2021 AL Central Preview

Day two of my set of previews for the upcoming MLB season is underway!

Yesterday I covered both East divisions, and I'm working my way west over the next couple days. Since our champion came from out west, I'm saving them for tomorrow, which means I'm staying close to home today.

Starting things off, let's look at the American League Central.

2021 NL East Preview

Finishing up the first day of two-a-day's as we approach the start of the 2021 MLB season!

Earlier today I did my predictions for the AL East as I alternate leagues and work my way across the country to end with the division of our defending champion. Tomorrow I'll be in the Central divisions.

To finish today, let's look at the NL East.

2021 AL East Preview

You know we're getting back to some semblance of normalcy when you're looking at a Thursday start to the Major League Baseball season with a full 162 game slate scheduled. And since they're going all out on this... I figure I need to get back to my normal pattern as well.

Last year I didn't do a preview series for Major League Baseball because of the delay in the start of the season, then the quick start up to the abridged one. But with a full year coming up, I feel like I need to get back to my usual pattern. So each of the next few days, I'll look at two divisions a day, alternating leagues as I used to, finishing up with the division hosting our defending champion. With the playoff picture for 2021 up in the air, I won't go into Wild Card picks since my picks could be rendered meaningless in a month or two, I'll just go with record projections.

So, without further ado, here's my first look at the upcoming season.

Game Notes (WBK): Wheaton College @ North Central College (2/25/21)

Final Score
Wheaton 69, NCC 61

Game Summary
Dressing just eight players tonight, the Thunder (10-1) got off to a bit of a slow start while the Cardinals (2-9) built a small early lead and kept it the rest of the frame, leading 13-11 after the first ten minutes. Wheaton turned it into a back and forth affair for a bit, though the Cardinals would push their lead as high as six with 4:22 to play and led by four with about two and a half to go. But the Thunder closed the half with eight straight to take a 32-28 lead to the locker room. The second half couldn't have started any better though, as the Cardinals scored nine straight to retake the lead. Wheaton fought back and made it a tight affair the rest of the quarter, as we went to the final stanza tied at 48. But as has been the theme for most of the season, the Cardinals went cold in the fourth, with the obvious sign coming on the opening possession as a perfectly drawn play saw Bekah Foley wide open in the lane, but she missed a floater, and the Thunder followed with back to back second chance buckets. NCC seemed to stay right in it with a three a minute or two later. But the Thunder put it away with a 9-0 run, keeping the Cardinals off the board for nearly five minutes, and late free throws iced Wheaton's 25th consecutive win over the Cardinals.

Key Players

• Hannah Williams (WHE): 8-18 FG (2-6 3PT), 6-8 FT; 24 pts, 6 reb (2 off), 3 ast, 2 stl. Wheaton's best player lived up to the billing, even though she wasn't the most efficient in this one. But she played the full 40 minutes with her team shorthanded, and her biggest play was probably a three that really sparked the 9-0 run, doubling Wheaton's lead late and pretty much killing any shot the Cardinals had at coming back.
• Annie Tate (WHE): 9-15 FG, 1-1 FT; 19 pts, 9 reb. The reigning CCIW Player of the Week showed up again in this one, getting a bunch of great looks in the paint and led the Thunder in rebounding to help give them an edge in that category.
• Allison Pearson (NCC): 8-19 FG (4-11 3PT), 1-2 FT; 21 pts, 3 reb, 6 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl. Pearson was probably the main reason the Cardinals stayed in this one. While not the most efficient night, it was still a good one for her.

Key Stats

• WHE: Outscored NCC in the paint 40-26. I was a little surprised to see that the Cardinals outscored the Thunder on second chances (14-4), so this more or less washes it out, but when a majority of your points come from in the paint, you're doing something right. North Central played pretty good defense, for what it's worth, with the Thunder making some circus-style shots as well. This also notes that NCC missed some opportunities. Speaking of...
• NCC: 3-9 FT (33.3%). Take the missed layups from Foley and others, add in six missed free throws (including a 1-5 mark in the final quarter)... and that's your game. NCC has done okay in other games from the line, but they're a 61 percent team for the season. That explains a lot of why this team is 2-9.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ NPU 65 (8-3), IWU 63 (3-3)
• CRL 73 (6-4), @ AUG 64 (3-5)
• ELM 65 (3-8), @ CAR 62 (2-9)
• BYE: MIL (8-3)
• MBK: @ WHE 79 (10-0), NCC 73 (5-5)

Final Thoughts
I keep getting myself all hyped up for the Wheaton games, knowing full well I'm going to end up getting hurt again. The Cardinals haven't beaten the Thunder since 2009, and not at Merner since 2008, a game that I called on WONC way back in the day. But in a lot of these games, the Cardinals have been in it and just can't close the deal. And unfortunately, I think that was the case today. I continue to be impressed with this North Central team though, despite the 2-9 record. This is a good team with a lot of heart, and an invested bench group. There's been other rough years, but this is a year that I think with a lot of young pieces that will be back next year, this could be a dark horse team for 2022.

