Jansen just 2nd pitcher to 1,000 appearances

Kenley Jansen was the first pitcher to notch a career milestone in 2026, making his first appearance in the season opener, which was the 1,000th of his career.

2024 Eck Award Winner: Shelby Miller

Newark's Shelby Miller finished 2nd to Hopactong's Jhoan Duran for the league in saves but came out on top when it came to the 2024 Eck Award.

2019 Eck Award winner: Sean Doolittle

The 2019 Eckersley Rolaids Relief Man of the Year results could not have been any closer, with just one point separating the top two relievers, and the award coming down to the final day of the season.

2019 pitching leaders

There was no lack of solid campaigns by pitchers in the DMBL in 2019 but nothing quite spectacular.
No 20-game winners. The ERA king approached 3.00. Even the saves leader finished with a ho-hum total.

Tucson comes back to even series

Nolan Arenado's two-run homer tied the game and four batters later Kurt Suzuki's two-out single completed an 8th-inning comeback off the Marietta bullpen to give Tucson a 6-5 win in Game 2 of their 1st round Wild Card series.

2018 Eck Award winner: Andrew Miller

Chad Green and Andrew Miller were dueling relievers in 2018 as their teams, Marietta and Sardine City, respectively, battled it out for the division last year.

With clutch hits, Ozuna earns playoff MVP

Marcell Ozuna blasted a grand slam in Game 163 to help Tucson clinch the Clemente Division over Arkansas and get into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed. Technically, that was the still the regular season but it was just the start of a hot postseason for the Kingsnakes left-fielder.

After 14 innings, Tucson wins Game 6, takes series

Marcell Ozuna came up with another big postseason hit for Tucson, driving in Brett Gardner in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the King Snakes a 2-1 walk-off victory in Game 6 and clinching the series against Sardine City, 4-2.

Tucson wins third straight for 3-2 series lead

Tucson got another big out from their starting pitcher as Robbie Ray held Sardine City to one run over 7 innings, helping the King Snakes to their third straight win in the series, 4-2 in Game 5 at Sardine City on Saturday night.

Tucson breaks through behind Scherzer

Max Scherzer helped Tucson to its first win of the semifinal series versus Sardine City, striking out 11 in 6 innings as the bullpen held on for a 5-4 win in Game 3 on Wednesday night.

Scherzer silences Marietta to take Game 5

Max Scherzer struck out 11 over 7 innings and Marcell Ozuna slammed a first-inning homer and drove in three runs to lift Tucson past Marietta 5-3 at home in Game 5 on Thursday night, taking the 1st round series, 3-2.

Bumgarner quiets Mighty Men for Game 3 win

Justin Turner hit another leadoff homer run - his 3rd straight game with a long ball - but Madison Bumgarner settled in after that to tame Marietta's offense as Tucson beat the Mighty Men 8-3 in Game 3 on Monday.

Tucson overcomes Marietta power display to take Game 1

Justin Turner opened the 2018 postseason with a home run, one of four by fifth-seeded Marietta to build a Game 1 lead in Tucson.

Sardine City works overtime as playoff race tightens

Sardine City has been working overtime to try to hang on to their division lead, twice having wice played games lasting nearly 20 innings within a week.

2017 Eck Award winner: Seung Hwan Oh

Seung Hwan Oh was a model of efficiency as Tucson's closer, saving 32 of 33 opportunities for the Kingsnakes last season, on his way to the 2017 Eckersley Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award.

Relievers rise to the occasion

After all the offense in the early weeks of the season, relievers were bound to get noticed sooner rather than later.

Sardine City forces Game 5 versus Allentown

An opening round series between No. 4 Sardine City and No. 5 Allentown will come down to a deciding Game 5. The winner advances to the semifinals with a date to face top-seeded Tucson.

Spring training review

Will success in what is essentially 30 practice games translate into wins in the regular season? Who knows, but let's take a look at the 2013 spring training results and see if we can't take away some kind of predictions for teams and players.

If spring training is any indication, the four division winners would be Philly, Blue Ridge, Las Vegas and Rowdy. Hopatcong would settle for a wildcard and the other wild card would be decided via tiebreaker between Hillsborough and Amityville.

