Tag: Las Vegas

And Then There Were Four

And Then There Were Four

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The second half of the Pacific Coast Leage season came down to the wire on the final day as both the Round Rock Express and Reno Aces came into the day tied for first place with a record of 44-30. A win by Reno, or a loss by Round Rock would clinch the second half and playoff berth for the Aces who were facing the Aviators in Vegas. Round Rock was in Tacoma for their match up against the Rainiers. The Aces would lose their game by a score of 6-5 to the Aviators, snapping an eight-game winning streak, and leaving them in limbo to watch the outcome of the Round Rock game which was still only in the fourth with the Express up by a score of 3-2.

Hearts must have sunk in the Reno locker room after the game when the Express piled on seven runs in the fifth to extend the lead that they would not relinquish to go on and win the game by a score of 11-6 and clinch the second half title in the Pacific Coast League, and set the stage for the Pacific Coast League Championship against the Oklahoma City Dodgers.

And then there were four.

Earlier in the week Durham clinched their third straight playoff berth as the reigning Triple-A Champions will take on the Norfolk Tide, Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Tide have a strong lineup including Minor League Player of the year Jackson Holliday.

Round Rock also stocked up their roster this week by calling up this year’s fourth overall pick Wyatt Langford, and their top pitching prospect Jack Leiter who both could play a huge role in the playoffs against OKC.

The League Championship series start tonight in Oklahoma City, and Norfolk respectively as each team won the first have of their divisions. The winners of the best of three series will face off in Las Vegas on Saturday, September 30th. Will Durham be the first team to win FOUR Triple-A Championships, and three in a row?

Here in Sacramento, the River Cats had another losing season with a final record of 67-82 and 23.5 games out of first. The River Cats have not had a winning season since 2019, which has also been their only winning season since becoming an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants in 2015.

The most exciting player to watch this season, and team MVP was Tyler Fitzgerald who become the first River Cats player since Jarrett Parker in 2015 to have a 20/20 season in which he hit 20 home runs and stole 29 bases. He would end the season leading the River Cats in all offensive categories including the aforementioned home runs and steals, along with a .279 batting average, 72 runs scored, and 69 RBI. Tyler’s accomplishments didn’t go unnoticed by the Giants who called him up on September 21, a week after his 26th birthday. Through his first five games Tyler is hitting .250 with a double and a home run in only 16 at bats.

On the mound Nick Avila finished his amazing campaign with a 14-0 record, and an even 3.00 ERA, along with a 1.29 WHIP makes him one of the best pitchers in the Pacific Coast League this year.

Amazingly the River Cats had ten players make their Major League debut this season and that list included not only Fitzgerald, but Tristan Beck, Kyle Harrison, Marco Luciano, Luis Matos, Patrick Bailey, Ryan Walker, Keaton Winn, Casey Schmitt, and Wade Meckler.

The Giants potentially have the right pieces in place to be a solid team with this batch and some of the younger players in the lower levels of the Minor Leagues, but it sure has been rough for their fans. It will be exciting to see what 2024 brings for the both the River Cats, and the Giants, who will return for an exhibition game against Sacramento prior to the start of the season next spring at Sutter Health Park.

2024 marks the River Cats 25th Anniversary in Sacramento and for a long-time fan as myself, it makes me wonder if lightning can strike twice and the team can field a Champion as it did for their 20th Anniversary in 2019. Relive the magic of 2019 with my book, “Let’s Get it All” as I documented the unbelievable season that saw the River Cats go from their worst record in team history in 2018 to a National Championship one year late. Available at the River Cats’ On Deck Shop, and Amazon.

