Chapter Six was a chapter of good news and bad news for the Salem Cowtippers.
The good news is that we finished with 100+ wins for the tenth time in franchise history. The bad news is that we barely managed this feat by clawing our way to victory in the final two games of the season.
The bad news is that we finished below .500 (13-15) on the chapter. The good news is that it didn't matter, since we clinched the division long ago.
The bad news is that we lost our #1 seed in the playoffs. The good news is that home field advantage only comes into play if a series goes the distance.
It would have been nice to have outscored our opponents by 300 runs this season, but we missed that magical number by a lousy five runs. We were actually outscored in Chapter Five by that same figure. Only sixteen teams in history have managed to outscore their opponents by 300+.
Chapter Six was an unmitigated disaster all around. We posted a 4.50 team ERA, which ranks among the bottom half in the league. We allowed a whopping 38 home runs and walked more batters than all but two OL teams.
Offensively, we hit just .242/.322/.423 as a team, and scored just 4.6 runs per game. Contrast that performance with Chapter One, when we hit .269/.355/.491 as a team, and scored an average of 6.1 runs per game, and you can see just how far this team has fallen since then.
Our record over the six chapters shows an alarming trend:
Chapter One: 23-5 (.821)
Chapter Two: 19-9 (.679)
Chapter Three: 14-10 (.583)
Chapter Four: 15-9 (.625)
Chapter Five: 17-10 (.607)
Chapter Six: 13-15 (.464)
Basically, the only chapter where we improved on the previous chapter was Chapter Four. Since the all-star break, the Salem Cowtippers are just 45-35 (.563). The Akron Ryche (.724), Charlotte Mustangs (.667), Ravenswood Infidels (.658), Chicago Black Sox (.653), Kansas Law Dogs (.618), and Buckingham Sovereigns (.579) have all played better baseball in the second half than the Salem Cowtippers.
All of the above is the bad news. But...there is some good news about all of the above as well. I will cover this in more depth in the Playoffs Preview, but suffice it to say that the team that played in the second half of this season barely resembles the team that will be playing this coming November.
A few noteworthy performances to wrap up the 2022 regular season:
- Shohei Ohtani and Rafael Devers each hit 50 home runs, becoming only the second and third Cowtippers in franchise history to hit 50+ (joining Sammy Sosa, who hit 60 in 2002.)
- Ohtani also went 15-2 on the mound, with a 3.71 ERA in 143 innings, only 119 hits allowed, and 167 K's. He should get some serious consideration for the OL MVP award. If he doesn't win, it would be the dumbest vote in league history (which is truly saying a lot.)
- Ranger Suarez (14-2, 2.74 ERA in 115 IP) earned every dime of the money we spent on him last winter. He started six games for us, and was one of six relievers with three or more saves this year.
- Lance Lynn somehow managed to win 17 games despite sucking so much ass. We expected a Cy Young performance from him when we acquired him, but he was merely mid-rotation quality. He was one of several pitchers on our roster who mysteriously walked way more batters (3.0 BB/9) than he did in MLB (2.6) for no reason whatsoever. He also allowed 20% more homers than he did in MLB despite pitching in a much better pitcher's ballpark in the BDBL. And lefties absolutely crushed him (.285/.367/.500) for no logical reason whatsoever, given his MLB numbers (.227/.302/.375).
- We expected our bullpen to be record-setting, but it was merely fantastic. Dominic Leone (2.35 ERA in 57+ IP), Luis A. Garcia (2.38 in 34), David Bednar (2.47 in 65+), Ryan Tepera (2.56 in 66+), Joe Kelly (2.70 in 46+), Suarez (2.74 in 115), and Jake McGee (3.17 in 59+) all had their moments of instability, but overall lived up to their expectations.
- Trea Turner (.298/.339/.477) got off to a painfully slow start, but picked it up at the end. He wasn't quite the MVP candidate we expected him to be, but he came through with 30 doubles and 27 homers, scored 102 runs, and plated 113. He also swiped 25 bases for good measure.
- Lorenzo Cain (.294/.373/.532) was one of the pleasant surprises of this season. Likewise, our catching platoon of Zack Collins (.244/.393/.452) and Austin Nola (.329/.391/.447) performed much better than we expected.
- Mark Canha (.267/.393/.495) actually led our team in runs created (119.5), and whacked 28 homers. For a guy who was ridiculed during the auction, I'd say we got our $5.5 million worth from him.
- In addition to Ohtani, Devers, Turner, and Canha, we had two more batters hit 25 or more homers this year: Brandon Belt (29) and Brandon Crawford (25). Crawford (.306/.384/.523) looked like an MVP candidate at times this season. So did Belt (.270/.378/.586) for that matter.
No comments:
Post a Comment