2022 WORLD SERIES PREVIEW

Written by Jim Craddock
SERIES PREVIEW – Fremont and Long Beach, both making their MWBL World Series debut, had similar paths to the Fall Classic. Long Beach swept through the Wild Card and Division Series rounds, then had to come back from being down 0-3 to Sacramento. Fremont lost one game in each of the Wild Card and Division Series rounds, before taking a closely-fought series 4-2 from Chicago. IN the regular season, Fremont dominated the AL East (and the whole league), cruising to a 121-41 record. Long Beach won 109 games to come in second in the NL West, six games behind eventual NLCS opponent Sacramento.

Written by Jim Craddock

SERIES PREVIEW – Fremont and Long Beach, both making their MWBL World Series debut, had similar paths to the Fall Classic. Long Beach swept through the Wild Card and Division Series rounds, then had to come back from being down 0-3 to Sacramento. Fremont lost one game in each of the Wild Card and Division Series rounds, before taking a closely-fought series 4-2 from Chicago. IN the regular season, Fremont dominated the AL East (and the whole league), cruising to a 121-41 record. Long Beach won 109 games to come in second in the NL West, six games behind eventual NLCS opponent Sacramento.

CATCHERS	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	OSBP
Elias Diaz	FRE	.241	.288	.409	95	286	30	69	16	1	10	30	0	80.0
Kyle Higashioka	FRE	.187	.242	.447	70	150	22	28	7	1	10	30	0	74.1
Salvador Perez	LBD	.250	.284	.506	154	617	75	154	27	1	43	109	0	83.3
Pedro Severino	LBD	.193	.235	.297	61	202	15	39	6	0	5	18	0	76.2

Sal Perez easily laps the offensive production of all FRE catchers put together. FRE tandem is good defensively, but the edge here goes to the Dirt Bags. Advantage LBD

FIRST BASEMEN	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Yulieski Gurriel	FRE	.333	.400	.450	140	480	71	160	38	0	6	72	2
Ryan Zimmerman	LBD	.254	.302	.530	105	279	35	71	15	4	18	55	0

Both Zimmerman and Gurriel provide excellent defense, but Gurriel’s offensive production and ability to stay in the lineup every day gives him the edge. Advantage FRE

SECOND BASEMEN	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Javier Baez	FRE	.253	.329	.449	129	474	85	120	15	0	26	70	19
Joshua Rojas	FRE	.244	.329	.360	109	275	36	67	12	1	6	31	6
Nick Solak	LBD	.203	.255	.353	133	473	53	96	18	4	15	59	4
Danny Mendick	LBD	.213	.292	.291	106	230	30	49	9	0	3	22	0

Solak provides somepop,butnotmuch else, Mendick can play anywhere (and pitch) in a pinch, but their numbers don’t hold up next to Baez and Rojas. Advantage FRE

SHORTSTOPS	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Carlos Correa	FRE	.275	.358	.518	146	581	95	160	44	2	31	91	0
Alcides Escobar	LBD	.246	.311	.333	76	285	41	70	13	0	4	28	5
Ronald Torreyes	LBD	.198	.243	.292	107	329	29	65	7	0	8	38	5

If they can get on base,LBD shortstops have the advantage in SB. That’s the only category that favors them. Correa is a middle-of-the-order stud. Advantage FRE

THIRD BASEMEN	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Yoan Moncada	FRE	.266	.380	.402	143	458	93	122	29	0	11	49	2
Justin Turner	LBD	.258	.353	.423	148	532	89	137	16	0	24	73	1

Not a lot of separation here. Both are solid above-average everyday producers. Advantage Even

OUTFIELDERS	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Byron Buxton	FRE	.302	.376	.634	88	232	62	70	17	0	20	52	10
Teoscar Hernandez	FRE	.274	.316	.495	143	548	76	150	28	0	31	110	9
Mike Yastrzemski	FRE	.230	.323	.470	111	304	53	70	14	1	19	55	4
Manuel Margot	FRE	.270	.347	.452	116	241	43	65	14	3	8	29	11
Austin Hays	FRE	.209	.288	.385	124	421	52	88	15	4	17	65	1
Robbie Grossman	LBD	.225	.330	.443	161	555	90	125	33	2	28	70	20
Kevin Kiermaier	LBD	.267	.329	.435	109	359	40	96	24	6	8	39	7
Franmil Reyes	LBD	.214	.268	.474	114	435	53	93	24	1	29	65	0
LaMonte Wade	LBD	.192	.263	.363	89	344	47	66	13	5	12	41	9
Guillermo Heredia	LBD	.236	.333	.374	98	297	31	70	21	4	4	28	0

