Preview: Round 2

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 a player can be injured only for that particular game, but can return for the next game. Pitching rotations are on a four-man skip rotation, meaning the fourth starter will be skipped if the first starter is ready to pitch. Since there are off days after games 2, 4, 5 and 6, some game 1 starters will be available in game 4 on three days' rest. Benched starters can be moved to the bullpen.

The two teams that survive this series will go on to play the 14th annual DMBL World Series.

Arkansas Golden Falcons (#2, 103-59) vs. Vancouver Iron Fist (#3, 93-69)

Arkansas Golden Falcons Vancouver Iron FistThe greatest rivalry in sports resumes after a three-year hiatus! The marquee match-up of the second round pits two of the most storied franchises in DMBL history against each other: The Vancouver Iron Fist, who returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, and the Arkansas Golden Falcons, the Morris Division champions for a fourth straight year. No two teams have faced each other as often in the post-season as these two squads, who have met four times in the World Series ('93, '94, '98, '99) and twice in the second round ('00, '01). Arkansas 7, Vancouver 7. This second-round showdown will be the tiebreaker for their post-season match-ups, as each team has won two World Series and one second-round series when facing each other. These two teams are so evenly matched when head-to-head in the post-season, Vancouver has just a one-game advantage in individual games (17-16). Their last match-up was 2001, when the Iron Fist knocked out the Arks in a seven-game series to advance to the World Series. Overall, the second round hasn't been kind to the wildcard team, which has fallen to the division winner five years in a row. On the other hand, the No. 3 seed upset the No. 2 seed in the first three seasons this three-tier playoff format was adopted in '97.

The Iron Fist finished 10 games behind the Golden Falcons, but they're a formidable match-up for Arkansas. The Fisters won 9 out of the 13 games against Arkansas this year, splitting the six games at Quisenberry Memorial and an incredible 6-1 at home. Owner Yaro Zajac's Iron Fist also won the final five contests between the two teams this year.

But the Golden Falcons are eager for a fourth-straight World Series appearance, and happy to go through the arch-rival Iron Fist to do it. By almost any measure, the Falcs were the league's second-best team this year: They were No. 2 in runs scored (1042), No. 2 in runs allowed (737) and No. 2 in run differential (+305). They also had the second-best road record (.593), second-best division record (.654) and second-best record vs. righties (.626). And they also ranked second in OPS (.850), runs created (1057.4), home runs (238) and ERA (4.15). Owner Mike "Stump" Matiash and manager George Brett hope second-best is good enough to beat the No. 3 seed.

This year's Iron Fist team is a classic Vancouver combination of a great pitching staff (3rd-best 771 runs allowed) and very good offense (5th-best 871 runs scored) for a 4th-best +100 run differential.  Manager Darren Daulton's squad led the first round in scoring (16 runs, 4.0 runs per game, 7 HR)  and was second in pitching (12 runs allowed, 2.75 ERA), for a second-best +4 run differential. (Philly, which had the best run differential at +5, was eliminated.)

The Golden Falcons offense is built Barry Bondsaround a 40-year-old man who was perhaps the best hitter in baseball this year, if not league history. Barry Bonds led the league in runs created (213.4), OPS (1.306), walks (167), intentional walks (38), secondary average (.775), RC/27 (18.8), AB/HR (9.1), slugging percentage (.768), isolated power (.399), total average (1.823) and TB+BB (525), and was second in batting average (.369), runs (152) and home runs (51). He also set a new all-time record -- shattering his own mark -- in OBP (.538). How much does Bonds mean to this offense? Without him, the team's OPS drops from .850 to .801! Even more telling, with Bonds in the lineup, the Falcs were the league's best team (.674 W%); in the 24 games he was out, they were 10-14 (.417). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you want to pitch around Bonds, but batting coach Brian Harper has stacked the lineup to make that as difficult as possible, sandwiching Bonds between Adrian Beltre (.307, .868 OPS, 34 HR, 126 RBI) and Lance Berkman (.311, .983 OPS, 24 HR, 86 RBI). The Falcs also return veterans Larry Walker (.259, .818 OPS, 15 HR, 59 RBI), Ronnie Belliard (.245, .626 OPS, 24 2B, 53 R) and Barry Larkin (.305, .770 OPS, 26 2B, 84 R) and newcomers in first-rounder David Wright (.293, .857 OPS, 14 HR, 40 RBI in 263 AB),  seventh-rounder John Mabry (.296, .858 OPS, 37 HR, 136 RBI) and supplemental draft pick (#242 overall!) Jose Molina (.285, .722 OPS, 8 2B, 25 RBI in 193 AB).

