The Rockville Pikemen have a lot to shout about this season. In the franchise's third year in Rockville, the 103-win team finished as the #1 overall seed in the BBA with their most victories since Hackensack was wreaking havoc on the early BBA in 1997. While having not finished first in either runs allowed or scored, the Pikemen weren't far off either number, just 16 runs away from first in offense and 35 runs away on the defensive side. It's been a very successful year in MoCo.
"We're thrilled with the way this season has gone," said reliever Aaron Campbell, one of the more veteran of the Pikemen players. "We're excited about this franchise and how hard everyone has worked to get us to this point."
The Pikemen once again have two Steve Nebraska candidates, and they're unsurprisingly the same two guys. Starting pitcher Arthur Dempster led the JL in wins above replacement (WAR) for the third straight year, and struck out a career high 250 batters, also tops in the Johnson League. Enrique Gomez is a bit of a longer shot with a 4.05 ERA (surprisingly the highest of his career), but he finished with a league-leading 19 wins and third in WAR.
"I figure it's Arthur's this year again, but 19 wins is the second highest of my career," said Gomez. "I'm looking forward to having both of us back to back in the playoffs."
The Pikemen will be fully healthy going into the playoffs other than the earlier loss of Robbie Van Mierlo, as Yi-ke Zang had an injury scare which proved to be a very minor, day-to-day injury which shouldn't linger into the Doubleday. One surprising omission from the playoff roster was longtime Pikemen reliever Rafael Mata, who was bumped in favor of outfield depth.
"Rafa's a big boy, he's been around the block, and he knows we love him, but we don't need the pitching depth," said Rockville manager Chet Rouse. "We need to make sure if we get lineup injuries that we've got guys in tow."
One question lingers going into the second round: will the Pikemen use three starters or four? Arguments forthcoming, but Andre Georges certainly made a strong case for staying in the rotation for the playoffs this year.
"We'll figure those things out when we examine the matchups with New Orleans," said Rouse. "That's going to determine a lot of things. That's going to be a tough matchup for us, and we'll have to figure out how to best exploit them."
Sticking Points 15.2035: Rockville Gets #1 Seed, 100-Win Season.
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Re: Sticking Points 15.2035: Rockville Gets #1 Seed, 100-Win Season.
Three pitchers, or four. The woeful cry of a mega-team in process. Barring oddities in the near future, Rockville is really loaded for bear. I have a hard time betting hands down against any team with Amaral and Delgado around, but the Pikemen are a bigtime team now.
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Re: Sticking Points 15.2035: Rockville Gets #1 Seed, 100-Win Season.
BTW, not only did I start Georges, his home-road splits are such that I started him in Game 2. He won too.
That was a helluva exciting Game 1 too, as they basically beat the living crap out of Dempster.
That was a helluva exciting Game 1 too, as they basically beat the living crap out of Dempster.
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