Mid-West Winter League Update

End of the Regular Season

The Tigers swinging for the 1988 MWWL Playoffs.

The last I left off, we were at the end of the 1988 Season & the Traverse City Tigers and Cedar Park Bears were tied in first. The Tigers had 148 games under their belts, with a 89-59 mark, while the Bears had 150 games, sporting a 90-60 record. The Tigers were on the road for 7 games at the Detroit Stars, while Cedar Park was hosting the Mexico City Chihuahuas for 7 games.

Traverse City would edge Detroit in the series 4-3, while Mexico City edged Cedar Park, 4-3 -- with the Tigers now in first by a single-game. 155 games through, and the Tigers' magic number was 6. Quite a first, season to come down to the very last game it appears. Traverse City (93-62) hosts the Janesville Juggernauts (62-93), while Cedar Park (93-64) has the unfortunate time to host the Chicago Demolition for the final 5 games of the season -- Chicago comes in with the Mid-West Winter League's best overall record at 111-46 (.707 win pct), who are 40 games up on their division's second-place team.

Cedar Park wins their first game, 2-1, while T.C. loses 2-0 to Mexico City; Finding themselves tied in first once again. Janeville's Rob Deer & Ray Knight hit solo homers, as their pitcher Eric Show shutout T.C. -- while Cedar Park's Tony Armas wins with a walk-off in the ninth against the Demolition.

The second game for Traverse City found themselves in extra-innings, in the bottom of the 12th, Lance Johnson (batting .156) smacked a game-winning single into center for the walk-off, off Mexico City's reliever Mitch Williams. While Chicago wins a close 5-3 game, Dave Stewart wins his 22nd game, while Dennis Eckersley closes it out with his 36th Save for the season -- the game ended up taxing Cedar Park's bullpen as Chicago scored 3 quick runs, with the Bears' John Dopson only lasting 2/3 of an inning. Traverse City ends the day (October 3rd, 1988) with a one-game lead in the A.L. West. The Detroit Stars punched their ticket as the 2nd wild card team, both Traverse City and Cedar Park will be in the playoffs either way, as they fight for a division title.

Maddux: The young anchor for T.C.'s rotation.

October 3rd, the Tigers' Pete O'Brien hit a two-run single with Joe Carter adding a two-run double in the bottom of the 1st against Janesville, it was all that they needed as they won 4-2 with Greg Maddux winning his 15th game of the season. Chicago helps T.C. by defeating the Bears 6-2, with Roger Clemens winning his 19th & a good day from Kal Daniels (2-for-5, HR, 2 RBI). The next day, T.C. lost 6-1, while Cedar Park had the day off -- Tigers with 1.5 game lead with magic # at 2 games.

October 5th, the Tigers sent Eric King to the mound. The Tigers added 4 runs early to take 4-2 lead. The Tigers added salt on the Juggernauts' wounds by hitting back-to-back-to-back solo HR's by Joey Meyer, Jesse Barfield, and Nick Esasky off of Janesville reliever Eric Plunk. T.C. would get word that Doug Drabek kept the Bears at bay, while George Brett helped by going 3-for-5, with a HR & 2 RBI.

The Traverse City Tigers have won the A.L. West Division Title! 

Enjoyed this wonderful season, and I made the moves that I felt were necessary to move forward and pursue a World Championship during the season. A veteran-laced team with a lot of fight. My division rivals made it an excellent race with the Cedar Park Bears, Detroit Stars & Mexico City Chihuahuas -- a four-team race throughout the season for the most part, so thank you to those excellent managers that made the experience even better. Plus thanks to an excellent commissioner in Stray Corrado, in making the Mid-West Winter League a success. The league brings back wonderful memories, and memorable players from a time that doesn't seem so long ago at times.

Next: The 1988 MWWL Playoffs