WPBL PLAYOFF COVERAGE

Semifinal Series A Recap: #4 Boston vs #1 San Francisco

If you’d looked only at the lopsided 5-0 sweep that San Francisco got over Boston in the WPBL regular season, it would’ve been easy to write off the two teams’ playoff series as a foregone conclusion. But the Hunters had played resilient baseball in the second half of the year, pushing their opponents to the very brink in most games — in the end, this trend continued, but so did Boston’s losing streak, and the Hunters bowed out after forcing the Firebells to fight for their lives all the way from first pitch to final out in both the 6-4 Game 1 and the 9-6 Game 2.

Both teams threatened often throughout Game 1, but Boston was the team with early momentum, as they drew first blood in the 2nd off a Beth Greenwood sacrifice fly, and then Kate Blunt got through traffic in the bottom half for a shutdown inning. After SF retook the lead the next inning via a Skylar Kaplan RBI single and Andréanne Leblanc’s sac fly, Boston punched back through Greenwood again, as the veteran dunked a two-run bloop single into shallow center to make the score 3-2 Hunters.

Blunt, again, coaxed a shutdown inning in the bottom of the fourth, but, again, couldn’t repeat the feat in the fifth, and the Firebells clawed their way in front again. Starting pitcher Kelsie Whitmore dropped a soft hit into left, Kaplan ripped a double just out of the reach of Molly Paddison’s outstretched arm, and Leblanc brought the tying run home on a grounder to short.

Up stepped Alexia Jorge, who had been hit by a pitch and walked earlier in the game. After a seven-pitch battle, the Firebells catcher pulled a hanging curveball to the left-center wall, beyond the desperate effort of a retreating Ticara Geldenhuis and in play to give San Francisco another one-run lead.

Both teams went to the bullpen in the sixth. Rosi del Castillo was first up for the Firebells, and Geldenhuis walked, stole second, and moved to third on a groundout by Suzuka Yamamoto. With two outs and two strikes, Raine Padgham popped a ball down the first-base line that went into and out of Amanda Gianelloni’s glove right on the foul line — after a short conference, the umpires judged that the ball was touched in foul territory, denying the Hunters their tying run, and del Castillo escaped when Padgham popped the next pitch, definitely fair, into the glove of Gianelloni.

Then the SF offense got two insurance runs off Boston lefty Olivia Bricker, aided by two bad hops that helped ground balls get past Yamamoto at second, giving del Castillo some breathing room to work with going into the seventh.

As it turned out, Matt Williams’ squad needed every bit of that breathing room. After del Castillo hit Lexi Hastings and issued walks to Gabrielle Haas and Denver Bryant, the manager was forced to pull the plug on his reliever’s six-out save attempt and hand the ball to Liz Gilder, the lefty moved to the back end of the bullpen by the return of Jill Albayati from injury. Entering with the three tying runs on base and one out, Gilder made tidy work of her left-on-left matchup with Paddison, blowing a fastball by the Aussie for the second out. Up came Geldenhuis, and on a grounder to third, the infield luck swung back in Boston’s favor as a fortuitous bounce took her grounder off the top of Jua Park’s glove for an infield hit.

If any player could drive in the runs the Hunters needed, it would have been Beth Greenwood, owner of three RBI on the day. But Gilder induced a weak roller to shortstop, and the Firebells hung on to claim Game 1.

Two nights later, the teams were back for Game 2, as San Francisco’s Jill Albayati made her return from injury as the visiting pitcher, opposite Boston lefty Paloma Benach. And the Firebell bats came to play — first-inning singles by Gianelloni, Leblanc, and Joely Leguizamon (the latter a run-scoring infield hit) served as the warning shot.

In Game 1, Boston had kept Whitmore quiet by internationally walking her twice, and she did not come around to score either time. So when Gianelloni doubled with two outs in the second in Game 2, Jemile Weeks waved four fingers for the third time, taking advantage of the open base to give his starter a lefty-lefty matchup with Skylar Kaplan. But this time, disaster struck: Kaplan crushed a hanging breaker for a right-center 3-run homer, opening up an early 4-0 lead.

The Hunters pushed back, scoring an unearned run in the second after Leguizamon threw away a potential inning-ending double-play ball and Edith De Leija singled in Geldenhuis. Both teams scored multiple runs in the third — Jorge homered to chase Benach and Leguizamon scored off a walk, error, and two groundouts to make it 6-1; Boston batted around in the second with singles from Haas, Bryant, and De Leija and two free passes, but SF reliever Niki Eckert struck out Yamamoto with the bases loaded to preserve the lead at 6-4.

