[pauwoo]

Mexico City Jaguars (95-67, .586, 2nd NL West) @ Los Angeles Leopards (106-56, .654, 1st NL West)
While Mexico City laid waste to the Philadelphia Founders, we struggled, mightily, against Montreal’s tip-top staff and their suddenly serviceable offense… allowing the Alouettes to take us to the brink of elimination, fraying the nerves of every member of our organization, down to a man. And, here, the club standing across from us, unlike Montreal, has no fear after handling us better than most during the regular season and coming into this series on some of their best form of the year. So here we are, flexing freshly cleaned kits, as ready as we’ll ever be to engage in a winner takes all coin toss. Where our hopes and dreams rest on the whims of a quarter tumbling through the air

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:
LHP L. Álvarez (15-9, 3.29 ERA) vs RHP P. Torres (18-7, 3.13 ERA)
RHP C. Arnett (10-12, 3.81 ERA) vs RHP D. Beasley (4-6, 6.16 ERA)

#1: Win, 6-1… off on the good foot as Larimel gets things started off with a 6-inning, 5-hit shutout, followed by some good work out of the pen as RP Rusell Harper closed the show with 3-innings of hitless work. Bases-clearing double from Luca Biacchi, 2 RBI for Otto, a SAC FLY from Ethan, and burgled bag for Dan Baker would round out the offensive highlights as our Leopards gave the hometown faithful something to feel good about on their way home in Game 1.

Elsewhere: The Vancouver Mounties, on an absolute mission so far these playoffs, have taken a 2-0 lead over the Denver Miners, at home to take a commanding lead in their 7-game series.

#2: Win, 6-2… Down 2-1 heading into the bottom of the 7th when Luca Biacchi hit a run-scoring SAC BUNT to knot things up, followed by a heroic bases-clearing double during the bottom of the next frame courtesy of Hernando Benavidez to all but assure our victory in game 2. Arnett gave us a hard-scrabble 6-innings of 6-hit, 2 earned work, T-Rex got us out of a jam during the top of the 8th, retiring two batters on K’s, and Max Egner picks up, would you believe it, his 1st save of the 2084 post season.

Playoff Record: 5-2
Up Next: We’ll travel to Mexico City to contest the next three of this series in their park.