Story #97 -- The last(?) story.

Click here for my preview of the Pioneer League Championship Series. I am posting this really late (I've been busy), so now to spoil the point of even reading the article-- the Owlz won it.

That means I nailed the AZL pick, NWL pick and 2-of-3 PIO picks. I'll take a 4-1 record any day. The other intern and myself did much better with our picks than the rest of the MiLB.com regulars, so that makes us feel pretty accomplished.

Reflections soon to come, when I'm not so darn busy that is...

Story #96 -- (The last) Pioneer League Notebook

Take a second to enjoy the last Pioneer League Notebook of the 2007 season.

I would just also like to note in this post that Salem-Keizer won the Northwest League title (as I predicted, in four!), Orem has advanced to the Pioneer League Playoffs championship round (as I predicted, though it took two games, not three) and, if Helena wins tonight, I will be perfect in my picks for MiLB.com. Not too shabby!

Story #94, 95 -- Get your PIO on...

Yeesh, what a busy day for me on MiLB.com-- seven stories in total appearing on the site, most recently the Pioneer League Playoff Previews. The PIO postseason starts tomorrow and, well, all those weekly notebooks weren't for nothing. MLBAM had me previewing the festivities due to my extensive knowledge of the short-season league, of course. ;-)

Click here for my preview of the North Division matchup. Two really good teams here, but I picked the Brewers in three. I really don't know though, it's going to be a tight series. Ultimately two games are Helena, but unofficially I will say, "You can thank me later, Brockman. If they win it all I want to see the ring." Whew. Professional.

Click here for my preview of the South Division matchup. Another tough call. I mean all four teams that made the PIO postseason are the teams that should have made it there, and the South Division teams are both equipped to go the distance. I said Owlz in three, because who doesn't enjoy a mascot that ends with a 'Z'? (Plus I think they have the grit to dig down and win).

So yeah. Ninety-five stories. I know I have two more for sure, but I dunno if there's any after that. To break the century mark would be quite a feat. We shall have to wait and see...

Story #91, 92, 93 -- The Dayton adventure (finally)

I doubt any of you believed me that I went to Dayton a few weeks back ON BUSINESS, not just to pick up Mary. I don't blame you. It's been a few weeks with no Dayton update, I know this.

(For the record, Mary is back-- safe and sound-- from Greece/Europe. And I couldn't be happier about that!)

Turns out the stories were pushed back a week (rightfully so, the Dragons are currently doing work in the Class A Midwest League playoffs), and I did the work a week in advance...so...yeah. The stories finally went live on MiLB.com today as part of (what could possibly be the last) Farm's Almanac of the year. The links:

Click here for my general take on the ballpark. As far as Class A facilities go, this is a really nice stadium-- even compared to a couple of Class A Advanced parks I saw. This was also my first trip to Dayton (who would have thought, 22-years-old and I'd never been to Akron OR Dayton even though I'm an Ohio native). I liked the city, though it's hard to tell where it stops and Cincinnati begins ('Touchdown Jesus' is in between though!).

Click here for my story on Dragons broadcaster Mike Vander Wood. Mike's a nice, very enthusiastic guy who has been with the team since 5/3 opened in 2000. I was glad to hear that. As much as I can't get down on young guys covering MiLB (ahem!), I do like to talk to a seasoned personality when chatting about teams, parks, players, etc. Mike was such a personality (my sympathies for the hideous pic of him; I didn't pick it, Mike!).

Click here to get a taste of 5/3 from Dragons player Logan Parker's perspective. Not surprising-- he loves the fan support. Totally surprising-- this ballpark has sold out every game since it opened in 2000. Let's see, call it 70 home games a season times eight seasons, about 8,500 seats at...say $15 a seat. FINAL ROUGH FIGURE: $71.4 million. Can that be right? That's like almost $9 million a year. And that's not even including hot dog sales! Wow. Bravo, Dayton!

As always, more pics can be found via the Flickr! links (both to the photos and --even better-- the map) on the left. I would suggest taking a peek. My map is all expansive and such! :-)

Story #89, 90 -- Northwest League. Fin. (almost)

OK, so the Northwest League season isn't completely over just yet; the five-game series between the Tri-City Dust Devils and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes has only just begun (and has made me look bad already, I picked S-K in four-- T-C won the first game. C'mon S-K, three-straight).

(For the record, my AZL upset prediction was correct. Boo yah!)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. In order to understand my predictions and the matchup, you would have had to read my Northwest League Playoff Preview. And for those of you who want one final taste of the Northwest League Notebook, well, just click the link. Both are up on MiLB.com as we speak.

More to come today. Something like seven stories of mine went life today on MiLB.com, and I have a few left before --I think-- I might be done with this internship. I will keep you posted.