It was an eventful week in the American Association with two teams streaking, a few wobbling, separation coming to the playoff races, and the big news that was revealed on Saturday night: expansion is coming to the AA, with Commissioner Joshua Schaub stating that the AA’s 13th franchise will be announced on August 12. More on that here if you missed it.

In the meantime, let’s take a look at four key teams: two soaring up the standings, and two stumbling.

Fish Sweep Week

You could not script this week much better if you are the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Coming off a series win last weekend against Fargo-Moorhead, the Fish travelled to Kansas City for a difficult three-game set. After nearly blowing a 9-0 lead and surviving a furious rally from the Monarchs to win the opener 11-9, Winnipeg allowed just one run each of the next two nights as they became the first team to sweep Kansas City this season.

After a day off, they headed back home this weekend and battered Lincoln for 27 runs over three days, coming back in the eighth inning on Sunday to secure a series sweep. All told, the Goldeyes went 6-0 last week, have won eight straight, and all of the sudden are 5.5 games clear of a playoff spot, thanks to two teams we’ll look at in a minute. At 35-31, they’re also multiple games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2024 season.

Max Murphy’s endured a difficult season, but has 11 hits and a couple home runs during the win streak, the Goldeyes are clicking offensively, the pitching is slowly coming around, and there’s a potential piece of good news out there: with the Mexican League regular season coming to an end this week, there is the possibility of longtime Goldeye Landen Bourassa returning to his home country to bolster the Winnipeg rotation, though I have no intel if that’s coming.

Cougars Cash In at Home

Kane County came into the week reeling after being swept at Milwaukee, falling back to .500 in the process. However, an opportunity was ahead, with seven home games against free-falling Chicago and a Sioux Falls team amidst a brutal stretch. The Cougars took advantage, going 6-1 and capping off the week with a three-game sweep of the Canaries to run their winning streak to five games.

Nearly every game was tight, with four one-run games this week, but the Cougars proved in their back-to-back championship seasons that they can rise to the occasion when it matters most and they were able to get important outs and the hits that they needed. At 36-31, they’re five games over .500 for the first time in a month, are sitting in third, and don’t look now: they’re only 4.5 games out of first with a very manageable two weeks ahead featuring three at home with Cleburne and nine straight with Gary SouthShore and Lincoln.

Worth noting as well: infielder Josh Allen swatted 11 hits this week and is now sitting at 999 for his tremendous 13-year career. He’s at 961 in independent/MLB Partner Leagues, putting him on track to possibly eclipse 1,000 in the independent ranks (22 players have done it) late in the season.

Birds Boom, Then Bust

In last week’s thoughts, I said we’d learn a lot about Sioux Falls in the next couple weeks with the Canaries’ schedule beefing up considerably. They started the week impressively, winning a series at Lake Country…then went to Kane County and got swept.

With the sweep, the Birds fell out of the second place perch that they’d been in sole possession of since the All-Star break and are all the sudden tied for third with Winnipeg, who gained four games on the Canaries this week. Fargo-Moorhead gained two games on Sioux Falls and passed the Canaries to move into second.

Things get no easier for the Birds, as their next 22 games are against teams with winning records, starting with a homestand against Fargo-Moorhead and Milwaukee. Their playoff footing is still fine, being 5.5 games clear of archrival Sioux City, but if they crumple under their tough upcoming schedule, that could very well change.

Sioux City Stumbles on Road

Sunday was a tremendous microcosm of the Sioux City Explorers’ season. The X’s fell behind 4-1 against Fargo-Moorhead, then started battling back, only for the RedHawks to cushion the lead further. Sioux City finally pulled even with two runs in the ninth to force extra innings, but F-M executed a perfect suicide squeeze to win in a walk-off, 8-7. Despite solid relief work, 14 hits, and eight stolen bases (including a record-tying five steals from Austin Davis), the X’s fell.

The X’s spent the week in Gary and Fargo, losing two of three in both locales. Coupled with Winnipeg’s eight-game winning streak, it was a devastating week for Sioux City, who’s a season-worst seven games below .500 at 30-37, has already eclipsed last season’s loss total, and is now 5.5 games out of the playoff chase after losing four games of ground this week.

Like Sioux Falls, the X’s get no favors from their remaining schedule: 27 of the final 33 games for Sioux City are against teams currently above .500, with four games against Lake Country starting tonight. If they manage to at least split that set, though, they have an opportunity next weekend with a Chicago squad that’s lost 10 of their last 11 and will be returning from Winnipeg.

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