Your Arkansas Travelers entered last week’s series against the last-place Wichita Wind Surge with a 1.5-game lead over the Springfield Cardinals and the knowledge that finishing the week ahead of Springfield would mean the Travs had won the Texas League North first-half championship and guaranteed themselves a spot in the playoffs come September. With the Cardinals reeling from seven straight losses and headed to Corpus Christi, while Arkansas would enjoy the friendly confines of Dickey-Stephens Park, it sure felt like Travs fans were a week away from celebrating.
As the Cardinals put the finishing touches on their win Sunday evening, eliminating the Travelers and claiming the first-half title for themselves, the optimism from only six days earlier felt embarrassing in retrospect. Hell, even the idea of caring about double-A playoffs seemed a little silly.
I mean, minor league rosters are by their very nature impermanent and fleeting. Minor league teams get only the players their respective major league parent clubs decide, and only for as long as the parent club chooses. Frequently, even decisions about strategy and playing time are made at a level above the minor league team’s clubhouse. And the whole thing is paradoxical, too: the better a minor league player performs — and, by extension, the more he helps his team win games — the less time he is likely to spend on a minor league roster before being promoted.
Given these realities, maybe it is silly for fans of a minor league team to care very much about making the postseason.
Then again, if we’re honest, sports fandom in general is kind of goofy. There’s no evolutionary reason a person’s happiness should be tied to how well a bunch of strangers play a game, ya know?
But that’s exactly what happens, time and time again, across cultures and sports and eras. There is some part of the human experience that wants to root for something, to believe in something, to pull for something outside their control and share in the collective emotions that come from a team’s successes and failures. In that light, wanting to see some double-A baseball players succeed and make the Texas League postseason is no sillier than being excited to watch a bunch of college kids play in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl two days before Christmas.
The downside to giving a darn about wins and losses, regardless of the team or the sport, is the pain of falling short. Anyone who tells you they’re just happy to have made the finals or to have been in the playoff hunt, even if they didn’t ultimately win a title, is either lying or is too casual of a fan to be taken seriously. If you celebrate wins and pull for success, the bruises of failure will always be painful. That’s the agreement we make with ourselves as sports fans; to paraphrase Romans 6:23, the wages of sports failure is pain, but the gift of sports success is eternal bragging rights over your opponent.
Series recap:
On Tuesday (6/18), the Travs welcomed the Wind Surge to DSP for a 12:05 p.m. start. In the bottom of the first inning, Cole Young gave Arkansas a 2-1 lead with his seventh big fly of the season. In the bottom of the second, Ben Ramirez — whose recent struggles we documented pretty thoroughly in last week’s column — singled. He added two more singles before the day was over, going 3-4 in the contest. Arkansas added a third run in the seventh on an RBI single from Harry Ford that scored Blake Rambusch. Logan Evans entered the game in the eighth following seven tremendous innings from lefty starter Reid VanScoter and reliever Luis Curvelo, who combined to allow only one run while striking out seven. Evans allowed one run, but closer Troy Taylor slammed the door in the ninth and the Travs held on. Travelers – 3, Wind Surge – 2.
Playoff implications: Not gonna lie, this was the high-water mark. We had no idea how poorly things were about to go as the Travelers win and a Cardinals loss that evening left Arkansas up by 2.5 games with five games to play.
On Wednesday, righty Juan Mercedes took the hill for the Travelers and cruised through the first two innings on only 10 pitches. Then the wheels came off. Four hits, a sacrifice fly and a throwing error later, plus an awful call by home plate umpire Daniel Bytheway, and the Surge were up 4-0. Both teams plated one in the fifth, but Wichita added two runs in the sixth and two more in the ninth, while Arkansas squeaked out only one additional run all night. Wind Surge – 9, Travelers – 2.
Playoff implications: This loss combined with a rain out in Corpus left Arkansas up by two games. “Surely it’ll be fine,” I foolishly said out loud to no one in particular.
