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AL Wildcard Series --- Colorado
Gladiators (95-67) vs Los Angeles Halos (103-59)
After a slow start to the season
(13-15 in April), Colorado turned things around and seemingly peaked
in September as they finished the season 18-7 to easily secure the
2nd wildcard spot. Unfortunately for them, by claiming the 2nd
wildcard spot instead of the 3rd, they got to face a 103-win team
instead of a 94-win team. Meanwhile, their opponent, the Los Angeles
Halos, led the AL West for virtually the entire season but where
caught by the San Carlo Aces on September 24th. Los
Angeles lost 2 of 3 to the streaking Gladiators in Colorado which
cost them the Division and a 1st round bye. The Halos did
finish with the same record as the Aces but lost the division on a
tiebreaker. Despite a long respectful and competitive rivalry
between the Halos and the Gladiators, they have only met once before
in the playoffs. In 2012, the Halos were fortunate to sweep the
Gladiators in the League Division series.
Game #1
October 3, 2022 at Dodger Stadium.
Patrick Sandoval
(6-5) vs. Brandon Woodruff (22-4)
This was a tight
one early with Colorado jumping out to a 1-0 lead when the 2nd
batter of the game, Narvaez, went deep. The lead-off batter for Los
Angeles, Turner, tied things up with his solo-shot in the bottom of
the 1st. The 2nd batter in the 2nd
inning for Colorado, Seager, went deep and it was 2-1. A couple of
singles and a sac fly pushed Colorado’s lead up to 3-1 in the 4th,
but a Ruf HR would return it to a 1-run game, 3-2, after 4. That is
where it remained after 6 innings, with both starting pitchers out
of the game. Sandoval went only 1 inning for Colorado, as they
decided to make it a bullpen game early. Woodruff who had a lot to
prove after his 0-2 World Series performance last year, went 6
innings. In the bottom of the 7th inning, after a Ruf
single, Swanson goes yard to give Los Angeles their 1st
lead 4-3. Then in the 8th, the floodgates open as Los
Angeles bat 9 in the inning scoring 5. The big blow is a 3-run
double for Swanson. Colorado would get one back in the 9th
and fall, 9-4. Swanson was the hitting star with 3 hits (HR) and 5
RBI. Houck gets the W in relief (1ip 1h 0er 2bb 2k) while Gallegos
gets the L & BS (1ip 2h 2er 1bb 2k). Woodruff goes 6ip 6h 3er 2bb
6k. Sandoval 1ip 1h 1er 0bb 1k. HALOS up 1-0.
Game #2
October 4, 2022 at Dodger Stadium.
Max Scherzer
(22-5) vs. Luis Castillo (12-10)
The Halos 22-game
winner got a no decision in game #1, now it is Colorado’s 22-game
winner’s chance in game #2. Things were looking good as 65-year old
Lorenzo Cain hits a 2-out grand-slam off Castillo in the 2nd
inning to put Colorado up 4-0. It looked even better in the 5th,
when Ramirez’s error helped put 2 more runs on the board for
Colorado as they are now up 6-0. Los Angeles would scrape a run
across in the 5th, but Scherzer got Vazquez to hit into a
rally ending GBDP to end the threat. After a solid 69 pitches,
Scherzer would exit the game in the 6th with a 6-1 lead.
Lovelady would get no love from the Halo batters (or his manager) in
the 6th, as he walked Nimmo, threw a WP, threw a 2nd
WP and then threw a goffer ball to Ramirez before exiting the game
with Los Angeles still trailing, but now only by the score of 6-3.
Cain would earn his 5th RBI of the game when he draws a
BB off Chapman who walked 2 straight batters before ending the
inning. With the lead now 7-3, Pressly comes on in the 8th
for Colorado but allows a 2-out 2-run homer to Meadows and then
another 2-out 2-run homer this time to Swanson. The score is tied
7-7 heading into the 9th. Both teams got a man on in the
9th, but ended up with nothing to show for it … on to the
10th. Swanson comes in for Colorado in the 10th
and got into immediate trouble after a leadoff BB to Ramirez and
then a Meadows double. A very conservative decision to hold Ramirez
an Ex runner at 3rd almost came back to haunt the Halos.
Swanson rallied to K Ruf and K Swanson and looked like he might
wiggle out of trouble, but Merrifield’s single scores the walk-off
run as Los Angeles wins 8-7. Scherzer gets the no decision after 5ip
2h 1er 2bb 4k. Swanson gets the L after 0.2ip 2h 1er 1bb 2k.
Hendriks gets the W after 2ip 2h 0er 0bb 2k. Castillo is lucky to
get a no decision after a rough 5ip 2h 4er (6r) 5bb 3k. HALOS up
2-0.
Game #3
October 6, 2022 at Coors Field
Paulo Espino
(8-3) vs. Freddy Peralta (12-5)
The series moves
to Colorado as the Gladiators try to climb back into this series.
Nothing goes Colorado’s way as Los Angeles goes up 1-0 after 1, 3-0
after 3 and 6-0 after 5. Colorado would get 2 in the 6th
but Los Angeles would answer with 4 more in the 7th and
go on to win 11-2. Tough way to end it for a very tough Colorado
team. Their bully just completely abandoned them allowing 23 of the
27 earned runs scored by the Halos in the series. Espino gets the W
after 5.1ip 6h 2er 1bb 5k. Peralta gets the L after 4ip 6h 2er 1bb
5k. HALOS win 3-0.
The series MVP
goes to Dansby Swanson who hit .500 in the series with a 1.214
slugging%, 3 homeruns and 9 Rbi.
Congrats to Casey
on a great season, it was a tough series for a VERY good team that
beat us 9 out of 14 times during the regular season.
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