FLWC Game 1 Primer
FLORENCE, Ky. (Sept. 9) – The Washington Wild Things begin their 2026 Frontier League playoff journey today as their 24-year odyssey to the top of the Frontier League continues. The Central Division champions are appearing in the playoffs for the 14th time since the club moved to Washington, Pennsylvania from Canton, Ohio. This year’s path to a title begins in Florence, Kentucky at the home of the Florence Y’alls: Thomas More Stadium.
The Wild Things and Y’alls will play in the best of three Midwest Conference Wild Card Round with game one scheduled for tonight, Wednesday, September 9 at 6:56 p.m. The series shifts to Washington Friday, September 11 for Game 2 at 7:05 p.m. and, if necessary, Game 3 is slated for 7:05 p.m. Saturday, September 12.
The regular season was quite a historic one for Washington. In the team’s 24th season in Washington, the club managed 66 wins and its fifth division title in six years, winning its division for the third-straight season in the process. The club played in front of nine sellouts with more than 107,000 fans coming through the gates of EQT Park, the franchise’s best attendance since 2010 in one of the smallest parks by capacity in the league.
All the success as a group came despite losing five pitchers and a second baseman to contract purchased in affiliated ball. Four of six Washington starting pitchers to open the season were purchased within a month or so of each other, sending three into affiliated ball, while Hector Garcia was tagged for purchase but medical kept him from officially having his contract purchased by the Blue Jays. Zach Kirby has since returned after a stint with the Angels. Also having their contracts purchased were Graham Brown and Tyler Davis, along with Maddox Long and Andrew Herbert. All four have had solid success in affiliated ball. The five official purchases went with two transfers just before the season and one purchase, making for the most in the league this season.
The team enjoyed plenty of individual success as well, setting or matching numerous team records and league records. Andrew Czech, Anthony Brocato and Kobe Foster led the charge there, all three earning All-Frontier League honors, while Czech was named the league’s MVP and Foster the league’s Pitcher of the Year. Landon Ginn joined those three as midseason All Stars. Czech sets franchise records for career walks, doubles and RBI, plus single-season records for RBI, runs, walks, OBP, SLG and OPS and now ranks second in league history in walks and third in homers. Brocato became the first Wild Thing to hit three homers in a game and ended up doing it a second time, matching the single-game RBI record in the process. His 37 homers are the most in a single season in Frontier League history and he finishes the season second in career homers in the league, two behind all-time leader Charlie Lisk. The single-season homer record lasted 28 years. Foster spun the team’s fourth no hitter and fanned 14 in the process, a new single-game record. He also led the league in ERA and established the new career starts record. Tom Vaeth won his 300th and 350th games as Wild Things manager this season as well.
Now it’s off to the postseason and a meeting with Central foe Florence, who made the dance thanks to a big late July surge into August that included an 11-game win streak and a win in a winner-take-all final game of the regular season on Sunday against Windy City, who was vying for its first playoff bid since 2010. The Y’alls are back in the postseason for the first time since 2021 and are highlighted by a really solid lineup. Hank Zeisler leads the charge there. An MVP candidate himself, the captain of the Y’alls slashed .345/.438/.626 during the regular season and clubbed 26 homers with 29 doubles and 97 RBI. Zade Richardson and Brendan Bobo are also major players for the Y’alls, who enjoyed resurgent seasons at the plate from Garrett Broussard and Dillon Baker, along with other standout performances at the dish, though they are without Jackson Tucker and Tyler Shaneyfelt who were placed on the inactive list and the season-ending IL, respectively. They own the fourth best batting average in the league, the second best OBP and the third best slugging percentage in the Frontier League.
The Y’alls have struggled a bit on the mound to the tune of a 6.01 team ERA in the regular season (12th in the league). They allowed the fifth-most homers in the league (113, 21 more than Washington) and the sixth-highest batting average against in the league. Evan Webster will get the ball in Game 1 for the Y’alls. He was arguably Florence’s best starter in the regular season, logging a team-high 119.2 innings and a 4.81 earned run average with 99 strikeouts against 36 walks. He pitched against Washington four times and was 2-1 with a 4.37 ERA in 22.2 innings against the Things. He allowed 14 hits and 12 runs (11 earned) with 10 walks and 16 strikeouts. The most recent start came on August 29 in Florence, where he allowed five runs (four earned) on three hits and five walks. Webster started Friday against Windy City and threw 119 pitches, allowing 10 hits and three runs (two earned) in seven frames.
Inexperience will be a factor for Florence, but the Y’alls have had to basically play playoff games for a week now. Only CJ Blowers (Ottawa in 2024), Cole Brannen (2022 with Washington, 2023-25 with Gateway) and Jonaiker Villalobos (2021 with Florence) have been on Frontier League Playoff rosters.
Washington will counter with Zach Kirby, who only pitched against Florence once this season and worked a quality start on May 19 at EQT Park. He allowed one run on five hits in six frames. It’s Kirby’s first playoff start against Florence. He’s got 25 innings under his belt against Florence in the regular season since his first action against them in 2024. He’s 3-0 with a 1.80 ERA in that work. It’s not Kirby’s first taste of playoff baseball… he’s logged 18 innings in the Frontier League playoffs and is 0-1 with a 2.00 ERA. His last start was a quality start in Game 1 of the Wild Card round last year at Gateway. He allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits in six innings. Kirby was 8-1 during the regular season and allowed 56 hits and 15 walks in 74.2 innings with 49 strikeouts. His ERA was a 2.29 ERA and Washington was 10-2 in Kirby starts.
Washington was 9-3 against the Y’alls in the regular season, winning the season series for the third-straight year. It won the final six games in the series, all in Florence. The two met in the 2017 Frontier League Division Series, a series won by Florence 3-1. Florence lost in the FLDS to Schaumburg in its last trip to the postseason in 2021 and last won a playoff series in 2019, while Washington’s last playoff series victory is in 2024 in the FLDS over Lake Erie.
EQT Park will host a watch party for tonight’s game, with free parking and admission. Gates open at 6 p.m. and fans can pick up their pre-ordered division title shirts at the event. The event is rain or shine, with plans to move to the suites if weather becomes an issue. Food and beverage will be available.
Fans who aren’t signed up for a subscription to the Frontier League Network, powered by HTN, can save 20% on a monthly subscription to the service by using FLPLAYOFFS26 at checkout at www.frontierleaguetv.com. Tonight’s broadcast is also available on MixLR at https://www.bit.ly/wtmixlr.
Playoff tickets for the Wild Card round are on sale now by clicking here and are $5 apiece. Washington will host Friday, September 11 and Saturday, September 12 (if necessary) in the best of three against Florence. Division championship shirts are also available for pre-order here. The Wild Things will host a BLACK OUT Friday, September 11 for Game 2 of the series.
The 24th season of Wild Things baseball in the MLB-partnered Frontier League is underway with more great baseball and entertainment to come. For updates, other information and more, visit washingtonwildthings.com or follow the team on social media at facebook.com/WashingtonWildThings or @WashWildThings on other platforms.
Go Wild at washingtonwildthings.com.
