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2018 Tucson Saguaros Season Recap - Bill Moore's Only Season in Tucson Ends Against the Eventual Champions
The 2018 Tucson Saguaros entered the season already established as one of the strongest franchises in the Pecos League. They had won the Pecos League Championship in their inaugural season in 2016 and followed that title by going 46-14 in 2017 before losing to the eventual champion High Desert Yardbirds in the playoffs. For 2018, Tucson would have another opportunity to contend for a championship, but the Saguaros would do it with a new manager and in a different division.
Bill Moore took over the Saguaros for what would ultimately become his only season managing in Tucson. Moore was already one of the most experienced and successful managers in Pecos League history. He had managed the Santa Fe Fuego to the 2014 Pecos League Championship, returned to the Championship Series with Santa Fe in 2015, won a division with the Garden City Wind in 2016 and managed the expansion Bakersfield Train Robbers to the playoffs in 2017. Now he was taking over one of the league's premier franchises.
The result was another excellent regular season. Tucson finished 41-18 and reached the postseason for the third consecutive year, but waiting for the Saguaros in the playoffs was the team Moore had managed only one year earlier: the Bakersfield Train Robbers. Bakersfield swept Tucson and ended the Saguaros' season before continuing on to win the 2018 Pecos League Championship. It was the second consecutive season in which Tucson's season ended against the team that would eventually win the league championship, and it brought Bill Moore's brief but successful tenure as manager of the Tucson Saguaros to an end.
Tucson Returns to the Southern Division
The Pecos League looked considerably different in 2018. For the first time, the league was divided into three four-team divisions. The Mountain Division consisted of the Alpine Cowboys, Garden City Wind, Santa Fe Fuego and Trinidad Triggers, while the Pacific Division consisted of the Bakersfield Train Robbers, California City Whiptails, High Desert Yardbirds and Monterey Amberjacks.
Tucson moved out of the Pacific Division and returned to the Southern Division, where the Saguaros had originally played during their championship season in 2016. Joining Tucson were the Roswell Invaders, White Sands Pupfish and the new Ruidoso Osos. The format was unusual because travel considerations prevented every division from playing one another during the regular season. Pacific Division teams would not play Mountain Division teams, but Tucson and Ruidoso would play games against Pacific Division opponents in addition to their Southern Division schedules.
That meant the Saguaros would see Bakersfield during the regular season. Nobody knew then how important that matchup would eventually become.
Bill Moore Comes Home to Tucson
The arrival of Bill Moore gave Tucson one of the most accomplished managers in the Pecos League. Moore's history with the league dated to its early years. He became the inaugural manager of the Santa Fe Fuego in 2012, and after going 23-47 in that first season, he transformed Santa Fe into a contender. The Fuego improved to 36-31 in 2013 and then went 48-24 and won the Pecos League Championship in 2014.
Moore returned the Fuego to the Championship Series in 2015 before losing to Roswell, moved to Garden City in 2016 and guided the Wind to a 38-26 record and a division title, then became the inaugural manager of the Bakersfield Train Robbers in 2017. Bakersfield went 36-25 and qualified for the postseason in its first season. Moore then moved to Tucson, where he inherited a franchise that had already won a championship and had gone 46-14 the previous summer. Expectations were obvious. Tucson expected to win.
A Roster With Strong Pecos League Connections
Moore's 2018 Tucson roster featured an interesting combination of rookies, returning Saguaros and players with experience elsewhere in independent baseball. It also included several players Moore knew particularly well because some had played for him the previous season in Bakersfield. Austin Hoffman joined Tucson after playing shortstop for the Train Robbers, Willie Ethington had Bakersfield experience, Lawrence Chavez came to Tucson after playing for Bakersfield and pitcher Danny Alvarez had also been with the Train Robbers.
Kale Fultz had experience with Bakersfield in addition to time in the Philadelphia Phillies organization, while perhaps the most recognizable former Train Robber on the Tucson roster was Jay Stout. Stout had been one of Bakersfield's leading offensive players during Moore's 2017 season at Sam Lynn Ballpark and followed Moore to Tucson.
The Saguaros also returned players with previous Tucson experience, including Kevin Baron in the infield and Logan Coughlin in the outfield. The rest of the roster included players such as Charlie Padilla, Kevin Carr, Michael Lowe, Roger Amador Jr., Jaquese Moore and Justin Crider. On the mound, Tucson featured Billy Damon, Dakota Edwards, David Mead, Matthew Wheeler, Ruben Mendia, Tatum Hendrix and Vincent Lujan in addition to Alvarez and Fultz. It was a roster constructed to continue Tucson's tradition of winning baseball.