The Cardinals will get one more crack to end the long streak on Saturday out at King Arena, and given the shorthandedness of the Thunder, combined with the fact that this is a feisty Cardinal team, they have a shot to do so. Coming up this weekend for me though, the men will get another crack at a currently unbeaten Wheaton men's team.

Tuesday will likely be my final game of the year, though whether it will be a CCIW Women's Basketball Tournament game or a men's date against Elmhurst remains to be seen.

Game Notes (MBK): Carthage College @ North Central College (2/20/21)

Final Score
Carthage 71, NCC 68

Game Summary
This one looked early like it might get out of hand despite the Cardinals (5-4) taking an early 6-3 lead. But the newly-minted Firebirds (4-5) began opening fire from beyond the arc, using a 14-1 run to help build what would become a 15 point lead at 24-9. But in the building of that lead that the Cardinal offense finally woke up and they began hitting threes as well, slowly cutting into the Carthage lead to make it 35-30 Firebirds at the intermission. The Cardinals opened the second half on fire, with an old fashioned three point play making way for back to back Brian Johnson threes, though after his second one he got a little too into it, got in the face of one of the Firebirds, and was T'd up. That stopped the bleeding and resulted in six straight for the Firebirds, who were able to retake brief control, though the Cardinals fought back to tie the game at 47, then took their first lead since very early in the game at 50-49. The teams traded a couple leads before Carthage started to assert control, though their lead wasn't huge. It was a three point game with about two and a half minutes to play, when the defenses asserted control until the final seconds, when Kyle Czerak hit a fallaway contested three at the end of the shot clock to put the Firebirds up six with just 34 seconds to go. NCC answered with a fairly quick three, got a miss on the front end of a one-and-one, and Blaise Meredith hit a pair of free throws with 6.3 seconds to go to make it 69-68 Carthage... eerily similar to The Miracle on Brainard Street a year and a day prior. Unfortunately this time, Carthage sank two free throws at the other end, and a Mike Pollack three fell short, allowing the Firebirds to escape with the win.

Key Players

• Josh Washburn (CAR): 7-11 FG (3-7 3PT), 4-4 FT; 21 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl. The senior rose to the occasion in this one, hitting a bunch of big shots early in the game, as he scored 10 in the first half, but kept it up in the second half. His two free throws with 4.9 seconds left sealed the deal for the Firebirds.
• Fillip Bulatovic (CAR): 5-15 FG (0-4 3PT), 5-10 FT; 15 pts, 11 reb (3 off), 6 ast, 3 stl. In last year's matchup, Bulatovic hit a bunch of big buckets to keep Carthage in control until the very end. This year, he still got his despite some inefficiencies, but also filled the stat sheet elsewhere. This guy is going to be a star in this league.
• Brian Johnson (NCC): 5-9 FG (all 3PT); 15 pts, 8 reb (1 off), 2 ast, 1 stl. I don't think it's too outlandish to call this something of a breakout game for Brian. He hit a couple threes in the first half to help get the Cardinals back into the game, then hit those back to back triples early in the second half that cut it to a one point game, but his technical to some degree I think took the wind out of NCC's sails.

Key Stats

• CAR: Outscored NCC in the paint 28-8. There were a few ways I could have gone here. Carthage was not good at the line, and had the Cardinals won I would have highlighted an 11-19 day at the stripe. Instead, I have to look at how the Firebirds were able to find some looks at the rim when they needed to, combined with a good outside shooting day. The combination proved to be too much.
• NCC: 14-37 3PT (37.8%). This is a pretty good percentage, for what it's worth. But when 37 of your 52 shots come from beyond the arc... this isn't ideal. Granted, quite a few misses were open looks that a lot of other times would fall. It's also important to note that Firebird center Sean Johnson and his 6'11" frame were in for much of the game to wreak havoc, but still.

