Yes, that's right! It's time for another exciting ARBA playoff update! Be sure to strap yourself in and keep any wanted limbs inside the car at all times. This is going to be a very wild ride!
The Bali Dawgs (98-64) finished 2nd in the CL North and then dispatched Shiner in the WC game by a score of 6-2. The San Francisco Seawolves (103-59) won the CL South and the 2nd CL seed, but ended up facing the WC winner because BAL and HAR share a division. Adding to the drama of this matchup is the big trade featuring players destined to play critical roles in this series. Bali sent James Paxton, Mike Minor and Eduardo Nunez to SF for Danny Duffy, John Lester and Kevin Pillar. Fun!
As reward/punishment for losing both WC games this season, I ended up managing Bali for Aaron, our International Man of Mystery. I'm even doing the write-up? I should really demand a raise soon...
Game 1: Danny Duffy (13-4, 3.15 ERA) vs. James Paxton (14-5, 2.95)
Paxton's dominance was the early story in this one as he was PUMPED to face his former team. So pumped that he struck out 6 straight batters to start the game! Duffy wasn't quite as dominant, but was just as effective through 4 shutout innings. Castellanos got the 1st BAL hit in the 4th. Bali's 2nd and 3rd hits came in the 5th, setting up a Romine SF to break the scoreless tie. SF pulled Paxton in favor of Nicasio to start the 6th. That seemed like a reasonable move with Pillar and other lefty killers coming up, but as you'll see, "reason" did not show up for this series. Anyway, Pillar punished his former team with a long home run. A clearly shaken Nicasio walked 2 batters before getting a big DP, but The Tantalizing Potential of Byron Buxton doubled home a run to make it 3-0. Bali went to their pen with 2 outs and 2 on in the 6th. Designated stopper did the job there and worked around a 1-out triple in the 7th. However, he ran out of gas in the 8th, serving up a titanic 2-run blast to Blackmon! The SF relievers who followed Nicasio kept it close and it was 3-2 in the bottom of the 9th. Bali lacks a true closer, so that could be a problem. Alvarez got one out, but then tired on a single. Could Erasmo Ramirez save the day? Yes! He struck out Tomlinson (0-5) and Lemahieu to end it. BAL 3-2
Game 2: Jon Lester (7-13, 4.76 ERA) vs. Mike Leake (15-10, 4.01 ERA)
After seeing how little SF did against Duffy, Bali couldn't resist rolling out the other LH starter from that trade. The wily veteran rewarded their faith by frustrating the Seawolves through 6 shutout innings, allowing only 2 hits and 2 walks. However, Leake matched his effort through 5 2/3 innings. That last out in the 6th proved very elusive. Turner singled and stole second. SF intentionally walked Hosmer to bring up the RH Rendon. How would he respond to this egregious insult? With a 3-run HR of course! If memory serves, it was on the 1- 5 BP HR number. Not wanting to see Lester suffer a similar fate, Bali went to their bullpen. Givens allowed leadoff hits in the 7th and 8th, but SF just couldn't score. Green earned some redemption with the save. BAL 3-0
Bali seemed to be in great shape heading back home up 2-0 with their ace taking the mound. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
Game 3: Dylan Bundy (8-13, 5.02 ERA) vs. Jake DeGrom (20-6, 2.91 ERA)
Both starters made it through 2 innings unscathed, but DeGrom suffered a disastrous 3rd inning. After a leadoff walk, DeLemahieu hit a slow grounder to GG 3B Rendon. Instead of the expected DP, he threw the ball away for a 2-base error! Inevitably, Eduardo Nunez followed that with a fly ball that made it just over the fence for a 1-5 BP HR! Adding insult to injury, Ellsbury singled, stole 2nd and went to 3rd on a Realmuto throwing error. Blackmon drove him home and Bali was suddenly in a 4-0 hole. I won't delve into the rest of the gruesome details, but it certainly didn't get any better for Bali. DeGrom somehow went the distance without tiring despite allowing 8 runs (7 earned) on 12 hits, 3 BB and 3 HR! The Dawgs made an incredible 5 errors, 2 by GG Rendon. Their only run came on a Castellanos solo HR. Ugh. SF 8-1
Game 4: Michael Wacha (16-4, 3.41 ERA) vs. Tyler Anderson (4-0, 3.06 ERA)
The SF offense looked inept against lefties in games 1 and 2, then destroyed RH DeGrom, so Bali tried another lefty in this one. However, Lemahieu tripled and scored in the 1st, then SF went up 2-0 on back-to-back doubles in the 2nd. Santana homered to cut the lead in half, but Rizzo led off the 4th with a long HR that finished Anderson. Bali quickly cut the lead to 3-2 with a 2-out rally as Realmuto tripled and scored on a Wong single. Green pitched a scoreless 5th, but Rizzo struck for another HR in the 6th. After 2 walks, Bleier took over and gave up an RBI single to Grandal. Down 5-2, the Dawgs still would not roll over as Hosmer homered in the 6th. Finally facing the Seawolves bullpen in the 8th, Hosmer and Rendon drew 2-out walks, then scored on a Santana triple! The Bali crowd was rocking, but quickly fell silent when Grandal took Givens deep to start the 9th. Could Bali rally again? No! Knebel finished them off to even up the series. SF 6-5
Game 5: Danny Duffy (13-4, 3.15 ERA) vs. James Paxton (14-5, 2.95)
The reeling Dawgs were in Big Trouble after losing 2 straight games at home. Could they bounce back by winning this battle of lefties again? Taking over for the inept Tomlinson, Nunez led off with a double and scored. Duffy ran into trouble again in the 3rd, but Nunez bailed him out with a DP. Paxton couldn't match his early dominance from G1, but still looked good until the 5th when the wheels flew off his wagon which careened off a cliff and exploded, metaphorically speaking. As so many flaming disasters do, this one started with a pair of walks. Pillar doubled home a run, Rendon singled home 2 more, another walk loaded the bases, then yet another walk to Buxton drove in a run to set up a 3-run double for Santana! Just like that, Bali had a 7-1 lead. The demoralized Seawolves didn't put up much of a fight after that, allowing Duffy to go the distance. BAL 7-1
Okay, so now the series headed back to SF. Bali had a 3-2 lead and won their other road games. They also had their ace pitching game 6 and surely he would be much better this time around, right?
