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2026 Playoffs
World Series
The 2026 World Series saw two first time protagonists, Las Vegas and New York, go head-to-head. Game one saw Las Vegas cruise into an early four run lead sparked by a Bob Peylon 3-run homer in the second, only for New York to come roaring back to take a 5-4 lead by the sixth chasing starter Dave Cahill from the game. With the home fans becoming restless the New York bullpen imploded in the eighth, allowing Las Vegas to score five runs, including homeruns from Brian Quinborough and Chris Coates, to blow the game wide open. Rolando Cerny and Leland Watson combined to close out the ninth inning and give the Gamblers a 9-5 win and the series lead. Game two was a much tighter affair with neither team able to get much offense going through the first three innings, things took a turn for the worse for Las Vegas in top of the fourth when starter Max Castle left the game with shoulder pain. New York took full advantage of his replacement, Shannon Hendricks, scoring four runs over the next two innings to take a commanding lead. Senator starter Orlando Vicenteno kept a lid on the Gamblers until the eighth inning when he surrendered three consecutive hits allowing the Gamblers to halve the lead, New York went to the pen to stop the Gamblers charge and Pablo Arellano obliged, getting out of the inning without further damage. Carlos Correa came out for the Senators in the bottom of the ninth protecting a 4-2 lead and proceeded to easily retire the three Las Vegas batters he saw, sending the series back to New York tied at one. With the news that Max Castle’s injury was not as serious as first thought buoying the Gamblers spirits, Will Spencer took the mound for them in game three, Spencer was not as wild as he had been in previous games as in six frames of work he gave up two runs on four hits while surrendering only three walks, his nine strikeouts were aided in large part by the New York hitters swinging at, and mostly missing, everything (even pitches that were never going to trouble the plate). Both teams took turns to score before New York grabbed a late lead on a 3B Ken King solo homerun in the bottom of the eighth. Carlos Correa entered the game for New York in the ninth and blew the save when Chip Owers scored on a Brian Quinborough single tying the score before the Gamblers turned to Leland Watson to try to get the game to extra innings, he allowed one Senator to reach base but stranded him there when he struck out 1B Ben Cox. Neither team scored in the 10th but Las Vegas plated the go-ahead run in the 11th when a sacrifice fly from Arlan Bresnahan brought home Earl Monroe. The Gamblers turned the game over to Davis Robinson who worked around a walk to close out the 5-4 win, breaking New York hearts. The tough luck loss in game three (New York had led 3-2 and 4-3 but couldn’t get the job done) seemed to knock the stuffing out of them in game four, Gamblers starter Stevie Lopez cruised through his seven innings, handing over a 5-1 lead to the pen who kept a lid on New York in a comfortable 6-1 win. New York were out hit 14-3 in the game all of their three hits were of the extra base variety, two doubles and a CF Wayne Manning homerun. Game five would be the Senators last home game no matter what happened (games 6 & 7 would be in Las Vegas) and it started well with a Juan Nunez homerun in the first and a Max Johnson two-run shot in the fourth giving them a three-run cushion. Senators starter Adam Reid (a former Las Vegas player) ran into trouble in the fifth when C Chris Coates launched a two-run homer to cut the advantage to one, the lead was gone in the sixth and Reid left the game in the next inning with two out after loading the bases, Pablo Arellano managed to get out of the jam but couldn’t stop 3B Bob Peylon from clubbing a solo homerun in the next inning to give the Gamblers the lead. New York couldn’t dent the Gamblers bullpen and Las Vegas added another insurance run in the top of the ninth before the Senators were sat down in order, the final out seeing PH Antonio Romero flail helplessly at a Davis Robinson fastball that clocked 102mph on the radar gun. The Gamblers dropped only two games during the run to their first World Series win, joining Sanfrancisco (2017) as the only teams to accomplish the feat. Strangely enough both the 2017 Sanfrancisco team and the current Gamblers team were managed by Pat Bennett.
2026 Playoff Recap
Divisional Series
EL: Chicago 3-2 Boston, New York 3-1 Tampa Bay
WL: Las Vegas 3-0 Kansas City, Phoenix 3-0 San Diego
Championship Series
EL: New York 4-2 Chicago
WL: Las Vegas 4-1 Phoenix
World Series
Las Vegas 4-1 New York
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