CORPSGUY725'S BLOG
WBC 58 Group Stage Beginning
wait, is the Base Corps a good baseball team?
It's a bizarre feeling. I woke up on the first morning of the World Baseball Classic, and I felt ... hope. I am being completely honest, I can't remember the last time I experienced actual hope at the beginning of a WBC cycle. The early editions, when I was still a young lad, would've featured blind optimism, if I hadn't contracted chronic pessimism the moment I gained sentience. Once the whole 10-3 thing happened, I knew this Corps would never amount to anything, and I was right. Every cycle was painful in its own right, not the same kind of pain each time, but enough to extinguish any foolish ideals of hope by the time the next tournament rolled around.
Then, WBC 57 happened. The curse, the glass ceiling, was finally broken. I can tell you that not a single Drawkian fan cared about being dumped out by South Newlandia in the quarterfinals, simply because that was a factual sentence we could say out loud. "The Base Corps, Drawkland's national baseball team, won a game in the WBC quarterfinals. They were in that round of the tournament. They were a couple clutch hits away from being semifinal contenders!"
It would be foolish to say that the Base Corps now holds title aspirations. I would say it's foolish to even think they'd return to the quarterfinals this soon, because again, I'm a raging pessimist. All the same, I woke up the morning of MD1 at my hotel in Bonneville, Quebec, feeling hope. I proceeded to break out in hives once I realized what was happening.
Just kidding. But seriously, it's hard to deny that this Corps might have something brewing. The Corps veteran standouts having been playing well the last couple domestic seasons. The key new pieces from last cycle's Corps team have stuck around. There's new blood in the mix, most of which have experienced international baseball play and executed well beyond expectations. Drawkland is somehow top ten in the WBC rankings, and a pot one team in WBC 58. Now that final tidbit is thanks to both Ranoria and Chromatika dropping from this edition, but it puts Drawkland in a good group scenario regardless.
Now skip to present day. Drawkland sits 4-0 in Group D, with somewhat convincing wins against the two main competitors in the group, Eshialand and Delaclava. The hitting has been pretty good, and the pitching has somehow been even better. Allow me to "quickly" recap each of the first 20% of this group stage.
"@" Tri Ann
The quotes around the @ symbol are there to signify that it was an "away" game for the Base Corps. For those unaware, the hosting nation Quebec decided to take a play out of our own playbook, taking inspiration from Drawkland's WBC 55 "Road Trip" concept. Thus, this game was held in Tri Ann's "home stadium" of Meridian Field in Bonneville. As far as a debut game for the tournament goes, you can't ask for much more. The pressure of performing at "home" isn't there, you're going against an unranked team projected to be a group bottom feeder, so you have a little room to make mistakes as you knock off the rust.
It seems the Corps didn't have much rust to knock off. Basepath demon Louie Wade started the game with a steely 5-pitch walk and a stolen base two pitches later, as he often does. One pitch later, Lane Kavana served a ball straight down the first base line, resulting in a base hit and giving Wade plenty of time to round third and score the first run of the campaign. It felt like the Corps was about to explode for a big debut, but the Tri Ann starter got back on track and got out of the inning without any more action.
On the bottom side of the inning, Tyler Silvanus made his first WBC Opening Day start in just his second cycle, finally usurping Leo Roy's streak of I-don't-care-enough-to-check-how-many consecutive opening day starts for the Base Corps. With Roy in his supposed swansong cycle and Silvanus one of the hottest pitchers in Drawkland, it simply made sense. Silvanus made the Tri Ann lineup look foolish, expertly spotting his fastball and demolishing hitters with his slider. Tri Ann's lineup got a few on base in the early going, especially thanks to a couple walks allowed by Silvanus, but nobody made it to scoring position. Silvanus left the mound at the end of the sixth, having struck out nine, allowed zero runs, and earning the quality start.
Tri Ann's starter had a similarly solid performance after the early run allowed, perhaps thanks to an overly aggressive Corps lineup hungry to make some magic happen. Slowly but surely, the Corps lineup started adding to the lead. Aaron Frost got a knock in the fifth and came around to score from another Lane Kavana RBI base hit. Tyler Silvanus led off the top of the sixth with a solo homer, which chased the starter and got Drawkland on top 3-0. The middle of the order (Calebs-Gates-Honeycutt) was quiet all game, with all three hitters netting a single walk among them in 13 plate appearances.
