Last Night, the Erie SeaWolves took home the Eastern League championship and I made the short trek to TD Bank Ballpark to check it out. Before diving into the event, let’s talk MiLB Playoffs. When Major League Baseball desecrated the Minor Leagues and their individuality in 2021, they also significantly diminished the playoffs. I know it’s about “player development”, but isn’t a championship what every athlete strives for? This season, most leagues just have a Best-of-3 Semifinal and Championship Series. It’s even worse for Triple-A as just two teams make the playoffs for the IL and PCL (they then go on to play in a Triple-A National Championship Game). I’m not even asking for a Best-of-7 series…just make it five. It doesn’t even make sense from a player development standpoint. Don’t you want these guys to experience that pressure and higher intensity? MLB even dumbed down the trophy. Just look at this rinky dink thing now in the Carolina League. It used to be the Mills Cup. Maybe I’m making too big of a deal and perhaps some evidence to that is how the Erie SeaWolves didn’t exactly burst out of the dugout after winning the title (at least closer Tyler Owens was jacked up!). I just feel like championships should mean a lot and they should be elevated to that level when possible.
Anyway, rant over. The last baseball championship I saw came way back in 1997 when the Rochester Red Wings took home the Governors Cup (they haven’t won one since). I was 14 and I remember staff pouring little cups of champagne for some of the adult fans after. I’ll never forget the catch that P.J. Forbes made in the 9th to preserve the win. I get goosebumps just seeing it again.
Last night’s game will be remembered for the absolutely dominant performance by Erie’s Austin Bergner. 0 runs, 2 hits and 8 strikeouts. This was through 6 innings and just 72 pitches. Yet, they pulled him going into the 7th! Why!?! It’s either horrible managing or stupid pitch count guidelines for certain players. Of course, the next pitcher came in and promptly gave up a hit and a home run to Somerset as the lead was trimmed 3-2. I wanted to see Erie punished and lose for this stupid move, but they hung on and the decision at least was justified giving closer Tyler Owens the ball for the final two innings as he was lights out. Somerset’s crowd had a respectable showing as a half-full ballpark on a Tuesday Night in late September is decent for minor league playoffs ball. They roared when the visitors were thrown out at home and tried occasionally to get into the game, but it just wasn’t their night. I’ve recapped their ballpark before and it’s your typical 90s (former) Indy set-up. It just has a poor seating bowl as the shallow pitch leads to heads in the way of your view if someone is a row in front. I came away more impressed with Erie’s fans (love their ballpark by the way, one of my favorites) as there were about 50 of them at the game. Not sure if they were fans, friends or family…but it was probably a mix and that’s a 6+ hour drive from Erie, so it was enjoyable to see them watch their city take home a championship.
It’s a rare busy stretch of re-visits coming up as I’ll be at the Rutgers football game this Friday and then the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins AHL home opener in a few weeks. It’s been nearly 15 years since seeing both and I’ll update their stadium reviews after each visit. The next new trip will be to Virginia in early November for a visit to Norfolk (ECHL) and Hampton (FCS).
Stadium and Arena Visits 
