The Arkansas Travelers are playoff-bound!

Though it was pretty much a foregone conclusion by the time Thursday’s games concluded, it wasn’t until Austin Dening’s soft line drive nestled into Blake Rambusch’s glove Saturday night that your Arkansas Travelers officially punched their ticket to the 2024 Texas League Playoffs.

The Travs have one more regular season series before the postseason begins, a six-game set against the Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Three weeks ago, this series had the potential to be a real thriller, with the Nats trailing Arkansas by only 2.5 games for the second Texas League North playoff spot and 12 head-to-head games still to be played between the two clubs.

Even two weeks ago, fresh off taking four of six from the Naturals at Dickey-Stephens Park, there was still a chance for baseball drama in the final week of the double-A regular season. On Aug. 27, the Travelers led Northwest Arkansas by only 4.5 games with 18 games still to play, meaning a hot week from Northwest Arkansas to close August and/or a cold spell from the sons of Dogtown could have tightened the race up pretty quickly.

Except … that never happened. 

Northwest Arkansas left DSP and promptly dropped four of six to Frisco, while Arkansas went to Amarillo and dog-walked the Sod Poodles to win four. The Naturals then went to Springfield and began alternating wins and losses with the Cardinals, while the Travs returned home to take on the last-place Corpus Christi Hooks.

By the time the Naturals and Travelers each lost last Friday, the Travs’ magic number had fallen all the way to one. Another Naturals loss or Travelers win on either Saturday or Sunday would be enough to clinch a playoff berth before the final series of the season.

When Arkansas put four runs on the board in the bottom of the second Saturday evening, DSP came alive. When the Travelers answered a Hooks run in the top of the fourth with two Travs runs in the bottom of the frame, the optimism and excitement were palpable. And, when Raul Alcantara completed his third scoreless inning in relief by sitting the Hooks down in order in the eighth, the vibes started teetering dangerously close to immaculate.

Holding a 6-1 lead entering the top of the ninth, Arkansas could have turned to just about anyone in the bullpen to get the final three outs. Because the gods of baseball love a feel-good story, the Travs gave the ball to Jake Haberer.

Haberer, 29, has been with the Travs more or less continuously since 2019. He spent the first three months of this season dealing with an injury and struggled once he returned to the bullpen in June. On Saturday night, however, he entered his 137th game in an Arkansas uniform with a chance to send the club back to the playoffs. All he needed to do was not overthink it and just throw strikes.

That’s exactly what he did. Haberer opened the final inning by striking out the number three prospect in the entire Houston Astros’ organization, Brice Matthews. He gave up two quick singles to Colin Price and Collin Barber, before righting the ship and striking out Jeremy Arocho.

As the crowd noise swelled in support of Haberer and the Travs, Deming, who already had two hits on the night, lifted a harmless liner to Rambusch. While cheers erupted, stadium lights flashed, and Arkansas players and coaches streamed onto the field in celebration, Haberer hugged fellow long-time Traveler Jake Anchia.

A pessimist might point out that minor league playoffs don’t really “mean” anything. Minor league rosters are constantly in flux, and the better a guy plays in April and May, the less likely he is to be around for postseason games. Hell, three of the Travs’ best hitters from their opening day roster aren’t even on the team now.

That kind of thinking misses the point, however. Minor league playoffs, just like minor college football bowl games, are important to the players. That was real joy on the grass at DSP Saturday night after the final out. They had gone out and played baseball well enough, over a long enough timeline, that they get to play a little deeper into September. That’s something that not everyone can say. 

Maybe they’ll win the title this year, maybe they won’t. But they’ve earned the chance to try. At the end of the day, that’s all anyone can ask.

Series recap:

Tuesday (Sept. 3) featured 24-year-old southpaw Brandyn Garcia on the mound making his 11th start in red, white and black. Garcia’s limited workload — he hasn’t thrown more than three innings in a start since Aug. 4 and he hasn’t gone more than five innings in any start for Arkansas — continued as he was pulled after three terrific innings in which he allowed only two hits and struck out four, dropping his ERA to 1.94 on the year. The bullpen followed with six innings and only one run allowed in relief. At the plate, Arkansas scored one in the bottom of the second on a Brock Rodden hit. They added four in the fifth behind an Alberto Rodriguez RBI single and a three-run homer from Victor Labrada. Arkansas would tack on one more run in the seventh (on a steal of home from Labrada!) and one in the eighth, as they cruised to an easy win. Travelers 7, Hooks 1.

