Note: Play-In Series winners will not be covered in the analysis.
BNN Weekly Report
This Week in the CBO, BMU, and GBRL
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
28 September 2303
Playoff Tree
SCA Semifinal: #4 Diamond City Swatters vs #1 Roxbury Rad Sox
Season Series: Diamond City 7, Roxbury 5
May 29-31 @ Rox: Rox 6-5, DC 4-3, Rox 8-2
July 10-12 @ DC: Rox 4-2, DC 5-4, Rox 1-0
July 17-19 @ Rox: DC 2-1, DC 2-1, DC 4-3
Sept 18-20 @DC: Rox 9-3, DC 4-2, DC 5-1
Analysis
Not counting the one-game series vs NCA teams, the Roxbury Rad Sox lost exactly one season series: their matchup with the Diamond City Swatters. Not only that, but in the last two weekend series these Railroad League rivals played, the Swatters won all but one of those six games, leading us to believe this may be the one series where the Sox are most vulnerable.
It will be tough with the barrage of starting pitchers being thrown at Diamond City in this 5-game series. The Rad Sox legitimately have the CBO's best starting pitching staff, and they proved that by finishing 1st in Starters ERA (2.75). The Sox are led by the sure winner of the Vim! Pitcher Award, Nuke Laloosh (13-2, 1.73). Had he stayed healthy all season, Laloosh would probably hold on to even more single-season records, including wins, than the four he set this season: ERA, WHIP (0.89), and Opp OBP (.237), and Opp OPS (.539). Laloosh is joined by Eugene Gym (16-7, 2.73), who would be the ace on most teams, and a mildly surprising nod to Whokill Poole (15-10, 3.40) over Gwinnett Southie (17-3, 2.66). CL Andy Helium (29 SV, 3.18) leads a good bullpen (2nd in the SCA with a 3.48 ERA). College Luckyman (4-2, 2.76), who would start on most teams, and John Irwin (4-0, 2.08) also contribute to the bullpen.
On offense, Roxbury does not seem formidable, but they still were tops in the SCA in four offensive categories: runs (653), Batting Avg (.271), OBP (.363), and Batting WAR (30.9). All but one starter hit over .250, with the third and fourth hitters, LF Young Goodman (.289/28/89) and 2B Chris Connexx (.302/21/95) leading the way. Other strong contributors are RF Deerlord Fugivmee (.288/7/57), 3B Donn Mattingley (.279/12/73), and 1B Duncan MacCready (.288/9/79).
Prediction
Roxbury seems to be built to win a championship or two. Call us crazy, but we do not think it will be this year. Diamond City is still king of the RL despite finishing in second, and we predict them to edge out the Sox in this one, 3 games to 2.
SCA Semifinal: #3 Atom Cats vs #2 University Point Deathclaws
Season Series: University Point 9, Atom 3
May 29-31 @UP: Atom 8-7, UP 3-2, Atom 5-4
July 10-12 @Atom: UP 7-3, UP 6-5, UP 5-4
July 17-18 @UP: UP 7-5, Atom 6-3, UP 4-2
Sept 18-20 @Atom: UP 14-10, UP 14-7, UP 10-7
Analysis
We often mention the playoff rivalry between the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys and Fort Hagen Silver Shroud, but the Atom Cats and the University Point Deathclaws will be facing off for the third straight season. The winner of the last two went on to win the SCA. Atom won two years ago in the SCACS before falling to the titans in the Boys. The Claws won last year's matchup in the Play-In Series before riding that series win to a championship over Nordhagen Beach.
This season, we see a playoff matchup with the most lopsided season result, including seeing Univesity Point's offense explode in the last series of the season for 38 runs in a three-game sweep. Despite not having the best overall numbers, the Claw's offense is definitively the most talented in the CBO and can give good pitching staffs fits. Five players can be considered CBO stars, though three stand out the most: 1B Barker Cocoa (.365/41/91), RF Tomas Jones (.325/31/104), and SS Austin Engill (.226/30/66). LF Kory Richardson (.224/26/75) and 3B Ryan Morris (.227/24/65) also help a team that hit 188 home runs (1.57 per game) on the season, meaning a team that put up a lot of runs in bunches.
Pitching, however, is where the Deathclaws have problems. They were 5th in the SCA in runs allowed (507), including finishing 6th in Starters ERA (3.74). The top two starters, Phlip Wallace (14-4, 3.10) and Bobby Van Marter (15-9, 2.82) can matchup well to most other teams' pitching staffs, but the next two starters, Lennie Landslide (9-5, 4.61) and Wilson Beachball (16-9, 4.50) can struggle to get outs sometimes. Landslide is expected to get the nod as the third starter in the playoffs. The bullpen can also struggle. CL Freedom Williams (33 SV, 3.37) was OK and Marc Pondsip (3-2, 3.28) have helped. RP James Schwerdtfeger (3-0, 0.50) pitched really well in limited chances.
For the Cats, they have a much stronger starting rotation, though they finished only a tick better than the Deathclaws. Atom was 5th in Starters ERA (3.65) and 9th in Bullpen ERA (4.67) but finished 6th in runs allowed (514). There were no problems at all with ace Scruffy Taguchi (15-5, 2.43) who is almost always in a position to win a game. The other two starters for the playoffs, SP Deedee Martinson (8-7, 3.97) and Pete Pembroke (12-6, 3.92), will need to pitch well against University Point to keep their team in the game. SP Bow Rome (11-6, 4.54) moves to the bullpen for the playoffs to join CL Chopsticks McWilliams (37 SV, 5.37), Adam Forestman (5-10, 6.15), and Danny Scorcher (9-2, 3.53).
On offense, Atom is also better at scoring than preventing scores, finishing 3rd in the SCA in runs scored (637), 2nd in average (.267), and 2nd in homers (155). There was only one true star on offense, LF Melon Sanderson (.329/45/110), who finally found his place after being traded from Warwick to the NWL's Wild Gatorclaws to the Cats. CF Earthbound Bussey (.291/12/50), SS Jake Doucette (.290/18/77), and LF Jarrett Schoolboy (.274/10/45) are all contributors on offense.
Prediction
We can only hope that this is the one playoff series that will have a shootout every game. If that would happen, the advantage is purely in the Claw's corner. We expect that to be the case and pick University Point to take this series, 3 games to 1.