Wild Things ‘Bummed’ out over series loss
Holly Tonini/for the Observer-Reporter
Wild Things closer Zach Strecker set a league record for saves Tuesday night.
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Wild Things pitcher Chase Cunningham was 7-6 last season and set Washington’s career record for innings pitched.
Bum Phillips, the noted NFL coach and futurist, made a memorable prediction back in January of 1980. After Phillips’ Houston Oilers lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game for the second consecutive year, 27-13, a game that included a controversial no-touchdown call, Phillips famously said, “Last year we knocked on the door. This year we beat on it. Next year, we’re going to kick the son of a bitch in.”
The Wild Things are a lot like Phillips’ Oilers. They keep getting to the front door of a Frontier League championship but can’t kick it in. In 2014, Washington won a wild-card playoff game before being swept by River City. In 2017, the Wild Things were eliminated in the semifinals, in four games, by Florence.
This year, the Wild Things finished at the top of the East Division standings and swept Evansville in the playoffs to advance to the league championship series against Joliet, the team that tied Washington for first place in the East. After pulling out a tension-filled 2-1 win in Game 4 to even the best-of-5 series, Washington seemingly had everything lined up for its first league championship in 17 years. All the Wild Things needed was to win Game 5 Tuesday night at Wild Things Park, where Washington was nearly unbeatable for much of the season. And the Wild Things had their ace pitcher, Thomas Dorminy, on the mound. Joliet was starting a relief pitcher.
The season, however, ended like so many others have for the Wild Things: with the opponent doing a celebratory dogpile on the mound. The Wild Things were left to watch, at the door, looking in through the little window.
So close, yet so far away.
Three trips to the finals in 17 years. Nine years in the playoffs. Zero championships.
Even with the gut-wrenching end, the Wild Things enjoyed a good season. They bolted out of the gate to a 22-10 start that might have masked some of their deficiencies. Washington scored at least 10 runs in eight of its first 34 games, which had one person inquiring what the team record was for double-digit run games in the season. That record (20) wasn’t in jeopardy.
Many of those early offensive explosions, however, came in the West Division’s tiny ballparks or against teams that were overmatched at the start of the season. There were holes in the Washington lineup and they began to show in the middle of the season, though the Wild Things did have league MVP James Harris and led the league in hits, runs and total bases.
The pitching, with the exception of Dorminy and closer Zach Strecker, was inconsistent early but vastly improved after the all-star break. Langbehn and assistant general manager Tony Buccilli made some key moves to solidify the pitching staff. None was bigger than the signing of Cuban-born reliever Jesus Balaguer, who gave Washington a multi-innings setup guy to use as a bridge between the starters and Strecker. It also helped that Chase Cunningham, who has pitched more innings for the Wild Things than anybody in their history, started looking more like the guy who won 10 games last year than the inconsistent pitcher he was early in this season. And Michael Austin was signed at midseason and fit in well as the No. 3 starter.
“It was a great season,” manager Gregg Langbehn said. “We put ourselves in good position early in the season with the way we played. We played so well, but Tony and I talked about the pitching had to improve. In the middle of the season, we didn’t play well but the pitching started to get better. Tony did a great job of finding the right guys to add to the roster. (Reliever) Jake Eaton got healthy, Chase Cunningham straightened some things out, Michael Austin made an impact and Dorminy got even better. The last third of the season we didn’t have to chase teams because we had played so well early.”
The key stretch for Washington came after its record slipped to 33-30. The Wild Things went to Traverse City, swept the Beach Bums then won eight consecutive series and survived the closest and wildest playoff race in league history.
In the postseason, Washington played to its potential in sweeping Evansville. For four games against Joliet, considering the quality of the opponent and its talented pitching, the Wild Things couldn’t have played much better. But in Game 5, they couldn’t have looked much worse. Two errors – one on a routine throw from the catcher to the pitcher, of all things – not covering third base on a play, bunting into a double play and no baserunners after the fourth inning was too much to overcome. In other words, all the things Washington had been doing correctly they did wrong in Game 5.
“We played well in the playoffs defensively until this game,” Langbehn said after Game 5. “We had turned 12 or 13 double plays in the playoffs.
“The bottom line is we didn’t produce like we did during the regular season for the whole series against Joliet. We knew it was going to be a tough matchup because of their pitching. (Game 5), though, didn’t take away from a fantastic year.”
It did, however, leave Washington on the outside looking in at the Slammers’ championship celebration.
Now, it’s back to the drawing board for the Wild Things, who could return some talented players next season. They can only hope that the window, or door, of opportunity doesn’t shut on them like it did Phillips’ Oilers, who never made it back to a championship game.