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2018 - Playoffs
Three of the Divisional Series went the full five games. In the east Boston met Atlanta for the second season in a row, with sour memories of the 2017 series fresh in their mind, the Pilgrims jumped on Atlanta ace, Vince Little, in the opener knocking him out of the game in the third inning and going on to win 7-1. Atlanta returned the favour the following night dismantling Boston in an 11-2 win. Games 3 and 4 in Boston followed a similar fashion although the scores were lower. Game 5 in Atlanta pitted the two aces against each other, Atlanta’s Vince Little got the better of Ed Hudson as the Flames ran out 5-2 winners to advance to the EL Pennant series. Detroit took on surprise package New Orleans, eventually taking the series in the deciding game. Brandon Bowman dealt the death blow when he took Marvin Ashley deep for a three-run homer in the 8th inning, finally breaking the hearts of the Blues fans and ending their magical season. Oklahoma City fought off Las Vegas in an exciting series that went the full five games, Juan Vasquez kept the Las Vegas bats quiet in the deciding game, pitching a 6 hit shutout ending the upstart Gamblers season. The series between Minneapolis and Los Angeles pitted the WL best offense (MIN) and defense (LA). Los Angeles took game 1 behind a strong pitching performance from Max Castle. The Minneapolis offense then came to life and steamrollered Los Angeles, scoring at least 8 runs in the next three games on their way to taking the series 3-1.
Atlanta faced Detroit in the Eastern league Pennant series, the Flames never let Detroit into the series, they took the first two games at home before going on the road and, despite dropping game 3 in extra innings, closed out the series 4-1. Minneapolis entered their fourth consecutive Western league Pennant series determined to prove their doubters wrong. They did just that, dominating division rivals and 100-game winners Oklahoma City, sweeping them aside 4 games to 0 to reach their first World Series.
Atlanta returned to the World Series (the first team to do so in NABL history) looking to go one further than in 2017 and win the fall classic. The series got off to the worst possible start when Minneapolis hammered them 10-3, Vince Little once again struggled. Game 2 went much smoother for the Flames as they ran out 6-2 winners to even the series. The Bears drew first blood when the series moved to Minneapolis, taking game 3 behind a strong pitching performance from Chris Bush (7.1 IP, 4H, 1ER, 1BB, 9K) and timely hitting by Alberto Ortiz. Atlanta bounced back to take games four, 8-4 and five, 5-3 before returning home on the verge of winning the World Series. Game 6 started well for Minneapolis when Claude Cummins (who had just two hits up until that point) parked a Joey McCullough fastball into the right field bleachers for a 3-run homer in the first inning. McCullough settled down after that, keeping Minneapolis off the board thereafter. Atlanta’s Luis Sanchez tied the game with a three-run shot of his own in the sixth. The bullpens took over from that point on, but the normally reliable Minneapolis defense let them down, making two errors in the 7th inning which allowed Glenn Hallam to score, giving the Flames a 4-3 lead. Ricky DeLong and Rodney Henderson shut the Bears out the rest of the way and the Atlanta Flames claimed their maiden World Series 4 games to 2.
2018 Playoff Recap
Divisional Series
EL: Atlanta 3-2 Boston, Detroit 3-2 New Orleans
WL: Minneapolis 3-1 Los Angeles, Oklahoma City 3-2 Las Vegas
Championship Series
EL: Atlanta 4-1 Detroit
WL: Minneapolis 4-0 Oklahoma City
World Series
Atlanta 4-2 Minneapolis
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