Titans Wrap Up First Half After Finding Spark
By: Frankie Benvenuti
When eight teams are sprinting for the three playoff spots available in the Frontier League’s East Division, every game, series, inning, and individual pitch matters.
In their first season, the Ottawa Titans took off sprinting out of the gate, quickly establishing a stranglehold on the division, but in the end, only barely squeaked into the postseason by virtue of winning nine of their last 10 games, while other teams around baseball hit the skids, falling out of their playoff positions.
The 2023 campaign has offered a drastically different pattern. After winning their opening series against the Empire State Greys, the Titans went on to lose their next five games, eventually finishing the month of May 6-11, closer to battling the aforementioned Greys for the bottom, rather than contesting the top of the standings.
Before the season, Titans’ Manager Bobby Brown was optimistic about the roster he had assembled, but also warned that you never really know what you have until you see it on the field against live action. The slow start forced changes. Brown flipped pitchers from the bullpen to the rotation, and vice versa, while he began bringing in new faces, including making a move for catcher, Sicnarf Loopstok on June 1st.
As June started, the moves seemed futile, as the Titans dropped five of their first seven games of the month, but as the Joliet Slammers came to town, something clicked, and Ottawa blasted their way to a sweep. Those winning ways continued, and the lineup had suddenly caught fire, winning 12 of 19 games in the rest of June.
Since the Slammers came to town, the Titans have dropped just two series, one when Joliet got their revenge in the return leg of the season series, and the other to the Tri-City ValleyCats. In that time, Ottawa has taken series wins over teams they are chasing, including the ValleyCats, Sussex County Miners, New York Boulders, and the Quebec Capitales.
It has been almost a complete 180 since starting the year 8-16, with the Titans now standing at 24-25. Their 16-9 run is exactly what the doctor ordered to bring the Titans back into the race for the division, but still, there’s a lot of work left to do. Despite winning seven of their last 10 games, Ottawa stands eight games back of the New Jersey Jackals for first place, and five games back of the race for second, and third place.
The Titans have found different ways to win ball games over their stretch of good form. Occasionally, it has been through their three All-Stars, including Loopstok, Jason Dicochea, and Grant Larson. Other times, it has been about AJ Wright hitting a couple of big home runs, or Zac Westcott throwing a gem, but they have picked up their teammates, moved runners around the bases, and limited mistakes, resulting in wins.
As a team, the Titans have scored 289 runs, the eighth-best mark in the league, are sixth in hits, and have turned in some good work defensively, including a triple play. The pitching staff has gotten the job done, owning the ninth-best ERA, while striking out 409, and walking just 190.
The second half of the season gets underway when the Titans visit the Lake Erie Crushers on Friday night, the first time in franchise history they’ll visit Crushers Stadium in Avon, Ohio. It will mark the beginning of a significant test for the team.
Save for their final series against the ValleyCats, the rest of July will offer an exclusively Western Division flair, as the Titans take on the Crushers, then a homestand beginning with Tri-City, and ending with the Florence Y’alls, before finishing the month on the road to the Schaumburg Boomers and Windy City ThunderBolts. In August, things get real, and playoff spots will be decided.
Before the end of the season, Ottawa will battle nothing but East Division opponents, and have the chance to make their mark on the season, and get back to the Frontier League postseason for the second time in as many years. To get there, they need to continue doing the small things, and riding their new-found momentum. There’s still everything to play for at Ottawa Stadium.
Moreover, they need support from the fans in Ottawa. The push won't be easy, but historically, Ottawa has been a difficult place to come and steal a series win. You can get your tickets for the second half here, and help propel the Titans to the postseason.
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