2021 Santa Fe Fuego Season Recap - Bill Rogan Leads the Fuego to the Brink of the Playoffs

The 2021 Santa Fe Fuego season was a return to competitive baseball at Fort Marcy and a year in which the Fuego came extremely close to returning to the Pecos League playoffs. Led by manager Bill Rogan, Santa Fe battled through an up-and-down summer, overcoming a difficult beginning and several losing streaks to remain in the playoff race late into the season. The Fuego ultimately finished 28-28, narrowly missing the postseason in a year that featured tremendous offensive performances, a seven-game winning streak and numerous close games that could have changed the final standings.

The season was particularly important because it represented a return to normal Pecos League baseball following the disruption of 2020. Santa Fe had been one of the league's signature markets since the Fuego began playing at Fort Marcy in 2012, and the return of a regular summer schedule gave the organization an opportunity to reestablish itself. Rogan was given the responsibility of leading the Fuego through that return, and he inherited a team competing in one of the toughest environments in the league.

Santa Fe didn't get off to the start Rogan wanted. The Fuego opened the season with a 14-3 loss and followed it with a wild 20-19 defeat. Santa Fe finally earned its first victory with a 20-16 win, but losses of 15-11 and 11-1 followed. Five games into the season, the Fuego were 1-4 and already facing the possibility of falling behind in the playoff race before the summer had really started.

Instead of allowing the poor start to define the season, Santa Fe responded. The Fuego won 6-3 and, after another loss, put together four consecutive victories by scores of 7-6, 11-3, 26-22 and 25-5. The offensive explosion immediately changed the direction of the season and demonstrated the type of team Rogan had. Santa Fe might not always prevent opponents from scoring, but the Fuego had enough offensive talent to remain dangerous regardless of the score.

That offensive firepower became the strength of the 2021 team. Parker DePasquale emerged as one of the most productive hitters in the lineup, appearing in 54 games and collecting 80 hits in 218 at-bats. He scored 69 runs, hit seven doubles, one triple and 23 home runs while driving in 73. His ability to combine power with consistent run production made him one of the centerpieces of the Santa Fe offense.

Jared Gay supplied even more power. Gay appeared in all 56 games and hit a team-leading 24 home runs while collecting 67 hits. He scored 78 runs, drove in 67 and added 15 doubles and two triples. Gay also drew 39 walks and stole 19 bases, giving Rogan a player who could impact games in several different ways. With Gay and DePasquale in the lineup, opposing pitchers had to deal with two hitters who combined for 47 home runs.

Ryan Bernardy provided another consistent offensive presence, appearing in all 56 games and collecting 79 hits in 222 at-bats. He scored 67 runs, hit eight doubles and 13 home runs and drove in 61. Ben Tingen collected 80 hits in 233 at-bats while scoring 60 runs and hitting 13 doubles and five home runs. Tingen also stole 30 bases, giving Santa Fe a major speed threat to complement the power throughout the rest of the lineup.

Manny Cachora added 14 home runs in 47 games while collecting 57 hits and driving in 38. Philip Buckingham appeared in 55 games and collected 66 hits while scoring 55 runs, hitting six home runs and driving in 35. Harrison Moore hit seven home runs in 31 games, Jesus Chavez hit nine in only 24 games and Declan Peterson added five home runs. Throughout the lineup, the Fuego had players capable of changing a game with one swing.

The offense produced the type of enormous scores that had become familiar at Fort Marcy. Santa Fe scored 20 runs in an early victory and later put 26 and 25 runs on the scoreboard in consecutive wins. As the summer progressed, the Fuego produced victories in which they scored 23, 29 and 22 runs. When Santa Fe's lineup got rolling, opposing pitching staffs had tremendous difficulty stopping it.

Rogan's biggest challenge was finding enough pitching to support the offense. Fort Marcy had always been difficult for pitchers because of the approximately 7,000-foot elevation and short fences, but the Fuego needed pitchers who could survive that environment and keep games close enough for the lineup to take over. Aaron McIntyre became the most dependable starter on the staff, making 12 starts and appearing in 16 games. McIntyre finished 5-4 with a 4.99 ERA while throwing a team-high 75.2 innings and striking out 90 hitters.

Matthew Sanchez also became an important part of the rotation. Sanchez made 10 starts and appeared in 13 games, finishing 4-3 while throwing 64.2 innings and striking out 87. Kelvan Pilot was outstanding during a shorter stretch with the club, finishing 3-1 with a 2.82 ERA. Pilot struck out 36 hitters in only 22.1 innings while allowing just 15 hits.

August Voight gave Rogan an important late-inning option out of the bullpen. Voight appeared in 21 games and recorded eight saves while striking out 66 hitters in 34.2 innings. Zac Baldini went 3-2 while making five starts, Luke Poselovic worked 49 innings over 22 appearances and Ryan Norrix appeared in 23 games. The pitching wasn't always consistent, but Santa Fe had enough quality arms to remain competitive throughout the season.

The middle portion of the schedule demonstrated just how close the 2021 Fuego were to being a playoff team. Santa Fe won 12-8 and 8-5 before suffering a 21-4 loss. The Fuego responded by winning consecutive one-run games, 11-10 and 12-11, before losing 5-2 and 8-7. Santa Fe then won 6-4, lost 5-4, won 10-2 and 4-2 and then suffered losses of 7-6 and 9-5. Almost every night seemed to have a direct impact on the playoff race.