Against Hunters reliever Gigi Schiano, Kelsie Whitmore entered the playoff home run race with her own homer to center, and Jua Park drove in two with a perfectly-placed line-drive double to conclude the Firebells’ scoring at 9 runs in 4 innings. Eckert got a 1-2-3 fourth but surrendered a run in the fifth via a single, a walk, a hit batter and a wild pitch. After walking De Leija to reload the bases with one out, Boston once again brought the tying run to the plate. But the Firebells once again refused to bend: Whitmore flashed the leather with a sliding grab in center and then Eckert capped an effective relief outing with a swinging K of Padgham to take the game to the sixth at 9-5.

In the 6th, Schiano finished off four innings of effective relief when Geldenhuis corralled a Leguizamon fly in left and fired across the field to first to double off a napping Leblanc. As was the case in Game 1, Liz Gilder entered looking to shut the game down, and although the Canadian allowed an RBI single to Schroder in the sixth, the Firebells defense erased Boston’s last two runners on the bases, and when De Leija grounded out to second, San Francisco punched their ticket to the WPBL championship with a (barely) more comfortable 9-6 victory.

#2 New York Heights (Thursday, September 10)

It is Thursday. Last night, the first-ever WPBL playoff game (Hunters at Firebells) went down to the absolute wire, and this morning we’re back to talk about tonight’s home team, the #2 ranked New York Heights. After closing out their regular season on Friday night with a win to get to 8-7, they’ve had five days off to set their pitching rotation, get healthy, and await Game 1 against the Los Angeles Queens.

Manager Rocky Henley has a lot of decisions to make, just as she has had all season; not all of her choices have made perfect sense, and some of them have lost her team winnable games. In fact, the Heights have led at some point in 14 out of the 15 games they have played, but they’ve lost games after leading by 4 runs, 5 runs (twice), and 6 runs over the course of the year.

All around, then, the talent on this team is sufficient to give them confidence that they can beat any team this September. New York went 3-2 against each of its likely opponents (Los Angeles and San Francisco), and their middling record was mainly due to a surprising 2-3 season series loss to the Boston Hunters.

While attempting to dissect this enigma of a season, this author wrote out NY’s whole roster, and thus the playoff preview idea was born. And now here we are, ready to jump into the last preview of the week.

Pitching

Rakyung Kim (6 appearances, 5 starts, 21 IP, 89 ERA+, 1.90 WHIP, 18 SO, 58% strikes) started on Opening Day for the Heights, and she seems all but certain to get another start in this series. Kim allowed exactly 1 earned run per inning this season, and she was perfectly consistent from start to finish, recording starts of 5 ⅓ IP and 5 ER, 4 IP and 4 ER, and 3 IP and 3 ER at various points in the season. With the Korean righty, you know what you’re getting: effective stuff, but not overpowering; some baserunners, but no big innings — and that makes her valuable in a playoff environment.

Emi Saiki (2 starts, 11 IP, 139 ERA+, 1.36 WHIP, 7 SO, 70% strikes) made her way to New York via the Diana Ibarra trade with Los Angeles, and in just two starts she’s forced her way onto the mound in what will likely be a start in Game 1 or Game 2. Against the Queens in her pitching debut, she went 5 solid innings, departing with the game tied 6-6 before the bullpen undid her work. But it was her follow-up outing that blew the door wide open for her: facing the dynamic Firebell offense, Saiki took a no-hit bid into the fifth and cruised through 6 innings of 2-run ball, making her the only starter to complete 6 innings on the season’s final day. She’s been an expert at avoiding hard contact and free baserunners, and she’ll give her team an excellent chance to win any game she pitches in.

Jaida Lee (8 appearances, 2 starts, 17 ⅓ IP, 140 ERA+, 1.50 WHIP, 23 SO, 64% strikes) had two starts early in the season (one good, one bad), separated by a disastrous relief appearance where she walked 3 and allowed 3 runs in a third of an inning. (In her defense, she appeared on two days’ rest after throwing 102 pitches, a WPBL record that still stands today.) Then Rocky Henley moved her to the closer role, and all sorts of switches flipped for the 20-year-old righty: in 8 ⅓ innings the rest of the way, Lee allowed just 1 earned run, striking out an eye-watering 13 batters and winning 2 games. But Henley mismanaged her usage again late in the season, inserting the Canadian into a game that was already lost, making her unavailable the next night when a 7-run San Francisco comeback culminated in a walkoff grand slam by Andréanne Leblanc. In another worrying development, Lee sprained her ankle in practice and missed the last week of the regular season, although all reports point to her being available for the postseason.

