Championship Preview

We now bid farewell to the Haymakers and the Canaries, as our finalists for the Season 8 Creighton Cup will be the first-place Blue Legs and the second-place Resolutes. Storylines abound!

Legacy

The Blue Legs are suffering through the longest championship drought in the league; they won the inaugural Creighton Cup in Season 1, but haven't tasted the champagne of victory ever since, despite reaching the finals three more times before this year. The Resolutes, meanwhile, claimed their first title in Season 6 and have now reached the finals in three consecutive seasons; they're hoping to forge a dynasty and dethrone the Haymakers as the league's premiere franchise.

Rivalry

First of all, we've got a rematch of the epic Season 6 championship series. As chronicled on this blog in earlier posts, the Legs were leading two games to one in the best-of-five series, and then Christy Mathewson and John Clarkson tossed back-to-back shutouts -- eighteen straight scoreless innings! -- to lead the Resolutes to the championship. This season, the Resolutes humiliated the Blue Legs again with a 19-4 drubbing that ranks as the most lopsided victory in eight seasons of play. The Legs will be looking to avenge both of these historic failures here in the Season 8 finals.

Injuries

The Blue Legs lost more man-games to injury than any team in league history. At one point around midseason, it got so bad that backup shortstop Joe Tinker played left field because the Legs only had two healthy outfielders on their roster. The Resolutes were relatively healthy all year, except for speedy slugger Elmer Flick, who lost time to two separate injuries. Late in the season, key pitchers went down on both sides. Blue Legs hurler Al Spalding, tied for second in the league in wins this season, won't be available until Game 2, nor will the Resolutes' co-ace Clarkson. 

Offense & Defense

Before the season, the Legs traded for elite pitcher Tim Keefe, who quickly became their number-one starter. Even so, the team still finished last in runs allowed (3.92) and their porous defense was only marginally better than the perennially fielding-challenged Haymakers. What allowed the Blue Legs to claim first place was a league-leading 4.29 runs scored per game. As for the Resolutes, they ranked second in runs scored, second in runs allowed, and second in team defense -- no wonder they finished in second place!

Game 1 coming up this weekend!