[Westheim]

2037 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (93-69) vs. San Francisco Bayhawks (90-72)

Before any fun could be had on the field, the baseball gods and the league office demanded a 25-man playoff roster be constructed. Technically, the Raccoons had 28 eligible players for that roster – everybody on the 25-man on August 31, as well as Alberto Ramos and the two pitchers that returned afterwards, Colt Willes and Josh Weeks. Willes had sucked the leather off the baseballs and nobody wanted part of his bum in the CLCS. Weeks was placed on the roster indeed, with reliever Nate Ward getting bumped into the cheap seats. He had had his moments, but also a 5.55 ERA with the Coons, and while Weeks was not tagged for a starting job out of the gate – we’d go with the Bernie, Sparkes, Sabre, Ottie group – he was there for long man duties and if one of the other guys got humped his first time around, Weeks could replace him the second time through … if we made it that far.

Now, of course the Raccoons had also shed Tony Morales to a knee contusion, so there was a pinch at catcher – only Fernando Garcia remained for eligible catchers. But of course it was possible to get a replacement catcher (Jeff Kilmer) onto the playoff roster, compensating for that. With Cosmo Trevino and Dave Myers, two starting infielders had ended up on the DL in September, and to make up the numbers there, Jesus Maldonado was nominated as replacement.

So, in essence, Ward, Morales, Cosmo, and Myers were not on the playoff roster amongst eligible players and/or were taken off compared to the roster on August 31. Instead, Weeks, Ramos (both off DL), Kilmer, and Maldonado (both as injury replacements) were on the playoff roster.

There was no way to smuggle both Jon Caskey and Jesus Maldonado on the roster, and in doubt we preferred the guy that could replace Fowler on defense, which left Ed Hooge around as left-handed pinch-hitter. Our backup infielders would be Nickas and Brito, which was pretty dismal. In fact, Maldonado was going to start at third base, because otherwise we’d have to use Nickas there. Rich Vickers would get the start at second base in all games, but since he’d bat around #7, he was an interesting double switch selection with Brito replacing him in the #9 hole.

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Opposite the Raccoons would be the Bayhawks, who lost five of their last seven games to forego homefield advantage, so the series would start in Portland, which was only fine by us.

The Raccoons’ strengths and weaknesses, like disintegrating defensive skills, were well known. And the Bayhawks? First, the Baybirds had no injuries to speak of. They were as healthy as they could get.

They had the #4 offense in the CL (Coons: #3), but were allowing the second-fewest runs thanks to the prime rotation. Their pen was only average, but they beat the Raccoons on D and had a run differential almost 40 runs better than the Critters. Their record in 1-run games was 20-27, which was a) bad, and b) a lot of 1-run games in the first place.

If you knocked out their starters early, you could really feast on the pen. Unfortunately patience was not our strongest quality…

There was something else playing in the Raccoons’ favor here – platoon matchups. The Bayhawks had a lot of lefty relievers, but figured to bring up four right-handed starters for the series. Since the Raccoons would have at least four lefty bats in the lineup, this was very much to our liking (and losing Morales now hurt double). If Justin Fowler didn’t break out of his slump, he could even be replaced by Hooge, adding another lefty bat. The Bayhawks’ lineup meanwhile was heavily right-handed; they had one lefty hitter (Pablo Sanchez, the 43-year-old who might never make the Hall of Fame for never retiring), and three switch-hitters, but only one of them (Alex Castillo) figured to be a regular in the lineup. Since the Raccoons *also* expected carting up four righty starters (with Weeks their only serious lefty option), this could only help us.

The season series had ended 5-4 in Portland’s favor.

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For the Raccoons, this was their 15th playoff ticket, tying the Pacifics for third overall behind Boston (19) and Tijuana (17). The Bayhawks only made their eighth playoff appearance. They had one title to the Raccoons’ four, with the Critters tying for fourth-most championships with the Capitals. Only the Titans (10…), Crusaders (7), and Pacifics (6) had more.

These teams had met in the CLCS three times before. The Raccoons knocked the Bayhawks out twice in the 90s during their 3-year run of meeting the Capitals in the World Series (fun times!), but had lost the CLCS in 2017, then part of the string of three straight CLCS losses.

No pitcher on the Raccoons’ playoff roster had ever won a championship; while Mauricio Garavito was the elder statesman of the bullpen, he had only arrived from those Bayhawks in 2029, one year after the Raccoons’ most recent set of rings.

For position players, Berto was the only guy that had won two (2026, 2028) with the Critters, also taking Rookie of the Year honors in the former season. Justin Fowler, who was part of the Pacifics team that lost the ’26 Series to the Raccoons (and had been his league’s Rookie of the Year the same season!), had three rings, all won with L.A. in 2027, 2030, and 2032.

That was it. That was ALL the experience of hoisting a trophy we could show off. The Bayhawks had eight rings distributed between six players, including relief man Kevin Surginer, who had won his two with the 2026 and 2028 Raccoons.