2012 Independent League Season

[Tadasimha]

The Atlantic League is the first of the independent (non-affiliated) leagues to get under way, beginning their 15th season of play. The expansion Sugar Land Skeeters (Texas) join the Bridgeport Bluefish, Camden Riversharks, Lancaster Barnstormers, Long Island Ducks, Somerset Patriots, Southern Maryland Blue Crabs and York Revolution for this season.

The Atlantic League insists on playing in only AAA quality parks and attempts to field teams of that caliber. They play the longest season of any of the independent leagues, 140 games.

http://www.atlanticleague.com/

[Tadasimha]

This coming Thursday, May 17th, will see three indepdent leagues begin their 2012 seasons all at once. The American Association and Canadian-American League (Can-Am) being play with interleague games scheduled between the two leagues throughout the season. The Can-Am league will extend their season by a few games to come up to the AA's 100 game schedule. The Frontier League will also be getting underway with their 18th season of play and with an expanded league of 14 teams with the Schaumberg Boomers and London Rippers joining the league.

[Tadasimha]

Amazingly, some teams in the North American League (NAL) are actually playing baseball. The United Division, located entirely in Texas, has begun play. Four of the six teams are former United League of Baseball teams with the Abilene Prairie Dogs (expansion team) and the Ft Worth Cats (moved from American Association). Effectively, they are a seperate league from the remaining NAL teams as their season is exclusively against teams in their division.

Meanwhile, in the North Division, teams are starting to hold tryouts and put rosters together. The San Rafael Pacifics now have a "sister" franchise in the Sonoma Grapes and will share their 800 seat stadium. Meanwhile, over in Hawai'i, the Na Koa Iakaika Maui have been joined by a second Hawaian team, the Hilo based Hawaii Stars of the Big Island. As these teams scramble to find players, there remains questions about how these teams will afford the travel to play on the island/mainland.

[Tadasimha]

American Association 2012 Season

With the end of the 2012 AA season today, the playoffs have been set. Division winners were the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks (North), Wichita Wingnuts (Central) and the expansion Laredo Lemurs won the South division by a 1.5 games over last years' champion Grand Prairie AirHogs. The Winninpeg Goldeyes won the wild card spot and will open the playoffs against the RedHawks while the Wingnuts will travel to Laredo. Both series' begin on Sept. 5th.

[Tadasimha]

2012 Frontier League Season

The Frontier league saw one of it's newest franchises shut down two-thirds of the way through the season as the London Rippers folded. A traveling team dubbed the Road Warriors was put together featuring many of the players from London and finished the year with a record of 9 and 27.

In the Eastern Division the Traverse City Beach Bums were division champions, while the Gateway Grizzlies claimed the Western Division crown. Both wild card teams, the Florence Freedom and the Southern Illinois Miners, are from the Eastern Division.

The Miners will begin the post-season at Traverse City while Florence will be on the road at the Grizzlies. Both series' begin on Wednesday the 5th.

[Tadasimha]

Can-Am 2012 Season

Things finished on an iffy note for two teams in the Can-Am league. The Newark Bears attendance was less than a third of the league average and the Worcester Tornadoes actually had their uniforms repossessed due to unpaid cleaning bills. It's questionable that either team will return to play in the league in 2013.

With only five teams in the league, the Can-Am took the top two teams in the league to meet for their league championship which begins on September 5th. The Quebec Capitales and New Jersey Jackals will meet for the 2012 title in a re-match of last years' championship series that was won by the Capitales three games to one. Quebec will be going for their fourth straight Can-Am championship, while the Jackals are searching for their first Can-Am title.

[Tadasimha]

Independent League Playoffs

Can-Am League:
9/5 - The New Jersey Jackals took game one 6-2 over the Quebec Capitales, getting runs early and steadily through out the game, finishing with a total of 11 hits. Game two of the best of seven series will be 9/6 in Quebec.

http://canam.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=110936

Frontier League:
9/5 - Wild card Florence Freedom lose on the road to the Gateway Grizzlies 5-2 while the other wild card team, the So Illinois Miners, defeat the home team Traverse City Beach Bums in a tight game 1-0. Game two of both best of five series' will be 9/6.

http://frontierleague.com/scoreboard.php

American Association:
9/5 - The Laredo Lemurs received a rude welcome to the AA playoffs, losing 6-0 to the visiting Wichita WingNuts who banged out 13 hits on their way to an early 1 game lead in the best of five series. In Fargo the Winnipeg Goldeyes took game one from the RedHawks 4-2. The RedHawks took a first inning 2-0 lead but would not plate another run the rest of the game. Both series' continue 9/6
Goldeyes-RedHawks boxscore: http://am-association.bbstats.points...?gameid=111287
WingNuts-Lemurs boxscore: http://am-association.bbstats.points...?gameid=111288

[Tadasimha]

Can-Am League:
9/6 - Quebec came back with a dominating pitching performance and evened up their series with the New Jersey Jackals at one game apiece with a 3-0 victory in Quebec. The series now moves to New Jersey for the next three games.

