BNN Weekly Report
This Week in the CBO, BMU, and GBRL
by Nat Wright-Kawolski
1 October 2304
CBO Association Finals Preview
NCA Finals - #3 Nordhagen Beach Party Boys (81-39) vs #1 County Crossing Bloodbugs (86-34)
Season Series
County Crossing 6, Nordhagen Beach 6
June 24-26 @NB: NB 6-2, NB 3-1, NB 4-0
July 15-17 @CC: CC 5-1, CC 4-1, CC 8-2
Sept 9-11 @CC: NB 6-3, CC 6-2, NB 4-2
Sept 16-18 @NB: NB 6-2, CC 7-4, CC 6-4
Analysis
When County Crossing and Nordhagen Beach meet in the North Charles Association Finals, it will mark just the second time these two Brotherhood League rivals have met in the playoffs. That first time came in 2301 when the #1 seed Party Boys swept the #3 Bloodbugs in the NCA Finals on their way to their first CBO crown.
This season the roles are reversed with the Bugs the top seed and the Boys the third. The roles have reversed in seeding, but there are plenty of questions if the results will. Whatever the results are, these two teams are closer in talent than they were in 2301. Let's break it down.
We already have published top stats and performers from each team, so let's use the opportunity to dive into individual matchups and where teams may find advantages.
In all 12 regular season matchups, the losing team scored a maximum of four runs, indicating that the starting pitcher most on will have the advantage. The Bloodbugs slightly outscored Nordhagen Beach, 46-43, during their matchups. That tells us only one thing: there is no room for error in this series. So, looking at units, what do we have?
Offense: CC
Pitching: NB
Defense: NB
Position vs Position
C: NB - Mike Swift (5) vs Darth Horse (12)
1B: CC - Zeldolph Violet (3) vs Dustin Mart (18)
2B: NB - Jumper Hayes (3) vs Newscap Woldorf (9)
3B: CC - Taygun Topaloglu (2) vs Burtie Cuttooth (11)
SS: CC - Cy Thompson (3) vs Pointie Shroud (15)
LF: NB - Michael Fogcrawler (2) vs Kurt Kilgore (3)
CF: NB - Maxx Murtagh (3) vs Long Hall (9)
RF: CC - Babs Rooth (1) vs Jonathan Angelou (3)
County Crossing's position players are all in the Top 10 in the CBO at their respective positions. That gives the Bloodbugs huge advantages at the 1B and SS positions. The one position group where the Party Boys have a slight advantage is in the outfield where all three outfielders are in the Top 3 at their position, though the Bugs have the top outfielder in RF Babs Rooth.
SP1: NB - Beachboy Nut (3) vs Whip Lashley (4)
SP2: NB - Ugio Church vs Gavin Everitts
SP3: NB - Tommy Beach vs Urm Rehfeldt
RP1: NB - Handsome Frank (6) vs Drama Miller (8)
RP2: NB - Lawdog Whipple vs Terrence Artman
CL: CC - Jesse Bibeault (6) vs David "AntAgonist" Kidd (22)
Other than the closer position, the Party Boys have the advantage at every aspect of one vs one pitching matchups. There is no question that games where the Nordhagen Beach starter is on gives them the edge to win. The question will come on the offensive side when both pitchers are on whether the Boys' bats can give their pitcher enough support to take the game late.
Prediction
County Crossing looks as though it has gotten over the hump toward BL dominance, meaning that they should be the favorites to win this series. However, the Party Boys are in their 8th-straight party, and they are used to series like this. We'll take Nordhagen Beach to edge out the Bloodbugs in a close, thrilling series. NB 4, CC 3
SCA Finals - #2 Jamaica Plain Red Rockets (80-40) vs #1 Roxbury Rad Sox (91-29)
Season Series
Jamaica Plain 7, Roxbury 1
April 19-20 @Rox: JP 1-0, JP 3-1
April 24-25 @JP: Rox 5-3, JP 5-1
July 12-13 @Rox: JP 2-0, JP 7-1
July 26-27 @JP: JP 4-3, JP 4-1
Analysis
Like the County Crossing and Nordhagen Beach matchup, the South Charles Association Finals will feature teams meeting for only the second time in the playoffs. Roxbury and Jamaica Plain first met two seasons ago with the #2 Red Rockets edging the #3 Rad Sox, three games to two, in the SCA Semifinals.
When the teams meet as the top two seeds in the SCA playoffs, one thing that immediately stands out is that the season series was unbalanced with the Rockets dominating the Sox, seven games to one. Those seven losses made up a quarter of Roxbury's losses all season! So why is that the case? Let's look at the matchups.
Offense: Rox
Pitching: Rox
Defense: Rox
Position vs Position
C: Rox - Biddy Swenson (6) vs Ayag Mour (8)
1B: Rox - Duncan MacCready (14) vs Carney Cornseed (15)
2B: Rox - Chris Connexx (4) vs Bubb Islander (8)
3B: Rox - Donn Mattingley (3) vs Notorious Fugate (8)
SS: Rox - Purple Gupta (2) vs Aaron Erickson (10)
LF: Rox - Young Goodman (1) vs Damani Beebe (5)
CF: JP - Hid Matsumoto (8) vs Edward Cox (16)
RF: Rox - Deerlord Fugivmee (10) vs Bulleye Shooterson (11)
Roxbury appears to have a huge advantage offensively over the Red Rockets with a position advantage at every position but center field. However, the offense that is much better scored only 12 runs in eight games on the season, showing that the Jamaica Plain pitching has found something this season to slow down the Rad Sox.
SP1: Rox - Nuke Laloosh (1) vs Digger Vadim (2)
SP2: Rox - Eugene Gym vs Chris Teddybear
SP3: JP - Chris Deathclaw vs College Luckyman
RP1: JP - T-Bone Heagy (3) vs John Irwin (12)
RP2: JP - Ryan Mills vs Justin Hale
CL: Rox - Andy Helium (1) vs Doug Dee El (3)
While the Rad Sox seem to have the overall advantage in pitching, this position group is much closer than it appears. In the season series, the Rockets outscored Roxbury 29-12. While 29 runs in eight games (3.63 runs per game) is not a lot, the Red Rockets won the pitching duels all season.
Prediction
The difference in the regular season series was a statistical anomaly. Roxbury is too powerful in a seven-game series to get blown away, at least we think. We are expecting the season series to get closer to even at the end of this one and the Rad Sox to continue on in their pursuit of back-to-back Sole Survivor Series victories. Roxbury 4, Jamaica Plain 1
