Teams Jockey for Miles Wolff Cup Playoff Position in Final Two Weekends of Regular Season
MOORHEAD, Minn., August 27, 2026 – The Milwaukee Milkmen and Lake Country DockHounds punched their respective tickets to the AAPB postseason, and DockHound Josh Mears slugged his way into the league record books, highlighting the goings-on in the American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) this week. With two weekends to go before the Miles Wolff Cup playoffs, all AAPB regular season and postseason broadcasts are available free for live viewing on AABaseball.tv.
Here are 10 (or so) Things to Know about the AAPB this week:
- Lake Country’s Joshua Mears hit his AAPB record-tying 33rd home run of the year on Tuesday vs. Kane County, and has 11 games left to break the mark. The DockHounds also clinched their third straight postseason berth that night despite a 7-5 loss to the Cougars.
- This came a few days after DockHounds manager Ken Huckaby earned his 200th win with the team in a comeback win over KCC. And rounding out a week that came up ‘Hounds all the way, the team hung a league-record 15 runs on Kane County in the third inning of a 23-10 triumph on Friday.
- Mears continues to pace the circuit with those 33 home runs and 95 RBI, one more than Fargo-Moorhead’s José Sermo, who is his closest HR competitor with 29. Mears’s teammate Dom Johnson’s .364 batting average is seven points clear of Fargo-Moorhead’s Tripp Clark and now 22 points higher than Mears.
- Milwaukee’s Franklin Field and Lake Country’s DockHounds Ballpark sit about 30 miles apart, but they have more than Wisconsin geography in common, as their respective denizens also became the first two AAPB teams to secure playoff berths last week.
- Kane County is on the verge of earning the third East bid, and Kansas City looks to be the first West team to clinch a spot.
- Complete games are a rarity these days across pro baseball, and single-pitcher no-hitters are even rarer. Gary SouthShore’s Deyni Olivero was able to get the first and narrowly missed the second on Thursday, firing a two-hit shutout, tossing 8 2/3 no-hit frames until settling for the 11th shutout in RailCats history.
- Sioux Falls’s Charlie Hasty has been one of the league’s most reliable relievers since debuting with the Canaries in 2021. He racked up his 71st save, second only to Victor Capellan, who posted 83 saves in stints with four AAPB teams between 2014 and 2024. Hasty is also the franchise’s all-time appearance leader.
- Media interest in the AAPB remains strong. Some of the recent articles on teams include:
- Dakota News Now chronicled Sioux Falls’s crazy 13-12 win over Fargo-Moorhead on Tuesday in which both teams scored five ninth-inning runs and the Canaries got a much-needed win to stay 1 ½ games clear of Sioux City for the last West playoff spot.
- The Winnipeg Free Press caught on to a few Goldeyes superstitions that have helped the team focus on the game.
- Fox 6 Milwaukee says the Brewers’ success is great and all, but don’t sleep on the team up the road in Oconomowoc which earned a postseason appearance and has its eyes set on a title.
- The Denver Post noted that Rockies reliever Brennan Bernardino’s road to the bigs went through Winnipeg in 2018.
- BringFido had some fun with the Milwaukee Milkmen’s Bark in the Park promotion.
- SmallMarketMeetings chose Geneva, Ill. as an up and coming city for meetings, with the Kane County Cougars as a key selling point.
- Minnesota Athletes looked at Jordan Barth’s move from the Sioux Falls Canaries to Banana Ball.
- A few team promotions of note are:
- Cleburne is taking Fan Appreciation Day to another level, with a week-long celebration that began on Tuesday and continues through the home finale on Sunday vs. Chicago. The bevy of giveaways this weekend is highlighted by a hockey jersey on Friday and Team Photo on Sunday as the Railroaders look to secure the final East Division playoff berth.
- Gary SouthShore will conduct a special jersey auction in support of Breast Cancer Awareness on Sunday
- Winnipeg’s Fan Appreciation Days will also include a player card giveaway on Saturday and team photo on Sunday
- While we don’t advocate thinking about winter just yet, Fargo-Moorhead residents are nothing if not prepared. The first 1,000 fans at the alternate moniker Woodchippers game on Saturday will get a Woodchippers ice scraper presented by Explore MN.
About the American Association
The American Association of Professional Baseball (www.aabaseball.com) and (www.aabaseball.tv) is a Major League Baseball Partner League that operates in nine states and one Canadian province. Formed in 2006, the league consists of twelve member clubs with many beginning play in 1993. Through the 2025 season, 483 player contracts have been transferred to MLB organizations. In addition, 60 AAPB alumni have reached the Majors, including 17 participating in 2025.
– AAPB –
Contact:
Joe Favorito, joefavorito2@gmail.com, 917-566-8345
Jerry Milani, jerry@jerrymilani.com, 917-797-5663