http://canam.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=110937

Frontier League:
9/6 - After getting behind 3-0 early to Traverse City, the So Illinois Miners would tie the game in the 8th at 4-4 and then win the game in the 10th. The Miners now have a 2 games to none lead on the Beach Bums. The Florence Freedom evened their series at a game apiece with a 4-1 victory over the Gateway Grizzlies. After an off day tomorrow, both series will resume on Saturday.

http://frontierleague.com/scoreboard.php

American Association:
9/6 - For a second straight night, the RedHawks took a lead on the Goldeyes and could not hold it as Winnipeg would plate five runs late to win their second straight game 5-3 and take a 2 games to none lead in the best of five series. Fargo-Moorhead has put themselves in a deep hole as the series moves to Winnipeg starting tomorrow for the next three games.

http://am-association.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=111289

In Laredo the visiting Wichita WingNuts took an early 4-0 lead and built on it from there, despite a strong comeback from the Lemurs, winning 9-5 to take the second game of their series and to also take a commanding 2 games to none lead. The Lemurs will have to try and win three straight on the road as this series heads to Wichita.

http://am-association.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=111290

[Tadasimha]

Can-Am League:
9/7 - Down 3-2, the New Jersey Jackals scored a run in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game only to see the Quebec Capitales drive in two in the top of the 9th to take the lead for good at 5-3. The Capitales now have a 2-1 series lead and the teams will square off again tomorrow night in New Jersey.

http://canam.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=110938

American Association:
9/7 - The first round of the playoffs in the AA see two sweeps as the Winnipeg Goldeyes send the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks home with a 4-1 victory in Winnipeg. Wichita ends Laredo's run just a quickly, 8-2, ending the Lemurs' first season and setting up a championship showdown between the WingNuts and Goldeyes that will begin next Tuesday.
Goldeyes-RedHawks box score http://am-association.bbstats.points...?gameid=111291
WingNuts-Lemurs box score http://am-association.bbstats.points...?gameid=111292

[Tadasimha]

Frontier League:
9/8 - It wasn't a warm welcome home for the Florence Freedom as the Gateway Grizzlies won 5-2 and now have a 2-1 lead in their best of five series. Game four will be played tomorrow in Florence. So Illinois finished off Traverse City, sweeping the Beach Bums out of the playoffs 4-3. The Miners got an early 3-0 lead and held on after giving up two runs in the top of the 9th. The Miners now await the winner of the Freedom-Grizzlies series after knocking out the regular season eastern division champions.

http://frontierleague.com/scoreboard.php

[Tadasimha]

Frontier League:
9/9 - down 5-4 to the Gateway Grizzlies going into the 9th inning, the Florence Freedom would force a deciding game five with a three run walk-off home run. The Grizzlies got all five of their runs in the 4th but could not stop the Freedom's comeback. Game five will be tomorrow night, back in Sauget, IL (Grizzlies home town).

http://frontierleague.com/scoreboard.php

[Tadasimha]

Frontier League:
9/10 - Coming back home did not help the Gateway Grizzlies as the Florence Freedom jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and cruised to a 7-0 victory to win the divisional final and they will now face the So Illinois Miners for the Frontier League championship. Game one will be Wedsnday in Florence.

http://frontierleague.com/scoreboard.php

American Association:
The Winnipeg Goldeyes broadcast their home games on a YouTube channel. The camera work is as good as any AAA broadcast you see on milb.tv. The first two games of the AA championship with Wichita will be the 11th and 12th in Winnipeg, so both will be available.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ibngoldeyes/feed

[Tadasimha]

American Association:
9/11 - Great first game between the WingNuts and Goldeyes. After getting behind the WingNuts would take the lead and then the Goldeyes tied it up. Wichita would get a one run lead and then Winnipeg would tie it back up. The game went into extras and the Goldeyes got a walk-off solo homerun to win the game in the bottom of the 10th. Game one of the best of five series to Winnipeg.

http://am-association.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=113022

[Tadasimha]

Frontier League:
9/12 - The Southern Illinois Miners took an early 3-1 lead, would see the Florence Freedom tie the game at three and then would add two late runs to win game one of the Frontier League championship 5-3 in Florence. Game two of the best of five series is tomorrow in Florence.

http://frontierleague.com/scoreboard.php

American Association:
9/12 - The WingNuts also got ahead to a 3-1 lead early on the Goldeyes, but Winnipeg would score six more runs while shutting down Wichita to win game two of the AA championship 7-3. They have a two games to none lead in the best of five series which will continue on Friday in Wichita.

http://am-association.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=113023

Can-Am League:
Lost track of the Can-Am series: game four was postponed due to rain and then I forgot to check back the next night. The Quebec Capitales took two straight from the New Jersey Jackals to win four games to one and claim their fourth straight Can-Am championship. The Capitales won three straight games on the road in New Jersey.

[Tadasimha]

Frontier League:
9/13 - The Miners slowly added points then dropped four runs on the Freedom in the 8th inning to win 9-4 and claim a two games to none lead in the Frontier League championship. Off day tomorrow and the series moves to Marion, IL for game three.

http://frontierleague.com/scoreboard.php