League Chat Box

Pirkl outburst not enough to carry Martians

Greg Pirkl blasted 2 homers, but it wasn't enough to lift the Martians over the Kazoos. Kalamazoo won by a score of 13-8. Ed Jurak knocked home 5 runs for the Kazoos. | Box

Pirkl powers Martians to win over Kazoos

Greg Pirkl blasted 3 homers, lifting the Martians to a 13-11 win over Kalamazoo. | Box

Pirkl powers Martians to win over Kazoos

Greg Pirkl blasted 2 homers, lifting the Martians to a 13-6 win over Kalamazoo. | Box

Lead Story - 9/15/2026

Season 7 Major Awards

Here are the final vote counts for the two major awards:

MVP: TIE!!! Randy Ruiz (Dodgers) & Greg Goossen (Why Nots) 3 votes each
(other vote getters - Greg Pirkl-2, Bob Hazle-1)

Cy Young: Ramon Ramirez (Muckdogs) - 5 votes
(other vote getters - Dennis Tankersley-3, Evan Meek-1)

Congrats to the winners!

8/22/2026

Highlights from the 7th Bush League All Star Game from Yonkers, NY

*** SPOILER ALERT *** - The following story contains details of the 7th Annual Bush League All Star Game from Yonkers, NY. It contains spoilers, so if you'd rather watch the replay first, you can find a link to it in the Message Center (blue box on the right side of the home page). The box score is also there. Enjoy!

The 7th Annual Bush League All Star Game was played in Yonkers, in Westchester County, New York. The Bush League version of the Yonkers Hoot Owls is based on what many believe is the worst ever professional baseball team in history – the 1995 Yonkers Hoot Owls, who played one season, finishing with a 14-54 record. They played in the Northeast League. There were no basic facilities at Fleming Field, their home park – no locker rooms, no dugouts, no restrooms, no permanent concessions stands. They used a dry-erase board on a chain-link fence as a Scoreboard. Players had to mow their own outfield grass and change into uniforms in foul territory. The team traveled to road games on a hot, broken-down school bus with no air conditioning. No major league players ever played for the 1995 Hoot Owls, but they were managed by former major leaguer Paul Blair, who was a very good player during his MLB career – way too good to play in the Bush League.

The Bush League version of the Hoot Owls is a much stronger and more professional franchise, managed by reputable PCer J.S. Mathiot, whose initials alone make him sound very important indeed. They were represented in the All Star game by 3 players – catcher Dane Sardinha (who entered the game as a backup in the 7th inning, went 0 for 2 but also walked and scored a run), outfielder Tom Hughes (who also entered the game in the 7th, playing centerfield – Hughes went 2 for 3 with a triple, a single, and a run scored), and reliever Joel Carreno, who had a near-perfect 8th inning for the home team, walking one and striking out three).

This was probably the most exciting All-Star Game in Bush League history. Lots of runs, lots of drama – it might be worth watching the replay. All 56 All Stars got into the game. If you don’t want the ending spoiled, stop reading here and go click the replay link in the “Message Center” box on the home page.

The first inning was not kind to the starting pitchers on either side. The visitors jumped on starter Leo Hafford with two quick runs, but the MEENE offense struck back with three runs of their own off WWB starter Rob Woodward. The home team would add three more in the 2nd and three more in the 4th to take a commanding 9-2 lead going into the top of the 5th. The visitors weren’t giving up, though, and they answered with four in the 5th including a Greg Pirkl 3-run blast, making the score 9-6. They got even closer in the 7th with a pair of runs to make it a one-run game.

The visitors would then take the lead in the top of the 9th as MEENE’s last pitcher on the roster, Dennis Tankersley, came on to try to lock it down for the home team. Tankersley was quoted as saying “Hey, I don’t really like to save games, I like to come in earlier and get the easy ‘W’”, but he was the last man standing. The Terrible Tank gave up a pair of runs as the WWB appeared to complete the comeback and take a 10-9 lead going into the bottom of the 9th. But the last pitcher in the WWB bullpen, Carlos Hernandez said “Hey, I think I can make this even more interesting for the fans” and walked the first three batters he faced, loading the bases with nobody out. Luckily, big, slow Dane Sardinha was the runner on 3rd so he couldn’t score when teammate Tom Hughes hit a long fly ball that would have been a sac fly with anyone else on third. But Sardinha would score the tying run when Mitch Meluskey singled to tie the game up at 10. Hernandez would retire the next two batters to send the game to extra innings.

