Sep 16, 2018 3 min read

After more than four months of baseball, 574 regular-season games and a dozen more in the postseason, it has come down to this: a one-game, winner-take-all showdown for the Frontier League championship.

The Wild Things will host the Joliet Slammers at 7:05 tonight, weather permitting, in Game 5 of the best-of-5 league championship series.

Washington forced a decisive fifth game by defeating the Slammers, 2-1, Saturday night in Game 4 at Joliet Route 66 Stadium.

“I expected nothing less,” Washington manager Gregg Langbehn said of the Game 5 scenario. “We’ve been the two best teams in the league. Pitching has dominated the series, which is what we expected.”

Washington starting pitcher Dillon Sunnafrank, who had not pitched in the postseason, and relievers Jesus Balaguer and Zach Strecker combined on a three-hitter in Game 4 and the Wild Things made the most of their four hits. Right fielder Hector Roa slapped a two-out, two-run single in the sixth inning to give Washington a 2-1 lead.

“This has been a great series,” Langbehn said. “Saturday night, that was as intense as I have felt in the dugout in a playoff game. After Roa got that two-run hit, you could feel the energy. Both teams were into every pitch; the crowd was into it.”

The Wild Things will send lefty Thomas Dorminy to the mound for Game 5. Dorminy led the league with a 2.45 ERA in the regular season and was named the Pitcher of the Year. Dorminy has a 2-0 record in the postseason.

Joliet has not listed its starting pitcher. The Slammers could go with true rookie Daren Osby, who pitched Game 1, which was a 3-2 Washington victory. Joliet also could opt for Scot Hoffman, who pitched Joliet to a 3-1 win in Game 2. Hoffman has pitched five games against Washington this year with Joliet winning three of those starts.

Washington and Joliet tied for the best record in the Frontier League this year, each finishing with a 54-42 mark.

“It’s no surprise that we’re playing a fifth game since we’re both very good teams,” Joliet manager Jeff Isom told the Joliet Herald-News Saturday night. “You look at their lineup 1 through 9, and they’ve got some good hitters all the way through. But why make it easy? Nothing has been easy for us, and we don’t expect Game 5 to be easy, either.”

Washington has never won a championship in its 17 years in the Frontier League. This is the third time the Wild Things have been in the finals and it will be the first time that a team will win the championship trophy at Wild Things Park.

Extra bases

The relief pitching by both teams has been stellar in the finals. Washington’s bullpen has not allowed a run in 13 1/3 innings while Joliet’s has yielded only one run in 10 1/3 innings. … Washington has played from behind for most of the series, having led at the end of only seven innings over the four games.