Around the Diamond: Fighting for first; Clutch at-bats crucial

The London Majors, in first place by a half-game entering the weekend, jockey for position as they seek home-field advantage for playoffs; London playing long (and small) ball. Our latest news & notes …

(Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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1) Bearing down. The Majors have won their share of lopsided games in 2022. Of their 27 wins heading into the weekend, an astounding 14 have been won by six or more runs. That’s a good thing, of course, as it means the offense is firing on all cylinders, and it allows manager Roop Chanderdat to get more at-bats for everyone, subbing in players, resting others.

But one thing that gets lost in lopsided games is the intensity of a close game, and the experience of ‘bearing down’ during tough at-bats, trying to work the count, move runners over, and come up with timely hits in close games. Last Friday, the Majors showed they haven’t forgotten how to do that.

Though they still held a 5-2 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the visitors had scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth and had brought in hard-throwing reliever Dustin Richardson. The same Dustin Richardson who shut the Majors down over multiple innings in Game 4 of last year’s IBL final. A very tough lefty with former big-league experience.

Starling Joseph struck out on three pitches. Then, the Majors ‘beared down.’ Veteran Byron Reichstein fell behind 0-2 but then took two balls and lofted a single to right. Austin Wilkie then pinch hit for Dan Perrier, and the outfielder had the at-bat of the night. He also fell behind 0-2, swinging through Richardson’s first two offerings. But Wilkie worked the count, fouled off three pitches, and ultimately drew a walk in a nine-pitch at-bat.

Following a Drew Lawrence strikeout, another veteran bat came to the plate. Keith Kandel also fell behind 0-2, but worked the count full (during which Richardson threw a wild pitch that advanced both runners). London’s shortstop then served a single into left field to drive in two runs and essentially put the game out of reach. It was textbook ‘clutch’ hitting. Three tough at-bats, two runs, and a besting of one of the league’s toughest arms.

2) Small ball, big ball. Two days later, Wilkie may have had the at-bat of the night again – although this time in a different context and under different circumstances. Tied 2-2 against the Welland Jackfish in the bottom of the sixth inning Sunday night, the Majors loaded the bases and plated a run to go ahead by one. After a Joseph lineout and Reichstein strikeout, Wilkie, with a full count, cracked a grand slam to clear the bases and put London up 7-2. The game finished 7-5, as the Majors pulled even with the Jackfish for first in the IBL standings at the time.

It was Wilkie’s sixth homer of the season, which has him tied for fourth on the team with Perrier (Cleveland Brownlee leads with a career-high 14, followed by Robert Mullen with 11 and Joseph with 8). After a slow start to the season, the outfielder has turned things around, and he enters action Friday batting .286 with 13 extra-base hits and 24 RBIs.

Those numbers are now quite similar to what Wilkie did last year, when he hit .303 in 27 regular season games before enjoying an even better postseason. The power numbers are better this year, adding another big bat threat to London’s lineup. The outfielder has moved around the lineup, hitting near the top and also in the bottom-third. Sunday’s grand slam was hit out of the No. 7 spot. Regardless of where he hits, it appears the second-year outfielder is rounding into form as the playoffs draw near.

Majors ace Jose Arias enters the weekend (Aug. 12-14) with an IBL-best 1.52 ERA. (Photo: Matt Hiscox Photography).

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3) Jockeying for position. With Welland’s loss Thursday night (3-1 at Barrie), the Jackfish fell a half-game behind the Majors for top spot in the IBL standings heading into action this weekend. With four games remaining, though, Welland (27-11) has a favourable schedule. They’ll play Hamilton twice and also get a game against Brantford (the fourth is a rematch against Barrie at home).

London (27-10), meanwhile, has five games remaining, and it’s a tougher slate. After Brantford Friday, the Majors travel to Barrie Saturday and then Kitchener Sunday before closing out the regular season next weekend with games against Guelph (25-11) and Toronto (21-15), two top 4 teams in the league.

Guelph is right there near the top of the standings (1.5 games back), doing their best to claim first overall come playoff time. The Royals, 10-2 in their last 12, also have five games left on the schedule. They’ll play Toronto Saturday and Hamilton Sunday, followed by a closing weekend of London, Brantford and Kitchener.

It’s all about jockeying for position at the top as the regular season winds down, as the higher the seed, the more playoff series a team will have home-field advantage. Right now, any of Welland, London or Guelph could take top spot, giving them home-field throughout the postseason. The Majors would certainly like to be in that position. All eight teams will make the playoffs, and there will be no byes (it’ll be No. 1 vs. No. 8, No. 2 vs. No. 7 and so on in the first round).

The first two rounds of the playoffs will be best-of-five series, while the IBL Finals will be a best-of-seven.

4) Playoff pitching. With that in mind, the focus turns to pitching. Just like how working counts and getting timely hits (‘bearing down’) on offense, as mentioned above, is so important come playoff time, pitching is crucial in the postseason. It can make or break a team’s chances.

The Majors have a solid 1-2 pitching punch in Jose Arias and Owen Boon, the former the owner of a 9-1 record and a league-best 1.52 ERA, the latter a veteran London arm who’s gone a perfect 8-0 with a 3.21 ERA (fourth in IBL) and 93 strikeouts (third best) in 67 1/3 innings so far this season.

But they’re not the only ones with a formidable top two. Guelph, in particular, has two good ones. They’ll be rolling out Claudio Custodio, who has broken strikeout records this year, and Jeifry Nunez, who joined the team in late July (in 12 innings, he’s pitched to a 1.50 ERA with 14 strikeouts).

In a best-of-five (which has to be played over a seven-day span), it’s likely the Majors would throw Arias and Boon twice each, even if that means they’re working on short rest. It may be the third starter, then, who could be the deciding factor in London’s first two playoff rounds, and that arm is Pedro De Los Santos. He’s got the stuff to be a difference-maker, but it certainly hasn’t been the smoothest of seasons for the left-hander.

In 13 games (nine starts), De Los Santos has posted an unsightly 6.29 ERA in 54 1/3 innings overall. That’s a far cry from the league-best 2.19 mark he posted in 2021 on the way to being named a First-Team IBL All-Star. He’s given up 81 hits this year and walked 23, pitching to a 1.91 WHIP. The good news is that he’s still got time to get right. A good appearance this weekend would go a long way to better positioning himself as the formidable arm he was last year heading into this season’s playoffs.