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Benjamin Franklin once wrote, \u201cIn this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n
You could add one more: in the Door County League, the season ends with either Kolberg or Sister Bay on top. No other team this decade has raised either the championship or playoff trophy, and the Braves swept them last year \u2013 the fourth straight year Sister Bay or Kolberg did so.<\/p>\n
Will it be more of the same this season, or will the rest of the league start catching up, as some did in 2025?<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s take a look at the opening day slate with last year\u2019s regular season records in parentheses.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Institute (0-14) @ Kolberg (11-3)<\/strong><\/p>\n The best word to describe the Cubs\u2019 last season is sporadic. They lost eight games by double digits, including both to Kolberg, by a combined 36-4. However, they were right in it until the final out four times against playoff teams. Going back to the 2023 season, the Cubs have now lost 32 games in a row. When coach Jared Pflieger\u2019s got good pitching, their defense and bats were a problem, and vice versa. One bat that wasn\u2019t a problem was Robby Pollman\u2019s. Will Hartman will continue to eat innings on the mound, but he has some help this year. Will it be enough to break the streak?<\/p>\n The Braves regained their championship form last season thanks to the return of Trevor Reinhardt to the mound with more relief from Tyler Neinas. It also helped that Reinhardt provided one of the three Braves bats in the top six in the league. Austin Rohe and Jack Peterson were the other two. The Cubs will get off the schneid this year, it just won\u2019t be this week.<\/p>\n Swami Says: Braves<\/p>\n Maplewood (8-6) @ West Jacksonport (9-5)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Two of last season\u2019s playoff teams clash in an opening-day tilt. While the Ports got back into the playoffs after a dismal 2024 season, the Mets have been regulars lately. Last year, things looked bleak going in for Mets manager Kevin Brauer as reigning pitcher of the year Jeremiah Jahnke was limited due to arm issues. However, the backup pitchers proved just as good, and veteran sluggers Adam Gutschow, Kordell Draves, Zac Marchant, and Nolan Wagner all played a pivotal role in getting the Mets back into the playoffs. With a healthy Jahnke, the Mets may just be in the hunt.<\/p>\n The Ports may have been in the title discussion until a season-ending injury to Alec Schartner hurt their mojo. He may not be able to play much this year, but don\u2019t feel sorry for manager Eric Bley just yet. They still have a veteran core in Drew Tanck, Woody Schartner, Derek Niedzwiecki, and Riley Cordier to hold down the fort. Newcomer Peyton Kuehn will help to take the load off the pitching staff.<\/p>\n The two split their meetings last year, with both road teams coming up victorious. I see more of the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n Swami Says: Mets<\/p>\n Sister Bay (10-4) @ Baileys Harbor (7-7)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Bays\u2019 late-season swoon halted their three-peat aspirations in 2025. Sam Forkert continued to dominate on the mound and stable veterans Stuart Larsen, Tom Sawyer, Griffin Cole and Dusty Johnson are always a threat at the plate. Toss in youngsters like Alex and Bubba Laughlin, Casey Weddig and Spencer Krause and you just know the Bays will be back in the title race again this season.<\/p>\n In Baileys Harbor, Hunter Pawelski takes over the reins and his spirited discussion with me tells me that the Haba boys are in good hands. He told me that they will have one of the fastest outfields in the league and that can make all the difference in the world. Bryce and Caleb Plzak return and will be ready to go week one. Chris Lodl returns and will have to shoulder some of the pitching load until Aaron Brey returns from his high school commitment. The A\u2019s have climbed from the cellar, now can they take a step into the playoffs?<\/p>\n They may have to wait a week for the wins to start in 2026.<\/p>\n Swami Says: Sister Bay\u00a0<\/p>\n Egg Harbor (4-10) @ Washington Island (7-7)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Island missed the playoffs for the first time in a few years, but that absence may be short-lived. Manager Joey Cornell said Jon Kordon has returned to full health and that he will join a pitching staff of Ryan Jorgenson and Bennett Isaacson. They have some of the best hitters in the league, with returning batting champion Luke Geiger being flanked by veterans Ben Geiger, Troy Jorgenson, Ben and Alex Johnson, Caleb Cornell, and Matt Foss.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Indians had a disappointing year by their standards and Manager Joe Sawyer is hoping for a rebound season. He has a young pitching staff, and they will find out early if they can contend, as after this week, they will have two straight games against playoff teams from a year ago. The team can hit with perennial all-stars Cory Fuller, Nick Kita, and Cody Giesseman and youngster Brady Kita.<\/p>\n The Island tends to get off to slow starts, but two straight road games the next two weeks against playoff teams means they need this one right off the bat.<\/p>\n Swami Says: Washington Island<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benjamin Franklin once wrote, \u201cIn this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.\u201d You could add one…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":778191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[318689,318690,318691,318692,318693,318694,318695,18264,318696,318697,318698,318699,318700,318701,318702,318703,318704,318705,318706,318707,318708,318709,318710,7571,318711,318712,318713,318714,72106,318715,318716,318717,318718,305241,318719,1266,318720,318721,318722,318723,318724,318725,318726,318727,318728,62,318729,318730,318731,318732,318733,67,132,68,318734,318735,318736,318737],"class_list":{"0":"post-778190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-aaron-brey","9":"tag-adam-gutschow","10":"tag-alec-schartner","11":"tag-alex-johnson","12":"tag-austin-rohe","13":"tag-baileys-harbor","14":"tag-ben-geiger","15":"tag-ben-johnson","16":"tag-bennett-isaacson","17":"tag-brady-kita","18":"tag-bryce-plzak","19":"tag-caleb-plzak","20":"tag-chris-lodl","21":"tag-cody-giesseman","22":"tag-cory-fuller","23":"tag-dave-neinas","24":"tag-derek-niedzwiecki","25":"tag-door-county-league","26":"tag-door-county-league-baseball","27":"tag-drew-tanck","28":"tag-egg-harbor","29":"tag-eric-bley","30":"tag-griffin-cole","31":"tag-institute","32":"tag-jack-peterson","33":"tag-jared-pflieger","34":"tag-jason-annis-wild","35":"tag-jeremiah-jahnke","36":"tag-joe-sawyer","37":"tag-jon-kordon","38":"tag-kevin-brauer","39":"tag-kolberg","40":"tag-kordell-draves","41":"tag-maplewood","42":"tag-matt-foss","43":"tag-mlb","44":"tag-nick-kita","45":"tag-nolan-wagner","46":"tag-peyton-kuehn","47":"tag-riley-cordier","48":"tag-robby-pollman","49":"tag-ryan-jorgenson","50":"tag-sam-forkert","51":"tag-sister-bay","52":"tag-spencer-krause","53":"tag-sports","54":"tag-stuart-larsen","55":"tag-tom-sawyer","56":"tag-trevor-reinhardt","57":"tag-troy-jorgenson","58":"tag-tyler-neinas","59":"tag-united-states","60":"tag-unitedstates","61":"tag-us","62":"tag-washington-island","63":"tag-west-jacksonport","64":"tag-will-hartman","65":"tag-zac-marchant"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=778190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/778191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=778190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=778190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=778190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Coach Dave Neinas enters season 25 managing the Braves with an eye on more hardware.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n