Well it happened, the 2021 minor league season has officially come to an end for the Bradenton Marauders. Capping off the season, the team clinched their first playoff birth since they won the championship in 2016 at the High-A level. Let us talk about the playoffs, and maybe some of the stuff you might not have seen… 

First off, SPOILER ALERT… WE WON!!! The Bradenton Marauders swept the Tampa Tarpons in a best of five-game series this past week, they won two home games before finishing off the series in Tampa. 

The playoffs in my perspective were crazy fun, I got the opportunity to create our “playoff loop” (a video that is played continuously through the ballpark, unless we are running an ad or playing the game). Creating the loop took me about an hour to complete because I have never done something similar before. It was crazy seeing it on the huge video board for the first time, I was genuinely excited seeing that come to life.

During the first game, my boss/producer was not there due to prearranged plans outside of the ballpark, this was a new challenge for our production team being that this did not ever happen during the regular season. We had our challenges but nothing crazy happened, nothing went wrong. During that first game, we got rain… A LOT OF RAIN, it started right after the 7th inning stretch (we were losing 1-0). The Grounds Crew put the tarp on the field and we sat there waiting for it to pass so that we could resume play, we waited 2 hours for the rain to stop before finally playing again. 

I asked some of my coworkers to describe these Low-A playoff games in only three words, the first I want to unravel comes from the talented guy behind the sound effects at the ballpark. 

Confident

Focused

Unified

Gary Saunders, Lecom Park Audio Engineer

I want to hang on to that second word that he said, “Focused”. I do not recall if it was him or someone else who mentioned it, but out of the locker room getting ready to resume play after a 2-hour rain delay, someone emphasized that the Marauders were focused. Comparing them to the Tarpons, out of the locker rooms it did not look like the Marauders were just there to have fun. The first two batters in that game for Bradenton hit home runs! Later in the game after the lead going back and forth, the Marauders ended up winning on bases loaded walk! Spenser Smith, the lovely voice of the Bradenton Marauders, defines this series as…

Thrilling

Invigorating

Long-awaited

Spenser Smith, The Bradenton Marauders Broadcast Announcer

Spenser has hit the nail on the head with these words, and I am not going to lie when I say that I had to look up what “Invigorating” meant because that is a big word. Long story short, it is defined as electric, or refreshing. Having the playoffs in Bradenton and winning was truly electric greatly appreciated. Someone might say winning the championship was “Long-awaited”, Bradenton has not won since 2016, not even making the playoffs since then. The moral of the 2021 playoffs story is best defined by my coworker Zach…

DON’T

STOP

PLAYING

Zach Richey, Video Board Assistant 

If we had conceded during the rain delay we would have been down a game in the series, shifting the momentum in Tampa’s favor. Who knows what would have happened if we just gave up, one thing is for sure, we would not have won that first game. If we had not won that first game, not many people would have been excited to go support the team in Tampa as the Marauders won it. I know I would not have been as excited to get my first ever “Media Credential”, going on to having my photos being used (with permission) by Minor League Baseball on their social channels and online. Don’t stop playing, or give up, because tomorrow can always be better than today.

signing off for now

 – Logan Thai Butler