American Association Baseball Insider

 Kevin Luckow (not a member of IBWAA) Fargo-Moorhead 8 Sioux Falls 4 Jairus Richards swatted a three run home run to right field in the first inning to give the RedHawks an early 4-0 lead and they never trailed, winning the rubber game versus their Dakota rivals in Sioux Falls. Jose Sermo also homered in the win, his eighth of the season. The RedHawks pitching staff has struggled, but with the top six in the batting order the RedHawks trot out, it can overcome that in a hurry.  Chicago 14 Winnipeg 7 A seventh inning touchdown for the Bears got the job done as they were able to take down the Bluebombers on Sunday at Impact Field. Jaxx Groshans, one of my favorite guests we had on This Week in the Association, homered twice for the Dogs and raised his batting average to .316 Cleburne 11 Gary SouthShore 2 If you're a Railroaders fan that has a really short memory, you're feeling real good about your ballclub after they tore through the RailCats on Sunday afternoon, winning their ...

Kevin Luckow (Not a member of IBWAA)  It's been a year and a half since This Week in the Association ended its run. I had hoped that in some form or fashion the show could be resurrected with a different host, Heck I would've been happy if it were reincarnated with a different cast altogether as long as they put out a quality product. Last year I was part of a regular feature on Sioux City Explorers pregame shows on Thursday nights which helped scratch the itch. Hey guys, I'm open for anything. Look me up if you need filler. But I digress. Earlier this week after getting a text from Sean Aronson that Saints emails to Minor League Sports Report were bouncing back to him, I decided to take a look. In checking it out, I found the dreaded screen that anyone going to a website doesn't want to see, 404 Not Found. Just like that, stories about AAPB players that would never have been featured anywhere else, nightly recaps done religiously, and so many different podcasts along w...

Well, if last night was a tough one to write, this shouldn't go much better. I had no idea until today that Lincoln turned a triple play. Hard to find that on iSore. Tonight was a David Spade concert at Mystic Lake Casino in Prior Lake or as Spade called it, Lake Prior. Lake Country 3 Milwaukee 2 The Kamp Oconomowoc Lumber Company had a slow night only scoring three runs, two of them on solo home runs. The crushing blow with a dramatic home run in the last of the eighth by Joshua Mears that broke a 2-2 deadlock.  Kansas City 4 Sioux City 0 A four spot in the Monarchs second inning was the only scoring to be had in this one. This week will not go on the Zach Willeman highlight reel as he pitched 8.2 innings this week, allowing 12 runs in going 0-2. Nothing to panic about yet. All it takes is two bad outings early in the year to skew a pitcher's ERA that may take a while to whittle down. Four Monarch hurlers combined on the shutout allowing five hits and striking out 14 Explorers...

 Kevin Luckow      (not a member of IBWAA) Guys and Gals, I'm going to be brutally honest. This may be the worst takeways blog you're going to see. I'll have to go by iSore (not a typo), because I was on assignment tonight at Belzer Stadium in Lakeville, Minnesota tonight for a 10th Inning Stretch feature and didn't see any games from the Association tonight. Fargo-Moorhead 14 Sioux Falls 9 I was touting Chance Sisco of Chicago as a front runner for winning the batting title. In his best Lee Corso, Juan Fernandez has given me a "not so fast, my friend". Fernandez went 4-5 leading a 16 hit RedHawks in a badly needed win after being swept at home. Fernandez is now raking at a .424 rate in 59 at bats  Gary SouthShore 4 Cleburne 3 The Chicagoland road trip have not been kind to the Texas nine as they dropped their fourth straight tonight in Gary. They had a 3-2 lead in the seventh before a Korry Howell single flipped the game upside down. Positive for the Railroad...

  Kane County 5 Sioux Falls 2 If you're a Canaries fan, you should be concerned about the lack of offense in this three game series. The Canaries, an offensive juggernaut early in the season was shut down by a Cougars staff who have done that to many a team thus far in 2026. Konnor Ash is back doing Konnor Ash things going eight shutout innings to pick up the win. You know how they say in hockey, rivalries develop in the playoffs? I think you could say for two teams that do not play each other much, there is a rivalry after last season. The two teams meet in Sioux Falls the last weekend in June. It should be a doozie. If you're coming in from out of town that weekend, be warned. Due to a music fest at the fairgrounds hotels are beyond pricy. Gary SouthShore 9 Winnipeg 3 Peyton Long threw seven innings allowing two runs for yet another good start as the RailCats once again defeat the Goldeyes. Long has thrown seven innings his last two starts. The RailCats scored six times in th...

