Melbourne Aces coach Jon Deeble is confident they still have the line-up to claim their maiden Australian Baseball League title over Brisbane despite losing some key players.
The Aces will host defending champions Brisbane in a three-game grand final series starting Friday night in Melbourne after the Bandits eliminated Adelaide in the preliminary final.
Melbourne hold an imposing 7-1 win-loss record over Brisbane but Deeble said that would count for little come Friday.
"The Bandits have really come on and got a lot better even though we have beaten them seven out of eight games, we've got a completely different line-up now," he said.
"We've lost a couple of imports which is disappointing so they're going to be tough to beat, there's no doubt.
"It's left us a little light but at the end of the day we've still got quality arms who we've built our season on."
Melbourne have struggled for runs since the January loss of leading hitter Ronald Acuna, with the Venezuelan outfielder heading back to the Atlanta Braves, who also recalled veteran catcher Wiggy Nevarez.
Pitcher Jeremy Guthrie then decided to depart on the weekend after being offered a spring training opportunity with the Washington Nationals.
The match pits the best hitting team in the league in Brisbane against the top pitching team in Melbourne, led by former major league player Mark Hamburger.
Brisbane showed their strike-power in game three of the preliminary final crushing Adelaide 18-2 with Mitch Nilsson and Ryan Battaglia both collecting double homers amongst a bag of seven.
"That's why it's going to be really interesting with the best pitching going up against the best hitting," Deeble said.
It's a remarkable turnaround for the Aces just to be in the running for the Claxton Shield after finishing last in the previous two seasons, with Deeble coming on board for this season.
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