Texas Tweakers
vs
Montreal Expos
(92-70) (100-62)
It's time for World Series 77, where the winner will be the 7th different team to win the World Series in the last 7 seasons! It’s a battle between the #2 seed Texas Tweakers of the American League and the #5 seed from the National League, the Montreal Expos. Montreal is seeking their first title in franchise history, while Texas is seeking its first title since Season 51 when the franchise was based in Kansas City. Both teams should be well rested for the World Series having each won their LCS in 5 games. Texas got a bye in the 1st round and has been scorching hot ever since, going 7-1 in their two rounds to get here. Montreal was 1 game back of division winner Toledo, forcing them to play an extra round. That hasn't hurt them as they have also been red hot going 10-2 to get here including ousting their division rival Toledo in the NLDS. Montreal has the better record, but Texas will have the home field advantage. What will make a difference in the World Series? Let's breakdown the matchup.
Texas is led by dirtyhill03, who is in his 17th season at the helm of the Texas. After making the playoffs in 6 out of 8 seasons, he felt that he needed to mix things up as Texas went into rebuild mode. After missing the playoffs for 5 straight seasons, they emerged as AL North champions this season. You could argue that their progress is ahead of schedule as a lot of their draft picks haven't even made it to the majors yet.
The one recent impactful draft pick that has made it to the majors is their star rookie SP Rick Edwards who was the #2 pick in the Season 73 draft. Edwards is one of the finalists for Rookie of the Year and has a good chance to win it based on his 15-3 record with a 2.94 ERA and 1.10 WHIP which is considerably more impressive when you factor in that he pitches his home games in a hitter friendly ballpark and pitches in the American League. He is also a finalist for the Cy Young Award although it might be tough to overcome Salem's Miguel Amaral this season.
Texas was able to jump-start their rebuild thanks to some big trades. The biggest trade of them all was when they traded superstar hitter Dana Robinson to the then-London Royals. One of the key pieces they received in that trade was Yasmany Chacin, their 25-year old star 2B who has already won Rookie of the Year and MVP. They also brought in other key players via trades, including LF Addison DeVoss, relievers Alex Chen and Nicky Vance, and SP Billy Kennedy. The big move to put Texas over the top was giving a max contract this season to star pitcher Yovani Ethier. They also added reliever Midre Franco at the deadline to help fortify the bullpen.
Texas ran a 3-man rotation against Salem and their top 2 SPs Ethier and Edwards were excellent as Texas won all 4 games they started. I would expect them to run a similar strategy in the World Series. If the series goes 7 games, it will be interesting to see if Ethier can make a 3rd start. Their pitching staff was 15th in team ERA, but running a shorter rotation and using their top relievers has led them to a 1.67 ERA so far in the playoffs, best among all teams. Their offense was 4th in the regular season in OPS at 0.787 and 8th in runs scored. Their OPS is a little bit lower at 0.767 in the playoffs but they have mashed 50 runs in 8 games. They don't steal a lot of bases (42 in the regular season), but they really don't need to. The entire team is firing on all cylinders right now, and we'll see if they can continue it in the World Series.
Montreal is led by McGirkTheJer who is in his 27th season with the Expos. After missing the playoffs for 15 consecutive seasons, Montreal has been a contender for the last four seasons and had their best record in 20 seasons with a 100-62 record. They've gotten over the National League hump to win their first pennant since Season 56. They've been a very balanced team as they are 3rd overall in team ERA and tied for 14th in runs scored (3rd in the NL).
Their pitching staff is led by the excellent SP Kenneth Christensen, who is an impending free agent. Montreal tried to make a trade happen and get a great return, but when they couldn't find a willing trade partner, they decided to go all-in to win it this year. He had a fantastic 2.15 ERA in the regular season, but he is 1-2 with a 5.57 ERA in the playoffs. He will need to up his game in the World Series to stop the hot Texas bats. The rest of their rotation has been fantastic in the playoffs. They have run a 4-man rotation so far in these playoffs, and it looks like that may continue in the World Series. Howie O'Connor (9-3, 2.65 ERA) is a solid and dependable #2, Wilkin Cedeno (17-4, 2.66 ERA, Cy Young finalist) has been excellent as their #3, and although he will likely only make one start, David Randall (11-5, 3.93 ERA) is a great #4 to have. Theodore Roberts was part of a couple trades that sent him away and then back to Montreal. He was solid in his return to Montreal, but has a 5.40 ERA so far in these playoffs. Chico Carreras has only gotten into 2 games in the playoffs, but he was another solid reliever in the regular season. Their closer Rip Branyan has been excellent in these playoffs, converting on all 7 of his save opportunities with an ERA of 1.35. Their pitching staff isn't as top-heavy as Texas, but they have so many good arms, that they can thrive in a deeper series.
The Montreal offense was the 3rd best in the league at getting on base, and their offense gets a jump-start from leadoff man Rio Doyle who doesn't steal a lot of bases, but had a phenomenal 0.446 OBP in the regular season. Actually the entire team doesn't steal a lot as they were last in SBs with 17 (Texas and Montreal were 30th and 32nd, respectively). When they are at home, 7 of their 8 positional starters have OBPs of 0.340 or higher with SS Gustavo James at 0.320. Gonzalo Guapo is their best power hitter mashing 41 HRs in the regular season with 95 RBIs. The Expos will need him to come through in the clutch against the Texas pitching.
It feels like a short series favors Texas while a longer series (6 or 7 games) favors Montreal. Both teams are playing excellent baseball right now, and it's anyone's series to win! Good luck to both teams in the Season 77 World Series!
