[Jiggy]

The 2055 postseason got off to a raucous start in Chicago. It ended in a whisper.

Kingpins fans, starved for what has proven to be an elusive second Professional Baseball Experience Minor League (MiLPBE) World Series championship, roared to their feet in the bottom of the first inning of game one. Chicago left fielder Nate Brittles launched a towering lead-off bomb into the outfield seats. Fireworks blasted. Music blared. Fans clapped and danced and cheered.

“I’ve never felt energy like that in the ballpark,” rookie center fielder Bartholomew Brown said of the reaction to Brittles’ home run. “It gave me goosebumps. It made me realize how high the stakes are compared to the regular season.”

The solo shot gave the Kingpins a 1-0 lead and a greater sense of hope that this season they might avoid that taste of postseason disappointment that has plagued the franchise in recent history.

The joy in the stadium was short lived, unfortunately. And about as short lived as time and outs could allow.

Louisville responded immediately with a three-run rally in the top of the second to take a lead from which it would never look back. The Lemurs hit four consecutive singles to tie the game before Chicago starter James Daly could record the inning’s first out. A sacrifice fly from Louisville right fielder Gumby gave Louisville a 2-1 lead, and Lemurs left fielder Ryan James added an RBI single to extend that lead to 3-1.

The drop in Chicago’s The Jose Forty-Three Stadium decibel levels was as mercurial as its rise. By the time Daly was able work out of the inning, the home crowd’s roars had melted into murmurs.

“Louisville is really scrappy,” Brown said of the opposition after the game. “It wasn’t like they were hitting James [Daly] super hard. They just placed balls where the defense wasn’t, and took advantage of contact. It was kind of death by a thousand paper cuts there in the second.”

With the lead, Lemurs starter Vuitton Tentacion took full control. The left hander needed just nine pitches to retire the side in the bottom of the second. He retired the side in order in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, and allowed just one runner on a single in the sixth.

Tentacion was lifted after six complete innings. Other than that first inning home run, he allowed just three hits and didn’t walk a single Kingpins batter.

Chicago may have been able to threaten in the fourth, but a strategic decision potentially prevented the offense from having an opportunity to get going. Right fielder Alyssa Jakob made hard contact to lead off the bottom of the fourth, roping a full-count double with an exit velocity of 105 miles per hour, but was thrown out at third trying to stretch the double into a triple. Tentacion needed only four pitches to get the next two hitters out and end the inning.

Commentators questioned the decision to go for third, but Jakob’s teammates stood by them in the clubhouse.

“I love the way Jakob plays,” Brown said. “We’ve tried to put pressure on defenses all season. That’s part of what makes us successful and what we believe we need to keep doing to win in the postseason. Sometimes the defense makes a really good play, and in those cases you just have to tip your cap.”

Lemurs reliever Adam Roberts took over in the bottom of the seventh and once again Chicago hitters were three-up and three-down. He threw another 1.2 innings, giving up just one run on three hits before being lifted for Ryan Negs in the bottom of the ninth.

James gave Louisville some insurance with a lead-off homer to open the eighth frame, widening the gap to 4-1. The Kingpins threatened in the bottom half, putting runners on first and second with no outs, third baseman Jim Copeland, Jr. flew out to right and Brittle grounded into an inning-ending and threat-ending double play.

Down to Chicago’s last out in the bottom of the ninth, first baseman Luigi Lanikai, shortstop Randy Fasttrack, catcher Santiago Benito and Kove each singled, resulting in a run and trimming the deficit to 4-2. Rookie center fielder Bartholomew Brown stepped to the plate with two outs, the bases loaded, and an opportunity to tie or win the game with one swing of the bat. The situation created the first real buzz in the ballpark since Brittle’s first inning home run. Fans rose to their feet, clasped their hands together, and waited with baited breath for fortune to strike.

Brown lifted a lazy fly ball to right field. Some fans gasped thinking the drive was deeper than it was, but gasps turned to groans, which turned to silence as the ball was squeezed by Gumby for the game’s final out.

“That’s the kind of clutch moment you daydream about from the time you’re a little kid and continue to daydream about as a professional,” Brown said after the game. “It’s really disappointing to have that kind of chance and not come through for my team.”

With the loss, Chicago fell behind 0-1 in the best-of-five series and lost home field advantage.

The next day gave the club its next chance to get things going on a possible postseason run. Once again, hope sprung early, with the Kingpins taking an early 2-0 lead in the second inning. With a runner on first, Brown laced an RBI double to get the scoring started. Brittles followed with a two-out RBI single against Louisville starter Drew Mcintyre.

Once again, however, the Lemurs answered before the Chicago faithful could really begin to enjoy the team’s lead. Kingpins rookie Casey Shaffer gave up a walk and a pair of singles that plated the first Louisville run in the top of the third. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Shaffer walked in the game-tying run.

Louisville then exploded for a five-run sixth inning against right hander Jolene Mydog. Mydog was a member of the Kingpins’ rotation during the regular season, but was moved to the bullpen when the rotation was trimmed to three for the postseason.

The Lemurs continued to notch runs, scoring in each of game two’s final three innings to produce a lopsided 10-4 final.

Chicago managed 12 hits, one fewer than the total allowed to Louisville. Brown, Lanikai, Benito and designated hitter Tony Franzonello each had multi-hit games in the losing effort.

Down the first two games in the series, the Kingpins would have to win the next two in Louisville to give its home fans at one last something to get loud for.

As has become custom in the series, Chicago struck first with a two-run home run from Kove in the top of the fifth that quieted an enthusiastic Lemurs home crowd. But Louisville demonstrated its resilience once again, trying the game with three hits in the bottom half. With the game knotted at two runs apiece in the bottom of the sixth, the Lemurs decimated dreams of a Kingpins run, popping off for a two-out, five run inning to seize a decisive 7-2 lead.

Chicago got a run back in the seventh, but that was it. The Kingpins’ once-promising 2055 season ended with a whisper and a three-game sweep in the first round of the postseason.

“It would be an understatement to say I’m disappointed,” Brown said after game three’s loss. “This is a super talented team, and I couldn’t be happier being a Kingpin. I know the end result is not what we had imagined and not what our fans deserve.”

As the postseason rolls on, it is all quiet at what once was a raucous, hopeful The Jose Forty-Three Stadium.

Series Scores

September 16 - Louisville Lemurs 4 @ Chicago Kingpins 2
September 17 - Louisville Lemurs 10 @ Chicago Kingpins 4
September 19 - Chicago Kingpins 3 @ Louisville Lemurs 7

Series Final: Louisville Lemurs defeats Chicago Kingpins 3-0