If Tuesday showed how well-rounded the Travs are when they’re firing on all cylinders, Wednesday was an example of just how strong their pitching can be. Lefthander Danny Wirchansky went five innings for the first time since mid-July, allowing two hits and no runs while striking out six. Big righty Logan Gragg followed that with two scoreless innings, before Peyton Alford closed out the night with two scoreless frames of his own. Arkansas squeaked out two runs in the second on a sacrifice fly and a fielder’s choice, and that would prove to be more than enough to secure the win. Travelers 2, Hooks 0.

On Thursday, Travs’ pitching again dominated Corpus Christi bats. Righthander Juan Mercedes cruised through his best start of the season, tossing seven scoreless innings, walking none and notching 10 Ks. Travis Kuhn entered the game in relief to start the eighth but was replaced by Garrett Davila after just one batter due to an injury. All Davila did was throw two hitless, walkless, scoreless innings to finish the game. Meanwhile, Hogan Windish and Ben Williamson each drove in a run in the third, Jared Oliva added an RBI single in the sixth, and Brock Rodden doubled in two more Travs in the seventh. Easy peasy. Travelers 5, Hooks 0.

Entering Friday night’s games, the Travs’ magic number over Northwest Arkansas was two. The Naturals did their part to help out, blowing a five-run lead to Springfield and losing 11-7. Unfortunately, Arkansas couldn’t squeak out a win to seal the deal the same night. Starter Michael Morales was good, allowing only one run over six innings. In his first appearance since joining the Travs, Brandon Ruffcorn came in to pitch the seventh holding a 2-1 lead, but he could not hold it. James Joyce then allowed a single run over the final two frames to take a very tough loss. Hooks 3, Travelers 2.

Saturday? We discussed that above in the intro, silly! 

The Travs would have been forgiven if they’d been lethargic on Sunday after clinching a postseason appearance the night before. And that’s exactly how it looked at first. Garcia, making his second start of the series, allowed three runs over three innings. Davila allowed a run in the seventh, and Alford did the same in the eighth. Arkansas scored one in the seventh, but they entered the bottom of the eighth still trailing 5-1. Harry Ford singled to lead off that frame, followed by a Rodden single, an Oliva walk, an RBI single from Williamson, a sacrifice fly from Rodriguez, and an RBI single from Labrada to tie the game. After a pitching change, Labrada stole home for the second time in the series to give the Travs the lead for good. Luis Curvelo slammed the door in the ninth to seal the fifth win of the series. Travelers 6, Hooks 5.

Travelers’ current record:

39-24 in the second half, 75-56 overall. For the season, they are a half game behind Springfield for the best record in the Texas League North. They are tied with Springfield for the best divisional record in the second half. 

Also, they’ve qualified for the playoffs. Wasn’t sure if we’d mentioned that yet.

A word about awards:

In case you need more proof of just how good the Travelers were over the past week, earlier today, Juan Mercedes was named Pitcher of the Week and Jared Oliva was named Player of the Week.

Mercedes was electric in his one start: seven innings pitched, no runs allowed, no walks, four hits, 10 strikeouts (tying his career high). Only one other pitcher threw seven scoreless innings last week, and Mercedes was the only one to do it with double-digit Ks. This award comes on the back of Mercedes’ recently being named Seattle Mariners’ Minor League Pitcher of the Month for August. On the season, Mercedes has a 9-5 record in 138.1 innings, 119 strikeouts, and a 1.11 WHIP, with opposing hitters batting just .241 against him.

Oliva went 9-15 against the Hooks, for a league-best .600 batting average for the week. His on-base percentage (.650) and slugging percentage (.667) were also tops in the Texas League over that period. He scored four runs, drove in six, and stole three bases.

This is the first weekly award from the Texas League for either player in 2024.

