2020 WORLD SERIES PREVIEW

Columbus

Tempe Tempers vs. Hollywood WerewolvesHollywood2020
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Presented to you by Jarl Jackson – October 2020

In the ALCS Hollywood split the first two games at home then went to Chicago and swept the Mobsters in 3 straight including shutouts in games 4 and 5. The first three games went to extra innings over in the NLCS with the Explorers overcoming early deficits in games 1 and 2 only to see Pittsburgh walk it off both times. The same thing happened in game 3, but this time Columbus got the winning hit. Game 4 saw Columbus with the early lead with Lumber Company tying the game late. The Explorers avoided a 4th straight extra-inning affair when Asdrubal Cabrera hit a walk-off 3-run jimmy jack. The two teams split the next two games with some very nice pitching forcing a game 7. Pittsburgh fought back to tie the game in the 8th, but backup catcher Tyler Fowler surprises everyone by hitting a pinch-hit 2 run homer in the 9th to give the Explorers the pennant!

The two teams have a weird connection as Hollywood entered the league in 2001 taking over the Columbus team and moving them to Hollywood for the 2002 season and then Columbus re-entered the league in 2013. Hollywood makes its 5th World Series appearance having won it in 2014 while Columbus makes their first visit to the World Series.

CATCHERS AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB OSBP
Tom Murphy HOL .282 .321 .444 104 390 59 110 22 1 13 58 4 73.3
Christian Vazquez HOL .231 .287 .471 64 238 35 55 7 1 16 33 0 48.5
Robinson Chirinos COL .220 .324 .462 92 273 37 60 15 0 17 49 1 75

All of the catchers can hit for power, but the Werewolves are slightly better offensively and they’re both better at controlling the running game. Vasquez had an 18 game hitting streak good for 5th best in the AL. Advantage Hollywood

FIRST BASEMEN AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Paul Goldschmidt HOL .250 .341 .487 150 579 101 145 21 4 36 100 4
Brock Holt COL .269 .323 .383 94 264 36 71 13 4 3 30 0
Matt Carpenter COL .245 .348 .414 126 384 58 94 11 0 18 47 1

Goldschmidt was a little down in average and on-base, but otherwise, his season was on par for him. He did hit .353/.500/.529 in the ALCS. Holt could be the starting first baseman, starting outfielder, or one of the first bats off the bench. He hit .300 in the NLCS in 10 at-bats. Advantage Hollywood

SECOND BASEMEN AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Hanser Alberto HOL .271 .303 .368 108 421 52 114 15 1 8 38 7
Dee Gordon COL .268 .308 .375 106 299 33 80 10 8 2 23 25
D.J. LeMahieu COL .284 .352 .455 148 549 87 156 29 1 21 80 8

Alberto had a very solid year having not been in the MWBL since 2017 when he hit only .065. Gordon and LeMahieu are two of the better hitters and due to position flexibility, you may see both in the lineup for Columbus. Gordon the team’s best base stealer was also tied for 2nd in the league in triples. Although his best position his 2nd base LeMahieu could also start at first or third. He had an on-base streak of 24 games during the season – 6th best in the NL. Advantage Columbus

SHORTSTOPS AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Freddy Galvis HOL .297 .327 .476 131 525 74 156 31 0 21 73 4
Trevor Story COL .254 .323 .461 147 566 83 144 23 2 30 85 29

Both shortstops were acquired in late-season trades. Galvis has the advantage in AVG while Story leads in SB coming up 1 steal short of a 30-30 season. He was tied for 6th overall in the NL. Advantage even

THIRD BASEMEN AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Matt Chapman HOL .266 .364 .538 145 541 105 144 40 4 33 102 4
Giovanny Urshela COL .276 .337 .498 122 424 55 117 29 1 21 59 1

Chapman was 10th in runs and 8th doubles. He leads in every category except batting average. For the first time in his career, Urshela played in more than 34 games delivering some nice power numbers.  Advantage Hollywood

OUTFIELDERS AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Ketel Marte HOL .344 .406 .610 146 575 101 198 36 9 33 97 10
Christian Yelich HOL .344 .424 .712 124 479 110 165 39 1 45 112 21
Alex Gordon HOL .241 .323 .394 138 507 72 122 22 1 18 57 3
Juan Lagares COL .257 .314 .340 104 206 27 53 14 0 1 10 2
Charlie Blackmon COL .298 .352 .596 140 537 96 160 36 5 38 115 2
Ian Desmond COL .236 .327 .468 126 385 64 91 18 7 19 63 4

For the Werewolves, Marte is 2nd in AVG, 4th in OBP, 7th in SLG, 2nd in Hits, and 2nd in triples. Yelich is 3rd in AVG, first in OBP, first in SLG, 10th in Hits, 8th in Runs, 5th in HR, and 5th in SB. For the Explorers Blackmon is 6th in AVG, 3rd in SLG, and 3rd in RBI. Desmond was tied for 5th in triples. It’s hard to beat the 1-2 punch of Yelich and Marte especially with Yelich being the potential AL MVP Advantage Hollywood

DESIGNATED HITTER AVG OBP SLG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
Matt Olson HOL .252 .342 .516 125 465 75 117 12 0 37 96 0
Asdrubal Cabrera COL .232 .332 .438 137 393 61 91 17 2 20 59 2

Olson had a nice break out year with 37 homers and 96 RBI’s. The veteran Cabrera gets penciled in at DH simply because he’s the best switch-hitter on the team, but he is a good defensive second and third baseman. Columbus could use multiple players as the DH depending on matchups. Advantage Hollywood