The top of the seventh is where the game was won. Richelle Shard led off with a base knock, then the Tri Ann reliever issued back-to-back walks to Frost and Wade. The bases were quickly loaded, and Lane Kavana was at the dish. With great hitters behind him and no open bases, Tri Ann were forced to pitch to him. They got away with only allowing a sac fly, Kavana's third RBI of the game, but it did make the game 4-0. Abram Kavana came to the plate with runners on the corners, and spanked a ball to the left-center wall. Frost scored easily, but the ball was hit so hard that Wade had to hold up at third and the younger Kavana slide into second with just the one RBI from his first hit of the game. Then came Silvanus, hungry to break the game open now that he didn't have to worry about coming back to the mound that night. He ambushed the Tri Ann pitcher, sending the first pitch screaming down the line for a two-RBI double.
There was no more offensive action on either side. Drawkland now held a 7-0 lead, swing pitcher Sara Barton came on to eat a couple innings. She kept Tri Ann quiet, and Drawkland went into the ninth inning still holding that seven-run lead. With that in mind, Glenn Sutton called for Franklin Bell's nephew, Trevor Bell, to make his first WBC appearance. Young Bell came in and delivered three easy outs, two by strikeout, to put the game away. How's that, uncle?
"@" Eshialand
After a good offensive performance and shutout by the pitching staff, it was time for a much tougher challenge. #15 Eshialand, the pot two team in the group, were up next. In the hitter-friendly confines of Avro Field, it was expected to be more of an offensive shootout. Silvanus, getting his day off after pitching the prior game, would not be in at DH. In a slight change to the normal DHvsLHP platoon, Corps rookie Jimmy Todd was moved to the cleanup spot, playing first base while his fellow catcher Cooper Calebs stayed at 5th in the lineup. Sadeg State alum Elizabeth Houston would get her first Corps action at DH in the 6-hole, batting ahead of her fellow alums Zac MacBay and Alex Gates (the latter of which had the uninspiring 0-for-4 line game one).
Well, it was an exciting offensive performance, but only for one of the teams. The Eshian southpaw Hannah Gray was on the mound to begin the game, and she sat down the top of the Drawkian lineup allowing no hits and just one walk. The Drawkian lefty Andrew Boone returned the favor with three straight weak grounders to start the first, and suddenly it was time for the offenses to come alive.
Elizabeth Houston came up in the second for her first WBC AB, and worked Hannah Gray to a 2-2 count on multiple foul balls before blooping a ball over Kyle Reznor's head at third base for a base hit. The former Skyhawks were known for having elite chemistry in college, and the Corps management wanted to make it work in Drawkland's favor. Zac MacBay came up next, and he perfectly executed a hit-and-run play with Houston on the bases. Houston took off early, and MacBay bounced an outside pitch down the first base line. It was close enough for Rebecca Saunders to field, but Houston went aggressive and took third as Saunders beat MacBay to the bag at first. Alex Gates came up in the righty batter's box and slapped a ball up the middle to score Houston, which served as the first Base Corps hit and RBI for Gates. Still, Hannah Gray got out of the inning with just the one run scored.
The second inning was rocky for Andrew Boone on the mound as well. Harry Brentwood clipped a sinker for an infield single that squibbed up the line, essentially a bunt where he beat the throw. Kyle Reznor followed that by waiting back on a hanging Boone sweeper, clocking it over the wall in left for a go-ahead 2-run homer. Boone quickly locked down and put down the rest of the side in order, but now the Corps had more work to do at the plate.
The additional run support came in the 4th inning. Houston led off the inning with a walk, and MacBay got his first knock of the campaign to put two runners on with no outs. Gates struck out on a nasty offspeed pitch from Gray, but Shard knocked a liner to shallow center to score Houston and tie the game at two. Frost kept the rally going with a knock of his own to score MacBay and put Drawkland ahead 3-2. Lane Kavana lined out to shortstop Kevin Dunbar, but Abram picked up the slack with a similar liner that managed to escape the reach of Dunbar, scoring Shard and putting Drawkland up by two.
