Bash and Mash: Chicago Ohawks Season 87 World Series Run

The Chicago Ohawks organization was founded in March of 2020, just five months ago. They started off decently well, going 38-22 and 42-18 in their first two full seasons, but failed to capture a division title in either one. In season 86, they won the division with a 48-12 record but were eliminated in their league semi-finals by the eventual world champion San Diego Giants, and it gave the team something to prove going into season 87.
During the regular season, they finished a sterling 52-8 while flirting with the team BA record. However, they struggled with pitching, and many of their wins were slugfests, which was a concern heading into the playoffs with many other teams having fantastic offenses.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Ohawks faced the Detroit Detroit, and won 8-5. Marshall Mcadams went 2-4 with a home run and 2 RBIs as the Ohawks put up 7 runs in the first 4 innings. Pitcher Chandler Hayes held the fort with 4 runs given up in 7 innings of relief, good enough to prevent the Detroit offense from coming back.
In the Epsilon Peak semifinals, they opposed the Honolulu rbis, and narrowly escaped with a 5-4 victory. Behind Fidel Razo’s 3-3 game and Wayne Couch’s much-needed 3 scoreless innings of relief, the Ohawks were able to shut down the rbis after a tumultuous 5th and 6th innings.
In the league finals, they met the rival Houston Nightcrawlers, and triumphed 13-7 in a classic slugfest. Santiago Whitcomb led the way with a 4-5 night and 2 dingers, and the Ohawks obtained their first league title.
The World Playoffs started with a bang for Chicago. Up against the Valencia Dragon Shrimp, a team that had one of the best records in the game a year prior but had tapered off that season, the game finished as a 15-11 win for the Ohawks, where they scored 8 runs in the fifth inning, and Dragon Shrimp pitcher Korey England gave up an unfortunate 12 runs. After receiving a bye past the quarterfinals as the highest-ranked team remaining, the Yonkers River Rats were the only team between them and the World Series. The game was a 6-4 nailbiter, with the Ohawks’ relief pitching once again coming in clutch as Kasey Flowers was the man of the hour with three scoreless innings out of the pen.
In the World Series, the Ohawks were pitted against the Peoria Massacre, another semi-new team with a fantastic offense. In game one, the Massacre won 8-6, powered by a 4-run second inning. Incredibly, Massacre relief pitching combined for 5 innings of 1-run ball to bail out the starters' mediocre performance.
In the second game, the Ohawks knotted the contest with a tightrope-walk 9-8 victory. Emerson Washington went 2-4 with a homer and… believe it or not… the Ohawks’ bullpen combined for 2 runs over 6 innings.
The final game was possibly the greatest World Series game in FB history. The score was 9-8 Massacre after two innings and the social feed was blowing up. Chicago tied it in the 4th and the two sides traded blows in the 6th, which ended with a 12-11 lead for the Ohawks. But in the 8th, Tobias Mota couldn’t hold it and the Massacre jumped in front 13-12 in the 8th.
By the bottom of the ninth, there was as much tension and adrenaline as was possible in an online baseball simulation game. 21 year-old Valentin Soliz came out of the pen with the weight of the world on his shoulders. When Fidel Razo went deep with 1 out, you could almost hear Matt Vasgersian scream (thanks, Shimakaze). It was tied.
And then, crack. You could hear the stadium leap to its feet. Not a single person in attendance could hold their emotions.
Reese Nelson got a pitch to hit, and he did not miss it. Final: 16-13, Ohawks.
On a side note, Ohawks reliever Pedro Mccabe pitched a clean, scoreless ninth inning.
Congratulations Chicago Ohawks, we can’t wait for what the next season holds.

FB Awards!
Now, for the final votes of the FB awards.


MVP:
With 58.8 % of the votes in the final round of voting, Augustus Hyatt (Chicago Ohawks, .421 average, .821 slugging with 66 RBIs) wins FB MVP.

Cy Young:
With 52.9 % of the votes in the final round of voting, Cruz Goins (Spokane Warriors, 10-1,1.636 ERA with 74 strikeouts) wins FB Cy Young.

Now, if these two faced each other in a game… who would win?
With .421 average vs. a 1.636 ERA in 87, I think that Cruz Goins will win this one for 2 reasons. One, even with Hyatt having an insane .421 average, he is still only getting base hits less than half the time and with the low ERA that Goins has, it will be tough for Hyatt to get a hit. Another reason is that Goins has a .667 WHIP, so he is allowing less than a base runner per inning, making it even more difficult for Hyatt to succeed.
Therefore, I think that Goins will win the battle on a 2-2 count, inducing a groundout to second.