Claire O’Sullivan (6 appearances, 1 start, 16 IP, 177 ERA+, 2.25 WHIP, 10 SO, 64% strikes) has been really steady as the Heights’ main bulk reliever, throwing 3 ⅔, 4, and 4 innings in her three wins. But she was on the hill for the Firebells’ famous comeback, an inning that was only partially her responsibility, as 5 of the 7 runs crossed unearned. It remains to be seen whether that outing will be an aberration or portend rougher outings to come. If any starter gets in trouble early, expect O’Sullivan to be the first call.

Claire Eccles (4 appearances, 2 starts, 10 IP, 296 ERA+, 1.50 WHIP, 12 SO, 49% strikes) has, similarly to Saiki, suddenly emerged as a potential option for the Heights, this time as a back-end reliever. After struggling through 3 innings each in two starts against Boston, Eccles dazzled in 4 scoreless relief innings, striking out 7 and showing off command of a sharp breaking ball and an unpredictable knuckleball. Add in her unconventional arm slot from the left side, and you have a perfect recipe for keeping hitters off-balance.

Jacqui Reynolds (5 appearances, 2 starts, 12 IP, 133 ERA+, 2.25 WHIP, 7 SO, 61% strikes) has pitched about once a week all year long. At fault for 6 runs in the Opening Day loss to Los Angeles, since that game, Reynolds has thrown 9 ⅓ innings with just 2 earned runs allowed. She won’t get that many strikeouts, but when she’s on her game, the right-hander gives Henley another weapon in what is becoming an embarrassingly rich pitching staff.

London Studer, Alyssa Zettlemoyer, and Keira Izumi have all pitched as well, but I would hardly expect any of these offensively talented players to see the mound.

One cannot mention the Heights’ pitching staff without mentioning that Rocky Henley’s attempts to choose the right pitchers have been, well, rocky. At various points, her insertions of O’Sullivan, Reynolds, Zettlemoyer, Studer, and Izumi have all backfired, and this doesn’t even count the two wins that Lee and Reynolds almost blew in relief. If the staff picks the correct relievers, New York should have smooth sailing; if not, they might run aground and strand themselves on the rocks while Los Angeles moves on.

Offense / Defense

RF Natsuki Yonetani (132 OPS+, .397 AVG, 2 HR, 8 BB, 8 SO in 69 PA)

C Denae Benites (269 OPS+, .552 AVG, 11 HR, 6 BB, 6 SO in 67 PA)

LF London Studer (65 OPS+, .359 AVG, 0 HR, 4 BB, 2 SO in 44 PA)

1B/3B Claire O’Sullivan (118 OPS+, .407 AVG, 1 HR, 5 BB, 3 SO in 36 PA)

DH/1B Kylee Lahners (144 OPS+, .313 AVG, 2 HR, 12 BB, 6 SO in 51 PA)

3B/P Emi Saiki (208 OPS+, .667 AVG, 0 HR, 5 BB, 2 SO in 17 PA)

SS Valerie Perez (81 OPS+, .333 AVG, 1 HR, 3 BB, 0 SO in 38 PA)

2B Madison Willan (140 OPS+, .458 AVG, 0 HR, 7 BB, 1 SO in 33 PA)

CF Claire Eccles (34 OPS+, .282 AVG, 0 HR, 1 BB, 4 SO in 43 PA)

There’s no denying the power on this New York squad: five members of the prospective starting lineup have homered, as has utility bench player Keira Izumi (88 OPS+, .320 AVG). Benites leads the charge as the league’s Triple Crown winner, but Yonetani has been a great table-setter ahead of her. O’Sullivan and Lahners provide complementary styles of veteran leadership from the middle of the order (O’Sullivan more a singles bat, Lahners a slug-and-patience type), Saiki has been magnificent offensively, and Perez, Willan, and Eccles have all come on somewhat in the second half {coinciding with Eccles donning a stylish pair of spectacles at the plate}. In their last two games of the season, they piled 18 runs on Los Angeles and 14 on San Francisco, and unless the long layoff disrupts their timing at the plate, Heights hitters will be a force to be reckoned with.

