#1 Vault 81 Dwellers (68-40) vs #3 Diamond City Swatters (61-47)
Season Series: Vault 81 6, Diamond City 6
May 4-6 @V81: V81 3-0, DC 4-2, V81 2-0
May 18-20 @DC: V81 7-2, DC 10-9, DC 4-3
July 6-8 @V81: DC 5-3, V81 6-4, DC 3-2
August 10-12 @DC: V81 9-4, DC 16-4, V81 3-0
Vault 81 Home Page
Diamond City Home Page
Game 1 Matchup
Analysis
These two teams went sixth toe-to-sixth toe all season in the battle for the Railroad League championship. For the #1 seed Vault 81, they only had non-winning records against three teams: Goodneighbor (3-5), Jamaica Plain (3-5), and Diamond City (6-6). Against the rest of the SCA, the Dwellers were 56-24 with a 31-17 record against the rest of the RL. What does that mean? Well, other than 5th-seed University Point, Vault 81 had all of its best success against non-playoff teams.
What the Dwellers will need to contend with the most is the dominant pitching for Diamond City, though all three shutouts came from Vault 81 pitchers: Edwin Mass (15-9, 3.24), Curt Redcoats (6-3, 4.12), and Josh Mustang (12-5, 4.53). Only Mass will start in the SCA Championship. The Swatters have a three-headed monster in X10-44 Mannson (15-5, 2.74), Tyler Powers (15-4, 3.09), and Tim Fusion (8-16, 4.82). Fusion was 1-3 in the season series, Mannson 1-1, and Powers 1-1. Fusion would probably be better as a bullpen pitcher for the series with City Moore (16-9, 3.88) seeming to be a better option, but manager Bucky Bachelor has stuck with Fusion in a down season. That decision was somewhat rewarded in Fusion allowing just one earned run on six hits with a walk and seven strikeouts in 7.0 innings in the Swatters' Game 3, 11-inning loss to Goodneighbor in the Association Semifinals.
Comparing the offenses, Diamond City may not be the better hitting team, but they had several players succeed in the season series. Those include CF Witcher Craft (.421/1/4 in the season series), SS Wally Warwick (.300/5/8), and 1B Oren Gep (.261/4/8). Vault 81 also had some players stand out in the season series: LF Skyler Pickpocket (.367/4/8), CF Aesed Hayjen (.340/3/6), and 2B Harry Byrd (.273/2/4). Though they both hit several home runs, SS Knud Bather (.239/5/8) and RF Deer Quickwalker (.163/4/13) struggled with consistently hitting. The Swatters also had several struggling hitters in 3B Allen Bishop (.194/1/4), LF Tyler Ross (.188/2/2), and C Nick Minnier (.174/0/1).
Prediction
Diamond City is looking to claim a second-straight SCA championship. Though Vault 81 has been the best regular-season team, we're expecting the Swatters pitching to end this one in favor of the defending champions, 4 games to 2.