Philly (21-9) edged out three teams for the best record, one game better than Las Vegas, Hopatcong, and Blue Ridge (20-10). Seven teams finished .500 or better, including three at .500. Livingston and Marietta brought up the rear, finishing 11-19. A six-game winning streak by Rowdy to complete spring training saved the Van Slyke division from having all four squads finish below .500. The coldest teams to conclude the spring were Hillsborough and Newark, both losing five straight.

Philly and Las Vegas led the league in runs with 163 (5.4/game) while Newark (which has since changed its name to Brick City Batmen) packed the weakest punch (98/3.3). On the flip side, Philly and Hopatcong yielded the fewest earned runs (98/3.3) compared with Sardine City's league-high (140/4.7). Boston sported the worst run differential at -41, with Bridegewater next at -32.

Some of the biggest names in the league sat all spring, among them Marietta closer Mariano Rivera and Hoboken ace Clayton Kershaw. Other big names got a taste of playing time, such as Hillsborough's Justin Verlander and top overall draft pick Kris Medlen of Las Vegas.

PITCHING

Hopatcong's Jake Peavy made a case for being a McDonald candidate this spring, leading the league with a 0.91 WHIP, 8.6 R/9 and 48.3 innings pitched (tied with Newark rookie Yu Darvish). Peavy, who made all of one start for the Floating Fish last year (the season finale), tied with Philly's Trevor Cahill and Jarrod Parker of Amityville for the most victories and best record at 5-0. Peavy also was among the top 10 in ERA (2.98, 7th) and strikeouts (26, T-5th).

Peavy's competition for best pitcher of the spring came mostly from Parker, who was tops among starters in ERA (1.54) and also quality starts (6, tied with Phil Hughes of Blue Ridge). Other impressive performances came from Hopatcong veteran Andy Pettitte, coming back from a year off, who finished 3-1 with a 2.20 ERA, including two complete games and a shutout. Darvish led the league in strikeouts (41) and K/9 (7.6) but also walks (33).

Leading the league in saves, tied with 12, were Blue Ridge's David Hernandez and Philly's Ryan Cook, and between them only blew one (Hernandez). Cook did not allow an earned run -- and only two hits -- in 13.7 innings. Other stellar relievers this spring were Octavio Dotel of Livingston and Vancouver's Brad Ziegler. Both sported league-best WHIPs of 0.80, along with respective ERAs of 0.83 and 1.15.

The Blue Ridge bullpen also saw the top two relievers in holds, Tim Byrdak (7) and Mitchell Boggs (6). Boston had two of the busiest relievers, with Rafael Soriano tops in appearances with 20, followed by teammate Greg Holland with 19, who tied with Bridgewater lefty Robbie Ross. Amityville's Craig Kimbrel looks poised to avoid a sophomore slump, compiling seven saves in 11 games, with 16 strikeouts in 12.3 innings, good for 11.7 K/9. He also had a sterling 0.73 ERA and 0.65 WHIP.

An impressive bullpen was found in Arkansas where three relievers had ERAs of less than 1.00 (Casey Fien, Sergio Romo and Drew Storen). Fien was a workhorse, logging 28.7 innings in 17 games, while sporting 0.63 ERA and 0.66 WHIP.

The Falcons also boasted a triumvirate of impressive rookies in their rotation. Matt Harvey, drafted as an ineligible prospect last year, ranked third in the league with 32 strikeouts, going 3-2 with a respectable 4.50 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Four of A.J. Griffin's six starts for Arkansas were considered quality. The first-rounder went 2-4 with a 4.30 ERA and 1.23 WHIP while logging a team-high 44 IP. Second-rounder Alex Cobb was perhaps most impressive, compiling an ERA of 2.52 and 1.23 WHIP, with 3 wins against 2 losses.

Hillsborough kept the reins on Justin Verlander, who made just three starts but six appearances this spring. He had an impressive shutout but his spring totals were hardly Verlander-esque: 5.91 ERA, 1.73WHIP. The Hit Men's first-round selection saw more action but not much success: Lance Lynn compiled a 5.08 ERA and 1.49 WHIP while going 1-2 in six starts.

Even first overall pick Kris Medlen had to shake off some cobwebs this spring, going 1-1 with a mediocre 4.05 ERA but a 1.10 WHIP for Las Vegas. The Rat Pack's second first-rounder, reliever Huston Street, made 11 appearances with a 3.68 and 1-0 mark.

Next time we'll take a look at the batting stars of spring training and the rest of the 2013 first-rounders.