The bench is versatile: Elodie Ciamarro (113 OPS+) can play three infield spots and Suzu Narasaki (46 OPS+) handles the outfield excellently. Despite recent struggles, Alyssa Zettlemoyer did hit .308, and could figure as a pinch-hitter if she is active and needed.

Defensively, Henley will have to choose between the offense-first Studer and defense-first Narasaki in the outfield, as well as choosing an infield configuration between natural shortstops Saiki and Perez and natural first basemen O’Sullivan and Lahners (Studer can also play first). Benites has been the best backstop in the league at throwing out baserunners, but also the worst at blocking for her pitchers — yet, as the only catcher to catch every single pitch from her pitchers, her durability is her greatest asset.

Overall

Are the Firebells really the favorite to capture the WPBL’s first trophy? New York has the talent, they have (albeit inconsistently) gotten the results, and they’re peaking at the right time. I can see this team winning 5 in a row to claim the crown, and I can also see them crashing out tragically in a first-round sweep. Let’s not discount the Queens: they also finished 8-7, and they’ll be operating at full strength as well.

But if you made me choose, then yes, the Heights are my pick to win it all.

#3 Los Angeles Queens (Wednesday, September 9)

Today is the first day of the WPBL playoffs, and as Boston and San Francisco get ready to face off tonight at Robin Roberts Stadium, it’s time to turn our attention to the series that begins tomorrow, in which the second-seeded New York Heights will take on the third-place Los Angeles Queens. Both teams finished 8-7 in the regular season, and on paper this could be the closest matchup we see in these playoffs.

We begin with the Queens, who will serve as the visitors in Game 1 and a potential deciding Game 3 by virtue of losing the season series to their semifinal opponents. Los Angeles is the only WPBL team to have remained .500 or above the whole way through the season, but the path through August and early September wasn’t easy. After winning their first 3 games, they lost 3 straight; they then won 2 and then lost 2, and then to close the season they went WLWLW in their last 5 games.

Amid the symmetric hills and valleys, manager Eric Young has continued to tweak his lineups and adjust his team’s roster construction, and it seems that he’s definitively settled on his active roster of 15 players for this matchup against Rocky Henley’s Heights.

Pitching

Ayami Sato (7 appearances, 6 starts, 101 ERA+, 1.96 WHIP, 17 SO, 70% strikes) arrived in Springfield as the most heralded active pitcher in women’s baseball, having won 6 World Cup gold medals for Japan and been named MVP in three of those tournaments. In wet and windy conditions, the right-hander had an Opening Day to forget, surrendering 7 runs in just 3 innings of work. This set the stage for an up-and-down season in which she alternated three starts of 1 earned run or less with implosions for 7 runs in 4 innings against San Francisco and 11 runs in 3 ⅓ in her last outing against New York. Still, her control is unmatched: Sato led the league with a miniscule 0.13 walks per 9 innings, beating out every single other pitcher (even those who threw less than 1 inning in total) — her 17 SO to 3 BB ratio led all pitchers in the league by a wide margin as well. But there are worrying signs too, in the form of 42 hits allowed (9 more than her nearest competitors) and a league-high 5 home runs given up. Nevertheless, Sato is Los Angeles’ most trusted starter, and we’ll just have to see how her outings go in the postseason.

Michelle Roche (6 appearances, 5 starts, 105 ERA+, 1.85 WHIP, 9 SO, 66% strikes), like Sato, is a right-hander who will fill up the zone. After a brilliant 5 IP, 1 ER victory in her first start against Boston, Roche settled into a solid rhythm, throwing roughly 70 pitches per start, allowing a handful of runs but never more than 7, and keeping the Queens in her starts. Her 3-1 record reflects this (and she picked up the victory in their final game, throwing 2 innings of ER-free ball in relief of Sato), and if Sato gets the nod in Game 1, Roche seems likely to follow her up two days later.

Meggie Meidlinger (9 relief appearances, 335 ERA+, 0.98 WHIP, 13 SO, 66% strikes) is the ace in the hole that the Queens will carry in their pocket throughout these playoffs. Considered by many to be the frontrunner for the league’s best pitcher award despite never starting a game, Team USA’s veteran closer has dominated in both save situations and multi-inning relief efforts. In addition to her 21% strikeout rate, Meidlinger has proven herself to be a master at inducing soft contact on the ground and up into the infield sky. Will Eric Young and Emma Charlesworth-Seiler only deploy Meggie with a lead, or will the Queens be aggressive and push for comeback wins late in games if they trail?