This year's How They Were Built article shows that the Golden Falcons had more in-season acquisitions (13) than any other post-season team. One addition the team hopes will keep paying off is B.J. Surhoff. The 40-year-old outfielder, signed as a free agent on May 8, has become one of the team's best hitters, hitting .384 (.984 OPS) with 24 2B, 14 HR, 84 R and 74 RBI in 430 AB. Surhoff was just 20 plate appearances shy of qualifying for the third-highest batting average in league history (.3837), behind only Deion Sanders's .384 in 1993 and the new league record of .398 set this season by Newark's Carlos Guillen. Other pick-ups this season include 3B/OF David Newhan (signed March 19: .311, .814 OPS, 7 3B, 66 R in 373 AB), OF Wily Mo Pena (signed March 20: .281, .966 OPS, 15 HR, 41 RBI in 160 AB), OF Eric Byrnes (signed Aug. 12: .333, .869 OPS, 6 2B, 21 RBI in 90 AB) and C Javier Valentin (signed March 7: .240, .685 OPS, 15 HR, 58 R in 413 AB).

Bonds, Berkman and Beltre may have great numbers, but you can't say "Killer B's"Bagwell and Biggio, back in the day in the DMBL without thinking of the Iron Fist. The fearsome combination of Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio and Jay Buhner is long gone from Vancouver, but this year batting coach Andy Van Slyke can call on the "Killer Z's":  Victor Martinez (.295, .890 OPS, 42 2B, 131 RBI), David Ortiz (.282, .916 OPS, 28 HR, 97 RBI) and Eric Chavez (.247, .811 OPS, 26 HR, 112 R). The rest of the lineup is a balance of youth, with SS Michael Young (.296, .793 OPS, 9 3B, 104 R), Jason Bay (.240, .755 OPS, 25 HR, 75 RBI) and Lyle Overbay (.285, .795 OPS, 53 2B, 103 R); and veterans, with 2B Jeff Kent (.262, .782 OPS, 22 HR, 74 RBI), Steve Finley (.257, .770 OPS, 36 2B, 78 R) and Moises Alou (.271, .766 OPS, 17 HR, 66 RBI). But Vancouver's top hitter in the first round may have been Jacque Jones, who hit .364 (1.364 OPS) with 2 HR and 3 RBI... Daulton doesn't platoon as heavily as some other managers, but he always finds a place for Ross Gload (.442, 1.142 OPS, 8 HR, 29 RBI in 156 AB vs LHP), and sometimes for Edgar Martinez (.278, .770 OPS, 2 2B, 3 RBI in 18 AB vs LHP) and/or Torii Hunter (.258, .634 OPS in 97 AB vs LHP), when facing lefties.

But if those three get any work, it will be coming off the bench, as the Golden Falcons aren't likely to use any left-handed starters in the first round. Instead, they will likely go with their three right-handed Ben McDonald Most Valuable Pitcher Award candidates: Roger Clemens (21-5, 3.29 ERA, 12.2 R/9), Pedro Martinez (20-7, 3.86 ERA, 12.0 R/9) and Curt Schilling (17-6, 3.77 ERA, 11.3 R/9). The only tough decision for pitching coach Bret Saberhagen will be what order to start them in, and what to do if they need a fourth starter, since Jerome Williams (6-5, 4.86 ERA, 15.7 R/9) and Brad Penny (5-9, 6.07 ERA, 15.0 R/9) didn't look like playoff-caliber pitchers during the regular season, and Kevin Brown (8-6, 5.27 ERA, 14.3 R/9) was released.

But you can forget all that talk about being second-best when it comes to the Arkansas bullpen. They led the league in save percentage (.745) and tied for the league lead in saves (41). The 'pen is anchored by closer Brad LidgeBrad Lidge (6-2, 31 SV, 3.47 ERA, 10.4 R/9), with terrific setup work from Octavio Dotel (9-4, 2 SV, 4.04 ERA, 12.2 R/9) from the right side and Rheal Cormier (4-4, 2.82 ERA, 10.8 R/9) from the left side. Mid-season acquisitions Shingo Takatsu (1-0, 2 SV, 2.59 ERA, 13.2 R/9 in 25 games with Arkansas; 5-3, 3 SV, 3.32 ERA, 12.0 R/9 overall) and Ron Mahay (0-2, 3.21 ERA, 10.9 R/9 in 10 games with Arkansas; 3-5, 4 SV, 5.28 ERA, 13.5 R/9 overall) provide additional depth.