Back to the Grind

Back to the Grind

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I appreciate everyone’s understanding while I took some time off to take care of things in the real world, but its time to get back to baseball and so much has happened since I’ve been gone. Let’s start off with the fact that the first half of the season is over, and two teams have been crowned first half Division Winners. In the International League that honor goes to the Norfolk Tides, Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles who finished the first half with a record of 48-26 and leaving Durham 8.5 games behind at 40-35. The first half Division Winners in the Pacific Coast League goes to the Oklahoma City Dodgers who had the best record in Triple-A going 50-23 in the first half. The Round Rock Express came in second by 6.5 games and a record of 44-30. Each team has secured themselves home field advantage in the playoffs scheduled for September 28-30 at their respective ballparks.  

The River Cats ended their first half with a record of 34-40 and tied for last in the Pacific Coast West with the Las Vegas Aviators. The good news is that they don’t have the worst record in the league as that goes to the Albuquerque Isotopes who are alone in the cellar with a lowly record of 27-48, which they can be consoled in the fact that the Oakland A’s in the Major Leagues have a record of 20-60 thus far.

Speaking of the Oakland A’s, it’s a sad state that the disaster that owner John Fisher has created has trickled down to the team’s Minor Leagues as all but one affiliate is in last place with the worst records in their leagues. The only team that isn’t in last are their Double-A Midland Rockhounds who with a record of 32-37 are only a half game ahead of cellar dwelling Frisco Rough Riders who are 31-37. Stockton is feeling it the worst with a 25-41 record which gives A’s fans not much hope as this is their future.

Kyle Harrison has for the most part figured it out at Triple-A and fans are a buzz around Twitter waiting for the call-up. The front office has not made a move, and that 7.07 walks per nine innings pitched isn’t helping him one bit. On the bright side it was announced on Monday that Harrison was named to the All-Star Futures game for the second consecutive year.

While Harrison has yet to get the call, many other River Cats have made their debuts since I last wrote. Keaton Winn, Ryan Walker, Casey Schmitt, Luis Matos, and Patrick Bailey have all made their Major League debuts and contributed for the Giants. Matos was so hot that he went from Double-A to Triple-A and on to the Majors in less than 30 days!

The second half of the season starts tonight, and every team gets a clean slate for the second playoff spots in each league but lets take a quick look at your Pacific Coast League leaders thus far and how the River Cats players stack up to those numbers. The league leader will be on the left and the River Cats player will be on the right.

HITTING

Average: Phillip Evans (Reno) .364 – Michael Gigliotti .256

OPS: Domenic Canzone (Reno) 1.071 – Michael Gigliotti .772

HR: Jo Addell & Trey Cabbage (Salt Lake) 21 – Will Wilson 11

RBI: Cody Thomas (LV) 73 – Will Wilson 40

Runs: Canzone, Evans, Kennedy (Reno) 58 – Clint Coulter 41

Stolen Bases: Matt Batten (EP) 23 – Tyler Fitzgerald 13

PITCHING:

Wins: Cody Bradford (RR) 8 – Nick Avila 8

ERA: Cody Bradford (RR) 1.82 – Jorge Guzman 3.00

WHIP: Cody Bradford (RR) 0.93 – Nick Avila 1.31

Strikeouts: Kenny Rosenberg (SL) 82 – Kyle Harrison 82

Saves: Matt Festa (Tacoma) 12 – Erik Miller 2

These numbers say a lot about where each team ended up in the standings during the first half of the season. Reno was atop the Pacific Coast League West, the Division which includes Sacramento, and Round Rock was second in the Pacific Coast League East behind only the OKC Dodgers.

The Dodgers really have such a solid team that no one is leading the league in any statistically category and none of the hitters are in the Top 10 of all but one offensive category where Devin Mann, Jahmai Jones, and Michael Busch are all Top 10 in OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging). The real magic appears to be coming from their pitching which has at least one player in the Top 10 of every category, and that’s all while pitching in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League.

Well, it will be fun to see how the second half plays out; do cellar dwellers rise to the top or does it come down to the last game of the regular season where Reno and Round Rock battle for that second playoff spot? The second half starts tonight, June 28, as the Reno Aces roll into Sacramento for a six-game series.