MONTHLY ROUND-UP: OCTOBER 1867
The Regent’s Park are the new champions of the Metropolitan League after a remarkable and at times controversial end to the 1867 season. They were due to meet championship rivals Angel Islington twice on the first Saturday of the month, with either team able to secure the crown by winning both games, but the weather was destined to play a part in proceedings. A late eighth inning run gave Angel a 2-1 win in the first game, but then with the weather worsening and the state of the field poor, the Regents requested that the second game be postponed to a later date. With an opportunity to secure a first title awaiting, Angel did not agree and wanted to play the game, leaving the neutral umpires to make the decision. Their view was that the game could not be played, leaving the Angel players angry at being denied the chance to win the championship.
Going to the intended final day of the campaign, Angel would still win the championship if they won their game and the Regents lost theirs, and indeed the Regents were beaten, 1-0 by Kensington. However, with pitchers increasingly coming to dominate the league late in the season, Angel also fell by the same score against the City of London Club. That left the rescheduled game between the two contenders the following Saturday – again, victory would win the championship for Angel, while a Regents win would leave the two tied and necessitate another game. Once more, a single run decided the outcome with the Regents getting it in the fifth inning.
A tiebreaking game was therefore needed with both teams finishing on twenty wins and ten defeats. Home advantage in this situation was to go to the team with the better record in meetings between the two, but that was also tied at three wins each, so a coin had to be tossed. Angel were allowed to call the toss and correctly called tails, meaning the extra game would be on their field. For the third successive game though, Angel could not score a run, and two runs for the Regents in the seventh inning were enough to win the championship. Angel were left rueing the decision not to play the second game on the intended day at the start of the month, but the truth is that they would have been champions anyway had they won any one of the next three games. Not only did they not win one, they did not score a single run.
Away from all the drama, outgoing champions the Old Westminsters had finished four games back of the tie for first place after a disappointing end to the season culminated in defeat to Clapham in their final game. That would have allowed Clapham to tie Kensington for last place had Kensington not played their part in the championship battle by beating the Regents in fourteen innings. Clapham therefore finish one behind Kensington at the bottom of the standings, with the City of London Club in turn two ahead of Kensington.
With all the excitement of the end of the championship race, the six-team era of the Metropolitan League comes to an end as there will be eight teams playing in 1868. The format for the season is expected to be announced at the annual meeting next week, when the awards for this season will also be given out. One suggestion is that teams will play one another four times for a twenty-eight game season, but some are believed to be reluctant to make the season shorter so another option may need to be found.
