Yes, that's right, it's a World Series update! Although everyone's been focused on 2016 for a while now, we still have some unfinished business from the 2015 season. The Surprise Zombies (124-38) earned this opportunity to defend their championship by defeating Austin and Washington. Trying to deny them are the Dime Box Double-Nickels (101-61), who knocked off New Monmouth and mighty Harmony Grove. It's the Continental League's year for home field advantage, so the series started in the Dime Box bandbox.
Game 1: Corey Kluber (26-3, 2.28) vs. Felix Hernandez (19-11, 3.23)
Kluber has followed up a great regular season with playoff dominance, whereas King Felix hasn't quite lived up to his royal expectations. In this one, McCutchen greeted him with a long blast into the seats. Stanton answered with his own leadoff homer and we had a tie game. Both teams threatened in the 3rd, but neither scored. DBX actually managed to waste 4 singles as Phillips was thrown out trying for a double and Pagan was gunned down at the plate. The 1-1 tie held up until the 7th when Holliday took one for the team on a HBP, advanced on a WP and then a groundout. DBX called for the IBB of Utley, but Jennings executed a beautiful suicide squeeze to bring home a run. Nothing much happened until the bottom of the 9th. Kluber was still rolling along for SUR, but Rizzo led off with a double to bring the tying run into scoring position. After a brief visit to the mound, Kluber took care of business to earn the Zombie victory. SUR 2-1
Game 2: Zach Greinke (20-5, 2.96) vs. Sonny Gray (16-7, 3.20)
McCutchen led off with a groundout this time, but the Zombies still scored in the 1st. Nava made DBX pay for the Holliday IBB by delivering an RBI single, but the lumbering Gonzalez was thrown out to hold SUR to one run. Once again, Stanton responded with a leadoff homer, because that's just how he rolls. However, he changed things up in the 3rd by hitting another solo homer. The pitchers pretty much dominated after that, but DBX added a solo homer from Phillips in the 8th. That was more than enough for Gray, who barely broke a sweat in finishing off his 4-hitter. DBX 3-1
Okay, so the series was tied heading to Surprise for 3 games. Playoff drama! What will happen next?
Moving right along, would either of these mighty offenses heat up with the change in venue?
Game 3: Chris Sale (16-6, 2.64) vs. Tyson Ross (17-3, 2.90)
Ross managed to keep Stanton from leading of this game with another homer by walking him instead. However, Rizzo found platoon 1B Van Slyke with a ground ball that he muffed. Then Cabrera bounced one to SS Peralta for another error. Oof. This clearly rattled Ross, who walked Francisco with the bases loaded to bring home a run. After a brief mound visit, he retired Pearce and coaxed another ground ball from Grandal, this time for a DP. Surprise responded quickly by loading the bases with 2 singles and a HBP. Peralta hit into a killer DP, but did bring home one run. The ugly defense continued as 3B Cabrera botched a grounder to score another run. In the 3rd, Rizzo erased the Zombie lead with a solo homer. Ross walked Stanton to start the 5th and then Rizzo bounced a slow grounder to 3B Rosales. Oh no, he threw it into the dugout for a 2-base error! Ross rallied to get 2 outs, but Pearce delivered an RBI single to give DBX a 3-2 lead. Sale apparently couldn't handle the pressure of a lead, walking the bases loaded with 1 out. That earned him a quick hook as DBX called on Street to escape the jam. He did just that, retiring Van Slyke and Holliday. The next couple innings flew by, but Surprise threatened again in the 8th against Quackenbush. McCutchen singled and went to 2nd on a wild pitch. Hardy struck out Avila. Russell retired Holliday before walking Peralta. Could Sandoval come through? Nope, he flied out. Surprise rallied again in the 9th against Britton with a 2 out HBP and BB to bring up the mighty McCutchen. DBX wanted no part of him and called for the unconventional IBB to load the bases. That gave Avila his chance to play the unlikely hero! So of course he struck out. Tough loss for Surprise, who made 3 brutal errors and left 9 on base. DBX 3-2
Game 4: Felix Hernandez vs. Corey Kluber
The trend of 1st inning runs continued as unstoppable leadoff man Stanton walked and scored on a groundout. That lead wouldn't last long as the Zombies put 2 on for Gonzalez, who crushed one deep, but off the wall and he had to settle for an RBI double. King Felix worked out of the jam to preserve a tie. He was less fortunate in the 2nd, when McCutchen struck for a 2-run HR. It just wasn't a very royal day as the Zombies finished him off with 3 more runs in the 3rd. Ryu did a nice job in relief, but Kluber just wasn't going to blow a 5-run lead. Rollins did surprise him with an 8th inning homer, but McCutchen answered with his own. Kluber wins again. SUR 7-2
Okay, so now the series is tied 2-2 and it all comes down to a best 2 out of 3 for the championship. We know now that it will be decided in Dime Box, one way or the other.
The Zombies scored only 5 runs on 12 hits in games 1-3 before exploding for 7 runs on 12 hits in Game 4. Can they do it again or will the bats go cold again? Will Dime Box finally score more than 3 runs in a game? Can Gray outduel Greinke again in Game 5? Who will start game 6? Will we reach Game 7 and see another Kluber/Hernandez matchup?
These questions will hopefully be answered later today, so stay tuned!
