| Motown Yankees vs Coastline Bobcats | |
| Series Preview: | National League playoff series Round One with #7 seed Motown meeting National League wins leader (tie) and #2 seed Coastline. Coastline took 7 of 8 during the regular season. |
| Game #1: | Motown’s Dave Brown, 19-13, 2.07 faces off against Coastline’s Kevin Brown, 16-11, 4.07.
Motown struck first, with Stan Hack muscling a 2R HR for a quick 2-0 lead. Kevin Brown settled in from there and threw goose eggs through the 7th. Meanwhile, Coastline’s bats went to work, pushing a pair across in each of the 3rd and 5th innings, and tacking a single run on in the 6th for a 5-2 lead. Motown scrambled for 3 in the top of the 8th off Casilla to tie, only to have season-long arsonist Steve Mingori give up the lead on his first pitch to Joe Gordon in the bottom of the inning, with Gordon smacking a LONG home run to give Coastline the lead. Sutter continued his regular season dominance with a clean 9th, giving Coastline Game 1 and the early series lead. 2 hitters stood out – Motown’s Cristobal Torriente, batting leadoff for the first time this season, went 3-5 with 2 doubles and scored 2 runs, while Moose Skowron knocked in 4 with 2 hits, including a double. Coastline wins – 6-5 |
| Game #2: | Motown’s Adam Wainwright, 16-7, 2.49 facing Coastline’s Dave Stieb, 18-7, 3.04
Scoreless through 3, Motown pushes across single runs in the 4th and 5th, with more goose eggs through 7. With Motown leading 2-0, Stan Hack smacks his 2nd home run of the game, and 3rd of the series, to give Motown some cushion with a 5-0 lead. Adam Wainwright was the star, going the full 9 and scattering 3 hits for the CG shutout and tying the series at 1 game apiece. Motown wins, 5-0 |
| Game #3: | Coastline’s Chuck Finley, 20-7 2.80 v. Carl Hubbell, 15-12 2.45.
Motown’s single run in the bottom of the 2nd staked them to the lead until Coastline’s Cal Ripken singled across pinch runner Ian Kinsler with 2 down in the top of the 6th. 1-1 heading into the bottom of the 8th, Motown’s Richie Ashburn got on and stole 2nd, and was quickly followed by back-to-back doubles by Dixie Walker and Fred McGriff off Coastline’s Mike Marshall for a 3-1 Motown lead. Hubbell held on through the 9th and completed the game, giving Motown the game 3 win and 2-1 series lead. Motown wins, 3-1 |
| Game #4: | Coastline’s Kevin Brown, 16-11 in the regular season and Game 1 starter, faces off against Motown’s Addie Joss, 12-13 2.53
This game was all Brown and Joss – literally. Only 3 hits between the teams heading into the 9th. Joss shut down Coastline in the top of the inning, allowing only 1 Hack Wilson single earlier in the game. Bruce Sutter entered in the bottom of the 9th for Coastline. Dave Bancroft rocked a 1 out double, and Motown pinch hit Elmer Valo for 2B Frank White – Sutter promptly put Valo on to set up the double play. Kenny Lofton grounded out for out #2, bringing Joss to the plate. Motown pinch hit Heinie Groh, who laced a Sutter splitter to RF – Coastline RF Geoff Jenkins bobbled the ball, allowing Dave Bancroft to score the winning (unearned) run. Motown wins, 1-0 |
| Game #5: | |
| Series Summary: | Motown realizes they had no business winning this series – Brian is an awesome manager with a great team, and the dice just could not have been worse for him, scoring only 1 run in the final 27 innings. |
| Fire Lake Segers @ Clockwork Heros | |
| Series Preview: | NL tied for best Clockwork got to face the Fire Like Segers who should be the reds. Terry built a really nice team focused on Cincinnati’s finest. Clockwork Heros went all in this year but so far the first round of the playoffs has been a nightmare for the better regular-season records. The series was played over team viewer. |
| Game #1: | Mclain for Fire Lake Christy Matheson for Clockwork. Rolen plays the hero and drills a 3 run homer off the hall of fame Clockwork ace. Clockwork clawed back to make in 4-3 after 4 as Bradley homered. But Bench in for injured Roseborro hits a game-winning double. 5-4 Fire Lake! w-Gullett (1-0) s-lavalle(1) L-Uhle(0-1) |
| Game #2: | A Terry triple and Clockwork was up 4-1 after 6 innings. Blyleven gave up a run in the 7th but it was still 4-2 Clockwork when Tekulve the closer came in for two innings. He was solid in the 8th but in the 9th he fell apart allowing a Bench homer two runs then with two out and a fast runner trying to score Clockwork’s LF Foster plays hero and nails the winning run at home! But Fire lake did tie it 4-4 as Tekulve blows the save. But in the bottom of the 9th Lavalle give up a solo homer to Terry! Clockwork wins 5-4 W- Tekulve (1-0) L-Lavelle(0-1) |
| Game #3: | Terry hits a 3 run homer in the first and clockwork added more as Davey Lopes hits 2 homers and drives in 3 more. up 7-1 in the 9th Fire Lake did get 2 runs off Matheson as Zisk hits a 2 run homer. Valverde allowed a hit then Nehouser ended it. 7-3 clockwork w-Matheson(1-0) L-Guidry (0-1) |
