It's back-to-back titles for the Haymakers! In the process, they've avenged the 18-5 drubbing they suffered at the hands of the Blue Legs midway through the season. Here's the full scoop on the championship game for Season 3 of my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league...
After Radbourn's masterpiece that propelled the Blue Legs into the finals, who would start the biggest game of the season for them? Clarkson, Cummings, or even Nichols? Ultimately, after reviewing three full seasons of play, I found that Cummings (for whatever reason) has the best career numbers against the Haymakers of the team's available pitchers. As such, he got the start -- his first appearance in a playoff game -- against the lordly Denton True "Cy" Young.
A quick and easy first inning belied the difficulty that Cummings would face. In the second, Bid McPhee, Hughie Jennings, and Jesse Burkett (last year's Playoff MVP) all hit run-scoring singles, while Joe Kelley followed them up with an RBI double. By the end of the second, it was 4-0 in favor of the defending champs. John Clarkson took over for Cummings in the third and stopped the bleeding, at least for a time.
The score was unchanged when the Haymakers' third baseman, James "Deacon" White, stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the fifth. (Side note: I've got a soft spot in my heart for White, who was born and raised in Caton, New York, just a few miles from where I grew up. My father and I once drove all over Caton trying to find any sort of plaque or dedication to White, but we came up empty.) White got hold of Clarkson's hanging curve and pulled it to left. At that point, there was only a 20% chance it would clear the fence, but luck was on the ol' Deacon's side and he ended up with a two-run homer. Now the score was 6-0, and an inning later, Joe Kelley singled home another run to make it 7-0.
Things got interesting in the top of the eighth. With Wee Willie Keeler and Nap Lajoie aboard, Dan Brouthers singled to drive in a run. The next batter was King Kelly, who ripped a two-run double to make it 7-3. Young escaped further damage, but he was replaced by closer Amos Rusie for the ninth. Rusie made short work of the Legs, and when a Billy Hamilton pop fly landed lazily in the glove of Sam Thompson, the Haymakers had claimed their second straight championship. (Another side note: Rusie played for the Legs in Season 1 when they won the title, so he's the only player in the league to have been on the championship team all three seasons!)
After Radbourn's masterpiece that propelled the Blue Legs into the finals, who would start the biggest game of the season for them? Clarkson, Cummings, or even Nichols? Ultimately, after reviewing three full seasons of play, I found that Cummings (for whatever reason) has the best career numbers against the Haymakers of the team's available pitchers. As such, he got the start -- his first appearance in a playoff game -- against the lordly Denton True "Cy" Young.
A quick and easy first inning belied the difficulty that Cummings would face. In the second, Bid McPhee, Hughie Jennings, and Jesse Burkett (last year's Playoff MVP) all hit run-scoring singles, while Joe Kelley followed them up with an RBI double. By the end of the second, it was 4-0 in favor of the defending champs. John Clarkson took over for Cummings in the third and stopped the bleeding, at least for a time.
The score was unchanged when the Haymakers' third baseman, James "Deacon" White, stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the fifth. (Side note: I've got a soft spot in my heart for White, who was born and raised in Caton, New York, just a few miles from where I grew up. My father and I once drove all over Caton trying to find any sort of plaque or dedication to White, but we came up empty.) White got hold of Clarkson's hanging curve and pulled it to left. At that point, there was only a 20% chance it would clear the fence, but luck was on the ol' Deacon's side and he ended up with a two-run homer. Now the score was 6-0, and an inning later, Joe Kelley singled home another run to make it 7-0.
Things got interesting in the top of the eighth. With Wee Willie Keeler and Nap Lajoie aboard, Dan Brouthers singled to drive in a run. The next batter was King Kelly, who ripped a two-run double to make it 7-3. Young escaped further damage, but he was replaced by closer Amos Rusie for the ninth. Rusie made short work of the Legs, and when a Billy Hamilton pop fly landed lazily in the glove of Sam Thompson, the Haymakers had claimed their second straight championship. (Another side note: Rusie played for the Legs in Season 1 when they won the title, so he's the only player in the league to have been on the championship team all three seasons!)
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