2016 – NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Although the Columbus team carries the nickname Explorers, it’s perhaps more fitting for Bethesda (96-66) who entered the series in foreign territory never before having advanced to the League Championship Series. It was a match made in hell for Bethesda who would have rather faced any other team than Columbus (126-36) who pummelled them during the regular season winning 11 of 12 contests.   Columbus featured an all-round attack of solid bats and solid arms on the mound. No Columbus regular hit less than Ben Revere’s .262. Dee Gordon hit an eye-popping .356 with 67 steals, Charlie Blackmon hit .308 with 23 HR, 115 RBI, and 50 steals (MVP candidiate maybe???), and Matt Carpenter hit .279, bashed 37 HR and drove in 124 runs. The Columbus starters were no slouches led by JA Happ’s 17-5 record with a miniscule 2.15 ERA and 192 Ks in 193 innings. Ervin Santana was 11-5, 2.57 ERA, Lance McCullers was 9-2 with a 2.21 ERA and Tom Milone was 10-5 with a 3.13 ERA. What the starters couldn’t finish the Columbus bullpen had no problem finishing. Darren O’Day (7-1, 0.91 20 saves), Sean Gilmartin (8-0, 1.05 ERA, 5 saves), Frank Rodriguez (9-0, 1.53 ERA, 25 saves), Andrew Chafin (7-1, 1.60 ERA, 1 save) were downright scary combining for over 250 innings of relief and allowing only 116 hits while striking out 255 batters.
Bethesda’s strength lay with its starting pitching led by Cy Young candidate Jake Arrieta (17-10, 1.66 ERA, 110 hits allowed in 222 innings, one no-hitter), Sonny Gray (17-8, 2.67 ERA, one no-hitter), Jake Odorizzi (13-2, 2.70 ERA) and Chris Young (8-3, 2.21 ERA). The bullpen relied on the ability of Ryan Madson (3-5, 1.57), Justin Miller (2-1, 2.14 ERA and Brain Matusz (2-6, 2.79 ERA) to hold the lead until converted starter Rich Hill (1-2, 1.17 ERA, 18 saves) could get the ball or on the off-chance he was unable to pitch the bizarrely effective John Axford (2-1, 2.67 ERA, 12 saves) was around. The Bethesda bats featured a few noteworthy performances in 2016 with Adrian Gonzalez once again leading the offense with a .311 average, 33 homers and 104 RBIs. The supporting cast included another pleasant surprise in AJ Pierzynski with the veteran backstop hitting .319 and Alex Rodriguez whose final tour of duty included a .265 average, 34 homers and 90 RBIs.

Game #1: Jake Arrieta (17-10 1.66) vs. Lance McCullers (9-2 2.21)
Jake Arrieta staggered through the first round against Sacramento but got his crap together for the first game of the LCS tossing eight innings of three hit ball as the Bandicoots topped the Explorers 4-1 in Columbus.
Arrieta fanned 12 in the game including four Ks by Matt Carpenter. Only Ben Revere seemed to solve the Arrieta puzzle for Columbus as the speedy outfielder nabbed two hits and drove in the lone Columbus run in the 3rd inning when he brought in Dee Gordon after he smacked a triple.
Seldom-used catcher Carlos Ruiz paid dividends for Bethesda smacking a two-run homer in the 5th inning off Josh Tomlin who took over for Lance McCullers. McCullers was yanked early after giving up three runs on three hits in four innings. Bethesda counted their first runs with two in the 4th on RBI hits by Adrian Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez.
Plucky John Axford fanned two in a 3-up, 3-down 9th to earn the save.
Final Score:  Bethesda 4 – Columbus 1

