Captains Host Timber Rattlers for Game 2 of 2024 MWL Championship Series With Season on the Line

EASTLAKE, OH – Trailing 1-0 in the best-of-three set, the Lake County Captains (77-53) (2-1) will host the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (77-54) (3-0) for Game 2 of the 2024 Midwest League Championship Series Classic Auto Group Park on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m

The Captains seek to win Game 2 and force a winner-take-all Game 3 on Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. in Eastlake.

MWL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES DATES/TIMES

• GAME 1 (Wisconsin won 5-4) | Sunday, September 15 | 7:40 p.m. | Grand Chute, WI
• GAME 2 | Tuesday, September 17 | 6:35 p.m. | Eastlake, OH
• GAME (if necessary) | Wednesday, September 18 | 6:35 p.m. | Eastlake, OH

GAME 1

• Lake County took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but Wisconsin scored five of the last seven runs to win 5-4 at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Timber Rattlers SS Cooper Pratt, MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 Milwaukee and No. 58 overall prospect, hit a go-ahead RBI double off the third base bag in the bottom of the eighth.
• The Captains drew 10 walks, their third-most in a playoff game since at least 2005.
• Lake County falls to 5-5 since 2005 in playoff games tied in the seventh inning or later.
• Captains RHP Carter Spivey pitched 4.2 innings in long relief, allowing just one run and fanning four. Despite making a team-high 24 starts in the regular season, he has surrendered just one run in two relief appearances and six innings in the postseason.

CHASING A CHAMPIONSHIP

• This season marks Lake County’s fourth appearance in the Midwest League Championship Series, and its second in the last three seasons. In 2022, the Captains beat South Bend in Game 1 on the road before falling in Games 2 and 3 at home.
• In 2003, Lake County fell to the Single-A Rome Braves in the South Atlantic League Championship Series, its lone championship appearance in the SAL (2003-2009).
• Since joining the Midwest League in 2010, the Captains are 20-15 in the MWL Playoffs and 4-8 in the MWLCS.

ALL-TIME VERSUS WISCONSIN

• Wisconsin leads Lake County 19-12 in the all-time series dating back to 2010.
• The Captains are 5-10 against the Timber Rattlers at home and 9-7 on the road.
• The teams had never met in the MWL Playoffs until this past Sunday night.
• The MWLCS marks the first meeting between Lake County and Wisconsin since May 9-11, 2019, when the Timber Rattlers won two of three in Grand Chute, Wisconsin.
• The last time the Captains hosted Wisconsin was from May 1-3, 2018, when Lake County lost two of three in Eastlake.

SCOUTING WISCONSIN

• The Timber Rattlers, managed by Victor Estevez, are one win away from their 10^th Midwest League title since joining in 1962. A championship would move them past Lansing for the most titles in Midwest League history.
• Wisconsin went 77-54 in the regular season, the second-best record in the MWL behind only Lake County (77-53).
• The Timber Rattlers advanced to the MWLCS after sweeping Quad Cities in the 2024 Midwest League West Division Championship Series with a 1-0 road victory on September 10, and a 7-6 walk-off win on September 12.
• Wisconsin led the Midwest League with 244 stolen bases in the regular season, which are still the eighth-most in Minor League Baseball this year.

5 PLAYERS TO KNOW – LAKE COUNTY

• LHP Matt Wilkinson, MLB Pipeline’s No. 30 Cleveland prospect, pitched 5.2 innings of one-run ball in Game 1 of the 2024 Midwest League East Division Championship Series at Dayton on September 10. Over his last seven starts, he is 3-2 with a 1.40 ERA and 39 strikeouts.
• 2B Travis Bazzana, MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 Cleveland and No. 11 overall prospect, is one of three batters with multiple extra-base hits in the MWL postseason. In his last two playoff games, he is batting .333 (3-for-9) with a home run, a double, two RBI, and two runs scored.
• OF Wuilfredo Antunez is batting .417 (5-for-12) in the MWL Playoffs, fourth in the MWL among hitters with 10-plus plate appearances. Antunez leads the Captains with a .324 batting average since his High-A debut on August 14.
• INF Angel Genao, MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 Cleveland and No. 87 overall prospect, recorded 148 hits in the regular season, tied with 2022 Single-A Greensboro, Double-A Altoona, and Triple-A Indianapolis catcher Endy Rodr**í**guez for the most hits by a Minor League switch hitter since 2019. Genao had more multi-hit games (29) than games without a hit (15) with Lake County during the regular season.
• RHP Jay Driver owns a 1.50 ERA between the regular season and playoffs, the lowest by a MWL reliever with 40-plus appearances this year. The next-best ERA is Wisconsin RHP Aaron Rund’s 3.07 mark.

5 PLAYERS TO KNOW – WISCONSIN

• INF Jadher Areinamo, MLB Pipeline’s No. 24 Milwaukee prospect, won the MWL batting title with a .301 average, while recording a league-high 30 doubles. Areinamo and Captains INF Angel Genao (including Single-A Lynchburg) are the only Midwest Leaguers with a .300-plus average, 30-plus doubles, and 25-plus stolen bases this season.
• INF Luke Adams, MLB Pipeline’s No. 8 Milwaukee prospect, finished the regular season with the highest on-base percentage (.443) by a Midwest Leaguer since 11-time MLB All-Star Mike Trout’s .454 mark with Cedar Rapids in 2010. Adams also led the MWL with 78 walks, and his 40 hit-by-pitches were the most by a Midwest Leaguer since at least 2005.
• INF Cooper Pratt, MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 Milwaukee and No. 58 overall prospect, is batting .500 (4-for-8) in his last two playoff games, including the go-ahead RBI double in Wisconsin’s 5-4 win over Lake County on Sunday. Pratt is the only Milwaukee minor leaguer with 25-or-more stolen bases while being caught stealing three-or-fewer times.
• OF Luis Lara, MLB Pipeline’s No. 8 Milwaukee prospect, led the Timber Rattlers and ranked second in the MWL with 45 stolen bases. His 15.7% strikeout rate ranked tied for fourth among 19-year-old Minor Leaguers with over 400 at-bats.
• LHP Mark Manfredi went 6-4 with a 3.91 ERA and a .222 opposing average in 28 appearances and 12 starts during the regular season. His 13.78 strikeouts per nine innings as a reliever ranked third among MWL pitchers with 30-plus innings pitched.