Year Of The Mammoth

Year Of The Mammoth

            The Michigan skies are lighting up tonight with celebrations after the Michigan Mammoth defeated the Maine Loggers by a score of 8 to 5 in win the 2018 Friendship League World Series, four games to one.  By the looks of the box scores, it may appear that the Mammoth easily dispatched the Loggers, but the games were close, keeping Michigan’s GM, Fred Schmidt, eating ice the entire series.   It was Michigan’s first World Series crown since 1995.   Michigan had entered the playoffs the last 3 seasons as the number 1 seed, but was beat in the divisional series by the eventual champion in the last 2 seasons.  You could see some signs of relief by the team leaders that they were able to complete their season in a victorious fashion.   This series will be remembered as the first Fanless World Series.   Due to concern over the Coronavirus, none of the games were able to have fans in attendance.  This didn’t seem to slow down Michigan in their quest to be champions.

           In Game 1, Michigan’s Michael Fulmer faced off against Maine’s James Shields.   This game was not the matchup believed at the outset of the Series as Michigan coasted to victory.  Fulmer (1-0) tossed 7 shutout innings en route to a 9-0 win.  Shields (0-1) was not on target and it seemed that every other batter in the Michigan lineup was walked. Manny Machado hit a 3-run bomb in the 4th inning to give the Mammoth a 7-0 lead and put the game out of reach for the Loggers. The Mammoth added 2 more in the 8th.  
 
            Game 2 saw the Loggers notch their only victory of the Series in a matchup of lefties.   Carlos Rodon (1-0) went 6 2/3 innings for the win shutting down the Mammoth and only allowing 2 hits.   Mike Minor (0-1) took the loss while allowing 2 runs over 5 1/3 innings.     The Loggers struck first on an RBI single by Castellanos in the first, scoring Alberto Mondesi.    They added runs in the 6th and 7th innings and Diego Castillo went 4 outs for the save.

            The World Series travelled to Maine for Game 3 and Daniel Mengden started for the Mammoth, taking on the Loggers’ Sonny Gray.    Michigan erupted for 3 runs in the top of the first after hits by Merrifield and Wendle.   A sacrifice fly from Haniger brought Merrifield home and a long HR by Machado brought home the other 2 runs.   Nick Castellanos double home JD Martinez in the bottom of the 4th inning and Juan Segura single home Aaron Hicks and Russell Martin in the 5th.    Segura added a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 7th to give Maine a 4-3 lead.   After a single in the top of the 8th by Mitch Garver, for his 4th hit of the game, off of Yusmeiro Petit (0-1), the Mammoth sent Jake Marisnick to pinch run.   Marisnick promptly stole second and after consecutive RBI doubles by Francisco Lindor, Kevin Kiermaier, and Whit Merrifield the Mammoth now led by a score of 7-4.   Dylan Covey (1-0) went 1 1/3 for the victory and 2018 Friendship League saves leader Blake Treinen went 5 outs to earn his first save of the Series.

            Maine started James Shields (0-2) in Game 4 opposite Nathan Eovaldi (1-0).   In this game, Michigan scored early and often, giving the Mammoth a 3-1 Series lead with a 23 hit effort in an 18-4 victory.   After Michigan took a 1-0 lead in the first off of a Dee Gordon single, JD Martinez was injured in the bottom half of the inning for the Loggers.  He was pulled after being hit by an inside pitch from Eovaldi.   The Mammoths took over the game in the second inning.    After loading the bases, Mitch Haniger gave Michigan the big lead they wanted when he launched a grand slam and Manny Machado followed up with a solo shot to setup a seven-run inning.    The Mammoth added three more in the 3rd from RBI’s by Garver, Lindor, and Kiermaier.  Michigan tallied 2 more in the 5th and 4 more in the 7th.   The Loggers broke the shutout in the 7^th with a Jed Lowrie HR.   The Loggers hit 2 more HR’s in the 8th by Steve Pearce and Avasail Garcia to bring their run total to 4.  With their pitching staff exhausted, the Loggers turned to Christian Vasquez in the top of the 9th inning and Michigan concluded the scoring with their 18th run.   
   
             In Game 5, Michigan returned to Michael Fulmer to start the game against Maine’s Tyler Glasnow (0-1).  Michigan led off the scoring with a Whit Merrifield single.  Merrifield stole second and was brought home on a Joey Wendle double.    Maine countered with a run in the bottom of the 2nd to tie the game at 1 after an Aaron Hicks double plated Luke Voit.    Manny Machado launched a 3-run home run in the top of the 3rd to give Michigan a 4-1 lead.   Michigan added another run in the 4^th with a Francisco Lindor solo shot.   Maine added 2 runs in the bottom of the inning to close the gap to 5-3, but Michigan promptly added 3 more in the top of the 5th to give the Mammoth an 8-3 lead after hits by Merrifield, Wendle, and Garver.    Maine closed the gap to 8-5 after a home run by Aaron Hicks, but strong pitching by Ryan Tepera brought the Mammoth to the brink of victory.   The Loggers made things interesting a hit by Segura and a walk by Lowrie brought up JD Martinez with a shot to tie the game, but regular season Cy Young and Rolaids Relief award winner Blake Treinen (1-0) got him on strikes and was able to get Nick Castellanos to ground out into a series ending double play.   

           Another team effort was put forth in The World Series for Michigan, but the voting was not as difficult as the Division Series, as Manny Machado went 11 for 20, hitting.550, along with 4 HR’s, 10 Runs, and 11 RBI’s in the 5 games.    Manny will not be missed by this Maine team and he will likely be in the nightmares of Loggers’ GM, Steve Willnus’, for many years ahead.   Willnus can only ponder how the Loggers’ season would have changed if he hadn’t made the fateful trade with the Thunder to open the season.   It is believed that the Maine GM and 2018 Friendship League Manager of the Year would have drafted Garrit Cole and he would have drastically bolstered the Loggers rotation.  Bingo ball 31 will likely be remembered far beyond Willnus’ tenure in Maine.   The World Series victory was a fitting sendoff for Michigan GM/manager Fred Schmidt, who had announced prior to the season that he was stepping down in order to have some additional family time.  He had missed substantial time during the season, but was able to come back and coach the team to victory in the World Series.   Schmidt guided the Mammoths to a 360-288 record with a .556 winning percentage.   The clubhouse was an emotional scene after the game as the team opted to celebrate rather than ponder their future.