Quote:
Originally Posted by Questdog
Wow! Definitely did not think this team would make it to the Series....congrats on earning a manager of the year award for this one!
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Neither would I have dared to dream. We will send a Thank You card to Vancouver for them not playing us hard down the stretch.
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1993 WORLD SERIES
Portland Raccoons (91-71) vs. Washington Capitals (100-62)
It seems like the World Series is contested annually between those two teams. This is the third time, the Big Show will feature these contenders – in a row! The previous two contests were split evenly, with the Raccoons being the defending champions.
The Raccoons have lost some feathers on the way. Their pitching is not what it was last year, all year, and they illustrated that again in the CLCS against the Condors, blowing a fine-sized lead in the sixth game before soldiering through against a collapsing Condors bullpen. Their batting is not what it was last year, either, and with Neil Reece and Matt Higgins they have now lost two big contributors from that lineup, offensively as well as defensively. Surviving slugger Ben O’Morrissey had a middling CLCS, but provided a few neatly timed RBI hits, while old war horse Daniel Hall drove in nine in the series, despite not starting game 1. He also hit the only home run for the team. The Raccoons offense was average at best in the Continental League, while their pitching led the league despite a drop off from the last one or two years.
Contrast that with the Capitals. They consistently ranked top 3 in almost all hitting categories in the Federal League, but they didn’t walk a lot, and instead struck out quite often. Their lineup will for the most part face punchout pitchers, so they will have to watch out.
But the Capitals also had the 2nd best team in preventing runs in the Federal League and a pitching staff that led many categories. While they lost SP Ethan Thomas in the FLCS to injury (their only 40-man player on the DL) they can still field a scary 1-2 punch in Ramón Ortíz and Archie Dye, who won 26 games two years ago. He went 16-10 this year, but Ortíz won 21 games. Their bullpen is not shabby either, and was the best relief corps in the league. There are no real weaknesses on this staff.
The Capitals will be able to field four .300+ batters, including batting title winner Jeffery Brown, and can hit for power almost completely throughout their lineup, which could help them even more in the narrower confines of Raccoons Ballpark in games 3 to 5.
Prediction: the Capitals become the first team to win three titles, and they will do so while still in Portland.
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Again, BNN thinks very lowly of us. I trusted their judgement before the CLCS (and still don’t know how we effectively beat the Condors), and I tend to trust them here. Then, we upset the Capitals last year, but those were two teams that had identical regular season records.
We have added Sixto Moreno and Bob Arnold to the playoff roster to offset the injuries to Matt Higgins (heal, labrum, heal, we need him next year!) and Neil Reece (bad knee! Bad, bad knee!). Both are going to be sorely missed.
We will lead off the series with Raimundo Beato, and then with Kisho Saito, who will pitch on regular rest in game 2, followed by Lopez and then Turner. Then we will see.
I have put the tickets for the best seats in the house into the mail now, they should arrive at all dear followers in time for game 3.