Long Beach Press-Telegram - Playoff Success!!!

[jcrmoon42]

This has been an amazing season in Long Beach. The team's youth movement is finally bearing fruit. A team that hadn't lost fewer than 91 games since 1995, including 6 straight seasons of 102+ losses, got to .500 last year and has made the leap to 89 wins and the FL Wild Card this season. In reality, the team was even better than that, posting a 96-67 Pyth record, second best in the FL and fourth best in the entire MBBA. Having played 7 games under their Pyth record, the team squeaked into the playoffs with a one game victory over Marquette, besting the legendary Brad "Eggman" Brown on his way out of the league.

The club then had to face the mighty Montreal Blazers in the playoffs. Montreal, boasting an FL best 98-64 record, came into the series with a balanced offensive and defensive attack, leading the FL in OPS while also mowing batters down and leading the league in strikeouts. However, Long Beach wasn't intimidated by the Blazers and took them down in an unheard of sweep.

That puts the Surfers in the position of having to face off with the FL Pacific's most dominant team of the last few years, and the Surfers's new rival, the Las Vegas Hustlers. They have won the division in five of the last eight years and have averaged 95 wins a year for the last four years, including 97 wins this season. The Hustlers boast the best pitching staff in the league, a staff that dominated in both not allowing walks and striking guys out, with almost a 3:1 K to BB ratio. They feature three 17 game winners and a 43 save closer. The Surfers have to hope that their own excellent pitching can win out over a Hustlers offense which has been good but not dominant. Strangely, the Surfers have really been challenged at home this year with only a .500 record. As such, being the underdog in the series gives them an advantage as they will start out in Las Vegas. The teams were 7-7 against one another this season, with the road team winning six games in each park. Yes, that's right. Las Vegas went 6-1 in Long Beach, and Long Beach went 6-1 in Las Vegas. Surfers fans are hoping that trend continues! And maybe they can pick up a game or two in the Beach as well.

[7teen]

Congrats! Glad to see you were finally able to pull Long Beach out of the slums and back on top.

I'm pulling for a LB-Baltimore Landis Series. Would love to see either Sale win a title after sticking with LB so long. Baltimore is also deserving as well.