The Forest City club proved they were the cream of the NA crop again in 1880, clinching a spot in the Centennial Cup Final. But the others weren't too far away from Jim Creighton's club. Half the loop finished within nine games of the top, including AA "defector" Newark and the White Stockings (who lost a one-game playoff to Rockford, 6-0).
In the quarterfinals, Jim Devlin pitched eleven innings and slapped a game-winning triple to give Tri Mountain a 5-4 win over Rockford, while the Red Stockings and Athletic battled for eight scoreless innings before Philly scored three times in the final inning, keyed by doubles from Jimmy Buck and George Lines.
The Semifinals were a corker, as well. All three games were played at The Fens in Boston, and Tri Mountain held a 5-2 lead after six in the opener. The A's cut the lead to 5-4 in the seventh, then went out in front on Levi Meyerle's double in the eighth. Athletic held on for a 6-5 win and a 1-0 lead. In Game 2, Harry McCormick was brilliant, holding Philly to seven hits in a masterful 6-0 shutout, with Henry Galliker scoring two runs.
The deciding contest was neither fish nor fowl -- actually, it was Fisler and Fowler, as the Athletic stars proved to be the difference in a 5-4 win. Tri Mountains touched hurler Fowler for a trio of runs in the fifth for a 4-2 lead, but the A's rebounded with two runs in the seventh to knot the contest at 4. In the top of the eighth, Fisler, who had three hits on the day, socked a Jim Devlin pitch over the wall to put Athletics up front, 5-4. Then Bud Fowler went to work, setting Tri Mountain down in order in the eighth and ninth to send the A's to the Cup Final,
