Sunday 5:00PM September 14th, 2025

In a nice relaxing early Sunday evening game, the Falcons beat the Isotopes 20-10 in a rain-out makeup game to close out their regular season.

A game day signout to bring us to 9 players resulted in a last minute WhatsApp message to friend of the team and super spare Glorious Dan, who played for us for I think the 8th time this season. A shortage of outfielders had new Jer in RF, who despite his claim that he hadn't played OF in 15 years did an excellent job of snagging balls hit his way. You're so modest, Jer!

The Falcons plated 3 in the top of the first but the 'Topes won the inning with 4 of their own. After exchanging delicious donuts in the 2nd, the Falcons plated six big ones in the third, and never looked back. After 1 Isotopes run it was 9-5 good guys after three.

Reliable and trusty Glorious Dan led off the fourth with a double, setting the stage for a beauty of a Beatty three run shot over the fence. That guy can hit dingers much better than he can keep score, that's for sure! 13-7 Falcons.

Grahambo said "Hey Beatty I can do that too!" and sent one over the fence for a three run shot of his own in the 5th, 18-8 boys in blue after 5.

The top of the sixth saw Steve say "I don't need to hit one over the fence like you guys I can just run home faster than they can get the ball in!" and hit an inside-the-parker to make it 20-8. I'm pretty sure Grahambo hit another one over the fence, which was an out since the Falcons were already plus two in HRs. A refresher: solo dingers are "Duncans", home run outs are "Grahambos", and home runs where all the runs don't count due to a max 6 inning are "Scotties". Nice Grahambo, Grahambo!

The 'Topes would score two more in the 6th, before more delicious 7th inning donuts from both teams, 20-10 is your final. Bring on the playoffs!

Game Notes: There was quite a crowd on the Falcons side, the biggest of the season I think, including Falcons alumni Junior... Big thank you to Glorious Dan for playing so many games for us this year, he basically feels like a Falcon...

BOXSCORE

BATTING:
2B: Grahambo (2), Taxman (2), Beatty, Steve, Chad, Glorious Dan
3B: None
HR: Steve (inside the park), Beatty, Grahambo
HR-OUTS (a.k.a. a "Grahambo"): Grahambo (I think?)
RBI: Beatty (4), Grahambo (4), Chad (3), Steve (2), Taxman (2), Shohei, Billy, New Jer, Glorious Dan

FIELDING:
DOUBLE PLAYS:

PITCHING:
BATTERS FACED: ?

GAME INFORMATION:
STADIUM: K1 FIELD
ATTENDANCE: 11 (55% FULL) - % is based on regular season capacity (Falcons' side only)

Boxscore:

Statistical Highlights

Wednesday 8:00PM September 10th, 2025

In the Falcons' penultimate game of the 2025 WMSPL season, they dropped a 25-17 stinker that wasn't as close as the score would indicate.

Regardless, the game was meaningless for the fourth-seeded Falcons. Their spot is locked in. The Expos, on the other hand, achieved two things: one, they clinched the six-seed in the upcoming WMSPL Playoff tournament; and two, they finished in sixth overall in the standings, meaning they move up to the President's division in 2026 for the first time!

The game began with 12 Falcons in the dugout for only the 3rd time this season. Read that again. Three days, four games where there were at least two Falcons on the bench each defensive inning. It is what it is, and commitments are commitments. The team is tired.

After allowing the Expos to score four in the top of the first, three of which were on a Tyler Gardner moonshot, the Falcons squeezed a singleton across in the bottom half, thanks to Grahambo's Duncan.

In the second, the Expos continued their onslaught, scoring five. The Falcons were able to muster an equal response, scoring five of their own on six singles. Hit parades lead to big innings.

The Falcons won the third inning, 2-1 and after three were only down by two runs 10-8. In the fourth, the Expos began their own hit parade, tallying seven singles to score five runs. A Grahambo double and Dunner's 12th triple of the season (a career high, and putting him in a tie with SLF for second all-time for the team) highlighted a three run response. After four, the Expos led 15-11.

The fifth inning, the nap time inning, saw seven total batters for both teams, and no one scored.

The Expos exploded like a daycare full of Monster energy drinks in the top of the sixth inning. In total, they tallied twelve hits, all singles except for Tyler's second home run of the night, and scored ten runs. Down 25-11 with the time limit looming, the Falcons need more runs than there were minutes left in the game. Beatty's team-leading 11th home run of the season was the big blast of the six run sixth, but it wasn't enough.

Expos walk away with the win, 25-17.

GAME NOTES: All twelve teams have locked in their playoff seeds after this game, with the Expos holding the tie-breaker over the Isotopes to clinch the #6 seed. The playoff pools:

Pool A:
The Crew (1)
Hanet (10)
Surge (11)

Pool B:
Falcons (4)
Expos (6)
Isotopes (7)

Pool C:
Storm (3)
Broadway (5)
Inglorious Batters (8)

Pool D:
Triple Play (2)
Greenthumb (9)
Coulas (12)

The top four seeds will enjoy a Friday night bye (again, the benefit of a Friday bye is questionable at best. Wouldn't you rather play Friday evening than to begin your playoff weekend at 9am Saturday?), and by Saturday evening we'll be down to eight teams remaining. Tune into this space next week for the full Falcons season recap and my never wrong WMSPL Playoff Tournament predictions.


