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| World Series Preview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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, so 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 that a team's ace could start three games in the series. Benched starters can be moved to the bullpen. A Rematch of Heavyweights It's post-season baseball like it
oughta be: For the fourth straight season, the two division champions
will meet to decide the Diamond Mind Baseball League Championship!
Arkansas won the regular-season
series, 7 games to 5, but Newark was the hotter team head-to-head down
the stretch, winning five out of their final six meetings. The regular
season also heavily favored the home team -- Arkansas went 5-1, Newark
4-2 -- and the Sugar Bears have home-field advantage. Before last year, the Sugar Bears had
never beaten Arkansas in a post-season series, coming up empty against
them in the playoffs in 1996 and 1998, losing both series 4 games to 1.
Hitting The Sugar Bears once again will go as far as their offense will take them. "The Crunch With Punch" led the league in scoring again this year -- for the sixth time in their seven-year history. They averaged 5.96 runs per game, 966 runs on the season, and also led the league on-base percentage (.371), slugging percentage (.454), OPS (.826), hits (1,588), home runs (224), walks (820), total bases (2,593) and runs created (989.9). Arkansas's offense ranked second to the Sugar Bears in most categories, including in runs scored (855), OPS (.780), OBP (.354), hits (1,573), total bases (2,403) and runs created (853.5), and actually led the league in batting average, .279 to Newark's .278. The Falcons were particularly rough on left-handed pitchers, hitting .299 with an .817 OPS -- both tops in the league.
Starting
Pitching
Even though Arkansas won seven out of
their 12 games against Newark during the regular season, Arkansas's Big
Three fared surprisingly poorly against the Sugar Bears this year,
giving up an astounding 10.47 ERA, 2.39 WHIP in four starts against
them! They jumped all over Pedro, handing him the loss in each of his
starts against them (11 ER, 11 H, 6 BB in 5.2 IP); Schilling made one
start against them and won ugly (5 ER, 7 H, 3 BB in 6 IP); and Clemens
got a no-decision in his only start (3 ER, 5 H, 7 BB in 4.2 IP). Nevertheless, those will be the three
hurlers Arkansas will send to the hill against the Sugar Bears.
Although Al Leiter went 1-0 in two starts
against the Sugar Bears as a member of the Falcs, his numbers weren't
pretty (6.17 ERA, 1.89 WHIP); he was even worse when facing them as a
member of the Iron Fist (0-2, 6.75 ERA, 2.08 WHIP).
Another former Fister, Rodrigo Lopez, also got
shelled by the Sugar Bears in both uniforms (0-1, 4 ER, 4 H, 2 BB in 3
IP with Arkansas; 0-1, 5 ER, 6 H, 3 BB in 5.2 IP with Vancouver). C.C. Sabathia went 1-1 in
three starts against Newark, but it was ugly (8 ER, 20 H, 13 BB in 17
IP). In fact, the Golden Falcon who had the most success against Newark
this season was veteran Kevin Brown, who
pitched amazingly well against them (2-0, 0.81 ERA, 1.27 WHIP in two
starts), particularly when compared to how he fared against the rest of
the league (5-5, 5.91 ERA, 1.59 WHIP).  Seven-time DMBL All-Star Randy
Johnson (18-9, 4.75 ERA, 13.4 R/9, 245 K in 217.2 IP) dominated the
Mudcats in Round 2 like the first ballot Hall of Famer he is, going 2-0
with just 6 hits, 4 walks and 23 Ks in 17 IP. But the Golden Falcons
put a hurting on the Big Unit in three starts during the regular season
(1-2, 10.80 ERA, 1.93 WHIP), and that could mean a bigger role for Brian Meadows (17-5, 3.79, 11.2) and Runelvys Hernandez (11-8, 3.64, 11.5). Whether by
luck or design, the Falcs never faced Meadows this season, and they
appeared baffled by "Elvis" (1-1, 2.13 ERA, 0.87 WHIP in two starts).
Fourth starter Andy Pettitte
(13-6, 4.30, 13.5) went 2-1 in three starts against Arkansas, but it
wasn't pretty (4.66 ERA, 1.50 WHIP), and fifth starter Orlando Hernandez (1-2, 8.31, 17.3 in 5 starts
with Newark; 8-7, 6.24, 14.5 overall) got lit up in two starts against
them (11 ER, 13 H, 6 BB in 5 IP), so if they need another starter in
Game 4, they could just as well turn to the lucky fan in Section 14,
Row J, Seat 7.
