The 2002 XBL season was defined by one of the wildest trading deadlines ever, as well as four words that vaulted the New Jersey Rhinos to the XBL Championship -- Bonds is a Rhino.
    Bonds' presence made an already scary lineup frightening. Teams could no longer walk anyone, as Larry Walker and Vladimir Guerrero were in the same lineup. This lineup helped the Rhinos sweep the Minnesota Marshals to win the XBL World Series.
    The 2002 proceedings began with the annual draft, which took place on July 15. Sacramento happily led off by taking starting pitcher Mark Prior. Prior was the type of player that doesn't come around often, as was evidenced by New Jersey's trade offers. Sacramento declined, and now have one of the best young arms in baseball today. This draft was very pitcher-heavy, and the first round featured nine pitchers taken, including eventual Rookie of the Year Odalis Perez, who was taken third by the Las Vegas Strip. After the first 20 picks, the talent pool available seriously went downhill.
    The season opened September 12 in Sacramento's newly christened Cracker Jack Stadium, but the Quakes could still not solve the Portland Beaverwhackers, losing both games at home. They would finally get a win against Portland in the 24th week of the season, ending their 10-game losing streak, dating back to the birth of the franchise. The Quakes and their expansion partners, the Atlantic City Trumps, did improve considerably in their sophomore seasons. The Quakes improved to 20-32 and the Trumps to 22-30. Brian Lawrence led the Trumps, setting the record for lowest ERA with 1.80, despite almost no run support.
    While New Jersey wasn't quite as good as the 40-12 team from 2001, they did win the eastern division for the second straight season with the Bonds trade. Before that, they were hanging in second or third places. San Antonio lost most of their talent in the starting staff, and sank to the bottom of the west, much like Portland did after winning the 2000 western division championship. Minnesota was right there to win the division, even though they were five games back with eight weeks to go.
    Speaking of which, the Rhode Island Peanuts and the Las Vegas Strip emerged as the early leaders in their respective divisions. Neither would win, though both were the most improved teams of the 2002 season. Las Vegas would drop their western division lead down the stretch, though they did still make the playoffs. The Peanuts, however, lost their division lead shortly after the trading deadline, and ended up in a fight with the Omaha Rowdies for the final playoff spot, which they would eventually lose.
    The trading deadline had the owners trading phone calls and instant messages like never before, as an amazing seven deals went down in the two hours before the deadline. Other than the Bonds, five draft picks and two managers were dealt that night as well.
    The other major issue during the 2002 season was the absenteeism of Portland and Albany owner Brett Schlekeway, who did not participate in a single game during the season. This rendered both franchises as dummy teams, and in bad shape for 2003. A good amount of effort will be needed to resurrect these teams quickly. Let's hope this doesn't happen again.
    When the smoke cleared, New Jersey had a team that was possibly better than the 2001 version, Minnesota stayed strong to finish with the league's top record, Memphis' and Orlando's playoff drives fell resoundly short again, and Charlie Brown's team had the proverbial football removed again.
    Minnesota then stuck it to Omaha in a four game semifinal sweep, making it six straight victories over the Omaha Rowdies for the Marshals, and while the Strip gave it a good run, New Jersey was just too strong and won the other semifinal in six games. New Jersey then trampled all over the Minnesota Marshals in the XBL World Series to win their first title, and making the third different champion in the three-year history of this league.