[Westheim]

2044 CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (96-66) vs. San Francisco Bayhawks (91-71)

The Raccoons had made the CLCS for the first time since 2037, when they had also played against the Bayhawks. This was the fifth CLCS matchup of these two teams, with the Raccoons prevailing in 1991, 1992, an 2037, while getting bumped in 2017.

San Francisco had won the season series, 5-4, although the Raccoons had actually outscored them in the series, 46-40. That was fine in the regular season. Now I was more interested in wins.

We had finished the CL second in runs scored and fourth in runs allowed with a +138 run differential. The offense could do it all – get hits (2nd), get on base (2nd), hit bombs (2nd), snatch bags (4th), heck, sometimes even all of it in one game! Our main weakness right now was a rotation 6th in ERA and a bullpen that had suffered a few selective meltdowns in September, and which had at least one left-hander that was ice cold.

San Francisco had come fourth in runs scored and seventh in runs allowed. Their run differential was a mere +30. They were good at hitting homers, but were actually below average in OBP. Their 121 homers put them third, and they had also stolen 104 bags, sixth in the league. Their rotation was about as good or average as the Raccoons’, but the pen was worse, and they had a bottom three defense. So how exactly had they gotten here again?

The Raccoons couldn’t hope for more than one left-handed Bayhawks starter (Noe Candeloro (11-13, 3.97 ERA), but regardless made a potentially controversial roster choice by including right-handed outfielder Gene Pellicano on the playoff roster at the expense of grizzled veteran Jose Cruz. But Ricky Jimenez had turned it up in the last six weeks, and then we might also want to move Maldonado to third base in certain situations. It was hard to see more than a pinch-hitter in Cruz at this point. Well, Pellicano hit for an .857 OPS, besting Cruz by 138 points. He could certainly pinch-hit just as well.

The series would start on Wednesday, which gave the Raccoons ample time to start Sadaharu Okuda, rookie by numbers, in Game 1. Jason Wheatley was dropped from the rotation after a wholly craptastic September and would serve as extra reliever.

The Baybirds came in with no injuries worth worrying about (the Raccoons missed Jonathan Dustal, but also barely remembered who that was. Quirky Sergio Quiroz (.316, 16 HR, 71 RBI) and streaking Ramon Sifuentes (.327, 29 HR, 100 RBI) were to watch out for atop the order, but the Raccoons had also suffered plenty of burns by Jamie McGuigan (.294, 11 HR, 97 RBI), Jose Platero (.226, 15 HR, 82 RBI), and Kenichi Saito (.227, 16 HR, 79 RBI) during the season. Their lineup was mostly right-handed (or switch-hitters), so that would certainly be a challenge if we fed both Okuda and Clark as starters into the series. Clark was placed at the tail end, so they’d see left-handers no more than thrice.

On paper, the Raccoons looked like they might have good cards in the paw here.

But baseball isn’t played on paper.