Your 2013 PEC Champions are...
by Bill Slater,
The Baseball Bureaucracy
November 5th, 2013
The Arlington Bureaucrats! The streaking Imperial League representatives downed the reigning champions in six games, overcoming the epic pitching duo of Markus Hancock and Conan McCullough. During the first two rounds of the playoffs, it was the ‘Crats pitching staff that carried them. During the Planetary Extreme Championship, the pitching stayed strong and overpowered an injury-stricken Knights lineup. After sleepwalking through the beginning of October, Arlington’s offense came into the PEC ready to party. Mostly.
In games where the ‘Crats weren’t abusing Tempe’s staff, they were utterly shut down. They scored one run in Games Two and Four combined, but scored 36 in Games One, Three and Five. Many predicted that McCullough would help prolong this trend in Game Six. Through the first seven innings, the pattern appeared to be safe. However, the pattern would ultimately be denied thanks to late-inning heroics by Jason Guillén and Bud Hoffmann, and the ‘Crats would claim the Championship with a 4-3 victory.
Hoffmann’s game-tying single in the ninth inning was actually poetic redemption. He’d had a hand in blowing the lead during the top half of the inning by dropping an easy pop fly with two outs.
Regular season goat Aaron Turner also played hero during the series. After only playing in 41 games following a mid-June trade with the West Virginia Coal Sox, Turner proved that he was completely over his injuries and was ready to give 110% in October. A ridiculous 1.520 OPS doesn’t even tell the whole story. He also flew around the base paths and outfield, stealing four bases and making several spectacular catches in left field. It wouldn’t be a stretch to name him MVP of the PEC.
While the hype was all about “Mark-an Han-Cullough”, 23-year-old Félix Ortega stole the show. Claiming victory in both his starts, he did so posting a 0.53 ERA, 0.76 WHIP, 11/3 K/BB ratio and a .161 batting average against. Hancock was his normal electric self in Game Four, but his PEC stat line was tainted as a result of him being torched for seven runs in Game One. Conan was no slouch either, but Ortega was arguably the best starting pitcher in the series. He, too, would be an appropriate choice for Planetary Extreme Championship MVP.
While we here at The Baseball Bureaucracy will definitely be celebrating the Championship victory all winter, it’s also our duty to look ahead to 2014. Though many homegrown players impacted the club’s 2013 season, several valuable players’ rental periods are over and will be returning to the free agent pool next month. As of right now, eight players will be leaving: Roberto Merán, Jeffery Graham, Mel Kennedy, Dave Phelps, Joaquín Hernández, Aaron Turner, Carlos Pérez and Alberto Semblano. Seven of those players played major roles in the team’s championship run. The bullpen will be hit the hardest. Don’t be too worried, though; the team will have a little wiggle room in free agency and the farm system is far from barren.
As our PEC hangovers recede, we’ll be covering the internal and external options for filling up the 2014 roster. But don’t wait around – we fully intend to celebrate as long as humanly possible!