Los Angeles Leopards (9-3, .750, 1st NL West) @ Mexico City Jaguars (7-5, .583, 2nd NL West)
The Jaguars are in a good way… winners in three of their first four sets and proud owners of the best offense in all the land – 1st in runs scored, AVG, OBP, OPS, bWAR, wOBA, and HR’s – Mexico City looks like a playoff bound club on the cusp of something special. And, should a steadfast belief in the Pyt be your thing, they really should be tied with us, at the top of the pops & licking their chops at the opportunity to stick it to us in their park. Where it’s unforgiving confines and confounding angles are riveled only by the mezcal induced hangover its welcoming city, and it’s fierce party culture, inflict upon its tourists as a way of separating you from the contents of your wallet. This, then, should be a real humdinger, with some early evening bombast courtesy of their color commentator at the ballpark followed by some out of this world, fever dream nights out on the town. Should we, at the very least, make it out of here alive, I’d call that a success.
Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
LHP O. Arce (0-0, 5.91 ERA) vs LHP H. Cartmel (1-0, 8.59 ERA)
RHP R. Taylor (0-2, 3.97 ERA) vs RHP V. Uhlman (1-0, 4.35 ERA)
LHP L. Duarte (0-0, 3.48 ERA) vs RHP B. Bonet (0-2, 6.30 ERA)
The top 5 players on their team are:
1. SP Patrick Torres (Age: 22, Overall : 80, Potential: 80)
2. RP Dwight Beasley (30, 57, 57)
3. SP Owen Sum (27, 56, 57)
4. CL Jaden Davis (25, 56, 56)
5. CF Norris Flaherty (32, 55, 56)
Before we get into it, I’d be remiss not to let the lot of you know that our own,
Ethan Mullens, took home player of the week honors in the National League… your boy hit .476 with two dingers and five total RBI. Not too shabby for the 33yo, 11-year vet.
#13: Win, 6-5… MC’s comeback attempt during the bottom of the 9th was thwarted by
Egner who retired three straight after giving up a HR to the first batter he faced, earning his 5th save this season,
Otto drove one in on a double, and we fielded two, clutch DP’s to put the Jags’ celebrated offense down in the 7th & 8th.
#14: Loss, 2-5… Gunner Fletcher’s run-scoring single during the bottom of the 6th opened the flood gates for the Jags as they’d score 4 total in the frame to go up by an insurmountable margin.
Rad takes the loss, his 3rd in as many tries…
#15: Loss, 4-11… Duarte was dismantled, piece by piece, and sold off for parts – 5 earned with 2 HRA’s in just 3.2 innings of work. Former Leopard,
1B Satoru Ono, finished 2-for-5 with 2 TANKS and 4 RBI.
Another series loss, our second so far this season… albeit a bit more palatable as we’d suffer this indignity on the road… still, outscored 21-12 by the NL’s best offense with our enviable staff taking the mound? Unexpected, if I’m honest – look, I didn’t expect to win them all, I’m not goofy, but I did expect that our pitching and defense would be able to, at least, hold water against these guys. Instead, ours is a leaky vessel, listing portside, on the verge of sinking… Around the league: Charlotte, Salt Lake, and Philadelphia are each 11-4 on the year with identical 8-2 runs over their last 10 tilts… The freshly signed Salt Lake Ace, SP Big Burt McElheny, is off to a 2-0, 1.46 ERA start in Utah – when the Alpines signed a 38yo to a 2yr, $50mm contract more than one GM laughed about it privately… and, while the jury is still out on the signing, at least nobody is laughing now. Also, 1B Tom Franzone, is wearing his new Boston kit well – your boy is off to a .393/.470/.732, 5 HR, 15 RBI, 1.3 WAR start with the Shamrocks.
Elsewhere: Archie Imanov, former Leopard, current Miner, and full-time Zlatan clone, went 4-for-6 with a double, two tanks, and 5 RBI as his Denver-based club dismantled the Seattle Metros by a score of 12-4. With the win, the Denver Miners improved to 7-7 with a chance to rise above that line in the rubber match… which, they did not squander, winning that contest 4-0 on the back of a 7-inning, 1 hit, 0 earned, 6 K performance from their starter
Brock Ulibarri.
Record: 10-5, .667, 1st NL West
Up Next: We’re back home for a 3-game set against the NL East’s Pittsburgh Pipers.