The Michigan Mammoth are on their way to their first World Series in seven years, after downing the Las Vegas Fremonts in six games. Michigan led the Friendship League regular season in wins with 48 and continued their winning ways in their opening playoff series.
The Fremonts started off Game 1 with a single by Jose Ramirez and a double by Marcus Semien and a run knocked in by Robinson Cano. The Mammoth stormed back with 4 in the bottom of the first and never looked back. The Fremonts added 1 in the 4th and the Mammoth countered 2 in the 6th to take a 6-1 lead. Michael Fulmer (1-0) went 6 strong innings for the victory, giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, along with 3 K’s and 1 earned run. Alex Heaney (0-1) takes the loss giving up 6 runs on 9 hits over 5 2/3 innings. The Fremonts added 1 in the 7th and mounted a comeback in the top of the 9th with another run and runners on the corners when Blake Treinen closed the door. This was standard for the Fremonts as they left 12 on base during the game.
In Game 2, the Fremonts again started off strong with a pair of doubles in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Alas, it was the last run that Mammoth starter Mike Minor would give up. After a single by Mitch Haniger and a double by Dee Gordon, Mitch Garver drove home the tying run in the bottom of the 4th against Masahiro Tanaka Minor continued through 8, giving up 1 run over 5 hits and 3 walks, along with 6 Ks. Tanaka gave way to Nick Vincent (0-1) to start the 8th inning. Vincent downed the Mammoth in order. Ryan Tepera (1-0) came out in the top of the 9th and retired the 6, 7, and 8 batters in the Fremonts lineup. Vincent was able to get Manny Machado and Dee Gordon out on grounders before Justin Upton launched one out into the left field seats with 2 outs to give the Mammoth the walkoff victory. This monster shot is one that will be remembered in Mammoth history for a long time. After it left Upton's bat, the ball started veering foul, but came back fair as it neared the foul pole. The crowd looked in anticipation at Home Plate Umpire Enrico Palazzo. As he gave the home run sign to signal the end of the ballgame, the crowd erupted.
Game 3 was a pitcher’s duel with Daniel Mengden (1-0) going seven strong innings scattering seven hits along with a walk to go with 4 strikeouts for the Mammoth. Las Vegas started Trevor Bauer who went 6 1/3, giving up no runs until the seventh. In the top of the 7th, Dee Gordon singled and stole second base. Justin Upton was HBP and with runners on first and second, the Mammoth pitch-hit Willians Astudillo for Mitch Garver. Astudillo hit a double to bring Gordon home and leave runners at second and third. After getting Francisco Lindor out, Keven Kiermaier singled to bring home Upton and Merrifield singed to bring home Astudillo to give the Mammoth a 3-0 lead. Ryan Tepera had a quiet 8th inning. Blake Treinen was called on for the 9th inning. After getting Robinson Cano to ground out, the Fremonts began their attack with a pinch-hit single by Tony Kemp and Rex Grosssman added a double to move Kemp to third. Kemp was brought home by a Trey Mancini sacrifice fly and Jackie Bradley Jr. brought home Grossman with a single. Max Stassi grounded out to end the ball game and Treinen earned his second save of the series.
In Game 4, Trevor Cahill (1-0) took the mound for the Fremonts against Nathan Eovaldi (0-1) for the Mammoth. Cahill promptly was tagged for a run after a single by Merrifield, who was caught stealing, and then doubles by Joey Wendle and Machado. Las Vegas tagged Eovaldi for 3 runs in the bottom half of the third with a home run by Robinson Cano. The Mammoth added a run in the 7th on an RBI by Mitch Garver. The Mammoth may have scored more if not for the strong and accurate arm of Luke Maile. After Maile threw out Merrifield in the first, he nailed Kiermaier in the 8th and Marisnick in the 9th. Ryan Pressley closed out the game and first victory in the series for the Fremonts.
Game 5 was a rematch of Game 1 starters, Fulmer and Heaney. Las Vegas got on the board first with RBI’s Robertson and Grossman in the bottom half of the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. Michigan stormed back with 1 in the top half of the fourth and added 2 in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead, knocking Heaney out of the game. Fulmer (1-1) exited the game in the bottom of the fifth with runners on first and third. Miguel Castro came in and promptly gave up a 3-run shot to Robinson Cano. The Fremonts added another run to take a 6-3 lead. The Mammoth were unable to do anything productive the remainder of the game. Joe Jimenez (1-0) tossed 1 2/3 innings of 1 hit ball to earn the win. John Axford came on in the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning to earn the save and put the Fremonts down 3-2 in the series. This game will also be remembered for the delay prior to the game as the public address announcer requested that the crowd assist in looking for Officer Nordberg. The suspense ended when it was discovered he was already in Detroit and the game began shortly after.
The series returned to Rocco Park for Game 6. Michigan had Mike Minor (1-0) on the mound and Las Vegas started Masahiro Tanaka (0-1). The Mammoth started the scoring with 1 run in the bottom of 2nd off of a single by Dee Gordon and a triple by Mitch Garver to bring him in. Tanaka ran intobig trouble in the 3rd inning, giving up 5 runs before the Fremonts were able to record an out, and capped by Manny Machado’s 3 run HR to give the Mammoth a 6-0 lead all but ensuring Tanaka’s departure. The Fremonts ran into trouble again in the fifth giving up another 5 runs, this time all runs were scored with 2 outs off of hits by Garver, Lindor, and finally a triple by Kiermaier to bring home the final 2 and extend the Mammoth lead to 11-0. Robinson Cano got the Fremonts on the board with their only run in the 6th with a solo shot. The Mammoth tallied eleven hits in the game, led by Garver’s 3 hits. Garver and Machado each had 3 RBI as well. The Mammoth had a paltry turnout with only a paid crowd of 20,443 showing up for a cold October night game. By the time the fifth inning was over, you could hear the fans cheering in the streets of Detroit, just waiting to bring the World Series title home to Michigan.
It was a true team effort in this series for Michigan and the voting proved difficult to determine the MVP. Mike Minor had a strong series giving up just 2 runs over 13 2/3 innings along with his series clinching victory. Dee Gordon hit .348 with 5 runs, and Manny Machado and Justin Upton both hit game winning HR’s against the Fremonts. In the end, backstop Mitch Garver ended up earning MVP honors after leading Michigan’s offensive attack hitting .375 along with 7 RBI’s in the 6 games.
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