Eugene Keeps Rolling, Becoming First MiLB to 30 Wins
SF Giants Minor Lines, May 15-17, 2026
Photo Credit: Eugene Emeralds
In a week that saw the Richmond club reach their first small hiccup of the season, the incredible Eugene Emeralds just kept chugging along, taking yet another five-win series and becoming — as both our title and lede graphic are shouting — the first minor league club to 30 wins. The first minor league club of any level, that is, including Triple-A, which had a one-week head start on them. Eugene has now won seven consecutive series to start the season — and in only two of them have they lost as many as two games! They are now sitting on a gargantuan nine game lead in the league with just 27 games remaining in the first half.
Though there’s no real significance to this number — as it represents almost entirely different groups of players and coaches — this is a continuation of the extraordinary run that the Eugene club had last year in the second half, when they set the NWL record (by a significant margin) for most wins in a half, with 49. Since the start of the 2025 second half, the Ems are a combined 49-26, an astonishing .750 winning percentage over nearly a full calendar year. With 30 wins now in the bank and 27 left in the half, they do have a shot at breaking their own record for wins in a half — though they would have to continue to play insanely hot ball for another month to do it. Sadly, Eugene has only lost only one series since the start of the 2nd half last year, and that was the NWL Championship series. Ah, the vagaries of the game.
Here’s a weird weekend trend for you. None of the five affiliates homered in Friday night’s games. Five games, zippo round-trippers! That’s no fun. But then every affiliate (that played) homered on Saturday (multiple times in most cases), before returning to a dinger-free state on Sunday. The lone exception to this pattern came from Richmond, but with an asterisk! Their Saturday night game was postponed by rain, but, in the makeup game for that rainout, they did get pretty homer happy. They then joined their brethren in going silent on the longballs in the regularly scheduled affair. Not particularly meaningful perhaps, but odd!
HITTER of the WEEKEND: Zander Darby (Eug), 6 for 7, 3 2b, 3 BB, 4 RBI
PITCHER of the WEEKEND: Carson Seymour (Sac), 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K
Let’s head to the lines and watch those Merry Pranksters go (although Eugene doesn’t seem to be using the Pranksters identity much this year; too bad, I got a kick out of that one).
