every game so the club can assess his fitness for the playoffs.

[Borealis]

Borealis Seek Redemption v. Badgers
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

October 13, 2038: Aurora, Colorado – Redemption...

4-years ago (2034) Aurora and Kalamazoo met for the first time in the playoffs with an epic 7-game series - mostly because of bullpen failures and Brian Clark's inability to contain the Badgers, with Aurora's offense limp in a 3-0 game 7 loss. 3-years ago (2035) the Badgers embarrassed the Borealis - sweeping them in four straight - Yun nearly pitching a no-hitter in the opener, Aurora getting out scored 17-2, in a series they opened at home.

So, yes... Aurora is looking for redemption, revenge, or more precisely, another trip to the Alliance Tournament.

For the 5th consecutive playoff appearance the Borealis will open up with a foe from the Great Lakes - 2033 they lost to the SL Champion Dinsaurs, 4-1, then came the aforementioned losses to KZoo, and then last year it was Aurora finally breaking through with a 4-2 win over Duluth. But now, it's back to the Badgers standing in the way of another swing at a League Championship.

On the year, Aurora sneaked past the Badgers, 4-3 as Aurora would win 103-games while the Badgers scrapped through a difficult division race that came down to the wire as Duluth came charging hard to the finish line. Looking at the season's 7-games, the clubs split 4 at Northern Lights as April turned to May, then Aurora took 2 of 3 at Portage Park in mid-June. Though it was nearly half a season ago (72-games into the year), looking back it was Rocky Kowalski who was 13-23 with 4 HR and 7 RBI that lead the charge, along with (an more on this later, as it's informative) Stewart Arundale, who was 11-27, with 2-2B and 5 SB. 'Lanza' was the best starter - 2 GS, 12.7 IP, allowing just 2 R - while Clark was not good (and will Aurora have learned a lesson) in his two starts; nor did Cluett have a solid start. The bullpen was solid - aside from Twia and Rodriguez - both allowing 4 R in just 2/3 of an inning - and needless to say, both picking up a loss.

From the team stats prospective, it might be interesting to note that aside from the follies of B-Rod and 'Hyena', the pitching held the Badgers to a .226 average (Aurora hit .271) and the Borealis somehow managed to out-homer the typically powerful Badgers, 10-8 - largely thanks to Kowalski and the now-departed David Simmons, who had a pair.

For the Badgers' part, Alexander Craig led the offense with a 7-19, as he continues to be a thorn in Aurora's side, while the normally difficult Juan Carlos Ornelza was just 5-24 - though he hit 2 HR. Three of the Badgers four expected starters post ERAs over 4, with the tough Brenden Clymo having one excellent outing - 7 IP, 4 H and 2 R - which earned him just a workout in Aurora's 4-3 win at KZoo. Clymo pitched the Badgers game 5 WC clincher over Okinawa - 6 IP, 4 H and a walk, and as a result is scheduled for game 4 only - unless Kalamazoo pitches him on short rest - always a risk.

Of course there are some changes both teas have experienced since the clubs met in June - Kalamazoo adding infielder Benigno Canseco (.233, 4 HR, 25 RBI with KZoo), who was also on Aurora's radar, but that fetched Gloucester a pretty penny, and P Jose Tojeira (4.55 ERA in 18 appearances, 31.2 IP, 22 K, 13 BB), who was not on the playoff roster v. Okinawa. Of course for Aurora, the big change was the acquisition of Pedro Macias from Manchester at the deadline, and in 58 games he hit .312 with 13 HR, and 38 RBI for Aurora.

There was one other change - due to injury, and that was the arrival of 'Smitty' - Hideki Nishikawa, who replaced the injured Stewart Arundale and hit .333 with 3 HR and 10 SB. That's a terrific start to one's big league career, but puts Aurora in a difficult place, as Arundale was hitting .299 when he was hurt with 24-2B, 4-3B, just two unexpected HR (he had just 2 over the previous 5 seasons) and 35 SB. Then factor in that 'Litterbug' is the better defender - with a career .997 fielding percentage - despite his somewhat limited range. Nishikawa is an average fielder at best.

It's also worth noting that in 6-games to end the year Arundale was 5-17, with 2-2B, 2 BB, 4 K and 4 SB.

Heading into the Divisional Series with Kalamazoo, Aurora's Big Questions are:

1. Who will be the 4th outfielder (assuming 'Matchbox' is the 5th) - Arundale or Nishikawa - or will the find a roster spot to keep both (meaning they bench a reliever)?