Meanwhile, Andrew Boone had locked down and kept the Eshian lineup in check. Hannah Gray was not having the same success, allowing multiple baserunners for four straight innings. Cooper Calebs finally got his first base hit of the campaign, a double to the left-center gap, and MacBay traded places to increase the lead. That double by MacBay was enough to chase Gray in the fifth inning, with Drawkland now starting to get momentum on their side.
5-2 may be a solid lead, but it's not an impossible deficit. Thankfully for the Drawkian faithful, the Corps put the game away in the seventh. Johnathan Quarrie came on to pitch for Eshialand, and he simply didn't have his stuff going. Calebs flied out to the deepest part of the yard, but Houston followed that up with a 5-pitch walk. MacBay was called out on strikes with a borderline 3-2 pitch, much to his chagrin, but Gates swung the momentum back with a blooper over the head of Saunders at first. Shard worked a walk herself, loading the bases for Aaron Frost as the lineup turned over. Now here's the thing: Aaron Frost is often derided for his "warning track power," usually being unable to get the ball over the fence unless the stars align, so he opts for solid base hits using the big part of the field instead. However, the right-handed Frost shows most of his pop when extending his arms on outside pitches, driving the ball to the opposite field ... and Avro Field is known for its extremely short porch in right field, a mere 300 down the line. Either Quarrie didn't read his scouting report, or his command just wasn't on. Regardless, Quarrie tried a fastball outside on the second pitch of the AB, and that's what Frost was looking for. The ball zipped down the right field line and slotted just over the wall in fair territory. Was it grand? Debatable, but it was a slam. Frost rounded the bases with a grin a foot wide, and the Drawkian supporters in the crowd were thrilled. More importantly, the Corps were now up 9-2 on Eshialand, and with only nine outs left for the Owls, victory seemed imminent.
Boone, still on a low pitch count thanks to his style of pitching, finished a clean seventh with the win and quality start well in hand. Elly Jacobs, the long reliever, came on to record the final six outs, and she did just that, allowing just one baserunner. Zac MacBay went yard in the ninth with an inconsequential insurance run, which led to the final tally of 10-2 once Jacobs recorded the final out of the ninth.
vs Delaclava
With Silvanus back from his day of rest, the standard left-handed DH platoon was in for the next important match of the campaign. Drawkland's new-ish Sonnelian neighbors in Delaclava were next, and this would also serve as the "home" opener for the Base Corps at Salamantal Park in Jolbonopolis. This would be the first tightly-contested matchup of the group stage for the Corps, but somehow they pulled out a solid performance in the later innings. Trust me, I'm just as shocked as you are.
A five-man rotation in a six-team group quadruple round robin means the same pitcher will face the same team four times. Of course, the Corps may throw in a spot start somewhere to shake up the rotation midway through the campaign, but this does play in Drawkian favor one way. Claire Kirkland, the third pitcher in the rotation, is set to face against Delaclava, the only team in the group to not employ the DH at home (or away, if they can get away with it). Kirkland is probably the best hitting pitcher not named Tyler Silvanus. Though she isn't leading any league categories, she has won the silver slugger at pitcher every year since she made it to the majors (being in the half of the PBL which does not use the DH at home). Anyway, this is irrelevant in this game since it was at "home" for the Corps and thus had the DH, but it could prove clutch later down the line.
So Kirkland was on the bump, and things were going great as she set the first two hitters of the game down in four pitches. Then Cody Brewer sat fastball and destroyed a solo shot to put Delaclava up early. Kirkland got out of the inning with the next batter, of course, but it was proof that Delaclava weren't going to lay down. The lefty Bedin Egozhevy took the mound for Delaclava, and for the first time through the order, he was operating pretty well. The second time through the order was a different story.
In the third inning, Aaron Frost got a lucky call on a 3-2 count to get on base with a walk. Lane Kavana grounded out, but it was a deep enough hit down the third base line that the double play was not in order. Frost made it to second on the play to get himself into scoring position, which Abram Kavana took advantage of with a nice RBI single down the line to tie the game. Tyler Silvanus came up next, and even though he had to deal with the lefty-left matchup against Egozhevy, he managed to line a ball just over the head of Brewer in right, deep enough to get Abram Kavana home to take the lead.