Then the Fuego caught fire. Santa Fe won 11-2 and followed with a 9-2 victory. The offense then exploded for a 23-7 win, followed by a remarkable 29-16 victory. Santa Fe kept going with wins of 12-6, 22-7 and 5-4. Seven consecutive victories had completely transformed the season and placed the Fuego firmly in the playoff conversation.

During the seven-game winning streak, Santa Fe scored 111 runs. The Fuego averaged nearly 16 runs per game during the streak, and for that stretch the offense looked almost impossible to contain. It was the type of run that demonstrated exactly why Santa Fe believed it could reach the postseason. When the lineup was producing and the pitching staff gave Rogan enough innings, the Fuego could beat anyone on the schedule.

Unfortunately, the momentum disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived. Santa Fe lost its next four games by scores of 14-12, 12-6, 9-7 and 15-10. After working its way into excellent position with seven consecutive victories, the Fuego gave much of that progress back with four straight losses. In a tight playoff race, the timing couldn't have been worse.

Santa Fe continued fighting, but consistency remained difficult to find. The Fuego won 12-5 before another stretch of losses by scores of 14-7, 14-10, 11-6 and 12-10. Once again, Rogan's team had gone from looking like a playoff club to desperately needing victories to remain in contention.

The Fuego refused to disappear. Santa Fe won 13-7, later produced consecutive victories of 15-14 and 11-8 and continued trying to work its way back into position. A number of the losses were painfully close. Santa Fe lost games 20-19, 8-7, 5-4, 7-6, 10-9, 5-4 and 6-5 during the season. The difference between reaching the playoffs and missing them could be found in only a handful of pitches scattered throughout those games.

That became one of the defining characteristics of the 2021 Fuego. They were rarely far away. Even when Santa Fe wasn't playing its best baseball, the offense was capable of keeping the team in games. When the Fuego received enough pitching, they could string victories together quickly. The problem was sustaining those stretches long enough to create separation in the standings.

As the season moved toward its conclusion, Santa Fe still had an opportunity to make the playoffs. The Fuego suffered a 6-5 loss and a 9-5 defeat but responded with a dominant 16-2 victory. Santa Fe followed with a 9-6 win and then another 5-4 victory. Three consecutive wins kept the Fuego alive and ensured that the season would remain meaningful until the end.

Santa Fe ultimately finished 28-28. The perfectly even record was an appropriate summary of the season. The Fuego experienced tremendous highs and frustrating lows. They put together a seven-game winning streak but also endured damaging losing streaks. They won numerous close games and lost just as many. They were good enough to remain in the playoff race but couldn't quite accumulate the additional victories necessary to extend their season.

For Rogan, the season demonstrated the difficulty of managing at Fort Marcy. Conventional baseball strategy didn't always apply in Santa Fe. A five-run lead could disappear quickly, bullpen decisions could change completely in one inning and a pitcher could make a good pitch only to watch the baseball carry over the short outfield fence. Rogan had to manage around those realities while keeping the Fuego focused on the larger goal of reaching the postseason.

The individual performances showed why Santa Fe came so close. DePasquale hit 23 home runs and drove in 73. Gay hit 24 home runs, scored 78 runs and drove in 67. Bernardy added 13 home runs and 61 RBIs, while Tingen collected 80 hits and stole 30 bases. Cachora hit another 14 home runs, giving the Fuego tremendous power throughout the lineup.

McIntyre provided 75.2 valuable innings and struck out 90 hitters, Sanchez added 87 strikeouts in 64.2 innings and Pilot provided one of the best short stretches by any pitcher on the roster. Voight's eight saves gave Santa Fe a legitimate option at the end of games, something especially valuable in a season filled with one-run decisions.

The seven-game winning streak became the clearest example of what the 2021 Fuego could accomplish. For that stretch, everything came together. Santa Fe was scoring at an extraordinary rate, winning close games and building momentum. The Fuego looked like a team headed for the postseason. The four-game losing streak that immediately followed became equally important because it prevented Santa Fe from converting that momentum into control of a playoff position.

Still, the Fuego continued battling until the end. They didn't allow the poor beginning to destroy the season, and they didn't allow the difficult stretches later in the summer to completely eliminate them from contention. Rogan kept the team competitive, and Santa Fe entered the final portion of the schedule with something meaningful still to play for.

The 2021 Santa Fe Fuego weren't the dominant championship team that Bill Moore had led in 2014, but they didn't need to be for the season to represent progress. This was a team returning to a full summer of baseball after the disruption of the previous year, playing in a difficult division and trying to reestablish Santa Fe as a postseason contender.

They almost accomplished it.

The final 28-28 record left the Fuego just outside the playoffs, but the season demonstrated that competitive baseball had returned to Fort Marcy. Santa Fe had legitimate power throughout the lineup, enough pitching to remain in contention and a manager in Bill Rogan who kept the team fighting through every difficult stretch.

A few additional outs in the numerous one-run losses could have completely changed the story. One more winning streak or one fewer losing streak might have put Santa Fe into the postseason. Instead, the Fuego finished exactly where their record suggested they had spent most of the summer: right on the edge.

The 2021 Santa Fe Fuego came close. They overcame a 1-4 beginning, produced a seven-game winning streak, scored runs at the outrageous pace Fort Marcy had become famous for and remained in the playoff hunt late into the season. Bill Rogan's team didn't quite reach the postseason, but after 56 games and a 28-28 record, the Fuego had reestablished themselves as a competitive team and came within a handful of games of returning Santa Fe to the Pecos League playoffs.