World Series Preview

Tale of the Tape

The ATB XVII World Series begins tonight at 9.30 PM, where the Lakeview Zeros will take on the Ankhana Adventurers.

Ankhana must be considered the favorite here, and perhaps heavily.  Their end of season run may be the best we've come across in some time, with the squad winning 7 in a row to close the season and then blitzing through the AL Division and AL Championship series with just 1 total loss.  Right Fielder Frank Robinson has been hot, slamming 5 HR and driving in 9 this post season.  Lou Gehrig is heating up too, and had 10 RBI in the sweep of Willets Point in the ALCS.

This team could always hit, and it was their rotation that showed signs of trouble off and on throughout the regular season, and is Ankhana's main weakness.  Ace Addie Joss has struggled this postseason, but John Tudor has picked up the slack giving up just 2 runs across his three starts.  He will be the key to  Ankhana's hopes for the championship.

Of course, Lakeview will also have to worry about Dennis Eckersley.  The Reliever of the Year has pitched in 6 of 9 games giving up a run in just 1 of them.  While Ankhana swept the Pinata Beaters in the ALCS, many games were particularly tight and had Eck faltered, it could easily have been Spanish Harlem looking to repeat as champions.

The Zeros had a longer road to the World Series.  After dispatching Grumman in 5 games, they ran into a strong Shamokin team in the NLCS and it took every inning and every pitch of the 7 game series to advance.  In fact, one might argue if the Miners star center fielder hadn't got caught trying for third base with no outs in the 8th on a fly ball to center, Shamokin would have advanced instead.  These two teams were evenly matched and as a result, Lakeview enters game 1 with a rotation out of order and not rested.

However, this offense can wreck a few games.  Everyone knows about the prowess of Ted Williams, Heavy Johnson, and King Kelly, but add in Boog Powell who has been on fire (.429 / .529 / .643) and there is no better middle of the order in baseball.  Ted Williams has remained hot in the post season as well, smashing 6 home runs and driving in 11.

The Zeros best chance is likely Greg Maddux and Red Ryan.  Both are elite pitchers who had a good NLCS, with Ryan appearing in all 7 games and Maddux pitching well in all 3 starts and securing 2 wins.  The rest of the pitching staff does need to step up though, if you remove Maddux and Ryan, the squad had a 6.15 ERA.