What a fun event! Thanks to the dev team for putting it on. Thanks to those that joined in the discord channel for comments and thanks to those that joined the voice channel for discussion. It was so much fun.
I entered my 2100 Mexico Cow team from The Classic League. In the first round, we matched up against a scrub team. I had a good idea what to expect from my Redraft seasons, so I used the series to measure my rotations endurance. We got through the round unscathed. Casey Bean had a no-hitter in game 1 and only an error prevented a perfect game.
In round 2 we faced TheCrimsonKing’s 2065 Desert Spear Kraisans from Baseball Legends. The Kraisens won 113 games in 2065 enroute to a World Series title win over skdonovan’s SE Alaska Eskimos. The WS win was the Kraisans 2nd in a run of 7 over 15 seasons. Our series alternated wins for the first 6 games, with Desert Spear winning games 1, 3 & 5. Game 5 was the drama highlight, with Desert Spear erasing a 0-3 deficit and winning 6-3 in 10 innings. Game 7 was not high drama but did have lead changes. Kraisans led 2-0, then 3-2 before the Cows took a 4-3 lead in the 5th. Zeroes followed and the Cows advanced.
In round 3 we faced Christo0425’s 2089 Minnesota Moose from legendary Psi Phi. These Moose won 4 World Series in a 5 season span, defeating Williamsburg Tribe Power managed by gregorgross (I choose greg) in the season that was chosen for this competition. In a different season of the run, they defeated the Thunderclap Wolves, a team managed by TheCrimsonKing. Where the Round 2 series lacked drama despite the evenness of the matchup, this series had both the tightness and the moments of extreme tension. Game 1, was a 13 inning duel won by Minnesota 2-1. There were 7 hits in this game. Game 2 was a 5-4 sequeaker then tied the series at 1. Game 3 was a shutout in favor of Minnesota, Game 4 was a 1-hitter in favor of Mexico. Game 5, the pivotal Game 5, was a rematch of the game 1 duel and somehow the pitchers were better, 2-0 Minnesota win in 15 innings, 6 hits in the entire game. Bean had a massive 11 IP, 1 H, 15 K game in the ND, Perez had an equally effective 9 IP, 2 H, 6 K. Game 6 was close until a 9th inning rally provided some insurance in a Cow win to force Game 7. In that win-take-all game, Mexico got a 5-0 lead after 3, but 4 Moose HR fueled a 6-5 comeback win. In the series, Minnesota hit 14 HR and scored 21 runs. The Moose homered in every game
So that’s it, the Cows are out. But it doesn’t have to end there.
In Round 4, christo’s Minnesota faced stinky_pete’s 2081 Scranton Strokers from Simusports and Scranton swept them in emphatic fashion. Game 1 was close but Games 2-4 were not. The Moose did not hold a lead at any time in the series. Tough one but a good run for the Moose.
So we pick up the Strokers, in the Quarterfinals, they faced aguevara’s 2161 Arizona Diamondbacks from MLB Classic, this series was another comprehensive stinky_pete win, in 5 games this time.
With 8 teams remaining, Scranton faced the IBleedCardinalRed’s 2041 Pound Town Railers from CardsClubhouse. Strokers vs Railers. Glad Boicey didn’t enter the Discharge…. And this may have been the best series in this chain. After a shutout by Arno in Game 1 (he was 6-1 in Game 1s), the Strokers rally from a 0-3 deficit in the 8th and win in the 10th to take a 2-0 lead. Then comes the real life 1960 World Series part of the series, where the Railers win 3 games by 1 run and the Strokers win a blowout, which gets the series to 7 games. Game 7 did not disappoint, the Railers rallied with 2 in the 7th and a 2-out single to score the tying run from 2nd base in the top of the 9th, which only prolonged the game to the 12th where the Strokers advanced on a homer by Sampson.
In the semifinals, up next for Scranton was another CardsClubhouse team. This time, the best managed team in the Musial division awaited our newly beloved Strokers. CardinalFanatic’s 2019 Jacksonville Crimsons were the opponent. Game 1 set the tone for the series with George hitting a home run in the bottom of the 9th to swing a 2-3 deficit into a 4-3 win for the Strokers. Game 2 featured another 2-3 to 4-3 win for Scranton. 2 of the next 3 went Jacksonville’s way before a 13th inning rally of single, SB, single produced the only run in the Game 6 clincher for the Strokers.
It was at this point that all the participants were tired and decided that it would be in the best interests of all to declare the tournament a tie for everybody. Such great sportsmanship is rarely seen at the highest levels of sport like this. And that’s what makes BaseHit so special. Thanks to everybody that had a part in running this great contest, especially Doc Gooden, ZubaZ, Clone, Mikey Hardfoul and CBT (Coolest Bracket Turnedout). And no thanks to Lenny Dykstra.