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2027 DelMarVa Championship Series Preview

This is a repeat of last years series in which the Cavaliers won 4 games to 1, winning the last 4 games after losing game 1 in extra innings. This season the Cav's did not face off against the Iron Pigs so there is no regular season "history" to compare, as there was last season. The Iron Pigs are ready to take down the Cav's, who have beat them in 2 of their 3 other Championship appearances (2014, 2026). After losing a tough series last year they have vowed to come back and take the Cav's down, the struggled through this season with a starting staff that didn't live up to expectations. But they did turn it around and dominate the Conference Championships...

The Iron Pigs are a different team than they were last season, which was driven by a pitching staff that was #1 in runs against. This year the staff fell to #6 giving up almost 100 more runs... And their offense was #1 again, scoring about 30 more runs this season... The Cavaliers are a different team as well. This years staff is missing one of their aces and was touched up for 60 more runs, but that being said their offense was a lot better scoring 60 more runs. Will those numbers mean anything? Or is it who is hot and who is not?

A lot of different things between these two teams this season and injuries are effecting both teams. This could end up being a series to remember...

Wilmington Iron Pigs
Playoffs: 7
Championship Appearances: 4
Championships: 0

Key Players:
3B Tom Anderson
1B Alonso Martinez
LF Matt Fisher
SP Ricardo Gonzalez
CL Arturo Ramirez

Key Injuries:
C Antonio Castaneda (.321-48-119)
LF Joe Middleton (.252-5-22)
1B Ole van den Burgt (.226-8-23)

3 Keys to Winning
1) With one of the Iron Pigs top offensive threats not playing this series, they will nee someone to pick up the slack. In the Conference Championship it was Eugene St. John, who will it be in the Championship?

2) Ricardo Gonzalez is scheduled to start games 3 and 7 during this series. The bad is he doesn't start till game 3, the good is who else would you want on the hill in game 7? Which means the other "3" will need to step it up, and get at 2 wins. Can they do that?

3) The Iron Pigs bullpen was 10th out of 10 teams and posted an ERA over 5.00. For them to beat the Cavaliers they will need their pen to step it up or to have their starters go deep into games. The bullpen is the biggest question mark for the Iron Pigs, can they avoid using them or will they step it up?

Norfolk Cavaliers
Playoffs: 13
Championship Appearances: 8
Championships: 7

Key Players:
RF Trevor Parker
SP Paul Brown
CF Sergio Galvez
LF Bob Short
DH Leonard Lawson

Key Injuries:
SP Carlos Coronado (5-7 3.92)
SP Cornell Pearson (DNP)
C Henry Rojas (.326-14-70)

3 Keys to Winning:
1) Continue hitting the ball. The Cav's scored 51 runs in 5 games during the Conference Championship. If they can continue to score runs it will be hard for them to lose. The last 2 games of the series they only scored 9 is that sing of a slowing offense?

2) Losing Henry Rojas is going to hurt, especially the way he hit the ball during the Conference Championships. Will Mike Baldwin be able to pick up the slack? And if not him will Lopez or Frank add some extra contributions?

3) Starting pitching. They will need Lanny Reese and Ernie Kennedy to step it up and perform better than they did in the Conference Championships. Can the rookie Joaquin Hernandez continue to pitch as well as he has? A lot of youth in the rotation, and a lot of pressure. Can they stand the heat?

Team Comparision:
C: Jesus Nunez (.282-3-10) vs Mike Baldwin (.281-11-32)
1B: Alonso Martinez (.303-39-102) vs Francisco Gallegos (.262-19-87)
2B: Chris Simpson (.238-5-53) vs Pedro Torres (.266-13-74)
3B: Tom Anderson (.293-24-91) vs Robinson Lopez (.258-10-43)
SS: Kevin Barber (.282-13-76) vs Bryant Frank (.270-3-45)
LF: Matt Fisher (.331-12-54) vs Sergio Rodriguez (.298-5-62)
CF: Eugene St. John (.269-6-52) vs Sergio Galvez (.293-26-101)
RF: Steve Kelly (.272-12-58) vs Trevor Parker (.306-36-127)
DH: Ralph Anderson (.230-11-54) vs Leonard Lawson (.318-23-82)
BE: Pepe Santana (.235-10-42) vs Bob Short (.301-20-100)

P1: Ricardo Gonzalez (18-9 2.76) vs Paul Brown (14-5 3.23)
P2: Irving Mills (13-13 4.23) vs Jaoquin Hernandez (17-4 3.26)
P3: Juan Rosario (15-8 4.39) vs Ernie Kennedy (14-9 3.25)
P4: Edmond Scott (12-9 3.93) vs Lanny Reese (17-5 3.09)

SU: Jason Nixon (13-12 4.75) vs Eric Helton (3-3 3.74)
CL: Arturo Ramirez (4-3 2.03, 42 SV) vs Miguel A Gonzalez (7-5 1.85, 36 SV)

Series Prediction:
The regular season doesn't show it, but these two teams match up really well... The Cavaliers have the momentum and the home field advantage heading into this series, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will walk away with this series. The Iron Pigs just shut down a pretty solid offense, and held them to 1 HR and 13 Runs over 6 games. For the Iron Pigs to beat the Cavaliers they will need to do something similar, keep the crooked numbers off the scoreboard. For the Iron Pigs this is a revenge series, they want that elusive DelMarVa Championship trophy and they feel they have a good shot at this season... For the Cavaliers they have home field, they have their rotation lined up, and they have an offense that is hitting the ball... Last year it was the Iron Pigs who came into the series red-hot, this year its the Cavaliers... Its going to be a really interesting series... However in the end I believe the Cav's will pull it out in 6, and if that doesn't' happen the Iron Pigs in 7.

Will this year be different than 2014 and 2026? The Iron Pigs sure hope so.