2017 Santa Fe Fuego Season Recap - Fort Marcy Park Becomes the Home of the Slugfest

The 2017 Santa Fe Fuego season fully defined what baseball at Fort Marcy Park had become. Games in Santa Fe were rarely quiet, rarely comfortable and almost never decided until the final out. The Fuego finished the season with a 32-27 record, but the standings alone could not describe the experience of watching the team play. Santa Fe had developed an offensive identity unlike almost anything else in the Pecos League. Games at Fort Marcy routinely became slugfests, large leads disappeared quickly and both teams understood one basic rule whenever they played in Santa Fe: no lead was safe.

That reputation was established almost immediately. Santa Fe opened the season playing the type of high-scoring baseball that would define the entire summer. The Fuego won games while scoring 16, 17 and 20 runs, demonstrating that their lineup could overwhelm opposing pitching staffs. At the same time, opponents discovered that Fort Marcy could work in their favor as well. A team could fall behind by five or six runs and still believe it was only one big inning away from getting back into the game. The result was a style of baseball in which managers could never become comfortable, pitchers were constantly under pressure and fans learned that leaving early was usually a bad idea.

Fort Marcy Park had always possessed characteristics that favored offense, but by 2017 those characteristics had become central to the identity of the Fuego. A three-run first inning didn't necessarily provide much separation. A six-run advantage could disappear after a couple of walks, an error and several extra-base hits. A starting pitcher could appear to be cruising and suddenly find himself in the middle of an inning in which the opposing team sent 10 or more hitters to the plate. The scoreboard could change dramatically in a matter of minutes.

For fans, that unpredictability became part of the entertainment. There was always the possibility that an ordinary game could suddenly become something completely different. A 7-3 game could become 9-8. A comfortable lead could become a one-run game. Teams that appeared finished could suddenly put together a huge inning and completely reverse the momentum. Fort Marcy wasn't simply developing a reputation as a hitter-friendly ballpark. It was developing a reputation as the place where some of the wildest games in the Pecos League could happen.

Santa Fe's lineup was perfectly suited for that environment. Nick Gotta became one of the club's most productive offensive players, appearing in 57 games and collecting 88 hits while scoring 83 runs. He hit 13 doubles and 10 home runs and drove in 51 runs, giving the Fuego a dependable offensive presence throughout the summer. Caleb Baker provided even more power, collecting 85 hits and hitting 18 home runs while driving in 62 runs. Aaron Stubblefield gave Santa Fe another consistent hitter, while Eric Maria, AJ Flores, David Stone, Willie Doll, Matt Telesco and Matt Haskins helped create tremendous depth throughout the batting order.

Power wasn't concentrated in one spot. Baker hit 18 home runs, Stone hit 14, Gotta hit 10 and Stubblefield and Maria provided additional power. Haskins supplied some of the club's biggest home-run numbers with 20. That depth made the Fuego extremely difficult to pitch against because opposing teams couldn't simply work around one dangerous hitter. Surviving the middle of the order didn't mean the inning was over. Another hitter capable of driving the ball was usually waiting.

The Fuego could also create offense without hitting the ball out of the park. Santa Fe had players capable of stealing bases, taking extra bases and extending innings. That combination of power and speed made the club especially dangerous once an opposing pitcher began struggling with his command. Walks could quickly become runners in scoring position, and one mistake could turn into a multi-run inning.

One of the clearest examples of Santa Fe's offensive capability came when the Fuego scored 28 runs in a 28-6 victory. Twenty-eight runs would represent an extraordinary event for almost any professional baseball team, but in the context of the 2017 Fuego it seemed like the extreme version of something that was happening throughout the season. Santa Fe could score in bunches, and once the lineup began rolling through the batting order, opposing pitching staffs sometimes had tremendous difficulty stopping the momentum.

The 28-run performance wasn't an isolated offensive explosion. Santa Fe scored 21 runs multiple times and regularly reached double figures. The Fuego won games by scores such as 20-12, 14-13, 13-12 and 12-11. They also found themselves on the wrong side of games such as 17-13, 16-15 and 23-17. Those scores became the best explanation of what baseball at Fort Marcy had become.

No lead was safe.

Santa Fe experienced that reality from both directions. There were nights when the Fuego fell behind and continued swinging as if the deficit barely mattered. They understood that one huge inning could erase almost anything. There were other nights when Santa Fe built what appeared to be a comfortable advantage only to watch an opponent immediately begin cutting into it. A five-run lead at Fort Marcy didn't feel like a five-run lead somewhere else.

That placed enormous pressure on the pitching staff. Pitching in Santa Fe could be one of the most difficult assignments in the Pecos League, and the 2017 Fuego pitchers had to survive an environment in which mistakes could become runs very quickly. Ed Brandsema became one of the club's most dependable starters, finishing 5-3 while making 11 starts and working 71.2 innings. His ability to provide innings was particularly important for a team involved in so many high-scoring games.

