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2037 Playoffs
Championship Round
The eastern league Pennant Series saw Indianapolis making their ninth ELCS appearance and looking to reach a record sixth World Series, face off against Charlotte who were aiming to make the Fall Classic for the second time in three years. Indianapolis with the homefield advantage were seen as favourites but the early going in game one went the way of the visitors, as Charlotte paced by Daron Murphy (1HR, 4 RBI) and Brandon Townsend (4 runs scored) built a 7-0 lead, once their offense woke up Indianapolis stormed back into the game, cutting the lead to two but Charlotte’s Jorge Flores and Rich Sutton held firm, the latter striking out Ivan Santana with two men aboard to secure the win and stun the favoured Racers. Game two started in much the same way for Charlotte as a first inning homer from 3B Alfonso Alvarez gave them an early 3-0 lead, this time Indianapolis began their comeback much earlier with Jose Cintron cutting the lead to one with a 2-run homer in the third and Marc Smith clubbing a solo effort in the sixth to tie the game. With pitcher Ken Kramer shutting Charlotte down after their early outburst Indianapolis completed the comeback when veteran Jose Cintron clubbed a solo homerun in the bottom of the eighth and closer Harvey Widdowes slammed the door in the ninth, giving the Racers a hard-fought win and sending the series on to North Carolina all square. Homefield advantage did not help Charlotte in game three as the Express made five errors leading to four unearned runs on the way to dropping the game 8-3 to the Racers, but it wasn’t all good news for Indianapolis as they lost star outfielder Marc Smith to injury, a ruptured Achilles ending his season. A big game from 21-year-old CF Luis Garza (2 doubles, 4RBI) wasn’t enough to lift Charlotte to victory the following night as the Racers offense erupted for 11 runs, eight of them against an overworked bullpen, leaving Indianapolis on the verge of their record sixth appearance in the World Series. Both starters, Ramon Schoof (IND) and Jim Jacques (CHA) were excellent in game five, each surrendering just a single run through the first six frames, the seventh though proved to be an inning to far for Jacques as he surrendered the go ahead run and left two men on base for the bullpen to clean up. The mess was to be too much for Charlotte’s beleaguered relief corps as Indianapolis plated four more runs to cruise to a comfortable 6-2 win and book their place in the World Series.
In the first ever postseason meeting between the teams the WLCS saw Las Vegas, with their strong pitching and patient batters (owners of an NABL record low 872 strikeouts during the regular season) take on division rivals and wildcard entry Houston with the WL #3 scoring offense. Las Vegas starter Holden Willis was not at his best in game one (5.1 IP, 11H, 5ER, 3BB, 5K) but he didn’t need to be as, led by 1B Ed Matthews and his record setting day (4-5, 2 HR, one a Grand-Slam and 7 RBI’s), the Gamblers offense pummeled Houston, waltzing to an all too easy 13-5 win. The following evening saw a much better performance from Houston but they were still behind 4-3 heading into the ninth inning where an uncharacteristically sloppy outing from Gamblers closer Philip Redmond and some clutch hitting from Hector Soto and Bryant Deshields turned the game on its head and saw Houston steal the game 5-4. Back in Houston for game three and Las Vegas struggled to get going from the off falling into a 6-1 hole before rallying late against the Stars bullpen, the Gamblers loaded the bases in the top of the ninth and appeared to be heading for an improbable comeback when Joseph Floores launched what looked to be a homerun, only for RF Wolfgang Worns to rob him of a Grand-Slam with one of his trademark defensive plays. Las Vegas jumped all over Houston starter Clint Martin early in game four, plating six runs (including a Grand-Slam from Vaughan Snyder) by the end of the fourth inning, Houston chipped away at the lead but still trailed by two entering the ninth. Philip Redmond got the call and once again struggled, surrendering a solo homerun to Michael Hoover and walking two of the next three batters he faced, star shortstop Hector Soto came through with another clutch hit for Houston with a crisply hit 2-RBI walk-off single to snatch victory and leave Houston one win away from the World Series. With their backs against the wall Las Vegas turned to Holden Willis to save their season and although Willis produced a solid pitching display (6 IP, 6H, 2ER, 6K) he received no run support as Houston pitcher Wes Pierson shut down the Gamblers offense, both teams traded runs once the bullpens got involved but the Gamblers could not close the gap and slipped quietly out of the playoffs, losing in the WLCS for the second consecutive year.
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