Yet again, the fire-breathing dragon called Giancarlo Stanton led off the game with a long home run. Yikes! DBX followed that with a pair of singles, but Greinke escaped the jam. Gray dominated Surprise in Game 2, but wasn't nearly as sharp this time. The Zombies hit into double plays in the 1st and 2nd, but still managed a run to tie the game. Gray melted down in the 3rd, surrendering 4 straight hits and earning himself a quick hook. Quackenbush struck out 2, but then allowed an RBI single that increased the SUR lead to 4-1. Given that DBX has yet to exceed 3 runs in this series, it seemed like a pretty big lead. The scorching hot McCutchen tripled and scored in the 4th to make it 5-1. However, DBX started chipping away in the 6th. Rivera hit an RBI single and Rollins added another single to tire Greinke. Facing Andrew Miller, DBX called for the H&R, but Phillips missed the pitch and Rivera was easily thrown out "stealing" 3rd. The relievers dominated until the 9th when Miller allowed a leadoff walk and was replaced with Rondon. This was Hector's 1st appearance in a long time and he looked rusty. DBX took advantage with a pair of singles to load the bases, still with nobody out. Phillips flied out. Cowgill grounded out, which scored a run to make it 5-3. Uh-oh, that brings up the terrifying Stanton! Would Rondon really pitch to him with a base open? Well, Miguel Cabrera is next, so he said a prayer and pitched. Stanton took a big swing...and missed for a game ending strikeout! Whew! SUR 5-3
So we headed back to Dime Box with Surprise up 3-2 in the series.
Game 6: Danny Duffy (10-4, 3.42) vs. Gerrit Cole (6-4, 4.04)
Neither team's Game 3 starter had the mystical *, so we had to roll out fresh starters for this critical match-up. Just like he did in Game 1, McCutchen led off with a shot into the seats, 1-0 SUR. The Zombies added a pair of singles and threatened to blow it open early, but Nava killed the rally with a DP. DBX started off with a couple singles, but Cabrera hit into a big DP and Pearce continued to suck wind. Cole had an easy 2nd and Negron celebrated his 1st start with a HR off Duffy that tied the game. Dime Box put a couple more on base, but stranded them. In the 3rd, Marte hit his 1st HR to put Surprise back on top. Duffy looked shaky again in the 3rd, but Stanton was thrown out trying to score on a 2-out single. In the 4th, DBX staged a 2-out rally with a HBP and BB. That signaled the end of Duffy's outing and Ramirez struck out Dragon Stanton to preserve the slim 2-1 lead. In the 5th, SUR wasted a leadoff double and DBX wasted an exceedingly rare Pearce hit. In the 7th, things got wacky. Van Slyke led off with a single, DBX brought in Britton, and SUR countered with Pennington. He singled, but overran 1st and was thrown out (rare play alert). That did advance the runner to 3rd and he scored on a long fly ball by Peralta that just missed leaving the park. However, the Dragon (Stanton) did his fire-breathing trick again in the bottom of the 7th. Luckily for SUR, it was another solo homer. Surprise loaded the bases in the 8th, but PH Rua failed to be a hero, striking out instead. In the bottom half, Negron drew a lead-off walk and was erased by a FC that tired Miller. Uh-oh, what will Surprise do now? What? Is that veteran Mark Buehrle coming in from the pen? Yes! He coaxed a flyout from Phillips, but Pagan ripped a double into the gap. Rollins motored around from 1st, here's the throw...and what a throw...it's going to be close...I think he's going to make it...he's out! That was at least a 70% chance to score, but the capricious Strat gods favored SUR. In the 9th, Surprise tried Gregerson against Rizzo and he walked him. Fine, it's Rondon time. Stanton the Dragon hit one in the air...but it's caught. Then Rizzo tried to steal 2nd and got the jump, but Avila gunned him down! So of course Cabrera followed that with a single. Desperate for a run and down to their final out, DBX sent Cabrera and he beat the throw for a stolen base! Searching for a hero, DBX called on Juan Francisco who was 0-for the series with mostly Ks. He made contact this time, but the fly ball was caught to end it. Zombies win! SUR 3-2
Whew! It certainly wasn't easy, but Surprise held on to defeat Dime Box in 6 games and defend their ARBA championship. It looks like they are the 1st team to repeat since Santa Fe in 2004-2005.
There was plenty of drama with 5 games decided by 1 or 2 runs. Dime Box played them very tough, but never managed to score more than 3 runs in a game, despite Stanton's heroics: 9-24, 3 BB, DO, 5 HR (all solo shots), 8 R, 5 RBI. Pagan (.438), Rollins (.300) and a few role players also hit very well. Pearce somehow ended up with a respectable 4-16, but sure seemed worse. The even more consistent rally killers included Cabrera (4-24), Phillips (2-21), Francisco (0-12), and Grandal (0-15).
Overall, DBX hit .227 with 9 HR, but only scored 14 runs. Their pitchers generally kept it close with a 3.29 ERA, but King Felix (0-2, 6.35) came up short as the ace.
As for SUR, they hit only .220 with 5 HR (4 by McCutchen), but scored 20 runs, despite only 17 RBI. McCutchen carried the offense, hitting 11-22, 4 BB, TR, 4 HR, 7 R, and 5 RBI. Yikes! Marte (.300) did a nice job in the #2 spot and part-timer Van Slyke contributed. Most of the other regulars stunk it up, including Peralta (2-21), Holliday (2-14), Sandoval (2-21) and Avila (1-19). Of course, their pitching was terrific, with a 2.04 ERA, led by Kluber (2-0, 1.5 ERA).
Congratulations to Gary for doing a great job with this Dime Box team and thanks for a fun series. With a little more luck, it definitely could have gone the other way.
Okay, so the 2015 season concludes with Surprise on top again. Now the Zombies will get a chance to go for 3 in a row with a radically overhauled roster and an even bigger target on their backs. That will be quite a challenge. Bring on 2016!