If the Queens need a third starter or a bridge reliever before Meidlinger, things get trickier. Ayuri Shimano (3 appearances, 1 start, 108 ERA+, 1.62 WHIP, 8 SO, 52% strikes) impressed in her first two outings (a 4 ⅔ IP start and a scoreless 3-inning relief win) but walked 4 in an inning out of the bullpen in LA’s last game. Jamie Mackay (5 appearances, 1 start, 55 ERA+, 2.91 WHIP, 9 SO, 63% strikes) has had three relief outings of 1 ER but has been knocked around for 8 and 11 runs in her attempts to go more than 2 innings.

The departure of Thaima Maximiliana (8 IP), who was called up to the Kingdom of the Netherlands’ softball roster for the World Cup this week, has left Los Angeles with a revolving door filling out the rest of their pitching staff. Amira Hondras (4 ⅓ IP), Isabella Villarreal (4 IP), and Maggie Foxx (2 ⅓ IP) are all options, but Suzu Narasaki (1 ⅓ IP) was traded to New York (more on this later) and Adelaide Frank (1 IP) and Brittany Apgar (⅔ IP) are unlikely to crack the postseason roster.

If Los Angeles can pass the baton straight from starters to closer, they stand a good chance to progress. But if there’s a gap to cover, things could go downhill fast.

Offense / Defense

2B Samaria Benítez (92 OPS+, .426 AVG, 3 BB, 6 SO)

SS Ayuri Shimano (76 OPS+, .300 AVG, 5 BB, 8 SO)

RF Ashton Lansdell (206 OPS+, .477 AVG, 12 BB, 11 SO)

DH/P Jamie Mackay (163 OPS+, .386 AVG, 3 BB, 3 SO)

3B Caitlin Eynon (125 OPS+, .395 AVG, 3 BB, 7 SO)

1B Sarah Edwards (104 OPS+, .359 AVG, 9 BB, 7 SO)

C Maggie Foxx (96 OPS+, .333 AVG, 8 BB, 3 SO)

LF Isabella Villarreal (130 OPS+, .462 AVG, 1 BB, 3 SO)

CF Mo’ne Davis (38 OPS+, .231 AVG, 6 BB, 5 SO)

Jamie Mackay’s 5 home runs and 18 RBI lead this LA offense, but Ashton Lansdell is the true force here, with her 4 dingers and 8 steals on the year. Benítez is a prototypical singles hitter atop the order, and Eynon and Edwards have both been pretty productive — both have homered, and Eynon’s 6 doubles lead the league.

Shimano’s arrival (delayed due to visa issues) caused a lineup reshuffle, as Lansdell volunteered to move to right field to accommodate the extra infielder. This change came at a perfect time for the Queens, who have struggled to generate offense from the outfield positions: they’ve gone so far as to try Mackay, Foxx, Edwards, and Michelle Roche (102 OPS+, .353 AVG, 2 BB, 2 SO) in the corner spots. Villarreal’s return from injury has also stabilized left field, but center remains a huge issue: Davis has struggled at the plate, utility player Amira Hondras (37 OPS+, .229 AVG, 6 BB, 3 SO) hasn’t worked either, and Diana Ibarra, hitless for Los Angeles thus far, cost the Queens an exciting two-way player in Emi Saiki and depth outfielder Suzu Narasaki when they acquired her from New York.

As a result of LA’s bench struggles, the lineup saw little change in the second half of the season, but if Roche or recent signing Addisyn Baird (1-for-3, 1 BB, 1 SO) impresses, they could find themselves back in the lineup for the playoffs.

On defense, this team has had a bit of a rough go. Lansdell is the best defender on the team, but her utility is limited on the outfield grass, and Eynon, Shimano, and Benítez are all average or below. Davis is an alright center fielder but lacks a plus arm, and Villarreal is still hampered by an iffy hamstring. The Foxx-Mackay catching tandem has been alright, but unspectacular.

