1995 WORLD SERIES PREVIEW

Both teams swept their league championship opponents 4-0 to get to the 26^th MWWL World Series.

Detroit returns to the Series for the first time since 1979. The Stars won their first appearance in 1978.

This will be the first World Series appearance by the Bandits.

Both catchers can be run on with their backups offering a little better theft protection. 
Hundley is the better offensive player while Fletcher did have the 2^nd longest errorless streak in the NL. Hundley was tied for 2^nd in team walks.

Advantage Detroit

Both first baseman were key parts of their teams’ offenses during the 1995 season. 
Mo Vaughn was 9^th in on base percentage, 9^th in slugging, 5^th in runs, 3^rd in homers, 10^th in RBIs, and had the AL’s 6^th longest on base streak at 30 games.
On the NL side Eddie Murray was 10^th in slugging and 7^th in RBIs.   Defensively Vaughn had a 71 errorless streak.

Advantage Detroit

Jeff Kent is a solid player all across the board but wasn’t in the top 15 in any offensive category. Veras and Whitaker combined were a better player except for
 average. Veras was 12^th in triples and 8^th in stolen bases. On his team Kent was third in batting average and 3^rd in total average at .777.

Advantage Blarney Drive

Gonzalez was much like his second base teammate – solid but not league leading. Although he was 6^th in the AL in triples.
Bordick played 100 games more for his defense than his hitting ability.

Advantage Detroit

On the NL leader boards Seitzer was 10^th in on base percentage, 9^th in hits, and 7^th in triples.
He was also in the top 15 in three other categories. Pendleton was probably the worst hitting regular in the Stars lineup.

Advantage Blarney Drive

Cordova was 11^th in hits, 13^th in runs, and 2^nd in triples. Mondesi was also 2^nd in triples and finished in the top 15 for homers and RBI.
Cordova also had the 5^th longest errorless streak at 89 games. Mondesi wasn’t far behind as he had a 67-game streak.
For the Bandits Green was 4^th in doubles. 12^th in triples, had a 24 game on base streak – good for 11^th in the NL. Green also had a 71 error less streak.
Greenwell was 12^th in triples.
Henderson, the all-time stolen base leader in MWWL history, continued his pursuit of 1000 career stolen bases by finishing 14^th in
the NL.

Advantage Blarney Drive

Both DH candidates were solid performers mostly falling outside their leagues top 15. Klesko did have a 15-game hitting
streak good for 5^th best in the NL and had a 26 game on base streak good for 9^th.

Advantage Blarney Drive

Now we come to the strength of both clubs with edge going to the Stars mainly because Birbeck just didn’t pitch as much as the other starters did.
For the AL champions Valdes was 6^th in ERA, 3^rd in QS, had the longest QS Streak at 17 games, and was 6^th in S-OBA at .215.
Schourek was 6^th in wins, 2^nd in ERA, 6^th in IP, 2^nd in QS, had the longest shutout streak at 36.1 innings, and was 4^th in S-OBA at .182.

On the NL side Randy Johnson, the probable CY young winner, was first in wins, ERA, QS, SO/9, and S-OBA at .152. He was also
2^nd in IP, QS streak at 13 games, and third in SHO streak at 26 innings. Wells was 4^th in wins, 7^th in ERA, and 3^rd in QS.

Advantage Detroit, but the Big Unit can easily start 3 games

Advantage Blarney Drive

Blarney Drive led the NL in 10 categories and was 2^nd in one while Detroit led the AL in 3 categories and was 2^nd in 4 others. Although the Bandits had a greater advantage over their league brethren, but teams were pretty similar statistically. Blarney Drive had more doubles and the Stars had more triples and home runs. The stolen base category really doesn’t matter as both teams catching corps are pretty poor in throwing out runners. The Bandits had more saves and a R-ERA almost a full run lower, but their R-OBA was about the same as Detroit’s.

The series could go 6 or 7 games and could go either way. If Detroit can get those triples and homers at the same rate as in the regular season they’ll win. If Blarney Drive bullpen can shut the door beginning in the 7^th inning, then they will win. Either way it should be an exciting Series!