CCIW Scoreboard/The Belt^TM Watch

• @ ELM 81 (4-1), MIL 79 (1-9)
• Elmhurst retains possession of The Belt^TM
• @ WHE 81 (9-0), CRL 55 (3-5)
• @ AUG 74 (5-1), NPU 7 1(1-10)
• BYE: IWU (4-0)
• WBK: @ CAR 72 (2-7), NCC 50 (1-8)

Final Thoughts
File under: Basketball is weird. Following a blowout up in Kenosha without Blaise Meredith no less, I'm not saying this should have been a cakewalk in the rematch in Naperville. But the Firebirds also always seem to play the Cardinals really tough, especially in Naperville, and Saturday was no exception.

Another stat I didn't put in up above for Carthage that I do have to mention: the Firebirds had just three points off the bench on Saturday, and it was on Kyle Czerak's ridiculous dagger three (that I think even rolled around a bit before falling). Czerak went to high school with my brother, prompting a text from my dad postgame of "Foiled by the ACC grad." Foiled indeed.

It's yet another tough loss for this Cardinal team that started pretty strong, but has really been struggling of late. Things don't get any easier to close out the regular season though, as a home-and-home with a currently unbeaten Wheaton team looms on the horizon.

Game Notes (WBK): Carthage College @ North Central College (2/18/21)

Final Score
Carthage 70, NCC 62

Game Summary
Fresh off their first win of the season, the Cardinals (1-7) got a bit of a gut punch, as Carthage (1-7) started the game hot, jumping out to a 19-7 lead. But the Cardinals clawed back, scoring seven straight to close out the quarter, including a broken play jumper at the buzzer off a jump ball. The Cardinals took a brief lead at 21-20 early in the second, but Carthage answered, leading by as many as five late before taking a 36-33 lead into the locker room. The Cardinals opened the second half on a tear, scoring eight straight to take a five point lead before Carthage answered with nine straight of their own, forcing a back and forth struggle, with a late old-fashioned three point play giving the Cardinals a 54-50 lead going into the final frame. An early three pushed the Cardinal lead to its highest mark at eight. Carthage cut that in half before an NCC basket with just over five minutes remaining gave them a 62-56 lead. Then the bottom fell out; the Cardinals missed their final seven shots and committed four turnovers in that span as Carthage scored 14 unanswered to close it out.

Key Players

• Lauren Knight (CAR): 5-8 FG (3-5 3PT), 8-10 FT; 21 pts, 2 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl. One thing I noticed in prepping for Thursday's game was how young this Carthage roster is, which to some degree explains why this was their first win. But this was easily the best game of Knight's young collegiate career, as she notched career highs in most categories, specifically points. She was a killer, especially early in the game.
• Bridget Barrett (CAR): 5-8 FG, 0-2 FT; 10 pts, 11 reb (4 off), 1 ast, 1 stl. Another freshman putting up a monster game. While the 11 rebounds aren't a season high (she notched 15 against North Park earlier this year), the four offensive boards helped her team, and she hit a couple huge buckets, including what turned out to be the game-winner.
• Allison Pearson (NCC): 8-18 FG (5-12 3PT); 21 pts, 1 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl. Alli did all she could in this one. She was on fire for stretches of the game, and her fifth three of the game gave the Cardinals that aforementioned eight point lead. Unfortunately she went cold down the stretch, though it doesn't eliminate an all around good game.

Key Stats

• CAR: 8-24 3PT (33.3%). The overall number doesn't tell the whole story, because Carthage was hot to start the game. They went 4-10 from deep in the opening quarter as part of that early 19-7 surge to start the game. That makes for a 4-14 mark the rest of the game, which isn't great, but they hit when they needed to.
• NCC: 3-14 FG in 4th quarter (21.4%). The first half of the quarter was fine; the Cardinals hit three of their first seven shots and led by six when they hit their last one. And then, as has happened so many times this year, they went cold in the final minutes.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ WHE 68 (8-1), CRL 57 (5-3)
• MIL 81 (6-3), @ ELM 55 (2-7)
• NPU 66 (5-3), @ AUG 52 (3-2)
• BYE: IWU (3-1)
• MBK: NCC 73 (5-3), @ CAR 53 (3-5)

Final Thoughts
Okay, let me get this out of the way. While it didn't impact the outcome, the officiating, especially in the second half was... interesting. I saw the first ever over and back call made when the ball was ten feet from the midcourt line. While the official's names are not listed on the box score, let's just say it was a familiar face who has been alluded to in previous Confessions of a Sportscaster. The clues are there.

Carthage also lost starter Destiny Antoine early in the game to what appeared to be an ankle injury, and she did not return. Margueret Spear also looked like she hurt her collarbone in the first half, but managed to come back in and finish the game. Gutsy performance from her, so I tip my cap, and extend well wishes to both on speedy recoveries.

