The Brooklyn Knights finished spring training with a 14-16 record, which put them in third place. The Las Vegas Luck led the division with a spring training record of 17-13. The other division leaders were the Dunedin Otters and Luisville Beasts (tied), the Washington Allies, and the Phoenix Rattlers. They all had 18-12 records. Preseason predictions have the Knights, Beasts, Sky Chiefs, and Wild winning their respective divisions. Free agency cost the Knights several key players in their starting lineup: C Dan Conley, SS Lariel Gómez, and CF Romeo Usquiano. Brooklyn's division is comparatively weak, however, and the Knights remain strong favorites. Luisville won 96 games last year but they look even more impressive heading into the 2019 season. The Beasts added a lot of talent in the offseason: CF Oscar Barrientes, C Dan Conley, SP Anastasio Urbáez, CL Ed Boudrou, RP Juan Cambray, RP Pat Allen, RP Paul Thompson, SP Cherokee Swaffer, RP Roberto Farinas, RP Bengie De La Torre, and SP Yuniesky Porraz. They will be a contender for NALB's best record.

The Knights had only a single serious injury in spring training. Oft-injured starter José Arisa was sent to the 60 day Injured List with shoulder inflammation. He is expected to miss up to three months.

Other key injuries in spring training:

• Cornfield Axemen: SP Adam Davis is out with a torn labrum (shoulder). He is expected to miss 4 to 5 months.
• Cornfield Axemen: RP Manny Huebe has a torn elbow ligament, which will cause him to miss the 2019 season.
• Key West Corals: 1B Dave Groot is experiencing shoulder tendinitis. He should be back in about 3 weeks.
• Key West Corals: 2B Alfredo Herran broke a bone in his elbow. With an estimated 7 month recovery time, he will likely be out for the season.
• Luisville Beasts: RP Juan Miranda strained a hamstring. He will probably miss 2 months.
• Luisville Beasts: RP Roberto Farinas will be out approximately 5 weeks with elbow tendinitis.
• Nashville Firecats: RF Chris Lee should return in 2 weeks. He suffered a partially torn labrum.
• Phoenix Rattlers: RP Myles Wexler experienced bicep tendinitis but is expected to be back in 6 weeks.
• Phoenix Rattlers: A fractured hand will keep 2B Roberto Vásquez out of the lineup for 2 to 3 months.
• Richmond Slam: RP Mario Torralbo has an oblique strain but should recover in about 3 weeks.
• St. James Crusaders: Shoulder inflammation sent SP Rolf Goosens to the 60 day IL. He will need 3-4 months of recovery time.
• St. Rock Mudcats: LF Lynn Smith struggled with elbow tendinitis and needs 2-3 weeks of rest.
• St. Rock Mudcats: SS Wilson Bullard is out of action for 5 to 6 months with a torn labrum (shoulder).
• Stade Maples: SP Murray Hurst strained his back pitching. He should be back in 3 weeks.
• Stade Maples: RP Jose Sandoval is on the 60 day IL with shoulder inflammation. He is expected to need 3 months to recover.
• Vancouver Wild: SP Ashley Bowlby ruptured his ulnar collateral ligament. He will certainly miss the 2019 season. He will require surgery and 14 months recovery time.
• Washington Allies: RP Haven O'Morony has a partially torn labrum, which will keep him out of action for 2 months.
• Washington Allies: SP Francisco Camano suffered a very serious injury—a torn flexor tendon in his elbow. He return is unlikely before 17 months.
• Washington Allies: RP Rico Lagumbay needs another 3-4 weeks to rest his shoulder tendinitis.
• Washington Allies: RP Gabriel Ortegon requires surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow. He may be able to return 4 months from now.

Prior to the 2019 NALB season there were some notable roster moves.

The Brooklyn Knights were notably quiet during the offseason. Here were their roster moves:

• The Knights extended the contracts of 11 players through salary arbitration: Marcos Delgafillo, Roberto Hernández, Júlio Guillén, Darius Luxton, Aaron Patterson, Ken Hannah, Andrew Strain, Alberto Pescador, Xerxes Scaife, Juan Fuentes, and Cristófor De Jesús.
• Arbitration was offered to Dan Conley and Lariel Gómez. Both players declined and opted to file for free agency. Romeo Usquiano also entered the free agent market.
• Several players were lost in the Rule 5 Draft: SP Yuniesky Porraz to the Luisville Beasts, 2B Marcos Perlanga to the Washington Allies, SP Dave Williams to the Nashville Firecats, and 3B Ning Wa to the St. Rock Mudcats.
• Brooklyn traded 34-year-old reliever Rikiya Kiyomizu to the Quebeck Sky Chiefs, getting 25-year-old reliever Iemitsu Kanemitsu, 23-year-old minor league first baseman Mark Bulger and 24-year-old minor league starting pitcher Jesús Medián in return. The Knights agreed to retain $1.9 million of Kiyomizu's $2 million salary. Kanemitsu gives the Knights organization a younger left-handed reliever. He will start the season with the AAA Santa Ana Drifters.

