The years since the glorious 2036 championship run have piled high, and the front office of the Niihama-shi Ghosts is displaying a sense of urgency perhaps unlike anything the fan base has ever seen. The team has won an average of 103 games over the four seasons that have followed their first and only Rodriguez Cup victory, and yet last season’s Game 7 loss in the SLCS against Tempe was the closest the team has come to repeating during this window of opportunity. Gone now are the rookie contracts of Zambrano and Stowe and Leith and Valdez. In its place is the league’s 5^th highest payroll, with substantial contracts for most of the team’s brightest stars weighing on the organization. After five playoff runs and only the one pennant, nothing short of a second pennant can possibly suffice. That is why the team seems to be pushing all their chips in to win in 2041. With the acquisitions of Young-pil Pin and now Pablo “Mountain Man” Garza, the team added $26M to the team’s payroll. Both players will play tonight in Yuma, as Garza suits up in the green and white for the first time and Pin returns from a mild injury in time to face his old team.

The Ghosts sport a thin 2.5 game lead over the Toyoma Wind Dancers and are clearly sparing no expense to maximize the chances of maintaining that lead into the playoffs. The Ghosts have only won two division titles among their five playoff runs, and they sport a dismal 1-3 record against the Windies in the playoffs over that time. The value of home field advantage in a series against the Ghosts bitter rival cannot be overstated.

Lost in those trades was a bevvy of future talent, the loss of which may spell the end of the Ghosts current window, as well as long-time Ghosts slugger Gilberto Fernandez – the Ghosts all-time homerun leader. After a disastrous 2040 campaign soiled by his odd dietary choices, Fernandez has struggled to regain his form and only has 10 HR on the year. Garza is similarly struggling in the first half of the 2041 season, although his bat was anything but disastrous last year as he won the Royal Raker with a 47 HR campaign. The hope is that Garza will regain that form in time for the playoffs, where he will anchor the Ghosts offense.

The lost talent includes a first, second, and third round pick, as well as the #36 prospect SP Vincente Cortez, a former first round pick, two former second round picks, and three former third round picks. That efflux of talent may prove critically debilitating as the team’s current talents become more and more expensive and the need for young, cost-controlled talent increases over the coming seasons. Were these trades worthwhile? Check the outfield stands for a new banner at the conclusion of the season to find out.