ALPS Preview: Tucson vs. Huntington

American League Rankings:
2nd - Offense - 7th
4th - Pitching - 6th
4th - Defense - 14th

Preview: The Tucson Pilots cruised into the American League West title, but hasn't played any meaningful baseball in a while. Now, after falling a game short of the 2-seed and a bye week, they'll welcome the Huntington Guyandottes to Tucson Electric Park. TEP is a nightmare for teams unprepared for the offensive slugfests it encourages, but both of these teams play in hitters' parks, and, as a result, are accustomed to doing so.

Anyone who loves watching opposing pitchers duel each other to 1-0 decisions in the cold October air will want to take a pass on this one. Expect a ton of offense from both sides. The winner of this series will be the team that can manage RISP situations the best--both on the mound and at the plate.

Offensive Analysis: The offensive numbers for Tucson are unreal. They have 2 full-time players hitting over .340. Those are DH Felipe Espinoza (.360, 51, 140) and 2B Butch Collins (.343, 49, 123). But neither of those brilliant hitters matched the RBI production of 1B Julio Tejera (.305, 64, 159), the best run-producer in all of the bigs. If Huntington can't at least contain these 3, it's going to be a short series. For their part, though, the Guyandottes counter with the HR King, 1B Ivan DeSoto (.326, 67, 142). DH Mendy Corino (.268, 53, 121) provides some pop as well, but most of the Guyandottes hitters don't hit for average like the Pilots' do.

Pitching Analysis: Tucson will need big time performances from SP Oswaldo Mendez (18-5, 2.63), who has been their workhorse all year long. The rest of Tucson's starting rotation is a little suspect, but we all know they're not trying to win any 3-2 ball games. The Tucson bullpen lacks identity, as it has been a closer by committee most of the year. Huntington, meanwhile, has a starting staff built for a 5-game series. SP Coco Casey (23-9, 2.96) has been dominant for them, but likely Game 2 starter SP Yamil Aguilar (15-4, 2.83) has been even better at times. Mix in SP Tom Klein (16-8, 3.33) and it becomes pretty easy to overlook the Guyandottes' bullpen holes. If Huntington's starters go deep in this series, an upset would not be a surprise.

Prediction: There's going to be so much offense in this series that you'll probably wonder if the players are using aluminum bats. Even though Hungtingon has a very tough 1-2 starting punch, I don't think they'll be able to handle the murderer's row of hitters that Tucson features.

Tucson Pilots in 4