2. Who will be in the rotation - aside from Yi and Batista? Do they trust Clark when 'Slug's history against the Badgers is poor? 'Lanza' struggled most of the year, and since his 8/8 shutdown of Reno he's allowed 6 R to Tempe (and 5 in a previous start in July), 5 R to Reno, 5 R to Okinawa and even a 4 R out v. Bakersfield - and in those five starts he allowed a total of 9 HR in 16.2 IP. That said, he did have two starts against KZoo and allowed just a run in each - for whatever that may be worth... And what of Henry Cluett, who struggled down the stretch with all his games against contenders - and allowed 4-runs to the Badgers in his lone start?

3. How much do the trust Twia and Barry Rodriguez? The South African has been about as Hot and Cold as a pitcher could be - and his 12 HRA has not provided his Hall of Fame manager with confidence. He has allowed at least a run in 11 of his last 22 outings - and somehow managed no blown saves, no losses and 3 wins and 3 holds; Go Figure. 7 of those games he allowed a homer - and three of them he allowed 2 HR - that's 10 HR in 22 appearances since the 18th of June. Barry Rodriguez, meanwhile, has been a tad bit more consistent, and has allowed just a run over his past 11 outings - picking up 3 W, 2 H and a save. During the same time frame he has had 25 appearances, and in 7 he allowed a run or more - four of which he allowed multiple runs - beginning with a 6/21 appearance against Kalamazoo in which he allowed four runs in a disastrous 7th inning of a 7-6 loss.

4. What of Francisco Montoya? The SS/1B has had by far his best year with Aurora - in a walk year, contract-wise, and he is not talking with Aurora about a deal, having signed expecting to start and immediately losing out to Jose Aleman. Montoya hit .323 in 200 AB, with pretty even over-.300 splits, and yet he continues to platoon at short vLHP. Aurora continued to insist on the more powerful bat of Aleman's vRHP and that of Ruben Ortega - who hit .240 on the year and .242 vRHP, but had 14 HR (and 18 on the year).

5. Has anyone seen Angel Silva? After hitting .384 through June and looking like a strong Royal Raker candidate, he hit just .252 the rest of the way to end the year at .316. Then again, he did lead the PEBA with 101 SB - an Aurora record, and for the third straight season he scored 110 or more runs (110 this year - 5th in the SL) - so if he can reach base in any capacity he's a threat to score. One major thing to look for is Silva v. Claudio Perez, who has thrown out 30% of base stealers (Silva has been caught roughly 20%); Silva was 2 for 3 v. KZoo.

How will home-road splits play into this series? Aurora won 57 home games, while Kalamazoo won 50; Aurora won 46 games on the road, the Badgers just 37. It's time to discover where all these stats land as they are tossed out the window and we play ball!

[Borealis]

Blown Lead, Borealis 'Earn' Split
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

October 16, 2038: Kalamazoo, Michigan – The Badgers rugged run to a division title and a playoff spot may have been marked by many things - but when you dove into the statistics, one thing stood out: they were 58-58 against RHP and a tidy 29-17 against LHP. With that information, Aurora stacked the rotation with their right-handed arms and let the historically-bad-against-Kzoo Brian Clark sit in the 'pen - Right?

Nope.

Aurora sent both their lefties - Armando Batista, as expected after a fine 17-3 campaign and a 3.33 ERA - and 'Slug', despite his failings the past. two times he's faced the Badgers in the post-season. Miraculously, that unconventional decision worked. What they didn't count on was the failure of the bullpen to hold a lead - and then keep them in the game - as far as game 1 was concerned, and now the Borealis have another set of numbers to look at: While Kzoo was 37-44 on the road, they were 50-31 at home - a place where Aurora did win 2 of 3 back June.

Batista faced off with Bartolo Mojica and Aurora jumped ahead quickly in an unlikely way - using the long ball. Ruben Ortega would hit a pair of two-run homers - in the 2nd and the 5th, the second one after a solo homer from Pedro Macias, and with Batista cruising, Aurora's 5-0 lead looked strong.Batista had allowed three hits and a walk over the first 5, but he began to get roughed up in the 6th - with one out the Badgers strung 6-consecutive singles together - a very Aurora-like rally - scoring two - with Rocky Kowalski saving the day throwing Claudio Perez out at third. Kalamazoo turned the table on that as Angel Silva was thrown out trying to take third in the bottom of the inning - a painful happening with Raul Munoz following up with a single.

The in the 7th it went all bad. Batista allowed a lead off triple to Bouwman and an RBI single to Ibarra - and that brought his day to a close. In came Barry Rodriguez - whose lone work this season against Kzoo was a disaster - and so was this day. After an Aguilar sac bunt-turned-single, and a fly out, Ornelza singled to load the bases - then Francisco Rodriguez doubled to clear the bases - and just like that the Badgers had a 6-5 lead.

