But today I’m talking Frick League, and so today I need to focus on the Hawaii and Yellow Springs matchup, and the shoot-out that could be the San Fernando and Calgary firework show.
It’s going to be a fun week to watch baseball, that’s for sure.
HAWAII v. YELLOW SPRINGS: JINXES, CURSES AND THE MIGHT OF THE COLLECTIVE
The
Geoghegan MVP
In other words, the Hawaii ballclub got here due to a collective presence.
A team effort.
In the other corner, The Yellow Springs Nine finished the stretch run with a 19-8 September, their best month of the year. They’re also no stranger to the post season, having essentially been a write-it-down prediction every pre-season, and being about as dependable as a Maytag—he says, dating himself horribly. It, too, has its bright spots on the hill, primarily in the form of Nebraska candidate Carlos Valle and one of the better bullpens in the league. News that Curt Phillips’ elbows seems to be in one piece is a big danged deal.
Offensively, the Nine are similar to the Tropics in that they don’t really rely on one guy, but are arguably a bit deeper in overall talent, especially with the emergence of Dong-po Thum and given the career year DH George Robertson is having.
Then, of course, there’s the Yellow Spring curse.
Watch out where the huskies go, and don’t you eat that yellow snow, right?
But, you know, as far as curses go, it’s not like the Tropics don’t have their share of gripes. The development monster had a long string of visits to the Islands for some time, and the Tropics fans are unlikely to be heading into this thing with the idea that they have any particular psychic tailwind behind them. There’s jinxes and cross-jinxes galore here.
Which, all total, this means the series matches up as imminently watchable.
Hawaii’s top-notch staff against a solid set of Yellow Springs lumber. The Nine’s sneaky good staff against the Tropics’ sneaky good bats. Superstition vs. superstition.
Who will win? I dunno. I suppose part of ta answer depends on how much weight you give things like curses and jinxs, or the weight of Zak Johnson’s arm.
CALGARY v. SAN FERNANDO: BRUTE FORCE v. THE RESISTANCE
The Other
Geoghegan MVP
To put it bluntly, the Bear’s offense is simply the best at scoring runs that there is in the Frick League, and last we saw that’s the most valuable counting stat there is beyond the pure goodness of team wins. The team led the league in on base percentage, led the league in OPS, led the league in wOBA, They were 9th in raw stolen bases, but—you got it—led the league in baserunning value. A recent post outlined five guys who are in the Sawyer Silk race, but are even more likely to win Pucketts.
It’s enough to make a pitching staff cower in the corner.
On the flipside, a big injury to Feliciano Rafael has exposed the Bear staff for what it is—and that is not particularly grand. Ultimately, the Bear’s staff seems to play like it was an underground resistance with one charter: hold on tight and keep the other guys from destroying things until the Marines can get here.
So there’s the thing.
Calgary pitching is going to get thumped—even the mighty Bobby Lynch (who has some help in the form of Edwin “Vicious Headhunter” Gilliam and Jefferson Pierce). But the question of who wins this series may well wind up falling to the shoulders of Calgary’s bats. Can they pound the soft underbelly of the Bears’s staff hard enough that the SFB Marines can’t save the day?
The answer, like in all good storybooks, is maybe and maybe not.
Because, you see, if you were to predict the Pioneer offense as 5th or 6th in pretty much any category, you’d be right a lot more often than not. This is a team that can score, and can do it in a wide array of methods. It has fresh faces in Liann-wei Mao and Werner McConnell, Jr. (both of whom you’d best get use to seeing on award ballots), and a second set of guys who can rake. Perhaps no one will expect the Calgary Inquisition, but it could well come along any time now.
Who is going to win?
You tell me.
