Federal League Baseball | Minnesota

The American League, it's so damn American that we needed four divisions to fill up its patriotism and love for the grand ole game of baseball. Not really. It basically came down to geography and Jamie Houselog slamming airport bottles of Southern Comfort the night before the winter meeting. However, you want to imagine it - let's take a look at the grand ole league. 

American West

Let's break down the most intriguing division in my opinion: the American West. An excellent pennant race has formed between the Waconia Islanders and the Rockford Rail Splitters. The new kids on the block - Islanders - are announcing their presence with authority with an 8-1 start. Forbid their slip up against Lakeville they have been winning games by double digits most nights led by an offense showcasing Chris Baso. Waconia also has a one-two punch in pitching with Nik Franck and Peter Brown. The Islanders and Splitters also will face each other twice in the first ten days of July. Rockford has been rolling and loving its new home in the American West. Of course, Loomis, Haag and Loretz are putting up great numbers as always - but Ben Fontana and Jesse Berg have been the difference in Rockfords jump. Don't be surprised to see both of these teams battling in the AAA - but which one will be an at-large bid?

Last year's Class A Champs are having a disappointing summer after most of the league predicted them in the preseason poll to be the top team in the West. Attendance seems to be the big issue in Chaska. The canoes often play with nine or ten guys, taping and pasting lineups together. When the studs show up - they can compete with anyone in the league. (They beat Rockford) Nate Jackson is having a resurgence at the plate and Jake Skovbroten has been a proven leader this summer. If everyone shows up, they definitely can repeat as A Champs again. 

Eden Prairie has had a rough welcome to the Federal League, not winning its first game until June. Travis Adams is leading the Flyers at the plate and Charles Steingas is carrying the load on the bump. The Flyers are unknown to most other Fed teams and could sneak up and get some late season wins. Look for the flyers in the B bracket in its first Federal postseason. 

The Chaska Diamonds were the runner up in the B Championship game and as now, they have a great chance to make it back there. The Diamonds beat Tonka Bay in surprising fashion and hung with the Voyageurs in a loss but haven't played since due to rainouts. Hopefully the Diamonds can regain the momentum they had in mid-June and earn a couple more wins.

   

American East

Sitting at a perfect 11-0 are the East Metro Mammoth. Matt Grill is back to form throwing for 42 innings, fanning 51 with a 1.00 ERA and an 8-0 record. Emery Hull and Tom Corcoran have a combined seven homeruns and twenty-nine RBIs - so basically all is well with the brown and yellow. Even with tough games ahead with Minnoka, Hastings and Rosemount look for the Mammoth punching an early ticket to the AAA party and being there at the end.

The South Metro Saints started out en fuego, but have been 1-3 with a couple rainouts in between. Talk about cooling off. But still the Saints can be dangerous, especially playing spoiler to some teams late in the season. Terry Knop, Randy Comfort, Erik Hill, Cody Candler and Jake and Dan Lindsey all with seven hits or more prove to be a balanced attack that could carry them to an AA title?

River Falls has slipped into the AAA bracket the last couple seasons, usually as an eighth seed, can they do it again? Deryk Marks is having a quiet MVP season with one homerun and batting .500. And of course, Dave Meyer is still one of the top hurlers in the league. Sitting at 4-4 it might be tough - they basically would have to win out. But looking at the schedule ahead - don't be shocked to see the Groupers squirming its way in again to the top playoff.

The Silverbacks are a tough out at home, winning three games and losing three competitive games vs Minnoka, Rosemount and East Metro. St Croix is zero and three away from First National, so maybe they don't travel well. If the current trend continues you can find the S-Backs in the AA or A. Keegan Byrne is batting an insane .857 and as a team have fourteen doubles so you know the gorillas can pound the ball. Can the apes put it together for a postseason run?

The team formerly known as Richfield is having a tough season - but they are getting better. Newcomers Zach Reidbarger and Joe Haehn have been impressive. Zach Attack had the two time former AAA champs on their heels until the Rockets burped up in the last inning. Haehn is batting .455 with a handful of doubles and seven RBIs and adding some girth to the lineup. When Colin Warren gets back on the bump the Rockets will have what most Federal teams want - two ace pitchers. Colin and Zach are a nice one-two come postseason. Clean up some fielding and don't be surprised to see the Rockets in the orbit of the upper playoff brackets in the future. 

