Jul 4, 2025 By Chris Dugan 4 min read

The Wild Things reached the halfway point in the Frontier League season late Thursday night following a 6-4 loss to the Gateway Grizzlies.

And when the bus pulled out of Sauget, Ill. – population 299 – and headed 500 miles south to Pearl, Miss., for a series that began Friday night against the Mississippi Mud Monsters, the Wild Things were riding in first place, by the smallest of margins. With a 26-22 record, Washington led the Central Division by a half-game over the Lake Erie Crushers.

You can be sure that to manager Tom Vaeth, his coaching staff and some of the team’s veteran players, this season has felt like anything but a first-place joy ride. It has been a mighty struggle. It’s almost mind-boggling that Washington has been perched in first place since June 1 considering some of its deficiencies.

The Wild Things entered Friday with a team ERA of 5.72, which if the season ended here would be the worst in franchise history. They have almost as many blown saves (8) as saves (12). They are already on their second pitching coach of the season. Two of the five pitchers who began the season in the starting rotation left the team. One exited to play in Mexico.

“If we don’t get our pitching straightened out, we’re not going anywhere,” Vaeth said after a recent home game.

That’s not the only thing that needs tweaking. Though Washington’s hitters – especially the top six in the batting order – have been productive, the Wild Things have the fewest stolen bases in the 16-team league and only four clubs have been thrown out attempting to steal more times than Washington. The running game was a strength during Vaeth’s first four years as manager but this season the Wild Things are running themselves out of potential big innings.

To make matters worse, they’ve grounded into the most double plays in the league.

Sure, it’s not fair to compare this Wild Things team to last year’s version that was 12 games over .500 at the end of June and went on to win a franchise-record 67 games, the division title by eight games and advance to the league championship series. That was a more experienced team with the best pitching staff in the league.

This year, Washington is back in first place but holding on by its finger tips. It was swept for the first time since last year when it dropped three in a row at Gateway. The Wild Things are currently in a brutal stretch of games – 17 of 19, including 10 straight, on the road – and if they can end it in first place that would be a psychological boost. And the schedule will even out as Washington will play 13 of 15 at home from late July to mid-August.

The good news is the Wild Things play in the Central Division, which doesn’t have a team that has shown an ability to run away with the title. So an interesting pennant race should be ahead this summer.

* After playing the Sunday night series finale in Pearl, the Wild Things will bus – for at least 14 hours – back to Washington. Then they’ll begin a series at home against division rival Evansville. The start time? Try 10:35 a.m. – after spending more than half a day on a bus.

Who thought this was good scheduling?

And this is a Wild Things-chosen start time. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. This is a start time you schedule with when the opponent has a 900-mile trip into town – Washington did that to Joliet last month – not your own team.

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com