Call to the Post - 2038 Playoff Edition

[Thoroughbreds]

The Thoroughbreds cruised through the last couple of months of the season with not much on the line and finished with a record of 108-54, which was the third best record in the league. After not having a lot to play for during most of the year they now have to amp things up as the face the Scottish Claymores. Kentucky won the wild card so they will hast the first 2 games of the 5 games series.

Overall Kentucky was 7th in runs scored, 2nd in ERA and 1st in defensive efficiency - The Claymores were 11th in runs scored, 11th in ERA and 15th in defensive efficiency.
The Scottish finished at 93 and 69, 15 games behind Kentucky in the standings.
Based on those numbers Kentucky should be the heavy favorites but the truth is the Claymores may have been the one team Kentucky really didn't want to face in the playoffs. Kentucky managed but a single win against the Claymores in the regular season and went 1-6 overall scoring only 13 runs total in those 7 games against the Scottish. The Kentucky offense is going to have to do much better than that if they want to win the series.

DH Dan Gore and First Baseman Antonio Santos are coming off two of the best offensive seasons that Kentucky has ever had and they will be relied on heavily. Both hit the 40 home run plateau - Dan Gore set the Thoroughbred record for total bases (348) while Santos had the third best OPS ever for a Kentucky player at 1.008.
Gore hit .200 vs the Scottish with zero extra base hits while Santos was not much better - he hit .227 with one double.

Shu de Mu will most likely hit leadoff and will be a key component in this series with his ability to get on base and be a menace on the base paths. When Mu struggles usually so does the entire offense. After Santos centerfelder Pedro Bermudez had the teams 2nd best WAR (4.9) much of that coming from his ability to track to balls in the outfield. He and shortstop Naomi Honma will need to be at their defensive best.

On the mound Dong Hak Yi (21-6 2.93 ERA) will likely get the ball to start game 1 and if it goes 5 he will be the guy getting the extra start. Yi had a fantastic season, by far the best of his career and he will be in the running for the pitcher of the year award. He wasn't as effective down the stretch as he was early on and some will point to his league leading 233 innings pitched and say that fatigue could be setting in. He will look to hope to prove those critics wrong starting tonight.
The Thoroughbreds have a deep and talented rotation and the have not yet named their game 2 starter. One would have to assume that both Rory Soutar (21-8 2.74) and Ruben Rivera (11-10 3.74) will get a start in this series. Rivera managed to stay healthy all season long and he is well rested as Kentucky used caution with him and didn't pitch him for the last 3 weeks of the season. Rivera is their most talented pitcher but he was arguably their least effective starter this season so it will be very interesting to see how he does, Kentucky didn't sign him to 134 million dollar contract to sit on the bench during the playoffs.

For the Scottish the trio of Castanieda, Woodard and Daikawa are a force that has the ability to blow games wide open. Daikawa hit the 50 homer plateau, Woodard drove in 131 runs and Castanieda had an OBP of .400.
On the mound the injury to Juan Rodriguez doesn't help the Claymores as the talented youngster is out for the playoffs. The Claymores have made effective use of an 'opener' on many occasions this season so it is likely that Kentucky will have to face an array of different arms and pitching styles this sim.

After last season's playoff success, a first round knockout would be a big disappointment but can Kentucky overcome their regular season struggles against the Claymores??

[Thoroughbreds]

Excitement was brewing in Kentucky before their first playoff game - an above capacity crowd of almost 68,000 packed the stadium. Despite struggling against the Scottish in the regular season there was an air of confidence around Raceway Stadium. Golden Arm favorite Dong - Hak Yi was on the mound. The lineup chalk full of battle tested veterans who have tasted recent playoff success. All of this in front of a raucous home crowd. It was a formula that looked very good for the home team.

Some of that confidence went out of the window and the stadium when the Scottish struck for 2 runs in the top half of the first inning. A Jose Cuz double in the third made it 3-0. Things went from bad to worse in the 4th when rookie sensation Kenkichi Daikawa led of the inning with a solo homer to extend the lead to 4-0. Later in that inning it would be 5-0 and that would be the end of Yi's day. I didn't think it was possible for 67,000 people to be so quiet.
To add insult to injury the Kentucky offense was nowhere to be found - 3 hits scattered over the first 6 innings with no threat to score. The Claymores would put the game out of reach when Daikawa would strike again, this time a 3 run blast. 2 homers and 4 RBI for the impressive rookie.
Kentucky would get 2 meaningless runs in the bottom of the ninth which would make the final 8-2. A game in which Kentucky were outplayed in every which way and were never even within a sniff of being in the game.

Suddenly that confidence was all gone. They now would have to beat the Scottish 3 times in 4 games, not an easy feat against any team, but an extremely daunting task against a team that Kentucky has only won 1 out of 8 games against this season.

With the pressure on Kentucky made a shock decision for game 2 and sent Luis Jimenez to the mound. Jimenez spent almost all season in the bullpen and only had 5 starts all season. He has come through time and again in the postseason, so coach Paul Connor decided to roll the dice and send in the guy who seems oblivious to pressure.
In the second inning Daikawa would strike yet again this time with a RBI double and later he would score to give the Claymores a 2-0 lead. Jimenez would settle down after this and pitch 6+ scoreless innings. Another extremely impressive postseason start for Jimenez.
The problem was the Kentucky offense, it was struggling once again. In the bottom of the third Pedro Bermudez would single, steal 2nd and later score on an RBI single by Antonio Santos. This cut the lead to 2-1. It would remain the same until the seventh inning. With the pressure mounting and the crowd increasingly restless the Thoroughbreds finally broke through. Pinch hitter Kalai Aliimalu would lead of the inning with a single and score on a Shu-de Mu double. A costly Claymore error would help the Thoroughbreds take the lead 3-2. Still nerves were very high in Kentucky land. A couple of homers by Kentucky's big hitters in the 8th inning would quell the crowd's nerves. A 3-run homer by Gore followed by a solo homer by Santos would break the game open. The final score would end up being 9-2 for Kentucky. Mu, Bermudez and Santos would all end the game with 3 hits each, but the star of the game was Jimenez who ended up pitching 8.2 innings, giving up only 5 hits and allowing just 2 earned runs.

The series now shifts away to enemy territory. With Rivera and Soutar slated to take the mound can the Thoroughbreds slow Daikawa and earn a split at the very least?