 Sorry for missing the last couple of days. I planned on writing last night after skipping Monday night due to only two games on the docket. After coughing up blood at the paying job, it was another day at Urgent Care. Whatever antibiotics I was given yesterday really knocked me out. I fell asleep right before the Sioux City vs. Milwaukee game last night. Other than a few brief moments of being awake, I slept till 10:15 this morning. That's enough about me, you're hear to read takeaways from American Association action. Chicago 7 Cleburne 6 After narrowly holding a lead to hold off the Railroaders on Tuesday night, the Dogs had to do it in walk off fashion after the Railroaders tied the game in the top of the ninth. Seven batters in the Dogs lineup are now hitting above .300 topped by who else, Chance Cisco. Man has bitten Dog pitching staff with signings and injuries, which have held the Dogs back early in the season. Kane County 4 Sioux Falls 0 (Game 1) Sioux Falls 1 Kane Cou...

 Full slate of games throughout the league on Sunday afternoon. Let's take a quick look. Cleburne 9 Gary SouthShore 4 The Railroaders didn't leave anything to chance as they take the final game of the series, after winning a 1-0 cliffhanger on Saturday. The nine runs tonight blew away the single run they had scored combined in the first two games of the series. Elvis (Peralta) left the building twice accounting for the RailCats offense. Peralta has a .417 batting average to go with four home runs and 15 runs batted in to start the season. Peralta had three home runs and 33 runs batted in for the SEASON in 2025. Will a MLB team take notice if the trend continues?  Lincoln 11 Sioux City 10 The old baseball adage is that pitching and defense win baseball games. The Explorers had neither today as the Saltdogs parlayed five Explorers errors into 11 runs although only four were earned. This is such a tricky stat, the earned run. The four earned runs in nine innings of pitching doesn...

 Folks, I'm going to keep this brief. For full disclosure I watched one game and then was focused on the Clark Cup playoff game between Sioux Falls and Muskegon. Sioux Falls wins in overtime and brings the Clark Cup back to Sioux Falls. Whatever infection I have is still kicking my ass. I feel like I took a fastball to my eye. So here it is. Kansas City 6 Lake Country 5 (10 innings) The Monarchs take their fourth win in five games on the current homestand. If they continue to establish home dominance, they will once again be a force in an ultra competitive West Division. Sioux City 5 Lincoln 2 The Explorers bounce back from a tough loss on Friday in front of a good crowd by Sioux City standards of 1602. Ben DeTaeye gets the win out of the bullpen tossing 3.2 innings of scoreless baseball. There are a couple of spots in the rotation that are not locks for the Explorers. Could DeTaeye be considered a candidate to get strtetched out and see what he can do? Winnipeg 5 Milwaukee 2 Juan ...

 I have to be honest, even with five games tonight, between trying to fight off what ever this infection I have and playoff hockey going on, I had a hard time getting into tonight's action. But let's take a look around the league. Sioux Falls 9 Chicago 5 Tough times continued on the road for the Dogs where they dropped their third game in four road outings. In an off season where much of the Canaries rotation have moved on, a big return was left hander Thomas Dorminy. Dorminy scattered 11 hits in six innings allowing three runs to pick up his second win in his second start of the season. For some reason, IScore wants to give the win to Will Levine who got a hold with a scoreless seventh inning. The rotation has thrown well for the most part for the Canaries, but there is a peace of mind in being able to throw an established winner in this league every four days. Unfortunately the Sioux Falls Stampede hockey team could not find the win column tonight, falling in two overtimes to...