Notable offseason free agent signings:

• The Dunedin Otters landed veteran third baseman Pete Chavez. After hitting .345 last season, the Otters felt comfortable offering Chavez $9.1 million for one year.
• It didn't take long for the first mega-deal of the offseason. On November 26, 2018, second-baseman Rico Gómez signed an eight year contract with the Phoenix Rattlers for $82.8 million. The 27 year old had previously spent his entire career with the Luisville Beasts.
• Catcher Dan Conley left the Brooklyn Knights for free agency. He found a new home in Luisville. The Beasts and Conley agreed to a $33 million deal over five years.
• Jonathan Grandberry has had a successful career with the Cornfield Axemen. He is now headed to Phoenix thanks to a six year $56.5 million offer from the Rattlers.
• Lariel Gómez will be wearing green and gold in 2019. The former Brooklyn Knight is now a member of the Dunedin Otters. His four year contract is worth $24.4 million.
• The Key West Corals added quality arms to its bullpen. They signed Joe Farrell for $7.36 million over two years. Sergio Aispro also signed with the club for a meager $550,000 one year contract. Aispro has struggled with staying healthy and was pleased to find a new home in 2019.

Notable offseason trades:

• The St. Rock Mudcats traded 32 year old center fielder Oscar Barrientes to the Luisville Beasts for 22 year old first baseman Steve Sherlock, 23 year old minor league first baseman Pat Byrd, and 21 year old minor league first baseman Dud Hildebrandt. St. Rock is currently in rebuilding mode and wanted to offload $10.22 million of Barrientes' salary. A fixture in the Mudcats' lineup for the past 13 seasons, he has been one of the league's best center fielders with a .326 career batting average. Unfortunately, Barrientes suffered a torn ribcage muscle last season and missed a significant number of games. He hopes to stay healthy and be productive once again in Luisville.
• The Richmond Slam traded 29 year old first baseman Codie Laton to the St. James Crusaders for 36 year old starting pitcher Logan MacImmey and 24 year old minor league left fielder Miguel Gago.
• The Stade Maples traded 25 year old center fielder Ken MacEachern to the Key West Corals for 26 year old closer Berto Sarzoza.
• The St. James Crusaders traded 30 year old starting pitcher Anastasio Urbáez to the Luisville Beasts for 29 year old center fielder Ramón Cantú, 22 year old minor league shortstop Ric Crane, and a 3rd round draft pick.

After a slight diversion with Gorky 17, I went back to play another puzzle game, And Yet It Moves. AYIM is a puzzle platform game. Compared to the last two puzzle games I played, that means it had a little more arcade action. It didn't have the frenzy of a typical arcade game with swarming enemies or time limits. Instead it had a lot of running and jumping but allowed a leisurely pace. The basic controls were pretty standard: run left, run right, and jump. However, there was one notable addition—rotation of the game world. You could rotate the world clockwise or counterclockwise while simultaneously performing other actions. That opened up a lot of interesting possibilities. Similar to other platform games, AYIM was frustrating at times. However, I really enjoyed this one. It never got so frustrating that I wanted to stop playing. It was a bit on the short side, which was fine with me. With so many games yet to play, I don't want too many that demand dozens or even hundreds of hours to complete.


The Ending of And Yet It Moves

I've been playing most of the computer games I own in roughly chronological order of initial release dates. However, I recently jumped back in time from 2009 to 1999 with Gorky 17 (aka Odium). Gorky 17 is a Polish role-playing game with turn-based tactical combat. You control a small squad of NATO operatives that is investigating strange happenings in a small Polish town. The game feels pretty dated now, even compared to the other older titles I've played in recent years. The graphics are low-res and the dialogue and voice acting are mediocre at best.

The game is more combat-focused than story-focused, yet the combat is somewhat disappointing. I was surprised with the limitations of weapons. They can only be fired in very specific directions, typically straight-ahead or on a strict diagonal. This leads to odd situations in which you cannot shoot a clearly visible opponent who moves just one square to the left or right. You have to move your character in response to maintain a direct straight-line shot. Although bizarre and unrealistic, the combat had a certain charm to it. I learned to plan tactics around it, using these limitations to my defensive advantage when possible. Unfortunately, ammunition is fairly scarce, which often makes combat difficult. If any character in your squad dies, the game is over. There are bandages and other healing items but they are in short supply as well, given the frequency of character injuries.

I made it through the port area into the sewers, which is the next accessible location. Although I had some fun playing Gorky 17, I expect my time is better spent elsewhere. I don't expect to play this one to the end. Instead, I will go back to my library and choose another game.