2024 N.L. LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
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| SERIES PREVIEW – The Bethesda Bandicoots 104-58 and the Tempe Tempers 120-42 are set for their second NLCS battle. The teams previously faced each other in the 2017 NLCS. Both teams have been in the playoffs multiple times over the years, but they’ve surprisingly never had any early round matchup. |
| GAME #1 – Mitch Keller 12-8 (2.88) vs. Gerrit Cole 28-3 (1.83)
Nolan Jones put Tempe on the board in the first inning with a homerun to right field, but that was all MItchKeller would allow in the early innings. In the top of the 4th, Nick astellano doubled off Gerrit Cole with two outs and a runner on 1st. Bethesda sent the runner home and Nick Castellano to third on the throw. Tempe gave up the run and went for the sure out at third base to get Castellano. (1-1). In the bottom of the 6th, Wilyer Abreu hit a pinch hit homerun to give Tempe the lead again. (2-1). In the bottom of the 8th, Keller got the first out and then surrendered another homerun to Nolan Jones. Keller recorded a second out, but left after giving up a double to Marcell Ozuna. Hyun-Jin Ryu got Jose Ramirez to stop any further damage. In the 9th, Gerrit Cole got the first out, but then issued a walk to Jeff McNeil. Tempe brought in Yan Gomes to catch and Tim Mayza to face the lefty Ryan O’hearn. O’Hearn missed a hit and run and McNeil was gunned easily by Gomes. Mayza then popped up O’hearn for the one batter save. Tempe 3 – Bethesda 1 Win: Gerrit Cole 1-0 (1.08) |
| GAME #2 – Merrill Kelly 16-6 (2.57) vs. Brandon Woodruff 10-1 (1.19)
Adam Duvall put the Bandicoots on the board in the top of the 1st with a solo homerun to right field. The lead didn’t last long as Bolan Jones singled and Jose Ramirez hit a two run homer in the bottom half. Both aces settled in and things were very quiet until Merrill Kelly lost his control in the bottom of the 6th. Jose Ramirez walked, Wilye Abreu walked, Ozzie Albies doubled in a run, Xander Bogaerts added a RBI sac fly, and then Yan Gomes walked. Ian Gibaut replaced Keller but gave up a double to Eddie Rosario, a walk to Freddie Freeman and then something I’ve never seen…”And Gibaut drops the ball! … it’s a balk! … the ump is bringing Yan Gomes home Rosario moves to third … Freeman’s taking second … Fritz is out of the stands and the ump’s taking some heat … Roswell and Kenneth are off the bench Jeff, Sam, and Ileana are waving their arms phenoms Colby, Alan, Gregg, Corlise, and Bill are running over … everyone’s hopping mad but the call stands … and the fans leave the field” Gibaut finally got Jones to fan, but Tempe now had 6-1 lead. Verlander worked a quiet 7th and a collection of relievers finished off the 8th and 9th. Tempe 7 – Bethesda 1 Win: Brandon Woodruff 1-0 (1.50) |
| GAME #3 – Sonny Gray 19-5 (2.27) vs. George Kirby 21-6 (2.50)
Freddie Freeman singled, Nolan Jones homered and Jose Ramirez singled to start the game. Bandicoots couldn’t wait for George Kirby to get a single out and pivoted to Hyun-Jin Ryu . In bottom of the first, Sonny Gray gave up a single to Jeff McNeil and a RBI double to Ryan O’Hearn. In the 3rd and the 4th, Tempe scored a run, but left lots of runners on the bases. Down 4-2 in the bottom of the 5th, Bethseda rallied for three runs off Tempe’s pen capped by a O’Hearn’s two run homer. Tyler Rogers was brought in to pitch the 6th and he absolutely tanked. Freeman started the scoring with a two run homer to go up 6-5 and Tempe added four more runs before the scoring ended in the inning 10-5. Ryan Brasier and Justin Verlander shutdown Bethseda the last four innings. Tempe 11 – Bethesda 5 Win: Ryan Brasier 1-0 (5.79) |
