River Monsters use record 29 players in series loss to Long Beach
Twin Cities GM Alan Ehlers has long been known for playoff shenanigans. He routinely signs super specialized "Unicorns" mid season for the sole purpose of exploiting teams weakness in a playoff series. For example, Robin Cooper(11/12/8 VS LHB) was signed to be a second loogy out of the pen for the playoffs and only pitched 1/3 of an inning for the team this season. Since the team was matched up against Omaha(.431 winning % against lefties), they shifted him into a more pivotal stopper role. In fact, TWC started a lefty in every game of that series also, including using Kujapa Padmanabhan, who had never pitched in the BBA before his game 3 start.
But when is enough.. enough? Unless you were scoring at home with a pen, paper, and perhaps even a calculator, you probably didn't realize that the River Monster blatantly broke the rules of the BBA Constitution. During the 6 games series versus the Long Beach Surfers, Twin Cities marched out a record 29 players, two more than the hard capped roster limit of 27. With speculation that there were even MORE in the dugout in uniform prepared to be used if needed.
There are many questions surrounding this activity that the league office will look into for sure. Including eye witnesses that claim the River Monsters snuck 10 and sometimes 11 players on the field at any given time. But the biggest question that remains is... How did Twin Cities cheat and still lose the series?
"We play the game for fun. Sometimes adding to your lure is more important than wins and losses." Ehlers said while winking at the reporter. "Hat tip to Long Beach who is having a great run this season and probably wins this series 10 out of 10 times in alternate universes."
