Haymakers Excited to Return to the Playoffs

Troy, NY:  The city is a buzz with playoff fever.  The crowds are cheering loudly, fans running the streets waiving their banners and even the mayor has declared a city holiday.  Yes it's true, the hometown Haymakers are back in the playoffs.

   The team was able to sneak out a last minute two game win on the wildcard over rival Grundy County.  The Grizzlies had a great season, lead by a strong pitching staff and superior defense. Their 96 win season would have been enough to make it in the menial Tastes Great division, where a number of teams had down years.
   As for the Haymakers, this is their first time back in the playoffs since their division winning season back in 2013 where they finished with an identical 98-64 record.  This will Troy's fourth playoff appearance since their inaugural season in 2007 as they go after their first NASBL championship. 
  The Haymakers began the year with the second pick of the draft, and eyeing a rebuild for the 2017 season, drafting a number of young bats and arms such as Aaron Sanchez, Rasial Iglesias, Yasmany Tomas, Jung Ho Kang and young superstar Kris Bryant.  These young players fit well into what already was a group of young sluggers and anchored by ace Madison Bumgarner.  There was promise, but the team was still lacking, especially in the pitching staff.  But after the end of the second block, GM Ken Anderson saw an opportunity and was able to trade for Sonny Gray as a compliment to ace Bumgaerner and stock the bullpen with good complements to lefty Andrew Miller by adding Mark Melancon and Carson Smith.
    Pitcher Gray was great down the stretch, going 9-2 in twelve starts while boasting 1.74 ERA.  The only possible negative is will be bounce ace and 20 game winner Madison Bumgarner in game one of the playoffs against Vermont.  New bullpen arms allowed the weaker back of the rotation to pitch shorter, which was evident by Smith and Melancon pitching a combined 68 innings down the stretch.  The five "nasty boys" of the pen will provide a lot of insurance for the games not pitched by Gray and Bumgarner.

 Possible rookie of the year Kris Bryant motorized the offense for Troy, belting 31 homers and driving in 104 runs while playing solid defense at thirdbase and rightfield.  But the leader and spark-plug of the offsense was centerfielder A.J. Pollock, who played gold glove defense in center hit .316 on the season with 59 extra base hits and stole 33 bases.

Even with all that talent, the Haymakers face a number of tough challenges for the NASBL crown.  They face the Fighting Souix in the first round of the playoffs, who won 100 games thanks to a balanced offense and a strong bullpen.  Their rotation is solid as well, fronted by ace Matt Harvey, the great Jon Lackey and longtime Pilots ace Felix Hernandez. It is going to prove to be a great matchup.

 Should Troy be lucky enough to make it past Vermont, they will still need to face the defending champion Spurs and their powerhouse offense led by Bryce Harper, who will no doubt be the league MVP. Harper won the Less Filling triple crown, hitting .334 with 51 home runs and driving in 128.  Not to be outdone, the Spurs also have ace lefty Dallas Keuchel, who will most likely win the Less Filling Cy Young, going 23-6 with a 2.82 ERA.

What's worse, Troy would still need to play the championship series against the Tastes Great winner if they get lucky enough to go to the finals.  It's going to be a long, fun road to the fans in the upcoming weeks.