The Iron Fist saved their best for last in the first round, sitting Oliver Perez (16-5, 3.86 ERA, 12.1 R/9, .613 QS%) until Game 3 and not using rookie Bobby Madritsch (14-10, 4.27 ERA, 13.2 R/9, .500 QS%) at all. If that was because pitching coach Dennis Eckersley was worried about Stanhope's fourth-best 35-22 record (.614 W%) against lefties, he'll really be nervous about Arkansas's league-best 31-16 (.660) mark. (Then again, Arkansas had a second-best .626 W% against righties, so maybe that doesn't matter too much.) But Eck won't hesitate to call on Greg Maddux (12-9, 4.51 ERA, 12.4 R/9, .406 QS%), given his success against Stanhope in the first round (1 W, 2 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 9.0 IP) and his many battles already won against the Golden Falcons during his Hall of Fame career. The other options are Jake Peavy (13-7, 4.47 ERA, 13.6 R/9, .563 QS%) and/or Ben Sheets (9-14, 5.64 ERA, 12.9 R/9, .387 QS%).

Billy WagnerVancouver also has a great closer in Billy Wagner (4-3, 33 SV, 2.81 ERA, 8.8 R/9), who retired all six batters he faced in the first round -- five by strikeout. And they can also match the Golden Falcons when it comes to a bullpen with two lefties, Damaso Marte (1-1, 3.06 ERA, 11.7 R/9) and Eddie Guardado (7-9, 2 SV, 4.03 ERA, 10.6 R/9), and two righties, LaTroy Hawkins (1-0, 3.13 ERA, 11.3 R/9) and Ryan Madson (1-3, 1 SV, 3.88 ERA, 11.6 R/9). But the Iron Fist go a little deeper, with middle men Juan Cruz (10-4, 2 SV, 4.38 ERA, 13.3 R/9) and the recently-signed Trever Miller (0 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 6 K in 6.2 IP). The Iron Fist 'pen ranked first in fewest inherited runners who scored (.255) and third in save percentage (.696).

The bottom line: Who can say? The outcome of Arkansas vs. Vancouver, like Rocky vs. Apollo, fire vs. water, tastes great vs. less filling, is always impossible to call. We have no doubt this will be yet another epic series, a life-or-death struggle that will go to the final out, and probably a 3-2 count, of Game 7. For Matiash and Zajac, this is the World Series. Speaking of which, no matter who wins, one bit of DMBL history will remain unchanged for at least one more year: No DMBL World Series has even been played that didn't include the Iron Fist and/or the Golden Falcons.

Newark Sugar Bears (#1, 107-55) vs. Honolulu Sharks (#5, 91-71)

Newark Sugar Bears Honolulu SharksCompared to the Falcons-Fist match-up, the Newark Sugar Bears and Honolulu Sharks rematch has about as much juice as a Roseanne Show reunion -- without John Goodman! The Sharks are a fun team to root for and had a hot final stretch of the season -- they went 26-15 over the final quarter (.634 W%), the second-best winning percentage in baseball. Unfortunately, the team with the best record was Newark (27-12, .692), which ran away with both the division title and the No. 1 seed. Whichever team survives this series will make history: It would be the first World Series appearance ever not just for Adam Kozubal's Sharks, but also for the "Class of 1997" (Carolina, Honolulu, Phoenix and Lisbon, now Philadelphia, entered the league that year via an expansion draft). Meanwhile, Craig "Butch" Garretson is hoping his Sugar Bears will become the first team in league history to ever play in five consecutive World Series. Last year was the first post-season meeting between these two teams, and the Sugar Bears won it in a thrilling seven-game series.

The Sharks have one thing going for them: Destiny! In 2002, they missed the playoffs by one game; in 2003, they reached the post-season but were eliminated in the first round; in 2004, they survived the first round but were knocked out in the second round. The next logical step is a second round win and a World Series loss, followed by taking the title in 2006. The Sharks also took 7 out of the 13 games between the two clubs this year, including three out of the final four games they faced each other.

Everything else, though, points the Sugar Bears way. The top-ranked seed has never lost in the second round series since the adoption of the three-tier playoff format in '97. The Sugar Bears haven't lost in the second round since 1999. Four of the seven games will be played in Newark, where the Sugar Bears tied for the league's best home record (.679 W%). And the Sugar Bears not only had the league's best record this season, but also were one of the league's "unluckiest" teams, finishing 3 wins worse than their Pythagorean winning percentage would suggest, and 5 wins worse than their expected performance in one-run games. The Sharks, on the other hand, were one of the league's "luckiest" teams, winning 6 more games than Pythagoras would've predicted, and had 2 more wins in one-run games than the numbers would suggest.

