Starscreams | Pretty Good Enough (52.10)

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Starscreams: A Valencia Stars Baseball Blog

Pretty Good Enough

9/30/2052
Brianna Robles, Starscreams contributor

This will not go down in history as one of the best Stars regular seasons. It was not great overall, but a pretty good 89-73. The Stars did have some great team performances (their 12-0 victory over Sacramento might have been their best game all year; talk about peaking too soon) and tremendous months (six shutout victories in an 18-10 April, a 17-11 August, which saw series sweeps of both Nashville and Sacramento). They also had some pretty god-awful outings, including a 12-3 implosion at Hawaii in June which seemed to signal that no, in fact, Ken Arroyo is not okay. And there was the major bummer of a July (10-14 including four shutout losses) that the team spent the rest of the season recovering from.

But they did recover, going 32-23 in the last two months of the season and putting what amounted to a hammer lock on the second wild card spot in the Frick. It was a strange season in the league. One that would see Yellow Springs miss the post season for the first time since 2037, the Heartland turn into a two-team division (and one of those two teams turning out to be Twin Cities), and last season's pennant winners barely sneak into the last wild card spot.

Valencia heads into the postseason with no glaring weaknesses and no dominant strengths. On offense they're okay, I guess; 8th in runs scored at 730, 5th in team OPS, but just 9th in team home runs. Donald Miller is again the team leader at the plate (.273/.361/.541) and Omer Dykstra (.297/.307/.545) was a pleasant surprise, though he'll be out for the Stars' first, and traditionally only, playoff series. Lefty Mark Kimball, a 2052 first round draft pick and very recent collegian, has shown out well against right-handed pitching (.262/.333/.497). Ángel Zalapa and Yodo Sato came on strong toward the end of the season, putting up a 161 and 158 OPS+ in September. This team has the ability to score runs, but it has been overall a fairly middling offense.

Stars pitching has been slightly better; 4th in runs given up at 650, though just 6th in starter ERA at 4.09, and 3rd in bullpen ERA at 3.43. In the field the Stars might have one of the better defenses you will see in the postseason; 2nd in the association in team ZR at 44.22, and tied for 4th in defensive efficiency. The Stars continue to struggle to find consistency from the rotation, though the acquisition of Brian King (3.49 ERA, 126 ERA+ in 31 starts) did help.

Worse teams than this have won it all in the past (hey there, Jacksonville), but not lately. Valencia's first round match-up, against historical bugbear California/Sacramento, would seem to favor the Stars slightly, they have home field and a regular season edge of 9 wins to 7. However, the Popes' one-two combination of lefties Constable and King could have Valencia on its back heels early, setting Sacramento up for a series clincher at home, and yet another disappointing first-round exit for the Stars. In fact, this result is all too easy to imagine.

[Jwalk100]

Arroyo has lost the ability to strike batters out.