Last year, Galena lost to Brooklyn (now Thunder Bay) in 5 games, but the Hamsters are the ones who won in the long run. Can the best team in the PVBL ham it up in the playoffs, or will the starting rotation's post season frustrations get the best of them?... Tucson is riding high on Higginson's Triple Crown, but the Border Patrol are rookies facing the 2-time EL champs. Will the series against Galena have a Cinderella ending, or will the BPs be tought a lesson?... The ghost of World Series past still haunts Vero Beach, but right now they have a tougher foe: the perennial powerhouse, the Punxatawney Groundhogs. Can the Bums pound the Hogs for the second time in a row, or will Coppinger and Bergman continue their dominance into the post season?... Phoenix is facing their division rivals, the Washington Sea Dogs. Phoenix has Reynolds, Avery, Astacio and Chan Ho Park while Washington boasts pitchers McDonald, Estes, Chad Ogea and the young gun, Mack Leefenhaufenhauz. Are Weiner's moves sufficient to pull down the Phoenix stronghold, or is Phoenix truly the master of their domain?... The Deadwood Outlaws and the Motor City Madmen are hot, both having won 8 of their last 10 games. Motor City has been riding high on the bats of Sosa and Burks. Ditto in Deadwood--Steve Finley and Roberto Alomar have been hot in September. Motor City vs. Deadwood, folks, will be the series to watch, so why did ESPN elect to broadcast the World Cup instead?
Galena vs Tucson
Of the eight 8 teams that made the post season this year, only two franchises are doing it for the first time, and both newcomers are facing the league champs having captured the Wild Card. One of them is Washington. The other, the Tucson Border Patrol, a team that managed the most drastic turnaround in the PVBL since last year.
Team Pct Change
Tucson Border Patrol +1.67
Montreal Royals +0.93
Washington Sea Dogs +0.88
Larimer Knights +0.74
Springfield Atoms +0.74
Of course, Higginson's Triple Crown and MVP-quality year helped, but it was mostly thanks to their turnaround in pitching. In 1997, the Border Patrol were second last in ERA, a wopping 5.72. The next highest ERA was 4.71, held by the Montreal Royals (another case of a turnaround in pitching). Thanks to several moves before the season, the BPs had a revamped staff, composed of youngsters Andy Pettitte, Andy Benes, Jason Schmidt and Free Agent Draft pick Jaret Wright. And the team ERA is only a smiggin of what it was a year ago, at 4.29.
Relief pitching is still a major concern, and will have to be addressed by Scott Watterson, considering that Tucson is facing third-most prolific run scorers in the EL. Tucson may be first in that category, but in the late innings they may have a tough time outslugging their opponents. Only one reliever in the Tucson bullpen has an ERA below 4.00. Their closer, Hipolito Pichardo earned 20 saves, but they must have come easily for him because he was 1-5 with a 5.88 ERA during the season. Even the golden age Dennis Eckersley can no longer be depended on. Meanwhile, Galena's largely unchanged bullpen (the only major addition from last year was Terry Adams) is 38-21, and exactly every pitcher but 1 has an ERA under 4.00. With a young starting rotation, Tucson can't hope for many complete games (only one pitcher, Benes, has logged more than 200 innings this season), so the bullpen will just have to stay tough and face the music.
While pitching has been the marked improvement for the BPs this season, the spotlight has been on their offense. Tucson lead the league in batting average (.288) and home runs (258). 5 batted over .300, and 6 had 20 or more home runs. Higginson may have had 141 RBIs, but he may not get MVP honours simply because 3 of his teammates (Rondell White, Eddie Grove and Mark Johnson) have more than 80 RBIs apiece.
There's an old baseball saying that says "good pitching always wins over good hitting." If that's the case, Galena shouldn't have any trouble against the Tucson Border Patrol, as they were far and away the best pitching team in the EL. Galena was the only team in the entire PVBL with an ERA under 2.00, even better than the Springfield Atoms. With a 4-man rotation most of the season, only one pitcher, Jeremi Gonzalez, ended up with an ERA above 3.00. Each of the regular starters has at least 15 wins, and no more than 7 losses. All of them are about the same age--27, 27, 26 and 22--thus, unsurprisingly, they form a tight-nit group.
For the second year in a row, Galena is facing the wild card team, only this year, they are hoping to make it to the second round.
Vero Beach vs Punxatawney
Punxatawney, last year's DL champs, are facing this year's DL champs (title shared with Phoenix), the Vero Beach Bums. Vero Beach isn't going to settle for anything less than a World Series victory after last year, and the Groundhogs are still hungry from last post season's underachievement.
The question baseball critics have a tough time answering, is Punxatawney much worse than they are last year, or did they just have mcuh tougher divisional foes. Consider: The Atoms had superb pitching from Mark Gardner, Livan Hernandez, Justin Thompson, Ken Hill and a career year from Joey Hamilton. 4 of their starters (some temporary), had ERAs above 5.00. Consider: The Houston Hellraisers in third place, were powered by stars Henry Rodriguez, Vinny Castilla and Albert Belle, all absent from last year's team. Consider: This sub-.500 team had pitchers Tom Glavine, Pat Hentgen and Mariano Rivera. Punxatawney did finish last of all the playoff contenders, but that shouldn't be any comfort for the Vero Beach Bums.
