How the World Series was won. The First Season.

(For Available Teams for S2 click here)

Predicted to be a 5 seed, and a casualty of the first round playoffs, the Seattle Imperials took charge early on in the season and dominated all the way to a World Series Championship. The Imperials won their first 3 games of the season, and 12 out of the first 15, never losing more than 3 games in a row on their way to a league best – 106 wins.

The Imperials entered the playoffs playing their best baseball of the season, winning 15 out of their last 20 games while outscoring their opponents 143 to 66 during that span. Surprisingly, however, it was not their hitting and ability to put up runs that got them there. Sure, they had power hitting Don Ross, who clobbered opposing pitchers knocking in 152 runs and 60 dingers on the year, but his home run total was almost twice as many as Josias Cruz, who was second on the team with 35. Not a single guy other than Ross had more than 100 RBI’s on the season and there were only 2 players who hit over .300, one was part time DH John Bogar (.302), acquired in an early trade from Scranton. The other was Lefty SP - Sven West (.333). By all means, the Imperials offense was not a bad one, but the numbers and “star power” that you would expect from a team that won 106 games just wasn’t there. Ross was the only position player on the AL All-Star Roster. And when it came playoff time, team leader Don Ross who was only 1 HR behind the league leader, had a real hard time putting the bat on the ball finishing with just 2 homers throughout the entire playoffs. And once again it was Sven West who led the team with a .500 BA (although he did only have 2 at bats).

So, how did the Imperials do it?

They had incredible team spirit, incredible heart, an incredible winning attitude, an incredible defense that was the best in the majors in the post season with a .988 winning percentage, and their pitching wasn’t all that bad either. Going into the post season, the Imperials had a team ERA of 3.08 and held the opposing teams to a batting average of .226. They used for the most part a 4 man rotation, all of whom won at least 15 games, including stud pitcher Adrian McGuire’s stellar season of going 21-6. However, as good as their starting pitching was, their bullpen was even better; it was the relief pitching of the bullpen that played the biggest part in an incredible season and a World Series victory. In the regular season, out of 55 save opportunities, the Imperials only blew 6 of them. And during the playoffs, they were 8 of 9. Overall, the combined ERA of the guys who didn’t start a game in the playoffs was 0.99 with a whip of 1.14 and an OAV of .185. The playoff run was solid and the Imperials showed what they were made of on the biggest stage of all. San Antonio had its chance, but lost 3 games to 2. Seattle wasn’t taking any chances with Boston and ordered a round of brooms to sweep them away winning 4 games to none. And then after dropping the first 2 games at home to Dover in the World Series, the Imperials took charge and never looked back, winning the next 3 on the road and capping off the season with a fitting World Series victory in front of their home fans. Seattle was GOOD, Really GOOD, and based on the pitching numbers, you could say that the other teams really had no chance. Chicks may dig the long ball, but trophies are won with pitching and defense.

Its a shame that a Post Season and World Series MVP was not crowned - and if I could vote (and if I could go back to see how the games all went down) I've got to believe that Closer Randy Lowe would be at the top of the list. 7 Saves and 0 Earned Runs during the post season.

Imperials Closer - Randy Lowe

Congratulations to Shierbon and the Seattle Imperials on winning the World Series title in Season 1 of the PBAHL.

Ken Turkjian.