More action came in the fourth, with the Phoenixes making Kirkland pay for surrendering a walk to lead off the inning. Omer Ben-Haim got the game-tying RBI base hit, but Kirkland got the third out before Ben-Haim could come around himself. The game wouldn't be tied for long. Leading off the bottom of the fourth, Jimmy Todd was there ready to wow the crowd. On the first pitch of the AB, he ambushed Egozhevy, turning on an inside fastball and sending it to deep left field to retake the lead for Drawkland.
This 2-3 lead for Drawkland would hold until the top of the seventh. Claire Kirkland was kept out for the seventh, for some reason. I didn't get this move by Sutton, perhaps he was trying to save the high leverage arms for one more inning? Regardless, Kirkland gave up a game-tying solo shot off the bat of George Torresino. She was yanked immediately after, and Corps rookie Brett Sadler came on to finish the inning. Thankfully he kept it clean, though Drawkland did not have the go-ahead response in the bottom inning like they did in the 4th. After Robert Butcher pitched a clean two-K top of the eighth, the Corps lineup finally put something together again.
Lane Kavana hasn't been doing incredible in these first few games, but he did double in the bottom of the eighth. His little brother walked to first to get two men on for Tyler Silvanus, and the crowd in Jolbonopolis was starting to feel some energy. Frankie Young was the reliever on the mound for Delaclava, and this was the first time all game that Silvanus got to face a righty. He made good on his opportunity, sending a sizzling line drive into the gap to score both the Kavana bros and take a two-run lead for the Corps.
The Corps was unable to add any more on, but it wasn't a big deal. Lorraine Lockwood came on in her first appearance as the main closer for the Base Corps, and she was as lights-out as she has been in the setup role in previous cycles. She put down the Phoenixes in order in the top of the ninth, earning the first pitching save and third team win of the campaign for Drawkland.
"@" Ubernordwinds
On to the next. The Corps went back on the road, this time to the city of Prince Eric to face Ubernordwinds. Though their record doesn't show it thus far, I can say that the Acorns have the most impressive roster of the three unranked teams in Group D. I was prepared to watch a tough matchup, and that's exactly what we got. Leo Roy finally got his first action of the campaign, and he looked the most rusty of any Corps player thus far.
You could look at the linescore and say "Yeah, that tracks for Roy. Six innings, quality start, two ER, I imagine he let up a solo shot or two and that was that." Instead, Roy was flying by the seat of his pants for the entirety of the game, though he did somehow only allow the two runs. His command was uncharacteristically off, giving plenty of opportunities to the Acorn lineup via walks and pitches over the heart of the plate. The very first AB of the game featured just that, as Acorn leadoff man Mikael Oskarsson shot a double to begin the game, coming around to score soon after.
Drawkland responded in kind the very next inning, as Tyler Silvanus recorded his second homer of the campaign on an opposite-field shot to lead off the second. The Corps lineup was struggling against the Ubernordwinds starter Martin Israel, everyone except Silvanus that is. Louie Wade finally served for Drawkland's first non-roundtrip baserunner, drawing a walk to lead off the 4th inning. Some classic smallball saw Wade steal second, and Silvanus knocked him in with an easy single to shallow right.
Of course, Leo Roy would give that lead up in the bottom of the frame. He allowed a walk to Hermann Bergvold, and a small rally of singles and another walk would see Bergvold score and the bases load up for first baseman Immanuel Amann. In a testy 6-pitch matchup, Roy finally got Amann to swing and miss at a risky curve in the dirt, and thankfully Calebs was there to scoop it up and secure the inning-ending strikeout. It could've been worse, I guess! It's hard to evaluate a start where a pitcher leaves a dozen men stranded on base. On one hand, he tightened up when it mattered and kept them from scoring several times. On the other hand, for fuck's sake, can you pitch an inning that won't double my blood pressure? If this is how Roy will pitch all cycle, Sutton should consider keeping him out of the playoff rotation. Holy shit, am I actually thinking about the logistics of a Base Corps rotation in the WBC playoffs? God might be real after all.
