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THE LIBERTY BELL CLASSIC MATCHUP IS SET
FRANKFORD RETURNS; MERION TAKES THREE-TEAM PLAYOFF TO WIN WEST PHILADELPHIA

PHILADELPHIA (Aug 18, 1874) – It took an extra two days, but the three-team playoff in the western half of Philadelphia is over and the two teams to play in the second Liberty Bell Classic are in place.

EAST PHILADELPHIA: Frankford Arsenal, in 3rd place and two games behind leaders Port Richmond to begin August, went 10-2 over their remaining schedule while Pt. Richmond was 2-10 and 2nd-place Keystone was 5-7. As a result, red-hot Frankford won the East championship by four games, with a similarly hot Spartan team finishing runner-up.

KEY PLAYER: Joseph Evans (LF) – .336, .857 OPS, 76 R, 109 H, 22 2B, 13 3B, 67 RBI, 18 BB, 157 TB, 4.0 WPA, 3.1 WAR

WEST PHILADELPHIA: The three-way playoff started with Merion at Mercantile. It was a close game for six innings, tied 1-1, but a dozen runs over the 7th & 8th made Merion clear winners and set up a showdown at Schuylkill for the pennant. This time, Merion put their opposition to the sword over the middle innings, scoring ten runs over the 4th, 5th, & 6th to win 12-5 and take the West Philadelphia pennant.

KEY PLAYER: Jonathan Atkins (P) – 20-15, 2.39 ERA, 342.0 IP, 22 CG, 1 SHO, 33 K, 1.7 K/BB, 1.24 WHIP, 6.1 WAR

THE 1874 LIBERTY BELL CLASSIC

SEEDING

• #1: Frankford at 42-28 (+47 RD)
• #2: Merion at 41-31 (+25 RD)

PLAYOFF SERIES FORMAT

• Best of five games
• 2-2-1 format
• Higher seed (FA) has Home Field Advantage

WRITERS POOL PREDICTION

• Frankford Arsenal (10-2 in August, 8-4 in 1-run games) over Merion