During the regular season, the Dodgers Advanced Single-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes pretty much dominated the California League, especially against their South Division opponents. And even though they finished the first half with a lackluster record of 35-35 (.500) and only one game ahead of the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) to guarantee themselves a postseason berth, they absolutely ran away with the second half with a record of 52-18 (.743), during which the set a franchise record with 15 consecutive wins.

There is nothing quite like minor league playoff baseball.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Because the Quakes won both halves in the South Division, the team with the second best South Division record in the second half also qualified for the postseason. That team was none other than the Lancaster JetHawks, the Advanced Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies (go figure) and the Quakes perennial fiercest rivals. The JetHawks finished the second half with a record of 37-33 (.529), a full 15.0 games behind the second half Quakes. On the season, the Quakes won 17 of their 28 head-to-head match-ups with Lancaster.

So what.

When the two teams squared off against each other at The Hangar in Lancaster for Game-1 of the 2018 Cal League South Division Finals on Wednesday evening, all of those numbers went out the window. Both teams began play with an identical record of 0-0 in the best-of-five series.

“I think that we talk a lot about our preparation and what we do, the different pieces we were able to build on as the season went on, I think that this is just getting our guys to focus on business as usual,” Quakes manager Drew Saylor told ThinkBlueLA, when asked if he was going to do anything different with his team in the playoffs than he did during the regular season. “At the beginning of the season you can talk about bringing some extra energy, some extra juice in the middle part of the season, but right now the guys are ready. Our job is to find that optimum level as a coaching staff, find that level as a team, and find that level individually, and I think that’s really where our focus, our mindset is at right now.”

‘The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry,’ as they say.

Not only did the team with a franchise record-setting and Cal League best overall record of 87-53 get beat by the 70-70 JetHawks on Wednesday night, they were manhandled by them, with a final score of 8-4.

Oh sure, you can argue that 8-4 isn’t that bad, but the simple truth is that the team with the lesser regular season record outplayed the team with the best regular season record, and did so on both sides of the ball.

Whereas JetHawks right-handed starter Brandon Gold allowed four runs on eight hits (including two home runs), while striking out seven and walking none in his masterful 7.1 innings of work, Quakes left-handed starter Leo Crawford gave up six runs on nine hits (including three very long home runs), while striking out three and walking two in his 5.2 innings pitched. In the simplest of terms, Gold was… golden and took a perfect game into the top of the fourth inning, while Crawford gave up two doubles, hit a batter, and gave up back-to-back home runs … in the first inning.

Even though Quakes left-hander Leo Crawford was a perfect 8-0 with an outstanding 2.77 ERA since his July 4th promotion to Rancho Cucamonga, he got lit up bad in Game-1 of the 2018 Cal League South Division Finals on Wednesday. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The silver lining to the Quakes otherwise dark cloud on Wednesday evening came in the top half of the eighth inning when Quakes shortstop Omar Estevez and right fielder Cody Thomas hit back-to-back home runs to pull within four of the JetHawks. Unfortunately, those would be the final two hits of the night for Saylor’s team.

But alas, it’s a best-of-five series and the Quakes will try to even things up on Thursday evening when the send right-hander Isaac Anderson (10-6, 3.67 ERA) to the mound opposite JetHawks left-hander Ty Culbreth (6-8, 5.87 ERA), with first pitch set for 6:35 pm PT.

The series then moves to the friendlier (and far less windy) confines of LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday (and for the remainder of the series), with first pitch slated for 7:05 pm PT.