Wild Things’ win nets home-field advantage
Winnipeg Free Press
The Wild Things finished the season with a 62-34 record under manager Tom Vaeth.
The Frontier League’s regular season consisted of 16 weeks and 763 games, and it needed almost every one of them to determine seeding for the playoffs that will begin this week.
It took the Wild Things every inning of their 96 games to secure home-field advantage for the postseason. That happened Sunday night when Cole Brannen raced home and scored on Anthony Brocato’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving Washington a 4-3 victory over the Windy City ThunderBolts at Wild Things Park.
Washington finished the regular season with a 62-34 record and the West Division championship. Quebec won the East Division and went into Sunday with a one-game lead over Washington in the overall standings. About an hour before the Wild Things concluded their game against Windy City, Quebec lost 9-4 to Ottawa and finished the regular season with a 62-34 record.
Because Washington had won all three games against Quebec, that meant all the Wild Things had to do was beat Windy City to finish with an identical record as Quebec and gain the top seed for the postseason based on the head-to-head tiebreaker.
After a member of the Wild Things’ front office went to the dugout and delivered news of the developments in Canada, Washington manager Tom Vaeth had a message for his team.
“Skip called us over about the fourth or fifth inning,” Brannen recalled, “and said that Ottawa put up a touchdown against Quebec. If you want home-field advantage, then go out and get it in the last four innings.”
Washington was locked in a 3-3 tie after Windy City second baseman Brian Klein hit a game-tying two-run homer in the fifth inning. Neither team produced much offense the rest of the way until the bottom of the ninth.
Brannen, the Wild Things’ speedy center fielder who was activated off the injured list Saturday, led off the ninth with a groundball single through the right side of the infield off Windy City reliever Dazon Cole (1-4). With Nick Ward at the plate, Brannen was running on the first pitch and stole second base.
“That was already decided,” Brannen said. “Before the inning, Skip said that if I get on, I want you to be ready to run on the first pitch because Nick is going to fake a bunt to buy you some time.”
“There’s no point in waiting around,” Vaeth added.
Ward then put down a sacrifice bunt that was fielded by catcher Peyton Isaacson between home plate and the pitcher’s mound. When Isaacson went to throw to first base, he slipped and fell, allowing Ward to reach base as Brannen moved to third.
That brought up Brocato, who hit a fly ball to medium-depth center field. The Thunderbolts’ Brynn Martinez made the catch and threw to home plate as Brannen tagged at third base. Brannen arrived at home plate at the same time as the ball. His slide kicked the ball out of Isaacson’s glove, giving the Wild Things home-field advantage for the postseason.
“That says we’re pretty darn good,” Vaeth said. “Those guys have a lot to be proud of. Things have a way of working out the way they should.”
Vaeth and Brannen each admitted there is a sense of satisfaction that the Wild Things gained the top seed for the playoffs while playing in a division that did not include the Empire State Greys, who limped to a 6-90 record in the East. In other words, there were no more than three built-in wins over the Greys for teams playing in the West compared to as many as 12 for East clubs.
“If you had strength of schedule, like they do in college football, you’d see that what we did was not an easy ride,” Brannen said.
Vaeth however, cautioned that home-field advantage for any playoff series is not a guarantee of postseason success. Last year, Washington beat Quebec in five games despite not having home-field advantage and then lost to Schaumburg in the finals despite having the home field for the final three games. Washington won Game3 but lost the next two and watched the Boomers celebrate on the turf at Wild Things Park.
“Home-field advantage didn’t help us last year,” Vaeth said.
Brocato’s sacrifice fly went down as the game-winning RBI but a throw he made in the fourth inning loomed large at game’s end.
With Washington leading 3-1, Windy City had runners on first and third with no outs. The ThunderBolts’ Jalen Greer hit a shallow fly ball down the right-field line that Brocato charged in for and made a sliding catch at the foul line. Brocato popped up quickly and fired a strike to catcher Cam Balego, who tagged Jairus Richards, who tried to tag and score. The play at the plate wasn’t close.
“He’s showing that he’s a pretty good defensive player,” Vaeth said of Brocato. “He’s not all offensive numbers. He’s been great for us in the little time that he’s been here.”
Extra bases
Washington designated hitter Wagner Lagrange went 2-for-4 and finished the season with 125 hits, which ties the franchise record set in 2005 by Lance Koenig. … Ward’s .478 on-base percentage is a franchise record,. Kane Sweeney (2017) had held the record at .457. … Washington hit 168 doubles, breaking the franchise record of 166 set in 2005. … Reliever Isaac Mattson (1-0) was the winning pitcher. He struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth inning. Mattson, Zack Erwin and Dan Kubiuk combined for five shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out nine.
Playoffs
Washington will begin play in the best-of-3 Division Series Friday at the winner of the Wild Card game between Evansville and Schaumburg. That game will be played tonight at Schaumburg. Game 2 and Game 3, if necessary, of the Division Series will be played Sunday and Monday at Wild Things Park. Both games will have a start time of 6:05 p.m.
In the East, New York will host Ottawa in the Wild Card game Wednesday with the winner playing Quebec in the division series.