[trman73]

The Houston Oilers are the class of our league, winning 116 games in the regular season. They have an excellent rotation that features Peak Seaver, Peak Dizzy Dean, SE Maddux, and Peak Nolan Ryan, with Peak Eck closing. We allowed 659 runs this season, tops in our league, and they allowed 105 fewer than us. This will be a challenge.

But our pitching staff, while not stocked with Perfect players, is pretty darn good, and we show it in Game 1, as Eddie Plank appears to be out of his funk. He tosses eight innings of three-hit ball and out-pitches Tom Seaver in a 3-0 win. A day later, we stretch the shutout streak to 18 innings as Noodles Hahn gives up three hits and a walk in eight. Jason Kendall plates the only run of the game, Sutter pitches a perfect 9^th, and we escape Houston up 2-0 despite scoring just four total runs. Two games, two shutouts for the underdog.

We’re 5-0 at home in the post-season, and Matt Harvey takes the hill in Game 3 with a post-season ERA of 1.17 and a WHIP of 0.87. He matches up with Houston’s 23-game winner and likely Pitcher of the Year, Peak Dizzy Dean. Our shutout streak ends quickly, as Mookie Betts takes the third pitch of the game out of the yard. We get to Dean for four in the third, but Harvey gets walloped and we lose our first October home game, 7-4. Game 4 is a frustrating one, as down 3-2 we load the bases in the bottom of the 8^th but can’t score, and Houston ties the series. Plank is rocked in Game 5, and we’re a game away from elimination after losing all three home games.

We need to win our final two games on the road, and in Game 6, we’re tied 2-2 in the 8^th before we get back-to-back RBI singles from Paul Waner and Jason Kendall. We win, 4-2, and there will be a Game 7.