Xs re-sign All-Stars Lang and Perio Jr. for 2016

The Sioux City Explorers signed a key player from their record-breaking 2015 year today, securing all-star outfielder Michael Lang for the upcoming season. Lang ranked in the top 5 in 4 different AA stat categories. He led the entire league in triples (10), ranked second in stolen bases (45), scored the third most runs in the league (75), and earned the 4th highest batting average at .343. This comes on the heels of last week's inking of all-star short stop Noah Perio Jr. Both signings make a whole lot of sense as the Xs look to replicate their successes from last year.

2015 American Association All-Star Team

A special wave of Digital Gum, on the heels of yesterday's 2015 All-Star team announcement. Sadly, this is an incomplete set: Outfielder Denis Phipps and the Laredo Lemurs never came through Winnipeg this year. And I struck out on both pitchers...Sioux City's Patrick Johnson and Joplin's Winston Abreu. Abreu did pitch an inning's worth of relief here, but this was pre-blog and I missed him on the mound. Johnson did not start in Winnipeg, but I borrowed a shot from xsbaseball.com for his card; if I can dig up shots of Abreu and Phipps, I'll include them here later.

Sioux City reaches a historic 74 wins

With their 5-2 win over Grand Prairie tonight (Sept. 4), the Sioux City Explorers have reached 74 wins, a new American Association record. (**Post-Script: the Xs ended the season with 75 wins altogether). Here's some of the crew that made it happen: