Freak injury the only bad news for Mavs entering series

By Sean Rooney on July 31, 2018.

On paper it’s pretty straightforward. The Medicine Hat Mavericks won all six games they played against the Lethbridge Bulls this summer, have the second-best record ever in the Western Major Baseball League, with the best offence, second-best defence and all the confidence in the world.

The Bulls had the better record last year and lost in the first round of playoffs… to the Mavs. So it doesn’t always go as planned.

In a best-of-five series one swing of the bat or one errant throw can change a lot. And for Medicine Hat it already has, as planned Game 1 starting pitcher Matt Brooks is out with a minor concussion after taking a thrown ball to the head Sunday during warmups in Brooks.

“Probably to a lot of other teams, your number one going down with a concussion is a big deal, but (Alex) Dafoe actually has a better ERA than Brooks, so it’s not a huge deal at all,” said Mavericks head coach Andrew Murphy. “It doesn’t really matter what we did in the regular season at this point, we start over.”

They start with Dafoe, still have Brooks as the scheduled Wednesday starter and could throw five or six guys if they wanted. Instead it’s an all-hands-on-deck bullpen with one goal: keep the Bulls’ dangerous hitters off base.

“Shutting down the middle of their order, they can absolutely smash,” said Murphy. “They can hit home runs, but once you get past them, you’ve just got to limit the free bases.”

There’s no such lull in the Mavericks lineup, but Bulls coach Jesse Sawyer says he’s confident left-hander Andrew Grieder will be able to handle it.

“The beauty of the WMBL is anybody can come on any night and win,” said Sawyer. “It depends on the bats and the defence, how that starter throws. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Lethbridge’s big bats include Kaleb Warden and Dylan Borman, each who have hit seven home runs this summer. Australian Lachlan Mayo also hit seven but hasn’t played the past two weeks. Sawyer alluded to injuries taking a toll on his lineup.

“We’ve had a tough luck year, a bunch of injuries, players who have gone home, we’ve had lots of stuff that’s gone wrong for us this year,” he said. “But we’re never going to lay down for anybody.”

The Mavs aren’t worried no matter who they’re facing. They’ll have home field advantage in every series they play in August.

They fell in the second round to Edmonton last year and for the players returning from that team, it’s an obvious point of motivation.

“As a baseball player you want to end any season you play on a win,” said centre-fielder David Salgueiro. “That’s how I look at it.

“We’re not taking it as we’re playing Lethbridge, you know? We take it as we’re playing a baseball game, if we play the baseball game the right way and do everything we know we can do, there’s a lot of teams that are not going to be able to beat us.”

Salgueiro has had a similar frame of mind on the basepaths this year, too. His 30 stolen bases tied for the league lead and one was a steal of home in Lethbridge. He could’ve had more but his team often had leads so large, stealing wasn’t really kosher.

“He’s one of the fastest guys I’ve seen on a baseball field, ever,” said Murphy. “He’s had the green light the whole year. When he stole home at Lethbridge, I did not call that. He just ran.”

But that winning attitude does have Murphy’s attention. With a lot more seniors than usual on the roster this year — Salgueiro’s one of many who won’t be back in 2019 — there’s a certain extra drive that’s palpable around the Mavs dugout.

“I played summer ball for four years and usually around this time, guys are talking about wanting to go home, kind of over it a little bit and ready for school to start,” said Murphy. “But I haven’t heard a single guy this year talk about wanting to leave.

“The guys want to win it; they’re all in.”

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