Wumbo Wednesday With Weaselo: Nocturnes Magazine: Season G Dice Baseball Championship

Welcome to the final Nocturnes Magazine! Of Season G, the Nocturnes’ sophomore season. Last we left off the Nocturnes had survived the League Series against the River Heights Sleuths, winning 2 games to 1, both teams taking a pair of extra-inning epics. That brought the East Division champion Harrisville Ham N’ Eggers to Brooklyn for the Dice Baseball World Series crown. Harrisville, with a mix of speed and power, is known for one thing: sacrifice bunts. No team lays bunts down like Harrisville.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it:

Game 1: BKN 3, HAR 2
The Nocturnes took Game 1 thanks to an Off the Bench pinch-hit single by Felix Ermantrout in the bottom of the 7th inning. The +3 on the card (Ermantrout pinch-hit for 6th hitter Ritzy Chambers, and the card strength is based on where in the order the pinch hitter is) was enough to turn what would have been a fly out into a single, scoring the winning run.

Brooklyn took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd thanks to a bases loaded card-assisted double by Greg Zanfino. But Harrisville got back into it in the top of the 4th, as a Rally Cap-assisted 2-run home run by Parker Nolte (hitter advantage, 17+1 on an 18 homer card) tied the game. From there starters Dakota Story (from Nashville) and Pony Nashville (from… Dakota?) were locked into a pitcher’s duel until that 7th inning. Nashville was removed after Ermantrout was announced in the game for reliever Duncan Petty, but the run was charged to the starter as he took the hard-luck loss after 6.2 innings.

Ermantrout might not have hit in that situation, but Ryne Snider flied out with advantage on a +3 Clutch Hitter. Snider, who was on fire during the League Series, homering in each game, had a quieter World Series. Had he walked, Ritzy Chambers would have likely stayed in to play Grand Salami since the bases would have been loaded.

Ray Thunderchild pitched into and out of trouble in the 8th before Rusty Finch pitched a scoreless 9th (avoiding a pair of Harrisville advantage) to pick up his 2nd save of the postseason and put Brooklyn a win away from the title.

Game 2: HAR 12, BKN 6
Brooklyn went down big early, as Harrisville scored 4 in the top of the 3rd to take a 5-1 lead against Claude Sellers on several baserunners on his own card, meaning a roll of 16 or higher. He hung in there and got through an important 5 innings giving up only the 5 runs—a 6th would have knocked him out of the game and potentially wreaked havoc on the Brooklyn bullpen.

Meanwhile, the Nocturnes offense tried to get back in the game. 2 runs in the 4th on a Ritzy Chambers double made it 5-3, but the Eggers got a run back in the 6th to make it 6-3. This proved huge as the Nocturnes scored 2 in the bottom of the 6th to make it 6-5, but the tying run stayed at 3rd. They nearly tied it in the 7th but Artie Cronin’s bid at a triple was denied (double, but rolled a 2 on the card where a 4 or better would give a triple), again preventing the tying run from scoring.

That was their best shots to tie it. Harrisville scored a run off Gomer Phillips, the setup man who hadn’t pitched Game 1 and was thus available for Game 2. This made it 7-5 and all the easier for Brooklyn to shy away from either Thunderchild or Finch in the top of the 9th, burning them for a potential Game 3. Instead Jeff Schoonover came in for the 9th (and potential extra innings if the Nocturnes could mount a comeback). Schoons struggled, allowing the first 5 batters to get on and giving up a 3-run homer to Eggers OF Minori Yang to make it 11-5 and put the game out of reach. Harrisville ultimately scored 5 in the inning, though Brooklyn got a run in the bottom of the 9th to make it a 12-6 final. Regardless, the series would go to a winner-take all Game 3.

Game 3:

After just an inning and a half the dream looked dead. Parker Nolte’s 2nd homer of the series was a grand slam that made it 7-0 and took Nocturnes starter out of the game after just an inning and 2/3 pitched, and the Nocturnes didn’t have enough arms to get through the game without fatiguing somebody for an out or getting a fortuitous inning-ending double play. Down 1-0 in the 1st they had played Rally Cap and the +1s fizzled when Ritzy Chambers struck out with the bases loaded.

But, for these Brooklyn Nocturnes, who had been through the highs and lows of the season, had clinched a division and lost their hitting coach in the same week, had played back-to-back extra inning epics only the series before, it was one final test to pass, one final mountain to climb, one deficit to chip away at. Tanner Stewart’s 3-run shot thanks to a +2 Clutch Hitter gave them a pulse at 7-3 in the bottom of the 4th. The bullpen picked up Falvo, as every available arm—Adam Judge, Hal Zanni, Niko Fawkes, Ray Thunderchild, Gomer Phillips, and Rusty Finch—threw a total of 7.1 innings of scoreless ball and kept Harrisville hitless from the 5th inning on. And the relentless Nocturnes finally struck in the 5th with 5 runs thanks to a Remi Paige pinch hit Underestimate single+ to make it 7-5, and the single biggest hit in franchise history, a Skipper Carson 3-run homer off of AJ Stocker to put Brooklyn in front 8-7.

The homer capped off a 5th that saw two pinch-hitters, as Guy Herzog singled for Rider Keegan to load the bases, then after Harrisville went to Stocker, Brooklyn lifted Greg Zanfino for Paige to prevent a potential shuffle matchup—Todd Branch’s 4.1 IP gave Harrisville some leeway, although minimal. Paige’s single+ actually could have been a double if not for the -2 on Scouting Report (-1 for the +3 pitcher against Paige’s 9 advantage, extra -1 because of the switch hitter), but was still enough to score Chambers and Cronin. Then, after Smokey Roberts grounded into a fielder’s choice, Carson had his fateful swing.

Niko Fawkes ended up getting the win and got that fatigued out in the 6th as he retired all 4 batters he faced. From there Brooklyn’s big 3 of Thunderchild, Phillips, and Finch were asked to do their work, allowing only 2 walks between the 3 of them. It got a little hairy in the top of the 9th as with 2 outs Enrico Cortese pinch-ran for Perry LaGuardia and stole 2nd, putting the tying run in scoring position. It got even more nerve-wracking when Finch ceded advantage to Boots Fisher. But Fisher hit a harmless fly ball (with advantage) that landed in Ryne Snider’s glove to end the game, the series, and the season, as the team met at Finch at the mound to celebrate.

The Brooklyn Nocturnes are your Season G champions with an 8-7 win!

A beer shower for Weaselo family protector and team mascot Noctis! (Pic taken after the shower.)

Brooklyn went a total of 15-6 at home this season, not dropping a single series at Bridgeview Park. 

A team that had midnight starts and early morning starts. A team that played two games in two days in two cities and won both. A team that saw them clinch their first division title and lose their hitting coach (the former Senorita Weaselo’s teddy bear was the hitting coach) and have their manager lose the apple of his eye in the same week, and won a game for him while he grieved. A team that banded together in the Brooklyn way: “Een Draght Maekt Maght,” in unity there is strength. They united over the season, and their strength led them to be the last team standing after 36 games over 7 months. No “Wait ’til next year” was necessary. The Brooklyn Nocturnes are your Season G champions!

It did mean it was the end of the road for some, but what an ending. Here are Brooklyn’s retiring players: