The opening round of the newly-expanded Temple Cup playoffs featured a matchup between two red-hot teams: the fourth-place Cardinals, winners of nine straight, and Louisville, who edged out Cincinnati for the pennant by winning their last fourteen contests.
Louisville seemed to take the Cards too lightly, though, as St. Louis shockingly swept the Colonels in three straight, as Cy Young, Jock Menefee and Jack Powell each tossed complete games.
The other Challenge Series proved to be much more interesting. In the opener, Reds catcher Mike Kahoe had three hits, including the game winner in the eleventh, 8-7. The Cubs then took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five with a 5-3 win in Chicago and a 6-5 victory in Cincinnati.
Then in Game 4, the Cubs nearly won the game and the series...without a base hit! Three walks and two errors gave Chicago four runs in the sixth, but Cincy came back with four tallies of their own in the bottom of the frame, and then a sac fly put the Reds ahead in the seventh. George Winter wound up tossing a no-hitter, despite allowing four unearned runs and twelve walks.
The fifth and deciding game was tied at two in the fifth, when Sam Crawford delivered with a two-run single to put the Reds up, 4-2. Chicago threatened in the eighth and ninth, but Cincy pitcher Hahn used his noodle and hurled the Reds into the Temple Cup Finals for the second straight year.
In the American League, the St. Paul Saints -- with their new addition, "Big Ed" -- took the pennant. Delahanty nearly won the "triple crown of batting", with a league-leading 27 homers and 122 RBI. (His .385 average was second only to his old teammate Lajoie.) They would meet their fellow northern Midwesterners, the Milwaukee Brewers, in the battle for the Dauvray Cup.
