World Series 23 Preview

                       Philadelphia Unionvs     Baltimore Crab Cakes

                           (100-62)                                                                                              (112-50)

It's time for World Series 23, and it’s a battle of the #1 seeds between the American League champion Philadelphia Union and the 3-time defending World Series Champions, the Baltimore Crab Cakes from the National League.  Baltimore will be in search of the franchise's 5th championship which would put them two behind Seattle's leading 7 titles.  For Philadelphia, it's the franchise's 3rd trip to the World Series, and its first appearance since Season 5.  Both teams needed to survive a 5-game series in the LDS with Baltimore overcoming a 2-1 series deficit.  Both teams then stormed out to 3-0 series leads in the LCS.  Baltimore was able to close out Montreal in 5 games, but Philadelphia needed a 6th game to finish off El Paso, costing their pitching staff a little bit of rest.  Will that make a difference in the World Series?  Let's breakdown the matchup.

Philadelphia is led by jp_chips who is in his 8th season at the helm of the Union.  He took over a team that was the laughingstock of the league and has turned them into one of the best teams in the league, having won back-to-back AL East titles with over 100 wins each season.  For Philly, 5 is the magic number as they are 5th in the majors in both runs scored and runs allowed.  They also have an excellent defense behind their pitchers as they rank 1st in fielding percentage, 3rd in + plays and tied for 2nd in fewest - plays.  

Philly has three MVP candidates this season, with LF Beau Guyer the standout of the bunch.  Guyer was both Rookie of the Year and the MVP a season ago, and he's arguably the best hitter in the world.  His numbers were down a little from his tremendous 1.078 OPS season a year ago, but he still put up 37 HRs and drive in 133 runs with a 0.981 OPS and good defense to back it up.  1B Mel Kluber is having a career year with 0.913 OPS and CF Dewey Zornes had an excellent year both at the plate (0.806 OPS, 43 SBs) and in the field (8 + plays and only 3 errors).  The Philly big 3 will likely be at the top of the order and play a key role in getting past the elite Baltimore pitching staff.  An x-factor in this series could be 2B Carl Vining.  The former 2nd overall pick was a late season callup and he has been excellent so far in these playoffs, with a 0.343/0.439/0.713 slash line.

Philadelphia's pitching strength is in their bullpen, with closer Ross Burton (7-2, 37 saves, 1.58 ERA) in the running for both Cy Young and Fireman of the Year awards.  Stefen Parrish had a solid 1.92 ERA in 75 IP.  Jack Lewis pitched the most innings out of the pen with a 3.54 ERA.  The three SPs that have been used most these playoffs - Gil Tomlinson, Glenn Lorraine, and Einar Rivera had regular season ERAs of 3.43, 3.59, and 3.64, respectively.  So they are pretty good, but wouldn't be considered elite.  Every game they can get through 6 innings relatively unscathed, they will have to feel happy about turning it over to their bullpen.  Will their starters be good enough to topple the beast that is Baltimore.

Baltimore is led by aoscott2 who has been in the league since Season 8.  After being #1 in runs scored a year ago, they dropped to a tie for 6th, scoring 122 fewer runs this season.  Their pitching is still as good as ever, ranking #1 in ERA and runs allowed this season.  The also have three MVP candidates in LF Henderson Long (49 HRs, 149 RBIs, 38 SBs), CF Charley Campbell (55 HRs, 121 RBIs, 0.979 OPS) and 1B Marquis Affeldt (31 HRs, 0.906 OPS, 40 SBs).  Nobody else on the team hit more than 18 HRs so these guys bring the power while everyone else does their best to keep the line moving.

Their pitching staff is elite, led by Cy Young candidates Mac Rollins (20-3, 2.04 ERA) and Cozy Kennedy (20-4, 2.69 ERA).  They had 6 different pitchers with sub-3.00 ERAs and a total team ERA of 2.96.  Rubi Callaway was excellent on the backend leading the team with 34 saves.  Baltimore likes to creative with tandem pitching in the playoffs, so it will be interesting to see what they do to stop the powerful Philadelphia offense.

Baltimore is the better all around team, but Philly is young, talented, and eager to make their mark on KML history.  Can the Union topple the Crab Cakes, or will it be a 4th title in a row for Baltimore and aoscott2?  Good luck to both teams in World Series 23!