| GAME #4 – Gerrit Cole 28-3 (1.83) vs. Reid Detmers 4-10 (4.48)
The Tempers sent Gerrit Cole out to close out the series and he showed why he’s going to win the NL Cy-Young. The Bandicoots rolled the dice and got an incredible performance out of Reid Detmers. The game was scoreless until the 5th, when J.D. Martinez and Ozzie Albies each doubled in runs for Tempe. Cole finally gave up a run in the 7th when Andrew Vaughn hit a solo homerun to left. Cole pitched a quiet 8th and left with 12 SO on the day. Josh Hader locked down the top of the 9th for Bethesda. In the bottom of the 9th, with a 2-1 lead, Tempe got the first two outs, but Vaughn got a week grounder through the infield off Emilio Pagan. Tempe pivoted to Andres Munoz and Bethesda brought on their late season acquisition Brandon Drury. “high fly ball to center Peralta’s racing to the track … he’s against the wall … but there’s nothing he can do it’s all over! … it’s long gone! … a two-run shot … Brandon Drury trots around the bases he loves a trip downtown … he claps his hands … he’s greeted at the plate” Bethesda 3 – Tempe 2 Win: Josh Hader 1-0 (0.00) |
| GAME #5 – Brandon Woodruff 10-1 (1.19) vs. Merrill Kelly 16-6 (2.57)
Somehow the pitching in game five even surpassed the performances in game 4. Merrill Kelly pitched into the 7th and only gave one hit and one unearned run. Brandon Woodruff racked up 11 SO in six innings. He only gave up three hits, but two of those hits were solo homeruns to unlikely heroes Jake Meyers and Yu-Chen Chang. The bullpens for each team were perfect. George Kirby made the rare relief appearance as a bridge in the 8th to Josh Hader in the 9th. Bethesda 2 – Tempe 1 Win: Merrill Kelly 1-1 (3.65) |
| GAME #6 – Mitch Keller 12-8 (2.88) vs. Jacob deGrom 3-0 (0.51)
Mitch Keller made his second start of the series while Tempe bypassed Sonny Gray to let Jacob deGrom make his first start of the series. Tempe struck first with solo homeruns from Jose Ramirez and Xander Bogaerts in the bottom of the 2nd. They added one more run in the 3rd on a Ramirez sac fly, but then their bats went cold. Mitch Keller pitched a scoreless 4th and 5th. In the top of the 4th, Andrew Vaughn doubled to start the inning and scored on Texas leaguer from Shea Langeliers. deGrom dialed it up and cruised through the later innings. Nick Anderson and Tyler Rogers pitched a scoreless 6th, 7th and 8th for the Bandicoots. In the top of the 9th, deGrom struck out Adam Duvall and Nick Castellanos for the first two outs, but then issued a walk to Shea Langeliers. At 34 batters faced, Degrom was about out of gas. Bethesda brought on game four hero Brandon Drury to work some more magic. Tempe pivoted to Emilio Pagan.“Big hole on the right side … Shea Langeliers not wandering too far … Pagan now … bouncer to Ozzie Albies he flips to Xander Bogaerts at second … and they get him … and that’s it” Tempe 3 – Bethesda 1 Win: Jacob deGrom 1-0 (1.00) |
| SERIES SUMMARY – A strange series as Tempe was one out from the sweep to start the series and then found themselves grasping just to avoid a game seven. A very rare play/script in game two and then almost a no-hitter in game five. Tempe’s pitching ultimately was too much for Bethesda as they limited them to .174 avg. and a .204 obp. Bethesda’s pitching was solid most of the series, but their defense made the scores worse. The defense allowed 5 unearned runs on seven errors and 14 stolen bases without a single caught stealing. Tempe only had one error and gunned 2 out of 4 SB attempts. The series MVP went to Jose Ramirez who led the Tempers with a .375 AVG 1.116 OPS, 9 Hits, 2BB, 2 HR, 2 2B, 6 RBI, 5 Runs, and 2 SB. Andrew Vaughn finished with a .286 AVG, .619 SLG and 2 HR for the Bandicoots. |