Martin Israel had to depart after the 5th inning due to injury, but the Corps continued to flail offensively. Paul Becker and Huxley Mikaelsson pitched the 6th and 7th clean for the Acorns, and with a depleted bullpen, Mikaelsson was brought back out for the 8th. Mikaelsson handled the first two batters of the inning with relative ease, just one out away from a clean six outs to get Ubernordwinds one frame and some clutch hitting away from stealing a win against the group leaders. All he had to do is deal with Tyler Silvanus. Some fans would've called for an intentional walk against the only Drawkian with any RBIs in this game, but Mikaelsson decided to pitch to Silvanus, and he paid the price 366 feet later on a misplaced fastball. Silvanus had a multi-homer game under his belt just three games into the WBC campaign (for him), and Drawkland had the lead.
Now hanging onto a one-run lead, Sutton sent out Dion McDaniel to face a lefty corridor in the top of the Acorn lineup. He handled the first two batters fine, then gave up a hit and a walk before striking out lefty Patrik Osterqvist to end the inning. With all the traffic the Corps pitching staff was allowing in this game, some additional insurance runs were needed desperately.
Thankfully, the Corps had something cooking in the ninth. With the catcher Cooper Calebs set to lead off the ninth, Sutton called for a pinch hitter. Calebs has batted .125 through the first four games, with only 2 hits and 1 walk in 17 PAs. With the righty Tomas Martin on the bump, left-handed outfielder Jackie Santos got her first at-bat in a Corps uniform, and she delivered quickly with a leadoff double. Ted Honeycutt, another lefty, got his second hit of the campaign on a hard single to right, too hard for Santos to score. It didn't end up mattering, however. Richelle Shard had a fierce AB against Martin, even against the righty-righty matchup. Shard was almost sent packing on a weak popup to foul ground in shallow right, but Osterqvist dropped the can of corn and gave her new life at the plate. On the very next pitch, Shard smacked the ball to deep left field, and perhaps with a little help from the swirling Prince Eric winds, the ball landed just beyond the 340ish wall in left. It was a three-run homer, and it boosted the lead for the Corps. Clay Myer got his first action of the campaign and pitched an easy ninth to secure the win, though with the four run lead, he did not record a save.
Thoughts
Ultimately, the Corps is taking care of business. It's still early, but we've seen the lineup and pitching staff perform both dominantly in blowout fashion and gutsily in the clutch. This is the makings of a team that could make a real splash, but stop me if you've heard that before. There's a lot of baseball left to play, but allow me to share this factoid: Drawkland's pitching staff has allowed 7 runs through 4 games. The only other team with a single-digit RA total is Zwangzug with sixth. That's truly elite company, especially for a pitching staff that has been famously, uh, shit.
Right now the best players offensively are Tyler Silvanus and Aaron Frost. Silvanus, in three games, has hit three homers and batted in NINE runs. He's batting .538, smaller sample size of course, but you can't deny that he's picked up right where he left off from last Classic (and the last two seasons of domestic play). Frost had a hot start but cooled off a bit in the last game and a half. Still, he's batting .375 with a .444 OBP and 5 RBIs. If Louie Wade continues to slump, I'd almost consider putting Frost in the top of the lineup even against right handed pitching. I'm not a manager, though, so what do I know?
What I do know is that Jimmy Todd needs more starts. Cooper Calebs has been sucking to start the campaign, and maybe he just needs some time to acclimate. It is spring, after all. I'm very interested to see how Jimmy Todd would perform with a larger sample size, though. He went 3-for-9 with a solo homer in his two starts, which is way better than Calebs wasting a roster spot at this moment in time.
Pitching-wise, zero complaints. Leo Roy's start was rocky, but we got through it. Again, this is a unit which has allowed only 7 runs in 36 innings. That's a collective ERA of 1.75 for those counting at home. All four starters earned a quality start, and the bullpen has allowed zero runs. Every pitcher besides newcomer Darnell Rivers has gotten some work, too. The high leverage pitchers have gotten the job done when called upon, and the lower leverage guys and girls got outs and avoided drama. Literally, what more can you ask for from your pitching staff? I look forward to seeing which one suffers a horrific implosion when the stakes get higher in a couple weeks.
I've used the money earned from my internet shitposting to travel to Quebec and Shingoryeo for this tournament, and I'm enjoying it so far. I know what you're saying, "haha corpsguy725, you only enjoy Quebec because they sell great weed fucking everywhere." Uh yeah, so what? You're just mad I'm getting the good stuff without worrying about shipping upcharge and tariffs. I'll continue to cover these games, and hopefully get to see some magic in person again. Until next time, peeps.
corpsguy725 out