The Cycle Continues In Reno

[Zephyrs]

RENO, NV – Orlando Garza sat in front of his locker, which barely showed signs of use thanks to an earlier cleanout. The three-time All-Leather Award winning center fielder sized up a season of major disappointment and heart break.

The 2037 Zephyrs fell way short of expectations — and the playoffs, leading to an unsatisfying departure for the player who will be heading to their off-season homes.

“We are really not that far away from being a contender again,” the All-Star center fielder said.

For the last six seasons, the Zephyrs have been in this strange every-other-year-playoff rotation. It has been more than a little odd and completely baffling to management.

“I don’t have an explanation, Reno manager Antonio Morales said when asked about the strange phenomenon. “It isn’t like we haven’t tried to win the division every year. I am unable to understand it.”

For now, the Zephyrs packed up their personal belongings and will spend a good portion of their offseason pondering what might have been.

“We’ve definitely got a good foundation here,” said Bench Coach Ramon Leach, who then offered a challenge to the Reno front office. “We’ve definitely got good players and now, we might just one piece away, one bat away, one pitcher away and I think it’ll be important for us to go out and get it.”

The Zephyrs, who have never won the Planetary Extreme Championship. The title drought stretches over thirty-years. Meanwhile fans cling to hope and the promise of next year. While there’s optimism for 2038, here are four things that worked and didn’t work for the Zephyrs in 2037:

Bullpen Failures: Reno’s pitching staff kept them in games for the most part posting a respectable 4.05 ERA. Team Ace Jose Ojeda led the staff with a 2.80 ERA and a 14-8 record. The twenty-three-year-old pitcher has put himself in contention for the Golden Arm Award this season. However the bullpen ranked 13th in ERA and appeared to drag down the otherwise decent pitching staff.

Lack Of K’s: The Zephyrs pitching staff only managed 959 strikeouts. That placed them dead last in the Sovereign League.

Defense: The team appears to have well above average defense. They ranked 3rd in Zone Rating, 6th in Defense Efficiency, 5th in BABIP and 8th in Errors.

Speed Kills: The team finished the season 2nd in both stolen bases and baserunning. When you consider they finished 4th in base on balls and 6th in OBP, it is a bit of a mystery why they didn’t manage to score more runs.

Conclusion: In addition to a few good arms for the pen, the lack of a bona fide power hitter in the middle of their lineup may be what is holding this team back. The Zephyrs will almost certainly need to add a slugger this winter. Their number four hitter, Leonard Inman will likely be filing for free agency and he was the team’s top home run producer with 25. A 30-plus home run slugger could add the right amount of production to push this team over the top.

Besides, 2038 is when the cycle returns this team to the post season, right? Then again, past performance is not indicative of future results.