Overall

Entering the postseason, the Queens are a known entity: capable of shutdown pitching and extra-base power at their best, but riddled with weaknesses in pitching depth and on defense. Their respectable 2-3 record against both the Heights and Firebells in the regular season gives them hope that they can go all the way, but it’s hard to say that they’ll be clear favorites in either series. They do have one big reason for hope in this semi-final: New York has already shown a propensity to self-implode, and in a three-game series, one misstep could be fatal. Los Angeles is certainly a team that is capable of pouncing on mistakes, but there’s no guarantee they get that chance against talented opponents.

#1 San Francisco Firebells (Tuesday, September 8)

It’s time for the second half of our preview of the 4-versus-1 semifinal matchup in the first round of the WPBL playoffs, and today we’ll be taking a closer look at the 10-5 regular-season champion San Francisco Firebells.

Under the watchful eye of experienced manager Matt Williams, San Francisco emerged from a rough first week of the season in which they went 1-2, ripping off two 4-game winning streaks in their remaining 12 games of the season to wrap up their season with roughly a week to spare. Their offense produced a league-high 9.5 runs per game, producing from start to finish and being held to 5 runs or fewer just twice in the whole season.

After finishing off a season sweep of their first-round opponent Boston, the Firebells will be confident that they can progress to the championship series. But their test in the final will be stiffer: 2-seed New York and 3-seed Los Angeles combined for a 5-5 record against the 1-seed, and SF’s run differential in those ten games was a measly +3.

The good news for the bell-ringing fans of this squad is that this team is as reliable as they come on both sides of the ball, featuring capable pitching and a star-studded lineup.

Pitching

Per IX Sports’ Cliff Corcoran, Kelsie Whitmore (6 appearances, all starts, 24 IP, 117 ERA+, 1.92 WHIP, 15 SO, 62% strikes) will start Game 1 for San Francisco. Since her lone loss of the season (a 3-inning, 7-ER performance), the WPBL’s first overall pick has held up both ends of her two-way bargain, and in particular, she’s thrown at least 4 innings in each of her four starts since then, getting through 5 twice and racking up 3 wins. Whitmore’s one weakness on the mound is her susceptibility to the long ball — she allowed 4 homers in the regular season, second only to LA’s Ayami Sato.

Liz Gilder (6 appearances, 4 starts, 18 ⅔ IP, 149 ERA+, 2.09 WHIP, 8 SO, 60% strikes) has been Williams’ other regular starter throughout the year. Despite not going as deep into games as Whitmore (her longest outing was 4 innings), the Canadian lefty has been better at run prevention, allowing 3 earned runs or fewer in 5 of 6 games. Food for thought for the Firebells brass: in two relief appearances, Gilder has thrown 5 ⅓ innings without allowing an earned run, surrendering just 3 hits in that time and picking up two relief wins after short starts from Niki Eckert.

Eckert (6 appearances, 3 starts, 18 ⅔ IP, 109 ERA+, 1.77 WHIP, 13 SO, 58% strikes) was penciled in as the team’s weekend long reliever in the first half of the season, and then transitioned into a starting role when Jill Albayati went down with injury midway. Eckert’s season started wonderfully, as she picked up the win on Opening Day in relief of Whitmore, then notched two three-inning saves in relief of Albayati. Her three starts have gone a bit less well, as she’s been hit around to the tune of a 9.23 ERA compared to a 4.50 ERA out of the bullpen, but San Francisco’s second left-hander has given the team enough length, getting through at least 3 innings in each start.

Peyton Coria (8 relief appearances, 12 ⅓ IP, 90 ERA+, 2.43 WHIP, 11 SO, 57% strikes) is this team’s midseason callup, and the 19-year-old has plugged gaps whenever Williams has called upon her, throwing between 1 and 2 innings each time out. After two scoreless appearances in her first three attempts, Coria has allowed runs in her five most recent tries, and she has been especially shaky in high leverage.

These struggles may lead the Firebells to try Jill Albayati and Rosi del Castillo out of the bullpen instead. Both pitchers started the season as successful two-way players, but injuries sidelined both through the mid-to-late part of the season, and both will seemingly be limited to pitching for at least the Boston series.

Albayati (3 appearances, 2 starts, 10 IP, 439 ERA+, 1.40 WHIP, 10 SO, 62% strikes) was leading the race for the title of the WPBL’s best pitcher when she suffered a hamstring strain in late August, and she hasn’t yet been reactivated, although all indications are that she hopes to return this week. del Castillo (5 relief appearances, 5 ⅔ IP, 124 ERA+, 1.41 WHIP, 4 SO, 60% strikes) pitched three times in SF’s last four games, throwing three innings of efficient and effective relief, and she seems good to go when the series starts Wednesday. Her health should push Ela Day-Bédard, Andréanne Leblanc, and Jua Park to the emergency section of the depth chart.

