It is hardly the first time we wasted such a rare opportunity. In fact, in our franchise's history, it has happened more often than it hasn't. Still, it feels like a punch in the gut.
Why did we lose? Well, I have a few thoughts.
#1 Our Offense Took the Series Off
The Salem Cowtippers scored nearly 1,000 runs in 2022. We led the entire BDBL in runs scored, and finished among the top three in OBP, slugging, home runs, walks, OPS, and RC27. In other words, this was a great offense.
That great offense simply failed to show up in the OLCS. We posted a .637 OPS in those seven games. Our batting line of .212/.291/.346 is barely better than Mario Mendoza's career batting line of .215/.245/.262.
Rafael Devers (.120/.154/.240) went 3-for-25 with 13 strikeouts. Lorenzo Cain (.200/.200/.200) went 4-for-20. Our leadoff hitter, Brandon Crawford (.130/.200/.130) went 3-for-23 with just two walks. Those three players performed well enough during the regular season that they merit a spot on the MVP ballot. All three were completely useless during the OLCS.
There were several other head-scratching performances, including Lane Thomas, who went 1-for-5 against left-handed pitchers in this series. Folks, Lane Thomas hit .381/.500/.603 against lefties in MLB! His OLCS performance makes zero sense.
Likewise, Chad Pinder (0-for-6) and Andy Ibanez (1-for-4) were completely useless against lefties following an entire 160-game season in which they killed lefties.
Only three players on our roster posted an OPS above .800 in the OLCS: Ramon Laureano (2.625 in only 8 PA's), Mark Canha (1.017), and Brandon Belt (.892). Laureano looked like he would be the series MVP early on, as he hit three pinch hit home runs that put us ahead.
Akron's pitching is very, very, good. Don't get me wrong. But this offensive collapse is completely inexplicable. "Good pitching beats good hitting," I know, but if that were always true, then Akron wouldn't have lost a single game in 2022.
#2 Our Bullpen Failed Miserably
Along with the best offense in the league, we were supposed to also have the best bullpen in the BDBL this season. We were the only team in the league to carry six pitchers with 40+ innings and a sub-600 OPS in our bullpen. We later added a seventh with the addition of Aaron Bummer.
We enjoyed an embarrassing wealth of elite bullpen arms and yet our bullpen proved to be our downfall in the OLCS. Luis A. Garcia has been a guaranteed lock all season against right-handed batters. He allowed a batting line of .152/.190/.177 against righties in MLB, and a line of .180/.242/.234 during the regular season. In the OLCS, we had no choice but to use him only twice against left-handed batters. Both batters got a hit -- one of them a triple. In all, Garcia allowed six batters to reach base in four innings and five of them scored.
Dominic Leone posted a miniscule 1.51 ERA in MLB '21, with a sub-.600 OPS allowed against both lefties and righties. In the OLCS, he coughed up three hits and two walks in just 2.2 innings, with an ERA of 6.75.
Jake McGee (8.10 ERA in 3.1 IP), Joe Kelly (4.91 ERA in 3.2 IP), and Ryan Tepera (4.50 ERA in 4 IP) all completely imploded during the OLCS after a season of consistent excellence. David Bednar, arguably our best reliever during the regular season, allowed more hits than innings, and walked four batters in only five innings.
The best offense in the BDBL completely collapsed in the OLCS, and the best bullpen in the BDBL also collapsed during the same series. What an incredible coincidence!
#3 We Lost Two Winnable Games
You can't blow a six-run lead in any playoff game and expect to win the series. Each and every game is absolutely crucial. What truly annoys the piss out of me about Game Two is that we didn't blow that lead because I took it for granted, or because I got caught off-guard, or because I used my "B" team to hold that lead.
No, I kept Lance Lynn on the mound because: a) he was throwing a no-hitter to that point in the sixth inning, and b) he had thrown fewer than 80 pitches. There was no reason whatsoever to believe that he would completely collapse -- and do it so quickly that there was no time to warm up a reliever.
After allowing not a single hit through five innings, Lynn faced seven batters in the sixth. He allowed five of them to reach base -- four on hits. After leading off the seventh by giving up a hit to the amemic-hitting Dansby Swanson, I decided to pull Lynn from the game with only 87 pitches under his belt. I thought that was the "safe" move. I was wrong.
Edmundo Sosa has "Fr" power against right-handed pitchers. There was no reason for me to believe that he would take one of the game's best right-handed pitchers, Ryan Tepera, yard. Yet, that's what happened. With that, our six-run lead completely evaporated.
Despite blowing that lead, we still had a chance to win the game. Joe Kelly -- our best and most consistent reliever all season -- simply needed to record one more out in the tenth inning. We would then have the top of our lineup come to bat in the top of the eleventh. Instead, Kelly allowed a single to Sosa, and then a single to the .189-hitting Manny Pina.
DMB can be an incredibly stupid game sometimes.
We lost another winnable game in Game Four when Joe Kelly -- yet again -- recorded two quick outs in relief, but then struggled to get the third. Victor Reyes isn't particularly awesome. He hit .229/.253/.375 against right-handers in MLB, and .286/.315/.436 in the regular season. There's no good reason why Joe Kelly should have struggled against him, and yet Reyes somehow tripled with two outs. He then scored on a clutch single by Wilmer Flores (.248/.334/.436 vs. RH in MLB.)
#4 Akron's Weakest Hitters Flourished
Akron vastly out-hit us in this series. Their .234/.328/.391 batting line doesn't look all that impressive until you compare it with ours. They managed this feat despite the fact that Ronald Acuna hit just .130/.286/.304, Austin Riley hit just .214/.267/.250, and Jesse Winker hit just .200/.333/.400. If you had told me prior to this series that those three players would perform so horrendously, I would have gladly assumed that we swept the series.
Instead, the Akron offense was carried by the likes of:
- Victor Reyes: 5-for-10 (.500/.583/1.000), with a triple, a homer, 4 runs scored, and a team-leading 5 RBI's.
- Manny ".189" Pina: 3-for-6 (.500/.667/.667) with a game-winning walk-off single.
- Francisco Mejia: 6-for-19 (.316/.409/.526) with two doubles and a triple.
Folks, I hate to say it, but those three guys all suck monkey balls. Seriously. All three posted an OPS below .740 in MLB. Pina (.854) and Reyes (.861) were great against lefties, but here's the thing: all of their success in this series came off of right-handed pitching!
A Perfect Storm of Coincidences
In order for the Akron Ryche to have won this series, they needed:
1. The best offense in the BDBL to completely collapse.
2. The best bullpen in the BDBL to completely collapse.
3. The timeliest of timely hitting.
4. Insane performances from some of the weakest hitters in baseball.
They got all four. They're now heading to the World Series.
For the Cowtippers, just add this to the miles-long list of disappointments in our franchise's history. As always, we will put it in the rearview and forge ahead toward the next great disappointment.
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