[Westheim]

2026 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (94-68) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (93-69)

Game 1 – Rico Gutierrez (16-5, 3.48 ERA) vs. Andy Palomares (14-12, 3.33 ERA)

Yes, the Raccoons went with their worst starter by ERA for this CLCS, but I still had more trust in Rico Gutierrez than in Rin Nomura for example, because Rico had more wins, clearly showing who was the better pitcher, and because Nomura was technically a rookie. Who would put a rookie first in the playoffs??

OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – CF Rummelhart – C Burgess – 1B J. Elliott – RF Sagredo – 2B Ts'ai – LF Millan – P Palomares
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – LF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Jamieson – 3B Nunley – RF Kopp – C Tovias – P Gutierrez

Neither team got a man on in the first inning despite by hunches that Brian Rummelhart with that awesome name was going to do awesome things to the Raccoons in this CLCS. The Thunder got a Luis Sagredo single in the second inning, which was weird given that he was one of only two left-handed bats in their lineup (the other being Omar Millan). Rico rung up Zhang-ze Ts'ai to get out of the inning, and while the Coons placed Matt Jamieson on base as their first runner with a 1-out walk, they then got Matt Nunley to ground into a 1-6-3 double play.

Neither pitcher used more than 30 pitches the first time through the order, with Rico still managing to strike out four batters in total. Palomares struck out nobody through three, but faced the minimum instead, and that continued in the bottom 4th where Ramos and Spencer both flew out to Millan before Rafael Gomez got rung up for Palomares' first K.

The first genuine and actual threat of the game came from Oklahoma and in the fifth inning. Gutierrez retired John Elliott and Luis Sagredo on soft balls, but then walked Ts'ai before allowing a hard line drive single to Millan (giving both Thunder hits at this point to left-handed batters). Palomares also hit a 2-1 pitch quite hard, but found Spencer with it, and Jarod got the third out with a secure throw to first base. While the Thunder bats were getting warmed up in the middle innings, but produced three groundouts of varying intensity in the sixth, the Coons were still being no-hit through five by the unseemly Palomares. While Harenberg in the fifth and Kopp in the sixth hit hard drives to the deep outfield, they were not deep enough to either beat the outfielders (Sagredo and Millan, respectively), nor the fence.

No, when the Coons got into the H column, it was with a slow grounder through the crease between Elliott and Ts'ai, coming rolling off Rico Gutierrez' bat with two outs in the bottom 6th. That was *interesting* to say the least. Alberto Ramos next turned on a 1-2 pitch and lined it up the rightfield line for a double, but Rico was in no condition to score on such a play. The Coons had them on second and third with two outs, but Spencer flew out to Sagredo to keep them there.

On to the eighth, where the Coons' star began to sack off the sky. Ts'ai led off with an infield single that Tovias couldn't dig out in time, and then Gutierrez misfielded PH Brett Dobbs' bunt for an error. That put two on with nobody out and pulled up Palomares, who was going to bunt again here, except that he did bunt so poorly that Harenberg was on the ball quickly enough to kill off Ts'ai with a laser beam to third base.

So now what!? Rico had so far completely stymied the Thunder and had thrown only 71 pitches, but the situation was still grim with Lorenzo Rivera and especially Alex Serrato looming. Serrato had hit 31 dingers during the season and a dinger in this spot would surely lose us the game. Nope, bring on Ricky Ohl. Ricky could get the Coons out of here, I was sure. He entered in a double switch, batting third, with Cookie taking over in leftfield. The Thunder responded by sending left-handed batter Mike Pizzo to bat for Rivera. He grounded out on the first pitch, but the runners advanced. The Coons rolled the dice. Serrato was walked intentionally to bring up Rummelhart, who was a walker of the Spencer mold, meaning he hardly ever took ball four, and his power was also less prodigious. Ricky rung him up, and the Coons were out of the inning!

That still left the mild issue that the Coons couldn't hit Palomares for their dear lives and he kept 2-hitting them through eight. Ohl and Brotman did away with the Thunder in the top 9th, but we still had to score anything vaguely resembling a run. Cookie led off the bottom 9th against the unpierceable Palomares and singled up the middle and past Ts'ai into centerfield.

And Mike Burgess had some arm! At his age, Cookie's odds weren't great, and he had stolen only seven bags during the regular season. Do you bunt with Ramos? Ramos was a ****ty bunter. No bunt sign appeared, and Ramos turned a 1-2 pitch into a single to right. Cookie only got to second base; Sagredo had a monster arm. Spencer then killed the effort with a double play grounder to short, and Tim Stalker flew out to center batting for Brotman. Extra innings!

Palomares was still around after Surginer retired the Thunder in the top 10th, and began the bottom 10th on 92 pitches, facing the 4-5-6 part of the lineup, which had amounted to no base hits at all so far, and that didn't change as they were retired in order by Palomares. It started to rain in the 11th. Surginer pitched the 11th, successfully. Palomares was also sent back out for the 11th. Kopp fouled out, but then the Thunder twitched after this lengthy battle and finally went to their bullpen with right-handed ex-Coon Ryan Corkum, who retired Tovias on a grounder, walked Cookie, but got Ramos to ground out to Serrato.

