[jamus23]

Denver Broncos(99-63)


VS.

Miami Dolphins(112-50)




Quick Facts:

- This will be the 10th postseason meeting between Denver and Miami. The Dolphins have won 7 of the previous 9 meetings, but the Broncos won the most recent: a 6-game victory in last year's ALCS en route to their first ever World Series title. Denver's only other playoff win against Miami came in the 2058 ALCS; the Broncos went on to lose the World Series in 7 games to Pittsburgh that year.

- Miami won 9 out of 14 regular season meetings against Denver this year. The Dolphins outscored the Broncos by an average score of 6.1 to 4.8. The Dolphins topped 10 runs in a game 3 times, and won 2 of them(11-8 and 10-6). Denver topped 10 runs twice, and won both games(11-10 and 10-3). The Broncos produced the only shutout- a 2-0 victory. Three of the games were decided by 1 run, and Denver won 2 of them(11-10 and 4-3). Miami won the other 1-run game, which was also the only extra-inning game: a 6-5, 10-inning victory.


Thoughts:

I mentioned in the NLCS preview that both of the LCS matchups this year are rematches from the 2073 season, so here I will discuss Denver and Miami's side of that story.

After reaching the World Series in 2058, and losing in 7 games to Pittsburgh, the Denver Broncos fell on hard times. At first, they were just mediocre. From '59 to '62, Denver posted records of 74-88, 82-80, 82-80, and 72-90. Not great, of course, but not terrible, either. Even after slumping to a 61-101 season in 2063, the Broncos bounced back to 81-81 the following season. Of course, that was an expansion year, and even a bad team like Denver could beat up on overmatched newbie teams(23-7 against Charlotte and Green Bay). The late 60's, however, represented one of the worst stretches that any team has endured. In '65, the Broncos produced a 58-104 season. In '66, they duplicated that record. In '67, they worsened to 57-105. In '68, they hit rock bottom, and finished 48-114. Following that season was when the Broncos current front office took control. Slowly, the team returned to respectability. Denver went 73-89 in 2069, followed by seasons of 65-97 and 61-101. In 2072, the Broncos finished at .500, with an 81-81 record. In 2073, the rebuilding efforts finally paid off. Denver enjoyed its first winning season since 2061, and captured the Central Division title with a 93-69 record. In the first round of the playoffs, the Broncos surprised a very good and very balanced Knoxville team(95-67 record, tied for 3rd in runs scored, 4th in runs allowed) in 6 games. Three players remain from the '73 Broncos team. Twenty-five year old first-baseman Ellis Bolling had bounced back from a sophomore slump to produce a .903 OPS, with 39 homeruns, and 116 RBI. This year, the 39 year old Bolling saw his role diminish to that of a platoon player(.760 OPS, 6 HR, 21 RBI). Most likely, the future Hall of Famer will retire after this season. Outfielder Alexis Vazquez was a 25-year old rookie who might have won the ROTY in any other year(.815 OPS, 9 HR, 77 RBI). Like Bolling, Vazquez is now a 39-year old part-timer in what will certainly be his final season(.673 OPS, 0 HR, 27 RBI). The reason that Vazquez didn't win the Rookie of the Year Award was because 22-year old catcher Lee Chappel did(.916 OPS, 16 HR, 82 RBI). At 36, Chappel remains one of the elite hitters in the game(1.035 OPS, 32 HR, 122 RBI).

Miami, like Pittsburgh, was in the midst of a championship drought in 2073, though it was not quite as bad as the Pirates' drought. The Dolphins had won the 2065 World Series, but hadn't made an appearance since. Furthermore, after a lengthy run of dominance over the Southeast Division that saw Miami win the division every year from '45 to '65, the Dolphins had only 2 division titles from 2066 to 2072. Of course, they still made the playoffs in those other years, finishing in 2nd place each time. In 2073, Miami surged back to the top of the Southeast, pacing the American League with a 102-60 record. The Dolphins had little difficulty with an 86-76 Memphis team in the first round, sweeping the Grizzlies in 4 games. Only 2 players remain from the '73 Dolphins: One was catcher Jake Foss, who was signed as a free agent that year(.843 OPS, 13 HR, 61 RBI). Back then, he was a 25 year old who had been used as a part time player in his first 6 seasons and would get his first opportunity to play regularly with Miami. Now, he's a 39 year old who is one of the better backup catchers in the league(.880 OPS, 2 HR, 26 RBI). The other player was first-baseman Aaron Shorts, who was a 23 year old in his rookie season that year(.705 OPS, 6 HR, 57 RBI). These days, Shorts is a 37 year old who is still serviceable, if unspectacular(.797 OPS, 4 HR, 79 RBI).

Denver and Miami fought for 7 games to decide who would go to the World Series. In the deciding game, the Dolphins raced out to a 4-0 lead, but promptly blew it and allowed the Broncos to tie the game. Miami retook the lead, 5-4, in the fourth inning, but fell behind 8-5 in the top of the fifth. The Dolphins cut the deficit to 8-7 in the bottom of the fifth inning, and tied the game at 8-all in the sixth. Miami took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the eighth inning; Denver managed 1 run in the ninth, but fell, 10-9.

