Friday 9th June, 1972 – Chicago American Giants (33-27) @ Cleveland Buckeyes (35-24)
7.05pm ET, Buckeyes Ballpark, Cleveland OH
Another EL season and, it seems, another epic battle for the WC National Association title between the two teams playing tonight.
And as always it is a night of high excitement because it is SHOTIME here in Cleveland, with Ohtani-san on the mound for the home time.
While Shohei has never quite revisited the heights of that simply unbelievable rookie season in 1969, he has still been among the league's best performers year-in and year-out, fashioning a 72-47 career record on the mound along with a lifetime 277/367/480 line and 73 home runs - all up giving him just over 40 WAR combined.
He enters this game at 5-7 / 3.00 and has slashed 264/338/431 so far with 8 homers and 26 RBI.
His opponent tonight is an NeLer we haven't seen before, who I thought was worthy of a bit of background information.
Frank "Lefty" Holmes played eight seasons mainly in the 1930s without making too much of a name for himself, ending up with an overall 18-21 record and an ERA+ of 102. He was a member of the 1934 Philadelphia Stars championship team, going 7-6, and his two saves for the same club the following year led the NNL. That was pretty much it for Lefty, who only pitched about 30 more innings over three seasons before stepping away from the game.
In the EL, he was Drafted in the '68 Inaugural Draft by the Lincoln Giants, where he stayed until being traded for four players in the middle of last season. His combined record between the two clubs in '71 was a fine 20-14 with a sparkling 123 ERA+ and 6.3 pWAR to his name, and he has continued that excellent form this campaign, carrying a 7-5 / WC-best 1.80 record into this game. While he doesn't have Shohei's blazing stuff, Lefty has a solid four-pitch arsenal and creates a ton of movement on the ball which means he concedes very few longballs - 0.5 per 9 over his career.
Despite coming up short last season, Buckeyes management held their nerve and only made some small changes to their group, while drafting for the future. It's a good enough squad that Cool Papa Bell is a bench player, so no arguments from me on that strategy, and it still looks to have a fair bit of upside with guys like Ketel Marte only young and some fair prospects down at the TL Hornets. Shohei leads a rotation taht is up there with the best, and the acquisition last year of Closer Octavio Dotel has really solidified their BP, whose 1.14 ERA is the WC's lowest at this point. They do have a wealth of catchers at their disposal, and I'd really like to see them use one of them to upgrade at 3B, where they are inarguably weak. Other than that, this is a well-rounded squad that looks to be going places.
While they have made two trips to the playoffs in the past three seasons, for a club as big as the AGs, there's no doubt they have underperformed so far. And once again, 1972 has seen them play well beneath where they'd want to be. The big problem as far as I see it for the AGs is that, unlike the Buckeyes, they've kind of topped out where they are and, with the exception of Bingo DeMoss, don't have anything in the larder either. It's the position players that are proving problematic, not their exemplary pitching which is going great guns again this season. A 9th-ranked team BA of 232 just won't cut the mustard, and the fact that they have neither a 300 hitter or a player with double-figure HR in the squad speaks volumes about their lack of zip. This offseason will, of course, be the first with a full class of FA declarations, so perhaps the plan is to use their financial might - which only the Grays and Monarchs can closely compete with - to buy the squad they are after. We'll just have to wait and see.
As I said, a real buzz in the air as is always the case when Shohei is on the mound, and a huge crowd of nearly 30000 in attendance. Here's who they'll be seeing in action:
OK, time for the first pitch.
A needless throwing error from Shohei gifts the AGs a run in the 2nd and he is lucky to escape the next without falling further behind as they leave the bags full.
He tries to get something going with a one-out double in the 4th but they fail to bring him in and it stays 1-0. The visitors then show them how it's done in the next, as Holmes leads off with a trip and comes in on a single by Jose Abreu.
Holmes is looking super sharp, giving up just 3 hits over the first 5.
Not much going right for the home side, as a Hernandez single to lead off the 6th is erased by a Martin GIDP, but they finally come alive in the 9th and Shohei himself drives in their first run of the game with a single. Eddie Vargas' third hit of the night ties it at 2 but once again the dreaded DP snuffs out an excellent chance for more runs.
After Shohei gets the Bucks a clean top 9th, Ronald Belisario comes on in relief of Holmes. Cleveland gets the leadoff man Gerald Perry aboard with a single, but for the third time a GIDP ends the inning and we go into spares.
When Ohtani gives up a leadoff hit to Ender Inciarte, that ends his night and he is replaced by Dotel. He promptly gives up a double and a single to the first two he faces and suddenly the AGs lead it 4-2.
Ugueth Urbina comes on to try and close it out, which he does on three harmless flyouts to give Chicago a hard-fought win.
A points decision to the AGs here, but still a lot of baseball left in this season.