Game 6: Jake DeGrom (20-6, 2.91 ERA) vs. Mike Leake (15-10, 4.01 ERA)
The Dawgs jumped to an early lead when Turner scored on a double by the red hot Rendon. DeGrom was certainly better this time, but that's a very low bar and he ran into trouble in the 3rd again. Two singles put runners on the corners with no outs. DeGrom rallied to strike out the side...but between the strikeouts he gave up a huge Ellsbury triple (lucky 1-3 split roll off the pitcher card). Leading 3-2 to start the 5th, SF went to the pen, depriving Leake of a potential win. Duensing made the SF manager look smart in the 5th, but Castellanos delivered a 2-out double in the 6th to tie the game. DeGrom was so excited by this development that he walked the bases loaded to tire with 2 outs in 6th. Pagan rescued him to keep it tied. In the 7th, Nunez singled in front of Santana and Green took over. Ellsbury grounded into a FC, but stole 2nd and scored on a single by Blackmon that Polanco missed (2 blown OF X-plays, ugh). Could the SF bullpen hold this lead? Santana partly redeemed himself with a walk and Bali loaded the bases with a single and HBP. Bali had already used Pillar to PR for Santana, so they had no counter to Claudio vs. Polanco. Because the odds don't really matter, Polanco drew a huge walk to tie the game! Just to rub it in, Buxton drew another walk and Bali had a 4-3 lead! Situations like this are why Bali made the deal for Green! Except he gave up a leadoff single to Dr. Tommy Pham, DDS. The Dentist couldn't get the steal, but advanced on a groundout. Fearing his speed, Bali was holding him on 2nd, which set up yet another blown x-play, as Grandal slipped a "single" by SS Turner to tie the game! A wild pitch advanced the runner and Green walked Story to end another disappointing effort. Givens got the 2nd out to bring up Tomlinson, who had replaced Nunez at 3B in the 8th. Okay, easy out and we go into the 9th tied. Wait? What's this? Tomlinson somehow found a 5-2 single to drive in a run? No way! Story was thrown out at home, but the damage was done. With SF leading in the 9th, Knebel walked Hosmer, but he was erased on a Rendon DP. Pillar filed out and the series was tied again. Yeah, that was a tough loss for Bali. So much crazy stuff happened that it would have been a brutal loss either way. SF 5-4
Game 7: Jon Lester (7-13, 4.76 ERA) vs. Dylan Bundy (8-13, 5.02 ERA)
Both of these starters far exceeded their regular season performances earlier in the series, but who would deliver in the dramatic game 7? Both looked shaky early as Bali started the game with a single and 2 walks to load the bases. Bundy walked in a run, but rallied to limit the damage. Lester would not be so fortunate as SF pounded him for 4 runs on 5 hits in the 1st! He only allowed 2 hits in 6 scoreless IP in G2, but didn't look like the same guy here. Meanwhile, Bundy frustrated the Dawgs through 5 innings, but SF went to their pen. Once again, LH Claudio failed to retire LH batters, allowing 2 unlikely hits around a walk. Bali scored twice to cut the lead to 4-3, but Kelly limited the damage. On to the 7th with Bleier pitching for Bali. He had been terrific for a couple innings, but then Rizzo and Pham hit back-to-back homers! Just like that, SF had a commanding 6-3 lead. Would the SF bullpen break again? Where's Nicasio when we need him? Former Dawg, Minor got 8 big outs and turned it over to Knebel, who struck out the final two. SF 6-3
Congratulations to Rick, who rallied from 0-2 and 2-3 to take the series in 7. It was a crazy and fun series, despite Bali not being my team. Condolences to Bali, who came oh so close to advancing, but fell just short. Disastrous performances from their ace, bullpen stopper and mostly great defenders were huge factors. I could go on, but really have said more than enough for now, right?
It's up to Mike G to save us from a pair of Travis vs. Rick matchups in the LCS.
That's a great recap Eric, I vote to have you write the recap for every series from here on out! Because, of course, you don't have enough to do already.
San Francisco was very fortunate to slip by Bali, who played a tremendous series. In what seems to be the norm, this playoff series was another up and down, hair-pulling split card pulls, and odds-defying critical situational occurrences. Just when you think you have the advantage and things are going as they should, BAM, Strat throws you a curveball. Congratulations to Aaron and his Bali squad on a great season and a tough series, it really could have gone either way.
