BSL Nights 2021 - Playoff Recap
Semi-Finals 1: #4 Baghdad vs #1 Medina
What a beautiful day it was for a pair of semi final games as the final 4 teams standing would take the stage in a do or die battle. Medina solidified their dominance in the regular season and come into this one hoping to take out an energetic Baghdad squad. Baghdad on the other hand knew they had their hands full tonight going up against the best team in the league. At this point though, standings didn’t matter as both teams were equally matched and ready for a fight!
Baghdad came out making tons of noise as they put up a mercy inning thanks to a Thaya homerun bringing in 2 RBI’s which was then capped off by an incredible Fawad Sheikh Grand slam. Not only did that get the team fired up, it set them up for the rest of the game as Baghdad was up 10-0 after 3 periods. Still, a 10 point lead wouldn’t be enough against the number 1 seed as Medina tried to figure out a way to get back into this game. As Medina started to put up some runs, it was evident that Nirvaan Latif was making life difficult for the Gold squad as only 2 players on Medina had more than 1 hit on the night. Although Baghdad’s offense slowed down after their strong 10-0 start, it would be their defense that would carry them the rest of the way thanks to some fancy catches in the outfield and some slick plays in the Infield. As usual, Noor controlled the infield making all the right plays while Nirvaan controlled the mound.
Going into the last inning, Medina was down 14-7 and would need a big inning to get back in this game. Ahmed Ammad stepped up and as usual smashed one over the fence brining in 3 runs but Baghdad’s defense was too suffocating on this night as know one else was able to do any damage allowing Baghdad to close out this game with a 14-10 victory. With this game in the books, Baghdad makes it to the finals against all odds as the number 4 seed. Its been a wild playoffs as we see some of the top seeds fall off but Baghdad punched their ticket to the big dance and will face off against a dangerous Cordoba squad making their 4th straight finals appearance. Will Baghdad continue their hot streak through the finals and earn their first chip? Can Cordoba continue their dominance and put a stop to the Baghdad freight train? Stay tuned! We’ve got the finals coming this Thursday at 8pm!
Medina goes home with the biggest WHAT IF of any team. A squad that began their campaign on absolute fire, they once seemed undefeatable. But their human side started to show late in the season and a slow start in their semi's closed the chapter. GM Mo Kala once again comes out w/ a great draft but falls just short. Medina will look to right the ship next season IA.
Final Score: Baghdad 14 Medina 10
Semi-Finals 2: #6 Damascus vs #2 Cordoba
Cinderalla vs Goliath. This matchup was not one anyone had penciled in but here we are. Damascus and their Cinderella story against #2 overall Cordoba. A rematch of last years final, but under very different circumstances. The boys in blue got to this point by eliminating Lahore and Jerusalem and felt good about their chances. Cordoba, in their 4th straight finals, would look to their experience to pull this one off.
Damascus started off the game on the sticks and would quickly put up 4 runs. While in the bottom they would hold Jerusalem to only 2 runs. After 2 innings of play it would be 5-4 in favor of Damascus. But a crucial goose egg in the top of the 3rd, Cordoba would capitalize and punched in 5 runs courtesy of a Ahmed Butt grand salaami!! Butt has had an incredible season and the grandie was a perfect display of that. Cordoba found their groove from here on out as their bats heated up and they got contribution from their entire lineup. Especially Khawar 'June' Anwar as he would go 4-4 with a pair of doubles and rbi's. Rumor has it he looking to change his nickname from June to Mr.September, an ode to his playoff play lately.
Damascus, as they have all season, wouldn't quit and would get some runs back courtesy of GM Safwan who went 4/4 w/ a dinger along with Omer who drove in 5rbi's and also had a dinger. But it wouldn't be enough and it was time for the glass slippers to come off as Cordoba would hold on to the lead and take the game 20-13.
The boys in blue should hold their heads up as they've arguably faced the most adversity this season. Mid way through the season, found themselves dead last, missed key players during the season and playoffs, but they built a bond and were a great group of brothers to play with. GM Safwan did a great job with the pieces he had, but will always wonder how far this team could've gone if he would've gotten more games with his top picks. He will have the offseason to evaluate and look to come out stronger next season IA.
Cordoba played a great game and finished with 29 hits! Great contributions all around from guys like Usama and Hassan Chaudhry (8/10 combined). GM Bilal would also go a perfect 3-3 but the honors for the W go to Salim Jaichi. Dealing with personal matters, he would show up and leave it all on the field, going 3/3 with a homerun and 3 RBI's. We wish him and his family the very best going forward.
Baghdad vs Cordoba. Thursday. Sept 16th. 8pm. The Finals. See you there!
Final Score: Damascus 13 Cordoba 20
Quarter-Finals: Istanbul vs Baghdad
The final game during week 1 playoffs pitted rookie GM’s Taqi Ahmed & Istanbul vs. Hamid Malik & Baghdad. Most spectators stuck around for this matchup as this was the most anticipated match on the night, however, following up Damascus’ 2 wins would be a tough thing to do.
Both teams put up 1 runs in the first inning before Baghdad opened up the flood gates in the 2nd inning, putting up a 6-spot courtesy of homeruns from both Thaya Yogachandran & Nirvaan Latif. Istanbul would start to chip away, with multiple runs in multiple innings. Big man Umair Ali hit the only homerun for Istanbul on the night and went 3-3. Unfortunately, Istanbul left a lot of runners on base as they had bases loaded and were unable to cash any runs in.
