Fuego's postseason prospects continue to dim
If only Dennis Green were still with us. He’d sum it up perfectly. The Santa Fe Fuego are who we thought they were. The city’s humble and somewhat lovable independent league baseball team beats the teams it should, loses to the clubs that are better and steals a game here and there just to keep things interesting. In the end, it’s probably not going to be enough for a Pecos League playoff berth.
It will be the fourth time in the team’s six years that the season ends without making it to the show.
Before the Fuego’s game at Trinidad on Wednesday night, they were 14-3 against teams with a losing record and 7-15 against teams above .500. With 21 games left and 11 against teams on the north end of the break-even point, a playoff berth is all but out of the question. If only they could play White Sands every day. The Fuego have more than half their wins against the Pupfish, the league’s worst team. As fate would have it, the Fish are in town this weekend for a four-game series that wraps up their 18-game interaction with Santa Fe this season. The Fuego are 11-3 thus far.
You can’t blame the Pecos League for this one. A year after a ridiculous scheduling move that gave the team 75 percent of its games at home, the league went out of its way again by letting the Fuego play at home every Thursday through Sunday from start to finish.
It has drastically cut down on travel and given the team, traditionally one of the league’s better draws until this season, an advantage by settling into a routine that keeps the players on a consistent cycle of home and road.
The gravy days might be over, though. The league’s best draws are now Tucson and the clubs in California, teams that attract better players, get bigger crowds and play in nicer venues.
Santa Fe even lost the Pecos League All-Star Game for the first time in its history. After five years of Fort Marcy’s unpredictable monsoon weather and lumpy field conditions, the league has moved the game to Garden City, Kan., with an eye for future dates in Arizona and California.
All isn’t lost just yet, though. If the Fuego can somehow manage to find an extra gear and win roughly three-fourths of their games in the final three weeks, then a playoff berth could be a possibility.
Until then, enjoy the Fuego for what they’re worth; a team that can score runs by the truckload and beat the teams they should, but one that can’t seem to take on the big kids and come out unscathed.
Prediction? The Fuego finish 33-28 and look up in the standings at Roswell, Alpine and Trinidad.
While we’re at it, The University of New Mexico announced its men’s basketball schedule Wednesday. A way-too-early glance into the crystal ball says the Lobos start 3-1, lose seven straight, head into the Mountain West Conference 5-8 and then go 6-12 before a one-and-done in the tournament.
In other words, 11-21 in Paul Weir’s first of two major rebuilding years as the new head coach; one for this season’s patchwork lineup of old guys heading out the door, the next for a team in 2018-19 of younger players trying to figure things out. Patience, Lobo fans. It’s going to be a bumpy ride. Or, as Dennis Green might say, we are who we think they are.