Top 12th, Jeff Kearney would come in, but issued a leadoff walk to Mike Rucker in the #5 spot. That runner moved around on groundouts by Sagredo and Ts'ai before Carlos de Santiago came to bat with two outs. He was a left-handed batter and a former Logger, so what could possibly happen? He singled to right. That plated the first run of the game, and it silenced the park at once. Bottom of the inning, Spencer reached on an error by replacement third baseman John Kyler. Gerace hit for Kearney, but struck out. Harenberg came to the plate, but the rain got really bad and put the game into a rain delay that lasted 25 minutes. Would it affect Ryan Corkum at all? Well for beginners, Harenberg singled, and Spencer busied his bum to third base. They were the tying and winning runs for Matt Jamieson, who struck the first pitch to left. That was high! That was deep! That was … GONE!!!!

Raccoons 3, Thunder 1 (12) – Raccoons lead series 1-0

Ramos 2-5, 2B; Jamiesno 1-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Carmona 1-1, BB; Gutierrez 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K and 1-2; Ohl 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K; Surginer 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K;

(is visibly blue in the face) I think I need the Druid…

Game 2 – Mark Roberts (13-10, 3.05 ERA) vs. Jose Diaz (17-10, 3.46 ERA)

Here came the Thunder's first southpaw, but for now the Raccoons didn't resort to drastic moves except to bring in O'Dell to get whatever there was available in terms of platoon advantage.

OCT: 3B L. Rivera – SS Serrato – CF Rummelhart – C Burgess – 1B J. Elliott – RF Sagredo – 2B Ts'ai – LF Millan – P Jo. Diaz
POR: SS Ramos – 2B Spencer – LF Gomez – 1B Harenberg – CF Jamieson – C O'Dell – 3B Nunley – RF Kopp – P Roberts

Roberts had a long first inning with Rummelhart doubling to right and Mike Burgess drawing a walk in a full count, but struck out John Elliott to escape the inning. The bottom 1st saw Ramos draw a leadoff walk before he got doubled off on Spencer's grounder, and THEN Gomez hit a triple in the right-center gap. Kevin Harenberg grounded to the right side, Elliott fielded the ball off the bag then threw it into the hustling legs of "Butch" Diaz for an error that got Gomez across and gave the Coons a 1-0 lead. Jamieson grounded out.

Then Mark Roberts got a chance to look like a real head job. He struck out Diaz to begin the third inning, but then allowed Rivera on base with a single. Rivera stole second, then was singled in by Serrato, who had driven in 93 during the regular season and saw no reason to stop now. In the tied game, Roberts threw a wild pitch to advance the go-ahead run to second base. After Rummelhart's fly out to Jamieson and a walk to Burgess it was really time for a good talk on the mound. Roberts was on 62 pitches through 2.2 innings and none the wiser, and John Elliott could really **** us up right here. Despite some good choice words by the pitching coach, Roberts still surrendered a murderous drive to deep center on a 1-2 pitch. He was just dumb lucky that Jamieson had had a hunch and had played deep, making the play near the warning track out there. "Butch" Diaz in turn went on to walk Roberts leading off the bottom 3rd, and Harenberg in the bottom 4th, but neither event led to a run.

There was another leadoff walk in the fifth, this one to Terry Kopp, who thus became the go-ahead run on base. Now, Roberts was on a whopping 92 pitches through five. With a man in scoring position, and this being the postseason, maybe you would have hit for him here, but Kopp was only on first base, so we opted for the bunt instead. While that did get Terry to second base, Ramos struck out and Spencer grounded out to Serrato to make the effort moot. The Thunder tried to counter with a Burgess double with one out in the sixth. Roberts wiggled out of it with two fly outs to Jamieson, but then was over 100 pitches and we had been bracing for impact for a while, so he got a pat on the hairy bum and was done for Game 2.

Gomez became the fourth leadoff man in a row to reach base for Portland with a leadoff single in the bottom 6th that got through Rivera, and that also meant that Rafael now had BOTH of our base hits in this game. Seriously, the offense! We could use another base knock here and the crowd was already roaring KEVIIIIN with passion. He struck out, dropping to 1-for-7 in the series, and the Critters never got that go-ahead run into scoring position at all.

The Coons sent Alvin Smith to face Ts'ai in the seventh, but the Thunder countered with Mike Rucker, and that appeared to be the winning move. Rucker whacked Alvin's first pitch outta here, putting Oklahoma up 2-1. Jeff Kearney replaced him immediately, and barely got out of the inning thanks to poor control. He walked Rivera with two outs, but Ramos retired Serrato on a strong play.

The violently not-hitting Raccoons remained a mystery in the box and now had to hope for a multi-error inning by the Thunder to get a whiff for a win. Meanwhile, Kyle Anderson appeared in the eighth and retired the 3-4-5 batters in order, and Josh Boles had a perfect ninth, but that still didn't generate any offense. Ryan Corkum was back at it in the bottom 9th, facing the 4-5-6 batters that were a combined 2-for-17 in the series. Harenberg grounded out to first base, and Jamieson rolled a ball back to the mound… but Corkum was too slow to play it and Jamieson reached on the single. This brought up the winning run. Cookie batted for O'Dell to gain a platoon advantage, after which the Coons would bank on a Nunley homer. Or (giggle) a Kopp homer. Cookie hit into a fielder's choice, keeping the tying run at first, and Nunley would bat with two outs and 0-for-7 in the CLCS. Another grounder to Elliott ended the Coons' weak-ass bid.

Thunder 2, Raccoons 1 – series tied 1-1

Gomez 2-4, 3B;

This was a disgusting performance… hard to claim that either team has any sort of "momentum" right now… but I will not sleep well for the two nights before Game 3…