Johnson League Cartwright Series Preview

[7teen]

We are down to the final four in the MBBA playoffs and for the second consecutive season in the Johnson League, the Madison Wolves will take on the Vancouver Mounties for the right to advance to the Landis Memorial Championship Series. In what expects to be one exciting series, let's take a look at the tale of the tape of these two clubs...

Offense
Each team has some major superstar power when it comes to the offensive side of the baseball. Vancouver has Doug Newhouse, one of the top 2nd basemen in the entire league and a front runner for the JL Sawyer Silk Award in 2000. He hit .331/.433/.534 this season with an eye popping 77 stolen bases. That all came in a season in which he missed an entire month of the regular season due to injury. Brock Lee brings his 31 homeruns and 102 RBI to the dish in the series as well. After that, the often apt to strikeout Bobby Bondsbrings a ton of power to the dish, but also the ability to strike out every time he approaches the plate. His 234 strikeouts led the league which means he is more likely to swing and miss than make contact.
On the Wolves side, things are a lot more potent. The team has the reigning JL Sawyer Silk winner in Bopper Kengos. He had another stellar year, leading the JL in hits and postign 36 homeruns and 131 RBI. This year's front runner for the Silk Award, Charles Puckett, may be the only 2b in the league that can challenge Newhouse for the top 2b in the league honor. Puckett led the JL in OPS and VORP this season and hit .333-31-104 as the team's number 2 hitter. John Catron finished 2nd on the team in homeruns with 36 and also drove in 114 runs. In all, the Wolves will send up to the plate 7 batters that hit at least 20 homeruns, 6 guys that drove in at least 70 RBI, and 3 guys that scored at least 100 runs.
Advantage: Madison Madison finished 2nd in the league in runs scored with 841 while Vancouver ranked 7th with only 749, nearly 100 fewer runs than Madison.

Rotations
Everyone says "pitching wins championships". Well, if one of these two pitching staffs are going to win it, then one will have to emerge as being better than the other. On the Vancouver side, Shane Wookey and Robbie Sargent will likely take to the hill in games 1 and 2. Both were 18 game winners and found their names all over the leaderboard among the JL's best. Sargent led the JL in ERA with a 2.43 mark while Wookey's overall stat line ranks him among the leagues all around best pitchers. After these two, the level drops off some with Govea (15-11; 4.24) and Flaskamper (10-14; 4.09 ERA) but not terrible options at 3 and 4.
On the Madison side of things, two 20 game winners will take the mound in Games 1 and 2. Jessie Wright, who won both games in the California series, will go in Game 1. No pitcher has been hotter than Wright over the last 2 months, winning each of his last 10 starts. Wills, while not sporting the overpowering ratings, also won 20 games for Madison this year and ranked 2nd, behind Sargent, in ERA in the JL this season. Wills also ranked 2nd in VORP among all starters in the JL. Like Vancouver, the level of pitching drops off slightly after the top two hurlers. 22 year old John Rasmussen (12-8; 4.05) will go in game 3. His ratings look better than his Vancouver counterpart, but the stats don't show it. In Game 4, the Wolves will send veteran Chip Foodie (12-9; 4.07) to the mound. Foodie did not pitch in the California series and hasn't pitched since September 21 due to injury. The veteran will be well rested for when he is called upon in this series.
ADVANTAGE: PUSH Games 1 and 2 are virtual toss-ups in my opinion. Game 1 between Wright and Wookey will be outstanding. I feel the pitching matchup in game 2 favors Vancouver. Though Wills had great numbers, Sargent is probably better. The area I feel Madison has the slight advantage then is when the next two starters. The stats don't show it, but overall Rasmussen is better than Govea and Foodie is slightly better than Flaskamper. Madison's starting ERA was 3.58 on the season while Vancouver's was 3.48. So in honesty, the pitching matchups will be fun to watch.

BULLPEN
Here, we have another overwhelming advantage for one team. Vancouver's bullpen 4 guys with ERA's below the 4.00 mark. Jason Egan anchors the pen with his 41 saves and 3.14 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. Matt Whiteside appeared in 60 games for the Mounties pen, logging a 2.67 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. Overall, the Mounties pen had the lowest ERA in the JL at 3.52.
For the Wolves, their bullpen took a hit in the final game of the season when John Rhoadessuffered a season ending injury. Rhoades was 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA since being acquired in a trade. Justin Marco anchors the pen with his JL leading 48 saves. A lot of eyes will be on Marco during this series. Not to many have forgotten Marco's blowing of game 4 last season that eliminated the Wolves in the series with the Mounties a year ago. Can Marco erase last year's debacle and close the door this season. Free agent acquisition Damario Poso is the Wolves only other trustworthy reliever, going 5-2 with a 2.74 ERA in 42.2 innings pitched.
ADVANTAGE: VANCOUVER: The Wolves pen ranks 4th in the JL, but the Mounties are first. The Wolves suffered a blow with the Rhoades injury and are also using some unproven youngsters and spot starters as relievers in their pen. Overall, the Vancouver pen is superior.

Intangibles
What does this mean? Hell if I know. Vancouver is the defending champs. That's reason alone for me to give them the advantage here. These two teams met 12 times during the season, Madison won the series 7 games to 5. Since July, the Mounties are only 1 game over .500, not counting the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Wolves have gone 58-23 since July, the best mark in that span than any team in the JL. The Wolves have home field advantage. What more can you ask for?
ADVANTAGE: WOLVES: Everything points towards the Wolves here. Madison is hotter. They won the season series. They have home field advantage. But Vancouver is the defending champion, and the Wolves are in their 4th straight playoffs without making a trip to the Landis Memorial Series.

Prediction
The Wolves have the better offense and are the hotter team. Vancouver's bullpen is superior and the pitching rotations are virtual mirror images to one other. The first two games will obviously go a long way. If either team sweeps Games 1 and 2, I think the series is over quick. For the fans sake, this series should be a slugfest and one for the ages.
So who wins?
ADVANTAGE: Vancouver in 6: No way in hell I am picking my team to win this thing. Call it a reverse jinx if you want, but Madison hasn't shown the ability to win this thing. For the 3rd straight season the Wolves completed the regular season with the JL's top record and winning in excess of 100 games. Yet, in the previous 2 seasons, they failed to make it to the Landis Series. We're well on our way to becoming the Atlanta Braves of the MBBA!

[scottsdale_joe]

With Walsh out and my pitching not performing like they should down the stretch, you have to be a heavy favorite.
Unfortunately Sargent won't be rested for game two.

Good luck.
I'll be importing shortly and starting the sim.