2053.3 Heartbreak City

[usnspecialist]

By this point everyone knows about the inglorious history of the Des Moines Kernels. No playoff appearances since 2008, no winning seasons since 2031 and really very little hope of either streak ending in between. Needless to say, hope was running rampant in the Capitol city this year when Des Moines completed a sweet of Chicago to set up game 163 against relative newcomer Portland, a team who has been founded since the last winning season for the Kernels, and yet have already been to two championship series. As for the game itself, it was a tense pitchers dual, with both bullpens firing darts before finally the Kernels cracked in the 12th, dooming them to another baseball-less October.

GM Randy Weigand was disappointed after the game, saying "obviously im gutted for the boys, they gave it everything they had. I have a few things to go away on and work to make sure next year we do not find ourselves in this position again. Obviously we have some big decisions to make, some of which are out of our hands, but we really like this young core to build around". The decision being out of his hand is likely referencing the potential opt-out of future Hall of Famer Alaric Wullenweber. While it is unknown at this point what he will do, rumors leaking out of the front office indicate they are secretly hoping for him to opt-out, which makes sense given Weigand's past history of avoiding that type of contract.