We’re one round into the playoffs and already proving that I’m not the best predictor, as I only called 1 of 4 series correctly! Well, whatever. Let’s set ’em up and do it again as four get whittled down to two!

#2 Los Angeles Dodgers vs. #1 Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers: 10-4 (3-0 playoffs), 18.0 runs scored per game, 23.0 including playoffs (1st Frontyard Conference), 10.9 runs allowed per game, 12.1 including playoffs (8th Frontyard Conference), coached by hitace
Arizona Diamondbacks: 13-1 (2-1 playoffs), 18.3 runs scored per game, 19.3 including playoffs (2nd Indoor Conference), 6.2 runs allowed per game, 8.8 including playoffs (1st Indoor Conference), coached by Sisu

The Dodgers enter this series as unknowns; while they were expected to be easily handled by the Purple Sox in the first round, instead they posted two 50s in a row and kicked the Purple Sox cleanly out of the playoffs. Meanwhile, while the Diamondbacks had a tougher time with the Montana Floss than expected, Arizona actually played above expectations; it’s just that Montana also played above expectations (and by a significantly larger margin). Which one will keep the momentum going? Well, I’ve got my guesses.

Los Angeles Dodgers
The Dodgers were always a strong offensive team. They were also considered the best team in the Frontyard for much of the season and even now. Yes, they finished second and needed a play-in game just to make it to the dance, but two of their losses were due to circumstances not completely in their control, and they performed well throughout the year. But now? The Dodgers are looking absolutely monstrous, and it’s because one thing has changed: dingers. They’ve put up a total of 139 runs over their three postseason games, including a pair of 50+ scores at Steele Stadium, and it’s been largely due to the fact that their bats have exploded. In the regular season, the Dodgers hit 50 homers; in just these three games, they’ve hit 39. I don’t care if that’s due to the short fence at Parks Department Field #2 or getting a bunch of hits to bounce off the top of the shed at Steele Stadium when they hadn’t so far, the Dodgers have changed from a strong offense to a devastating one. Big City Stadium does have slightly deeper fences, it’s true, but the fences there are fairly low, and if the Dodgers can keep hitting the way they’ve been hitting they might just be unstoppable; after all, it doesn’t matter what the opponent’s defense looks like if you just keep hitting bombs.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Speaking of strong offensive teams, we’ve got the Arizona Diamondbacks, who after starting a bit slow to begin the season with only one game of 15 runs or more in their first five matches finished with nine straight games of 15 runs or more–a streak that they continued in the playoffs, posting scores of 15 or more thrice in a row there and firmly establishing their floor. At this point, the Diamondbacks look like worldbeaters…but can they outscore the Dodgers? The Dodgers have been on fire recently, and the Diamondbacks may be putting up good scores, but not quite as good as the Dodgers of late. Plus, Jay Green has been carrying the team all season, and you’d think he’d have to falter sooner or later; if this is the time that Jay Green stumbles, the Diamondbacks might have a problem on their hands.

Projection
This is going to be a high-scoring series. There’s practically no question about that. But the question is which team will score more, and the answer will be decided by two players on the AI end. For the Diamondbacks AI, Randy Johnson is the most important player; the Dodgers were mostly stifled by a very similar pitcher in Amanda Hellerman when they played the Little Giants this season, and their hitting has seemed to peak against weak pitching and falter against strong pitching, so if Randy Johnson can stay on the mound and keep the scores down the Dodgers could bow out very fast. On the other side of the equation is Gretchen Hasselhoff at catcher for the Dodgers, and with her it’s not a question of whether the Diamondbacks will take advantage of her arm–but how much. When every base hit is a triple, scores balloon, and if Arizona gets a lot of runners on base they’ll get a lot of runners across the plate. In this instance, I’m inclined to side with the Diamondbacks; I’m just not sure that the Dodgers have what it takes on a foreign field and facing a great pitcher to pull this one off.

#1 Junior Athletics vs. #2 Texas Rangers
Junior Athletics: 11-3 (2-0 playoffs), 11.1 runs scored per game, 10.8 including playoffs (3rd Frontyard Conference), 5.0 runs allowed per game, 5.2 including playoffs (1st Frontyard Conference), coached by MelloMathTeacher
Texas Rangers: 10-4 (2-1 playoffs), 12.4 runs scored per game, 14.3 including playoffs (3rd Indoor Conference), 12.9 runs allowed per game, 13.5 including playoffs (6th Indoor Conference), coached by Jyknight

This is something I didn’t expect and yet am not surprised to see. When I predicted the matchup between the Boston Cubs and the Junior Athletics, I thought it would be really close (it was) but that the Cubs were more likely to win (they didn’t). When I predicted the matchup between the Wizard Wombats and the Texas Rangers, I thought it would come down to which one was able to break out of their slump (it did) and that the Wombats were more likely to do so and they’d win if both teams continued slumping (which didn’t happen). So which of these two underdogs do I like more to make it to the World Series?

Junior Athletics
We all know that the Junior Athletics started off playing a bunch of scrimmages, putting up low scores, and occasionally losing to the AI. We also all know that the team ground out some close, low-scoring wins before starting to put it together around the middle of the season and producing decent offense to couple with their monstrous shutdown defense. The crown jewel in their season may well be their most recent series, where they took on another strong defense in the Boston Cubs and swept them (although their coach will admit that they were a couple bad bounces from being swept by the Cubs; such is the struggle of a defense-focused team). But now, they’ve got another challenge: a streaky team with momentum on their side.

Texas Rangers
Throughout the first two-thirds of the season, I said that the Texas Rangers did just enough to win. Then they fell off a cliff and lost four straight, and I didn’t expect them to get their mojo back the instant the playoffs started. They…kind of did and kind of didn’t. Let me summarize their season for you: 10-game winning streak, 5-game losing streak, 2-game winning streak. Which brings us to now. The Rangers may have gotten their mojo back (putting up more than 50 runs will do that), but on the other hand, they’ve never shown any great ability outside of that lone 50. It’s not that the Rangers are a bad team; it’s just that they don’t come off as particularly great in any way. They’re a team that has in many respects not stood out in any way apart from their constant streakiness–and that’s hard to quantify.

Projection
What it all comes down to is whether I think the Rangers can break the Athletics defense. If they can, they’ll probably win. But if the Junior Athletics hold strong, they’re likely moving on; I think they’ve got enough offense to keep up and then some. It’s completely possible that the Rangers break the Athletics defense, or that Pete Wheeler on third is enough to shut down the Athletics offense, but in this matchup, I’m pretty clearly thinking that the Athletics can do more than the Rangers.

WORLD SERIES

As you can tell, I’m predicting that the World Series will be between the Junior Athletics and Arizona Diamondbacks, and personally…I think the Diamondbacks will win it. I like the Athletics, but nobody has slowed down Jay Green, and I don’t think the Athletics will do so with everything on the line. Runner-up is very good for a rookie, and it’s well deserved for the Athletics, but I don’t think they have quite enough to win it all.

Now watch as the Dodgers end up taking on the Rangers and winning in 5 games.