Game 1 Senga vs Bradish

Action packed game with 22 hits but 21 LOB. The early going was a back and forth affair with most of the runs coming on homers, Rodriguez and Torres for DED, Noda, Ohtani and Grossman for Sewell, and the score was 4-4 after six.  Kevin Newman led off the top of the 7^th with a tiebreaking solo homer off Holton.  Graterol then came in, pitched to three batters, allowed three hits and went straight to the showers.  All three of those runners ultimately scored, with a two run hit by Brandon Crawford being the finishing blow.  Dave Robertson got into trouble in the 9^th allowing two walks and a hit, but Jesse Chavez came on to strike out Mike Ford representing the tying run.  SEW 8, DED 5

Game 2 Mikolas vs Snell

A homer by Ford and an error by Maile produced a 3-0 lead for DED after three, but Snell pitched to 7 batters in the 4^th and only retired one of them fortunately for him that one was a double play, but Myles Straws two run single still tied the game and chased Snell.  Graterol entered and this time ended the threat, ultimate retiring all five batters he faced.  Where the starters had struggled, the pens were quite good, and the score remained 3-3 until the bottom of the 7^th, when Tommy Pham hit a pinch 2-run homer off Ryan Thompson.  It was still 5-3 in the top of the 9^th when a single, an error and a double cut the lead to 5-4 and put runners on second and third with nobody out.  But Matt Strahm then struck out three consecutive batters for the save.  DED 5, SEW 4

So it was 1-1 when we moved to Sewell

Game 3 Miley vs Strider

This game only had ten hits, with each starter surrendering a 2-run homer (Contreras for DED, Escobar for SEW) and nothing else.  Miley was relieved in the 6^th while Strider completed 8 frames, but the score remained 2-2 after nine.  Moreta was perfect in the top of the 10^th, while in the bottom of the inning, with one on and one out, DED summoned Pablo Lopez and Sewell countered with pinch hitter JJ Bleday.  He was the last man on the bench and I uttered the words this team forever.  Forever turned out to be one batter as Bleday hammered a walkoff homer.  SEW 4, DED 2

Game 4 Bradish vs Ohtani

You know that thing where your 4^th batter of the game hits a grand slam to make it 4-0 before an out is even recorded?  Well Sewell didnt get that.  But they did get a bases loaded triple from Marte to make it 3-0 before an out was even recorded.  Once Bradish recorded an out, though, he was unstoppable, stranding Marte at 3^rd and only allowing two more hits before he was relieved with two out in the 7^th. Meanwhile Ohtani was dealing a one hit, 11 K line of his own, so the score was still 3-0 when he fatigued at the end of 8 innings.  Robertson came on allowed a leadoff homer to Rodriguez, got one out, and then served up a walk and two singles to make it 3-2 with the ting run on third.  Urshela hit a sac fly, Sewell opting to throw for the trailing runner in a successful bid to end the inning in a tie.  But Bautista got held Sewell scoreless in the bottom of the 9^th and Torres homered in the top of the 10^th.  DED 4, SEW 3

Game 5 Lopez vs Senga

All kinds of Ugly for Sewell, as three errors in the first three innings turned Sengas mediocre 5 hit, one walk performance into a disaster of 8 runs (only one earned).  Lopez was only fair, but fair was plenty, as DED got RBI from seven different guys, took a 13-4 lead into the 9^th, and quelled a 9^th inning rally before it got interesting.  DED 13, SEW 7

So DED took a 3-2 lead back to their home park.

Game 6  Mikolas vs Snell

Action packed first inning saw each team score a pair, Sewells on an Ohtani homer, DEDs on a Contreras single.  But in the second Snell allowed three hits and a walk and was down 4-2 when DED summoned Jojo Romero to try to stop the bleeding.  He gave up a 3-run homer to Ohtani.  Down 5 early, DED didnt go quietly, pecking away with solo homers by Torres, Stewart and Polanco, to close the gap, but Sewells pen avoided any big rallies and Ketel Marte put up two huge insurance runs with his own 9^th inning homer.  SEW 9, DED 5

Game 7 Strider vs Miley

Sewell jumped out early again, Ward hitting a two run homer in the first and Miley departing after allowing the first two batters of the second to reach.  Graterol came on and the inning evolved into a bases loaded two out situation when Ohtani came to the plate and hit and grand slam to make it 6-0.  DED again didnt roll over, pecking away with a Stewart 2-run homer in the 4^th and a Torres sac fly in the 5^th, while the DED pen limited Sewell to just one more run, on a Ward sac fly in the 6^th.  That run would loom large when Sewell went into the 9^th up 7-3, DED scratched out a couple of runners and got a two out homer from Kiebert Ruiz that made it 7-6.  Now for the first time DED had the tying run at the plate, but Moreta struck out Torres to end it. 

It was an exciting series with two extra inning games and only one truly one sided game (won by DED)- the last two games could easily have turned into blowouts but the DED offense kept the pressure on. 

Congrats to Eric on a great team and a great season, I was very fortunate to come out on top.  Being down 3-2 going to their place didn't seem like an optimistic scenario, but I got some big breaks.  Ohtani's homers were obviously huge, but I also got some surprising contributions from the bottom of my order- Nick Ahmed and Myles Straw both hit over .300 and Stuart Fairchild hit .400, and those guys are all defensive minded light hitters facing a very strong pitching staff. Graterol pitched well in games 2 and 3, but that was overshadowed by two meltdowns and a shocking 18 ERA in 4 innings.  

The MVP has to be Ohtani, he only hit .214 but five of his six hits were homers accounting for 13 RBI on top of the terrific if wasted pitching performance in game 4.