Philadelphia Stomp (95-67)
vs
Richmond Rebellion (98-64)
THE MATCH-UP- Both the Stomp and the Rebellion are celebrating their first Pennants before they get on the field for the Season 19 World Series. The Philadelphia Stomp won the American League after defeating the top regular season team in the league, the Norfolk Whiskey Jacks in a fantastic seven game series. Philly had their backs against the wall, down 3-2. They clung desperately to Game 6, barely holding off the Jacks ferocious comeback, before coming back to win Game 7 handily. The team is really being led by its pitching duo of Quilvio Lee and Al Francisco. Francisco is 3-0 in his 4 starts with a 2.79 ERA in 29 innings. With the trade of Matos to the NL, Lee wanted to make sure there was no doubt who the new best pitcher in the AL is. In his 4 starts, he is 2-0 with a nearly unbelievable 0.64 ERA in 28 innings. The team is a whole is also pitching well, with a team ERA of 3.38 in these playoffs. Offensively, Rick Jamison has been the most impressive. He is hitting .389 with 5 home runs and 13 RBI in his team's 14 playoff games. In the NL, the Rebellion were able to beat San Diego in six games. As expected, Richmond was able to defeat the Coyotes starters who weren't named Pepe. Sosa started Games 1 and 4, which were the only San Diego wins. Richmond won despite Sosa's dominance, who only gave up 2 runs in the 17 innings that he pitched in the NLCS. Ted Westmoreland, after a historic NLDS was a total no-show in the NLCS. He went 4/24 in the six games with 0 home runs, 0 extra base hits and only 1 RBI. The offense as a whole, actually, struggled in the series. In three of the series' six games, they scored 2 runs or less. The pitching though, has been very good. Eight different pitchers have appeared throughout these playoffs, and only one has an ERA of higher than 3.00. None have an ERA of higher than 3.80. The team ERA is a rock-solid 2.67. The Fall Classic should be a good one. Richmond has shown though, that they can struggle against dominant lefties. And Lee is the best lefty in the SPL who doesn't play for San Diego. The Stomp though have much better starters after Lee than the Coyotes did after Sosa. And, especially if Westmoreland doesn't snap out of his slump, the Rebellion offense might struggle to score. Philadelphia wins in six.