Offense / Defense

2B Amanda Gianelloni (92 OPS+, .327 AVG, 9 BB, 7 SO)

P/CF Kelsie Whitmore (251 OPS+, .451 AVG, 10 BB, 5 SO)

RF Skylar Kaplan (152 OPS+, .490 AVG, 7 BB, 0 SO)

1B Andréanne Leblanc (126 OPS+, .385 AVG, 11 BB, 1 SO)

C Alexia Jorge (140 OPS+, .400 AVG, 6 BB, 5 SO)

SS Joely Leguizamon (65 OPS+, .309 AVG, 6 BB, 11 SO)

LF Jua Park (109 OPS+, .400 AVG, 8 BB, 2 SO)

CF/DH Ela Day-Bédard (23 OPS+, .200 AVG, 1 BB, 12 SO)

3B Ayaka Yamamoto (130 OPS+, .500 AVG, 1 BB, 0 SO)

Matt Williams has had the privilege of running with a virtually unchanged lineup throughout the entirety of the regular season. Whitmore hit second in 14 games, Gianelloni led off 14 times, Jorge batted fifth in every game, and Leblanc has cleaned up in every single game this year.

Whitmore is the star of this offense, as the second-best offensive player in the WPBL behind NY’s Denae Benites. Her 11 homers tied for the league lead, and the two-way star finished in the top three in RBI, hits, and runs scored. Her supporting cast has been ridiculous as well: Skylar Kaplan finished second to Benites in batting average and did not strike out once in 58 plate appearances, and the lefty-swinging outfielder led the league in singles. Leblanc and Jorge both launched multiple homers, and the depth of the bottom of the order has created explosive innings one after another the whole year long.

If not for injuries, San Francisco would also boast the league’s deepest bench, but Albayati (155 OPS+), del Castillo (148 OPS+) are both unlikely to bat, and backup catcher Samantha Gutierrez (169 OPS+) is dealing with an eye injury that might keep her from being used except in emergencies. As it is, they are left with fifth outfielder Jordan Eyster (77 OPS+) and Hinano Beppu (0-for-3), who are both defensive downgrades as well.

Thankfully, this team also(!) has the best defense in the league. The infield is an obvious strength: Leblanc is a vacuum cleaner at first, Leguizamon has great range in the hole at short, and Gianelloni has made a number of superb diving plays at second. In the infield, it appears that the Firebells shift more aggressively than the other teams in the league, and that’s allowed them to limit ground-ball singles up the middle. Whitmore serves as a steady field general for a consistently solid outfield, and Jorge has been a steady blocker behind the plate, although she has a troubling propensity to overthrow her third baseman on steals.

Overall

San Francisco is a juggernaut. Anything less than a championship would be a disappointment for this supremely talented, well-oiled machine. But nothing is certain in the game of baseball, and so the Firebells will have to prove themselves on the field and find a way to win five more games before the season’s end.

#4 Boston Hunters (Monday, September 7)

WPBL Playoffs Week has arrived, and with it four days to preview the four teams that will contend for the league’s inaugural championship.

First up, it’s the fourth-seeded Boston Hunters. Within their first two games (an 11-3 loss to the Firebells and a 12-4 loss to the Queens) it became pretty clear that this team was going to struggle on both sides of the ball.

And indeed they did — although the Hunters managed to hover close to .500 for the first half of the season (getting closest to that mark at a 3-4 record), they struggled against teams not named the New York Heights, finishing the year on a five-game losing streak to end at 4-11.

Against New York, though, they played five close games, winning the season series three games to two. It is from those games that we can perhaps draw a blueprint for how they might be able to shock San Francisco in the first round.

Pitching

Gigi Schiano (9 appearances, 2 starts, 26 ⅔ IP, 129 ERA+, 1.95 WHIP, 10 SO, 54% strikes) quickly leapfrogged Boston’s touted draft prospects to become the staff workhorse for first Keith Foulke and then Jemile Weeks. Her ERA and WHIP numbers are above average, but the strike rate is a concern, as she threw 58 pitches or more in 5 of her 9 outings. Weeks may have to be cautious with his most reliable innings eater, though, as she threw 30 pitches on Saturday and 25 on Sunday, but still, she will probably pitch a good chunk of at least one game this series.

