Avon, OH – The long, arduous, regular season grind has come to an end, but there is still work yet to be done. With a 51-44 record, the Lake Erie Crushers have made their way back to the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Since the team’s inception, the Crushers, prior to 2024, had made the playoffs in five seasons, winning the Frontier League championship in their inaugural season in 2009. Lake Erie’s 51 wins are their best mark since their last trip to the playoffs in 2019 when they went 54-42.
Even when getting to the playoffs, the Crushers have struggled to find wins. They were swept in 2019 in three games by the Florence Freedom. Their Wild Card berth in 2014 ended in a loss to the Schaumburg Boomers. And in 2013, those same Boomers swept the Crushers in the Championship Series.
Currently, the Crushers are looking for their first playoff win since Game 4 of the East Divisional Series in 2013, where they defeated the Traverse City Beach Bums to advance to the championship.
Jared Lemieux has often said this season that looking too far down the road means you lose what’s right in front of you. The Crushers have scratched and clawed their way in the final week to earn their playoff berth. While having championship aspirations is the ultimate goal, there are still several steps that have to take place before that point – namely tonight’s Wild Card game.
Major League Baseball implemented the one-game Wild Card in 2012 to expand the playoffs beyond just four teams from each league. They’ve since changed the Wild Card round to a three game series, expanding the playoff field once more.
In the Frontier League, the volatility of a one-game Wild Card remains, and it only adds to the madness.
The Crushers will match up against the 59-36 Gateway Grizzlies in Sauget, Illinois on Tuesday, September 3rd at 7:30pm EST. After their own extended playoff drought, the Grizzlies were one of the top teams in the Frontier League in 2023. They ultimately fell in the Divisional Round to Evansville in the winner-take-all Game 3 last year.
Gateway’s season has been marked by consistency both on the pitching and hitting side. However, their fare against Lake Erie has been…average.
The Crushers and Grizzlies split the season series 6-6, with the home teams winning 2-of-3 in each of the four series. It’s worth noting that Gateway will be at home for the Wild Card game, where they are 4-2 against Lake Erie this season and 30-18 overall.
However, in the MLB history of the one-game Wild Card, home teams are 9-9, and in the Frontier League, the host is just 2-2 in the last two seasons. Home field advantage is helpful, but it is not the writing on the wall for the visitors.
Lake Erie’s final week of the season was reminiscent of the team that was 37-20 at the All-Star break – a team that figured out ways to win, even in unconventional ways.
Gateway’s final week is an interesting case study. They fell in the series to Lake Erie in Avon, with both Crushers wins being comebacks. In the middle game, the Crushers stormed back in the bottom of the 9th to walk off the Grizzlies. It was the first time all season that Gateway lost a game when leading coming into the 9th inning. Then, Gateway finished the regular season with a massive win over Florence…who had everybody playing out of position the whole game – a very odd way to win your last game. It’s certainly not a momentum builder the way a standard win would have been.
Regardless, Gateway blowing two games in Avon effectively let Lake Erie into the playoffs, and that, in itself, may have been a death wish for the Grizzlies.
In a way, the Grizzlies awoke a sleeping dragon. In Scottish lore, a fearsome dragon was said to fly around the city of Edinburg, Scotland, terrorizing people in the city, until one day it ate too much and was sent into an eternal slumber where he now sits as Arthur’s Seat – the highest point in Edinburg. Lake Erie is the dragon rewoken.
Lake Erie had lost four straight coming into the series against Gateway, and they were dead men walking in what looked to be a somber final week. The Grizzlies gave the Crushers feeling again. The Crushers have remembered how to win. They’ve been reborn, animated with passion and grit that makes them a threat to anyone in their path. Gateway, ironically, is the first challenger.
The Crushers have minimally outscored Gateway 48-45 in 12 contests this season with most of their runs coming in the early innings. Vincent Byrd Jr. has led the charge in the offensive department for the Crushers, slashing .350/.409/.675 with 3 homers and 14 RBI against the Grizzlies this season. Byrd’s approach at the plate these last two weeks has turned him into a threat right in the heart of the Lake Erie order.
Jake Guenther is also a name to look for. With an RBI on Sunday night, he now has 7 RBI in his last four games. He’s found a clutch gene in the final week of the season that could be paramount for the Crushers to score runs against a good pitching team.
Speaking of pitching, Deylen Miley has been the proclaimed starter for Gateway for over a week now. He is the Frontier League leader in strikeouts (161) and comes in at 8th in the league in ERA (3.14). His three starts against Lake Erie this season have amounted to a 1.88 ERA in 14 1/3 innings. He has not gone more than 6 1/3 innings in any of his starts against the Crushers this season, so while his effectiveness is undoubtable, his longevity is something the Crushers could take advantage of.
Miley’s strikeout numbers are nothing short of incredible (some of the best in Frontier League history, in fact), but he can be known to walk batters. He has issued 48 free passes in just over 100 innings this season. While his stuff warrants a lot of swing and miss, a disciplined Crushers team intent to take walks and waiting to find the big hit could knock Miley out of the game early. He’s an incredible pitcher, but he is susceptible.
In winner-take-all games, sometimes the temptation is to be careful and complacent, especially when baserunners are a premium against Miley. Obviously nobody wants to make a costly mistake, but for the Crushers, the run game might make a comeback.
The Crushers are 12-for 14 in stolen base attempts against Gateway this season, but it’s Gateway that has stolen far more often, going 18-for-23. Both Johnny Tuccillo and Jason Agresti have been great at nabbing baserunners trying to steal this season. So, while Gateway’s aggressive running tendencies will likely come into play, Lake Erie’s backstops have what it takes to get free outs on steal attempts. On the offensive side, Lake Erie’s stolen base percentage is one of the best in the league, and they started to run more in the last week of the season – gutsy in itself with their playoff spot on the line.
Aside from a blip in a non-save situation early in the year, the Lake Erie bullpen has been excellent against Gateway in 2024 with an ERA under 1.50 after the 6th inning.
Once again, this is a one-gamer. Win and advance. Lose and go home. Neither side will be pulling any punches. It’ll be nine innings of tooth and nail baseball with the victor being awarded the right to play Washington in the Divisional Series.
The Crushers will give the baseball to lefty, Darrien Ragins, who has been one of the most consistent pitchers for the Crushers this season. He sports a 3.78 ERA, and he’s the type of personality that wants the ball handed to him in big moments. El Gato will undoubtedly be on the prowl, searching for that one, clinching win.
Tonight, 7:30pm EST. All the madness continues on FLOBaseball.tv.
Written by: Zane Bloom
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