One-run game losses added up for Fish

The summer of 2025 will not go down as a keeper for the Winnipeg Goldeyes.

The Fish closed out the regular season on Monday with a 12-8 loss at home to Sioux City to finish the race at 41-58. It’s the second-worst record in the American Association’s 12-team circuit, and the second-worst record in the franchise’s 32-year history.

The 2018 edition of the Fish went 41-59 and this year’s group was able to dodge that mark since they only played 99 games as they had a contest against Chicago in late July that was rained out that never got rescheduled.

“We just weren’t that good. Honestly, we didn’t play well,” is how star outfielder Max Murphy summed it up in a chat with the Free Press on Tuesday.

“We didn’t play up to our abilities. We had a good team put together and everyone had a so-so year or a bad year. Nobody really had a career year, and having a few guys have career years are how you win a lot of games and no one really did that.”

Close, but no cigar was this year’s theme as the Goldeyes lost a league-leading 24 games by one run.

They trailed Fargo-Moorhead by 13.5 games for the fourth and final playoff spot out of the West Division.

“That has to be some kind of record because I’ve never played on a team that’s tried so hard and still gotten clipped at the finish line that many times,” said starting pitcher Landen Bourassa.

“It was just kind of unfortunate how it happened. It was a challenging year overall, but we still gave it our all and played hard. Sometimes you just don’t come out on the winning end and that was the story of this year.”

“That has to be some kind of record because I’ve never played on a team that’s tried so hard and still gotten clipped at the finish line that many times.”– starting Goldeyes pitcher Landen Bourassa.

The Fish found themselves in trouble before Opening Day had even arrived.

Tylor Jans and Brady Rose were two arms they had signed in the off-season that the club had big plans for, but both got injured and never ended up reporting to Winnipeg.

Marcel Renteria was another signing the Goldeyes were excited about as he was a high draft pick by the New York Mets and had climbed up to the Triple-A level before undergoing Tommy John surgery last year. He ended up reinjuring his elbow on the very first workout of training camp and never pitched for the Goldeyes.

JJ Echevarria and Landon Leach also got hurt before June and missed significant time. Starter James Bradwell was lost for the season after going down on Aug. 13.

“That really killed us because that could’ve bridged the gap for us until our hitters got going,” said Murphy.

“Our hitters didn’t get going until about a month in, but it’s kind of tough when you don’t have the pitching there to keep you in games.”

Bourassa — who started 20 games last year and went 8-7 with a 4.00 ERA — was also sidelined for all of July with pneumonia. The Goldeyes went 5-19 that month.

“Yes, he is our ace, but we also lost him in the clubhouse and that’s a guy that everyone rallies around,” said catcher Kevin Garcia.

“He’s a hardworker, he brings out the good vibes, the camaraderie. It hurt us not having him on the field, but not having that presence hurt us in the clubhouse as well. You talk about a veteran who handles his business like a professional, it’s Landen Bourassa.”

Bourassa worked his way back and managed to make five starts in August with the Goldeyes winning three of those outings.

“This kind of felt like an anomaly,” said Bourassa.

“It was kind of surreal to be sitting on the couch at home watching baseball for a few weeks in July. It was tough, but at the same time, I’m proud I was able to get back out there.”

The bats didn’t fare much better. Winnipeg ranked 11th in hits and runs scored.

“It was a very complicated situation, especially with all those one-run games. There’s no excuses, we’ve got to show up and get the job done.”– Goldeyes catcher Kevin Garcia

The 2024 Goldeyes, who made it all the way to the championship series before falling short against the Kane County Cougars, were in the top five in both of those categories.

“If you look back at last year, there was no doubt in our minds that we could get anything done. And, in this season, it was an uphill battle for sure,” said Garcia.

“It was a very complicated situation, especially with all those one-run games. There’s no excuses, we’ve got to show up and get the job done. But (mentally) I don’t think we were in a good spot. It was like, ‘Here we go again,’ and we didn’t have that clutch hitting when we needed it and that contributed to a lot of things.”

It wasn’t all negative for the Fish. Murphy surpassed Hall of Famer Reggie Abercrombie in June to become the team’s all-time leader in home runs. Murphy, infielder Matthew Warkentin, and pitchers Tasker Strobel, Ryder Yakel and Mitchell Lambson were all named to the all-star team as well.

“I’ve been blessed to really hit my stride baseball wise these last four or five seasons,” said Murphy.

“I know I’m close to a few more records. If I end up playing a year or two more, hopefully I can break a few more. That’d be really nice. But I think I’ll appreciate it more when I’m done playing baseball than I do now.”

“I think the recipe stays the same. We followed the same recipe from last year and we just happened to be plagued by some other things this year.”– Landen Bourassa

This is the 10th instance where the Goldeyes have failed to reach the post-season and five of those shortcomings have occurred in the past eight years.

“I think the recipe stays the same. We followed the same recipe from last year and we just happened to be plagued by some other things this year,” said Bourassa. “I trust in (manager) Logan (Watkins), I trust in (general manager) Andrew Collier, and (owner) Sam (Katz) as they always make good decisions. I think it’s about just following their lead and continuing to promote Winnipeg as a great place to play, because it is.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca