When the series started a few weeks ago, both team had ambitions of winning the Griffleball Fall Classic. Three games later, the Gashouse Gorillas hold a 3-0 advantage and are now ten outs away from their fourth consecutive GBL championship.
Gashouse has dominated the competition ever since they fell below .500 in the middle point of the season. The main reason for their turn around has been their outstanding pitching. During the GBL World Series, the Gashouse Gorillas have allowed a total of (wait for it) zero runs. The Stalllionaires have not been able to muster much offense against the Gashouse pitching. Jim Tucker, Ryan Galiher, and Jeremy Ratajczyk have been lights out and there is a good chance they end the series on Sunday night.
To take the 3-0 series lead, Gashouse had to go up against one of the best pitchers of the league, Matt Kuna. The GBL could not have asked for a better pitching match-up between Tucker and Kuna in Game 3. Before the game even began, I wondered how long this game may go. Six innings? Nine innings? Twelve Innings? I thought both pitchers may have been on the mound into the wee hours of the morning but, both pitcher gave up a hit in the first inning of Game 3. This meant that the bullpens for both teams needed to be perfect.
After both Tucker and Kuna (who happened to playing Game 3 with only one eye open due to injury), the game was left into the hands of Nate Bryan for the Stallionaires and Jeremy Ratajczyk for the Gashouse Gorillas. Through three innings, Game 3 was scoreless. Neither team had scored and the game felt like whoever scored one runs would win. That was exactly what would happen.
In the top of the fourth inning, Nate Bryan got himself into some trouble. After Gashouse poked a few singles passed the Stallionaire defense, Gashouse loaded the bases with one out. Jim Tucker came to the plate with a chance to score the games first run. Tucker would come through with one more single to give the Gashouse Gorillas a 1-0 lead late in Game 3.
The Stallionaires needed to one run to keep the game going but, they had to deal with the man who has not allowed a single earned run all postseason. It also happened to be the same man who started the league so may years ago. Jeremy Ratajczyk has been a force this postseason and continued his bid for postseason MVP. With his devastating slider, Ratajczyk was able to get the save and give his team a substantial 3-0 series lead.
With the possibility of the Griffleball season ending on Sunday, the Gashouse Gorillas look to continue their stranglehold on the league. They are one game away from Griffleball immortality and they can almost taste the champagne (not wine, like last year). On the other hand, the Stallionaires are not going to give up that easily. Like any other sport, the series is not over until it is over. The Stallionaires will attempt their miraculous comeback bid and hope to prolong the series long enough to gain some momentum.
The league will find out Sunday if the Gashouse Gorillas will win their fourth straight championship or if the Stallionaires find a way to make it to another week. Either way, it has been a fun season with a competitive balance the league has not seen since its inception. Wiffle Out!
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