VS. 
This is certainly an intriguing matchup. Washington finished the season as the third highest scoring team, and second highest in the American League. Offensively, they hit for average, they hit homeruns, and they draw walks, ranking 8th, 3rd, and 7th in those categories, respectively. The team they will be facing, Miami, allowed the fewest runs in baseball. The Senators' lineup is filled with power hitters:
Leon Pino belted 40 homers, and
Ralph Jennings and
Cristian Zarzuela both hit more than 30. Washington is also a strong point of evidence to the belief that stolen bases have minimal impact in scoring runs or winning games; the Senators finished dead last in the league in stolen bases.
The weakness to the Senators is their pitching staff. Of the eight teams in the playoffs, Washington finished last in runs allowed; they ranked 12th in all of baseball. This weakness will also be compounded by the fact that their best starting pitcher,
Kenneth Thurman, is injured, and will not be available for the first round of the playoffs. The Washington bullpen isn't great, but it does have a few decent pitchers.
Washington's hitting and pitching stats:
Code:
Name G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K AVG OBP SLG SB CS
M. Madrid 154 603 178 23 2 23 95 92 63 33 .295 .364 .454 0 0
L. Pino 156 595 188 33 1 40 133 130 77 74 .316 .393 .576 0 0
R. Jennings 156 583 175 25 9 35 104 117 51 27 .300 .364 .554 0 7
C. Zarzuela 154 551 152 35 1 31 114 85 44 90 .276 .329 .512 0 1
T. Baeza 151 538 157 48 1 20 88 83 62 76 .292 .365 .496 0 0
A. Champ 141 536 148 14 3 21 68 76 44 28 .276 .338 .431 1 0
S. Patterson 156 532 135 23 2 16 81 76 95 122 .254 .365 .395 0 0
E. Pantoja 142 517 148 23 1 28 84 94 73 50 .286 .373 .497 0 3
M. Sanders 132 414 112 15 1 17 54 60 19 47 .271 .308 .435 0 1
R. Johnson 100 220 49 17 4 5 22 43 36 71 .223 .340 .405 10 6
S. Taff 74 175 44 4 0 3 13 15 10 40 .251 .290 .326 1 0
A. Melgoza 64 126 32 8 1 2 18 15 12 21 .254 .321 .381 0 0
D. Sanford 42 118 30 9 0 2 23 16 14 34 .254 .343 .381 0 0
G. Leal 49 71 20 7 0 1 9 26 3 14 .282 .316 .423 3 1
C. Despain 38 68 12 2 0 1 9 8 7 9 .176 .247 .250 0 0
B. Jusino 23 47 11 1 0 1 6 5 1 10 .234 .250 .319 2 0
J. Sanchez 15 24 8 1 1 2 8 7 1 4 .333 .360 .708 0 0
E. Mcclain 1 5 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 .200 .200 .400 0 0
M. Ling 3 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .333 .333 .333 0 0
Code:
Name G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER BB K
K. Thurman 36 36 23 12 0 4.65 272.2 263 154 141 53 180
J. Fuentes 35 35 16 12 0 4.38 257.0 223 133 125 79 179
A. Barnes 33 33 12 14 0 6.81 208.2 215 171 158 111 174
O. Smith 28 28 10 8 0 4.25 171.2 173 85 81 57 117
V. Moris 49 0 5 2 1 4.71 93.2 76 51 49 59 80
L. Massa 42 0 2 3 0 4.15 69.1 62 38 32 27 51
R. Ferrin 60 0 6 5 42 3.14 63.0 47 22 22 22 35
E. Mower 46 0 2 1 3 5.91 53.1 65 36 35 26 14
C. Reeve 39 0 2 3 2 5.79 51.1 55 35 33 25 28
H. Lewis 6 6 0 3 0 6.41 39.1 39 28 28 28 17
R. Garcia 5 5 2 3 0 8.38 29.0 49 32 27 19 19
J. Mccart 4 0 1 0 0 4.50 6.0 5 3 3 4 4
J. Morison 1 1 0 1 0 10.50 6.0 10 7 7 2 6
S. Chavez 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.1 1 0 0 0 0
As mentioned, Miami's biggest strength is their pitching staff- the best in the league. The Dolphins' pitching staff is very deep, so deep that a guy like
Kevin Phipps, who, while not a dominant starter but one who would still be highly valued by many teams- some in the postseason- wound up losing his spot as the fifth starter because Miami had five starters who were better than him. The rotation is anchored by breakout star,
Christian Hokusai. Hokusai has been used as a swingman the last couple of seasons, and began the year in that role. When injuries pushed him into the rotation, he grabbed hold of the new role and refused to let go. Meanwhile, the 40 year old southpaw,
Jim Miller, has the best control in baseball, walking a miniscule 0.6 batters per nine innings.
The bullpen is strong, but not really dominant.
