| Team | Yesterday | Today | Pitching Probables |
| Rochester | OFF DAY | OFF DAY | N/A |
| DSL Nationals | Won, 4-3 | @ DSL Twins, 10:30 a.m. |
Rochester Red Wings (2-3, 49-72)
Rochester won two of five in Worcester and returns home for five against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, starting tomorrow. FWIW, two teams were 5-0 in the first week of the “Final Stretch” – the Durham Bulls, who won 84 regular-season games, and the Nashville Sounds, winners of 68 games.
DSL Nationals 4 DSL Twins 3
• Moron 5⅔ IP, 3H, R, ER, BB, 5K, HBP
• Francisco (W, 3-0) 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 2K
• Tejeda 2-4, 2B
• Estrada 2-4, R, 2K
The D-Nats scored all their runs in their last three “ups” to walk off the D-Twins, 4-3. Raynel Moron pitched into the sixth for the third time this month, allowing one run on three hits and a walk. He struck out five and hit a batter. Michael Francisco picked up his third win with a scoreless 9th as the D-Nats bats bailed out Gabriel Agostini, who was dinged for two runs over two and 1/3rd innings to push his ERA to 1.20. Erick Tejeda and Jean Estrada both went 2-for-4 to lead the seven-hit, three-walk offense. The D-Rockies lost to reduce their lead over the D-Nats to a 1½ games while the D-Phillies Red kept pace, a ½ game back.
2022 SCHEDULES
Yesterday, the Low-A schedules were released to complete the complement of the four full-season levels. The good news: teams will see more of the league, with, for example the Fredericksburg Nationals playing ten of the eleven teams in their league (versus seven in 2021). The bad news: it looks like six-game series are here to stay, as we noted six weeks ago when the Red Wings released their 2022 slate.
It’s unfortunate that the schedule-makers couldn’t (wouldn’t?) find a way for every team to play each other at least one series. This was always a problem with the Sally League and made its league championship something of a farce. Imagine, for example, that Somerset and Binghamton were the two best teams in the AA Northeast2 in 2022, and Harrisburg won the division by a single game over Bowie, who did (and will) play those two teams and went, say, 4-8. Or the F-Nats miss the playoffs by a game because they didn’t get a chance at the Fireflies, who lost 90 games. Is either scenario fair?
I know, I know. Life isn’t fair. And MLB doesn’t care.
The Red Wings have yet to release a PDF, but the rest of the affiliates have – no doubt to expedite sales, after the 2020 season was cancelled and this season was both shortened and delayed. But for those interested…