World Series Preview

St. Louis Archies (1) vs. Vancouver Mountain Lions (1)

Number one in the AL versus number one in NL. 216 combined wins. Two likely MVP winners. Two strong Cy Young candidates. Really, who can be surprised at the World Series matchup we have on our hands? To say it was an easy road for either number one seed would be selling the prospective AL and NL squads short however. Both teams had to struggle to get to the World Series. Both squads earned their stripes, St. Louis by getting through a seven game series with Durham, and Vancouver by beating a game Fargo squad, and last year's champs (Kansas City).

St. Louis won in the AL due to some strong top of the order pitching, a solid defense, and former AL MVP Darwin Floyd, who is a frontrunner to add a second MVP trophy on his mantle. This combination led to 100 wins and an AL North title. St. Louis' struggles, which became apparent in their series with Durham, are at the back of the starting staff and their limited power from the top to the bottom of the lineup.

When the Archies elected to start Branch Flores over Jacob Wilkerson in Game 2, (thus giving him the game ball in Game 6 instead of Wilkerson). Many writers, including yours truly, felt that this would actually be enough to swing the series in Durham's favor. As predicted Flores got lit up to the tune of six runs in 4 2/3rds innings in Game 2 as Durham teed off. Naysayers were further bolstered when Wilkerson won Game 3 allowing only one run in eight innings. Later in the series Flores came apart in Game 6 allowing four runs in 5 2/3rds innings. This implosion enraged St. Louis fans sending them to the talk radio switchboards in droves. Then, just as villagers began marching on Busch Stadium II with pitchforks and torches, Wilkerson came through in Game 7 pitching six shutout innings, and all was forgiven.

Privately some still fault General Manager shiish for letting the series get that close. The majority, and more vocal group of St. Louis supporters, say it doesn't matter how many games you go, what matters is getting the win. Perhaps it was of a stroke of genius setting Wilkerson up for the decisive Game 7 at home with a wild home crowd to cheer him on. In either case, expect Wilkerson to play another key roll in this series. He will need to pitch well, because the other "ace" of the staff, Javier Benitez, was horrifying against the Bulls, allowing 15 runs in 15 1/3rd innings. Benitez has been known in baseball circles for having the proverbial "million dollar arm, ten cent head". If Benitez's pitches like that in this series, you can put Vancouver down as winners of a five game series.

Vancouver roared through the regular season posting a Dream League record 116 wins. They did it against tough divisional competition including the Salem Slugs and improved San Diego Friars. Sporting the second best offense in the NL (in terms of runs), and the best pitching staff (in terms of runs), Vancouver was the regular season favorite to win the World Series. Then fate came calling, knocking all-world pitcher Josh Clancy out for the rest of the season with bone chips in his throwing elbow. Sticky Sadler, another veteran pitcher had already been lost earlier due to the exact same ailment.

With the pitching staff battered, Las Vegas bookmakers actually had Kansas City (109 wins) as the favorite in the NLCS matchup. Enter newly minted Vancouver legend Adam Jorgensen. The big righthander from California pitched his way into Lion lore by going 2-0 in the postseason with a 2.41 ERA. Add to Jorgensen to hard luck Einar Valentin, who allowed only one run in 19 innings this postseason (19 strikeouts) and has somehow still has not registered a win, and you've got a staff that's pulled together.

The offense in Vancouver is plenty tough. NL MVP candidate (just give the man the trophy already!) Fernando Rodriguez is menancing as any hitter in the league, and he is protected by a deep lineup that features the best all around offensive weapon in the game who's not named Harold Kinney or Grant Sparks, in Gene Gaetti and power hitter Rey James.

I don't expect this series to be as close as it may appear on paper. I see Vancouver's pitching staff being the equal of St. Louis' even with their injuries, with the exception of Wilkerson. St. Louis will need to win at least two games in Wilkerson's starts in order to take the series--if he does, and St. Louis wins, you're looking at the WS MVP. Benitez will need to win at least one game. More then likely they get two games out of those two, and if they're lucky they pick up a third game from someone else. Given the fact Vancouver will likely score at least five runs against all starters not named Wilkerson or Benitez, I'm not sure where the other win comes from. Jorgensen, Valentine, and Adrian Hewson are all very capable of winning games (though Hewson has struggled in the postseason) against top flight pitching. If the games go to the bullpen Vancouver still has the edge with their veteran staff that appears to have recovered from Season 3's epic NLCS disaster. This is due in large part to the "18 million dollar man" Wolf Young, who has made Kansas City General Manager chadrader, and others, look foolish for mocking the Vancouver offseason acquisition(0.87 WHIP and 2.08 ERA in 17+ innings of relief during the postseason).

AC Prediction: Vancouver in 6
MVP: Gene Gaetti