Fuego's playoff hopes flame out
Jul. 30—It's officially official.
After a few days of confusion over the standings and what it meant to the playoff picture, the end arrived for the Santa Fe Fuego. Mired in a late-season swoon that saw the team drop eight of its last 11 road games, Santa Fe was officially eliminated from Pecos League playoff contention Friday night.
The Fuego entered this weekend's action with an elimination magic number (or tragic number, as baseball nerds call it) of just one, meaning any combination of Santa Fe losses or wins by Mountain Division rivals Trinidad and Roswell equaling that number meant it was all over for the Fuego.
The top four teams from each of the league's two divisions advance to the playoffs.
Santa Fe is in the Mountain Division, and the top two spots have been locked up for most of the regular season as Garden City and Alpine pulled away from the pack in late June.
Those clubs will host a best-of-three playoff series against the third- and fourth-place teams starting next week. As of last Monday, those spots were a three-team dogfight between the Fuego and traditional rivals Trinidad and Roswell.
The Fuego responded with consecutive losses at Garden City. Coupled with Friday's 15-7 loss to the Wind at Fort Marcy Ballpark, the team's losing streak has reached four and left it out of contention.
Santa Fe's only hope coming into the weekend was sweeping Garden City in a three-game homestand while having either (or both) Roswell and Trinidad lose all three of their remaining games.
Trinidad rolled to an 8-0 win over Colorado Springs in a rain-shortened five innings Friday night while Roswell put the finishing touches on an 11-1 rout of Austin just moments later.
Both games were done by 8:45 p.m., well before Santa Fe's game against Garden City went final. The earlier games rendered that outcome moot, cementing the top four teams in the Mountain playoff picture.
It continues an extended postseason drought for Santa Fe.
The club has reached the playoffs just twice since joining the Pecos League in 2012, winning the league title in 2014 and falling in the championship series to Roswell the following year.
Barring wins on Saturday and Sunday, the Fuego are headed for their fourth losing record in the last six seasons.
They are a combined 29 games under .500 since the start of the 2016 campaign.
Here's a look at the team's demise this season:
Familiar tone: This year's undoing was, as has historically been the case, pitching. The Fuego's bloated 11.74 team earned run average is far and away the worst in the Pecos League. It didn't help that the staff ranks at or near the bottom of the league in nearly every category including hits allowed, runs allowed, walks, wild pitches and hit batsmen. Opponents are averaging
12.6 runs and a combination of 21.5 hits and walks per game.
Unsurprisingly, the staff has surrendered 100 home runs — more than double all but one other team in the league.
It's a direct result of Santa Fe's 7,000-foot altitude and Fort Marcy's mercilessly small outfield dimensions.
Sticks not enough: The Fuego are second in the league in team batting average and total bases and they're averaging more than 11 runs a game. Not nearly enough, sad to say.
Another nod to Fort Marcy's attributes? The team leads the Pecos League in homers ... but also sits near the top in strikeouts. It means players see those short fences and hear stories about the ball sailing at 7-grand, then dig in and try to go yard.
No-mentum: Santa Fe's 7-1 start seemed like times were a' changing. Not so much. The Fuego's 25-9 loss at home to Colorado Springs on June 11 (dropping them to 7-2) and began the unraveling.
They won just one road game the first month of the season, hitting a low point on June 28 with a 31-6 loss at Trinidad. The Triggers rocked Fuego pitchers for 30 hits, including four home runs and 12 walks.
It was especially bad for Santa Fe relief pitcher Brad Ratliff. Making what was his fifth and final appearance in a Fuego uniform, he retired just one of the nine batters he faced. Eight of them scored on six hits and three walks. His only out came after a leadoff single when the runner was thrown out on the bases. His final ERA was 25.07, which isn't the worst on the team.
Not even close.
Five other pitchers — in limited duty — have ERAs above 33.7.
Call your shot: Fuego first baseman/pitcher Jared Gay still has a shot at history. One of the lone bright spots this season, he has 20 home runs and has hit 44 during his two seasons in Santa Fe.
That's just three short of the club record, which he can still reach by muscling up before Sunday's final out.