 For a day where the main news to start the day was off the field, we still had four games to talk about. Kane County 12 Winnipeg 5 At 2am on Thursday morning, two juveniles set fire to the Kane County team bus that was sitting outside of Blue Cross Park. A horrible incident that has cast a black eye on the city of Winnipeg. Winnipeg has developed a loyal fan base since their inception into pro baseball in 1994. It is unfortunate that it's over shadowed by an incident such as this. I know I wrote a week ago that I wrote that I was looking to make my first trip to Winnipeg this Summer. After today I severely doubt it. I talked to my wife tonight about it. She made a trip to Winnipeg for a Minnesota Wild game last season. She said it was worse than downtown Minneapolis, that is saying a lot. That is before the ill will directed at anything associated with the United States due to tariffs. Heck, Winnipeg fans turned on their own goalie just for attending a State of the Union address a...

 Kevin Luckow (non member of IBWAA) It was a busy night in the Association with six games being played including a doubleheader in Lincoln. Milwaukee and Gary SouthShore showed once again, you can't play all day unless you start in the morning. OK, so that probably applies much better with drinking. By the way, if your hockey team loses in the playoffs, do you root for the team that beat them, or look for revenge at the hands of someone else? Milwaukee 8 Gary SouthShore 6 If you're looking for a bright side if you're a RailCats fan, there is the fact that they were able to come back from a 5-0 deficit to take a lead at 6-5 in the fifth inning. But it was not meant to be. The RailCats return home to face the Cleburne Railroaders who had a grueling seven game set with Fargo-Moorhead. It was a 2-4 road trip to Wisconsin. Not the worst result. But experts throughout the league are still left wondering when Jeff Isom will leave his stamp on the RailCats. It should be an interest...

 Kevin Luckow (Non member of IBWAA) Sorry to let you folks down by not having a Sunday Insider. I have been under the weather. Without going into TMI territory, let's just say buying stock in Kleenix would be a great idea with what I'm going through. But I'll try to get back on the horse here, especially now that my live hockey viewing season has come to a conclusion with my 75th game on Saturday.  It's been real tough to transition into American Association Baseball. Lots of games have not been available on AABTV due to technical difficulties. I'm not going to go on a rant, as I know as the league expands to more outlets, they don't want to leave a bad first impression. I'm hoping patience pays off and I'll be able to zip through games on any given night without difficulties soon. Lake Country 9 Sioux Falls 7 (first game of DH) Game One was all about the Dockhounds' slugger Ryan Hernandez. Hernandez hit a grand slam in the first inning and a three r...

 After an extra inning win in Cleburne for the Fargo Moorhead RedHawks opened the AAPB season on Thursday night, the rest of the league got their seasons started on Friday night. A combo of watching the Sioux Falls Stampede Clark Cup Final Game 1 and issues with AA Baseball TV made it tough to focus on the night's action. But I'll give it my best shot, excuse any scorecard regurgitations. Lake Country 12 Gary Southshore 4 Don't ever change, Kamp Oconomowoc. The DockHounds cracked six home runs, two of them by Joshua Mears on a four RBI night. Surprisingly none of the home runs came from Ryan Hernandez.  Chicago 4 Sioux City 3 The Dogs rallied from a run down in the eighth to take their season and home opener at Impact Field. Ryan Beaird, a rookie reliever who found success late in 2026 took the loss giving up a pair of runs. In my limited studying for the season, it sounded like the bullpen for the Explorers, a strength of last year's club, could be a question mark. Mil...

Kevin Luckow (Not a member of IBWAA)  I'm beginning this blog at 12:15 am Thursday morning. Just two hours after the Minnesota Wild decided to make my transition from Hockey Nut to Baseball writing a seamless transition after a choke job for the ages. I was listening to Aaron Gleeman on KFAN on Monday. Gleeman who covered the Minnesota Twins for The Athletic turned down a reassignment with The Athletic and has decided to still cover the Twins on a freelancing basis on his own website. He's a big Minnesota Timberwolves fan. He was asked if he'd want to cover the Wolves for his website. He said he'd rather not so he'd have a team he can just be a fan for and not have to follow as a journalist. This is where I'm at with the Wild. Rob Pannier and I had a podcast that covered the Wild organization, but there are so many Wild podcasts, there was nothing Rob and I could do that could not be found on any other pod. So the fan part of me was crushed tonight. But I stumbl...