[Westheim]

The Raccoons started just perfectly into the Indians series, as Christopher Powell struck out six and walked one in a 3-hit shutout. We had 14 hits in the 5-0 win. The next day we won 7-4 (4 RBI by Pedro Sánz), which helped the Crusaders to clinch the division and advance as the first team to the post season. To cap off the series, Ned Ray went on the mound. He was perfect the first time through the Indians lineup, but walked Ramon Lafrosia in the fourth. He still carried a no-hitter into the sixth, before he was rapped for four hits in succession. The Raccoons scored four in the seventh to get ahead again and won it 5-2. Indians swept, and thus 100 losses were avoided!

Going to Vancouver was another chilly experience. We were held to two hits in the first eight innings and didn’t score until Johnston bashed a 2-run homer in the ninth. Too little, too late, 5-2 loss. Powell’s penultimate game of the season was up next. He had a hard fight and allowed two homers for five runs in five innings. The Raccoons were down 5-1 after six, but chained together in the seventh to tie it. Then in the eighth, they loaded the bases again with one out. Hoyt Cook stepped in to pinch hit and grand slammed the Raccoons to a 9-5 lead – it was his first home run in the majors. The Canadiens hit two solo homers off Wright in the eighth, but he held on to get the 9-7 win in.

For the last five games of the season, Johan Dolder came back from the DL to take back the centerfield job. Anderson was a good defensive player, but his production was dreading. Well, Dolder’s was as well, but he locked down centerfield hard and the 25 points he was below Anderson in batting he – I felt – got back in with stellar defense on the grass.

Ed Sullivan was the hero in game 3 in Vancouver, launching a 3-run homer that won the game, 4-2. Ben Green actually got to save this one, facing a solid lefty opposition in the ninth. Ned Ray made his final start in the fourth game, picking up the loss, as the Raccoons went down 5-1, again failing to capitalize from two bases loaded situations with less than two outs, including in the top 9th, where they filled the bags with no outs and then Johnston, Simon, and Lopez failed to move anything, racking up two K’s and a pop up.

Still, the goal of putting up at least a .400 season was accomplished. One meaningless series against the Crusaders was left, where both teams could not gain or lose anything. In the CL South, the Bayhawks and Thunder would go directly against each other for the top spot. The Bayhawks needed a sweep to reach the postseason over Oklahoma City. In the FL West, Cincinnati was through already, but in the East, the Scorpions were one game ahead of the Wolves – also facing them! Even more crazy, the Dallas Stars were only two games back and faced the Gold Sox. At best they could reach a three-way tie. What would happen then? Would the universe explode?

The Raccoons still had very few things they could achieve, though. Pedro Sánz was only three points behind Boston’s Shawn Gilmore to become the best slugger of the season. Ben Simon had already won a title, albeit a bad one. With 137 K’s so far, he was leading in that category by a sound margin. Most pitching categories had been won by Juan Correa of the Bayhawks, who had shredded through opponents’ lineups all year long. He had won *33* games already.

What could go wrong? For the Crusaders, much went wrong. They lost their starter Mark Lee to a back injury after two innings – postseason in jeopardy. And they were rapped by the Raccoons, as Sánz was 3-4 with a pair of doubles in the 8-4 win. This continued the next day with a 2-0 win, where Ben Simon plated both runs, one in the first, and one with a solo homer in the sixth.

What about the postseason duels? The Bayhawks had taken the first two from Oklahoma and the two were tied. The last game was truly a decider here, while in the FL East the Wolves and Scorpions had split the first two, Scorpions still up by one, and Dallas had beaten Denver twice and also was only one game back. The three-way tie was still possible!

Maloney had contracted a mild abdominal strain in the 2-0 win over New York and missed the last game. The Raccoons did not sweep the Crusaders, but lost 2-1. Johan Dolder struck out with a runner on to end the season.

The Bayhawks and Thunder went at it, hard: the Bayhawks swept the Thunder with a 13-10 win and advanced to the LCS. In the Federal League? The Stars did what they had to, winning 4-1 against the Gold Sox, but the Scorpions beat the Wolves 7-5 on a 6-run bottom 2nd, qualifying to go against the Cyclones.

We had gone 67-95, but more importantly, 45-45 against our division. The CL South had really hit us hard with a 14-40 (!!) record. Our pythagorean record? 79-83. There is your .500 team, almost.

In other news:
September 26 – Sergio Martiel of the Capitals gets to 20 games with a hit in a row after going 4-4 against the Buffaloes. Martiel is hitting .315 with 101 RBI and five homers. Still, the Capitals lose the game, 6-5, and the fight for the playoffs, bringing the Cyclones’ magic number to zero. The Cincinnati Cyclones didn’t even play on this day to make it to the postseason.
September 28 – The Buffaloes chill Martiel’s streak at 21 games.