Tweet
10/21/2039
(AP) - And we're into the 2039 final four as the Divisional Series come to an end. Coming up this week will be the League Championship Series where the Pittsburgh Millers will travel to take on the New Orleans Voodoo, and the Windy City Blues will head out to Washington DC to take on the Bats.
Performance of the Week
1B Ahmed Salter - The 27 year old in his second postseason destroyed the Millers this week, but especially so on October 13th when he turned in the #4 hitting performance of the year. In three at bats he had two home runs, drove in six, and scored four times in an 8-7 victory. Overall in the seven game series he had 10 hits, three home runs, and drove in 11.
Injury of the Week
SS Elias Shelton - He played in 153 games for the Millers during the season and hit .284/.352/.344 while posting a +4.4 ZR at short stop. After his first ever playoff game, where he recorded two hits, drove in a run, and scored twice, he was noticeably absent from the Millers lineup the next day. Reports surfaced that he suffered some sort of off field accident. Then the Millers released this dandy.
"SS Elias Shelton was injured while playing fetch with his dog. The Diagnosis: Strained hamstring. This injury keeps him out of action for 6 weeks."
No wonder this franchise has never won a Brewmasters Cup.
Prospect of the Week
CF Nathan Mullins - The 24 year old was a 5th round pick by Maine back in 2033 out of Basic HS. A slow bloomer to say the least it finally looks like he might have a real shot at playing in the BLB. This season in AA he hit .328/.406/.522 with 20 HR's and 88 RBI's with 11 SB's, while posting a -0.2 ZR in 120 games at center field. He went to the Lautering All-Star game, won the AA Platinum Stick award at center, and then topped it off with the AA MASH Outstanding Hitter award.
Three Things We Think We Think
1. Before we get into the playoffs congrats to Jarrod Peacock who decided to hang it up this past week during an October 16th announcement. Drafted in the 8th round of the 2018 draft by Toronto he played for seven teams over the course of 15 seasons. He was a 2x All-Star, won the Pale Ale in 2033 and won the 2034 Brewmasters Cup with the Indianapolis Racers. His career record was 166-131 with a 4.04 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and 42.2 WAR.
2. At least we had a little excitement this week as the Toronto Canadians took the Millers to seven games. The other three series went 4-1 New Orleans, 4-1 Windy City, and 4-0 Washington. We predicted the first one in the DK but were way off in the final two. Windy City absolutely dominated Batavia behind two amazing performances by King Sadiraj. He was 2-0 with a 0.60 ERA and 18 K's over those starts. Throw in an 8 inning, no run, 11 K performance by Mejia and the Red Jackets didn't have much of a chance. In the final series no one saw the Bats sweeping the Pilots. We knew Seattle was in trouble due to injuries in the pitching ranks but their offense was to blame in this one. The two .400 hitters in 'Powder' and Thompson hit .231 and .188 respectively. Weir hit .167, Hoyt hit .143, and Holes hit .083. Not one player hit over .300 while Washington had five starters do so with three of them hitting over .400.
3. Playoff Previews:
Windy City Blues (98-64, Away: 43-38)
Washington Bats (99-63, Home: 50-31)
Season: Washington 5 - 6 Windy City
The season series went to the Blues but the run differential was +3 for the Bats. The main problem for the Bats though is they have to deal with Sadiraj and Mejia. Both of them are 'hot' right now and a combined 4-0 in their last four starts. During that time they pitched 32 innings, allowed one run, and struck out 39 batters. They are also fully rested and ready to roll which has to be a scary thought for the Washington organization. The Bats do have the fact that they roughed up Sadiraj during the season to the tune of 0-2 and a 4.50 ERA. Another good thing for the Bats is that they have some 'hot' hitters coming off the Seattle sweep. Pat Nunes is hitting .478 with 3 HR's over his last five games, Reger Zuniga is hitting .405 over his last 10, and Edgar Alonzo is hitting .364 with 4 HR's over his last five. At this point though we just can't bet against the fearsome twosome from Windy City, no matter how hot the Bats bats are.
Windy City in 6
Pittsburgh Millers (101-61, Away: 52-29)
New Orleans Voodoo (107-55, Home: 57-24)
Season: New Orleans 5 - 6 Pittsburgh
Like the other series the Millers hold the slight regular season advantage but New Orleans was +7 in runs scored. Elmer Careres was the main issue for Pittsburgh as he hit .357 with 4 HR's and 11 RBI's over the 11 games. Pittsburgh main man was Elias Shelton who hit .421 with 2 HR's and 8 RBI's. I guess good thing for the Voodoo is that Shelton is now out due to the off-field incident listed above and will miss the series. Pittsburgh is still a dangerous team though that led the DL in runs and has a 'hot' RJ Kapper and Louie Dano Dasmarinas to pound away on opposing pitchers. Kapper hit .340 for the year after 2038's disappointing campaign and has been revitalized playing first base. Meanwhile Dano cracked 38 HR's during the year and is hitting .524 over his last six games. New Orleans though is just tough...too tough. They can beat you in a multitude of ways big or small and even won three straight one-run games to take the Miami series. Overall they won 107 games, have a 'hot' Dusty Dills and Erik Foley (combined 3-1, 6 runs allowed in last 5 starts), and feature five players (3 pitchers/2 batters) on OSA's Top 20 Players list. We'll take pitching over hitting anytime, but we think Pittsburgh can make it interesting.
New Orleans in 7
Stat of the Week
.
| Most Postseasons Played In (Top 25 Players) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Comment