As for the game itself... this was a bummer. I was hoping that the spark from a Senior Day win would carry over, and for a bit it seemed like it might. But the theme of the year has been not hanging onto fourth quarter leads, and the Cardinals once again went cold when they could least afford to. It's another game though, that they were in, and their 1-7 record doesn't do justice to the fact that this is a good team.

The Cardinals will get another crack at the team without a name when they head up to Kenosha on Saturday.

Game Notes (WBK): Millikin University @ North Central College (2/13/21)

Final Score
NCC 68, Millikin 55

Game Summary
Celebrating Senior Day on Saturday, it was the seniors who led an early Cardinal (1-6) surge to build a 10-4 lead. The Big Blue (5-3) responded with a 10-0 run and seemed poised to take a narrow lead into the second quarter, with a late Cardinal layup making it 16-14 Millikin ten minutes in. The Big Blue followed that up with an 8-2 run to open the second quarter to build an eight point lead, but the Cardinals fought back, scoring nine straight to retake the lead, then trading threes with Millikin. A late jumper cut the Cardinal lead to one, but a late three gave North Central a four point cushion going into the locker room. The Cardinals were able to push their lead to double digits briefly late in the quarter, but a late Big Blue surge cut it to five going into the final frame. An immediate layup made it a one possession game again, but the Cardinals responded with a three, and after five straight from the Big Blue cut it back to one, North Central closed it out with a decisive 13-2 run over six and a half minutes to claim their first victory of the season.

Key Players

• Haydn Braun (NCC): 5-11 FG (1-4 3PT), 9-10 FT; 20 pts, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl. I feel like in a lot of games, layups are this team's Kryptonite, but they hit on Saturday, led by the senior point guard. Her one three came at a critical time, and she was able to get to the basket almost at will. Her 20 points are a season high, and aren't far off her career high of 23 from a year ago.
• Bekah Foley (NCC): 6-14 FG (3-5 3PT), 4-6 FT; 19 pts, 3 reb (2 off), 1 blk, 2 stl. Bekah's defense has been really good this season, but she brought it at the other end of the floor on Saturday. Her outside shot was falling, including at some critical moments as well, and she still provided some excellent defense too. A fitting Senior Day for her.
• Jordan Hildebrand (MIL): 2-9 FG; 4 pts, 9 reb (3 off), 5 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl. It could be argued that this line should go to Millikin's phenom freshman Elyce Knudsen (15 points on 6-16 shooting), but Hildebrand has been the top player for the Big Blue the past couple years... and the Cardinals completely shut her down offensively. Hildebrand didn't score until getting the lone basket during the Cardinals' late clinching run, and she added one more in what was effectively garbage time. She still found ways to get involved, leading her team in rebounding and distributing the ball effectively, but this was probably her worst shooting night in recent history.

Key Stats

• NCC: 20 points off 18 Millikin turnovers. Millikin did not take good care of the ball on Saturday; they threw a handful of passes out of bounds, got whistled for a few traveling calls and such, while the Cardinals only recorded five steals. But the Cardinals capitalized on their chances, while Millikin managed just eight points off 12 Cardinal giveaways.
• MIL: 4-21 3PT (19.0%). The Big Blue have been struggling to shoot the ball of late; they've been below 36 percent shooting on the whole from the field each of the past three games (Saturday included), but it was the three point shooting that really killed them. For the season, Millikin is at 29 percent from beyond the arc, and Saturday didn't help.

CCIW Scoreboard Watch

• @ WHE 47 (7-1), CAR 40 (0-6)
• @ ELM 78 (2-5), CRL 51 (4-2)
• AUG (3-1) @ IWU (3-1)- PPD
• BYE: NPU (3-3)
• MBK: @ MIL 59 (1-6), NCC 45 (4-3)

Final Thoughts

Photo by Steve Woltmann

The Cardinals have been in every game thus far this season, with the exception of the Illinois Wesleyan game the week before, and should have more wins than just the one they have now. But they finally put together a full, complete game, and it was great to see them pull out a win, especially against a Millikin team that was ranked 13th in the country. That it happened on a Senior Day with some of the parents in attendance was even better.

The Cardinals have five games left this season, including a makeup date with Illinois Wesleyan down in Bloomington to be played in about a week. That is sandwiched between home-and-homes with Carthage (this week) and Wheaton (next week). The Carthage matchup is against a team that is the only winless one in the conference, but they're also better than what their record says they are, especially with as well as they played Wheaton on Saturday. Speaking of the Thunder, NCC gets another crack at ending the long drought against them to close out the year.