Klesko finished with another MVP-quality season, driving in 101 RBIs, despite the fact that no Groundhog finished the season over .300. At first glance, Punxatawney's pitching looks unimpressive, but it is probably the deepest pitching staff in the PVBL. Over the course of the season, 11 different starters have been used, and only one, Scott Ruffcorn, had an ERA close to 5.00, at 4.86. Jon Lieber is only 7-8, but he dominated hitters when not on the DL. Just look at his numbers: 2.28 ERA, 10 HRs, 94 Ks in 142 innings pitched, and opponents are batting a mere .237 against him. Ken Hill and Sean Berbman have had solid years to say the least, and Rocky Coppinger would have had a Cy Young award in his hands, if not for the numerous injuries.
Vero Beach ended up settling for a tie for the President's Trophy, but they were the most consistently winning team all throughout 1998. But if anyone should be nervous about winning, it should be the Bums. In August and September, a good word to describe their performance would be complacent, while Punxatawny was fighting to the very end. At one point during the season, Vero Beach was far and away leaders in defense and pitching... not so any more. The Bums rotation is solid from first starter to closer. Every hitter in the Bums' batting lineup from #1 to #8 hitters can score--9 hitters on the Bums have scored 50 or more runs this season.
The Vero Beach Bums may have had 14 more wins this season, but by any measure, this series is about as evenly matched as they get.
Motor City vs Deadwood
Did you actually think Deadwood wouldn't make it to the playoffs? Shame on you! True, Deadwood did need a 10-game winning streak to advance past the Edmonton Oil Kings, but this team is no slack off. Deadwood has an All-Star lineup, composed of Roberto Alomar, Steve Finley, Eric Davis, Ken Caminiti, Rafael Palmiero, Tino Martinez, and others. Of those mentioned, only Alomar has less than 80 RBIs and only Martinez has less than 90 runs scored. I don't have any stats on this, but the Outlaws are were far and away the most offensive team in September. They have 3 players batting well over .300.
Deadwood's pitching finally came around in September (and I mean FINALLY). Acquiring Scott Erickson was the trade of the year (he is second in ERA among EL starters). Jeff Fassero, Alan Benes and Jose Rijo have finally turned into quality starters, after having used exactly 10 different starters all season long, and (count 'em), 18 different relievers. The offense is there, and they have the experience in the rotation... it's just a matter of putting it all together.
The Outlaws have only faced the Madmen 6 times this season, and no team is harder to predict than the Motor City Madmen. 3 players--Ellis Burks, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr.--have driven in more than 100 runs each, but no position players are really having great years. The same goes for the pitching staff. John Smoltz, Gary Niles and Osvaldo Fernandez have all had good years, but nothing outstanding. Walter Bigbee has 18 wins, but also an ERA of 4.96.
Which Motor City team are we going to see? The John Smoltz and Walter Bigbee of last year, who lead their team to a league leading ERA, or a team powered by Burks and Sosa? Or both? Or neither?
"The unfortunate thing is, were not as good as we look," says Smoltz. "Griffey and Sosa are two of the most fearless and feared hitters in the league. But it gives us a disadvantage because some teams try to hard to beat us, that they actually do.
"If we're going to win, we have to do what we're capable of."
Phoenix vs Washington
For the first time in PVBL history, division rivals will play each other in the first round of the playoffs. Aanon Weiner, GM of the Washington Sea Dogs, has the strongest team ever assembled midway through the season. Harold Baines, Lance Johnson and Arthur Rhodes (later traded away) were all obtained after regular season play. The Lance Johnson acquision put the icing on the cake, and is now hitting .324 with 120 runs and 79 stolen bases. Washington boasts one of the strongest infields in the peppers, with Barry Larkin, Chuck Knoblauch and Bill Mueller.
The real story is the starting rotation. Leefenhaufenhauz, Estes, Burkett and Ben McDonald all have 14 or more wins. In fact, they are only second in pitching behind the Springfield Atoms. There's no question the pitching staff is young and extremely talented, but only Ben McDonald has any post season experience (and, by the way, a ring to show for it), and they will have to face in indominable Phoenix Gila Monsters.
Phoenix, tucked away in the heart of the the Southwest, is anything but a showoff city. Phoenix is the largest smallest city in the U.S., and that reflects upon it's big league team. Shane Reynolds has again quiety surpassed the 20-win plateau. Pedtro Astacio has 18, the most wins for a non-ace. Any baseball fan would be hard pressed to name a pitcher in the Phoenix bullpen, despite the fact that they have the best and deepest relief in the entire PVBL (only Jeff Nelson, the closer, has a losing record in the bullpen). Nobody knows anything about Phoenix, except that their stars are Jeff Bagwell and Dave Justice, and lest I forget, Cy Young award winning Shane Reynolds. Even their rookie, the backup catcher Max Miestro, is batting .269 with 10 home runs. And surprising as it is, Phoenix is third in the league in pitching and second in offense. As far as anyone is concerned in Phoenix, humbility is an asset in baseball. Last year, they won their division by 1 game, and this year they got 9 wins better.
Washington may have ended the season on fire, but they may be the only ones sweating the heat of Arizona.
