By next week, the calendar will have flipped to August, which means the end of the American Association season will be rapidly approaching with six weeks left in the season.

Last week, I outlined how the muddled playoff race could really start to become clearer, which…sort of happened. The East seems pretty well sorted out at this point, but the West still has all six teams very much in the hunt.

Also, an announcement: this past week I launched the 2026 season page. Updated standings and yesterday’s scores are there. Plus, there are links to each team’s schedule and results (with box scores linked as well). I have pages for all 20 previous seasons up too (and I’m slowly building them out working backwards). Check it out!

This week, we’re going to look at 12 squads and give one thought on each of them.

Chicago Dogs: Start planning for 2027

This has been a horrible, no-good, very bad year in Rosemont. The Dogs were 8-8 on June 2, but are just 12-32 since then and have won just two series in that span, oddly against a great Lake Country team and decent Kane County squad.

As I’ve mentioned multiple times, the Dogs are on their 4th manager in 4 years, which eventually is going to catch up to you when you’re starting over every year (and doing so later in the year than the teams with returning skippers). Being 20 games below .500 and 10 games out of a playoff spot, this year is completely lost, end of story.

Now, this is the question that the Dogs need to answer now: do they want to start over again? Stan Cliburn (and twin bother Stew, his pitching coach) are both 69 years old. Stan had four winning seasons in his last five years in Southern Maryland before this year, but the AA has roster restrictions that the Atlantic League doesn’t and can be challenging for AtL skippers (see Brett Jodie, Cliburn’s successor in Southern Maryland). He also was sub-.500 in his only previous AA stint (in Sioux City from 2011-13).

Does management think an old dog can learn new tricks or is it time for someone more familiar with the AA game? And considering the rumored toxic nature of the organization, would the right person even want the job?

Cleburne Railroaders: Two steps forward, one step back

The good news for Cleburne this week? Their playoff positioning is no worse than it was at this point last week. The bad news? It’s not because of anything they did right (more on that later).

The Railroaders started last week strong, stealing a Monday night win in extras against Kansas City. Then they lost three straight (including an error costing them a no-hitter, then a win). Then they lost a series at Lincoln, which is never ideal for contending clubs.

The Railroaders were 31-26 a week ago, riding a 24-12 stretch that wiped away a 7-14 start. Now they sit just one game above .500 and the schedule isn’t getting any easier: division-leading Milwaukee is coming to Cleburne for a week, then a trip to Lake Country and Kane County follows. They could really be back in a funk very soon.

Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks: Slowly figuring it out?

Losing two out of three at Winnipeg wasn’t ideal, but Fargo-Moorhead is sitting in third place at 32-29 and they’re still amidst a 9-4 stretch that shot them back above the .500 mark and gave them some breathing room above the playoff cut line.

The pitching is still a mess, but they’ve improved to ninth in ERA and lowered their team mark below 6.00, which is still bad obviously, but it’s progress. Their high-powered offense is also back at full strength with Tripp Clark off the IL.

With Lincoln and Sioux City coming to Fargo this week, the RedHawks have a great chance to put some mileage between them and the two teams currently out of the West playoff field. A good week will get rid of that question mark above. A great week will turn it into an exclamation point.

Gary SouthShore RailCats: Goodbye playoffs

The Gary SouthShore RailCats were one of the AA’s best stories in the first month, starting 18-16 and still at 21-22 and firmly in the playoff hunt as recently as July 3. Everything since then has been a disaster.

The ‘Cats lost 8 of 9 going into the All-Star break, swept a doubleheader the first day out of the break…and haven’t won since. They’ve lost nine in a row and 17 of their last 20, are now 15 games below .500 and are 7.5 games out of a playoff spot.

This season was supposed to be a step forward after six truly awful seasons where they were nowhere near contention and for a while it was. All of the sudden, the RailCats are on pace for a 38-62 season…which is where they finished last year. The postseason is off the table. Now the goal is just to finish respectably and keep the momentum into 2027.

Kane County Cougars: Do they want to be good in the regular season?

Kane County has never been truly bad in George Tsamis’ tenure, but they’ve never really been good either. They were 252-247 over the last five years, never winning or losing more than 55 games. Now this year they’re right in the middle of the road again, right at .500 at 30-30.

The Cougars seemed primed to finally take another step forward with a 14-6 start and were 23-17 on July 1, but no one in Chicagoland has had a good July and Kane County is not immune.

There are opportunities over the next three weeks to turn things around, though, with their only above-.500 opponents (Sioux Falls and Cleburne) coming to Geneva, and seven games against cratering Chicago and Gary SouthShore, plus a six-game home-and-home against Lincoln taking them to mid-August.

Of course, as the last two years taught us, all they have to do is make it to the postseason to do damage, and they’re in excellent position once again, even being mediocre.

Kansas City Monarchs: The West is theirs to lose

All season, we’ve been waiting for someone else to emerge from the pack and make a run towards the top of the division, but that hasn’t happened, as the Monarchs have held sole possession of first place since June 4.

Despite Sioux Falls playing their best ball since May, Kansas City still sits 4.0 games above the rest, having put together a fine 14-8 record in July. Outside of a six-game winning streak going into the All-Star break, they’ve never really been on a heater this year, but also haven’t really slumped either. Only once all year have they lost back-to-back series.

The Monarchs are one bad week away from possibly having the Canaries right on their heels, but their pitching staff is the best in the league, the offense is the best it’s been all season, and the bad weeks just haven’t been there. Given the state of the West, I think Kansas City has to falter to lose the division more than someone else has to run them down.