Looking back on the June series in Michigan, Aurora out homered the Badgers 6-2 in taking 2 of 3, hitting .310 (ironically as they did in the first two games of this series), holding the badgers to a .224 average. It was in that series that Rodriguez had his meltdown that he emulated in game 1.

Aurora would load the bases in the 8th - with no outs - but Munoz' fly ball was just not deep enough and Aleman was thrown out at home - two lost RBI's in the game for the Aurora 1B - Then Adam Geake pitched around Macias and walked him - loading the bases again, but 'Match Box' popped up and the threat - and chance to get back into it, was lost. The Badgers would get two more in the 9th off a rusty looking 'Machete', and Geake would put the Borealis down in order in the 9th - giving the Badgers a stolen game 1 lead - quickly grabbing home field from the Borealis. Aurora - and their fans - shuffled home with a crushing defeat.

It was Clark and Martin Hernandez in game 2, and with the game 1 loss, Aurora's gamble was first and foremost in everyone's mind. But 'Slug' responded with a 7-inning, 5-hit, 2-run performance - Benigno Canseco's 2-out, 2-run homer in the 7th that briefly gave the Badgers a 2-1 lead. Aurora had taken a 2nd inning lead after Claudio Hernandez doubled and Lan-quing Qing singled him home. Aurora would respond this time to the Badgers jumping ahead in the 7th as Qing homered, tying it at 2. Martin Hernandez would pitch a fine game on this day - scattering 8-hits and striking out 7, but he would end up allowing a pair of long balls - the second of which was Munoz in the 8th - giving Aurora a 3-2 lead that this time Gutierrez would hold - as the Badgers went down 1-2-3.

A split was not an ideal outcome, but as they say after you lose game 1 - you are always happy with a split.

So the series moves to Portage Park, and Jung-hyun Yi will be on the mound for game 3. One change we may see in the lineup for Aurora is the return of Stewart Arundale after rookie Hideki Nishikawa was 1-7. Also disturbing was Rocky Kowalski, 1-8 - but on the bright side Qing was 6-8 with the two big hits in game 2, and of course Ortega's two home runs in game 1 were part of Aurora's highlights.

[Borealis]

Borealis Shutdown Badgers, Toyama Rematch Next
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

October 23, 2038: Toyama, Japan – When Aurora blew a 5-run lead in game 1, it was troublesome in the minds of fans across The Front Range, and when the Borealis lost game 3 - 8-4 - with this year's rookie star and last year's rookie star each pitching just 2.1-innings and combining for 8 R on 10 H, 3 BB and a homer, and games 4 and 5 at Portage Park - a place Aurora has seen some powerful Badger displays, things seemed dire.

Then Aurora jumped out to 3-run leads in games 4 & 5 - en route to 1-run victories, and Brian Clark put forward a repeat of his game 2 performance in game 6 and the Badgers attempts at trickery potentially came back to bite themselves in their bushy tails.

While Pedro Macias may have won the series MVP award for his 7-24, 3 HR, 6 RBI performance - he also had 3-2B and scored 5-runs, it'll be well worth noting the efforts of 'Slug' in this series. After playoff futility over his previous three playoff seasons - last year against Kalamazoo (2-games) and Toyama (1-game) were ugly with 29 H and 11 R in 16.1 IP, thus far he held the Badgers to just 3 R (off 2 HR) in 12.2 IP, allowing 10 H, 1 BB and striking out 11. For the players in the dugout, they recognize the importance of Brian Clark's contributions.

It's also well to notice the work of Henry Cluett and Armando Batista. Cluett was buoyed by a three-run first - thanks to back-to-back RBI doubles by Macias and 'Matchbox' and an RBI single by Ortega - who only had four-hits on the series - but made the most of them with a pair of homers and 5 RBI. 'Professor Plum' would give up 7 H in his 7.1 IP and just 2 R - but after Icharia allowed a solo homer to Aguilar in the 8th to inch the Badgers closer, Fuji and Gutierrez closed the door.

While Batista's game 5 outing wasn't especially pretty, it was effective - pitching into the 6th, while allowing 9 H and 2 R, but like Cluett the day before, he was spotted three runs - a 2 R Macias homer in the first and a Silva homer in the 3rd. Badger starter Miguel Hernandez was done an out into the 5th - and the Kzoo 'pen held Aurora scoreless the rest of the way, but 'Haggis' and 'Machete' matched those efforts, with Gutierrez picking up his third save.

Which brought us back to Northern Lights for game 6 with Aurora up 3-2, Clark on the mound - that game 1 still fresh in his mind, and Kalamazoo, out of the blue, going with an Opener - Jesus Carlos, and Aurora going with their LHP line-up; to which, at the end of a long, 4:42 ball game, had a player at bat who might otherwise not even been in the game. While Claudio Perez (4th) and Macias (7th) provided their teams with the only scoring as the game headed into extras, both teams had runners - and runners in scoring position in the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th innings - yet the game went into extra innings.

