2054 Frick’in Doubleday Preview: River Monsters vs Mad Popes

[neugey]

An unlikely hero emerged during Twin Cities’ recent 5-game victory over Louisville: rookie LF Anurodha Nayar. The left-handed slugger played 4 of the 5 games needed and produced 4 home runs and 7 RBI with a .471 average to topple the Sluggers. He was a no-doubt recipient of the Geoghegan Series MVP award, but will his youthful bat stay hot in the Doubleday round?

If Nayar comes back down to Earth, star RF David Simpson may be ready to pick up where Nayar left off. Simpson had an unimpressive series through four games but came to life in game 5 with 2 home runs.

The River Monsters starters fared poorly in the first two games and gave up 16 runs. But then the rotation got it together just in time, reeling off 3 straight wins and only yielding 6 runs the rest of the way. They will need to maintain that solid pitching against a Mad Popes team that loves to wear out the infield dirt with their speed and contact hitting.

With the retirement announcement of GM Doug Olmsted, Sacramento’s future beyond 2054 remains uncertain. But for now, the team has preparing intently for the Doubleday round in order to provide their boss as joyous of a sendoff as possible.

The Mad Popes may be in a solid position to repeat as BBA champs, but this year’s edition may not be powerhouse we saw last year. Sacramento is still flying all over the bases (193 team steals), but only finished 7th in the Frick in batting average and were down near the bottom in runs scored. SS Badr Isam, who hit a Frick-leading .330 in 2053, is now down to .287 in 2054. The team’s doubles and triples also both fell to 3rd in the Frick. They will also have to continue to be without OF Okyay Hisanci who is still recovering from a hand injury. Thankfully, OF Todd Rice is coming off the IL and should be ready to go for this series presuming he is playoff-eligible. They really need him and his team-leading .303 batting average.

The 2054 offensive shortcomings of the Mad Popes become very forgivable though when you consider their superior defense. As a team, they won the triple crown in fielding, leading the Frick in Zone Rating and Defensive Efficiency while committing the lowest Errors. Isam posted a +16.4 ZR at shortstop and may win his first Zimmer award. Young CF Kei-Thing Law showed superb range while only committing one error on the season. Starting catcher John Kinsella turned in another great year with a 3.33 catcher’s ERA while throwing out an eye-popping 58.6% of stolen base attempts. The Mad Popes will steal on you, but you will not be allowed to return the favor!

Sacramento won their division by 4 games because of their biggest strength, their pitching. The rotation is very much a BBA pitching coach’s dream: four pitchers in their prime with playoff experience who all contributed to last year’s title. In 2054, Thomas Turner proved to be the superstar of the group. As a starter who pitched a Frick-leading 226.1 innings, he posted a sublime 2.39 ERA and 1.05 WHIP. These are numbers that a star reliever would be proud of, let alone a high innings starter. He went 15-7 and will surely be a top candidate for 2054’s coveted Nebraska award. Lefty starters Joe King and Robert Hanson followed Turner’s lead, with great ERA’s and win totals of their own. Ruben Vazquez had the worst stats of the quartet, but he’s still a former Nebraska winner and can turn it on and become unhittable. The bullpen operates on a 100% committee basis, with no reliever assured to finish a game more than the next. This approach has worked excellently for the Mad Popes, whose bullpen is not taxed hard due to the quality of their rotation. Among the grouping of relievers, Luis Ramos posted the best year, with a 10-4 record with 5 holds and 10 saves amid a 2.69 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. He did however blow 6 saves, showing that despite great numbers nobody’s perfect.

Verdict: It’s hard to bet against the defending champs, but I think this is a good matchup for Twin Cities. They are not a big home run team so playing up to 4 games in Sacramento should not hinder them. But it won’t be easy. The River Monsters are not good at holding or throwing out baserunners, so if the Mad Popes can get on base expect a lot of them to cross home plate. Also before 2053, the Mad Popes had a reputation for their early playoff exits, and that old specter may come back to haunt them. I’ll predict the River Monsters in 6.

[ae37jr]

Great write up.

Nayar was a last minute addition to the lineup. Truck Plant stadium is tied for the greatest homerun park for lefties in the league. I had to get his 9 power in the lineup somehow. So I just murdered my outfield defense by plugging him in LF and sliding Dijkstra to CF to fill the outfield with 3 power bats. To offset this, I filled my pitching staff with the highest groundball % pitchers I could. Which made for some interesting roster snubs(Fuller/Hamid/Martinez/Garcia). After games 1 and two, I thought I made a horrible mistake. But if you look back and games 3,4 and especially game 5 through that lense, I really nailed it.

This Sacramento series should be fun as well. Once again I'm a huge underdog and facing a sentimental favorite. Nobody outside the other Doubleday participants want to see us win. Despite losing the season series 4-2, I feel like we do have a shot. My team building philosophy tends to work better against unicorn teams.

[Dington]

Great write up.

Nayar was a last minute addition to the lineup. Truck Plant stadium is tied for the greatest homerun park for lefties in the league. I had to get his 9 power in the lineup somehow. So I just murdered my outfield defense by plugging him in LF and sliding Dijkstra to CF to fill the outfield with 3 power bats. To offset this, I filled my pitching staff with the highest groundball % pitchers I could. Which made for some interesting roster snubs(Fuller/Hamid/Martinez/Garcia). After games 1 and two, I thought I made a horrible mistake. But if you look back and games 3,4 and especially game 5 through that lense, I really nailed it.

This Sacramento series should be fun as well. Once again I'm a huge underdog and facing a sentimental favorite. Nobody outside the other Doubleday participants want to see us win. Despite losing the season series 4-2, I feel like we do have a shot. My team building philosophy tends to work better against unicorn teams.

Good thing only Doubleday participant votes count. Go River Monsters!