Home Stretch Report
A look at the Pioneer League pennant race in the seasons’s final quarter
by Nick Clementi
We’ve reached the three-quarter mark of the 2026 Pioneer Baseball League season, and teams have just 24 regular season games remaining. As previously established in my second half preview, Long Beach and Billings already secured their spots—and home field advantage—in the postseason, leaving two more spots to be claimed in the second half of the season.
Who’s Out
Among the ten other teams in the PBL, we can pretty safely eliminate four teams from playoff contention. With second half struggles from the Great Falls Voyagers (9-15, 27-45 overall), Glacier Range Riders (7-17, 36-36 overall), Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (6-18, 21-51), and RedPocket Mobiles (1-22, 13-58), the second half pennant race is down to six ballclubs battling for two playoff berths.
Who’s (Basically) In
The first-year Modesto Roadsters have gone on an incredible run, going 22-1 to start the second half, coming awfully close to clinching one of two second half PBL playoff spots. Much like the first half, pitching has been what’s carried the Roadsters. Devyn Hernandez has the second-best ERA among starting pitchers, and PBL strikeout leader Omar Serrano is only a few spots behind. Modesto’s second half run prevention has led to a change in lowest team ERA in the PBL, as the Roadsters have passed up Long Beach in the category. Former Marlins 2nd round pick and Oakland native Osiris Johnson has continued to be Modesto’s star offensively. Johnson has thirteen multi-hit games and ten home runs in just 23 games this second half.
However: Their run should be taken with a grain of salt, as 20 of their 23 games this half have been against the struggling Freebirds and Mobiles. The Roadsters will have to lock up a playoff berth against stiffer competition, with nine games left against Oakland, and nine against Long Beach, ending the season with a potentially critical six-game series at Blair Field in the LBC.
Who’s in the Running
Behind Modesto are the surging Missoula PaddleHeads, having won five in a row and eight of their last ten games. Missoula currently occupies the second playoff spot at 18-6 in the second half, 4.5 games back of Modesto for first place. The PaddleHeads’ second half run has included three-game sweeps over Billings and Glacier, and most recently taking five of six from the playoff-contending Ogden Raptors. Playing most of their games at altitude, it’s easy to focus on their bats. 1B Xavier Casserilla, arguably the hottest hitter on the planet regardless of league, was the Pioneer League hitter of the month for July. Casserilla has recorded 3+ hits in nine of his 22 games played this half. He’s hitting .398 with 25 home runs, making a serious run at the PBL MVP award. I would be remiss to leave out the production 3rd year PBL catcher Nich Klemp has given the PaddleHeads too, who has passed his career high in HRs with 20, as well as driving in the fifth most runs in the league to this point. Missoula gets another chance playing the vulnerable Voyagers before heading to California for three series that could determine their fate—six games in Long Beach, three games in Oakland, and three games in Modesto.
In third place is the Long Beach Coast, who are already heading to the postseason but could cause further confusion for PBL fans. They haven’t been quite as dominant lately in comparison to their first half record of 37-11, sitting at 16-8 so far this second half. Long Beach’s normally rock-solid pitching has finally run into some struggles as of late. Former Baller Nick Bautista gave up seven runs in 4 IP at Glacier last week, and Garrett VanDeventer allowed eight runs in Ogden two weeks ago. Luckily for the Coast, PBL ERA leader Brett Wozniak was taken off the injured list on August 7th after nearly two months away from the diamond. Hitting-wise, Long Beach has been as solid as before. They rank around league average despite calling pitcher-friendly Blair Field home; Eddy Pelc still leads the PBL in OBP (and broke the PBL walks record) and Emilio Corona is approaching a 20 HR/40 SB season.
Good news for Oakland fans: the Coast would need to go 20-4 in the final stretch to tie last year’s Ballers’ PBL record of 73-23, though that hasn’t stopped them from talking about it in their email blasts.
Four games behind the PaddleHeads for second place are the Boise Hawks, who have the fifth-best record in the second half (14-10). Statistically, Boise is a bit confusing to dissect. They rank worst in both home runs hit and errors committed, and their pitching ranks below league average. The Hawks do, however, rank well in triples and don’t strike out very often. If grit was considered an advanced metric, Boise would likely rank well. It’s fitting that one of their key contributors has been former Baller Michael O’Hara, who exudes toughness and has a knack for getting on base (.473 OBP). Boise’s remaining schedule gives them a real chance down the stretch, by far the easiest among other playoff contenders. The RedPocket Mobiles come to town for six games, followed by six on the road against the slumping Range Riders and Great Falls Voyagers.
The Idaho Falls Chukars are also four games back of Missoula, tied with Boise for fifth place in the second half. The Chukars are coming off a six-game series with the aforementioned Hawks in which they took four of six. After a 15-33 first half, they’ve started to click, particularly offensively. Idaho Falls scored an absurd 85 runs in their series a few weeks ago against Great Falls, 40 of those runs coming in one game. No seriously, forty runs. Much of their offensive success can be credited to Justin Trimble and Sam Canton. Trimble, acquired from Oakland at the beginning of the season, has been putting up video game-like numbers. The former Astros prospect is second in average, second in home runs, second in RBI, second in doubles, and sixth in OBP; good for a .413/.493/.831 slashline. Canton has produced in similar ways in his first pro season, hitting .402 with the most RBI in the PBL and just two fewer home runs than Trimble. Idaho Falls has six games coming up with Ogden, before their schedule lightens up with RedPocket and Yuba-Sutter coming to town.
The Billings Mustangs have cooled off in the second half, falling to third best record overall and seventh place this half. The Mustangs lost four of six in Great Falls last week and were swept in Missoula in late July. While a playoff spot is already secure, they will want to get their pitching back into a groove over the next final weeks. Billings OF A.J Shaver leads the league with a .430 average and catcher Charlie Muniz just set a team HR record with 23.