Lake Country DockHounds: They’ve weathered the storm

A 14-game winning streak that was one game shy of the league record had Lake Country sitting at 18-5. That was immediately followed by a 10-17 slide (including a seven-game losing streak) and lost Player of the Year frontrunner Ryan Hernandez to Mexico.

However, they’ve won 8 of their last 10, including a series win at Milwaukee, and have been nipping at the heels of the Milkmen, sitting one game back as both teams swept their weekend series. They have the second-best record in the AA and the league’s best run differential (+136).

The offense, with Joshua Mears taking the mantle, is still the league’s best, and the pitching staff has survived multiple MLB signings to still allow the fourth-fewest runs. They’re back to their early-season form as a legitimate title contender.

Lincoln Saltdogs: The season hinges on this next road trip

Lincoln has had the season I thought Gary SouthShore would have: not a good year, but a season where they’ve hung around the periphery of the playoff race and show clear improvement from 2025.

The Saltdogs finished the first half 12-6, but lost six straight around the All-Star break, only to finish last week with three wins in four games. The Saltdogs are in last place, but only half a game behind Sioux City and just 2.0 games out of a playoff spot.

Now, they start a nine-game road trip that begins in Fargo and Winnipeg, with the Goldeyes series being particularly important as the team currently holding the fourth playoff spot in the West. After that, the ‘Dogs go to Kansas City.

With their final 26 games (everything after August 11) against teams at or above .500, things do not get any easier for Lincoln. If they want to stay in contention, they probably need a winning road trip and win that series in Winnipeg. Anything less and they’re probably falling out of contention fairly quickly.

Milwaukee Milkmen: Don’t let the run differential fool you, they’re legit

Looking at the run differentials at the top of the East Division, you’ll see Lake Country sporting a gaudy +136 mark (far and away the AA’s top mark), with Milwaukee at a more modest +29. However, despite those figures suggesting the DockHounds should be about six games better, it’s the Milkmen leading the East at a league-best 38-24 mark and on pace for their first 60-win season.

The main reason why? Milwaukee’s offense isn’t good at all (second-fewest runs), but the pitching staff is (second-best ERA and second-fewest runs allowed) and the defense is mostly strong as well. They keep scores down, allowing four runs or less a league-best 34 times (going 29-5) and win close games (16-8 in games decided by one or two runs).

Since starting 7-10, the Milkmen are 31-14 since June 3. Being that hot over nearly half a season worth of game doesn’t point towards a fluke, especially with a strong pitching staff driving the bus.

Sioux City Explorers: Stuck in neutral

After a 64-win season in 2025 when everything went right for the Explorers, a dropoff was certainly coming, but Sioux City certainly wasn’t expecting to be five games below .500 and out of the playoff field this late in the season.

The X’s started 8-7, but haven’t been at .500 since May 30. Save for a five-game skid in early July, it’s largely been trading wins and losses, with a 20-21 record since June 3. They’ve won three games in a row just once this season and have just never been able to string together wins.

Now, they have won back-to-back series against Lincoln and Kansas City, plus the next two weeks feature series against reeling Chicago and Gary SouthShore (albeit with Fargo-Moorhead and Lake Country in between). If the X’s are going to finally make a move, that’s a good place to start.

Sioux Falls Canaries: We’ll learn a lot the next two weeks

To me, the Canaries have been a paper tiger all season. They lost a lot from last year’s Miles Wolff Cup runner-ups, especially on the pitching side, and it’s been a challenge replacing those key pieces. Yet, they’ve 8 of 9 and have matched a season-best being six games above .500, sitting in second place at 34-28.

Here’s where the “but” is: the Canaries have benefited from a soft schedule so far. All nine of those recent games are against losing squads and they’ve played a league-low 19 games against teams with winning records…and are just 6-13 in those games. They’ve also allowed the third-most runs in the AA and have a -16 run differential.

That will change starting…pretty much right now. They travel to Lake Country and Kane County this week, then welcome Fargo-Moorhead and Milwaukee to the Birdcage next week. With the league’s two best offenses around the corner, we could see some big numbers on the scoreboard, and not for the Canaries.

If the Birds can make it though that stretch going around .500 in those 12 games, I’ll feel better about their chances in the postseason…or if they’re in danger of spiraling out of the postseason. Either way, it will be eye-opening.

Winnipeg Goldeyes: The finish line may be near for two legends

This year has been better than last for Winnipeg, but they find themselves in similar shape as Sioux City: a team kind of treading water, but not really going anywhere. The one difference is that they’re 1.5 games up on the X’s in the last playoff spot. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

Two Goldeyes staples have had the worst seasons of their career this season. 36-year-old Mitch Lambson, the 2019 AA Pitcher of the Year, has won 45 games over seven years in Manitoba and is the final member of their most recent title team (2017) still in a Winnipeg uniform. But this year, he’s been battered to the tune of a 7.16 ERA in 60.1 innings and has the second-worst WHIP (1.724) of any qualified pitcher. His walk rate is also far and away the highest of his career.

Likewise, 33-year-old Max Murphy, the 2022 Player of the Year, has swung the bat a bit better of late, but is still slashing just .234/.318/.349 with only six home runs in his sixth season as a Goldeye (and ninth in the AA). Those are far and away his worst numbers across the board—and this is in a season where the entire league has seen offense explode.

Murphy will have his number retired and is a shoo-in for the AA Hall of Fame. Lambson will have an argument for both. They’ve both been a joy to watch and have been steady familiar faces for nearly a decade. Unfortunately, it appears that both are running out of gas.

There’s also the uncomfortable question: they’ve both deserved the right to finish out the season and ride off into the sunset…but could allowing that to happen cost Winnipeg a playoff berth? Here’s hoping they both finish strong.

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