Masaichi Daikawa had the first hit in extras - but was thrown out stealing to quickly kill a chance in the 10th, and Kichida came in in the 11th and walked the first two batters and after getting the next two batters, 'Werewolf' was faced with a bases loaded crisis thanks to a 2-out error by Munoz. Kichida then got Alex Craig to ground out to end the inning. In the 12th Kichida got out of trouble by way of a double play - setting up the heroics of Daikawa. Armando Olaguibel got the first two outs of the inning, but Aleman and Silva singled, and on the first pitch smashed it past Craig, driving home Aleman with the winning run!

With the win, it's off to Japan to face Toyama again - and not Niihama at Northern Lights, as it was looking in game 7 when the Ghosts scored 9-runs in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings - erasing 5-0 and 7-3 deficits to take a 9-7 lead, but Toyama used four singles and a walk to plate three - 'The Celestial Jaguar's inability to turn a double play extending the inning, as the Win-D's won their series in 7-games over their Rising Sun rival.

So we are treated - is that the right word, to a rematch of last years series - which the Win-D's won 4-1. Aurora's lone win coming in the opener at Northern Lights against the then-wild card Win-D's, losing a tight game 2 - then, to coin a phrase, it was 'lights out' in Japan.

This year, Toyama won the season series 4-3 - Aurora taking 2 of 3 on the road back in April, and losing 3 of 4 at home in August in what was a high scoring series. Of note the Win-D's had the 3rd highest average in the SL and 2nd best OPS as they were 4th in HR. They were mid-pack in BB and K and 4th in SB as the 3rd highest scoring team. On the pitching side of the coin, Toyama's starters had the best ERA in the league (Aurora's were 4th), but while the Borealis had the best bullpen by that metric (and by virtue the to pitching staff), the Toyama 'pen was 9th in the SL. That said, they did allow the second fewest hits, average and HR - whereas Aurora, tied with Toyama in HR, was further down on the hits and average - even if they allowed the fewest runs in the SL. Certainly an intriguing combination of stats.

[Borealis]

When A Split Feels Like a Win
Ray D. Enzé, NLN baseball blogger

October 26, 2038: Aurora, Colorado – Last year the Borealis hosted the Toyama Wind Dancers for the opening game of the SL side of the Alliance Tournament, and it was Armando Batista on the mound, it was Aurora who jumped to a big lead (4-0 and 6-2), and it was Barry Rodriguez who nearly blew the game for Aurora - yet the Borealis held on, for what would be their only win in the series.

As infamously stated by Yogi...

The Borealis will hope that 'de ja vu' does not strike them in the back as the Win-D's show them out the door, as Aurora had a 3-0 lead (after a half-inning), a 4-3 lead, a 6-3 lead, a 7-4 lead a 10-4 lead and then watched as Barry Rodriguez faced three batters - allowing a run-scoring double (a run charged to 'Haggis') a single and a 3-run homer to Ryozo Kouyama - making it a 10-9 game and a very scary moment for Abay Icharia as Francisco Cabrera came to the plate - already with a pair of homers off Batista, but Abay got him swinging on a full count pitch, then 'Machete' retired the side in the 9th to earn the save (#4 for the playoffs) and assure the Borealis of being no worse than even as the fly across the Pacific for the middle portion of the series.

Aurora managed their own power display as 'Matchbox' hit a 2-run homer in the 1st and Lan-quing Qing homering in the 4th, as they managed to touch the Golden Arm leading candidate with 5-runs - despite getting just 4-hits.

The Borealis managed 5-hits in game two, but it was a very different game as Sa-yoor Ch'oe kept the Borealis off-balance all game - holding them to just a run over 5-innings, while Cluett surrendered two homers to Maeda in what would be a quiet, 4-1 loss to Toyama. The Win-D's managed 8-hits of Cluett - who struck out 4 and walked 2 over his 7.1-innings, which wasn't as bad as it looked.

There is some concern as Aurora jets home for game 3, as Kowalski is 1-9 and Aurora will definitely need more from him to win this series. Aurora will also need to flash more of the power they displayed v. Kalamazoo - meaning Pedro Macias (3-7) and Claudio Hernandez (1-7) need to step it up. Then, needless to say, Brian Clark and Jung Yi need to be a tad better than Batista and Cluett. All in all, getting back on a plane to Japan will be considered a win - regardless of which way game 6 needs to go. The fact that Toyama took 3 of 4 at Northern Lights back in August is troublesome, but at least in those games, Aurora was scoring runs, too.