World Champion Charlotte Castoffs

Congratulations to Season 15 World Series Champions, the Charlotte Castoffs, and owner bwb53! This is the second championship for bwb53 and Charlotte. This time they started off as a 5th seed and ended up closing out the San Juan Crabbers in 6 games, a very impressive run indeed!

World Series Game Three

Game 3 shifts to Hiram Bithorn Stadium in hot and humid San Juan. The starting pitchers are Charlotte's Joaquin Trevino, 15-8 overall, 3.86 era, and a 2-0 playoff record, against San Juan's Jordan Bailey, 13-8 overall, 3.99 era, and a 1-1 playoff record....a pretty even matchup on paper.

San Juan jumps right out of the box again in this game, just as they have done in the previous two games, with putting a two spot on the board in the bottom of the first. The inning's highlight was Frank Becker driving in the two runs with a single. Charlotte bounces back two innings later, first with a solo blast by Luis Romano (#5), then two runs scoring on a single by Louis Thompson, with Ryan Jacobs coming all the way around from 1st base. To top of the inning, another run scores on a single by Joaquin Beltran, making it Charlotte 4-2 over San Juan.

The next inning and a half feature 3 and outs, until the 5th when Charlotte's Jacobs hits a grounder to third that is muffed by Sean Manning. Jacobs then proceeds to steal second, and comes around home on Belliard's RBI double to make it 5-2. The bottom of the 5th has San Juan getting that run back on a RBI single by Enrique Diaz, making it 5-3. These two championships teams continue to trade punches as it is now Charlotte's turn to extend the lead once more. Santana gets a one out single to bring up Luis Romano. Romano proceeds to drill a fastball to deep CF whereupon it ricochets off the wall out of the reach of the CF Dean Ramirez. While tracking the ball down, the above average runner Romano is being waved around the bases, and proceeds to get an inside the park homer. With Romano's second homer on the day, Charlotte jumps to a 7-3 lead and ends the day for the Crabbers pitcher Bailey. Bailey's stat line shows 7 runs given up (6 earned) in 5 1/3 innings. Alex Yamaguchi is now the new pitcher. 

In the bottom of the 7th the Castoffs pitcher Trevino gets himself into a jam by sandwiching two walks around a single, to load up the bases and end the day for him. His stat line shows 6 innings pitched and ultimately 6 runs scored. Tony Mendez comes in to pitch, and promptly walks in a run to make it 7-4. Pedro Perez grounds a single to score two, followed by a RBI groundout by Sammy Mercedes and the score is now tied at 7. Mendez is yanked after blowing that save chance, and Al Mendez gets the call and retires the side. 

The Castoffs continue to show their grit and determination as Beltran leads off the 8th with a single, and after Barker gets a fielder's choice, Julio Santana steps to the plate and crushes Yamaguchi's first pitch well over the left field wall for his 6th playoff homer and a 9-7 lead for Charlotte. As we enter the bottom of the ninth, the fans at Bithorn Stadium are on their feet trying to get a rally from their beloved Crabbers. The Castoffs manager makes an interesting pitching choice, and bring in Horacio Rijo to start the ninth, rather than their closer Tony Chong who appears to have fallen out of favor after having a down year. Mickey Ohlendorf is first up as a pinch hitter, and proceeds to deliver a lead off double. Mercedes then draws a walk, and after a flyout Sean Manning hits a single to left field but they decide not to test Barker's weaker arm, and being two runs down, hold Ohlendorf at third to load the bases with one out. With the stadium rocking, up comes leadoff hitter Harry Johnson, who proceeds to strike out swinging to a calm Rijo. The last hope for the Crabbers is Hawk Carlson. In a peculiar move in the seventh, while down by four, the Crabbers decided to rest their star player and all star game MVP, Omar Gonzalez (95 durability), and brought in Carlson. Rijo ends up bearing down, and Carlson does a baseball sin by leaving the bat on his shoulders for a called third strike.....game over. Charlotte grabs back home field advantage and takes a 2-1 series lead.

Player of the Game: Julio Santana

World Series Game Two

Game Two is a crucial game for the Charlotte Castoffs as they gave up home field advantage and could not afford to drop a second game at home to start the series.

San Juan Starter: Robert Wells - 18-5 record, 3.21 era, 2-2 postseason record

Charlotte Castoffs Starter: Deivi Almanzar - 12-12 record, 4.64 era, 0-0 postseason

San Juan continues to put some early pressure on Charlotte with a run in the second inning. Sean Mercedes once again does what he has been doing throughout these playoffs by going yard with his 10th postseason homerun to give the Crabbers a 1-0 lead. However, one inning later Charlotte gets a huge boost from their two-time MVP Neifi Belliard as he comes up with a grand slam home run to give Charlotte their first lead in the series, 4-1. In the 4th, Robert Wells hangs a breaking ball and Julio Santana promptly takes advantage to chalk up his 5th postseason homer, giving the Castoffs a 5-1 lead. 

San Juan continued to battle back with the long ball once again, as Dean Ramirez jumps on an Almanzar offering to smack a two run homer, thus bringing the Crabbers within two. San Juan starts the sixth inning with a pitching change, bringing in Jeromy MacDougal to try and keep them close. Unfortunately for the Crabbers, MacDougal does the opposite and gives up 4 runs to push the lead up to 9-3. This score ends up holding up as the Castoffs get a big win to even the series at 1-1. Almanzar goes 8 innings while giving up 3 runs, earning his first postseason victory. Robert Wells drops to 2-3 in the playoffs. 

Player of the Game: Neifi Belliard

Season 15 World Series: Game One

vs.

San Juan Crabbers (104-58) vs. Charlotte Castoffs (93-69)

The World Series is here with the San Juan Crabbers facing off against the Charlotte Castoffs. The Crabbers are in the World Series for the first time while their owner, szekrenyi, has 2 titles in his history. The Castoffs were Season 9 champions and their owner, bwb53, has 3 titles to his name. Game One pitching matchups have the Crabbers putting Matty Johnson on the mound with his 13-3 season record, 2.37 era and 2-0 postseason record. The Castoffs though go with a surprise choice for game one of the championship series, a rookie who has done extremely well since being brought up midseason, John Champion. His stats are a 6-0 record, 1.96 era, and a 2-0 postseason record.

What a way to start the world series with a leadoff solo home run by Omar Gonzalez to give San Juan an early 1-0 lead. In the third inning, once again Gonzalez shows what a weapon he has with his bat as he hits a lead off home run to make it 2-0. Also in the 3rd, Sammy Mercedes smacks his 9th postseason home run with a 2 run blast which makes it 4-0. San Juan continued to get to the nervous rookie Champion by tacking on another run in the 4th to make it 5-0 San Juan. In the 6th, Champion was taken out but that did not stop the Crabbers from getting another run with a single by Gonzalez (third hit) and then a double by Ramirez. The Crabbers starter Matty Johnson finished up his outing with 5 innings of shutout ball. It took only one inning for the Castoffs to take advantage of the Crabbers bullpen to break the shutout with a single run in the 7th. In the 8th, they pushed across 2 more runs to narrow the gap to 6-3. Unfortunately for the Castoffs their pen could not hold down San Juan as Sean Manning smokes a grand slam home run to push the lead back up to 10-3. With some subs and defensive replacements in for San Juan, Charlotte managed to put a four spot on the board highlighted by Julio Santana's 3 run homer, which made San Juan the winner by a score of 10-7.


Player of the Game: Omar Gonzalez
 Winning Pitcher: Matty Johnson (3-0)
Losing Pitcher: John Champion (2-1)