#1 Nordhagen Beach Party Boys (79-29) vs #5 Fort Hagen Silver Shroud (58-51)
Season Series: Nordhagen Beach 4, Fort Hagen 4
April 10-11 @NB: NB 3-1, NB 6-2
May 14-15 @FtH: FtH 7-2, NB 8-5
July 23-24 @NB: FtH 4-3, NB 9-2
August 13-14 @FtH: FtH 6-5, FtH 4-3
Nordhagen Beach Home Page
Fort Hagen Home Page
Game 1 Matchup
Analysis
For the fourth-straight season, the Fort Hagen Silver Shroud and Nordhagen Beach Party Boys are going to meet in the postseason. In all four of those matchups, the Boys entered the series as the #1 seed in the North Charles Association and the favorites. In the first three series (2298-2300), the Shroud prevailed, propelling themselves to the Sole Survivor Series the last two seasons.
This season looks different because Nordhagen Beach was not just the best, but the best ever in the regular season, surpassing the 2298 Goodneighbor Hancocks thanks to a 12-game winning streak to finish the 2301 season. Now the Boys get to test that winning streak against the team that has had their number just about every year. Even in the 2301 regular season, Nordhagen Beach did not have a losing record against anyone. However, there were two teams that they went .500 against: the Shroud and County Crossing (the #3 seed in the playoffs).
The Party Boys were expected to be the top pitching team in baseball thanks to the off-season megatrade for SP Beachboy Nut (17-3, 2.16), the defending SCA Vim! Pitcher Award winner with Roxbury. For the record, he is almost assuredly going to win that award in the NCA this season. Nordhagen Beach was indeed good with its pitching, finishing with a CBO-low 331 runs allowed (Salem was second with 386), just over 3 runs per game. They were 1st in Starters ERA (2.90) and 2nd in Bullpen ERA (2.41). In addition to Nut, the Boys already had three great pitchers in Tommy Beach (18-4, 2.81), Chet Arthur (12-4, 2.92), and Julian Shed (8-6, 3.55). Shed went down with a season-ending injury, or he may have also won 10+ games. From the bullpen, CL Tom Mannequin (35 SV, 1.26) was masterful. He was supported by other good bullpen pitchers in Matt Breakball (3-2, 2.29) and Marc Woodsman (3-2, 1.56). SP Matt Ranger (8-2, 3.67) will also come off the bench in the playoffs.
While the offense is not as dominant as the pitching, Nordhagen Beach still finished tied for 2nd in runs scored (561) and in the top half of all offensive categories. They had good average throughout the lineup with three players hitting over .300, including C Mike Swift (.351/0/44) and 1B Ryan Combs (.318/7/44). They also have three power hitters in the middle of the lineup to generate runs fast: CF Maxx Murtagh (.231/14/62), RF Jonathan Angelou (.262/20/66), and LF Michael Fogcrawler (.258/27/98). One big loss the Party Boys have is 3B Dirty Dog Sapienza (.307/14/42). His replacement, though, is a good one in Jon Hitman (.299/2/21).
Prediction
While the 2301 version looks to be the same machine that the 2298 Goodneighbor team was, the Party Boys have struggled with Fort Hagen every postseason. If the Boys get past the Shroud this season, we expect them to win it all. With the rivalry and everything else, though, we have to see it to believe it. Fort Hagen 3, Nordhagen Beach 2.