San Antonio Missions end 2026 season with win over Amarillo
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Even though the Missions began Sunday on a seven-game losing streak, the team found a way to close out the 2026 season on a high note.
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The Missions defeated the Amarillo Sod Poodles, 11-10, in their final game of the 2026 season.
"It was a nice win to wrap up the season," Missions manager Chris Tremie said.
Kerrington Cross recorded his first Double-A home run to put the Missions up 2-0 in the first inning. Justin DeCriscio also hit his first home run at the Double-A level to give San Antonio a 11-5 lead in the eighth inning. Missions reliever Carlos Medina allowed two runs in the ninth inning, but a line out to third base sealed the win for San Antonio.
The Missions finished the second half of the season with a 28-41 record. Overall, San Antonio went 59-79 in the entire 2026 season. The Missions last reached the postseason in 2023.
"Everybody in there wanted to compete and win a few more games than we did, but the effort and intent and work to do that was always there from the players and staff," Tremie said. "And that is something that I definitely appreciate."
Salas' Major League debut
One notable player missing from the Missions' season finale was catcher Ethan Salas, who will finish out his 2026 season with the San Diego Padres.
Salas began the year with the Missions and played 72 games for San Antonio before being sent up to Triple-A El Paso on July 29. The No. 1 overall prospect in San Diego's farm system officially made his Major League debut on Sept. 2.
Tremie was not shocked by Salas' exponential rise to the Majors this season. If anything, Salas' performance this year only proved the hype surrounding him.
"[This is] validation of what everybody, including himself, thought he could do," Tremie said. "He just got validated by the year he had and now with the opportunity he has at the Major League level."
Season standouts
Tremie mentioned multiple players that made an impact throughout the season, including Albert Fabian, Braedon Karpathios and Romeo Sanabria.
"They developed and got better over the course of the season," Tremie said of the three. "That's what they're here to do and prepare themselves to get a chance to be in the Major Leagues one day."
After a slow start to his season, Karpathios ended the season as the Missions' leader in home runs (17), hits (120) and runs (62). The outfielder was given the chance to finish the regular season at Triple-A El Paso when he was moved up on Sept. 8.
Karpathios and Fabian also tied for the second-highest batting average on the team, hitting .268. Sanabria held the highest batting average this season for the Missions with a .295.
Lessons learned
The 2026 season was Tremie's first with the Missions, and his first managerial role in seven seasons. He was a minor league field coordinator for the Cincinnati Reds organization for seven years before he took over as San Antonio's manager.
Tremie admits that while some aspects of baseball have not changed since he last managed, he had to make some adjustments himself.
"Baseball is baseball," he said. "The players are dedicated to what they do still, and that never has really changed. But learning how to just communicate with the age level again was really big for me."
And while Tremie wishes San Antonio could have pulled off a few more wins, he emphasized the player development he saw throughout the course of the season.
"The win-loss record wasn't great," he said. "But a lot of good things happened at the club, and a lot of players got better and learned a lot during the year, which is really important."
The San Antonio Missions open the 2027 season on April 2 against Amarillo Sod Poodles at Wolff Stadium.
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