AL: New Orleans Jazz (97-65) vs NL: Little Rock Mockingbirds (102-60)
This is about as balanced as a World Series match-up as you can get. The initial advantage will go to Little Rock with home field advantage, negating the DH for up to four games. These two teams are actually pretty similar squads. Both have average power, with excellent speed. Both have above average, but not exceptional defense. Both have solid starting pitching at the top of the rotation. The pitching edge does go to Little Rock, but only a slight one. The best pitcher on either team is Little Rock's Pedro Castillo (21-9, 2.64 ERA) who had a Cy Young caliber season. New Orleans' rotation though, is a bit deeper, and if either of the teams is forced to use a fourth starting pitcher, this could play to their advantage. New Orleans has the edge on offense though. Both lineups are actually pretty even when you look at the meat of their orders. The Mockingbirds have mid-season acquisition Justin Kingland (.253 AVG, 23 HR, 84 RBI), young star JP Romano (.267 AVG, 32 HR, 102 RBI, 31 SB) and future HoFer Alberto Lima (.285 AVG, 41 HR, 136 RBI) anchoring the lineup. The offense after those three is OK, but nobody really scares opposing pitching. New Orleans' offense, by contrast is pretty balanced. The order is built around under-rated veteran Pete Bradshaw (.266 AVG, 29 HR, 101 RBI), All Star Randall Bryant (.282 AVG, 28 HR, 103 RBI, 70 SB), former Redbird slugging SS Hick Zerbe (.268 AVG, 24 HR, 91 RBI) and Mr. Reliable Bernie Pineda (.294 AVG, 28 HR, 100 RBI, 39 SB). Both squads pretty evenly matched in the middle, with the bottom of the Jazz order capable of doing more damage than the Mockingbirds'. Slight advantage to New Orleans. The defense is interesting though. Both were pretty good, with the Mockingbirds being just a little better. But this may be the 'X' factor... catcher's trowing arm. Both of these teams have their offense built around speed and led their leagues in stolen bases. New Orleans with 273 steals and only 79 times caught, while Little Rock had 224 steals with only 63 times caught. Reigning in the opposition's running game will be key to winning the WS for both squads. Little Rock was below average in CS% at 25%. Their primary catcher, Phil Brea, while an exceptional hitter, struggles to throw out runners with a below average arm and Molina, the other catcher on the roster, isn't much better in that department. New Orleans, by contrast, led the AL in CS% at 36%. Starting catcher Pedro Nieves has an absolute cannon for an arm and led the AL in CS%, throwing out a remarkable 43% of would-be base stealers. This will be the key to the series. If Nieves controls Little Rock on the bases, New Orleans will win the series. Especially if the Jazz run over Brea like they probably should. New Orleans wins in seven.