| Game #4: | ouch…Arky Vaughn and George Foster homer and Clockwork score 8 of Mclain and crew. Donovan allows just 2 hits as Tony Perez hits his 3 rd double in 5 at-bats. But this time Tekulve closes out the blowout. 8-1 Clockwork W-Donovan(1-0) L-McLain (0-1) |
| Series Summary: | Clockwork changed the entire series on getting the game two winning run at home by George Foster the one missing Big Red Machine piece. Terry’s underdog team played great and had me sweating through the series, A 5 game series is a nightmare… Santop the hero catcher was great .375 5 runs and steal. Terry through had the big hits with two homers and 4 RBIs. Bench was the best Seger hitting .308 with a homer and 3 RBIs. Perez was amazing off the bench, going 4 for 6 with 3 doubles and 3 rbi while Votto was a disappointing 1 for 13 |
| Climax Cougars @ Detroit DeLoreans | |
| Series Preview: | This National League round one playoff matchup between the Climax Cougars and the Detroit DeLoreans was played over Zoom. |
| Game #1: | #1 CMC 7 – DET 5: After one inning the DeLoreans were up 4-1 led by an Anthony Rendon 2-run HR. However, the Cougars stormed back with four runs in the fifth inning on five hits, including a double from Smokey Joe Wood and a triple from Mel Ott. Then George Grantham and Mel Ott added solo shots in the sixth and ninth innings to complete the Climax victory. |
| Game #2: | #2 CMC 0 – DET 4: Hippo Vaughn spun a 2-hit, 11 strikeout shutout to tie the series at a game apiece. Detroit’s Nap Lajoie and Chuck Klein each had two hits and an RBI to lead Detroit. |
| Game #3: | #3 DET 2 – CMC 3: The series shifted to Climax. The Cougars jumped out 3-0 and never looked back. Chief Meyers and Buck Leonard led the attack, each with two hits. While Leonard and George Grantham hit homers. |
| Game #4: | #4 DET 9 – CMC 1: Backs against the wall, the DeLoreans responded with a 9-1 rout. Babe Herman went 4 for 5 with three doubles, a triple, and three RBI. Johnny Schmitz carried a shout into the ninth but surrendered one unearned run in 8.2 innings. |
| Game #5: | #5 CMC 5 – DET 6: The series finale shifted back to Detroit. Both teams scored in the first inning on a homer from George Grantham and then an RBI double from Babe Herman. By the sixth inning, Detroit held a 6-1 lead guided by Ripper Collins, Herman, and Chuck Klein. However, the Cougars battled back with three runs in the eighth inning and another in the ninth. Jim Fregosi, Grantham, and Mel Ott led the near comeback. |
| Series Summary: | As expected, it was a close and exciting series that literally “could’ve gone either way.” There were some excellent hitting and pitching performances. The biggest star was George Grantham, who led all hitters with a .444/.500/.944 slash and 3 HRs. He did everything he could to guide the Cougars to victory. |
| West Michigan Retrogrades vs Hoboken Zephyrs | |
| Series Preview: | West Michigan and Hoboken will face off as the #4 and #5 seeds respectively. Only 3 games separated these teams in final standings so expect a tight series. |
| Game #1: | Adrian Beltre and Duke Snider both homered to hand Noodles Hahn the Game 1 loss. Willie Foster allowed just one hit over 6 innings and three relievers held the Zephyrs scoreless over the final three frames. The Retrograde defense turned three double plays. West Michigan 4 Hoboken 1 |
| Game #2: | Jeff Heath hit a huge 3-run blast off Joe Sambito to cap a 4-run 8th inning. George Sisler went 3 for 4 for WM. Red Faber allowed just two runs over 7 innings as Bryan Harvey came on to close out with a 6-out save. Hoboken 4 West Michigan 2 |
| Game #3: | Stan Spence and Jim Bottomley led the Hoboken attack combining for 5 hits and 5 RBIs. The Zephyrs scored 8 runs in the first four frames to cruise to a pivotal Game 3 win. Hoboken 9 West Michigan 6 |
| Game #4: | Noodles Hahn was breezing along with a 3-1 lead into the 9th with two outs and one on. Hahn then allowed an ill-timed walk and Manager Kevin Weber made a brilliant move bringing on Roy Sievers to pinch-hit. Sievers delivered a clutch three-run blast to give Hahn his second loss of the series. The Retrogrades had all the momentum going home for a decisive Game 5. West Michigan 4 Hoboken 3 |
| Game #5: | Red Faber hurled a brilliant 5-hitter allowing just one first-inning run. Tommy Henrich capped off a strong series with a 3 for 4 performance as the Zephyrs scraped out two runs against Urban Shocker. Hoboken 2 West Michigan 1 |
| Series Summary: | Hoboken won a hard-fought series that could have gone either way. Red Faber took home series MVP honors by going 2-0, 1.69era in two starts. The Retrogrades were led by George Sisler(.400BA) and Duke Snider(.400BA/.500OBP). Strong performers for Hoboken included Jim Bottomley(.429BA), Tommy Henrich(.389BA) and Eddie Stanky(.333BA). |