HOL STARTERS W-L ERA GS CG SHO QS IP H R ER HR SO/9 BB/9
Charlie Morton R 21-7 2.77 32 2 0 21 217.1 132 68 67 24 9.9 2.7
Clayton Kershaw L 18-5 2.68 29 3 0 17 194.2 120 62 58 27 7.8 2.2
Diego Castillo R 5-5 3.26 15 0 0 7 80 54 38 29 6 11.9 5.1
COL STARTERS W-L ERA GS CG SHO QS IP H R ER HR SO/9 BB/9
Michael Fiers R 11-9 2.93 32 1 0 22 203 154 74 66 23 7.6 2.1
Julio Teheran R 13-7 3.86 30 1 1 13 179.2 144 84 77 27 8 4.1
Jordan Lyles R 15-5 3.84 28 1 1 12 157 131 73 67 31 8.3 3.3

Morton was first in Wins, 5th in ERA, 6th in IP, Tied for 3rd in QS, 5th in SHO Innings at 20.1, and was 4th in S-OBA at .171. Kershaw was tied for 10th in Wins, 6th in ERA, and 5th in S-OBA at .177 Fiers was 6th ERA, 8th in IP, tied for 2nd in QS, and was 11th in S-OBA at .205. Morton and Kershaw give the edge to the Werewolves Advantage Hollywood

HOL RELIEVERS W-L-SV ERA BS HLD G GF IP H R ER HR SO/9 BB/9
Will T. Harris R 2-4-41 2.37 5 1 59 50 57 32 15 15 7 6.2 2.4
Brandon Kintzler R 1-1-1 1.20 1 20 50 13 52.1 23 7 7 3 6 2.6
Samuel Tuivailala R 2-1-0 1.61 1 13 22 1 22.1 7 4 4 1 11.3 5.6
Carlos Estevez R 6-1-0 2.24 3 12 48 14 56.1 43 16 14 3 10.9 1.6
Adam Kolarek L 7-2-0 3.38 3 7 49 10 48 43 20 18 13 7.7 2.1
COL RELIEVERS W-L-SV ERA BS HLD G GF IP H R ER HR SO/9 BB/9
Liam Hendriks R 9-1-35 1.17 6 11 70 48 100.1 38 15 13 9 10 2.5
Yusmeiro Petit R 5-5-16 2.71 3 21 73 28 89.2 59 33 27 12 7 1.2
Adam Ottavino R 4-0-5 2.33 0 0 63 2 73.1 42 22 19 7 7.5 6
Kyle Ryan L 5-1-3 2.09 0 20 57 18 64.2 43 19 15 8 7.2 2.1
Matt Shoemaker R 3-0-1 3.98 3 7 21 2 31.2 23 15 14 4 8.2 2.8

On the league leader boards, Harris was 2nd in SVS and held opponents to a .162 batting average good for 8th best. Kintzler was 4th in holds and Kolarek was tied for 3rd in Wins. Hendriks was first in Wins, Tied for 2nd in SVS, 2nd in ERA, 1st in IP, and 1st in R-OBA at .118. Petit was first in Holds, 4th in IP, and 2nd in GIR. Ottavino was 9th in R-SO/9 and 10th in R-OBA at .168. Ryan was 2nd in Holds and 9th in ERA. Advantage Columbus

Overall team stats and MWBL League rankings:

TEAM AVG OBP SLG R/GAME 2B 3B HR SB
Hollywood (3) .271 (3) .338 (2) .489 (3) 5.8 (6) 309 (6) 24 (2) 293 (6) 64
Columbus (6) .239 (4) .308 (6) .417 (5) 4.7 (11) 252 (1) 37 (8) 217 (9) 84
TEAM S-WINS S-ERA SHO S-OBA R-WINS SAVES R-ERA R-OBA
Hollywood (2) 77 (3) 3.77 (11) 3 (1) .217 (3) 30 (2) 50 (3) 3.46 (3) .208
Columbus (2) 76 (5) 3.68 (10) 4 (7) .235 (3) 34 (1) 63 (1) 2.48 (1) .185
TEAM FLDG PCT OF ASSISTS DP          
Hollywood (1) .986 (14) 34 (4) 117          
Columbus (6) .980 (13) 29 (3) 126          

Hollywood is the better offensive team while Columbus has a better bullpen. The two teams are nearly even at starting pitching and team defense. The Explorers have so many players who can play multiple positions it’s mind-boggling.

Can the 4 best Hollywood players (Yelich, Marte, Morton, and Kershaw) lead their team to the championship? Can Columbus with their flexibility mix and max the right players for the right situations? If Galvis and Goldschmidt stay hot from the ALCS and the 4 stars above perform like legends then Hollywood wins in 5 or 6 games, but if Columbus can limit the damage from those 6 and get the key hits, make the defensive gems, and throw the right pitch at the right time then Columbus could win the series in 7 games.

WORLD SERIES
Team Wins Losses
Tempe 11 4
Kentucky  2 0
Sacramento 3 0
Severn 2 3
Tijuana 1 0
Merrick 1 0
Detroit 1 1
Chicago 1 5
Hollywood 1 3
Iron City 0 1
Yonge Street 0 1
East Lansing 0 1
Ohio Valley 0 1
Emporium  0 1
Virginia 0 1
Bethesda 0 1

 

TRADE DEADLINE
WEDNESDAY 07/24/2024
AT 11:59 PM - ET!

Days
1
1
8
Hrs
1
1
Min
4
7
Sec
0
8