Game #2: Sonny Gray (17-8 2.67) vs. Tommy Milone (10-5 3.13)
A pitchers’ duel all the way although neither was around to see the end result.
Columbus broke into an early 1-0 lead scoring in their half of the 1st inning when Charlie Blackmon clobbered a Sonny Gray offering out of the park.
Bethesda had their chances getting men on every inning but it was not until the 4th that they had to scrounge an unearned run when Stephen Drew singled home Adrian Gonzalez after the 1st baseman had reached base on an error.
Gray lasted six innings allowing a run on three hits, one walk and six strikeouts. Milone went five for Columbus giving up just the unearned run on six hits with one strikeout.
The bullpens stymied hitters through the regular innings sending it into overtime when with none out and the bases empty and reliever David Robertson on the mound Bethesda pulled reliever Ryan Madson out of the game in favor of pinch hitter Chris Colabello who rewarded the fans with a steroid-induced bop out of the park that gave Bethesda a 2-1 lead.
John Axford came in for the bottom of the 10th and for the second straight game defied all odds and expectations to strike out two while giving up one harmless hit to nail down the save, a 2-1 win and a 2-0 series lead heading back to Bethesda.
Final Score:  Bethesda 2 – Columbus 1 (10 Innings)

Game #3: J.A. Happ (17-5 2.15) vs. Jake Odorizzi (13-2 2.70)
With no one expecting Bethesda to be up 2-0 after leaving Columbus, the delirious Bandicoot faithful were now hoping for the unthinkable and actually winning the series. The key to this would be to not let the series get back to Columbus where it was unlikely that lightning would strike twice.
This game took all of two innings for things to get rolling and once the roll began it did not stop.
Columbus’ Shin-soo Choo chooed one out of the park off Jake Odorizzi to open the scoring in the 2nd and then with two outs and Brock Holt on 3rd JA Happ helped himself with a line drive single that made it 2-0.
Bethesda would crawl back with one run in their half of the 3rd on a Lorenzo Cain double that scored Carlos Ruiz and then evened it up in the bottom of the 5th on Travis Shaw’s groundout that scored Ruiz from 3rd.
Unfortunately for Bethesda in that same bottom of the 5th inning Odorizzi was pulled for Shaw and even more unfortunately it opened the flood gates for Columbus hitters.
Columbus regained the lead with a run in the 6th on a single by Holt that scored Matt Carpenter. They added two in the 7th on a two-run double by Charlie Blackmon and then another two in the 8th on a two-run broken bat single by Alex Avila.
And that was all she wrote – Columbus takes the game easily 7-2 despite making three errors that the Bandicoots could not capitalize on.
Happ went six innings allowing both Bethesda runs while walking one, giving up five hits and fanning five.
Final Score:  Columbus 7 – Bethesda 2

Game #4: Lance McCullers (9-2 2.21) vs. Chris Young (8-3 2.21)
This game was all Bethesda … until the 7th inning.
Andre Ethier put Bethesda on the board early, clubbing a two-run homer in the bottom of the 1st inning with Brad Miller providing the dessert the next inning with a solo shot of his own to make it 3-0 Bethesda after two.
Bethesda padded its lead with three more runs in the 3rd inning on a two-run double by Ethier and a sacrifice fly by Alex Rodriguez.
Stephen Drew added insult to injury in the 7th by taking Josh Tomlin deep to make it a 7-0 laugher.
Then in the 7th inning the laughter stopped. Feeling pretty confident, Bethesda’s manager pulled Young who was in the midst of pitching a one-hit shutout in favor of part-time starter Erasmo Ramirez who was relegated to the bullpen mid-season. Talk about throwing gas on the barbecue. Brilliant.
Erasmo started by walking Matt Carpenter and then Shin-soo Choo singled to send Carpenter to 2nd. Somehow Brock Holt managed to pop out to Stephen Drew and then Ian Desmond hit a chopper back to the mound that forced out Choo at 2nd.
Then with two outs all hell broke loose …
Erasmo walked Alex Avila to load the bases, then he walked pinch hitter Nolan Reimold to force in a run … 7-1.
Dee Gordon then lined a ball into right field that scored two runs … 7-3.
That was it for the Erasmo show. Justin Miller got the call with a four run lead but two guys on base. Still with two outs, Ben Revere came to the plate and brought home both runners with a blast into right field. … 7-5. And that was it for Miller.
Brian Matusz was brought in and of course threw a wild pitch that advanced Revere to 3rd and he would come around to score easily on Blackmon’s bloop single. 7-6.
The inning actually ended not thanks to any Bethesda pitching achievement but because of catcher AJ Pierzynski who nailed Blackmon trying to steal his way into scoring position.
We go to the top of the 9th with Bethesda clinging to a 7-6 lead and Rich Hill now on the mound.
Enrique Hernandez hits a broken bat double into left field … but no … it’s snagged on a diving catch by David Peralta to make it one out. Michael Cuddyer then gets handed the bat in favor of Alex Avila and strikes out. Tyler Flowers is then called in to pinch hit and in a moment of glory slams the ball deep to right field for an opposite field homer only to robbed at the wall by a leaping catch by Andre Ethier.
Final Score:  Bethesda 7 – Columbus 6

