Nine Lives 2026.1- What the heck is happening in YS?

[recte44]

July 11, 2026

At the All-Star break, the Yellow Springs Nine are 49-39. Yes, they're in third place, yes, they are nine games behind the first place Phantoms in the JL Midwest. However, they are just two and a half games behind the second place Omaha Barnstomers and are currently two and a half games ahead of Vancouver for the second Wild-Card slot.

What the heck is in the water in Yellow Springs?

1. Starting Pitching. It ranks 4th in the JL at this writing. The Nine has gone through their share of shakeups over the first half, dealing with inconsistent performances and injuries, but now seem to be set with a starting five that could compete with any in the league. It's headed by #1 guy Jose Chavez , who has had an inconsistent first half but is coming on strong of late. Then, there's Lorenzo Pena who is back healthy again and seems to be pitching like he should. The #3 guy is the wildcard- Lawrence Columbus LaLoosh (8/7/6 Ratings, 1 - 3, 2.32 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 40 K) . The heralded rookie came up in June and has shown glimpses of why he could be the next great pitcher in the MBBA. #4 guy Antonio Sanchez has actually been the most successful of the five, and #5 guy Dieter Hartinger (7/8/8 Ratings, 7 - 3, 3.79 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 62 K) is his usual consistent self.

2. Revamped bullpen. It took a while, but the maligned bullpen now seems to be set up for success. The biggest surprise? Their new closer wasn't on their roster at the beginning of the year, heck, he wasn't on ANY roster. Colin Julyan (5/8/10 Ratings) is not the typical hard throwing closer. He's a movement and control master who was a victim of questionable Des Moines defenses from 2019-2022, none more than 2022 when he posted a 6.61 ERA despite a 2.60 FIP. He spent the last four seasons at AAA, pitching brilliantly each season though for some reason being largely ignored by the MBBA. Then there's displanted closer Ryan Craigie (7/7/9 Ratings, 3 - 8, 4.20 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 50 K) , who is the new setup man along with Jason Olsen . Middle relief is anchored by Sven Trauner (8/7/7 Ratings, 2 - 1, 3.86 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 44 K) , who is augmented with former starters Hermenegildo Perez and Jose Lopez , as well as emerging Rafael Delgado .

3. Two offensive rookies. Neither appeared to be in the Nine's plans at the beginning of the year, but that was rectified (pun intended) quickly. It starts with Pedro Hernandez , a natural second baseman who has been getting the bulk of his playing time at shortstop. He's not the best fielder at shortstop, but not bad enough to make us double think the decision to play him over Sixto Berroa (5/7/5/5/9 Ratings, .160/.218/.309, 1 HR, 6 RBI) or Tino Aguilera (5/5/4/3/9 Ratings, .333/.400/.444, 0 HR, 1 RBI) . Seems like a no brainer now. Then, there's Salvador Gonzalez . We found this talented hitter stuck in AAA, immediately promoted him to the bigs and inserted him in the lineup against RHP, and he's raked. Now, he's more at home at the DH position where he can flourish.

4. Mixing and matching with spare parts. We tried using Carlos Medina as the center fielder, but he struggled too much there. After trying Fernando Ruiz , who will be waived this sim, we were able to claim Nathan Forrest (5/8/4/4/5 Ratings, .261/.292/.304, 0 HR, 1 RBI) from waivers and he'll be the full time center fielder. Catcher was another challenge. Peter McClure (5/6/4/7/7 Ratings) was finished, so we released him. Luis Hinojosa (5/7/6/8/4 Ratings, .216/.304/.378, 4 HR, 18 RBI) is just a guy, and we sent him to the minors. We signed veteran Richie Shafer (6/5/6/5/9 Ratings, .241/.274/.404, 6 HR, 21 RBI) , who has played the bulk of the time and has done alright for us. Gabriel Bonilla was also signed, but he didn't fare as well and will hit the waiver wire this week in favor of another signee, the defensive minded Jim Mayer (5/6/5/3/5 Ratings) . We were also able to bolster the bench by signing veteran infielders Eric Hardy (5/6/8/6/5 Ratings, .357/.526/.643, 1 HR, 5 RBI) and Dexter Morgan (5/7/6/6/3 Ratings) , as well as bringing Joaquin Duran (5/4/7/5/10 Ratings, .287/.353/.426, 3 HR, 13 RBI) back up to the bigs which bumps rookie Kelly King (6/7/7/5/5 Ratings, .274/.345/.476, 5 HR, 22 RBI) to the bench.

[felipe]

so...the gist of this is...just plain good luck?

[bschr682]

Im glad Forrest has a landing spot. That'll save me some money.