SPOKANE — The Spokane Indians held the top spot in the Northwest League standings just about all season. They won the first half title by 3 1/2 games (over Hillsboro) and the second half by three games over Vancouver. Overall, their 79-51 season record was best in the league by 10 1/2 games.
The Everett AquaSox (32-34 second half, 64-68 overall) finished fourth the the Northwest League in the second half, four games behind Vancouver in the second-half standings.
But none of that will matter for the Indians if they can’t take three of five this week against the Canadians, who earned the second playoff spot by finishing second in the second half.
The Indians are looking for their 20th professional baseball championship in the organizations’ 130-plus history, but their first in 15 years — since 2008, they’ve reached nine title series, only to lose them all.
The first two games of the series will be held at venerable Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver on Tuesday and Wednesday. Due to renovations at Avista Stadium, Game 3 (and Games 4 and 5, if necessary) will be at Patterson Baseball Complex at Gonzaga University. Capacity at Patterson is roughly 1,500, so those games will be more “intimate” than they would be at Avista Stadium.
The Indians enjoy a 20-8 season record against the Canadians overall, but went 2-4 against them in the last series between the two in August in Vancouver. For the season, the Indians had a run differential of plus-96, while the Canadians were an even zero.
This series could come down to which version of the Indians batting order shows up: the one that paced the league in runs scored and ran rampant on the bases, or the one that looked tired and worse out down the stretch, getting no-hit through seven innings in three out of five games during a stretch a couple of weeks ago.
Over the past month, the Indians slumped to a team average of .237. But things picked up over their final series, hitting .313 and averaging seven runs per game while splitting against the AquaSox in Everett.
For the season, the Indians led the league in batting average by a wide margin — they hit .266 as a team, while second-place Everett came in at .246. Vancouver was fifth at .239. But while the Indians were very good at putting bat-to-ball, they were not a patient group (last in total walks by a wide margin), so their team on-base percentage of .337 was good for just third place, and barely above Vancouver’s .328.
Both teams have enough power to keep pitchers honest, but where the real distance lies between these offenses in once runners are on the basepaths. The Indians far and away led the league in stolen bases with 258 against 64 caught stealings — an 80.1% success rate. Vancouver, on the other hand, only stole 88 bases all season with a 70.9% success rate.
Players to watch
Indians: Leadoff hitter Cole Carrigg led the league in homers (16) and was second in steals (51) while hitting .280/.358/.475. He and shortstop Dyan Jorge (36 steals), the No. 2 hitter, will look to run every time they get on base.
Until a late surge by Carrigg, third base Kyle Karros was in contention for the NWL “triple crown.” He ended up second in homers (15) and first in RBIs (78), doubles (33), average (.311), on-base percentage (.390) and slugging (.485).
Spokane’s hottest hitter heading into the postseason is GJ Hill, the son of former big leaguer Glenallen Hill. In 47 games since his promotion to High-A, the 23-year-old outfielder hit .282/.364/.589 with 14 homers and 26 RBIs. Hill homered in four of his last five games, going 7 of 21 (.333) over the stretch with nine RBIs.
One player they’re really like to see get going is outfielder Charlie Condon, the No. 3 pick in this year’s MLB draft by the Colorado Rockies. The Division I college player of the year is hitting just .180 over 25 game with just six extra-base hits (one home run) for the Indians.
Starting pitchers Jack Mahoney, Connor Staine and Victor Juarez will handle the first three games of the series, while Games 4 and 5 starters are TBD. Juarez and Staine have been with the team all season, while Mahoney was a midseason add from Low-A Fresno.
The Indians have already graduated three closers to Double-A Hartford (Zach Agnos, Carson Skipper and Brayan Castillo), so Sam Weatherly has those duties currently. He is perfect in five opportunities and has yet to give up an earned run in 10 appearances covering 11 2/3 innings while registering 18 strikeouts against four walks and four hits.
Canadians: OF Jace Bohrofen and 1B Peyton Williams are the power for Vancouver — the duo combined for 25 homers. Their top threat on the bases was Dasan Brown (22 steals), before his promotion to Double-A.
Pat Gallagher is Vancouver’s top starter. In 21 starts this season, he’s 8-5 with a 4.15 ERA and 83 strikeouts over 91 innings. Grayson Thurman is the closer — he went 6-4 with seven saves in 14 opportunities with a 3.82 ERA and 72 strikeouts over 61 1/3 innings.
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