[JayW UK]

2035 Playoffs

Divisional Round

The 2035 edition of the playoffs saw six out of the eight teams from the previous year return to the postseason, the east Washington after a one-year hiatus would take on Chicago, while the favourites to win the EL pennant, Philadelphia would face off against Charlotte. In the west, owners of the best record in baseball Sanfrancisco, had finally got the monkey off their back by qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 2017 and would get to go toe to toe with OKC, while defending champions San Jose were set to re-acquaint themselves with Dallas.

Charlotte had qualified for the playoffs on the final day of the season with a dramatic victory over New Orleans setting up their matchup against EL powerhouse Philadelphia, the Independence with their outstanding pitching staff and powerful offense were seen as virtual locks to dispose of plucky underdogs Charlotte and move on the ELCS. A Jamie Henson RBI single in the top of the 9th broke a 1-1 tie and put Charlotte ahead, Justin Babbitt took just 11 pitches to finish off Philadelphia and give the Express their first ever playoff victory. The following night saw a pitching duel of the highest quality as Philadelphia starter Shane Olson pitched seven innings of one run ball, unfortunately for him and the Independence Steve Walls and Wessel Oost combined to produce a 4-hit shutout, putting Charlotte in a very strong position after the opening two games of the series. Having scored just a single run in the opening two games Philadelphia’s offense woke up with a bang in game three, slamming four homeruns (including a pair from Matt Henderson) as the Independence cruised to an 8-0 victory keeping the series alive. The following night the brakes were back on Philly’s offense as Joe Downing, Brian Nichols and Justin Babbitt kept the Independence bats quiet, not even a late homerun from Matt Henderson (his fourth of the series) could spark a comeback, as the Express wrapped up the series with a narrow 2-1 win.

The second eastern league divisional series saw Chicago and Washington face off in the first ever playoff meeting between the two teams. Game one was a tight battle and with Chicago protecting a slim 1-0 lead in the 9th inning, the usually reliable closer Harvey Widdowes chose this moment to suffer a meltdown, with one out and the speedy Marc Smith on second he fielded a routine groundball and instead of taking the easy out at first, he tried the more difficult task of retiring Smith at third, his throw was badly off target and got past 3B David Evans resulting in Smith scoring the tying run and Widdowes being charged with an error. So instead of there being two out with a man on third and Chicago still in the lead, the game was now tied with a man on second and still one out. Widdowes rebounded to strike out RF Michael Moore (which ironically would have been the third out) before next man up 2B Anibal Trueba smashed a double past LF Roberto Escobar allowing the runner to score and put Washington 2-1 ahead as the Generals took full advantage of the extra out before Closer Steve Berg pitched a textbook 1-2-3 inning to preserve the most unlikely of wins for the underdogs. The following night Chicago took out their frustrations on Washington starter Domingas Fidi, piling up five runs against him through the first three innings, after Fidi left the game the Generals bullpen stopped the scoring but their offense couldn’t get going until it was too late, scoring twice late on as the Zephyrs tied the series with a comfortable 5-2 victory. Washington left it late in game three, with the scores tied and the home fans getting restless, a five run eighth sparked by an Aaron Harris Grand-Slam saw the Generals safely home taking the series lead with a 6-1 win. Game four was yet another tight battle, with both teams finding runs hard to come by Chicago starter Logan Jones took matters into his own hands blasting a go-ahead 2-run homer in the seventh inning and although Washington cut the deficit in half in the eighth, they couldn’t manage to score again as Zephyr closer Harvey Widdowes made sure there was no repeat of his game one collapse sending the series back to Chicago for a deciding game five. Game two starters Eugene Fey (CHI) and Domingas Fidi (WAS) were back on the mound and the home team again started fast plating three runs in the first inning and although Fidi struggled with control (issuing 5 walks along with 6 hits) Chicago couldn’t take full advantage, twice leaving the bases loaded. With Eugene Fey pitching well, this profligacy didn’t come back to haunt them and once Fidi left the game (having thrown 112 pitches through just 5.1 innings) the floodgates opened as Chicago ripped six more runs against the helpless Generals bullpen, winning the series decider in a one-sided 9-1 demolition.

