Ghosts of playoffs past, present haunt Wild Things

Turn out the lights. Pull the covers over your head. Curl up into a ball.
The Wild Things have begun their annual winter hibernation after their lumber went into another postseason slumber.
Who would ever think it would be easier for a baseball team to win 62 games, and 24 of 32 series, in the regular season than it would be two series in the playoffs?
But that’s the 20-year history of the Wild Things. They win the marathons. They just can’t win the sprints.
Washington followed an all-too-familiar script this season. It finds them winning hearts, games and fans all summer, providing nights of thrills and memories, only to break those hearts in September.
What happened to the Wild Things in the playoffs is simple. And maddening. The magic left them when it was needed most.
Again.
The Wild Things won 62 games in the regular season – one shy of the franchise record – and at one point pushed their lead in the West Division to double digits. They also served as a first-class host for the Frontier League’s All-Star Game, and won an eighth division championship.
They had a remarkable run that included the franchise’s 1,000th career victory, a league-high nine players in the all-star game and shortstop Nick Ward made a strong push for league MVP, only to have that derailed when he was hit in the hand by a pitch in August and was sidelined for more than two weeks. It seemed the Wild Things lost their fire when Ward left the lineup. They had a 9-8 record after the injury.
If you talked to anybody within the Wild Things organization this summer, then you came away with the feeling that this was supposed to be the year the Wild Things won that elusive first Frontier League championship. So being swept in the West Division playoff series by Schaumburg, 11-2 and 7-2, was crushing. It just was.
What those expectations didn’t take into account, however, was the Schaumburg Boomers, team that has never lost a playoff series in its history – nine playoff series wins and a 2-0 record in wild-card games – and owns four league championship trophies.
The Boomers also owned something else – a spot in the Wild Things’ heads.
That much was apparent when some in-game jawing in June led to a benches-clearing incident at Wild Things Park. The Boomers’ confidence and psychological edge increased in August when they won the final two regular-season games against Washington. One night the Boomers overcame a four-run deficit to win, the next night they won again with an unexpected gut punch – a walk-off grand slam.
Neither Washington manager Tom Vaeth nor Schaumburg’s Jamie Bennett would say the Boomers had a psychological edge, but it was apparent that was the case in the playoff series. Though they finished nine games behind Washington in the regular season, the Boomers dominated Game 1 and led at the end of 17 of the 18 innings played in the series. Even before Game 2 unfolded Sunday night, there was a feeling of dread that hung over the ballpark. It always does in September.
It’s natural to sit back and wonder what the Wild Things could, or should, do differently to win a championship. The problem is you can’t build a team for a three-game or five-game series. You have to get to the playoffs first, which Washington has done 11 times, and then play your best baseball of the season. How to do the latter remains a mystery.
Even if there is no such thing as a curse – we can debate that for years – there are enough open wounds for the people who keep buying the tickets, who keep putting on the jerseys of players past and present, who keep filling the ballpark for two decades to wonder about where they choose to put their emotional investment.
So until next season, you can pull the covers over your head. And don’t set the alarm. When you eventually awaken, it will all be the same as it ever was.