Bullpen
and Defense
 The Golden Falcons have a terrific
threesome at the front of their rotation, but the Sugar Bears have the
edge when it comes to the bullpen. Newark ranked first in save
percentage (.761) and led the league in winning percentage when leading
after seven innings (.958). The bullpen is anchored by Ben McDonald Award candidate John Smoltz (4-1, 45 SV, 0.61 ERA, 7.6 R/9), who
set the DMBL record for most saves, most relief points and lowest
single-season ERA. The 'pen got a terrific mid-season boost in Jayson Durocher (7-0, 3 holds, 1.37 ERA, 6.7
R/9), and have double-barreled set-up men in Scott
Stewart (2-1, 4 SV, 3.03, 11.0) and Keith
Foulke (8-6, 1 SV, 3.22, 12.0). But the Golden Falcons' bullpen is far from an Achilles' heel. They ranked in the middle of the pack in saves (35) and save percentage (.635), though they did rank 10th in inherited runners who scored (80) and tied for last in inherited runners scored percentage (.392). The team went largely with a bullpen-by-committee approach, with Trevor Hoffman (3-6, 13 SV, 4.74 ERA, 14.4 R/9), Byung-Hyun Kim (7-3, 13 SV, 2.28 ERA, 11.5 R/9) and Octavio Dotel (6-4, 6 SV, 2.79 ERA, 9.3 R/9) getting the lion's share of the chances. Southpaws Gabe White (2-2, 3.02 ERA, 10.9 R/9) and Damaso Marte (2-2, 1 SV, 3.18 ERA, 11.6 R/9) round out the 'pen.. Neither team is great defensively,
according
to the statistics, but the Golden Falcons appear to have a slight edge.
Arkansas
was tied for eighth in fielding percentage (.977), seventh in errors
(137)
and dead last in turning double plays, with just 107. The Sugar Bears,
meanwhlie,
ranked 10th in double plays (145), tied for 12th in fielding percentage
(.975)
and made the second-most errors in the league (156). |
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The Newark Sugar Bears
(109-53) are hoping to
become the first team to ever win three straight World Series titles,
and to win their fourth DMBL Championship overall -- which would tie
them for the league record for most championships. The Arkansas Golden Falcons
(94-68) would dearly love to put an end to the Sugar Bears' romp
through the post-season, as they're the team that currently holds the
record with four DMBL titles, and were themselves denied the chance for
a three-peat in 2000. In addition, the Golden Falcons are still
smarting from last year, when their historic 120-win campaign came to a
bitter end when Newark took them out in five
games. Unlike last year, however, the Golden Falcons are cast in the
underdog
role -- but they've played that part before, winning two of their four
titles
as the lower-seeded team. 
It's easy to
build the league's best offense when you start with Kevin
Mitchell Most Valuable Batter Award candidates 1B Jim Thome (.314, 1.214 OPS, 65 HR, 154 RBI) and
DH Manny Ramirez (.331, .997 OPS, 35 HR, 113
RBI). Add CF Chipper Jones (.282, .805 OPS, 22
HR, 125 R),
RF Bobby Abreu (.279, .843 OPS, 48 2B, 108 R)
and
C Mike Piazza (.286, .876 OPS, 7 HR, 30 RBI in
112
AB with Newark; .290, .876 OPS, 37 HR, 113 RBI overall) and you have a
lineup
for the ages. Even if you can hold down one or two of these sluggers,
the
"Crunch With Punch" still has more than enough offense to beat anybody.
That's
what happened in the second-round series against the Carolina
Mudcats, whose hurlers shut down Ramirez (.174, .487 OPS, 0 RBI)
and wouldn't pitch to Thome (9 BB in 6 games), but still allowed 4.3
runs per game. The rest of the lineup also is dangerous, with LF Jeremy Giambi (.243, .401 OBP, 36 HR, 112 R), SS Jose Hernandez (.260, .714 OPS, 18 HR, 97 RBI),
3B Mark McLemore (.240, 68 R, 10 SB) and 2B Alex Cora (.274, 24 2B, 65 R) all contributing. 
Of course,
the Golden Falcons have a Mitchell candidate of their
own in LF Barry Bonds (.359, 1.239 OPS, 51
HR, 134
R, 144 RBI, 172 BB), who could become the first player in league
history
to win the award in back-to-back seasons. But RF Larry
Walker (.305, .908 OPS, 42 2B, 33 HR, 143 R, 101 RBI),
CF Lance Berkman (.265, .914 OPS,
35 HR, 97 RBI), DH Ellis Burks (.278, .768
OPS, 23
HR, 104 RBI) and 1B John Olerud (.276, .758
OPS,
19 HR, 99 R) love to make opposing pitchers pay for overlooking them
while
looking at when Sir Barry will next be coming up to the plate. Bonds
continued his hot hitting in the second round against the 
In the post-season, only a team's top
three
starters will see action, and the Golden Falcons may have the best Big
Three in baseball with Curt Schilling (19-6,
2.90 ERA, 9.2 R/9), Pedro Martinez (16-10,
3.92 ERA, 11.2 R/9) and Roger Clemens (12-13,
4.47 ERA, 12.8 R/9). In the series against Stanhope, Schilling's
numbers were poor (1-1, 4.85 ERA, 13.2 R/9) and Clemens was merely
average (0-1, 3.75 ERA, 12.8 R/9), but Pedro looked sensational (1-0,
1.62 ERA, 10.8 R/9), with 14 Ks against just 3 walks in 16.2 IP.