Nothing much happened in the 10th, but with Tankersley still pitching, the WWB struck for four huge runs in the top of the 11th. The home team would get one back in the bottom of the inning, but that was as close as they could get. Final score WWB 14, MEENE 11. Total hits – 34. Lots for the fans to cheer about in Yonkers in an epic Bush League All Star Game.

With the win, the WildWest-Borderlands crew increased their all-time All Star series lead to 5 games to 2. There were a lot of stars to choose from for MVP in such a high-scoring game, but the award actually went to a player on the losing team, as Jeremy Hazelbaker of the Louisville Sluggers took home the hardware after going 3 for 3 with two triples, a single, a walk, and 4 RBIs before being pulled for a substitute in the 7th inning. Congrats to Jeremy on a great game.

The Season 8 All Star Game will be held in Minot, North Dakota, home of the Why Nots.

8/14/2026

Season 7 All Star Teams Named

WildWest-Borderlands All Star Team
C JR Towles - Tonkas
C Al DeVormer - Dodgers
1B Greg Goossen - Why Nots
1B Randy Ruiz - Dodgers
2B Ryan Schimpf - Martians
2B Todd Haney - Why Nots
3B Glenn Williams - Cloverleafs
3B Matt Macri - Tonkas
SS Tommy Watkins - Cloverleafs
SS Richard Urena - Why Nots
OF Michael Ryan - Martians
OF Brooks Kieschnick - Dodgers
OF Joe Dillon - Why Nots
OF Jon Zuber - Cloverleafs
OF John Barnes - Beauties
OF Dave Sappelt - Roadrunners
OF Reggie Abercrombie - Cloverleafs
DH Greg Pirkl - Martians
SP Rob Woodward - Why Nots
SP Tommy de la Cruz - Dodgers
SP Dwight Siebler - Beauties
SP TJ House - Martians
SP Carlos Hernandez - Desert Ratz
RP Josh Kinney - Roadrunners
RP Rafael Dolis - Dodgers
RP Jimmie Sherfy - Cloverleafs
RP Scott MacRae - Roadrunners
RP Joe Ortiz - Tonkas

MiddleEarth-EastNortheast All Star Team
C Willard Hershberger - Otters
C Dane Sardinha - Hoot Owls
C Mitch Meluskey - Kazoos
1B Mike Kinkade - Omahogs
1B DT Cromer - Sluggers
2B Irving Falu - Otters
2B Jorge Velandia - Omahogs
3B Pat Patterson - Sluggers
3B George Zeber - Omahogs
SS Ed Jurak - Kazoos
SS Wes Kingdon - Unicorns
OF Butch Davis - Whoopees
OF Jeremy Hazelbaker - Sluggers
OF Alex Escobar - Omahogs
OF Tom Hughes - Hoot Owls
OF Aaron Pointer - Muckdogs
DH Bob Hazle - Rubber Ducks
DH Buzz Arlett - Kazoos
SP Leo Hafford - Whoopees
SP Ramon Ramirez - Otters
SP Jeff Heathcock - Unicorns
SP Scott Lewis - Sluggers
SP Taylor Jungmann - Kazoos
RP Dennis Tankersley - Rubber Ducks
RP Joel Carreno - Hoot Owls
RP Jim Austin - Kazoos
RP Matt Palmer - Rubber Ducks
RP Kyle McPherson - Omahogs

6/13/2026

Season 7 Pre-Season Schedule

1. Run Progressions - no actual progressions in this league - but there are regressions. Player stats stay the same until Age 39, then they begin to regress at 40. - done

All teams need to cut their roster down to 27 before the 3-round draft. Cuts deadline is Wednesday, June 24th at 9pm central time. After the cuts have been made, the 3-round draft will get your roster up to 30, which is one higher than last season. Hopefully this will allow some more flexibility for your roster this year. All 30 roster players will stay on your major league roster - no minors in this league. This is the final league for roster expansion. We'll remain at 30 total roster players from now on.

