The Jackson Generals, the Seattle Mariners AA-affiliate, have advanced to the Southern League Championship Seriesfor the first time since 2005. The Generals entered the season with high expectations after learning that Danny Hultzen, James Paxton, Taijuan Walker, and Nick Franklin would all start the season there and there were few disappointments from them in the first half.
After Franklin and Hultzen were promoted to Tacoma in the second half, it would have been fair to expect a dropoff from the Generals, but new additions helped at least as much as the dearly departed. Brad Miller and Stefen Romero were called up from High Desert and hit .320 and .347, respectively. Additionally, Mike Zunino was called up for 15 games and hit .333/.386/.588 with 3 home runs.
Zunino has been even more phenomenal in the playoffs, hitting three home runs in Jackson's four games against Chattanooga. One of those homers came last night in the Generals clinching 8-2 victory that also saw Miller, Romero, Francisco Martinez, Chih-Hsien Chiang, and Nate Tenbrink have multi-hit games.
The Generals best-of-5 series against Mobile starts on Tuesday at 4:05 PST at Pringles Park in Jackson, Tennessee. If you live out there, the team is offering free admission. Why the hell would you miss it?