Tucson and Roswell Battle for the Southern Division
The Southern Division quickly developed into a two-team race as Tucson and Roswell separated themselves from White Sands and Ruidoso. The Saguaros and Invaders had already developed significant history against one another. Tucson had defeated Roswell during its run to the 2016 Pecos League Championship, and by 2018 both franchises were firmly established among the league's perennial contenders.
The race remained extraordinarily close throughout the summer. When the season was complete, Tucson had gone 41-18 while Roswell finished 41-19. One loss separated the two clubs in the standings. Tucson had survived the race and finished atop the Southern Division, giving Bill Moore another division championship.
Another 40-Win Season in Tucson
Winning 41 games continued an extraordinary opening run for the Saguaros franchise. Tucson had begun play in 2016 and immediately won the Pecos League Championship. The 2017 Saguaros followed by going 46-14, and the 2018 team added another 41 victories. Three seasons into their existence, the Saguaros had already established themselves as one of the league's most consistently successful clubs.
The 2018 team didn't dominate the league standings completely. The Alpine Cowboys went 47-15 and finished with the best overall record, Roswell was essentially even with Tucson at 41-19 and Trinidad finished 41-21. There were several legitimate championship contenders, and Tucson was clearly one of them.
A Team Capable of Winning in Different Ways
The Saguaros demonstrated throughout the season that they didn't always need huge offensive performances to win. One of the clearest examples came July 14 against the White Sands Pupfish. Tucson won 1-0 despite managing only six hits itself because its pitching completely shut down White Sands.
The Pupfish finished the game without a hit, with Kyle Atkinson earning the victory. It was the opposite of the high-scoring games frequently associated with the Pecos League. On that night, one run was enough, and Tucson demonstrated the kind of pitching depth that could become extremely valuable in postseason baseball.
The Playoff Format Creates an Unusual Road to the Championship
The three-division alignment created a different postseason format in 2018. Six teams qualified, with the three division champions advancing along with the three remaining teams possessing the best records regardless of division. Tucson's 41-18 record placed the Saguaros in excellent position, and they earned the No. 1 seed and advanced past the opening stage of the playoff bracket.
Their next opponent would come from California: the Bakersfield Train Robbers. It was an almost perfect storyline. One year earlier, Bill Moore had been managing Bakersfield. Now he was managing against the Train Robbers with a trip deeper into the Pecos League playoffs at stake. Several Tucson players had also worn Bakersfield uniforms the previous season. The manager knew the organization, some of the players knew the organization, but the 2018 Train Robbers were no longer Bill Moore's team. They were about to become the biggest obstacle to Tucson's championship hopes.
Bakersfield Arrives in Tucson
On paper, Tucson appeared to have the advantage. The Saguaros had gone 41-18 while Bakersfield finished 37-26. Tucson was the higher seed, and the series would be played in Tucson. But playoff baseball doesn't always follow the regular-season standings.
Bakersfield had already survived its opening playoff series against the California City Whiptails and arrived in Tucson with momentum and absolutely nothing to lose. The Saguaros were attempting to return to the Pecos League Championship Series, while the Train Robbers were attempting to reach it for the first time. Bakersfield won Game 1, and suddenly Tucson's season was one loss away from ending.
The Train Robbers Finish the Sweep
Tucson needed to respond in Game 2. Instead, Bakersfield won again. The series was over, and the Train Robbers had swept the No. 1 seed Saguaros in Tucson. For a team that had won 41 regular-season games and survived an extremely close division race with Roswell, the ending was abrupt.
There would be no deciding Game 3, no trip to the Championship Series and no second Tucson championship in three seasons. Bill Moore's former team had eliminated his current team. The Saguaros' season was over.
Bakersfield Proves It Wasn't an Upset Run
The loss became easier to place in historical context because of what Bakersfield did next. The Train Robbers didn't simply eliminate Tucson and disappear in the following round. They kept winning.
Bakersfield traveled east on Interstate 10 to Alpine, Texas, where it faced the Alpine Cowboys for the Pecos League Championship. Alpine had been the league's best regular-season team at 47-15 and had swept Trinidad to reach the finals. Bakersfield defeated Alpine in a difficult three-game Championship Series, two games to one, and the Bakersfield Train Robbers became the 2018 Pecos League Champions.
The same team that ended Tucson's season ultimately ended everyone else's season as well. For the second consecutive year, the Saguaros had been eliminated by the eventual Pecos League Champion. High Desert had done it in 2017. Bakersfield did it in 2018.
