BNN Report
News from the CBO, Minors, CCBL, CYL, and CBA
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
14 September 2314
Playoffs Preview - Association Championship Series Round
#3 Fort Hagen Silver Shroud (74-56) vs #1 The Slog Ghouls (84-46)
Season Series: Fort Hagen 3, The Slog 1
June 16-17 @Slog: FtH 5-3, FtH 3-1
August 12-13 @FtH: FtH 7-2, Slog 10-5
Analysis
Two seasons ago, the Fort Hagen Silver Shroud won their first championship. One year later, The Slog found itself in the NCA Champions Series, only to fall to Nahant in the battle of wildcard teams. The only playoff matchup between these two teams came in 2312 when the #1 Shroud won three out of five in the Association Semifinal Round over the #5 Ghouls.
This season, the Shroud enter as the 3rd seed, while the Ghouls are the top seed in the NCA. For The Slog, they also claim their Sole Survior Series crown in the first season of baseball in the Commonwealth before Commissioner Nate Howard was able to fully unite the four leagues. In that season, the Ghouls were the 7th seed of eight teams, ultimately defeating Finch Farm (now Nahant) in the SSS.
While the Ghouls look to be the better team, the one-on-one matchups between the teams favored the Silver Shroud. Nuke Laloosh (2-0, 3.14) was the major pitching hero, but will not be back in 2314 with a shoulder injury suffered in August. Ony Laloosh and Sarthis Idren (1-1, 4.26) started against The Slog. 1B Nick Coulter (.583/2/7) had the most success hitting for Fort Hagen.
The Ghouls did not light the bats on fire against three solid pitching outings against them in the season series, but RF Cypher Raige (.400/0/1) and 2B Puddle Norman (.364/1/4) were able to scrap together some hits. Rookie CF Name Brand Brown (.154/1/4) was not highly successful but did tie the stream lead in homers and RBI against the Silver Shroud--he is not part of the playoffs roster, though. On the mound, Isaiah Swindler (0-2, 3.75) pitched decently in his two matchups against Laloosh but could not find the victory. Klement Thodberg (0-1, 4.35) started the other two games.
Looking at overall team stats, the Ghouls seem to have the advantage with the top two stats being runs scored and runs allowed. In both categories, The Slog has better numbers, including being 2nd in the NCA in runs (688) and 1st in runs allowed (508), while Fort Hagen was 10th in runs (620) and tied for 3rd in runs allowed (584).
Prediction
If Laloosh were available, this would be the Shroud's series to take. Unfortunately, the loss of a great pitcher is hard to overcome, especially when the success against the Ghouls came from his dominance. The Slog has built up a solid team of upcoming youngsters and established veterans and look ready to take the NCA this season after disappointment in the NCACS last season. We'll take them. The Slog 4, Fort Hagen 2
#2 Quincy Gunners (75-55) vs #1 Vault 81 Dwellers (95-35)
Season Series: Vault 81 4, Quincy 0
May 21-22 @Qui: V81 4-1, V81 6-0
Ju;y 25-26 @V81: V81 6-4, V81 8-1
Analysis
We were curious what the Dwellers would do in their opening round after suffering some recent trauma in playoff action. Well, the team that set the CBO record with 95 wins swept the defending CBO champions, Atom, to move on. Now, we are not sure any team is capable of handling this machine.
Quincy will most certainly try, though we see them as being happy to get this far after some extensive struggles over the years. In this season of returning to the playoffs after missing the last three seasons, the Gunners also return to the SCACS. In 2310, in just their third-ever playoff appearance, Quincy reached the SCACS as the #2 seed, eventually dropping the series to #4 Oberland. The Gunners also defeated Vault 81 that season in the Association Semifinals Round, winning 3-2. It was the only playoff matchup between the two squads.
Now, the Dwellers are out for revenge. That revenge creeped up in the regular season when Vault 81 won all four matchups and held the Gunners to 0, 1, and 1 runs in three of the matchups. Pitching is tough for Vault 81, and Quincy has struggled against good pitching this season. All seems to favor the team from the vault.
Looking at statistical standouts for each team in their seasonal matchups, first of all, there is not much to say about Quincy hitting. Team star, 2B Will Hell, (.333/2/4) was the only respectable hitter. LF Desert Dog Smith (.100/0/0) and SS Pipewrench Mathis (.077/0/0) both had a hit apiece with 10+ at-bats. Pitching was not much better with Fosdyke Rochambeau (0-2, 8.10) getting shellacked in two starts. SP Make Money (0-1, 1.80) had a decent outing in his one start but left trailing 1-0 in a game the Gunners dropped 4-1.
Vault 81 did not have great batting stats, but a few players thrived in the season series. RF Joe Rathmann (.421/1/2) led the team in average, while 3B Artie Sefilian (.375/2/7) was the power leader. All four starters got a start against the Gunners with Scruffy Taguchi (1-0, 0.00) and Ryan Goodpryce (1-0, 0.00) not giving up a run in their innings pitched. Zack Million (1-0, 5.06) gave up some runs but still came away with the 6-4 victory.
Prediction
We already hate that we picked a team to sweep in the Association Semifinal Round. It would be insane for us to predict a sweep in the Championship Series Round. Statistically, it seems highly unlikely that a team wins all eight games against another good team. Easy City Downs has a high payout for a sweep, so they have calculated the numbers and agree. The Gunners are only missing starting CF Duff Fee (.224/2/23) who was not doing great when he was injured. Otherwise, both teams are intact. In the end, we have no doubt Vault 81 will be headed to the Sole Survivor Series. Insanity ensues. Vault 81 4, Quincy 0