[pauwoo]

Los Angeles Leopards (112-50, .691) @ Portland Pioneers (83-79, .512)
While not far from home, and certainly no weirder than L.A. proper, Portland, in its decidedly unkempt appearance, hipster trappings, and far out idealism can be a lot to take in. It’s everything, yet very specific, diverse in thought yet close minded and vague, and, generally speaking, homogenized culturally… home of those funky Trailblazers and even funkier Pioneers, their rabid fan bases, and filled enough civic pride (depending on who you talk to) to make Pendleton Park a tough place to play. Their crowd is rowdy, in your face, virulent, and loud – though not as profane as a crowd in, say, Philadelphia. Our goal here is a 3-game sweep, a tall order to be sure, and, despite the fact that, on paper anyway, we’re the better club, these guys are hot, should realistically be up 2-0, and have every right to come into this set confident, cocksure, and ready to do damage.

3 of 7: Nacho Valadez (1-1, 0.93) @ Josh Allen (0-0, 1.80)
Win, 2-1. Less rock ‘em, sock ‘em robots and more hurry up & wait, this one was likely a real snooze fest for all those in attendance with the only action of real consequence came in the form of a well-timed Lee Rolon hit run-scoring double during the top of the 2nd that put us up for good… from there, our staffs would trade zeroes the rest of the way with Ewing Rivera earning the win in relief, Duarte & Rad each getting credit for a hold, and Don Haag earning his 2nd save of the postseason on a scant 10 pitches. Not much else to parse out here… Otto drove in our other run on a double in the first, Burch & Benavidez scored the runs, and we left just 4 batsmen stranded as the chances to score in this one were few & far between… look, it might not have been an exciting, take the momentum of this series by the, err, horns kind of game but it’s a win and we need those.

4 of 7: Dani Thorpe (0-0, 5.40) @ Evan Church (0-0, 1.93)
Win, 6-5 (10). We’d see the lead change hands 4 times with Hernando’s run-scoring double during the top of the 10th being the most consequential of them all as he brings us to within one game of winning our 4th championship in franchise history. OH HONG had himself a day, finishing 2-for-5 at the plate with 2 HR’s and 4 total RBI, Dani Thorpe gave a good account of himself over 4.2-innings of work, T-Rex earned his second hold of these playoffs, and Don Haag, looking beatable in this one, earned the win after 2-innings of work that saw him allow 4 total hits with one of those being a Pascal Contreras dinger that knotted things up for PDX during the bottom of the 9th.

5 of 7: Marco Ortega (1-0, 1.74) @ Josiah Kawka (2-0, 2.13)
Win, 8-7. Once again, by the skin of our teeth, we’ve been crowned the WORLD SERIES CHAMP after putting it down something fierce over the course of the season and taking care of business during the playoffs… here, Dalton Burch, who took home the series MVP honors, finished 2-for-4 with 2 runs, Chance Bell drove one in on a double, Otto did the same, and OH HONG, the people’s MVP, went 1-for-4 with a run and another batted in finishing the playoffs with 3 TANKS and 11 RBI in total. Ortega earned the win, his second of the postseason, despite allowing two home runs and 5 total runs, with Ewing & Rad earning credit for holding the line, and Don Haag, same as it ever was, closed the show with his 3rd save of the post season to unleash an on-field celebration the likes of which we’ve not seen since 2080. All hail you LOS ANGLES LEOPARDS…. Kings of the world.

Up Next: Lots of changes to the file, some offseason silliness, and then one more trip around the sun?