Bill Moore's One-Year Tucson Tenure
The playoff loss also marked the end of Bill Moore's time managing the Saguaros. He would not return to Tucson in 2019. Instead, Moore moved back to California and managed the Wasco Reserve during what became his final season as a Pecos League manager.
His Tucson tenure therefore lasted only one summer, but measured by the regular season it was extremely successful. Moore went 41-18 with the Saguaros, won the Southern Division, qualified for the playoffs and continued an impressive personal streak of reaching the postseason almost everywhere he managed.
Looking back at Moore's Pecos League career makes the accomplishment even clearer. He managed Santa Fe from 2012 through 2015, Garden City in 2016, Bakersfield in 2017, Tucson in 2018 and Wasco in 2019. Over eight Pecos League seasons, Moore compiled a 274-233 managerial record. The 2018 Saguaros represented his final winning season and his final playoff team.
An Interesting Connection Between Tucson and Bakersfield
The 2018 season also created one of the more unusual connections between Tucson and Bakersfield. Moore had established the Train Robbers at Sam Lynn Ballpark in 2017 and helped Bakersfield reach the postseason in the franchise's first season there. Then he left Bakersfield for Tucson, bringing several players with Bakersfield experience onto his Saguaros roster.
When the playoffs arrived, those paths crossed again. The Train Robbers eliminated Tucson and then went on to win the championship. Four years later, the two franchises would meet again in the Pecos League playoffs at Kino Stadium. That time Tucson would sweep Bakersfield on its way to the 2022 Pecos League Championship Series. In 2018, however, the series belonged entirely to the Train Robbers.
Three Years of Winning Baseball
Although the 2018 season ended earlier than Tucson wanted, the larger picture showed how quickly the Saguaros had become a Pecos League power. Tucson won the Pecos League Championship in 2016, followed with a 46-14 record and another playoff appearance in 2017, then went 41-18, won the Southern Division and returned to the postseason in 2018.
The Saguaros had reached the postseason in each of their first three seasons and had already won a championship. In both seasons following that title, the only team capable of eliminating Tucson in the playoffs went on to win the Pecos League Championship. That was a remarkable level of consistency for a franchise only three years old.
The End of the First Era of Saguaros Baseball
In retrospect, 2018 feels like the conclusion of the first era of Tucson Saguaros baseball. The franchise had arrived in 2016 and immediately won a championship. The 2017 team produced the best regular-season record in franchise history to that point at 46-14, and then Bill Moore arrived in 2018 and kept Tucson near the top of the Pecos League with another 40-win season.
After 2018, things changed. Tucson returned to the Pacific Division for 2019 and finished 30-30, missing the playoffs for the first time. Bill Moore moved on, and the Saguaros would eventually begin another era under Sean McNeill, one that produced consecutive championships in 2020 and 2021. The 2018 season therefore belonged to the end of Tucson's original run of success.
The Legacy of the 2018 Tucson Saguaros
The 2018 Tucson Saguaros didn't win the Pecos League Championship, but that shouldn't obscure how good they were. They went 41-18, finished ahead of a 41-win Roswell team in the Southern Division, reached the postseason for the third consecutive season and gave Bill Moore another winning team in what became his only season managing Tucson.
The Saguaros were ultimately eliminated by the team that won the entire league. It was also the end of a remarkable two-year pattern. In 2017, Tucson went 46-14 before losing in the playoffs to High Desert, which became Pecos League Champion. In 2018, Tucson went 41-18 before losing in the playoffs to Bakersfield, which also became Pecos League Champion.
For two consecutive summers, anyone hoping to win the Pecos League Championship eventually had to get through Tucson. The Saguaros couldn't finish either postseason themselves, but they remained one of the league's measuring sticks.
The 2018 season ended with Bakersfield celebrating a championship and Tucson wondering what might have been. It also ended Bill Moore's only season in a Saguaros uniform. His Tucson record was 41-18, his team won the Southern Division and his final game as Tucson manager came against the franchise he had helped establish one year earlier: the Bakersfield Train Robbers, the eventual 2018 Pecos League Champions.
2018 Tucson Saguaros
The 2018 Tucson Saguaros were managed by Bill Moore and finished the regular season 41-18. Tucson won the Southern Division and reached the Pecos League playoffs before losing to the Bakersfield Train Robbers in the second round. Bakersfield went on to win the 2018 Pecos League Championship, making it the second consecutive season in which Tucson was eliminated by the eventual league champion.