The Sharks feature a balanced attack, ranking 6th in run differential (+40) behind the league's seventh-best offense(829 RS) and fifth-best pitching (789 RA). But there's nothing balanced about the Sugar Bear attack: They rank 9th in pitching (871 runs allowed) but 1st in run differential (+392). The only way to do that is to mash like crazy, and nobody mashes like the Sugar Bears. The Crunch with Punch The Crunch With Punch!set a DMB Era record by scoring 1263 runs this season, 165 more runs than the previous record holder (who else but the Sugar Bears, who did it in '98). The Bears led the league in batting average (.316), on-base percentage (.408), slugging percentage (.531), OPS (.939), doubles (415), home runs (268), runs created (1331.2), total average (.986), total bases plus walks (4080) and even stolen base percentage (.864). They do strike out a lot -- a league-high 1366 Ks -- but that's a consequence of manager Don Mattingly's "take a strike" approach, as they also draw an incredible number of walks (918) and have the league's best K:BB ratio (1.5). If they have a flaw, it's left-handed pitching; though they were still a third-best 30-18 (.625 W%) against southpaws, the team falls to 8th in batting average (.269), 6th in slugging percentage (.453), 7th in doubles (93) and 6th in homers (57) -- but they still lead the league in on-base percentage (.373) and walks (265). They also can be sloppy in the field, with the league's lowest team fielding percentage (.979) and tying for most errors (123) while ranking tied for 4th in fewest double plays (143) and 5th in worst stolen base percentage allowed (.687).

In addition to breaking a modern record for team scoring, the Sugar Bears also have two batters who set new marks this season. Carlos Guillen hit .398, the highest batting average in league history; Bobby Abreu scored 184 runs and stole 29 out of 30 bases (.967 SB%), both league records. Guillen's .398 goes along with a .461 OBP, .690 SLG, 1.151 OPS, 47 2B, 113 R and 107 RBI, while Abreu's runs and steals goes along with his .350 BA, .463 OBP, .554 SLG, 1.017 OPS, 52 2B and 110 RBI. Both are candidates for the Kevin Mitchell Most Valuable Batter Award, but they'll get plenty of competition from teammates J.T. Snow (.363, 1.005 OPS, 53 2B, 124 R), Gregg Zaun (.353, .975 OPS, 30 2B, 78 RBI), Hideki Matsui (.322, .948 OPS, 23 HR, 126 RBI), Jim Thome (.316, 1.051 OPS, 41 HR, 148 RBI) and Manny Ramirez (.282, .937 OPS, 48 HR, 161 RBI). Having good-but-not-great seasons are Chipper Jones (.260, .816 OPS, 32 HR, 121 RBI) and Bill Mueller (.301, .846 OPS, 29 2B, 94 R). Batting coach Jim Eisenreich has historically loved platoons, and this year is no exception: Just three guys (Jones, Abreu and Ramirez) play every day. When a lefty is on the hill, the Sugar Bears usually start Mike Piazza (.242, .739 OPS in 124 AB vs LHP) at catcher, Nick Johnson (.408, 1.113 OPS in 98 AB s LHP) at first, Marcus Giles (.284, .867 OPS in 141 AB vs LHP) at second, Frank Menechino (.324, .945 OPS in 136 AB vs LHP) at short, Jayson Werth (.241, .854 OPS in 29 AB vs LHP) in center and Junior Spivey (.356, 1.010 OPS in 90 AB vs LHP) at DH. Coming off the bench -- usually just for defense -- are C Michael Barrett (.284, .704 OPS in 74 AB) and OF Milton Bradley (.184, .555 OPS in 87 AB).

The "big three" in the Sharks lineup are Miguel Tejada (.272, .777 OPS, 32 HR, 118 RBI), Jeff Bagwell (.283, .857 OPS, 16 HR, 51 RBI) and Johnny DamonSean Casey (.303, .889 OPS, 49 2B, 120 RBI), but they get things started with Johnny Damon (.299, .890 OPS, 34 HR, 124 R), Jason Kendall (.301, .376 OBP, 20 2B, 89 R) and Tony Womack (.275, 62 R, 11 SB). Against righties, manager Gary Carter will usually start Corey Koskie (.269, .952 OPS, 34 HR, 78 RBI), Kevin Mench (.205, but 32 HR, 91 RBI) and Shannon Stewart (.248, .654 OPS, 7 HR, 51 R), while lefties usually means Joe Randa (.228, .640 OPS in 149 AB vs LHP), Marquis Grissom (.292, .860 OPS in 168 AB vs LHP) and Eric Young (.254, .617 OPS in 142 AB). Coming off the bench are Jason Giambi (.286, .905 OPS in 14 AB) and Shawn Green (.284, .913 OPS, 6 HR in 81 AB), plus Luis A. Gonzalez (.317, .748 OPS in 41 AB), Mike Lieberthal (.256, .735 OPS in 86 AB) and Jermaine Dye (.167, .786 OPS in 12 AB). The Sharks struggled to do anything on offense in the first round, scoring just 10 runs. Damon had the best numbers of the big names (.368, .876 OPS), but Tejada (.100, .350), Green (.063, .273) and Bagwell (.077, .297) really struggled.

