2014 NLCS Wrapup - Metropolis vs. Brew City

Brew City came into the NLCS playing their best baseball of the year. They swept Portsmouth and Fleetwood and hoped to do the same to Metropolis. The Avengers had other plans, winning the first three games and taking the series four games to one, moving on to their third consecutive Brassball World Series. Here are some of the numbers behind the series.

• Brew City scored just ten runs in the series - fewer than Metropolis scored in Game Three alone.
• Avenger 3B Jose Bautista hit just .200, but did walk five times for a .400 OBP.
• Brew City ace Matt Harvey was both hard to hit (18 strikeouts) and easy to hit (3 homers) in his 13 2/3 innings.
• The Avengers had an .833 OPS vs right-handed pitchers but just a .382 OPS vs lefties.
• Doug Fister struck out 10 Avengers in just six innings. He earned a World Series ring with Metropolis in 2012.
• Another former Avenger, Andy Pettitte (2006 World Series ring), allowed one run in his three relief appearances, spanning 3 2/3 innings.
• The Metropolis pitchers held Brew City to a .567 OPS. They had a .756 OPS in the regular season. (No team was lower than .604 in the regular season.)
• The Brew City MVP candidate, Paul Goldschmidt had just three hits in the series, but two were homers. Unfortunately for the Warriors, they were both solo shots and the only RBIs Goldschmidt had in the series were when he drove himself in.
• Jose Reyes made both of the Metropolis errors.
• Brandon Phillips hit .333 (5 for 15), but was the only Warrior to hit better than .250.
• Metropolis struck out 47 times, an amazing 25.7% of their plate appearances. (They struck out in 18.4% of their plate appearances during the season.)
• Avenger flamethrower Aroldis Chapman gave up a homer in one of his two outings. This is becoming a pattern, as he gave up 10 homers in 60 innings during the regular season.
• Metropolis stole four bases in the five games, after stealing only 43 during the regular season.
• Avenger catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit .385 with a series cycle (two singles, a double, triple and homer). He hit just two triples during the regular season.
• Brew City went 2-10 against Metropolis in the playoffs and regular season. They were outscored 92-31 in those 12 games.
• Metropolis's slugging first baseman Chris Davis was just 2-17 with no RBIs.
• Avenger relievers inherited eight runners, five of whom were in scoring position. Only one scored.
• Following Game Five, Warrior Matt Harvey dodged questions about his right elbow, which he appeared to be favoring late in the game.
• Metropolis hit .294/.429/.529 in clutch situations, for a .958 OPS. Brew City hit .143/.200/.429 for a .629 OPS in their clutch at bats.
• Metropolis starter Clay Buchholz won the NLCS MVP award. He went 2-0 with a sterling 0.87 ERA in his two starts. He only pitched 10 1/3 IP in those starts, but that was his job - to give the game to the Metropolis bullpen.