2052 Geoghegan Preview: Mad Popes vs Stars (Best of 5)

[neugey]

More Frickin' Previews!

Pacific Division mates Valencia and Sacramento finished next to each other in the final 2052 Pacific standings, and now will be pitted against each other for the right to continue to the Doubleday round of the playoffs. Valencia will have home field advantage for this series, which is a tough one for fans and bettors to call. The Stars went 9-7 in games versus the Mad Popes this season and these two squads are evenly matched.

Valencia is led by All-Star starter Brian "The Sheriff" King, who has one of the best cutter pitches in the BBA. The ace finished 2052 with a 13-11 record and 3.49 ERA. He led all Frick pitchers in home run prevention, only allowing 0.6 dingers per 9 innings. The Stars also have a strong bullpen that finished 3rd in ERA and the team has pretty reliable defense across the board. The Valencia offense is best known for their reliable contact hitting, particularly with 1B Yodo "Fungo" Sato leading the way with a mighty .320 average. Catcher Clinton Tyler is 24 years old and on the rise with good defense and a .291/.370/.417 line in 2052. RF Donald Miller is the slugger on the team (.541 SLG, 36 HR) and his production may be vital to move onto the next round.

Sacramento, the BBA master of all social media insults, returns to the playoffs for a sixth straight season. The statistics show they are an eccentric team. They finished close to the bottom of the Frick in runs scored, yet still have the best team batting average in the conference. This is despite feisty DH Unem Ploid, who once won a batting title with a .359 average, only hitting .297 this year. It seems the rest of the team picked up the slack and put the bat on the ball. 23-year old starting pitcher Joe King is coming into his own and made his first All-Star team in 2052. 29-year old starters Ruben Vazquez and Bill Constable are formidable in their own right. But the secret to the Mad Popes' winning ways might be their workhorse lefty stopper Aaron Anderson. He appeared in a whopping 96 games, pitching 143.1 innings and recording 22 holds and 20 saves. He has proved to be quite the relief weapon and is still young and will be with the Mad Popes for years to come.

Final verdict: The red-hot pitching of Sacramento seems like it could lead the way to a sweep of Valencia. I predict the Mad Popes will win this series convincingly, with excellent pitching and defense, and cause real problems for other teams in the playoffs going forward.

[Jwalk100]

Miller gets the MVP of the series and Valencia moves on.

[Dington]

Sacramento likely underperformed this season, but probably because of poor team morale created from their GM. Series could go either way.

[CTBrewCrew]

They all checked out when they thought fire shoeless was happening for real. I predict Valencia !

[bschr682]

Shoeless will advance this round