In Game 1, the Canaries hosted the Blue Legs. Old Hoss Radbourn, the likely Pitcher MVP, was the obvious starter for the Legs, while the Canaries opted for Mickey Welch. The game was scoreless until the fourth, when Billy Hamilton's RBI groundout gave the Birds a 1-0 lead. They would quickly surrender that edge after Nap Lajoie's sacrifice fly in the fifth. Jimmy Collins gave the Legs their first lead with a solo home run in the eighth. The Canaries managed to put pressure on closer Vic Willis in the bottom of ninth, but Willis somehow managed to wriggle out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam. As such, Game 1 was a 2-1 victory for the visitors.
Pud Galvin started for the Birds and Tim Keefe for the Blue Legs in Game 2. The Canaries were feeling the pressure to get a split before going on the road, so they came out swinging in the first inning. One batter after Ed Delahanty tripled, Honus Wagner hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Collins, who bobbled the ball, allowing Wagner to reach first safely and Delahanty to score. George Davis followed up with a base knock to plate Wagner, so it was quickly 2-0 for the Birds. The score remained unchanged until the sixth, when King Kelly doubled and Collins hit his second home run of the series to tie the game at two. In the ninth, with Al Spalding pitching in relief of Keefe, Wagner roped a one-out double. After Davis popped out, Hugh Duffy lashed a single that scored Wagner and gave the Canaries a walk-off 3-2 win.
The scene shifted to the Blue Legs' park for Game 3, with the same starters as the first game. In the opening frame, Wagner's double scored Roger Connor to give the Canaries an early lead. They added to that lead in the third when Delahanty tripled and scored on Connor's double. The Birds added another run on George Wright's sacrifice fly in the fourth, and still another on Delahanty's run-scoring single in the fifth. In the sixth, Lajoie tripled and scored on Kelly's sacrifice fly to give the Legs their first run of the game. Wright delivered his second sacrifice fly in the eighth to give the Canaries a 5-1 lead. In the bottom of that inning, with Rube Foster now pitching for the Birds, Lajoie drew a walk and scored on a triple by Dan Brouthers. Willis came on in the ninth and sent the Canaries down in order. The score was 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth. With runners on the corners and one out, Monte Ward hit into a game-ending double play. The Canaries now had a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.
Hoping to clinch their second championship in franchise history, the Canaries knew the Blue Legs would not go down without a fight, especially on their home field. Keefe and Galvin, the Game 2 starters, got the draw for Game 4. Keefe was sharp in the early going, racking up strikeouts left and right. In the third, Delahanty tripled and later scored on a wild pitch. The next inning, Sam Crawford plated Brouthers to tie the game at one run apiece. The fifth inning saw the Birds take a two-run lead, first with Galvin's sacrifice fly and then Delahanty's run-scoring double. The Legs flipped the script in the sixth, with Collins driving in Brouthers and then Crawford driving in Collins. The score was 3-3 heading into the later innings; the pitchers were now Spalding for the Legs and Clark Griffith for the Birds. The game remained tied after nine, but Delahanty homered to lead off the tenth inning for a 4-3 Canaries edge. Griffith got two quick outs in the bottom of the tenth, but a double by Brouthers made things interesting. Kelly came to the plate with the Legs' season on the line, but he popped up to second baseman Wright to end the game and the series.
Canaries win the title!
