[Westheim]

2048 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (93-69) vs. San Francisco Bayhawks (112-50)

The fifth straight CLCS appearance for the Raccoons brought them up against their scariest opponent yet, the 112-win Bayhawks that had won the season series against the Critters, 6-3. They brought along a +233 run differential, having led the league in runs scored, runs allowed, homers, starters’ ERA, and a million other categories that were just too bothersome to list.

The Baybirds’ dense lineup has almost everybody on double-digit homers, and they had batted .269 as a team, just one point lower than the CL-leading Critters. There were also three switch-hitters in that lineup in Sean Suggs, Ken Crum, and Sergio Quiroz, making them all the harder to pitch to. Their rotation meanwhile was entirely right-handed for this series, which made the lack of Chris Robinson the more annoying.

Speaking of injuries, while the Bayhawks had one notable absence in closer John Steuer, the Raccoons had technically three, but Manny Fernandez had gone down months ago and nobody had ever expected him back by October anyway. But Chris Robinson and Bob Ibold had only hurt themselves in the season’s final week. Neither of them would be available to begin the series, and both were also questionable for when the series would swing to Portland with Game 3 and at that point there was just no point in bothering with them. They were both shipped to the DL, which created at least some leverage for roster construction, although if you watched the 2048 Coons carefully you’ll have realized that they were quite a bit top heavy and the whole construction had been put on ceramic feet that were showing some serious cracks at this point.

Matt Glodowski, as right-handed and as much of a 28-year-old rookie (…) as he was, was the only outfielder available for addition to the playoff roster; nobody else was eligible (prior to the two injury wild cards we’d get). For remaining position players that ended the regular season with the team and that weren’t obvious inclusions on the playoff roster, Ben Coen was technically eligible, while Kevin Prow and Josh Floyd were not. None of them were added to the roster anyway.

With the demise of Ibold, only 11 eligible pitchers remained, so the final inclusion on the playoff roster would be a right-handed Danny Cancel, who had been a bit less annoying than Adam Bates in garbage duty in late September.

And, boy, was I worried about having to select pitchers for garbage duty in this CLCS……