The series between Sanfrancisco and Oklahoma City, pitted two of the best offensive teams in the NABL against each other, SF boasted the top scoring offense in the WL while OKC were third, the Outlaws had the advantage of better pitching but with Sanfrancisco having the home advantage there was very little to choose between the teams and a close and exciting series was expected. Things didn’t start too well for Sanfrancisco as top starter Ed Harris (19-7 in the regular season) had to leave game one with back spasms after just two innings, with the score tied at one apiece the Gold turned to Kevin Sims as his replacement. The move turned out to be a disaster, as one inning and six runs later the game was over as a contest with OKC eventually taking the series opener 8-2. After his team’s disheartening capitulation the previous night, Sanfrancisco manager Jorge Castro demanded an improvement for game two, Mike Powell answered the call and started strong, no-hitting OKC through the first five innings and when 1B Andres Romero drove in Steve Feller to give the Gold the lead all appeared to be going to plan. OKC starter Wes Pierson had other ideas though stepping up his intensity and stopping Sanfrancisco from padding their lead before in the seventh a CF Jorge Bruno 2-run Homer put the Outlaws ahead and sent Powell to the dugout, the Gold bullpen struggled to keep the visitors at bay as OKC added three more runs to their total while Pierson proved almost unhittable going the distance as OKC recorded a comfortable 5-1 victory. After their disappointing homestand Sanfrancisco took to the road for games 3 and 4 determined to take the game to OKC, CF Herminio Azurara plated two with a first inning double to give them an early lead in game three. A 2-RBI homerun from Jesus Alarcon tied the scores in the second before the wheels fell off for SF as further homeruns from Chance Merritt and Jesus Alarcon (his second of the day) sparked an eight-run third inning to blow the game wide open. A three-run outburst in the sixth briefly gave Sanfrancisco hope but the Outlaws extinguished that with three of their own in the seventh as they coasted to a convincing 14-5 series clinching win, leaving manager Jorge Castro and his team to lick their wounds and reflect on a thoroughly deflating playoff exit.

The other WL divisional series saw defending champions San Jose face off against Dallas, the pair had met in the WLCS the season before with San Jose sweeping Dallas before going on to sweep Chicago in the World Series, this time around Dallas had the home advantage and were determined to gain revenge. Game one saw a battle between the two staff aces, Cristobal Chapa (DAL) and Pedro Rosario (SJ), both men pitched well until a 48-minute rain delay in the sixth inning forced both players from the mound. The bullpens took over and kept a lid on the scoring until in the bottom of the eighth, when Dallas C Hanus Koliewski (playing in place of injured Eduardo Canbrera) drilled a one-out solo homerun off the pitching of Gil Nash to give the home team a 3-2 lead. With the fans cheering every pitch Luis Lagunas made short work of San Jose to close out the win. Game two was another close battle, both team scoring early in a back-and-forth affair before Dallas starter Jason Cashan left the game with a blister in the fifth inning, the Mustangs turned to veteran Larry de Meza and he delivered, pitching four shutout innings to lift Dallas to victory. Brad Wright was the unlucky Dallas pitcher in game three as San Jose’s bats came alive, scoring 9 runs and smashing five homeruns, a pair each from Gregg Bambridge and Connor Brantley to go with a solo effort from Armando Burrios that provided the final score in the Spartans comprehensive 9-1 victory. Dallas ace Cristobal Chapa did not have is A-game the following night, spotting San Jose a three-run lead which could have much worse if the Spartans had not ground into three double plays and hit just 1 for 6 with men in scoring position. The Spartans did manage to pad their lead with back-to-back homers off reliever Britt Jones, before a late Dallas rally fell just short as San Jose held on for a 5-4 win to send the series back to Texas for a deciding game five. Dallas came out all guns blazing in the decider, blasting a pair of homeruns in the first and cruising to a 6-0 lead after four innings, while the Spartans struggled to produce any offense of their own and only a late homerun from catcher James Andersen gave their fans anything to cheer as San Jose slumped to a 6-1 defeat and crashing out of the playoffs at the first hurdle.