Autumn Dreamin

One late inning Travis Jankowski HR robbery away from not breaking the record, huh? Jankowski was also the batter for the last out at the Coliseum. Interesting history-adjacent season for a guy with <200 ABs this year.

Two Ws for Flex today.

They have a reported agreement with 17yo Cuban 3B Alejandro Cruz, who Pipeline has #32 in their top 50.

White Sox (Glendale): Colson Montgomery, SS (No. 2/MLB No. 25) Grant Taylor, RHP (No. 6) Peyton Pallette, RHP (No. 27) Eric Adler, RHP Andrew Dalquist, RHP Tim Elko, 1B D.J. Gladney, OF Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa, RHP Michael Turner, C Colson will have an opportunity to carry his strong finish to the season into a repeat AFL tenure. Taylor should be one of the best arms there, good to get him some innings now that he's healthy.

In addition to the players, I should mention that Sergio Santos and his staff also deserve a hell of a lot of credit. They lost their entire first half winning rotation (Thorpe, Adams, Iriarte, Bush, Eder), a good chunk of their lineup (Baldwin, Ramos, Elko, Quero...), a few quality pen arms (Coffey, Cousin, AHT, Ellard...), and still managed to win it all. Not easy to find success while juggling integrating waves of new guys, having your best guys promoted away, dealing with midseason injuries, and fighting through a second half slump. And for whatever it's worth, I've seen a few relatives of players specifically shouting out the support they feel like their guys have gotten from Santos and the staff in making adjustments, staying focused, and building a winning environment. Also, this is fun:

They did it! Barons walk it off 2-1 on a Gladney bases loaded base hit!

Quick 3U/3D for Adler to strand the free runner. Winning run on 2nd for the Barons.

Carela was really tough out there today. At one point he made a very nice 1-unassisted play at the plate to help himself out of a bases loaded jam. Outside of the early run by Nishida, the bulk of the game was a pitching duel. Very solid stuff from the bullpen. Pretty confident we'll see Pallette in the big league pen next year. But a 1-0 lead is very hard to hold, and Adler let the tying run across with 2 outs in the 9th. Turner led off with a single bottom 9 and advanced to 2nd on a sac bunt. Gonzo moved him to third, Tatum got an IBB, and Goose was right on a couple of foul balls but ultimately grounded out. To extras we go. Adler still pitching, Barons will have the top of the order up in their half.

3 outs to go, still up 1-0. I'm sure the boys would like some insurance but the Rays predictably have some nice pitching prospects.

8 pitch first for Carela. A Turner single scores Nishida (HBP, SB) for a 1-0 lead after 1.

This is my World Series.

They got Mountcastle back and Eloy is 1-24 in September (5-39 over his last 15 games). He has enough service time to decline, but I assume he's accepted the assignment if it's being reported.

Southern League Pitcher of the Year for Schultz, and all star nods for Quero, Baldwin, and Thorpe.

AAA season wrapped up today, but maybe it wasn't Quero's last game...

Impressive wire to wire W for the Barons, They had lost 7 straight (and 10 of 12 overall) to the Biscuits in the regular season. Scoreless work out of the pen for Schoenle (2.2IP), Franklin (1IP), Palisch (1IP), Adler (1IP). Bats were hot with 7 runs on 15 hits (4 XBH) and 5 walks. Nishida was the only starter without a hit, going 0-5 with a BB. Gonzo was great, 3-5 with a 2B, SB, and 3 RBI. Veras 4-5 with a 3B, Camilletti 3-4 with a 2B, Tatum 1-2 with 3 BB and 2 SB. Great team effort. One home win away from glory.

Schultz out early-ish after giving up 2 runs on a pair of doubles, a single, and a sac fly in the 4th. His line ends up 3.1IP, 2ER, 4H, 1BB, 6K. He left with a 4-2 lead after Schoenle came in to strand his remaining runners. Schoenle stayed in for another 2 innings, not allowing a hit. 2.2IP, 0ER, 0H, 1BB, 3K for him. Top 7, the Barons got two RISP with a Veras single and Gladney double. Veras maybe scores if fully healthy, but he didn't test it. With two outs, the Biscuits walked Podkul to force a lefty lefty matchup with Gonzo at the plate. He made them pay: Barons are up 7-2 with 9 outs to get.

Veras played more games than anyone else in the league this season. He's back in the lineup after an injury in the division series, and gets the Barons on the board early with an RBI triple. Schultz puts up a 0, and the Barons are up 1-0 after the first.

The boys are happy: Especially Rikuu:

Barons win 6-3 for the division title and advance to the Championship series! Best of 3, starting Sunday. A Schultz playoff start perhaps...? Gowens was great today even though he ran into a little trouble in the 6th. Pallette with another solid 2 innings in relief (he gave up a tough luck unearned run) and the W. The bats left a small village on the bases (14 LOB, 3-10 with RISP), but having runners on base in every inning gave them enough chances to break through eventually. The Barons were the only team with a winning record vs. the Smokies in the regular season, and it mattered here. They edged them out by half a game in the first half, which is why they got two at home despite the Smokies having a much better second half and overall record.