When playoff-like situations have arisen at Covenant Health Park, the Knoxville Smokies have been built for the occasion.
Insert second baseman Drew Bowser, who came off the bench Aug. 2 and launched a go-ahead grand slam for his first Double-A home run, helping the Smokies rally to a win. Two weeks later, reliever Grayson Moore escaped a bases-loaded jam to preserve a one-run win over the Rocket City Trash Pandas, one of five consecutive come-from-behind victories against the then-Southern League North leaders.
Though promotions and trades have reshaped the roster since the Smokies clinched a playoff berth in June, Knoxville enters the postseason confident the culture that fueled its success can carry the team to a championship.
These Smokies
have shown they're built for the moment as they chase their first playoff series win in Knoxville since 1993 and the first Southern League crown since 2023, when the franchise still played in Kodak as the Tennessee Smokies.
"We have the right pieces to get it done," Smokies manager Lance Rymel told Knox News.
PitcherBrooks Caple, the No. 9 prospect in the system, has been a stalwart in a Smokies rotation that eats innings. His job is made easy by catcher Ariel Armas, whose relationship building is the glue for the staff.
A winning culture is not built by one player, but rather a group of guys with a collective goal: getting to Chicago.
"This is a good group," Rymel said. "They want to work, they want to win. They're in it together."
Playoff pressure is a different kind of experience for Smokies
The Smokies have built their culture by competing in more than just the game of baseball. They've made everything a game. Before the first pitch is delivered, pitchers are playing hacky sack, competing in tandem races and playing a variation of spikeball with a box and volleyball. In the clubhouse, they're playing games like chess and Catan.
"It really helps out getting on the field and knowing you can trust your guys," infielder Karson Simas told Knox News.
When it's time to wind down, they're talking as people and not just ballplayers, often during bus rides that can span more than 16 hours and 1,000 miles roundtrip.
"It is almost nice to be able to separate yourself with those teammates," pitcher Frankie Scalzo Jr. told Knox News. "Not only on the field competing with them, but then also being able to just have a good time outside of the field with them."
The 138-game Double-A regular season provides plenty of opportunities to develop, but the playoffs provide a different opportunity: pressure.
"It's good to go into playoff games knowing that you have pressure situations under your belt and knowing that you can perform in that type of environment and just keep doing what you're doing," Moore said.
For Kane Kepley, now the highest ranked Smokies prospect after getting called up for the second half, the value comes in treating the moments as another step toward the major leagues.
"In those situations, you get a little taste of big league baseball and playoff baseball at that next level," he said. "So we're going to take every at-bat serious and we're going to try to get better after every single at-bat as well."
Rymel, who's won a minor league championship as a manager, knows what it takes to get through an environment where every play and every decision matters. His players have learned to embody that mindset.
"Everybody just wants to win," Simas said, "and that's what helps make a baseball team."
Trevor McGee covers the Knoxville Smokies and One Knox SC for Knox News. Email: trevor.mcgee@knoxnews.com; X: @TrevorMcGee12
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: With playoffs set for Knoxville, these Smokies are built for the moment | Exclusive