There are two things you need to know about Thursday’s game. First, the Travs won 2-1 in a game that was exhaustingly difficult for both teams’ offenses. Second, Travs third baseman Morgan McCullough allowed a second-inning double on a high chopper that he should have at least been able to knock down, and the sole reason he failed to make the play was because he lost the ball in the sun … while wearing sunglasses on his hat, instead of his face. Ultimately, it didn’t matter, but c’mon, man. Travelers – 2, Wind Surge – 1.
Playoff implications: Springfield beat Corpus Christi twice on Thursday, with the second game a makeup of the previous day’s rainout. Their second win of the night cut Arkansas’s lead to 1.5 games with three to play. I’M NOT STRESSING! YOU’RE STRESSING!
On Friday, some of the problems we’ve addressed in recent columns came to a head all at once, like a perfect storm of bad timing. The bottom four hitters in the lineup combined to go 1-14 with no walks, eight strikeouts, no runs and one RBI (a second inning double from Jake Anchia). Former closer Travis Kuhn relieved starter Danny Wirchansky to start the seventh inning with the Travs leading 2-1, only to immediately give up three hits, a walk, two runs and the lead while recording only one out. Collectively, the Travs’ anemic offense mustered only four hits while striking out 13 times. Wind Surge – 3, Travelers – 2.
Playoff implications: Springfield also lost thanks to one bad inning. The Travelers headed into the weekend with a simple scenario: win one game or have Springfield lose one game and Arkansas wins the division. Let’s see how it played out!
Fans attending Saturday’s tilt received a Jonatan Clase bobblehead that was pretty cool and unique as such things go. They also received a lesson in what it looks like when a pitcher lets horrible umpiring get to his head. In the top of the third, starter Jimmy Joyce allowed the following without recording an out: walk, walk, single, single, single, single, single, walk, double. In Joyce’s limited defense, home plate umpire Daniel Bytheway was abysmal, with a strike zone that seemed to change pitch to pitch. (Bytheway has been one of the absolute worst umpires in the Texas League this season, at least when he’s calling Travelers’ games.) It was 8-0 before Arkansas ever even got a hit. Ugh. Wind Surge – 8, Travelers – 3.
Playoff implications: Springfield won. Travelers’ division lead decreased to half a game. Still…just win Sunday (or hope Springfield loses Sunday) and they can still win the first half. What? Why are you looking at me like that? What’s that ominous music?!
Sunday. Wind Surge – 3, Travelers – 2. Cardinals – 9, Hooks – 2. Cardinals win the Texas League North first-half title by half a game.
Playoff implications: I hurt myself today / to see if I still feel / I focus on the pain / it’s the only thing that’s real …
Travelers’ current record:
36-32 overall, but the records reset for playoff-race purposes to start the second half, so they are currently 0-0 in the second-half standings.
Three things to be optimistic about:
- Victor Labrada and Brock Rodden! Last week, I wrote about how both players were tearing it up at high-A Everett and the Mariners might have to promote them sooner rather than later. Earlier today, we got word that both players have been promoted to Arkansas and are joining the Travelers immediately. Neither has a ton of power, but both 24-year-olds are tremendous hitters with a ton of speed who should instantly make the lineup noticeably better.
- Logan Evans. Whether in the bullpen or as a starter, Evans has been fantastic this season. In the darker moments over the last week of games, I tried to remind myself of that a few times.
- No more Wind Surge. I’ve mentioned before how much I dislike playing Wichita. Thankfully, Arkansas has no more games remaining against them this season.
Current area(s) of concern:
We’re going a slightly different way with this one this week, mainly because the areas of concern this week are no different than they were last week (lineup holes, some underwhelming guys who aren’t hitting at all right now). Instead, I want to show you two pictures. The first is a picture of the garlic fries from the Travs’ Salute to Seattle Night in 2022. They were perfect and delicious in every way, with real parmesan and garlic on crispy fries.
