In a tightly contested championship, a matchday where all four matchups ended in a double victory inevitably causes significant shake-ups in the standings.
Let’s see what conclusions we can draw:
It’s no surprise, but it’s official, Montpellier has clinched a playoff spot. The Barracudas did it in style, with a double mercy rule and not committing a single error. Hard to lose when the offense is on fire and the defense is at its best. The Barracudas now need to secure the top spot to have home-field advantage, which is no small feat considering Montpellier is 12-0 at Veyrassi, with 96 runs scored and only 28 allowed. A stat worthy of a future champion.
Savigny is unbeaten: the Lions have now won six straight games, and nine of their last 11 (you could even say 13 out of 15 if you count the France Challenge). They were shaken up by a Béziers team that doesn’t know the meaning of quit, and notably knocked around a Pena who had been cruising on the mound until then, but they held firm. They even pulled off the feat of winning a game with nine errors, which doesn’t happen every day. The Lions are rolling like a freight train, and watch out for anyone who gets in their way.
Things are looking up with Ariel. Soriano’s return has done wonders for Toulouse. He drove in the only run of game one against La Rochelle and smashed four hits in game two. If you’re looking for a nitpick, you could blame his three errors at shortstop, but that’s probably just some rust. The Stade seems to have found the right pitching formula, with Garcia-Delgado starting as effectively as he closed last year, and Rojas used in the late innings, which eases his physical workload. Saumande is also holding his own on the mound, which wasn’t a given at the start, and that relieves Laot, making him effective in relief. Winning a 1-0 game in the heat after a brutal battle against La Rochelle is exactly what’s needed to boost morale even further. It won’t be easy facing Toulouse in the playoffs either. The Boucaniers failed to capitalize on their double walk-off against the Huskies. This double victory seems, for now, a fleeting moment in a series of two wins in 11 games.
Rouen did their job against Metz. Without being flashy and dominant, the Huskies got back on the winning track, and now have one goal in mind: win everything to overtake Montpellier at the wire, hoping for a misstep from the Barracudas in another game. The feeling is that the Huskies are far from reaching their full potential, but that this potential exists. Will they be able to fully exploit it? The answer to this question is probably worth a championship title.
It might be interesting to take a look at the different schedules of the 8 teams (deliberately omitting, so everyone has the same number of games, the Metz – Montpellier game on July 12th, which will also be truly important), by calculating the average of the remaining opponents.
And we see that the four current semifinalist teams have the most complicated end of the season, for the simple reason that they will not stop meeting each other… Each of the four leaders will face the other three top teams, which can lead to significant changes in the standings. And give hope to the pursuers, who, by definition, will also all cross swords. It’s hard to say who has the advantage. Metz will likely play their future this coming weekend in Béziers. And in case of a double defeat, the Cometz will have only a slim chance to get out of it. Even a split might be insufficient. By winning twice, Metz would come back to 2.5 games behind the Pirates and could still believe in staying up, even if the climb is steep. La Rochelle has only two home games left, and therefore four on the road, where the Boucaniers have a 1-9 record, and a batting average of .166. Hard to see the Boucaniers completely reverse the trend. Sénart, who should see the return of Yorfrank Lopez, is on a bad streak of 1-5 in their last six games, the six games without their number one pitcher (and their catcher…). The Templiers’ offense, which is only batting .189 during this period, needs to wake up to hope to catch the right train. If we see a team taking advantage of the fact that the leaders will face each other and that, inevitably, some will leave their mark, it might be Béziers, who are 5-1 against their three end-of-season opponents. Keeping this pace, the Pirates could well sneak into the top four.
Photo credits: Club and RS
Cover: @jujub_64
Article: François Colombier
