Loggers Win First League Title Since 1995

The Maine Loggers came into the World Series riding a high after a sweep of Boston, while Mount Pleasant had a tougher slog, getting by the pesky Wichita Bandits in six games.  Both teams were looking for their first title in forever.  Maine hadn't won a league title since 1995, losing in the World Series three times since then.  Mount Pleasant was making its' first World Series appearance, and the franchise moved from Monterrey, where they had been to the finals six times, never having won a single title (Buffalo Bills fans have nothing on Monterrey fans, who never got to celebrate a title, and then watched their franchise move 3,500 miles away).  At any rate, something had to give, and one of these franchises was going to celebrate a "first" or a "first in forever".    

Game One proved to be a nail-biter, every bit living up to the hype of a series starter between the teams with the two best regular season records.  A packed house at Lowe's LumberDome in Augusta, Maine watched as Martin Perez and Triston McKenzie battled through seven scoreless innings.  Perez was able to retire the Train Wreck in order in the top of the eight, setting the stage for McKenzie to match him in the bottom of the frame.  Match him he did for two outs, when the weak hitting Isaac Paredes (.126 regular season average) stepped up with two down and nobody on.  He rolled a 4-3, flyball RFX.  Josh Naylor, he of the 4e6, gave chase into the right field gap.  Naylor unwisely tried to keep the ball from falling for any kind of hit, and rather than playing it safely on one-hop for a single, he unnecessarily dove for the ball. It hit the ground just in front of him, then caromed off his leg, and into the straightaway center field.  Centerfield Mike Trout had rushed over to back up the play, but the ball bounced behind him. Trout, running full bore. tried to stop his momentum and turn back for the ball, but instead comically skidded and did the splits.  As Naylor got up to retrieve the ball, still rolling away from him, Parades was nearing second base with a full head of steam.  Naylor finally ran down the ball in center (he and Trout arrived there at the same moment).  The crowd roared as third base coach Jose Bautista waived his arm furiously in a circular motion.  Parades stormed for home.  Naylor's throw was accurate, but late.  The Loggers led 1-0.  Cy Young winner Jason Adam came on for a 1-2-3 ninth, and the Loggers had escaped with a win.  

Game Two would be no pitcher's duel.  Shane McClanahan for MTP and Jose Urquidy for Maine had outstanding regular seasons.  But neither one had "it" in this game.  The game was tied 4-4, going to the bottom of five, with both starters slogging along, still in the game.  A leadoff walk to DJ Lemahieu brought up the very bad man, Adolis Garcia.  Garcia continued his playoff heroism by launching a 2-run shot into the MTP bullpen, where Seth Martinez was warming up.  The ball descended straight into the glove of Martinez, who then took the same ball straight to the mound with him when he was immediately summoned by his manager to replace McClanahan (MLB rules do not allow this, but the move went unnoticed by umpires).     Holding a 6-5 lead entering the top of 8, manager Kirk Gibson said "my team is on the floor!", and unwisely sent Urquidy back out to try and hold down the fort.  After getting an out, the next two men reached on a single and a double, bringing Gibson sprinting out to call for Jason Adam yet again.  This time, Adam could not hold seal it with those men already on base.  A pinch-hit 2-run single from Amed Rosario gave MTP a 7-6 lead.  From there, Jordan Romano was called upon to deliver a 2-inning save.  He slammed the door shut, and the series was tied 1-1 heading to mid-Michigan.

Mid-season trade acquisition Johnny Cueto was called on for MTP to face Joe Ryan for Maine, who had been riddled with gopher-ball-itis in the regular season, surrendering 17 homers in just 88 innings.  The Loggers jumped all over Cueto for three runs in the top of the first.  Vlad Guerro Jr got The Mount on the board with a 2-run homer in the 3rd, cutting it to 3-2.  The Loggers scratched out a run in the 5th, but the goat of Game 1, Josh Naylor, homered in the sixth to cut it back to a one-run game 4-3.  The Loggers then went to the best bullpen in the league from there.  In order, Jose Quijada, Yimi Garcia, and finally Jason Adam, each pitched a 1-2-3 inning, and the Loggers were in business, up 2 games to 1.  

Prior to Game 4, both managers agreed that that game would likely decide the series.  Maine sent out second round pick Luis Castillo to do his stuff, while MTP countered with their own super-hero, Noah Syndergaar, aka Thor.  Thor got the better of it, as MTP held a 3-1 lead heading to the 8th inning.  The Loggers' Adolis Garcia singled with one out off of MTP's Jovani Moran.  Then with two down, the light hitting Gio Urshella (6 HR's in 274 regular season AB's) belted an unlikely game-tying HR.  In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied, Carlos Corea made a bid to win it for MTP, getting a HR 1-6, flyout 7-20 roll.  A 16 came up, and the game went to extra innings, tied at 3.  In the top of the tenth, Adolis Garcia came up yet again in a key situation (a recurring instance throughout the playoffs).  And again, he did not disappoint, destroying a 3-2 change-up from Kevin Gausman into the left-field 3rd deck, for a 5-3 Maine lead.  Jason Adam came on for the bottom of the 10th,     He surrendered a single, but no more, and the Loggers were a win away.

Game Five was a rematch of the pitchers who dueled scorelessly into the 8th in Game 1.  Neither pitcher made it past four innings this time, as both managers sensed the urgency and went to their bullpens early and often.  With the Loggers just four outs from a series-clinching win, leading 2-1 in the 8th, Jose Quijada was attempting to get it to Jason Adam for the ninth.  But Amed Rosario had other ideas, hitting a laser into the right field bleachers to tie the game at 2, and send the Mount Pleasant fans into hysteria, and Maine owner Steve Willnus into a very dark place in the deep recesses of one Mount Pleasant's skyboxes.  In the top of the ninth, Kendall Graveman was trying to get his team safely into the bottom of the inning, and had easily retired the first two men, when his manager came to the mound for a conference.     Adolis Garcia was strolling to the plate with two out and nobody on, after having torched Graveman for the winning homer in the previous game.  Graveman wanted revenge.  His manager was having none of it, however, ordering a two-out walk, with nobody on base, in a tie game.  Not since Barry Bonds had we seen such a strategy.  Graveman did as instructed.  Then Garcia (25 SB real life) took off for second base and made it easily.  Elvis Andrus was at the plate, an aging veteran, in perhaps his final Friendship League season.  Andrus had been the subject of a draft-day dispute long, long ago.  And here he was, with the weight of a franchise on his shoulders.  For the second time in the series, a fly ball was about to decide a game.  This time, it was headed to LF, where Amed Rosario - a hero an inning prior - was staring into the lights, trying to find the ball.  Rosario, not an accomplished fielder (4 e25) couldn't find the ball in time, and it dropped in for a single, scoring Garcia, and bringing Steve Willnus back from the shadowy corner.  Jason Adam was called on for the bottom of the 9th, and he was not at his finest, walking two.  But with the game on the line, he whiffed the final batter, and the Loggers had finally laid to rest their demons of the past 27 years.  

Bangor and Augusta Maine police were both better prepared than they were after the Boston series, and only three fires were reported, as drunk fans mostly climbed telephone poles and sang "Logggggggger-Maaaania" and assorted 80's rock songs, deep into the night.    Jason Adam was named MVP yet again, after saving all four wins.  Kirk Gibson retired following the game, saying he always wanted to go out like Al Maguire did at Marquette.  With management's blessing, he handed the reigns over to Jose Bautista to carry the torch forward as Maine Manager for the 2023 season.    Long live the Loggers.