2055 GLBL Fall Classic
Hamilton was the hottest team in baseball and of the 4 playoff teams coming down the final stretch of the season. That said even with the great SP Gabriel Rodriguez, they were unable to overcome the thunderous offense and payroll of Thunder Bay and fell in 6 games.
That set up a rematch of last year's GLBL Fall Classic as the Caribou will take on the Architects. Last season Thunder Bay won the last 2 games of the series and took the title in 6 games. This year, Chicago has the home field advantage but the Caribou want another title. Even with the best estimates in playoff revenue Thunder Bay is projected to lose over $50 million this season. Barring some changes and sources indicate they will take on high price contracts, they could well meet and are predicted to exceed that loss.
In Chicago that type of money loss would not be tolerated, even if it meant winning a GLBL title or not.
Thunder Bay will go with a 3-man rotation for this series. RHSP Ralph Baxter (35), LHSP Carlos Perez (32) and RHSP Terry Noble (37). Baxter signed a 4-year $101 million dollar deal prior to the start of this season. Perez is signed for 3 more years for a total of $93.6 million and came over in a mid-season deal from Toledo. Terry Noble who is a free agent is the poor man of the group receiving on $10,000,000 this season.
LHRP (32-year-old) Roberto Terraza is quite possibly the top RP in the GLBL. While he only got 6 saves, he is a strikeout power pitcher who threw in 83 games and totaled over 113 IP to go along with a 5-1 record and a 2.55 ERA.
On the offensive side of things, Thunder Bay had 9 players hit at least 13 home runs with 2 being just part time players. Six players had 20+ home runs (another was at 19) and three guys hit 32+. This is a power house lineup that puts a lot of fear in the pitchers they face.
Thunder Bay is the best home team in the GLBL winning 49 games (49-23) while Chicago was 2nd with a 48-24 record at home. In 1-run games Thunder Bay is "only" 22-18 so if you can keep them close (most likely scoring less than 4 runs) then you have a shot. That plays into Chicago's strength of winning close games as the Architects are 29-12 in 1-run affairs and 10-1 when games go to OT.
Thunder Bay was 3-1 versus Chicago this season splitting the games in the Windy City and sweeping a 2-game series at home to start the Architects 8-game losing streak in early August (all on the road).
Thunder Bay is a rare club that leads the all-time regular season series against Chicago going 73-71. This will be the 4th time the clubs have met in the GLBL Fall Classic with Chicago winning both the 2039 and 2050 titles in 6 games and Thunder Bay prevailing in 6 games last season.
These are the top 2 teams in GLBL history as far as winning the BIG ONE, with Chicago having won 9 and Thunder Bay 5. That will be 15 titles in 41 seasons that belong to there 2 clubs.
This is going to be a tough series. Even though we won 1 more game in the regular season, Thunder Bay had a 101 run differential higher than we did (175-74) in the regular season. There is good, but the starters don't go often 5 innings. If we can keep the games close and lower scoring, then we have a chance. Still Thunder Bay is the defending champions and they haven't done anything yet to lose that. They probably have the edge.