ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Rain, rain, go away, we’re about to crown an Alaska Baseball League champion today.
Well, on Thursday, Alaskans got their wish, both in terms of the rain stopping and the decision on the ABL champion, but not in the way many would have liked.
The Alaska Baseball League announced the cancellation of the Top of the World Series between the Mat-Su Miners and the Anchorage Bucs following record rainfall in the city.
“We made the decision to cancel the game to ensure the safety of these student-athletes,” Bucs general manager Shawn Maltby said by phone. “I’m not afraid of putting a player out in the outfield who then slips on the wet grass and, God forbid, tears his ACL or something like that, I don’t want to have that on my conscience… It is what it is, you hate not finishing the game like we didn’t, but safety and sending the kids home safe is the most important thing for us.”
The Bucs, who were the league’s best team over the summer with a record of 29-12, were named 2024 ABL champions.
“Did we want to finish on top of the World Series championship? Absolutely, but ultimately winning the league is our number one goal and we were able to do that with our overall regular season record,” Maltby said.
Maltby added that it was a joint decision by all parties involved.
The best-of-three series was supposed to begin on Tuesday, but after the contest was postponed due to weather, the league opted for a doubleheader on Wednesday to make up games one and two.
The doubleheader was then postponed because playing under unrestricted conditions was still unsafe, so the two teams agreed to a single game on Thursday with the winner taking all, but the game was ultimately canceled that afternoon.
The Alaska Baseball League is made up of college players from across the country preparing to return to their respective schools this fall.
“When I got on the field (on Thursday), it was completely under water, I mean literally behind the shortstop. I have pictures of a player standing on the turf in an inch or two of rain,” Maltby said. “There was water on the warning track and in the outfield.”
On offense, the Bucs led the league in nearly every statistical category, with the most hits (310), RBIs (183), walks drawn (215), best batting average (.248), on-base percentage (.373) and best slugging (.326).
On defense, they made the fewest errors and boasted the lowest ERA on the mound (2.67).
“Our team came together so quickly in the beginning … I think when you have teams that come together as quickly as this one, and our pitching staff, we were able to throw the ball really well this year, which was great, and offensively we swung it pretty well, too,” Maltby said. “It comes down to both sides of the ball.
When you think about it, you win championships through pitching and defense, and we did that really well this year, and I was super excited and happy for the guys that they did a really good job of doing that.”
This is the 10th ABL title for the Bucs and the first since 2019.
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