Well, that was quick! 

While most MiLB playoffs, like International League and Pacific Coast League, began their semi-finals on Wednesday night, the Florida State League was getting ready for the Championship series. How? After winning their respective games on Tuesday, the Daytona Tortugas and the Charlotte Stone Crabs decided to crawl and swim away from the Clearwater Threshers and Palm Beach Cardinals last night, resulting in series sweeps. What squad will be able to continue their winning streak while destroying the other's tonight in Game 1 of the Florida State League Championship?

77-58 Daytona Tortugas
(Affiliate of Cincinnati Reds)
***FSL North Champions
at 69-66 Charlotte Stone Crabs
(Affiliate of Tampa Bay Rays)
***FSL South Champions

Head-To-Head in Regular Season: Daytona won season series 4-2.

Hitters to Watch
DAY-Sebastian Elizalde
---.253 BA, 10 HR, & 77 RBI. (Season Stats)
CHA-Mike Marjama
---.302 BA, 9 HR, & 52 RBI. (Season Stats)

Pitchers to Watch
DAY-Amir Garrett
***74th Prospect in Major League Baseball
***3rd Prospect in Cincinnati's Organization

---9-7 record, 2.44 ERA, & 133 K in 140.1 IP. (Season Stats)
CHA-Brent Honeywell
***52nd Prospect in Major League Baseball
***3rd Prospect in Tampa Bay's Organization

---5-2 record, 3.44 ERA, & 53 K in 65.1 IP. (Single-A Advanced Stats)

Who's Hot
DAY-Chad Wallach
***27th Prospect in Cincinnati's Organization
---.429 (3 H/7 AB) BA, 1 R, 1 HR, & 1 RBI. (2 games versus Clearwater)
CHA-Casey Gillaspie
***10th Prospect in Tampa Bay's Organization
---.500 BA (5 H/10 AB), 3 R, 1 HR, & 6 RBI. (2 games versus Palm Beach)

Schedule
Game 1-September 10
7:05 PM EST
Charlotte
at Daytona

Game 2-September 11
7:05 PM EST
Charlotte
at Daytona

Game 3-September 12
6:00 PM EST
Daytona
at Charlotte

Game 4-September 13
6:00 PM EST
Daytona
at Charlotte

Game 5-September 14
6:00 PM EST
Daytona
at Charlotte

Prediction
Hitting versus pitching. Which will prevail? Since the promotions of FSL All-Stars Phillip Ervin and Alex Blandino, the Daytona Tortugas' offense has been very stagnant. In the sixteen games played without both talented hitters, the team is averaging a measly 3.4 runs per game. What's the problem with the aforementioned number of runs? It will not be enough to defeat a Charlotte Stone Crabs' team that plated a total of 20 runs in their last two matchups! In fact, Charlotte scored more runs in Game 2 against Palm Beach (6) than Daytona did in both of their playoff games combined (5)! Moreover, no one can forget Charlotte's Game 1 as rehabbing outfielder Steven Souza Jr. led the affiliate of Tampa Bay to a whopping 14 runs. 

Even though Souza is expected to make a return to the Rays on Friday (meaning he will not suit up in anymore games), Charlotte may not miss him greatly because Casey Gillaspie is finally beginning to produce like he did in Bowling Green (Single-A) by plating six runs last series. But despite his production, the former Wichita State Shocker has never faced the dynamic pitching duo of Amir Garrett and Nick Travesio. 

The pair of top Reds' pitching prospects has dominated the Florida State League all season long this year. Even in the playoffs, they continued impressing by combining for 14 innings of one run baseball while striking out 17 against Clearwater.

However the issue for Daytona is that the Stone Crabs will not see either great Tortugas' starter until Game 4 at the earliest (if both pitchers pitch on four days rest). So with the following factoring in, this writer feels Charlotte's bats will smack offerings all over Jackie Robinson Ballpark and Charlotte Sports Park, resulting in a Florida State League Championship title. But what about Amir Garrett? When the 2015 All-Star Futures Game selection takes the hill, so will Top 100 prospect Brent Honeywell, who had his own great performance on Tuesday (7.0 IP, 1 ER, & 6 K). Thus, the pitchers will cancel out each other's greatness, leaving Charlotte's hitters to feast on the opposition's bullpen.
---Charlotte Wins in 4 Games
 

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About the author
Peyton Wesner
Editor, that has loved and watched sports. He enjoys traveling the country to watch division one college basketball and professional baseball, basketball, and football. In addition, Peyton is a huge enthusiast of Missouri Valley Conference basketball and International League (Triple-A) baseball as he focuses about these topics and many more on his sports blog Courtside with PW at http://courtsidewpw.blogspot.com/?m=1. You can contact him through his email, [email protected], or his twitter, @courtsidewpw.