League Championship Series
2003 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
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| PREVIEW – The Baltimore Blue Crabs are the feel-good Cinderella story in MWWL. They rallied over the final two weeks of the season to overcome a three-game deficit and run down the Manhattan Gas Hornets for the final wild spot. Then upset the 105 win Long Beach Titans in the Wild Card round and the 107 win Hollywood Vampires in the divisional round. Unfortunately, the road doesn’t get any easier as they’ll be squaring off against the 110-win Flora-Bama Mullets, who are back in the NLCS for the third year in a row with their best offense ever. The Mullets offense, led by NL MVP Javy Lopez, was already on pace to lead the league in home runs before the deadline additions of all-star sluggers Jeff Kent and Rafael Palmerio. The Mullets will be without slugger Juan Gonzalez for the first five games, but have a very deep bench. Flora-Bama steamrolled the Michigan Mauraders in the Divisional series with a .290 AVG and a .880 OPS, so Blue Crabs will need their aces Hudson and Zito to step up. |
2003 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
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| PREVIEW – The 2003 Mid-West Winter League (MWWL) American League Championship Series is a true heavyweight clash. The AL East champion Corktown Bootleggers (101-61) host the powerhouse Chicago Demolition (103-59) in a best-of-seven showdown that promises to be a razor-thin, thrilling battle. Chicago enters the series oozing with momentum. Despite being forced into the Wild Card round, the 103-win Demolition just pulled off a brilliant sweep of the historic 113-win Southlake Stealers. Chicago’s roster boasts an absolute minefield of an offense anchored by Carlos Delgado’s monster 43-HR, 115-RBI 2003 campaign and the incredible consistency of rookie sensation Hideki Matsui. However, their true equalizer is a legendary starting rotation spearheaded by the two-headed monster of Pedro Martinez and Jason Schmidt, backed by “The Rocket” Roger Clemens & Kevin Millwood.
Corktown counters with an equally terrifying offense built on patient, high-impact muscle. The Bootleggers’ lineup is anchored by the prime 2003 superpowers of Alex Rodriguez, Scott Rolen, and the disciplined, high-OBP bat of Jason Giambi. On the mound, Corktown relies on workhorse stability, featuring reliable arms like Steve Trachsel, Miguel Batista, and Freddy Garcia. Keys to Winning the ALCS The Bridge to Billy Wagner: Chicago’s starting staff is elite, but if Corktown can run up pitch counts and force early exits, the series shifts to the bullpens. Chicago must successfully bridge the middle innings to closer Billy Wagner. Defending the Home Dirt: Because of the usual 2-3-2 format, Corktown holds the home-field advantage for Games 1, 2, 6, and 7. However, Chicago wielded the MWWL’s best road record during the regular season. If the Demolition can steal just one of the first two games in Corktown, they shift the entire axis of the series back to Chicago for a three-game homestand. |
2002 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
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| PREVIEW – The American League Central and West Division Champions, Harper Woods Expos (97-65) and California Quakes (116-46), meet up in the American League Championship Series. California enters the series with the overall advantage in defense and offense. The Quakes led the Expos in pitching during the regular season, with the Quakes and Expos holding team ERAs of 2.77 and 3.91, respectively, but held only marginal advantages both defensively and offensively. California’s defense boasted a .983 fielding percentage while giving up only 62 unearned during the regular season, while the Expos nearly matched this with a .983 fielding percentage and 63 unearned runs. Similarly, the Quakes slightly edged the Expose in offense, batting .288/.352/.447 with a 5.6 R/G versus the Expos .272/.331/.433 line and 5.3 R/G. To advance to the World Series, the Quakes would need a big showing from their superior pitching staff, while the Expose would need their superior sluggers and perennial all-stars, L. Walker and T. Helton. |
2002 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
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| PREVIEW – The 2002 NLCS features the #1 Blarney Drive Bandits (109-53) against the #2 Flora-Bama Mullets (108-54).
The Bandits are powered by the number one offense (6.1 R/G) in MWWL that mashed a league leading 260 homeruns. On the pitching front, their three big lefties dominated all year racking up 62 total wins. They are the number one seed for a reason and their only minor weakness might be their depth in the pen and on the bench. The Mullets leaned on their premium defense (MWWL best 47 UER) and their league leading “swing and miss” pitching (MWWL best 1250 SO) to rack of 30 one run wins during the season. Their offense has some muscle (205 HR), but it doesn’t have the same star power as the Bandits and relies on platoons. The left-handed platooners will definitely be tested in this series. The Mullets won the head to head series 7-5 games but the odds makers have the Bandits favored with the Big Unit fully rested and ready to go three games if needed. |
2001 WORLD SERIES
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| PREVIEW – Chicago Demolition (99-57) vs. Flora-Bama Mullets (109-53) The grizzled veterans from Chicago are back in the World Series for the second year in a row and looking for the Repeat. After the quick ALCS against Corktown , the Demolition are well rested and have their all-star rotation all lined up. Flora-Bama is the new kid on the block this year, but they have a lot of familiar faces on the roster since they burned future capital acquiring the best veterans available. The Mullets barely survived the NLCS against Hollywood, so they will however be without their future CY-Young until at least the second game. For a full Preview & outlook on the 2001 MWWL World Series go here: 2001 WORLD SERIES PREVIEW |
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