Miami went on to lose in 7 games to San Diego in the World Series. Like with Pittsburgh and San Diego, the aftermath from that series for Denver and Miami was just as interesting as the series itself. Miami reasserted its dominance of the Southeast Division, with division titles in every season since, but its championship drought continued for a few more years. In addition to losing the '73 World Series, the Dolphins would also lose the '74 World Series. Finally, in 2079, the Dolphins ended their drought, beating San Jose to capture a championship. Miami would win another World Series in 2082, but also lose in the '81, '83, and '85 World Series. Meanwhile, Denver's breakthrough year in 2073 ushered in a highly successful era for the Broncos. They have made the playoffs every year since then. However, it wasn't until last year that the Broncos finally reached, and won, a World Series.




Denver's Postseason Batting:

Name         G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K  AVG  OBP  SLG   OPS 
R. Thomas    4 18 9  2  0  1   6 4  2 0 .500 .550 .778 1.328 
L. Chappel   4 18 5  3  0  1   4 3  0 0 .278 .350 .611  .961 
A. Stice     4 16 5  0  0  2   3 4  3 2 .313 .421 .688 1.109 
B. Branco    4 15 4  1  0  0   4 4  4 0 .267 .450 .333  .783 
M. Phillips  4 14 7  0  0  0   1 3  2 1 .500 .563 .500 1.063 
M. Lore      4 13 2  0  0  1   3 3  5 3 .154 .389 .385  .774 
T. Teika     3 13 1  0  0  0   1 0  0 3 .077 .077 .077  .154 
E. Abadia    4 12 3  0  0  1   4 2  0 2 .250 .250 .500  .750 
J. Fuensanta 3 12 2  0  0  0   1 2  3 1 .167 .333 .167  .500 
L. Ferro     2  5 2  1  0  0   0 2  1 1 .400 .500 .600 1.100 
R. Shults    2  5 2  0  0  0   0 0  0 0 .400 .400 .400  .800 
B. Romero    2  3 0  0  0  0   0 0  0 1 .000 .000 .000  .000

Denver's Postseason Pitching:

Name         G GS W L SV   ERA  IP HA R ER BB K 
K. Pillsbury 1  1 1 0  0  6.75 6.2 12 5  5  0 6 
W. Ortiz     1  1 0 0  0  5.68 6.1  5 4  4  2 4 
R. Lockridge 1  1 1 0  0  0.00 6.0  7 0  0  1 3 
R. Mcnett    1  1 0 0  0  7.50 6.0  7 5  5  4 6 
R. Soto      3  0 1 0  1  0.00 5.0  4 0  0  0 1 
L. Ruvalcaba 3  0 0 0  3  2.08 4.1  3 1  1  1 1 
C. Saari     1  0 1 0  0 10.80 1.2  4 2  2  2 2

Miami's Postseason Batting:

Name           G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K  AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS 
A. Shorts      5 23 8  2  0  0   3 6  4 2 .348  .444  .435  .879 
E. Mcgurk      5 22 9  2  0  4  14 7  3 2 .409  .462 1.045 1.507 
A. Steiger     5 21 7  2  0  2   6 4  1 0 .333  .364  .714 1.078 
A. Chichester  5 21 4  1  0  1   6 5  3 1 .190  .292  .381  .673 
T. Fuentes Jr. 5 21 3  1  0  0   0 3  5 7 .143  .308  .190  .498 
F. Alvarez     5 20 8  2  0  1   4 5  1 4 .400  .409  .650 1.059 
L. Romanowski  5 20 7  2  0  0   2 7  4 1 .350  .480  .450  .930 
D. Armas       5 19 2  0  0  0   1 2  2 4 .105  .227  .105  .333 
J. White       3 11 5  2  0  0   3 4  1 2 .455  .500  .636 1.136 
D. Fernandez   3  9 6  2  0  1   5 2  2 1 .667  .727 1.222 1.949 
W. Mcalpine    1  0 0  0  0  0   0 1  1 0 .000 1.000  .000 1.000

Miami's Postseason Pitching:

Name       G GS W L SV   ERA   IP HA R ER BB  K 
C. Hokusai 2  2 2 0  0  1.26 14.1  8 2  2  2 14 
M. Prior   1  1 1 0  0  4.70  7.2  5 5  4  2  8 
A. Ibañez  1  1 0 0  0  5.14  7.0  7 4  4  1  3 
A. Otte    1  1 1 0  0  7.50  6.0  9 5  5  3  5 
V. Fuentez 3  0 0 0  0  0.00  4.0  1 0  0  0  4 
J. Strahan 2  0 0 0  0  0.00  2.2  1 0  0  0  0 
R. Baston  2  0 0 0  0  0.00  2.0  1 0  0  1  2 
S. Fierros 1  0 0 1  0 36.00  1.0  4 4  4  1  1 
C. Drain   1  0 0 0  0 27.03  0.1  2 1  1  0  1

Prediction:

This is a tough call. On the one hand, Miami has a superior pitching staff, both in the rotation and in the bullpen, which would seem to give the Dolphins a big advantage. On the other hand, one could argue that after you get past each team's #1 starter(Hokusai for Miami and McNett for Denver) the rotations are about equal. Furthermore, although the Dolphins scored plenty of runs against Tucson in the first round, the absence of slugging second-baseman Jack Forrester makes the Dolphins' lineup a lot less threatening. Given that at least two games will be played in the homer-friendly confines of Denver, Forrester and his 47 homeruns would likely have played a key role in this series. Ultimately, I think Miami's overall advantage in the pitching department will be a little bit too much for Denver to overcome. The Dolphins will win in 7 games.