Three things to be optimistic about:

1. The Travelers are in the playoffs. I don’t think this really needs further explanation. If you can’t be optimistic about a team who has already secured a spot in the postseason, I really don’t know what to tell you.
2. Springfield is mortal? For most of July and August, the hated Cardinals were just as hot as the Travelers. It seemed no matter how well Arkansas played, Springfield matched it. Over the past two series, however, they’ve shown some cracks. They split their late August series on the road against the abysmal Wichita Wind Surge, then returned to the home of cashew chicken to drop three of six to a rapidly fading Naturals team as well. Meanwhile, Arkansas is playing as well as they have all year.
3. The playoff schedule. The first round of the playoffs has the Travelers hosting Springfield for the first game, then games two and (if necessary) three being played at Hammons Field. IF — and that’s a big if — the Travelers can get past the Cardinals in the first round, however, the Texas League finals schedule has the winner of Midland and Frisco hosting the Travelers in game one, with games two and (if necessary) three played in the friendly confines of DSP, where the Travs have won 23 of their last 29 home games.

Current area(s) of concern:

None. The Travs are winning, they’re playing well in all facets of the game, and they just took home both the pitcher and player of the month awards. I’m not going to rain on that parade.

Made to be broken:

The 2023 Travelers stole 230 bases, a franchise record. It was such a dominant performance on the bases last season, that record seemed like it would stand for a while. Or at least that’s how it felt until about a month ago. 

The Travs have stolen 59 bases in their last 24 games. They currently have 218 steals on the season. Thirteen swipes in this final series would set a new franchise mark, though they only stole nine bases in the previous series against the Naturals last month.

Five best songs that mention Corpus Christi:

1. Corpus Christi Bay – Robert Earl Keen. A song that somehow walks a tightrope between sadness and optimism without ever falling off, any list of the best songs about the sparkling city by the sea that doesn’t start with this one can safely be disregarded in its entirety.
2. Traveling in the Lightnin’ – Warren Zevon. In this song off of his first album, Wanted Dead or Alive, the excitable boy blends Dylan-esque lyrics with a melody that sounds like equal parts The Guess Who and Molly Hatchet.
3. Belinda – Bobbie Gentry. Between this song, Fancy, He Made a Woman Out of Me, Chickasaw County Child, and a few others, Gentry has a number of songs about strong, attractive women who get what they want/need from men but are not reliant on any one man. In Belinda, that self-sufficient lady is a stripper who says the men may know her body, but they cannot know her mind.   
4. #2 – Pat Green. If there’s a studio version of this song, I’ve never heard it. But both live versions, from 1998’s “Here We Go” and 1999’s “Live at Billy Bob’s Texas,” are good enough that I don’t mind. As opening lines go, “The other night I ran into my girlfriend / sittin’ at a table with another man, gettin’ stoned” is quality work. 
5. I Got the Guns – Roger Creager. I was tempted to put Creager’s Fun All Wrong here instead, but that song only mentions REK’s Corpus Christi Bay. In I Got the Guns, Creager gives us an honest, heartfelt ode to his grandparents.

Adventures in futility:

When Corpus Christi finally scored in the top of the fourth on Friday, it was their first run in 24.2 innings.

Arkansas Times Player of the Week:

Juan Mercedes. Despite Jared Oliva also winning a weekly award, this is an easier call than you might suspect. Oliva had gaudy percentages last week, but only one of his nine hits was for extra bases. Mercedes, on the other hand, went out there in a playoff race and threw seven scoreless innings while matching a career high in strikeouts, while not issuing a single walk. Dude was absolutely lights out, and that’s the kind of thing the Arkansas Times PotW committee looks for when selecting a winner.

Scheduling note:

The Texas League playoffs begin a week from tomorrow on Sept. 17. Springfield will come to DSP to face the Travelers, while the Frisco RoughRiders go to Midland to face the Rockhounds. Both series will have an off day on Sept. 18, before resuming the series on Thursday, Sept. 19. If either best-of-three series needs a rubber game, those will happen on Sept. 20.

The Texas League Championship Series starts two days later on Sunday, Sept. 22, with the winner of the Texas League North traveling to take on the South champion. After an off day on Sept. 23, the championship matchup resumes on Sept. 24 at the North division champion’s stadium. A winner-take-all third game, if necessary, would be the following day, also hosted by the North division winner.

Up next:

The Travelers head to Northwest Arkansas to wrap up the 2024 regular season with six utterly unimportant games at Arvest Ballpark. Tuesday through Thursday’s games will get underway at 7:05 p.m., Saturday’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m., and the last game of the Naturals’ season gets going at 2:05 p.m. on Sunday.

All games are available in Central Arkansas on 106.7 Buz2 FM with the dulcet tones of Steven Davis, the Voice of the Arkansas Travelers.