The Oakland Ballers lost to the Yuba Sutter Firebirds 9-5 Sun Aug 9, 2026 (photo by Oakland Ballers)
FOLLOW THE BOUNCING BALLERS, AUGUST 4-9, 2026: THAT WAS THE STREAK THAT WAS
Monday, August 10, 2026
By Lewis Rubman
OAKLAND–There was a lot of good news to report about the Oakland Ballers this past week, but it was overshadowed by one appalling fact. So, as Gracie Allen would have said, let’s take the bitter with the batter.
Tremayne Cobb, the key to the B’s success in their first two seasons of existence, is out for the season. Manager Aaron Miles broadcast the announcement on Raimondi Field’s center field scoreboard just before the first game covered in this week’s column, Tuesday, August 4. He didn’t emphasize only Cobb’s many on field accomplishments; he also stressed the star’s manifold contributions to the community (or, better yet, communities) the Ballers seek to honor and serve. When the Ballers took the field, they promptly fell six runs behind the visiting RedPocket Mobiles, a name that alludes not just to the team’s sponsor and its product but to the squad’s condition as barnstormers. Then, in a manner worthy of the Cobb-inspired 2025 Ballers, his teammates went one to crush the PBL’s roadshow franchise by the score of 18-10. It was Oakland’s third straight win, and Miles’ Militia kept on winning for the rest of the week before its surge expired from heat prostration a week later in Marysville.
The line score for the battle on the fourth reads,
RedPocket Mobiles (1-18,3-54) 600 200 200 10 12 1
Oakland Ballers (9-10,31-36) 203 900 13x 18 10 1
Winning pitcher: Brock Mayer (2-0) Losing pitcher: Kade Walker 1-6)
Time: 3:19 Attendance: 2,222
Whenever the Mobiles come to Oak Town, there’s a lot of murmuring in the stands that the visitors derive an unfair advantage because RedPocket provides the ABS for all games played in the Pioneer Baseball League. I dismiss that particular speculation; if there were any truth to it, the PBL’s nomads would not have the won-lost record they take with them, like the mark of Cain, wherever they go. My suspicion is that, because RedPocket relies on the profits it earns from the services it provides the league, the company agreed to sponsor a team as a place holder until the deal that established the PBL franchise that will start playing in Irvine next year goes into effect..
In any case, the Ballers settled the Mobiles’ hash pretty well in their six game confrontation in West Oakland. The week’s contests repeated the pattern of the three games that preceded them; they were ripe with reversals, and not just because of their almost incessant exchange of leads and blown leads; individual players displayed wide swings of effectiveness. Oakland reliever Julio Rosario provides a good example. He had almost cost the Ballers their chance to reach the KO round that led to their hard earned victory on the second of the month; six days later, on Thursday, August 8, he saved his team’s bacon with fast balls of MLB calibre for velocity and precision.That performance earned him credit for the win, his second against one loss. By the week’s end, the Ballers had compiled an eight game winning streak, making them serious contenders for a play off berth. But then, in the sweltering heat of a Marysville Sunday afternoon, they blew an early 5-2 lead and then fell irretrievably behind the eminently beatable Yuba-Sutter Freebirds in the bottom of the seventh . On the mound during the meltdown was Julio Rosario.
But that road trip ending meltdown was still four days in the future when, on Wednesday the fifth, the Ballers turned the table once more on their guests in a triumph that brought Oakland up to the .500 mark for the second half. Not bad for a team that had lost its first seven games of the semi season!
The line on Wednesday, August 5, shows how the dominant the Ballers had become, at least against the Mobiles.
RedPocket Mobiles (1-19,3-55) 101 003 000 5 7 2
Oakland Ballers (10-10,32-36) 411 202 26x 18 21 0
Winning pitcher:Christian Díaz (2-0) Losing pitcher: Adam Christopher (0-6)Time: 2:41 Attendance: 1,547
Seven Ballers had multi hit games; a half dozen connected for doubles, and three of them hit home runs, Allgeyer smacking a pair of them. It goes without saying that Jeter Ybarra was among the fence clearers.
It also goes without saying that the Ballers scored 18 runs once more on the sixth and almost goes without saying that Ybarra knocked the ball out of the park. What requires mention is that Ybarra’s four bagger, his 31st, tied the team’s season record, set last year by Christian Almanza. Ybarra would break that record soon enough. In fact, he accomplished the feat the next day, Thursday the 6th, in the same game in which the B’s at long last surpassed the .500 mark for the second half.
Thursday the sixth, it was more of the same.
RedPocket Mobiles (1-20,13-56) 001 102 002 6 12 1
Oakland Ballers (11-10, 33-66) 440 102 03x 18 17 0
Winning pitcher: Griffin Smith (2-5) Losing pitcher: Miguel Rosado (0-1)
Time:2:44 Attendance:1,632
That said, if you were at the ball park and lost track of the action any time after the third inning, you wouldn’t have gotten any help from the PA announcers. Pinch hitters, position switches, pitching changes, all these went unannounced. You might be told who was at the plate, but not when he entered the game or which position he was playing. You might have marked him as the second baseman when you filled in your score sheet and discovered that he was the short stop when he came up for his third at bat. You might have entered the starting pitcher as a righty and then noticed a southpaw on the mound; after a hurried search on your iphone you’d discover that he was his team’s third pitcher. None of this, however much it annoyed you, would have come as much of a surprise. After all, the Mobiles’ roster sheet, published on the PBL’s website, lists Jordan Hamberg as alleft handed pitcher and outfielder who bats at throws right handed.
