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Cleveland Indians: 1st AL Pennant
1919
“Cleveland, you can party like it’s 1919! Chief Wahoo is celebrating tonight, folks—the Indians have won their first ever pennant! Final score: Cleveland 4, Baltimore absolutely nothing.”
Well, if you like offense from the Orioles, tough luck. They put up the big goose egg—nada, zip, zero. Their bats had less life than a morgue at midnight. Five hits scattered across nine innings, and not a single guy crossed the plate. The Orioles couldn’t buy a run if they passed the hat around the dugout.
Meanwhile, the Tribe? Business as usual. Matt Holdcraft—who else—kept the party going with a double and an RBI, and oh yeah, he also walked away with the series MVP, hitting .533. That’s not just hot, that’s “don’t touch the stove, you’ll burn your hand” hot. Cervantes and Gonzalez chipped in with clutch hits, and the insurance runs in the eighth just iced it.
On the mound? J.P. Busch was cooler than the other side of the pillow. Seven shutout innings, five hits, two walks, four strikeouts. Then Luis Garcia came in and slammed the door so hard the Orioles are still looking for the handle.
So, Cleveland sweeps the series, four games to none, and for the first time in history, they’re going to the World Series! Who they’ll face is still up in the air—it’s either the Phillies or the Reds, and Philly’s got the edge in that one.
Final line tonight: Indians 4 runs, 9 hits, no errors. Orioles: 0 runs, 5 hits, no errors… unless you count their offense, which was a total error.
Fans are still on their feet here at Jacobs Field, waving, cheering, hugging strangers. Me? I’m reaching for the bourbon. Cleveland’s got themselves a pennant!
This is Harry Doyle saying: “So long everybody—be careful driving home, there are gonna be a lot of drunk Indians out there.”
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