While fans watch Sacramento push into the first round of the playoffs against the Salt Lake Bees this week, the voice of the River Cats will be up in the booth calling it the way he’s seen it since December of 2000. 

In his ninth season with the River Cats, radio broadcaster Johnny Doskow said that while Sacramento has become accustomed to seeing its team make the postseason, this year’s squad has had its radio broadcaster on the edge of his seat. 

“It’s been an exciting team to watch all year,” Doskow said. “[The River Cats] have a nice combo of speed, power and pitching, and because of the pitching and defense we’ve had a ton of close-scoring games. I don’t like it 15-4 or 11-8. I like a tight, low-scoring game. That’s baseball to me. We’ve had our share of those.”

Doskow said games have also been more exciting this season because of the River Cats’ offensive makeup, which differs drastically from last year’s championship team.

“Every guy on this team is capable of hitting the longball at any time,” Doskow said, in contrast to last season’s more disciplined, lighter-hitting lineups. “We have pop in just about everybody’s bat in the lineup. We’ve had some consistent boppers, pretty much all year. The team just broke the club record for homers in a season.”

It’s been more than just power versus patience, however.

“Last year we had Lou Merloni, a veteran who was a leader without even meaning to be.  We just don’t have that older guy. Our oldest is Brett Prinz, and he’s 31 years old. We don’t have a guy like that this year like we had with Merloni. As a result, the guys have bonded together and done it themselves,” Doskow said.

Doskow, who travels and lodges with the team while on the road, also acknowledged that first-year manager Todd Steverson has been the glue a roster ravaged by transactions badly needed.

“We’ve lost a ton of guys this year to the A’s. This team just finds a way,” Doskow said.  “[Steverson] knows how to handle these guys. He’s one of them. You always hear the expression ‘player type manager,’ and with Todd it really rings true. He’s only 36 and relates to the players really well. He gets through all the BS and gets straight to it. He’s a real person. I’ve seen the way he works on a daily basis. [The players] know him. He knows when to hold back and when to get his point across. He’s one of those guys.”

After tearing through most of August to take the division, the River Cats will look to recover from a late-August swoon against the Bees in the first round this week. The Cats are 11-5 against Salt Lake this season. Doskow sees a level of quiet-but-not-cocky confidence in this year’s River Cats.

“This team’s talking about the [Triple-A Championship] Bricktown Showdown,” he said. “They’re not looking past anybody, but they want to win this thing. That kind of told me right there. They want to be as good as last year’s team. It’s a new team, so you can’t use playoff experience as a factor. It will be about the RFM—Raley Field Magic.”