Marauders Playoff Picture
Bradenton, Fla.--- After 124 games… it all comes down to this. The Marauders travel Tuesday down to Fort Myers to take on the Mighty Mussels with their playoff dreams hanging in the balance of the Marauders results at Hammond Stadium, if only it were that simple. Bradenton sits 1.5 games
Bradenton, Fla.--- After 124 games… it all comes down to this. The Marauders travel Tuesday down to Fort Myers to take on the Mighty Mussels with their playoff dreams hanging in the balance of the Marauders results at Hammond Stadium, if only it were that simple.
Bradenton sits 1.5 games back of the Lakeland Flying Tigers entering this week, a number that was 5.5 a week ago but was cut down significantly after a 5-0 sweep the past weekend in a thrilling homestand against the Palm Beach Cardinals at LECOM Park.
The Mussels have been a “bogey team” for the Young Bucs this year; Fort Myers has never been a playoff threat and has consistently lived in the bottom half of the division but has always had the Marauders number.
Across 18 games this year, including 12 in the second half, the Marauders and Mussels are split at an even 9-9 in 2023. For the Marauders, the Mussels hold a similar and solid group of players they have seen game in and out this season. For Fort Myers, however, they will have to deal with a Bradenton group with some familiar names. Still, it is a black and yellow squad that is far from the same in terms of their intensity and hunger to win and get in.
The Marauders saw new life shot into the team at home the past weekend as players fresh and experienced alike are all in on hunting down the Tigers. Can we get a little help from our friends in Tampa?
The Tarpons travel to Publix Field in Lakeland to square off with the Tigers. Tampa boasts a stout 6-3 record in the second half of the season against Lakeland. Rachael Balkovec’s Tampa team has lit up the league this year with their power-hitting and led all of Single-A baseball with their staggering 118 home runs this year. With a Tigers pitching staff with an unshakeable tendency to hand out free bases runners, no team is more apt and capable of punishing them with one swing of the bat than the Tampa Tarpons.
The playoff formula this week? Quite simple! The Marauders need to best the Tigers by two games across these next six. For example, Bradenton going 6-0 and Lakeland going 4-2 get the Buccos in.
There is something in the air with this Marauders team that there is no doubt in any of the 30 men in uniform or the countless coaches and staff members that the job will get done this week… it is all about putting pen to paper on this final chapter of the season that will matter most.
You can tune in all week long on the Marauders Radio Network for what will be a week for the ages in the history of the great league.