The Sharks got enough runs to win the five-game series against Philly thanks to some great pitching performances from their rotation, particularly from aces Jason Schmidt (16-6, 3.02 ERA, 10.2 R/9) and Roy Oswalt (15-11, 3.91 ERA, 12.7 R/9). Schmidt gave up just 1 earned run in 13 innings, while Oswalt won both his starts while posting a 1.80 ERA, 10.8 R/9 in 15 innings. But who comes next? Pitching coach Randy Myers has a tough decision to make as Kenny Rogers (13-9, 4.81 ERA, 13.7 R/9), the third starter in the first round, got pounded by the Animals (5 ER, 10 H, 3 BB in 5.2 IP). The other options are Mark Mulder (12-11, 5.01 ERA, 13.9 R/9), Russ Ortiz (7-14, 6.08 ERA, 15.6 R/9) and Ted Lilly (1-0, 4.97 ERA, 12.1 R/9, but only in two starts). At the end of the game, the Sharks have some trouble: closer Danny Kolb (6-6, 28 SV, 4.11 ERA, 14.2 R/9) and middle men Kevin Gryboski (6-7, 4 SV, 4.66 ERA, 14.8 R/9) and Julian Tavarez (4-3, 2 SV, 7.49 ERA, 17.6 R/9) were inconsistent all season, and Danny Graves barely got any work at all (0 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 K in 4.2 IP). The best relievers were both lefties, Steve Kline (4-1, 3 SV, 2.66 ERA, 10.1 R/9) and Kent Mercker (7-3, 3 SV, 3.45 ERA, 11.9 R/9). 

Randy JohnsonThe Sugar Bears have just one starter who can go toe-to-toe with Schmidt: Randy Johnson. The big lefty went 19-9 with a 3.63 ERA, 10.6 R/9 and 265 Ks in 225.1 IP this year, and even at age 41 he still has the stuff to dominate any lineup. Behind Johnson, though, it's all up for grabs. Pitching coach Mike Grace could go with another southpaw in Wilson Alvarez (14-5, 4.89 ERA, 14.1 R/9), or with right-handers Carl Pavano (13-6, 5.51 ERA, 14.8 R/9), John Thomson (14-9, 5.79 ERA, 15.0 R/9) or David Bush (17-4, 5.40 ERA, 14.7 R/9). The Sugar Bears will likely have to resort to their usual strategy, score 10 runs and hope to take a lead into the late innings. At that point, Mattingly and Grace can turn to anyone in their very deep 'pen: John Smoltz (5-0, 4 SV, 4.27 ERA, 14.2 R/9), Keith Foulke (5-4, 9 SV, 4.93 ERA, 12.9 R/9), Akinori Otsuka (4-4, 8 SV, 3.76 ERA, 12.2 R/9) and Orber Moreno (9-4, 1 SV, 4.01 ERA, 11.3 R/9) from the right side, and Mike Gonzalez (0-1, 9 SV, 3.98 ERA, 10.8 R/9 in 26 games with Newark; 4-4, 11 SV, 3.08 ERA, 10.6 R/9 overall) and Mike Remlinger (2-1, 4 SV, 4.73 ERA, 15.8 R/9) from the left.

The bottom line: On the cusp of making league history by playing in their fifth consecutive World Series -- and a chance to win it for the second straight time -- the Sugar Bears will consider this season a failure if they don't get past the Sharks, division title and commissioner's cup be damned. But after upsetting Philly in a five-game series to get here, the Sharks aren't going to just go belly-up for the Sugar Bears. And besides, they have that whole "team of destiny" thing going for them -- the pattern suggests they'll win in the second round, lose in the World Series, and then win the World Series next year. To fulfill that destiny and win their first-ever second-round series, Honolulu will have to steal a win in Newark, then pray the jet-lagged Sugar Bears sleepwalk through the next two in Honolulu, so they can win the series in five or six games -- because it's very hard to imagine the Sharks winning a Game 7 in Newark with the Big Unit on the mound.