Dan Karasinski also carried a significant workload, going 5-4 in 11 starts and throwing 69.2 innings. Zach Carter worked more than 60 innings, while Luis Ortega contributed additional victories from the rotation. Nick Hornbaker became an important relief pitcher and provided Santa Fe with a late-inning option capable of protecting some of the narrow leads the offense created.

The statistics of Fuego pitchers had to be understood within the environment in which they worked. Fort Marcy could punish pitchers quickly, and relievers were frequently entering games with runners already on base and opposing hitters locked into an offensive rhythm. Sometimes success wasn't about producing a perfect pitching line. It was simply about getting enough outs to allow the Fuego offense to score one more run than the other team.

June provided some of the best examples of the unpredictable nature of the club. Santa Fe won games 10-8, 28-6 and 11-6 before losing a 17-13 slugfest. The Fuego later produced victories of 13-6 and 14-13 before winning another close game 7-6. The scores could change dramatically from one night to the next, but the constant was offense. Even when Santa Fe wasn't winning, the Fuego were rarely out of a game simply because they had fallen behind early.

The season also included difficult stretches. Santa Fe went through losing streaks in which the pitching staff struggled to slow opposing offenses. But the Fuego repeatedly demonstrated an ability to respond. A difficult loss could be followed immediately by another offensive explosion, and a losing streak could disappear once the lineup began producing again. That resilience helped Santa Fe remain above .500 despite the extreme swings that characterized the season.

July brought even more examples of the same style of baseball. Santa Fe won 13-12 and 11-8 before losing an extraordinary 16-15 game. The Fuego later won 12-5, lost 14-12 and won another one-run slugfest 12-11. These weren't unusual games anymore. They were becoming normal nights for the Santa Fe Fuego.

Perhaps one of the most interesting parts of the season came when Santa Fe went on the road and suddenly won three dramatically different games by scores of 3-2, 5-2 and 2-1. Those games demonstrated that the Fuego were capable of playing lower-scoring baseball away from the conditions at Fort Marcy. The contrast only strengthened the reputation of their home ballpark. Once Santa Fe returned home, the enormous offensive totals often returned with them.

By the end of the summer, players throughout the Pecos League understood what a trip to Fort Marcy meant. Pitchers knew they couldn't relax. Managers knew they might need far more bullpen innings than expected. Hitters knew there would probably be opportunities to produce runs. Most importantly, everyone understood that the score in the fourth or fifth inning might have almost nothing to do with the final result.

For the fans, that became part of the personality of the Fuego. Santa Fe baseball wasn't predictable, and that was precisely what made it entertaining. Fans could see home runs, huge innings, dramatic rallies and extraordinary final scores on almost any night. A game that looked finished could suddenly become competitive again before everyone had returned from the concession stand.

Despite all of the chaos, Santa Fe continued winning. The Fuego finished 32-27, another winning season for a franchise that had established itself as one of the Pecos League's most recognizable organizations. Maintaining a winning record while playing such an unpredictable style wasn't easy. The offense carried enormous responsibility, the pitching staff was constantly tested and the club had to survive several difficult stretches during the summer.

The lasting legacy of the 2017 season wasn't necessarily one individual game or one player. It was the identity that had become firmly attached to Santa Fe baseball. Fort Marcy Park had become the home of the slugfest.

The Fuego could score 20 runs and still feel pressure. They could fall behind by six runs and still believe they had a chance. They could turn an ordinary game into an offensive marathon in the span of a single inning. Opponents learned that there was no comfortable advantage at Fort Marcy, and Santa Fe learned never to consider itself finished simply because the scoreboard looked bad early in the game.

That mentality became part of the Fuego's personality. The club was built to keep hitting, keep scoring and keep believing another rally was possible. Gotta, Baker, Stone, Haskins, Stubblefield, Maria and the rest of the lineup gave Santa Fe enough offensive firepower to remain dangerous until the final out. Brandsema, Karasinski, Hornbaker and the pitching staff were asked to survive one of the league's most difficult pitching environments and give that offense enough opportunities to win.

The 2017 Santa Fe Fuego season ultimately represented another important chapter in the development of the franchise. The 32-27 record gave Santa Fe another winning summer, but the numbers in the standings weren't what made the season memorable. It was the games themselves. The huge offensive innings. The double-digit scores. The rallies. The blown leads. The comeback victories. The nights when nobody at Fort Marcy could possibly know what was going to happen next.

By the end of 2017, the reputation was firmly established throughout the Pecos League. When a team traveled to Santa Fe, it needed to be prepared for something different. Five runs might not be enough. Ten runs might not be enough. A six-run lead might disappear in one inning, and a team trailing late could never completely be counted out.

Fort Marcy Park had become one of the most unique places to play professional baseball in the Pecos League, and the 2017 Fuego fully embraced the style of baseball that came with it.

In Santa Fe, the game was never over until the final out.

At Fort Marcy Park, no lead was safe.