And you wouldn’t have been the only person to have this experience. At least two people sitting near me were left scratching their heads. There’s more to enjoy at a Ballers game than just the game. But there IS a game going on, and that activity, as well as the folks who care about it, don’t deserve cavalier disregard like this. After all. we’re talking about the Pioneer BASEBALL League.
Next on the Ballers’ agenda was the bus ride to Marysville for a three game series at Bryant Field, the all-ABS venue where the home plate umpires read the ball or strike ruling from the scoreboard but don’t make any pitch call decisions on their own.
I’m pleased to report that the online reports from this venue now include who got the win and was charged with the loss for some of the games, an improvement over their content during the B’s previous trip to the Sacramento exurbs. They still, however, doesn’t give that information for all games nor do they show the umpires’ last names.
It was so hot in Marysville that, while the second game of the series was being played in three digit temperatures, the game time of the final match was moved forward from 6:35 Sunday evening to 11:05 in the morning in a vain attempt to beat the predicted 105 degree heat. Mad dogs and Englishmen ….
The announcement of the morning start heralded the meltdown game But first let’s take a quick glance at the prelude to the win streak’s swan song, Saturday night’s inferno was another lopsided triumph for the Ballers’ batters. Ybarra didn’t add to his home run total but still managed to go a stellar five for seven with a couple of doubles and a corresponding number of runs batted in. The only Baller to put in a plate appearance without a hit to show for it was Brendan O’Sullivan, who walked after his sole visit to the batters’ box. Oakland never trailed their hosts.
Oakland Ballers (12-10,34-36) 140 612 210 17 23 0
Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (5-17,20-50) 111 200 100 6 16 1
Winning pitcher: Tyler Bates (1-0). Losing pitcher: Luke Ridley (0-1)
Time: 3:16. Attendance: 1,418
By Saturday the 8th, winning had become old hat for the Ballers, but right handed starting pitcher David Thomas was a revelation. It took him only 65 pitches to hold the Freebirds scoreless on four hits. That’s it; no walks, no wild pitches, no hit bathers. He pitched to only two over the minimum and achieved 10 ground outs against five fly outs. That’s Rippley Believe It or Not worthy in the Pioneer Baseball League. Another newcomer, center fielder Logan Johnstone joined the usual suspects with his second hone run in as many days. He went only one for four, and so his batting average dropped to .400.
By the eighth inning, the heat had become intolerable, but the Ballers still managed to limp to a decisive, albeit Pyhrric, victory. Bask in the glory of this line score;
Oakland Ballers (13-10,35-36) 002 421 202 13 15 0
Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (5-18,20-51) 000 000 012 3 9 1
Winning pitcher;: David Thomas (1-0). Losing pitcher; Jared Schaeffer (0-2)
Time: 2:50 Attendance: 449
Every dog has its day, and in these dog days of summer, trying to beat the heat by moving the starting pitch ahead by seven hours didn’t make the weather even tolerable. Both teams suffered from it, but it was evident that the Ballers faded while the Freebirds managed to come from behind and finally end the Ballers’ unvanquished skein at eight.
Recent additions Logan Johnstone and Mitchell Sanford led the Oakland attack, and another newcomer, Ren Abe-Arias, pitched decently—by Pioneer Baseball League standards—but Valek Cisneros couldn’t hold the lead in the sixth and an error by the usually elegant fielding T.J. Rogers at short with Tyler Bates on the mound, put the Freebirds ahead for good in the eighth. Rogers’ error seemed more mental than physical. The temperature already was in the triple digits, the playing surface was baked, so a half-baked split second mental cum physical error was not unexpected. Sic transit glorious winning streak.
The Ballers’ players certainly had a full week and fruitful week. The front office, too, was pretty busy these past seven days. If it was fruitful remains to be seen. Here’s a list of Oakland’s transactions so far this month it as reported on the PBL’s website:
8/8 Placed Reed Butz on the Injury List (Injury 10 Days)
8/7 Acquired RHP Ren Abe-Arias from the Red Pocket Mobiles in exchange for cash considerations
Signed Nathan Darden to their 2026 roster
Acquired RHP Nathan Darden from the Red Pocket Mobiles to complete a previous trade.
8/5 Placed Charlie Hurley on the Injury List (Injury 10 Days)
8/4 Signed Logan Johnstone to their 2026 roster.
8/4 Placed Tremayne Cobb on the Injury List (Injury 10 Days)
It’s also going to be a busy week at 20th and Wood. Here’s a list of perigame activities that might entice you to arrive early at Raimondi:
Tuesday, 8/11: Bay Mitzvah, a celebration of Jewish culture. The first 750 fans to enter will receive a Ballers noisemaker.
Wednesday, 8/12: A celebration of beloved Laney College football coach John Beam’s legacy. A Coach Beam championship cup goes to the first 750 fans through the gates.
Thursday, 8/13 is Oaktoberfest, complete with Oaktoberfest Giveaways in the Scrappytown Biergarten.
All the games are scheduled to start around 6:35. And all are against the Modesto Roadsters who, at 23-1 are the PBL’s second half leaders and, at 50-22, trail Long Beach by three games for the overall crown. The Ballers numbers are 13-11, 35-37.
Lewis Rubman is a Oakland Ballers reporter at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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