BOXSCORE

BATTING:
2B: Shohei, Grahambo, Dunner, Handsome Jer, SLF
3B: Dunner
HR: Beatty
HR OUTS: None
RBI: Beatty (4), Grahambo (4), Dunner (4), Shohei, Cowboy, Handsome Jer, SLF, Teets

FIELDING:
DOUBLE PLAYS: None

PITCHING:
BATTERS FACED: 54!

GAME INFORMATION:
STADIUM: K1 FIELD
ATTENDANCE: 1 (5% FULL) - % is based on regular season capacity (Falcons' side only)

Boxscore:

Statistical Highlights

Monday 9:30PM September 1st, 2025

Avenging last month's 23-8 shellacking, the Falcons took care of weekday night business with a tidy 24-8 win over Hanet Plastics.

Nine-thirty PM brought a bit of a panic to the Falcons, as two players who were supposed to show up were MIA: Handsome Jer, who via the miracle of text-based cellular telecom delivered messaging indicated that he would NOT, in fact, be playing; and Taxman, who had duly and properly signed out of the game on August 25th at 10:24pm but signed back in earlier on game day. Thanks to some digital sleuthing, it was determined that some slippery fingers NOT belonging to Taxman had signed him back in, so no $15 NSO fine was applied.

Down to 8 Falcons, and the prospect of playing with a 3-man outfield, Shohei put on his big-boy pants and trudged up the hill to see if anyone from the previous Triple Play-Greenthumb game would be willing to sack-up for another. Reports are that it took A LOT, and thankfully Poutine wasn't in attendance to keep bringing it up, but Shohei managed to get Greenthumb's John to cover right field for the Falcons. John went above and beyond as a call-up as well, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and 6 RBI. He also hit into a triple play, which is worth discussing.

According to the most googleable records, the infield fly rule was invented fairly recently, so it's understandable that here in 2025, only 130 years after it's creation, that there would still be some confusion in its implementation. Let's see if I can dumb it down for all: if there's a force play at third base and less than two out, any ball hit into the air with even the most remote semblance of an arc is an "infield fly". The batter is out, and the runners on base may advance at their own risk. Easy, right?

Well, you may ask, what about "ordinary effort"? It's right in there: "...if a fair fly ball is in play, and in the umpire's judgment is catchable by an infielder with ordinary effort...". How does one define "ordinary effort" when everyone on the field is really old? Or is really lazy? Or is really bad at baseball? As you can see, there is a lot of latitude granted to the umpire to determine whether a ball, hit by John, with Barry on first and Bill on second with nobody out, reaching an altitude above the relatively newly heightened backstop, about halfway between the pitcher and catcher, was an infield fly. Everything in that previous sentence would seem to indicate to any first-day umpire that it would in fact be an infield fly. Especially if the umpire declares "INFIELD!", then stops, as did the pitcher, the catcher, both runners on base, the batter, the fans, the scorekeepers for both teams, and seemingly time itself.

The catcher snagged the ball on the way up from its initial bounce, and fired to second. Barry is out on the force. Bill, running from second to third for some reason because the play should have been over but was allowed to continue, was out on the tag at third. John, just as confused as anyone except the umpire on the field, walked off. He's out for leaving the field, which is a rule but I doubt that rule was created with this particular scenario in mind. Thus ended a three-up, three-down top of the sixth. Being up by a bunch doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to discuss this calamity and seek clarity.

GAME NOTES: The Falcons' magic number to clinch at least the #4 seed is down to one with the victory... The updated WMSPL Playoff Tournament picture looks like this:

The Crew are President's division champs. $300 to them, congratulations.

Triple Play locked up the #2 seed with their win over Greenthumb. They'll get Hanet and either Surge or Coulas in their playoff pool.

Storm is currently in the driver's seat for the #3 seed, their magic number to clinch is one. The Falcons could snatch it away if they win their last two and Storm loses to [checks notes...] the Expos and Coulas. So yeah, expect Storm at #3.

The Falcons, as previously noted, need only a win or an Expos loss to lock into #4 and a Friday night bye.

And here's where we get into the soup. The Expos sit in an uncomfortable #5, only a half-game up on Broadway, who themselves are only a half-game up on the Isotopes, who are only a half-game up on Glorious Dan and his Inglorious Batters. Those four teams have a combined 13 games remaining, and there's only one game that involves two of those four teams: September 8th's game on K1 between Inglorious Batters and Broadway. So seeds #5-#8 could go anywhere.

Greenthumb is locked in at #9.

Hanet is currently #10, and can't move up. But if Surge, losers of twelve straight and have five games remaining, can string a few wins together, they can move up to #10. Surge could fall to #12, but Hanet can't.

Coulas could move up from #12 as far as #11.

BOXSCORE

BATTING:
2B: John (2), Cowboy
3B: Dunner, Barry Guerrero Jr
HR: Beatty (2)
HR OUTS: None
RBI: Beatty (6), John (6), Shohei (2), Dunner (2), Million Dollar Bill (2), SLF (2), Barry Guerrero Jr (2), Dr J (2)

FIELDING:
DOUBLE PLAYS: Million Dollar Bill-Dr J-Barry Guerrero Jr

PITCHING:
BATTERS FACED: 33

GAME INFORMATION:
STADIUM: K1 FIELD
ATTENDANCE: 4 (20% FULL) - % is based on regular season capacity (Falcons' side only)

Boxscore:

Statistical Highlights