It's that time of year again

Ah, the first day of fall and there is a chill in the air. Some teams will be heading home come Sunday, others will meet to tussle for the Championship of major league baseball. The Dodgers will be trying to threepeat, something no National League team has ever accomplished and only the A's and Yankees have done so in the American League.

Soon the announcers will start talking about the major awards for this year's performances. Ohtani will not threepeat as the NL MVP, Pete Crow-Armstrong is a virtual lock for that award. Yamamoto will get some Cy Young votes, but the front runners for that award are the Miz and Sanchez of the Phillies. Sale has fallen off some. LA has no players in the running for Rookie of the Year, but next year, if there is one, DePaula would be a strong candidate.

LA has has one of the two NL byes. I'll settle for one of the byes any day. By this weekend we will know who is playing who. Arizona catch the Phillies for the 6th WC team. The Phillies will be playing for their playoff lives. They play the Rays, best team in the AL on Game 162.

The D-Backs have a slim chance of making the playoffs. They need to beat the Padres on Sunday, and hope Tampa does the same thing to the Phillies. As of today, the Padres would host the Cubs in the Wild Card series. The Cubs are playing Boston at Tropicana Field in Tampa Bay for their final game.

As it stands right now, the Padres will host the Cubs, and the Braves will host the Phillies unless the D-Backs make it interesting by beating the Padres. LA lost five of the six meetings with the Braves, and they were 4-2 against the Phillies. So, who presents the bigger challenge? Both have LHP with Cy Young numbers, Sanchez for the Phillies and Sale for the Braves. Behind Sale is Holmes as the #2 starter, and not much else. The Brave's staff is pretty beaten up. They are going to have to use their best to beat the Phillies while the Dodgers will be able to line up their staff accordingly.

Sanchez and Wheeler are the Phils 1-2 punch. They also have a staff that is depleted due to injuries. Nola and Painter have records under .500 and ERAs over 4. They do have some good bullpen arms. Atlanta's pen is pretty decent too. The Braves slug a little more than the Phillies, but the Phillies have NL HR leader Schwarber. It was announced today that Luis Arraez, the current NL batting leader has a bad ankle. He could miss the Wild Card round and is just .002 ahead of Moreno of the D-Backs for the title.

The Phillies team BA is .240, with 180 homers. The team's pitching staff has a 4.01 ERA. Atlanta is hitting .248 as a team with 201 homers, their staff has a 3.62 ERA. The Dodgers are hitting .258 as a team with 199 homers. The staff ERA is 3.59. I think they match up better with the Phillies than the Braves. Yet it is awfully close. Soon we will know exactly who the opponent will be.

OKC Comets 5 - Rochester Red Wings 3

OKC started out well. RF Zach Ehrhard led off the game with a single and LF Josue De Paula followed with a BB. After the next three batters, that is where the runners remained. 

RHSP Emmet Sheehan did not have command of his fastball in this game. The first batter he faced hit a sinking line drive into CF where CF Alek Thomas made a fantastic sliding catch.  Sheehan got the first two batters but walked the next batter.  That set up back-to-back singles for a run.  

In the 2nd inning, Sheehan gave up a monster HR, which isn’t hard in Vegas.  But there was nothing cheap about the HR from Rochester’s 1B Liover Peguero.  It was crushed. 

Ehrhard singled again in the 3rd, and for the first 5.0 innings, he had the only hits for OKC. 

Sheehan was battling without his best command all night, but he kept the team close.  His only clean inning was the 5th.  In the 6th, Sheehan struck out the first batter, but hit the next and walked the third batter.  RHRP Kyle Hurt was called to relieve Sheehan and on one pitch got a 3-4-1 DP to end the threat.  He ended with 5.1 IP, 2 runs, 6 hits, 3 BB, and 7 K.  

Hurt continued to pitch in the 7th and pitched a clean inning. Hurt looked very good in this game. 

OKC got off the floor in the 8th.  1B James Tibbs III led off the inning with a BB.  A WP put JTIII on 2nd where he scored on DH Mike Sirota’s single.  CF Alek Thomas sacrificed Sirota to 2nd.  3B Ryan Fitzgerald hit a double off the wall to score Sirota tying the game.  But Fitzgerald was left stranded. 

RHRP Jerming Rosario relieved Hurt in the 8th and got the first two batters out.  The next batter hit a blooper into short right field that seemed to fool 2B Hyeseong Kim who had the ball hit off his glove for a single.  RHRP Paul Gervase came in to get the final out of the 8th. 

In the 9th, Ehrhard got his 3rd hit with one out.  JDP then hit into a DP to end the inning.  But on the replay the next inning, it showed JDP beat out the throw, but there are no manager challenges in MiLB. 

In the 9th with Gervase still on the bump, he gave up an infield single.  The next batter reached on a fielder’s choice beating out a throw to 1st on a DP attempt.  Gervase walked the next batter.  With runners on 1st and 2nd, Manager Scott Hennessey called on RHRP Seth Halvorsen.  Halvorsen got a ground ball force out at 2nd and a routine F-8 to end the inning. 

In the 10th, old friend Clayton Beeter came in to pitch for Rochester. With JDP the placed runner at 2nd, Beeter walked both JTIII and Sirota to load the bases.  Thomas hit a bases clearing double on the first pitch, and that ended the night for Beeter.  Fitzgerald hit a medium fly ball to CF who made a great throw to 3B in an attempt to get Thomas.  The umpire called Thomas safe, and that was a gift as a replay showed the tag beat Thomas. 

The umpires continue to show they are not ready for MLB.  With the placed runner at 2nd, the Rochester batter hit a ground ball that JTIII ventured well off 1B and made an awkward throw to Halvorsen covering which he miraculously caught and beat the runner to 1st.  But the umpire saw it differently.  Halvorsen got the next batter to GIDP, and while a run scored, there were 2 outs and the bases empty.  Halvorsen struck out Leandro Pineda to end the game.

OKC Comets are the AAA champions for 2026. 

·      Zach Ehrhard – 3-5

·      Alek Thomas – 2-3, 3 RBI, HBP, Sac Bunt, double

·      Mike Sirota – 1-4, 1 BB, 2 runs, 1 RBI

·      Ryan Fitzgerald – 1-5, 1 RBI, double (2) 

There were some excellent players in both dugouts who will be playing MLB, maybe next year.  I think we will see SS Seaver King at SS next year for Washington.  RHP Jarlin Susana looks ready for MLB, for yet another player involved in the Soto trade to reach MLB for Washington.  He was throwing 104 in the game.   OF Leandro Pineda looks ready to join James Wood in the Nationals OF. 

Zach Ehrhard had a great year, and even better playoffs. For the 4 games and 17 AB, Ehrhard slashed .529/.619/.882/1.501, 3 doubles, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB, 1 K.  He has more than earned a chance to make a MLB team.  JDP, JTIII, and Mike Sirota should get ML service in 2027. Noah Miller should get a chance as well.  He has a GG caliber glove and should be able to entice a few teams for a defensive oriented utility player. 

Box Score