Paloma Benach (5 appearances, 2 starts, 14 IP, 122 ERA+, 2.29 WHIP, 3 SO, 64% strikes) was called up to pitch in Jemile Weeks’ first game of the season, and the lefty has become one of the skipper’s more trusted arms over the second half of the season. She won’t miss bats, but Benach gets enough soft contact that with good defense behind her [a big if], the Hunters could stay in a game with her on the mound.

Kate Blunt (6 appearances, 3 starts, 14 IP, 244 ERA+, 2.43 WHIP, 8 SO, 53% strikes) made her pitching debut in the same game as Benach, and she too has put together a decent second half of the season. Her 5-inning, 2-run start against Los Angeles was the best performance of the Hunters’ season, and since then she hasn’t allowed an earned run in three short outings. But the problem is that she allows a ton of baserunners, and whether those baserunners score on earned or unearned runs doesn’t really matter in the playoffs. And despite only allowing 5 earned runs, Blunt has allowed a whopping 15 runs total over her 14 innings of work.

Alli Schroder (7 appearances, 5 starts, 15 ⅔ IP, 72 ERA+, 3.00 WHIP, 11 SO, 58% strikes) has had a really rough year on the mound as team captain. She ranks last in the league among qualified pitchers in both ERA and WHIP, and it seems like her stuff, while good, just gets hit solidly by good hitters in this league (of course, the Firebells have a lineup full of good hitters, which we’ll talk about tomorrow). Nevertheless, she has taken the ball week in and week out, and maybe she’ll pitch in the postseason too.

Righty Maïka Dumais (8 appearances, 13 ⅔ IP, 85 ERA+, 2.56 WHIP, 10 SO, 51% strikes) is out of favor after struggling to close the year, and lefty Olivia Bricker (6 appearances, 1 start, 8 IP, 63 ERA+, 2.38 WHIP, 0 SO, 59% strikes) might not be developed enough to earn management’s trust. Both could conceivably pitch, but Boston would hope to lean on the first four arms.

Offense / Defense

CF Lexi Hastings (193 OPS+, .400 AVG, 9 BB, 7 SO)

DH Denver Bryant (76 OPS+, .318 AVG, 7 BB, 5 SO)

RF Molly Paddison (38 OPS+, .255 AVG, 6 BB, 10 SO)

1B Alli Schroder (162 OPS+, .412 AVG, 3 BB, 4 SO)

LF Ticara Geldenhuis (92 OPS+, .250 AVG, 10 BB, 11 SO)

3B Edith De Leija (39 OPS+, .257 AVG, 5 BB, 5 SO)

2B Suzuka Yamamoto (148 OPS+, .471 AVG, 3 BB, 3 SO)

SS Raine Padgham (-2 OPS+, .167 AVG, 6 BB, 9 SO)

C Hyeonah Kim (58 OPS+, .200 AVG, 3 BB)

This is an offense without many standouts: Hastings has been a sparkplug atop the order since heating up midway through the season, leading the team with 3 homers and 6 steals. Schroder has hit much better of late after being relegated to pitcher-only duty early on after starting 0-for-7, getting on the home run board late last night. Yamamoto has done well in a small sample size since arriving from Japan, but she’s still vying for playing time with Kate Blunt and Gabrielle Haas in the infield.

Geldenhuis (2 HR), Bryant, (1 HR, 14 hits) and Paddison (13 hits) started the season strong, but all three have faded somewhat recently, leaving even the top of Boston’s order in a worrying spot. The bench players are not inspiring either: platoon catcher Beth Greenwood has a 37 OPS+, Dumais has a 29 OPS+ in her stints at first base, and Blunt and Haas are similarly underwater.

Defensively, the outfield is a strength: all three have average-or-above range, and Paddison in particular has a fearsome arm. On the diamond, Bryant has been abysmal at the hot corner, and none of the other options have been particularly comforting. Padgham’s big arm and Kim’s pitch framing have been highlights, but the disappearance of their bats and Padgham’s inability to contribute on the mound have been disappointments for these international stalwarts.

Overall

San Francisco is the #1 seed for a reason, and Boston will need everything to go right to even steal a game in this series. But they’ve kept their last three contests relatively close, staging late rallies in each to fall by only 3, 4, and 6 runs respectively, and you never know what you’ll see on the baseball field.