Game #5: Ervin Santana (11-5 2.57) vs. Jake Arrieta (17-10 1.66)
With the series on the line and two standout pitchers taking the mound a pitching duel is on the menu.
Well throw barbecue lighter fluid on that menu and start up the ovens cuz it turned out to be anything but.
Lorenzo Cain opened the 1st inning for Bethesda with his 9th hit of the series – a single to centre. Cain stole second but needn’t have wasted the effort as a few batters later Adrian Gonzalez came up and slammed one out of the park sending both Bandicoots on a tater trot for a 2-0 Bethesda early lead.
The lead was short-lived. AJ Pierzynski dropped an easy pop out to allow Shin-soo Choo to reach base and then Arrieta nailed Brock Holt in the back to make it runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Ian Desmond then came up … remember when he was good? Well he still fricking is. Ka-BANG … his rocket out of the park broke the sound barrier and gave Columbus a 3-2 lead after just 1-1/2 innings.
In the 3rd with Matt Carpenter up facing Arrieta he blooped a fly ball that kept carrying and carrying and carrying … 4-2 Columbus thanks to Jake Arrieta’s new fascination with giving up the long ball.
Arrieta does redeem himself a little the next inning, doubling and then scoring on AJ Perzynski’s deep fly ball to make it 4-3 after 3 innings. He kills that, of course, in the bottom of the next inning when he is allowed to hit with the bases loaded and grounds into an inning-ending double play.
In the top of the 5th, Arrieta makes it even more obvious that he should have been yanked for a pinch hitter the previous inning. Dee Gordon opens the 5th with an infield single that Alex Rodriguez couldn’t get the handle on then steals 2nd base. Revere singles and Gordon scores to make it 5-3. Arrieta then falls victim to the long ball for the 3rd and final time this game as Carpenter takes him deep to make it 7-3 after five.
Desmond scored the next inning on a sacrifice fly by Dee Gordon as Bethesda began to shift into “planning for game six” mode.
Hold the phone though … it was not over.
Bethesda came back with three of their own in the bottom of the 6th thanks to some rare post-season output by Alex Rodriguez with one on and Brad Miller who hit back-to-back homers off Santana to make it 8-6.
In the bottom of the 8th with Stephen Drew on first after a walk, Francisco Rodriguez on the mound and Lorenzo Cain at the plate, the speedy centrefielder lofted the ball deep and out of the park to tie it up 8-8.
Rich Hill came into the 9th to try and keep Columbus off the board and got Blackmon to ground out but then got a scare when a leaping catch over the wall by David Peralta robbed Carpenter of the home run. He got Choo to ground out and end the inning. Bethesda went down in order in the 9th to send it into another extra inning game.
Neither team scored in the 10th.
With Hill still on the mound for Bethesda, he turned away the Columbus hitters three-up, three-down in the top of the 11th.
David Robertson entered the 11th in his 2nd inning of work and opened by striking out Cain. The Columbus manager then played the odds bringing in lefty Blaine Hardy to face AJ Pierzynski and the string of lefties that would follow. Pierzynski ground out harmlessly, bring Ethier to the plate: Ethier facing B. Hardy, B 11th, 2 Outs, Bases Empty, Tied 8-8 Hardy into his motion … delivers … and it’s pulled hard to right  it’s deep enough if it’s fair … hooking … it’s all over! … fair ball! A Walk Off Home Run for Ethier.
Final Score:  Bethesda 9 – Columbus 8 (11 Innings)

Incredibly, with ace Jake Arrieta sporting a 5.00+ post-season ERA Bethesda takes down the best team in the National League in 2016 in five games.
Lorenzo Cain gets the thumbs up as series MVP thanks to 10 hits and a .476 average in the series with three runs scored, three doubles a homer, three RBI’s and a stolen base.

The Bandicoots from Bethesda take the series 4-1 & move on to the 2016 Mid-West Baseball League World Series to face the Crime in Detroit.