There’s not a lot of daylight between these two squads, but the potential for more on-base traffic and RBI production gives a slight edge to the Cannons. Advantage FRE

DESIGNATED HITTER	Team	AVG	OBP	SLG	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.	FRE	.310	.405	.589	156	584	103	181	34	3	41	127	1
Shohei Ohtani	FRE	.303	.412	.677	146	557	143	169	22	9	56	124
Nelson Cruz	LBD	.265	.328	.491	136	525	72	139	22	2	31	79	2

While Cruz had a remarkable season, he can’t compare to whoever FRE goes with at DH. Advantage FRE

FRE STARTERS	W-L	ERA	GS	CG	SHO	QS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	SO/9	BB/9
Walker Buehler	22-7	2.63	32	4	2	25	225.2	117	72	66	25
Carlos Rodon	18-1	1.84	22	3	1	18	152.0	76	33	31	13
Sandy Alcantara	16-4	3.00	31	2	1	20	203.2	162	75	68	25
Shohei Ohtani	12-3	3.28	21	0	0	15	137.1	119	58	50	14

Buehler and Alcantara are the workhorses, but any of the four are capable of dominating a game.

LBD STARTERS	W-L	ERA	GS	CG	SHO	QS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	SO/9	BB/9
Lance Lynn	11-12	2.47	26	2	1	19	182.1	116	52	50	13
Zack Wheeler	22-3	2.18	34	5	4	27	243.2	144	65	59	26
Brandon Woodruff	14-8	2.43	29	4	3	23	207.2	109	59	56	20
Logan Webb	5-12	3.03	27	2	2	18	172.1	125	63	58	21

Duelling Cy Young candidates Wheeler and Woodruff make this rotation formidable no matter who follows them,but the other two can shut down a lineup as well. This matchup looks to be EVEN

FREMONT RELIEVERS	W-L-SV	ERA	BS	HLD	G	GF	IP	H	R	ER	HR	SO/9	BB/9
Giovanny Gallegos	4-3-27	2.58	5	5	60	46	73.1	40	23	21	8
Drew Pomeranz	1-2-15	1.33	0	0	29	21	27.0	7	7	4	2
Garrett Whitlock	3-2-2	2.34	2	16	46	15	73.0	58	19	19	8
Ryan Tepera	5-0-5	1.47	1	10	46	22	55.0	26	11	9	1

In the bullpen, as elsewhere, FRE has plenty of good options to choose from. Gallegos was the main save guy, but any of these guys can take the ball in a high-leverage situation and inspire confidence.

LBD RELIEVERS	W-L-SV	ERA	BS	HLD	G	GF	IP	H	R	ER	HR	SO/9	BB/9
Liam Hendriks	4-1-32	1.48	3	0	59	52	60.2	26	10	10	5
Blake Treinen	6-2-29	2.89	2	11	69	45	71.2	40	23	23	7
Tyler Matzek	5-1-0	0.93	1	14	52	11	38.2	15	7	4	1
Kodi Whitley	5-2-1	1.20	2	9	27	5	30.0	15	4	4	1
Chad Green	8-2-3	1.30	2	14	61	23	97.0	54	15	14	6

Hendriks and Treinen are the workhorses, and LBD has plenty of options to get the game to them, if needed. By virtue of having two lockdown closers, LBD gets the edge

TEAM	AVG	OBP	SLG	R/GAME	2B	3B	HR	SB
Fremont	.266	.350	.479	6.0	297	24	289	92
Long Beach	.232	.301	.403	4.4	253	33	206	70

TEAM	SHO	SAVES
Fremont	5	55
Long Beach	11	47

TEAM	FLDG PCT	OF ASSISTS	DP
Fremont	.982	39	118
Long Beach	.983		87

SERIES PREDICTION – Fremont has the edge in most of the position battles, except catcher and 3B (which was EVEN). But pitching can be, and usually is, the great equalizer. There’s not much difference between the starting pitching staffs, in that both could dominate. If needed, the Long Beach bullpen could be the difference against a powerful and productive Fremont lineup. If that ends up being the case, Long Beach would win a tight, dramatic, seven-game series, probably by a single run.
FINAL PREDICTION: LBD 4 Games to 3.