After going 21-15 in the 1st Period, the Speakers slip to 12-15 in the 2nd, and then start off the 3rd Period well before losing each of their final 6 series to finish 14-13.

In the 3rd, the offense slashes a robust .200/.247/.319 (just .195/.244/.305 vs. RHP) and gets thoroughly out-homered, 28-13. Additionally, with Fielding 1 defense everywhere on the diamond, the Speakers commit 14 errors in the final 27 games. Basically, they found every way to lose games, never came from behind, and usually never scored against the opposition pen (unless the runs were completely meaningless).

Speakers staff prevented only 17.9% of walks this season. Speakers hitters lost 21.5%. The Speakers slugged just 65 homers and lost 27 while opponents mashed 100, losing only 19. Speakers pitching prevented 29.6% of singles; Speakers hitters lost a whopping 34.6% of singles–more than a third!

Individually, NL MVP Kris Bryant finished the season with 2 HRs (.184/.276/.285). We get that 90 games is hardly a valid sample size, so let’s further the agony:

Posey – .198/.262/.307
Machado – .204/.244/.341
Simmons – .171/.202/.222
Swanson (with a .300+ card as a +4 against LHP) – .171/.190/.293.

No Speaker reached double-digit home runs. None had more than 3 SBs. (It’s hard to run when you’re always playing from behind and can’t get on base.)

Starters went 34-36, which tells plenty about getting into early holes and never recovering. Speaking of scoring (or lack thereof), the Speakers were blanked 10 times this year. That’s more than 11% of the OOTL season!

Julio Teheran shut out the Speakers on only 3 hits (no walks) in the final regular season game. The Speakers rolled just 6 hit numbers and never moved a runner. (Only one runner got as far as 2nd base, but was doubled off on a line drive.) In fact, Teheran faced only 1 over the minimum, thanks to 2 DPs. That should have brought down the curtain on a sad, sad season of getting consistently out-rolled. However, …

… To make matters worse, a playoff appearance means nothing more than ranking lower in draft order.  Even if this team somehow gets past the 4-5 match-up, facing the 1st seed doesn’t bode well for a team that can’t do anything well.