Jacksonville Jaguars (10-4, On Road: 3-3) @ Los Angeles Lakers (8-2, At Home: 4-1)
A 7-Game series to get 2075 sorted, playing marbles for keepsies - we’re a crown royal bag full of high-quality pieces - a few cats eyes, an onion skin, some oxblood's, a patriotic toothpaste, and a tiger-style shooter... the circle is hand drawn and pitted, and we’re ready to claim what’s ours. A cursory glance towards the visitors' clubhouse brings the Jacksonville Jaguars into focus - never the odds on favorite to be the cream of the AL crop, that would’ve been Seattle or Green Bay, but they’re no Cinderella story either. If this were a prize fight, the Jaguars would be the challenger with nothing to lose - a technically proficient force of nature as comfortable on the outside as they are fighting in a phone booth. A solid, piston-like, jab of an offense - built on repetition and textbook footwork, with an Ace who is adept at setting traps, cutting off the ring, with KO power in both hands - the Jags are for real. They are formidable - this ain’t no smash match - and, given that the line here reads ‘even’, everybody knows that this series can go either way. A potential World Series for the ages with heavy hitters in the red and blue corners. Two squads hell-bent on bringing this thing home - both dialed in, looking across the infield at each other with malevolent intent.
Game 1: Luc Felix (3-0, 0.81) @ Case Tunnell (1-0, 8.31)
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that Case getting the nod in Game 1 doesn’t give me agita... are these butterflies or was the sushi I ate last night a huge mistake? Tunnell gives up a couple of hits in the top of the first - an infield hit that is borderline unacceptable and a well-hit ball that manages to find the hole between 1st and 2nd, but both are left stranded and I’m able to keep any undigested bits of spider rolls down. So far, so average... We’d give Luc a 1-2-3 bottom of the frame, punctuated by an Otto K where he swung so hard that I’m nervous he may have pulled something. Case leaves midway through the 2nd inning with an injury - not ideal - we’ll have to wait and see how severe it is. It stays scoreless until the bottom of the 4th when Ethan brings in 2 runs off of a superbly hit double, which is followed up by Otto’s solo shot. And that was all she wrote in Game One - we shutout the AL Champs. Kyle Weaver finished 4 for 4, Otto finished 2 for 4 with a HR, and we only strike out 6 times as a team. An auspicious start for the Purple & Gold - we treat 54k+ of the LA faithful to a well-played victory here and just like that are off on the good foot.