*This is the part where I’m obligated to remind everyone that if Long Beach and/or Billings finish in first or second place in the second half, the playoff spot(s) would be determined by overall record, not second half record. Missoula (42-29) has the best overall record among the rest and would currently claim that position. Ogden (39-33) is 3.5 behind, followed by Boise who are 5.5 games behind Missoula
Tied with the playoff-bound Billings for seventh place in the second half are the Oakland Ballers at 13-11 (35-37 overall). The B’s had a disappointing first half, which they followed by starting 0-7 to start the second half, dampening hopes of going back-to-back. Since that point, the Ballers have started to piece together winning baseball. They ended the month of July taking two of three from Long Beach and two of three from Boise, before coming up short with only one win in a three-game set in Marysville to Yuba-Sutter. It was perfect timing from the scheduling gods to place the exhausted, barnstorming RedPocket Mobiles in Oakland for six games to get swept by the Ballers by a combined score of 84 to 41 at Raimondi. The B’s returned to Yuba-Sutter this past weekend, taking two of three and placing themselves in playoff conversation.
Despite a mostly frustrating season involving plenty of roster turnover throughout the year and recently a season-ending injury to star SS Tremayne Cobb, the Ballers are still just five games back of a playoff spot. Newly-acquired SEC products Logan Johnstone and Mitchell Sanford have been huge boosts to the offense. The Vanderbilt grad and Los Gatos native Johnstone debuted on August 5th and already has two four-hit games and homered in every game in Marysville this past weekend. Ole Miss grad Mitchell Sanford’s game has also translated well into the PBL, hitting .419 through his first 11 games, with three home runs and three doubles. Figuring out their table-setters at the top of the lineup is critical after losing Cobb to injury in order for the PBL home run leader (31 HRs in 71 games), Jeter Ybarra and this past week’s PBL hitter of the week, Jake Allgeyer, to keep driving in runs. One of the biggest keys to the Ballers making a run in the final few weeks will be their pitching continuing to improve. Their team ERA is now above league average, thanks to recent quality outings from Griffin Smith and a bullpen that is finally becoming stable with Langston Burkett and Valek Cisneros at the back end. The B’s will be without Charlie Hurley and Reed Butz for now, as they were recently placed on the IL. Oakland will have to beat the best to make the playoffs, their remaining schedule includes nine against Modesto, six against Long Beach, and three against Missoula.
The Ogden Raptors are the final contender to discuss, currently sitting at a second half record of 10-14 after losing five in a row to the red-hot PaddleHeads. That was a particularly disappointing series for Ogden after beating up on Long Beach pitching the series prior. The Raptors are now eight games back of second place, making their path to the playoffs easier to visualize if Long Beach or Billings were to finish in the top two. RHP Nico Saltaformaggio recorded five quality starts in his first seven outings to start the year, but has mostly struggled for Ogden since. OF Kyler Stancato’s health will be another point of emphasis for their hopes of sneaking into the postseason, as he was placed on the IL back on July 28th. His batting average of .429 ranks second in the PBL. Ogden’s remaining schedule includes significant tests with six-game series against Idaho Falls and Billings.
Billings and Long Beach will each host a best-of-three playoff series starting on Thursday, September 10th. The championship series is now also a best-of-three series, which will begin on Tuesday, September 15th.
MVP Race
Justin Trimble, Idaho Falls 3B
Trimble leads the PBL in OPS with a .413/.493/.831 slash line and is tied for second in home runs with 25
A.J Shaver, Billings OF
Shaver leads the PBL in average, hitting .430 to this point. Also has 16 home runs, 24 steals, and 96 RBI
Jeter Ybarra, Oakland 1B
Ybarra leads the PBL in home runs with 31 and has a slash line of .361/.434/.752. His .990 fielding percentage is also among the best in the PBL
Sam Canton, Idaho Falls OF
Canton has a .402/.473/.736 slash line, along with 23 home runs and most RBI in the PBL
Xavier Casserilla, Missoula 3B
Casserilla is tied with Trimble for second most HRs and has a .398/.494/.754 slash line
Osiris Johnson, Modesto SS
Johnson has a .409/.488/.725 slash line, with 21 HRs and 31 steals
Pitcher of the Year Race
Reece Fields, Missoula P
The former PaddleHead, now-Blue Jays prospect, had just a 3.59 ERA despite pitching in high elevation. Fields began the year in relief and converted to being a full-time starter in late June. In three of his final four starts before being signed he allowed two earned runs or less
Devyn Hernandez, Modesto SP
Hernandez has a 3.66 ERA through ten outings as a Roadster, with two quality starts against Long Beach and one against Oakland
Omar Serrano, Modesto SP
Serrano leads the PBL in strikeouts with 90, and has gone 6+ innings in his last eleven starts. 4.23 ERA through 14 outings.
Alex Bustamante, Glacier Reliever
Bustamante has the second best ERA in the PBL with 3.03 in 26 appearances out of the bullpen
Zach Voelker, Long Beach Reliever
Voelker has a 3.65 ERA in 37 innings as a reliever and hasn’t allowed a run since July 10th. Leads the PBL in saves with 14
Johan Castillo, Modesto Reliever
The lefty has the third best ERA in the PBL and best WHIP among relievers
Brett Wozniak, Long Beach SP
Wozniak has a dazzling 2.21 ERA in six starts, but was just activated from the IL after being out since June 21st
Nick Clementi is an Oakland native and lifelong Oakland baseball fan. He enjoys long walks on the beach and summer nights at Raimondi Park. He’s a Scrappy enthusiast who doesn't believe in sacrifice bunts. Sports content moderator by day, Ballers beat writer by night. Find him on Instagram and Twitter.
