Charlottesville, NC
Having the best overall season record doesn't guarantee you the championship, just ask @RonCo. The 2045 Marching Ants finished the season with a Spike Nolan best 53-15 record, winning almost 8 out of every 10 games they played in 2045. This however meant nothing to the Traverse City Talons who came in and kicked the over-confident Ants square in the nuts, sweeping the best team in the league 4 games to nil in the first round of the playoffs. The games were all close (except for game one).
Game 1 - Lost 9-2
Game 2 - Lost 9-8
Game 3 - Lost 4-3
Game 4 - Lost 4-3
(Talons fans greeting the Ants in R1 of the playoffs)
In the playoffs, everyone is 0-0 said Ants HC - Christian Brown. "Look we really took them out behind the woodshed during the regular season, besting them 7 games to 1." Rumor has it Talons GM @jiminyhopkins was in attendance to celebrate the victory, allegedly bringing along a Traverse City uniform to fit one "Mystery Player". Ushers overheard GM Sean Marko mummering under his breath something (after consuming about 24 $1 beers during the game). "I'm sha-nnnga win schmnthing this year gdammit, I'm tkng a real <beeeeeahalch> bath on that lzbian delership." Needless to say he left in a much better mood after the sweep was complete.
Moving on, the team has not has a losing record since GM Simon came aboard, making the Spike Nolan playoffs 3x in his 6 seasons on the job.
The team really jelled this season, we didn't really have one "superstar/stud" on the offensive side of the roster, just young men who came to work every day. Looking over the hitting leaders for the Spike Nolan League, the Marching Ants only had 2 players in the top 5 in any category.
Only 20yo 1B - Ivan Rodriguez was 3rd in the league in hits with 90. While fellow 20yo middle infielder Toby Hagerty was 5th in the league in wOBA (.492). However as a whole, the team did produce, finishing 1st in AVG, and 3rd in OBP, SLG, & OBPS in the league.
On the bump they did have a faired a little better, but as you all know if your doing well in the minors gets you moved up. Leading the way for the Marching Ants in pitching this season was 2045 Round 14 selection John Levinson, who led the Spike Nolan league in KO/BB, WHIP, OAVG, FIP, K/9. He was 5th in the league in BABIP. Levinson went 6-0 with his time with the club and moved up to SA quickly. Much like on the offensive side of the ball team faired much better as a unit. Finishing 1st in the league in ERA, WHIP, OAVG, and 2nd in BABIP, even w/out Levinson.
Offensive Player of the year
(Ivan Rodriguez)
1B - Ivan Rodriguez - Playing in all 68 games this season for the club this undrafted signing from San Juan PR posted a .325/.372/.390 slash. Not a hard choice here, he was tops in pretty much every offensive category this season. "The kid consistently focuses on the tasks at hand." said Head Coach Brown.
Pitcher of the year
(Emmanuele Alaniz)
You could say Ramrod but he got moved up to SA quickly, so we are going with closer Emmanuele Alaniz. The 2045 Round 2 selection, Alaniz stepped right into the teams closer role from the start of spring training. He appeared in 30 games going 2-1 with a 1.95 ERA in 32.1 IP with 23 saves blowing only 2.
Team MVP
(Bin Wan)
The youngest kid on the squad, the 18yo C Bin Wan took over the catching duties from day 1. He help lead the clubs staff to be the best in the Spike Nolan league in 2045. The kid got the call up from the Wolves International program to start his quest to the bigs. The switching hitting catcher finished the season with a .276/.346/.431 posting a .7 WAR. He allowed only one pass ball, and committed one error during 284 innings behind the plate.