The second picture is of garlic fries from this past Saturday night’s Salute to Seattle event. See if you can spot the difference. (Hint: It’s the part where these were just regular fries coated in some kind of garlic-ish powder like you might find on cheap popcorn.)
The recent sale of the Travs still raises a ton of questions that need to be answered, and that’s something that will happen whether Russ Meeks and company want it to or not. But if there’s one upside to the team being sold, I hope it’s that the organization will stop consistently making everything worse by being cheap and not caring at all about quality.
Leaders and best:
With the first half of the season in the books, what better time to see how your Travelers stack up against one another and against Texas League leaders in the major statistical categories? (An asterisk denotes someone who is no longer on the Travelers’ roster, in which case we’ll also list the team’s current leader in the category.)
Batting average:
Team: Tyler Locklear* – .291
Team (current): Cole Young – .270
League: Bryan Torres(Springfield) – .322
On-base percentage:
Team: Spencer Packard* – .405
Team (current): Harry Ford – .382
League: Jimmy Crooks (Spfld) – .409
Slugging percentage:
Team: Locklear* – .532
Team (current): Young – .406
League: Colby Thomas (Midland) – .568
OPS:
Team: Locklear – .933
Team (current): Harry Ford – .778
League: Locklear – .933
Home runs:
Team: Locklear – 9
Team (current): Young – 7
League: Thomas (Midland) – 14
Runs batted in:
Team: Young – 32
League: Thomas – 47
Hits:
Team: Young – 66
League: Torres – 74
Stolen bases:
Team: Ford – 19
League: Cooper Bowman (Midland) – 25
Earned run average:
Team: Logan Evans – 1.36
League: Evans
Strikeouts:
Team: Reid VanScoter – 58
League: Miguel Ullola (Corpus Christi) – 91
WHIP:
Team: Evans – 0.97
League: Evans
Opponents’ batting average:
Team: Evans – .190
League: Ullola – .163
Saves:
Team: Troy Taylor – 9
League: Matt Svanson (Spfld) – 10
Wins:
Team: Evans – 8
League: Evans
Starts:
Team: VanScoter – 14
League: VanScoter, Orland Ortiz-Mayr (Tulsa) – 14 (tie)
While not perfect and certainly not all encompassing, these stats give a pretty good explanation for the Travs’ recent struggles. Tyler Locklear was far and away the best Arkansas hitter in April and May, but he was promoted on May 28 and still leads the team in home runs nearly a month later. Spencer Packard, the team’s steadiest bat all season and all of last season, was promoted on June 11, and Arkansas has failed to find consistency on offense since he left.
On the mound, Logan Evans has been hands-down the best starting pitcher in the Texas League this year. But the Seattle Mariners wanted him moved to the bullpen in early June, meaning the guy the Travs trusted the most to get six innings every fifth game is now giving them just one or two innings out of the ‘pen a few nights per week. Troy Taylor, who only joined the team in mid-May, already leads the team in saves with nine in 10 chances because former closer Travis Kuhn has been pretty bad all year (two saves, six blown saves, opponents hitting a scream-inducing .294 off of him).
While losing and/or repositioning some of your most talented and consistent players doesn’t excuse losing four of six to a last-place Wichita team when losing only three would have punched a playoff ticket, it does kind of help to explain it. Not that the explanation makes anyone feel any better about the failure. (But the arrival of Labrada and Rodden might!)
Arkansas Times Player of the Week:
None. I don’t have many rules, but this is one: if you go into the final weekend of the half at home needing just one win to make the playoffs and you don’t find a way to make that happen, nobody is being named player of the week. We aren’t rewarding mediocrity on an individual or team level around these parts.
Up next:
The schedule-makers have a sick sense of humor. Arkansas travels to Springfield tonight to start a six-game series against the first-half champion Cardinals. Tuesday through Friday’s games begin at 7:05 p.m. at Hammons Field. Saturday is a 6:35 p.m. start, and Sunday is also under the lights with first pitch scheduled for 6:05 p.m.