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| Preview: The Divisional Championship Round | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Games 1, 2, 5 and 7 are home games for the higher-seeded team in this best-of-7 series. Injuries are turned off for the playoffs, meaning injuries are only for that day's game. Starters are on a four-man skip rotation, meaning the fourth starter will be bumped if the first starter is ready to go on three days' rest. Since there are off days after games 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7, it's possible (but unlikely) that a team's ace could start three games in the series. Benched starters can be moved to the bullpen.
Newark (#1) vs. Carolina (#6) A series between the No. 1 and No. 6 seeds always looks like a mismatch, but maybe the Newark Sugar Bears (101-61) were rooting for the Cardinals to emerge from Round 1: The Carolina Mudcats (82-80) played the Sugar Bears very tough this year, splitting their 12 game series at 6 games apiece. Vatican City, on the other hand, won only 3 of 12 meetings against the Hanover Division champions.
For Carolina, staff ace Mike Mussina (2-0, 1.20 ERA) dominated his two starts against Newark this season, and the probable game 1 matchup between he and Johnson will likely be one for the ages. Barry Zito faced them three times, going 1-0 with a 4.58 ERA and Mike Sirotka was OK (0-1, 4.05) in his one game against them. Robert Person (1-3, 9.60) and Tim Hudson (0-1, 19.64) fared even worse. If the pitching staffs can cancel each other out, it'll come down to offense -- which portends to be a lopsided series, as Newark outscored the Mudcats, 1059-793. But the Mudcats' batters fared surprisingly well against Newark pitching, particularly Jim Edmonds. Edmonds owned Sugar Bear pitching, to the tune of a .490 batting average and 1.580 OPS! Several other Mudcats have put up astonishing numbers against Newark pitching. But "The Crunch With Punch" posted impressive numbers against the Mudcats themselves, as expected of the league's highest-scoring offense: Five Newark batters collected 9 or more RBIs against the Mudcats this season, and the team slugged 17 HRs in their 12 meetings. In the first round, Carolina was blown out in the first two road games, only to come back and win the last three games of the series. The team needs Mussina to come up big in game one to carry their momentum from the Vatican City series as well as sap Newark's confidence. If they drop the first two games of the series again, the veteran Sugar Bears will go for a quick kill and a long layoff before the World Series. The 'Cats have already used up several of their nine lives just to get here; it's unlikely they can mount another epic comeback in round two.
Vancouver (#2) vs. Arkansas (#5) Lakers-Celtics, Cowboys-Steelers and Capulets-Montagues have nothing on the intense rivalry between the Arkansas Golden Falcons (85-77) and Vancouver Iron Fist (95-67). These two franchises have been battling for dominance since the league was founded in 1991. These two teams have faced each other many times in the post-season, and their meeting in the semi-finals this year means once again one of these two teams will play in the World Series championship: It's happened every year in the league's history. They've faced each other for the DMBL title four times, splitting the series at two apiece.
But don't feel too bad for the Morris Division champions. They have their own three-time McDonald Award winner in Greg Maddux (17-11, 3.65) and solid veterans in Tom Glavine (4-7, 5.45 with Vancouver; 12-17, 4.81 overall) and Brad Radke (12-5, 4.99). The rest of the rotation was filled out by juggling youngsters Gil Meche (9-6, 5.08), Tony Armas (6-7, 5.03), Jim Parque (12-5, 5.34) and Brian Tollberg (3-3, 6.07). It's not clear who will take the ball in game two, but the Iron Fist can count on Maddux in at least two and probably three games this series: He's one of the most durable pitchers in baseball, with a league-leading 10 complete games and 244 innings pitched. Considering that the Golden Falcons went 4-9 against the Iron Fist this season, it's no surprise their starters didn't post great numbers against them. But it is surprising how poor their numbers were. The "Big 3" combined to go 2-5 with a 7.36 ERA against Vancouver, with even Pedro looking human (1-1, 5.14). Brown (1-2, 8.10) and Clemens (0-2, 9.31) fared even worse. In fact, the back of the rotation put up better numbers: In two starts apiece, Curt Schilling went 1-1 with a 3.52 ERA and 1.11 WHIP, and Rick Ankiel went 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA, 1.45 WHIP. Ankiel looks even better when you consider the Iron Fist posted a losing record (19-24) against southpaws this season. On the flip side of the coin, it's even more surprising to see how poorly the Vancouver starters pitched, posting a 5.50 ERA and 1.55 WHIP despite their dominance in the win column. Only Maddux (1-1, 4.39) and Radke (2-0, 3.00) posted good numbers against them; Armas (0-2, 4.96), Glavine (1-2, 8.27), Meche (1-0, 6.35), Parque (1-0, 6.10) and Tollberg (0-0, 13.50) all struggled. The Iron Fist may not find much solace in their bullpen either, which was tied for second in the league with 23 blown saves. Vancouver's .563 save percentage was the worst of any playoff team this season, but Arkansas's bullpen also struggled, with the closer's role swapping several times between Trevor Hoffman (4-8, 13 SV, 7 BS, 4.62) and Byung-Hyun Kim (1-3, 10 SV, 3 BS, 8.02). Arkansas has to get at least a split out of the first two games in Vancouver to claim home field advantage; the Falcons were 3-4 against the Fisters at home, but just 1-5 in the Iron Dome. The Iron Fist, on the other hand, need the starters to go deep enough into games to to avoid another bitter defeat at the hands of their archrivals.
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But the Newark pitchers who had the most trouble with Carolina are no longer with the team: Kevin Tapani and Pete
Harnisch went 1-3 with a 7.77 ERA and 1.95 WHIP against them, but both were released. Newark's other starters combined for a
5-1 record with a 4.22 ERA and 1.38 WHIP against the 'Cats. Randy Johnson had three starts against them, going 2-1 with a
3.72 ERA and 33 Ks in 19.1 IP; Eric Milton (1-0, 4.91) and Woody Williams (1-0, 4.50) faced them twice and Darryl
Kile (0-0, 4.50) once. Jeff D'Amico didn't see them as a Sugar Bear this season, but pitched against them twice with
Philadelphia, going 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA.
During the regular season, the edge went to Vancouver, winning 9 of 13 meetings. But the Falcons are a different team when they
get into the playoffs. In fact, three of their four world's titles came when the team wasn't the top seed. And as they proved in
their upset win over Stanhope in the first round, Arkansas' deep rotation of Pedro Martinez (14-10, 2.59), Kevin
Brown (17-7, 3.93) and Roger Clemens (4-3, 5.09 with Arkansas, 9-7, 5.54 overall) -- all former Ben McDonald Award
winners -- gives them the edge in the short series.