Winnipeg Goldeyes to Battle Kane County Cougars Beginning Saturday

The American Association of Professional Baseball (@AA_Baseball) reaches the culmination of the season. After 100 regular season games and two spirited playoff rounds, the Miles Wolff Cup Final begins Saturday with Kane County and Winnipeg squaring off in a five-game series, with the first two games set for Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva, Ill., before shifting to Blue Cross Park. All Miles Wolff Cup Final games are available for free live viewing at aabaseball.tv.

Here are 10 (or so) Things to Know about the AAPB this week:

West Division regular season champion Winnipeg defeated visiting Fargo-Moorhead, 3-1, on Thursday night to win the Division Championship. The Goldeyes got a big lift from 2019 AAPB Pitcher of the Year Mitch Lambson (Scottsdale, Ariz.), who made only four starts during the regular season (2-0, 4.74) but two in the postseason, winning both. The Winnipeg Free Press chronicled his baseball journey in the series wrapup piece yesterday.
Kane County advanced with two straight wins in the East Division Championship, winning 3-2 at home over Chicago on Wednesday on a walk-off single by right fielder Armond Upshaw (Newnan, Ga.) for the sweep of its arch rival.
Miles Wolff Cup Final Notebook:
- Winnipeg (56-43, 1st West) had one more victory than Kane County (55-45, t-2nd, East) during the regular season.
- First-year Goldeyes skipper Logan Watkins was named AAPB Manager of the Year Tuesday. Global News Canada spoke with Watkins about his approach with the team and how it has translated to success.
- The series marks Kane County’s first appearance in the Final since joining the league in 2021, and the third trip for Winnipeg, which has three titles in 2012, 2016 and 2017.
- The Goldeyes won the season series with the Cougars, four games to two, taking two of three in both parks.
- Landon Bourassa (Lethbridge, Alberta), the Goldeyes’ leader with 20 starts during the regular season, threw two complete games in the span of a week vs. Kane County on June 4 and June 10.
- Outfielder Max Murphy (Pillager, Minn.) went 9-for-25 (.360) vs. the Cougars with three doubles and a homer, while infielder Jake McMurray (Tulsa, Okla.) hit .389.
- Infielders Josh Allen (Fort Meade, Fla.) (5-for-15, 4 RBI) and Claudio Finol (Waynesville, Ohio) (4-for-13, 2 HR, 1 2B) have been hot for Kane County in the playoffs, but Winnipeg mostly shut them down in the regular season, when Allen went just 3-for-20 vs. WPG, while Finol was 2-for-10.
- On the pitching front, Winnipeg was the league’s best regular-season pitching staff (3.74 team ERA) while Kane County was second but almost a full run higher (4.55). The Cougars, though, have been lockdown in the playoffs, allowing just five runs (four earned) in four games, with the bullpen permitting just one tally in 13 frames of work.
We noted the on-field awards last week, but we’d be remiss not to mention another honor claimed this week, as the AAPB named Sioux City Explorers Clubhouse Manager Austin Jankowiak the Clubhouse Manager of the year. The New York native is in his first season with the Explorers after spending the last several years working in Buffalo with the Toronto Blue Jays affiliate.
Sioux City Explorers pitcher and Iowa legislator JD Scholten gained national acclaim for his storybook return to the mound this season. On Wednesday, Scholten will personally deliver the jersey he wore during the season to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., where Hall President Josh Rawitch will give the 44-year old righthander a personal tour of the Museum. Scholten is on his way to the annual Farm Aid music festival in Saratoga Springs N.Y. on Sept. 21.
It wasn’t the finish to the season that the East Division champion Cleburne Railroaders had hoped for, but the Monterey (Calif.) Herald noted the accomplishments of hometown hero Carter Aldrete, who was named to the AAPB All-Star team at second base.
Even after their respective seasons concluded, AAPB teams are fixtures in their local communities. Lake Country will host “Louie Fest 2024 presented by UW Credit Union,” Sept. 20224 at WBC Park in Oconomowoc, Wis. The festival will include carnival rides, live music and diverse food vendor options.
Speaking of the Dockhounds, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spoke with Ryan Hernandez (Hyde Park, Mass.) about his mental approach to the game, which helped him lead the league with 29 home runs despite a mid-season trade from the Cleburne Railroaders.
Former Milwaukee Milkmen standout Bryan Torres was named the St. Louis Cardinals’ Minor League Player of the Month. Torres is slashing .334/.419/.421 in 118 games with three games left in the regular season as the team preps for the Texas League Division Series next week vs. Arkansas. He hit .371 with 11 home runs, 67 RBI, 94 runs scored and 71 stolen bases for the Milkmen in 2023.
Chicago Dogs ironic mascot Ketchup got a nice write up in Johngy’s Beat, the long-running Midwest blog run by veteran scribe John Wroblewski. Instead of booing the condiment that no self-respecting Chicagoan would put on a hot dog, Johngy praised Ketchup, even posing for a photo.