American South

Just like the National West, this is another must watch race for the next thirty days. Burnsville has a one game lead over upstart Hastings. Then you have Milltown sneaking up just two games back. The Bulldogs still have to play the Hurricanes twice, the Outlaws, Lobos and Northerns. That's a hard July. Trent Larson has been short of brilliant this season with a 0.85 ERA, four wins and forty-one strikeouts in thirty-three innings. Chris Freeman and Jon Marsden are batting .478 and lead the team in hitting. Look for the Burnsville batting for a AAA spot.

Hastings in its first season have a pitching combo of Derrick Pfeffer and Nick Norsch. Some Federal teams have been playing for over a decade and still are searching for an ace. The Hurricanes have been impressive in its inaugural season, Jordy Horsch is batting .529 but they have a tough road ahead in games versus Lakeville, Burnsville, New Market, Milltown and East Metro. 

Our hearts go out to the Outlaws and the Dundas community as Milltown has been battling flood waters, but opponents have to deal with Scott Paulson. Batting .652 with a couple doubles and seven RBI the man hits the ball hard, good luck if you want to get in front of it. Nick Davis is having another great season at the plate and has been eating innings on the mound. Andy Howie is 2-0 with a 2.10 ERA and has the depth to compete with Bill Dunker, Davis, Russell Bauer and more. The orange and black are hoping for a late spot in the AAA but will be a tough out in the AA bracket.

Northfield is having a tough season, its only two wins are versus Webster and one of those wins was on paper. But they have bright spots in Brian Pleschcourt who is batting .462 and Jake Pleschcourt leads the team in runs with six while batting .312. They have two arms in Alex Tava and Aaron Rushing and it's exactly what you need to make a Class B run. 

Webster folded. Even with recent success (2021, 2022 A Champs) the Wildcats couldn't keep it together. Tony Rome, Tom Larsen and Adam Becker took their talents to the beaches of Veseli. We wish the Webster players all the best and hope to see you all on a baseball field soon. 

   

American North

Out of all the divisions in the Federal - this is the only one that seems like it's a wrap. With two wins over St Michael these past few weeks Minnoka would need a collapse of gigantic proportions to not win the American North and win its fourth straight division title. 

League trolls say the Grays schedule isn't tough, but they are the only team to beat Jim Brower and Dan Pluff in the same season. That's pretty impressive. Matt Johnson, Joey Olson and newcomer Dustin Wolf have held it down while Jack Nelson, Nick Larson and Mike Weyrauch recover from vacations and injuries. All should be back come July just adding more depth to an already insane deep team. Look for Minnoka to be the first team in line to enter the AAA show. 

Each year St Michael takes steps to improve, in past years they added key pieces in Dan Pluff and Will Hervin this year they added Rum River Bandit pitcher Shawn Motl and former San Francisco Giant minor leaguer Troy Gustafson. Is that John Calipari over there or Mark Worms? The recent additions have made the Angels a team to watch out for - if not this season - definitely the next. If they don't squeak into the 8th seed, watch them compete for the AA title with a one-two punch of Pluff and Motl. 

Capital City looks destined for a Class A finish and will be competitive if the guys show up to play. Disappointing for the Cannons, they've always had the ability or talent, but are distracted by playing on too many other teams. But they could make a late season run when the schedule gets more friendly and maybe make a play for the AA bracket, but the hole might be too big to climb out of. But with players like James Zapf and Erik Lundgren they have a good start. 

The Bombers and Red West will be the favorites in the B Class. While both teams are having a hard summer so far there are positives; the Bombers still boost a lineup that includes the Linders, Chad Stewart and Matt Hendrickson. They also have an innings eater in Mike Pelkowski and hopefully Ryan Utes will suit up for the Bombers again soon. Red West still has one of the top hitting lineups in the league that features Scott Buettner who has two home runs, everyone's favorite Fall and traveling player in Issac Wales, Damien Dumonceaux and CT Harris are no easy outs. The Legends are just having one of those seasons but will be a favorite going into the B postseason just on the strength of their lineup. Now pitching and defense, that's a different Western fable...