Here it is. The last stand. The league title will be determined tomorrow...and then? The off-season. UGH! But, don't worry. 49thStateHardball.com will be with you all winter long to give you your ABL fix. In the mean time, here's some quick shots from the past week:
- In case you missed it, I was the special guest on this week's Valley Sports Huddle on AM 1430, live from Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer. So this was my first radio appearance and it went pretty good I think, other than a couple hitches. Such as when I said "uhhhh" for about 20 seconds while trying to think of a certain pitcher's name (LIAM BARON! I remembered it as soon as I was driving home). But I had a blast talking ABL with host Jeremiah Bartz and I'm always glad to do something to get the good word out there. Big thanks to Jeremiah and the Hometown Radio folks for having me on the air.
- For those of you who are wondering how the NBC tournament will fall out, as far as Alaska is concerned anyway, the bracket is set. The Miners have gone on record saying that they will not go to Wichita, which means the Oilers and Panners are our teams regardless of how the 1-2-3 standings turn out in the league. Miners GM Pete Christopher told me today that the Oilers are already on their way to Kansas. The Panners have to finish out tomorrow with the Miners to see who gets the league title, but it's inconsequential for the tournament as the doubleheader split tonight earned the Goldpanners the #1 Alaska seed spot. So who's playing who when? The Oilers will take on the League City Hornets on Tuesday, Aug 3rd and the Goldpanners will follow up against the Hutchinson Monarchs on the 4th. The complete bracket (in PDF version) is available here.
- We're right on the cusp of the off-season, now, so I'll give you a little preview of how the near future might look around here. Of course, we're going to keep on truckin' hardcore ABL style all winter long so if you think it's going to be break time at 49th State Hardball, get that idea right out of your head! I have been trying to bust through the rotation one more time with player profiles so I'll do a Pilots profile to finish it up. Then I would like to cover the Panners and Oilers' ascent through the ranks of the NBC tournament, so we'll have some of that. I want to wrap up the season with a couple posts, including a look back at my semi-bold predictions from the beginning of the season. Then we'll forge ahead into the great unknown. I've got tons of scouting notes and video so I'm going to spend the off-season putting that stuff together to release all winter long. And I'm way, way overdue on catching up with our alumni in the pro ranks. So those are some things to look forward to! I'll give you the more detailed scoop after the season wraps up for real.
- Don't forget...the Bucs and Glacier Pilots might be wrapping up their regular season, but it doesn't end there. The Mayor's Cup match-ups are on for Aug 1-3 at Mulcahy Stadium. I've always loved going to these games in the past and I hope to attend at least one of them this year. It's basically an exhibition tournament to see who gets to lay claim to the hardware which honors Anchorage's best ball club. Check it out!
Everyone have a great weekend, and don't forget, this may be your last chance to see an ABL team in action this year so get out of the house and down to the ballpark!
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