2042 Geoghegan Preview: New Orleans Crawdads vs. Boise Spuds

[lordtoffee]

After a season in which the BBA and UMEBA were defined by a lot of good playoff races and late drama, it's time to discuss a few of the Landis playoff series in some further detail. For this playoff preview, we will look at the series between the New Orleans Crawdads and the Boise Spuds.

The Records
Boise: (89-73, 2nd in Frontier)
New Orleans: (88-74, 3rd in Atlantic)

How did they get here?
The Spuds finished 2nd in the Frontier, and were a consistent team through most of the year. They played well down the stretch in order to secure home field in the Geoghegan by a single game over New Orleans, and made the concerted decision to play for the home field even after they had clinched their spot earlier in the final week. Boise was one of the best offensive teams in the Johnson this year, ranking 3rd in runs scored. Pitching wise, they were in the lower half of teams in the Johnson in terms of runs allowed per game. The interesting stat that pops up is that Boise has only won 1 more game at home than they have lost. The other playoff teams in the Johnson all have better home records, so that could lead to some trouble in this series and down the line should the Spuds advance.


The Crawdads had to spend a couple of days waiting on the makeup games that Mexico City had to play, but they did get in with a two game cushion, and avoided the ever dangerous and experienced Pikemen. New Orleans doesn't jump out much statistically, but they have been pretty consistent all year, and but for a bumpy August might have knocked Brooklyn out of the division title. This is a team that has veteran experience and is looking to overcome what happened last year at this stage. You might remember that the Crawdads had the Jackrabbits on the ropes in Game 2 at the Stockyard, but never recovered from losing that game and lost twice in NOLA. They have a rested pitching staff thanks to the rainouts, and evenly matched in terms of their record and head to head record against Boise.

How did they do against each other?
The teams split 8 meetings, and there wasn't a FUBAR score put up. Keep in mind, those meetings were earlier in the year, and both teams have been playing arguably their best ball all year. What also helps is that both teams avoided dealing with the rainout drama in Mexico City, so they got to rest their pitching staffs up and could get their pitching lined up right.

Who are a couple key players for Boise?
It all starts offensively with Dennis French. He has been worth the hype that surrounded him since he was the first pick in the 2036 draft, and he has been arguably the best player in the BBA over the past two seasons. He can hit for average, has shown consistent power, amazing versatility, and has added a lot of defensive value this season. He is going to get a huge contract offer, and looks to be the centerpiece of the Boise offense for as long as he stays in town. French is a player looking to take the next step in his career, which is to lead his team to a championship.

Of course, French is not the only headline player that has come through Boise's minors in recent years. Felix Roman is in his third year in Boise, and has been a consistent power threat. He was an All-Star this year, and memorably hit for the cycle against the Talons. You could make the argument that Roman has been just as good if not better than French this year, and he is a serious Silk contender. He also brings in an element of speed on the bases, stealing 30 this year. And the cherry on top is that he is just hitting his arbitration years, and compliments French about as well as you can hope for. All in all, Roman is the type of player that every team in the BBA would trade almost anyone for.

Who are a couple key players for New Orleans?
New Orleans will be looking to slow down the Spuds offense with some good pitching. And the key starter for them is going to be Christian Garcia. in an era of BBA play where offensive players hold an edge, Garcia has had success, being one of the top pitchers in the Johnson with 17 wins. He is notable for being a workhorse that features 4 out pitches, and can bring some serious heat on his fastball. But most impressive is his ability to hold the runners that want to steal. That bodes well for dealing with Roman trying to swipe bases. The one concern for New Orleans is his workload at a young age, but has been able to avoid serious injuries in his time in the bigs.

The other key pitcher that the Crawdads are going to be relying on is closer [url=https://statspl.us/brewster/reports/new ... 43620.html]Renato Larcerda[/url. Renato was one of the best closers in the game this season, collecting 41 saves, and anchoring a reliable bullpen all year for the Crawdads. He is your standard fastball/breaking ball combo reliever, and is effective against both sides of the plate. He was drafted by the Crawdads after not signing with the Nine when he was first drafted a few years earlier. In 2039, the Crawdads moved him from the starting rotation in the minors and he has found his calling as someone who can lock down the ninth. He had a bad outing last year against the Jackrabbits, and he should be looking for a better experience this time around, especially getting those high leverage outs in the ninth.

Who wins?
I have Boise winning in 5. Honestly, this could go either way. The Crawdads have the better pitching, whereas the Spuds have the better hitting. I have the teams splitting each set of 2 games, and have the Spuds winning two straight elimination games. I would not be overlooking the winner if I were Brooklyn and the defending champion Jackrabbits.

[RonCo]

This is going to be a great series.

[jleddy]

Oustanding! A real contrast in styles...should net some nice BBA.tv ratings.

(Note: we locked up French long-term earlier in the year, so we're hoping contract talks are a thing of the past and he can just focus on the task at hand...we'll need him to bring his A game to get past that New Orleans' pitching.)

[CTBrewCrew]

Looking forward to some RT sims of this series