The 2024 ARBA World Series featured the Austin Greyhounds (109-53) and Sewell Tadpoles (96-66). Austin barely survived a 7-game battle with Cork in the 1st round but then had an easier time dispatching the Plucky Quad Cities Cubs in 5 games. This is Austins 5th WS appearance but 1st since 2020 and abandoning Shiner. Sewell really had to earn their 1st WS appearance by taking down East Greenwich in the Wild Card round, mighty Deadwood in an epic 7-game series and then mighty Camden with a shocking sweep. As the FL representative, Sewell had home-field advantage. Is Sewell the team of destiny or would their magic come up short against Austin? Lets find out!
Game 1: Austins erstwhile ace, George Kirby, looked shaky again in the 1st, allowing 2 runs on DO-TR-SI to the top 3 batters. However, he escaped that jam with a DP and settled down to pitch well into the 6th. On the other side, Ohtani frustrated the AUS batters with help from a couple DP. His luck ran out in the 6th when PH Bichette delivered a 2-out RBI single and then PH Rojas singled in 2 more to give AUS a 3-2 lead. Apparently disoriented by the sudden lead, Kirby allowed the Murderers Row of Maile, Urias, and Bleday to tie the game. Pagan escaped a bases-loaded jam and the tie held up until the 8th. Urias struck again with a double off Hader. Duran took over and threw a wild pitch. After a K and IBB, SEW PH with the dangerous Kevin Newman. Duran fled in terror and Wantz faced the new PH, Anthony Rizzo, who lifted a fly ball to Rojas in CF. Urias raced home and beat the throw! Robertson closed it out and SEW won the opener 4-3. Drama!
Game 2: This one wasnt quite as dramatic. SEW jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead thanks to Moniak dropping a fly ball and Martes homer. That was enough for Strider, who struck out 11 and allowed 2 runs before departing in the 6th. His teammates had added an insurance run by then after another Moniak error. AUS cut the lead to 4-2 in 8th but then SEW put it away with an RBI HBP and Ohtanis 2-run single off a lefty. SEW won 7-3 and now had a commanding 2-0 series lead. With an amazing 8-game playoff win streak, Sewell certainly looked like the Team of Destiny!
Game 3: Back home in Austin, the Greyhounds turned to young Dustin May who delivered a strong 5-inning effort, allowing only a Thaiss solo HR in 3rd. Unfortunately, Senga was pitching like the 3rd SEW ace. Sewell added another run in the 6th when Ohtani singled against a lefty, stole 2nd and scored on a double by the pesky Urias. Suarez loaded the bases but then struck out Straw. Senga departed after walking Soto to start the 6th. Moreta allowed him to score but held the 2-1 lead. In the 7th, Moreta loaded the bases with no outs but Borucki limited Austin to one run. SEW loaded the bases again in 8th but Pagan retired Vogelbach. It was still tied in the bottom of the 9th when Thompson put two on base and was replaced by the ever-reliable Aroldis Chapman. He walked Soto to load the bases and then Smith singled to score Profar and give Austin a 3-2 win. Sewell could be beaten after all!
Game 4: Inspired by their dramatic G3 victory, Austin assaulted Mikolas for 6 early runs, including HR by Devers and Fr***o. On the other side, Randy Vasquez redeemed his terrible start against QUA with 4 shutout innings this time around. The Greyhounds failed to score again after the 3rd but SEW could only manage a single run in the 8th. With the 6-1 AUS victory, this series was tied.
Game 5: In the Ohtani/Kirby rematch, Austins starter looked shaky again in the 1st. However, he only allowed one run thanks to a DP. Benson homered to tie it in 2nd and AUS took a 2-1 lead in the 3rd. Benson struck again in the 3rd by reaching 1st on an E-1, stealing 2nd and taking 3rd on a bad throw, then scoring on a Lowe double. Ohtani understandably plunked Benson in the 6th and Perez got some revenge with a CS. Austin was still clinging to a 3-1 lead in the 8th with Kirby having retired 10 in a row, including 6 consecutive strikeouts! After 1 out, PH Vogelbach broke the streak by taking the HBP for his team. Hader took over and walked PH Grossman to set up Ohtani for a hero moment. Sure enough, he blasted one deep to CF! Young Johan Rojas had taken over for Moniak to start the inning and he leaped at the wall with this game in the balancecaught! Duran struck out Marte to end the inning and Suwinski added an insurance solo shot for Austin. The demoralized Tadpoles went down 1-2-3 in the 9th. After the 3-1 victory, Austin was 1 win away from a championship. However, they know Deadwood was also up 3-2 on SEW but lost the series.
G6: Back home again, Sewell turned to their ace to keep their championship hopes alive. Strider was 4-0 in the playoffs with a 2.21 ERA, including WS G2. As in their 2 wins and the G5 loss, Sewell scored in the 1st, this time with Wards 2-run HR. That lead didnt last long as 2 batters reached and then Raley tripled them home. He just missed a HR (17 on 1-16) and was stranded, which might loom large later. Strider already had 7 strikeouts but ran into trouble again in the 4th. Moniak singled home a run and then Soto provoked a run-scoring balk before striking out. Sewell battled back to chase Gonsolin and cut the lead to 4-3 but Pagan struck out the mighty Ahmed to strand 2. Strider totally lost his mojo in the 5th, loading the bases with no outs. Chavez was called to face Fr***o and immediately served up a triple, which is not what Kevin had in mind. After a run-scoring groundout, he allowed a walk and single, then trudged to the locker room in shame. Never fear, Borucki is here! He did end the inning with a pair of Ks but only after allowing both inherited runners to score. Just like that, AUS had a commanding 10-3 lead! Given that neither team scored more than 7 runs in any of the other games, that seemed pretty safe. Both teams had chances but neither scored again until the 8th when Austin unleashed another 6-run inning! This one featured many IF misplays, including a pair of Noda errors. Smith closed out the unexpected 16-3 Austin beatdown. Hilariously, Soto went 0-5 with a walk.
Wow! I certainly didnt expect to write up this epic saga after losing the first two games. However, Austin bounced back to win 4 in a row, capped by the shocking blowout. Congratulations to Kevin on a fantastic playoff run that came very close to pulling off an unlikely championship for Sewell. Games 3 and 5 could easily have gone the other way and ended the series before Sewells total pitching meltdown in Game 6. I still cant believe that happened at all, particularly in a game started by Strider! I mean, Austin only scored 16 runs total in games 1-5 and Strider looked dominant. Sewell really deserved a better ending than that. However, Strat is cruel, and strange things always happen in the playoffs.
It was a wacky series and theres not a clear favorite for MVP, particularly since I refuse to consider you know who. Perhaps Ill go with Emilio Pagan, who picked up a couple wins in relief. He's one of many key contributors for Austin who aren't expected back. Ohtanis big bat went cold after the first two games and that made it much harder for Sewell to score. Is anyone still reading this? If so, thanks for your patience and I hope to see you at Austins championship parade!