Draft Order for the 3-Round Season 5 Draft
Draft won't officially begin until Thursday, June 25th at 8am Central, but the draft room may open earlier than that, and owners can pick whenever they're on the clock. No pressure though.
1st Round - 6 hours per pick
2nd & 3rd Round - 3 hours per pick
** REMINDER (when ranking and drafting) - Age matters in this league. Players start to regress after their Age 39 season. Happy Drafting!

1. Yucca Valley Desert Ratz
2. Arizona Roadrunners
3. Minnetonka Tonkas
4. Yonkers Hoot Owls
5. Utica Unicorns
6. Brandon Cloverleafs
7. Louisville Sluggers
8. Minot Why Nots
9. Kalamazoo Kazoos
10. Evansville Otters
11. Macon Whoopees
12. Butte Beauties
13. Lodi Dodgers
14. Akron Rubber Ducks
15. Roswell Martians
16. Omaha Omahogs

Free Agency will open up on Friday, July 3rd at 7pm central time. Feel free to drop players and pick others up if you think there’s something better in FA.

Opening Day will be Sunday, July 5th at 9am central time. Make sure you have your lineups and rotations set up. Ballpark dimensions too. Reminder – no big boost or big disadvantage allowed in this league – just mild or no effect.

Good luck in Season 7, everyone!

9/3/2024

First Season Draft Info

Rules:
For our initial 24-round draft, we will split the draft into two parts:
Part 1 - 10 rounds - snake draft style
Part 2 - 14 rounds - one-way draft style

Once the clock starts (Sunday morning at 9am Central time):
Rounds 1-5 - 6 hours/pick
Rounds 6-10 - 3 hours/pick
Rounds 11-24 - 1 hour/pick

Clock won’t run during the overnight period (10pm to 8am central time)

Due to the limited Free Agent Pool, there will be a couple of position maximums.
Catchers - only 2 per team may be drafted.
Starting Pitchers - only 6 per team may be drafted.

REMEMBER! Age matters in this league. No progressions, but after a player's age 39 season, he will begin to regress every year. So Chuck Hostetler (who is already 41) will start regressing after Season 1 and keep getting worse every year until you just can't stand the smell of him anymore.

Each team will be allowed to switch positions for one position player before Opening Day (see Rules page for more details).

Each team will have one player assigned with a Utility (UT) designation for his secondary position.

8/29/2024

Bush League Essentials (see Rules Page for more details)

Bush League FYI:

No Contracts
No Progressions
Regressions begin at Age 39 (so age matters!)
No changing seasons - players are stuck with whatever stats they enter the league with
Fatigue: Off
Slump Buster: Off
Fire: Off
Ballpark Dimensions - No Big Advantage/Big Disadvantage
Trades - unlimited

16 teams
8 teams make the playoffs
162 Game Schedule
5-man Starting Rotation
Roster Size - 24 to start, will increase one each season until Commish decides on final roster total
Off-Season - cuts to 22 before 3-round draft

8/29/2024

First Season Draft Order

The first Bush League Player Draft will go a long way in determining your team's future, and maybe also your personal future depending on how seriously you take this league (hopefully not too seriously!)

The initial Player Draft will be 24 Rounds.
Draft order is based on "The Last Shall Be First" and will use the Commish's home-made formula which looks at each owners' real PC winning percentage, number of rings, and number of PC games played. This will give those of you who are terrible or mediocre at Baseball Sim Games a fighting chance against those of you who are awesome veterans. The Commish will choose last in the first round because that's just what good Commishes do (or so I've been told by good Commishes).

Draft Order (Final) (Ability to Rank Players has been turned on - Rank away)
1. Utica Unicorns (Offday)
2. Kalamazoo Kazoos (Arlo)
3. Roswell Martians (Dommod)
4. Omaha Omahogs (DaveMagadan)
5. Evansville Otters (BHicks)
6. Butte Beauties (MaaPearson)
7. Louisville Sluggers (GMan)
8. Arizona Roadrunners (SinCityMarauder)
9. Yucca Valley Underdogs (Dempsey)
10. Yonkers Hoot Owls (JSMathiot)
11. Macon Whoopees (Lasershow)
12. Minot Why Nots (GBacci)
13. Akron Rubber Ducks (Bush)
14. Minnetonka Trucks (RevEJB)
15. Lodi Dodgers (Sheikyerboudi)
16. Brandon Cloverleafs (Gus)