The Last 6 Games of the Regular Season
We head into the last 6 games of the regular season likely needing to go 3-3 to secure homefield advantage throughout the playoffs. To win the South of the Border US Division we need to win just 2 games or a combination of 2 wins or 2 Duluth loses.
We go to Traverse City first to face the Bears who we have had our way with for most of the season but they have played better in the 2nd half of the season. On the year we are 15-6 against TC. After that series we head north to the Motor City to take on the Thunderbirds who we have gone 13-8 against this year. Both teams are virtually tied for 4th place in the US division with the Bears record at 60-78 and Detroit at 60-79. Pride and draft pick position is what is on the line for these two clubs.
We will keep it fairly short for these games as there is not a ton on the line and the playoffs are upon us.
Chicago at Traverse City
September 6th, 2055
The bottom of the USA table sweeps the top of the table. Traverse City’s Cal Braud goes 4-for-4 with a walk and four singles. He scores once and drives in two. Ewan Heseltine homers. Earl Foote goes 3-for-4 with three singles and two RBIs. Eddie Guy doubles in two. Despite the loss, Duluth also loses its game so our US magic number is now 1.
Traverse City 8, Chicago 4.
Chicago at Traverse City
September 7th, 2055
Chicago’s Jay Johnson (6.1 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K) pitches well, but he leaves the game with the game tied, 1-1. Traverse City’s Philip Reid (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 11 K) pitches one of the best games of his young career, striking out 11. He, too, gets a no-decision. Chicago wins it in the eighth. Walker Dunse doubles in a run and then scores on a sac fly. With the win Chicago clinches the USA Division title over Duluth.
Chicago 3, Traverse City 1.
Chicago at Traverse City
September 8th, 2055
An error, a walk, and a two-run Barney Tomiak double scores two Bears in the first. Three errors, two walks, two single, and a sac fly score four Bears in the third. Chicago’s Bill Lutz (2.1 IP, 5 H, 6 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 1 K) ends his day with one of the odder pitching lines you’ll ever see, having allowed five hits, six runs, and zero earned runs. The Tects bullpen shuts down the Bears for the rest of the game, but the (self-inflicted) damage had been done.
Traverse City 6, Chicago 3.
Summary - Not exactly a great performance by the team in Traverse City, but a division title clinching win none the less in game 2. We continue to rest players and now we look to put that to the test even more. RF Jim Ashley who has had a great season will be getting most of this series off. 1B Reagan Osborn will also be resting at least the last 2 games of the series. You will see a lot of 2B John Lambert at 2nd and also in CF. SS Cristo Sandoval will continue to get valuable time at SS as we want to keep both 2B Walker Dunse and SS Pablo Farrulla fresh for the playoffs. Tom Stone will get multiple starts in the corner OF spots for the resting Jim Ashley and even Matt Graves.
As we head to Detroit, we have a 1 game edge over Thunder Bay but we are not going to send out our main starting 4 pitchers. Bill Lutz started the last game at TC and had a rather quick and bizarre stat line for that game. Next up will be JJ Walker who has had a rather disappointing season for the Architects. He will be followed by LHSP Curt Hopkins and RHSP Stan Storey. Hopefully even with a makeshift lineup and starting staff it will be enough to hold off Thunder Bay who is Hamilton who is trying to lock down the Canadian Wildcard spot.
Chicago at Detroit
Friday September 10th 2055
Detroit’s Dwayne Miller (6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) gives up a first-inning run on an error, a single, and a sac fly. That sac fly is actually the second of 15 straight batters he retires. Dai-Lin Tah hits a two-run home run.
Detroit 4, Chicago 1.
Chicago at Detroit -
Saturday September 11th 2055
The T-Birds take a 4-1 lead into the seventh, where they score six more runs. Trace Brunel homers. Scott Bond and Florent Bernier both collect three hits and two ribbies. Now while the Architects are not looking to injure any key players, they don’t want to be on a losing streak heading into the playoffs. With their 3rd straight loss, Chicago has opened the door for Thunder Bay.
Detroit 10, Chicago 2.
Heading into the Last Game of the Season
The only thing left is home field advantage. Thunder Bay holds the tie breaker so it will take Chicago winning and Thunder Bay losing for the Architects to have the advantage if they were to meet in the GLBL Championship Series.
Chicago at Detroit -
Sunday September 12th 2055
Detroit’s Mal Johnston hits a three-run home run in the first. The 21-year-old first baseman ends his rookie season batting .304/.383/.550 with 32 home runs and 98 RBIs. I expect we’ll be seeing him for many years. Chicago comes back and takes the lead, scoring runs one or two at a time. Miguel Toledo, Matt Graves, and Jim Harris all hit solo home runs. Detroit scores some late runs, but they come up short.
Chicago 7, Detroit 6.
Hamilton 4, Thunder Bay 3.
With that loss by Thunder Bay, Chicago will hold the homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
Summary - Well the long regular season is over and we finished with a GLBL best 87-57 record. That is 5 games better than the pre-season publications and 2 better than the 85 games that I had predicted at the start of the season. Our depth was tested throughout the regular season especially with the early season-end injuries to SP’s Yale Hulburt (our #1 SP going into the season), and #4 SP John Moore. Add in the mid-season injury to DH/RF Jose Aranda and you have 3 key contributors that were out for more than half the season. It can be argued that we had the most significant long term injuries this season, but we did what we set out to do, win the US Division.
Now we turn our attention to the GLBL Playoffs where we will meet the 2nd place Duluth Sea Gulls in a best of 7 series.