Ryan Baker

The Madison Radicals are gearing up for their final doubleheader of the season this weekend. 

The team will host the Detroit Mechanix this Friday night at Breese Stevens Field, followed by a trip to Indianapolis to take on the AlleyCats on Saturday night. 

If these matchups sound familiar, then you're right. Madison is coming off a 31-20 win against Detroit just two weeks ago, had their bye week, and now are facing them again. As far as Indy goes, this will also be the second time the two meet up with a third matchup inbound next weekend. 

“The second time you feel more comfortable and confident in the matchup because you just saw what they were going to do. It gives you time to adjust to what they did in the first game, and you find what weak spots they've had against your defense. It should make the second game even better for us,” said Mitchell McCarthy.

The Mechanix are coming off a one-point win over Pittsburgh last weekend and will be riding the high of their first win of the season. However, Detroit is going to need to step up even more to be able to take down the Radicals on their home field. 

In the previous matchup between the two, Detroit managed to hang with the Radicals for the first quarter but that was short-lived. As long as Madison plays their game and can stay patient, this should be a relatively smooth sail toward a win. 

The roster for the first game of the doubleheader is missing some key players. Jack Nelson, Ian McCosky, and Joe Leibforth won’t be suiting up Friday night. Meanwhile, we will see Eric Sjostrom’s second game in a Radicals uniform after debuting in Detroit a couple of weeks ago. 

Moving on to the next matchup in Indy the day after, it should be much of the same theme for both games. As long as Madison can establish a lead early, they should handle a young Indy team quite easily. It’s tough to say whether or not Indy will come out with a vengeance after being down 17-2 at halftime against the Wind Chill last week. Even with that extra motivation, the talent definitely leans toward Madison in this one. 

The same inactives for the Detroit game will be inactive for the Indy game with the addition of Mac Weber, but we will be able to see Shane Otis, Max Junga, and Cade White suit up for the Saturday night game. 

With two wins this weekend, Madison would clinch themselves a spot in the playoffs. They would sit at 6-3, putting Indy at a 2-6 record, solidifying the tiebreaker over them. 

This weekend will give Madison a chance to rest up some of their top players, and attempt to put together a full eight quarters of play throughout the two games. Keep an eye on what happens in the third quarter in both of these games as Madison will look to iron out their biggest issue of the year. 

To buy tickets to the game on Friday against Detroit at Breese Stevens Field at 7 p.m. CT, click here!

To tune in the live stream, click here!

To watch the second game of their doubleheader against Indy on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT, click here!