FLDS Game 1 Primer - at Lake Erie

AVON, Ohio (Sept. 5) - The Washington Wild Things begin their 2024 playoff journey as their odyssey to the top of the Frontier League continues. The now nine-time division champs are appearing in the Frontier League postseason for the 12th time since the club moved to Washington from Canton, Ohio. This year's journey begins in Avon, Ohio, at the home of the Lake Erie Crushers, Crushers Stadium. 

Washington and Lake Erie will play in the best of three Frontier League West Division Series with game one scheduled for tonight, Thursday, September 5. Games 2 and 3 will be in Washington this weekend. 

In the regular season, Washington was 67-28, setting a new franchise record for wins in a season with the 67 victories in 95 games. Lake Erie was 51-44 and got in by a half a game over fourth-place Schaumburg in the West. The Crushers won Tuesday's Wild Card game in a back-and-forth affair in Sauget at the Gateway Grizzlies, 10-8.

Lake Erie took a 2-0 lead on the first of two Vincent Byrd Jr. homers in the game in the first. Gateway tied the game at 2-2 before the pitching took over for a few innings. A six-run sixth inning for Gateway took a 3-2 lead for Lake Erie and turned it into an 8-3 deficit. The Crushers plated three runs in the seventh and then scored four times in the ninth, three of which came on Byrd's second homer of the night, a three-run shot to right at Grizzlies Ballpark. In the process, Leoni De La Crz blew his first save chance as a Grizzlies' reliever after he was perfect in such situations during the regular season. In all, Byrd (2), Jake Guenther, Jack Harris and Logan Thomason all homered for the Crushers in the win wwhile Sammy Tavarez and Trevor Kuncl combined to keep the Grizzlies quiet late out of the Crusher pen. 

The Wild Things will do their offensive work in game one against Crushers' righty Anthony Escobar, who was exceptional in the regular campaign. His 2.43 ERA was fourth in the league. Overall the former Twins farmhand was 8-4 in 19 starts with that ERA over 111.0 innings. He made two starts against Washington and was 1-1 in 13 innings pitched. He allowed 14 hits and three runs, all earned, with four walks and 16 strikeouts. The loss came August 25, the day Washington clinched the West Division crown. Wagner Lagrange homered against him that night.

Washington brings the league's MVP in Caleb McNeely, batting champ in postseason All Star DH Tyreque Reed and much more to the FLDS. The Wild Things belted a league-best 112 homers during the regular season and were also first amongst remaining playoff teams in triples, batting average and slugging percentage. As a pitching staff, Washington posted the league's best ERA, 55 quality starts and walked the fewest in the league by a wide margin. The Wild Things were also statistically the best defensive club in the regular season.

The club will look for a quick start and to ride ace Kobe Foster to a win. Foster is 2-2 in his career against Lake Erie including 1-1 this season. In two 2024 starts against Lake Erie, he logged a total of 14 innings and allowed two earned in both starts with a combined 17 strikeouts. The Wild Things' all-time career leader in strikeouts finished 10-1 with a 2.91 regular-season ERA. 

Washington was 8-4 against the Crushers in the regular season and has won seven of the last eight meetings between the two playoff clubs. The two have never met in the postseason. This is Washington's first playoff appearance since 2022, an FLDS exit at the hands of Schaumburg. Lake Erie just won its first playoff game since 2013. In 2019, Lake Erie was swept by Florence in its first trip since 2014, a wild-card loss to Schaumburg. 

You can watch the game with a subscription to FloBaseball or listen for free on the Wild Things' MixLR channel. First pitch is slated for 6:35 p.m. ET.