The 2015 Federal League Championship Series featured the Washington Senators (100-62) and the Surprise Zombies (124-38). Washington won the South division and then outlasted Camden in a 7-game series. Surprise won the Central (by 60 games!) and then defeated Austin in 6 games. The Zombies would be without their dynamic outfielder Starling Marte for the entire series. Would that slow them down? Let's find out!
Game 1: Alex Cobb vs. Corey Kluber
Cy Young favorite Kluber actually looked a little shaky early, but kept Washington from scoring. Cobb matched him with zeroes until the 4th, when team icon Adrian Gonzalez sent a 2-run blast into the seats! After that, there were a lot of outs, although Surprise did add an insurance run in the 8th. Kluber cruised to a 4-hit shutout and Cobb suffered a tough loss. SUR 4-0
Game 2: Tom Koehler vs. Zach Greinke
Washington got on the board quickly as Josh Harrison crushed Greinke's 1st pitch for a long home run. That 1-0 lead held up until the 3rd, when the Zombies tied it on a bases loaded DP. WAS wasn't done yet, adding runs on a passed ball and a Perez HR to lead 3-1 in the 5th. However, Surprise chased Koehler with 2 hits in the bottom of the 5th and pinch hitter Nava brought them home with a double off Vincent. Gonzalez struck again with a bomb off Vincent in the 6th. Clinging to a 4-3 lead in the 7th, Surprise turned to lefty Andrew Miller and he was absolutely lights out, retiring 8 in a row for the save. SUR 4-3
Game 3: Roberto Hernandez vs. Tyson Ross
The series headed to Washington with the Senators down 2-0. The home fans wouldn't enjoy this one much at all. Zombies ripped Hernandez for 3 runs on 5 hits in the 2nd before Kontos escaped with a big DP. He had more trouble escaping his own jams as the Zombies added 2 runs in the 3rd and 2 more in the 4th. Meanwhile, Ross kept stranding baserunners until a Peralta error led to a pair of runs in the 5th. That was all for the Senators as Surprise won easily with 17 hits, including 7 doubles. I should mention that the WAS defense was to blame for much of the damage as they missed 3-5 X-plays early. SUR 9-2
Game 4: Kyle Hendricks vs. Corey Kluber
Some might say that Surprise should have started someone else when up 3-0 in the series, but we respected WAS too much to screw around like that. WAS actually scored off Kluber this time, making him pay for injuring Joyce with a run in the 1st. The lead didn't last long as SUR scored on another bases-loaded DP in the 2nd, then Gonzalez had an RBI single in the 3rd, then he added another one in the 5th. Hendricks pitched into the 9th, but then allowed 2 more runs. Kluber? Yeah, he was awesome again, going the distance on a 3-hitter with 11 strikeouts. SUR 5-1
So Surprise showed their dominance by sweeping a very good Washington team, outscoring them 21-6. Gonzalez and McCutchen led the offense, while Kluber led the pitching staff. Congratulations to Ken on an impressive season that really deserved a better conclusion than this. Sweeps are just mean, so I feel kind of guilty, but will take the wins anyway. I'm a villain, remember.
Surprise is back in the World Series to defend their championship, but when will they have an opponent? What's going on with the CL anyway? Are you guys just too afraid to face the mighty Zombies? I mean, you should be, but come on and take your punishment anyway!
P.S. Although Tom refuses to believe this (for good reason), we actually managed to use NetPlay for this series! It worked very well other than in Game 3 when there were several freezes, although we were able to resume where it left off.