George Carolan is the primary workhorse of the 'pen, but missed time this season due to injuries, and isn't the youngest guy in the world. Closer
Christopher Lain is a flawed pitcher. Despite being in his late 30's now, he remains one of the hardest throwers in the league. However, he tends to be wild at times, and is vulnerable to the longball. Miami may be more hesitant to use him in close games than they once where.
The Dolphins offense is the weakest of the playoff teams, ranking only 13th in baseball in runs scored. Still, Miami has plenty of dangerous hitters, including one of the premiere sluggers in the American League,
Roy Springs. The Dolphins were also hurt in large part because a few players (
Ulises Menendez and
Berny Morales) finally began showing their age, and a few players (
Aaron Shorts and
Thomas Fuentes, Jr.) had off years.
Here are the Dolphins hitting and pitching stats:
Code:
Name G AB H 2B 3B HR RBI R BB K AVG OBP SLG SB CS
U. Menendez 153 616 159 28 4 29 95 78 41 116 .258 .307 .458 16 3
R. Springs 151 605 183 18 5 44 125 91 52 98 .302 .363 .567 1 2
E. Rehberg 154 581 158 31 3 9 61 112 101 49 .272 .385 .382 3 0
A. Shorts 152 567 139 48 1 16 80 99 104 38 .245 .361 .418 3 0
T. Fuentes Jr. 149 559 139 16 2 29 100 83 58 90 .249 .318 .440 1 4
J. Foss 131 493 160 40 2 27 87 90 63 63 .325 .397 .578 1 0
R. Herb 99 370 115 11 4 5 43 59 14 46 .311 .339 .403 16 4
B. Morales 109 369 90 10 2 0 31 36 21 24 .244 .291 .282 1 0
A. Chichester 85 276 78 21 2 11 42 37 17 48 .283 .332 .493 1 1
T. Alder 84 274 80 17 1 11 47 45 18 15 .292 .334 .482 0 0
B. Tovar 74 250 77 16 2 3 32 25 9 16 .308 .336 .424 0 0
G. Esqueda 60 214 51 10 1 12 32 34 24 14 .238 .322 .463 1 0
E. Mcgurk 80 207 41 12 2 8 20 39 34 41 .198 .317 .391 2 2
D. Armas 64 194 61 11 0 1 33 19 20 31 .314 .393 .387 1 0
C. Cortes 33 74 11 5 0 0 3 10 4 17 .149 .192 .216 1 2
K. Carrillo 10 33 11 5 0 1 6 3 0 8 .333 .353 .576 0 0
J. Zabala 16 24 8 0 0 1 4 6 2 4 .333 .357 .458 3 0
D. Roque 7 16 4 0 0 1 3 2 0 2 .250 .250 .438 0 0
E. Abadia 7 15 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 5 .000 .063 .000 0 0
E. Lasa 3 3 2 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 .667 .667 1.000 1 0
Code:
Name G GS W L SV ERA IP HA R ER BB K
C. Hokusai 33 29 21 5 0 2.66 216.2 188 73 64 32 173
J. Miller 28 28 13 10 0 3.18 201.0 195 77 71 13 146
J. Caceres 31 31 12 15 0 3.46 200.1 152 91 77 125 131
J. Brashears 27 27 10 7 0 3.41 182.0 180 79 69 53 63
M. Prior 25 25 11 7 0 3.79 175.2 175 82 74 62 147
K. Phipps 24 18 8 5 0 4.65 131.2 151 72 68 43 119
G. Carolan 35 0 8 5 6 2.99 69.1 72 29 23 17 42
E. Morris 33 0 3 1 6 3.90 57.2 53 26 25 12 39
C. Lain 41 0 4 3 17 3.38 53.1 36 24 20 29 44
J. Seder 39 0 3 3 9 3.65 49.1 51 22 20 10 19
C. Helton 27 0 0 0 1 3.81 28.1 29 13 12 17 31
D. French 15 0 3 0 0 4.07 24.1 28 14 11 3 13
R. Baston 8 2 1 0 0 3.57 22.2 24 11 9 6 15
C. Speakman 11 0 1 0 0 3.77 14.1 15 6 6 3 4
J. Bohorquez 7 1 0 1 0 13.91 11.0 23 18 17 8 5
J. Carpenter 6 0 1 0 0 7.36 7.1 10 7 6 4 7
S. Fierros 6 0 0 0 0 9.00 7.0 12 9 7 4 4
E. Salcedo 4 0 0 0 0 3.18 5.2 5 2 2 2 2
A. Ibaņez 1 1 0 1 0 18.00 4.0 9 8 8 3 2
S. Poe 3 0 0 0 0 5.40 1.2 5 1 1 0 1
H. Catlett 1 0 0 0 0 18.00 1.0 2 3 2 2 0
C. Ostlund 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 1.0 0 0 0 0 2
J. Matthews 1 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.2 0 0 0 1 0
Next up, the National League Divisional Round matchups:
Rochester VS. San Jose
and
San Diego VS. Pittsburgh