New Orleans/Montreal Preview

[aaronweiner]

It's hard to say which series we're more excited about in the Frick: the Montreal Blazers vs. New Orleans Crawdads or Marquette vs. Seattle. Let's just say we're pretty excited about both of them. The big stars are out in this one: Jimmy McCabe, Duane Whitley, Bartolo Melendez, Bob White, Rogelio Morales, Billy Beauford. It should be a good one between the last two MBWBA Champs - buckle up, boys and girls.


Pitching:

The defending champion Crawdads' pitching staff was fantastic this year and it's no longer hard to figure out who their ace is: McCabe slammed the door on the entire FL this year. Albert Martinez and Mark Wheeler were also excellent. But if you like the aces, stay for the bullpen; New Orleans' rotation had the top ERA in the league this year but the bullpen ERA was a ridiculous 2.83 mark. It's no fluke, either: the Crawdads have built the most potent bullpen in the game.

The Blazers' starting staff can hold with New Orleans' group in terms of talent, though, if just barely. Donald Bergeron, Brad Welsh and Moses Tallchief have talent enough. They don't have anywhere near the bullpen New Orleans has, though closer Marc Jutras is still one of the game's best. The big scary part is getting to Jutras, and New Orleans might just have a reason to strike fear into the Montreal bullpen...


Hitting:

And that reason is because New Orleans led the entire FL in OPS this year. Oof. Melendez, such a bright young star, led the team in OPS this year, but the Crawdads also have stars like Morales, Al Jones, David Blue, Monte Perry, Mike Glover and Stephen Welch. The Crawdads were first in the league in homers and second in runs.

But the Crawdads didn’t outscore the Blazers by that much. Duane Whitley has forgotten as much about hitting as Bartolo Melendez knows, and they also have stars like Billy Beauford and Bob White. Everyone in the Montreal lineup can hit.


Overall:

New Orleans won the season series 5-4 this year, hardly dominant, and there’s nothing to write home about with the 50-43 run split in favor of New Orleans. New Orleans has to be considered the favorite because their bullpen is just that much better than Montreal’s, but that’s the only overwhelming advantage the Crawdads have over the Blazers.

We’re going to declare this one too close to call, because these two teams are out for blood and championship glory.

Prediction: New Orleans in seven.

[Edward Murphy]

I like New Orleans in five.