It could be classified as a fluke with two Wild Card #5 seeds in the World Series, but by all means it is not. Both had 100 win seasons, both are in the top 5 teams in hitting, pitching and defense in their respective leagues. Both overcame huge obstacles in the playoffs to get here.
Arizona High Heat vs Charleston RiverDogs - Lets take a look at team stats and see how the crystal ball feels about this match up.
Arizona:
Hitting: .281 season Avg and .275 in the post season - a power hitting team that thrived on the long ball all season and especially in the playoffs.
Pitching: 3.90 ERA and .249 OAV regular season and 3.73 ERA and .239 OAV in the post season - explains a lot about how they got to this point.
Defense: .982 for the season and .982 post season - Adequate so it would seem, however they have one the worst +/- ratios in the league and catching doesn't seem to be a real strong point as teams think they can run.
Charleston:
Hitting: .277 season Avg and .259 post season - a power hitting team that thrived on the long ball all season and especially in the playoffs also.
Pitching: 3.72 ERA and .248 OAV regular season and 3.72 ERA and .261 OAV post season - Would seem the power hitting helped win in the post season as the pitching is good but let up.
Defense: .982 regular season and .979 post season. Another team that had a less than stellar +/- ratio and a lot of passed balls on the catching aspect but teams didn't chance running.
Crystal Ball Analysis:
The hitting aspect favors Arizona being an NL team and not having a DH with such a high average. The DH position could help win the series if the bench can fill the position.
The pitching aspect is absolutely even.
The defense aspect favors neither as they are very much alike in this regard.
Ball Park aspect favors Charleston.
What to expect: High scoring games with lots of extra base hits would seem likely but shouldn't be the case. The contests will be more like 6-4 or 8-7. The one that makes the fewest big mistakes could very well win the series.
Advantage: Charleston is actually favored by the crystal ball because of home field advantage. The team that has the best success out of the pen will win IMHO.