Baghdad on the flip side would continue to capitalize on Istanbul’s errors, as pitcher Riyad Ramjaun pitched as good of a game as you could ask for, but multiple drops in the outfield killed any chances they had to make a comeback. Baghdad would continue to add more runs (even after Nirvaan was walked intentionally), as Aslam Abdulla turned a bases loaded error at 1st base into a bases clearing triple. This was the story on the night for Istanbul (OF Asad Ahmed was injured making a diving catch), as they had to shift the OF and sorely missed Asad.
Great season for the boys in red as they never gave up even after many had written them off as the last place team prior to the season starting. Taqi and his boys proved everyone wrong, and this years’ experience will only help him next year. On the flip side, Baghdad moves on to the semi finals and riding big momentum as they will clash with 1st place Medina in what will surely be a clash of the titans this coming Thursday.
Final Score: Istanbul 5 Baghdad 11
Quarter-Finals: Damascus vs Jerusalem
Jerusalem came into this one rested and just witnessed what DMC had just done, and knew they had to take advantage of the short handed DMC much better than Lahore did.
Damascus, who got back their ROY candidate Zahid P for the 2nd game, would still field 9 players as they would lose AK to other commitments. It’s almost like DMC prefers to play with some adversity to get their juices flowing.
But this game was expected to be different, and most players/spectators were writing off the Syrians thinking their Cinderella story would end here, with the might Jerusalem being a much tougher opponent and having gone 2-0 against them in the regular season. Damascus on the other hand looked to continue to prove everyone wrong, knowing they just beat Lahore who had gone 3-0 against them in the regular season.
The game started with DMC continuing to bat well and putting up 4 runs in the top of the 1st. But Jerusalem would respond with 6 of their own, as guys took advantage of the extra green available to them, with Hatf, Rameez & Salman hitting doubles at their at bats. The 2nd inning DMC continued to do damage and put up 6 runs courtesy of their big bats Omer & Safwan. These 2 had monster games, going 9-9 combined & 5 extra base hits including 3 bombs! Shoutout to Zahid and Hassaan as well who went 7/9 combined.
After 2 innings of play it was 10-6 in favor of the short handed Syrians. The boys in blue started feeling like they could pull this one off, they would just need to stay focused. The next few innings would go back and forth, with some good defensive plays (shoutout to the 3 OF of Damascus as they ran all over the place to cover as much green as possible and making good catches).
Going into the bottom of the 6th and final innings, Jerusalem found themselves down 19-10. They quickly would bring on base runners and cashed in 3 to close the lead to 19-13, taking advantage of some key errors. That’s when DMC GM decided to use 1 of his superpowers and turned on Safwan(da) Vision which allowed him to see the future. He would position himself in ways you had to witness to believe, playing all over the infield and shallow outfield. He single-handedly got the final 2 outs playing incredible positioning and making spectacular plays to get his squad the upset victory!
Jerusalem’s season ends in the quarter finals where they put up a fight. GM Salman had a great rookie campaign and looks to build on the experience next season.
But the story of the year thus far has got to be Damascus. Once well out of a playoff spot, they’ve earned themselves a spot in the semi-finals. While the adversity continues, and most can continue to count them out, these are a band of brothers that are playing for each other. Jobs not finished.
Final Score: Damascus 19 vs Jerusalem 13
Wildcard: Lahore vs Damascus
The playoff game to get into the real playoffs featured 7th seeded Lahore vs 6th seeded Damascus. 2 teams who managed to do just enough to get to the wildcard. With even records of 5-9-2 this was set to be anyone’s game. But then news broke that Damascus was going to be severely short handed and the favor turned to Lahore.
The Syrians, who have arguably fought the most adversity this year, were set to miss 3 guys including their starting pitcher Zahid, a travelling YM and groom Zaqi (congrats!). They would’ve missed a 4th player but Adnan decided to put everything on the line and play with a severely injured finger. This still left DMC with 3 outfielders for the game, a nightmare for a softball game. But as this writer has mentioned before, the team has a ‘never die’ attitude and would go out with confidence.
Lahore came into this game as the team w/ the lowest walks on the season. But it almost seemed like part of their game plan was to be patient and take walks even though DMC had 3 OF. The game started with a strikeout looking, and most guys were overly patient it seemed instead of just hitting the ball with tons of green available. Damascus used that to their advantage, as they would go up to bat to put on 1 of the most impressive offensive displays this season.
3 OF also means a shorter batting lineup, that’s where DMC knew it had to make noise to win this game. No one realized that noise was about to be deafening. The team hit a crazy .647 (.706 H/RISP) as a team and absolutely obliterated the opposing team by putting up 17 runs in just 3 innings to Lahore’s 3. Multiple guys went perfect on the night (Ali 4/4, 2B, 4 rbi) (AK 4/4) (Jav 4/4, 2 2B, 5 rbi) and DMC would go onto win 17-6.
Lahore’s season ends in the wildcard, and gm Aftab will take some time to dissect what went wrong with the team in this game and overall as he had the squad to make some noise, but looks to bounce back next year.
Damascus moves on to face 3rd seed Jerusalem, a much tougher task especially if they continue to play with 3 outfielders. But as they’ve proved again and again, don’t count these boys in blue out till the final whistle blows.
Final Score: Lahore 6 vs Damascus 17