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At the all-star break in the National Association, Quebec City had the top record at 65-34, followed by Washington (62-37) and Cincinnati (60-39) as the teams with 60+ wins. The Nordiques maintained their advantage and claimed the top seed at 103-59 atop the Northeast Division. This tied QC’s franchise-best and was their third playoff trip in five years. Quebec also had the NA’s best run differential of +188.

The defending-champ Admirals maintained a close pace in the summer, but went 7-8 down the final stretch, including getting swept at Philadelphia in the season finale. Washington still repeated as East Division champ at 99-63 and earned their eighth division title in a decade. The Admirals led the NA with 879 runs scored and broke their own association record for home runs. DC set the new high mark of 319 in 2037, but topped it with 325 dingers in 2038. They also had a .484 team slugging, the third-best in NA history.

Washington’s late drop though did drop them to the #3 seed, but not to Cincinnati. The Reds had a 33-30 record in the second half, while Lower Midwest Division rivals St. Louis and Louisville both were 41-22 after the break. The Cardinals vaulted to the #2 seed at 100-62, ending a 13-year playoff drought. It was also St. Louis’ first division title since their 2014-15 repeat pennants. The Cardinals had the fewest runs allowed in Major League Baseball at 545.

Louisville went 9-1 in their last ten games to finish 97-65 for the first wild card; the fourth consecutive playoff trip for the Lynx. Cincinnati finished 93-69, which was still good enough for the second wild card and repeat playoff trips. Numerous teams were within striking distance of the Reds and fought over the third wild card. Two of those teams also battled for the Upper Midwest Division title.

Grand Rapids went 11-3 in the final two weeks, which included a three-game home sweep of Chicago. The Cubs then got swept by Columbus and needed to take two-of-three in their final series with Winnipeg not to blow the lead outright. Both finished 91-71, but this fell one short in the wild card race, so only the division champ could advance.

The Northeast’s Halifax at 92-70 grabbed the final wild card despite their own sluggish 3-7 end to the season. Philadelphia won their final six, but fell two short at 90-72. Also in the hunt was Ottawa (88-74), Brooklyn (87-55), Milwaukee (86-76), Montreal (85-77), and Raleigh (85-77). The Mustangs’ playoff streak ended at three seasons.



Despite an injury to their starting pitcher in second inning, five relievers held firm for Grand Rapids in their tiebreaker game with Chicago. The staff combined to allow two runs and four hits in a 4-2 home victory against the Cubs. The Growlers repeated as Upper Midwest champs and grew their playoff streak to five seasons, the longest active one in the National Association.



Although Milwaukee missed the playoffs, LF Clemente Garcia repeated as MVP with 36 first place votes and 732 points. St. Louis two-way star Rasheed Mohamed had 16 first place votes with his teammate Chipper Karpowitz getting eight. Quebec’s Joe Partamian and Washington’s Sohan Gala each earned two first place nods. Karpowitz notably won the batting title at .375, while it was Gala who was the WARlord at 9.0. For Garcia, he led in home runs (61), RBI (151), total bases (389), and slugging (.697). The 29-year old Puerto Rican righty had 181 hits, 121 runs, 19 doubles, 1.094 OPS, 181 wRC+, and 8.6 WAR. Garcia also won his third Gold Glove.

He joined Hall of Famer Sebastian Lunde as the only guys in MLB with multiple 150+ RBI seasons; both did it consecutively. Garcia is also the fifth MLB slugger with multiple 60+ homer seasons. The former #1 overall pick is at 467 homers, 1171 RBI, and a nice 69.0 WAR before turning 30. He’s signed through 2043 with the Mustangs on a $262,200,000 deal.

In only his second season, Columbus’ Linden Becerra won Pitcher of the Year with 44 of the first place votes. Cincinnati’s Yoichiro Minami was the only close competitor with 18 first place votes, while Toronto’s Mason Pechart and Quebec’s Simon Pomeroy got one each. It was Pechart who led in both strikeouts (256), and WAR (10.2). Minami had the most wins (20-9) while Pittsburgh’s Wren Stanaland had the ERA title at 2.13.

Becerra was second in ERA and had 60 more innings than Stranaland with a 2.31 ERA. The 22-year old from Oakland, California only led in one stat; shutouts with six. But he had 232 strikeouts in 256.2 innings, 183 ERA+, 56 FIP-, 10.0 WAR, and 14-14 record. Among the shutouts was a no-hitter on April 4 against Kansas City with seven Ks and one walk. Voters recognized Becerra’s excellence on a terrible 66-96 Chargers squad. He was the #7 draft pick in 2036 out of Memphis and was third in 2037’s Rookie of the Year vote.



The first round is hosted by a division champ who needs two wins, while the visiting wild card must win thrice. The lone sweep came from Grand Rapids with 7-4 and 2-1 wins against Louisville. Game two went ten innings with a walkoff RBI single. The division champs also won the other two battles, but both of those went the distance.

Cincinnati opened with a 6-5 win at Washington, scoring five in the eighth inning to rally. The Admirals dominated game two 15-8, but the Reds bounced back 3-1 in game three. Cincy led 8-3 entering the eighth inning in the finale, but DC rallied with a six-run eighth inning, capped off by Reungyos Misu’s three-run home run. The Reds got a two-out double in the ninth but the man was stranded, allowing Washington to escape with their repeat hopes alive on a 9-8 win.

Halifax was feisty against St. Louis with 5-4 and 5-3 wins to open their series, the latter needing 11 innings. Orion Houssou’s two-run homer put the Hound Dogs up for good. The Cardinals stayed alive with a 4-3 victory in game three, then prevailed 7-0 in the clincher on Rasheed Mohamed’s complete game win. He scattered nine hits with one walk and five strikeouts in the shutout with 120 pitches.

St. Louis started round two with a 5-4 home win against Washington, but the Admirals routed them 10-1 the next night. The Cardinals retook the edge on a 3-2 road win, but Washington countered with a 5-4 result. In game five back in Missouri, a four-run first inning proved sufficient cushion for St. Louis in a 6-3 win; dethroning the reigning champ. The Cardinals earned their first trip to the National Association Championship Series since their 2014-15 repeat.

Top seed Quebec City got the better of a pitcher’s duel 2-1 to start facing Grand Rapids. It was all offense the next night, but against the Nordiques were one run better with a 10-9 score. GR kept the series alive with a 9-5 win back in Michigan, but Quebec clinched 5-2 in game four. The Nordiques earned their third-ever NACS appearance, joining the 1999 and 2005 seasons. They were hoping for their first pennant since joining in the 1982 expansion. Three of the other seven expansion squads had been the World Series (Virginia Beach, Winnipeg, Edmonton).

Only three wins separated the top two seeds and St. Louis had taken two of three when they played in late August. The Cardinals opened with a 5-3 road win, but Quebec City countered 7-4 as the series shifted to the States. The Nordiques grabbed back-to-back road wins by 7-4 and 5-1 margins. St. Louis forced play back to Canada on a 1-0 win in game five on Chad Green’s six-hit shutout.

Game six was 3-2 after the third inning for St. Louis, but a solo homer in the seventh evened it up. The game stayed tied 3-3 into the tenth inning where Quebec City rallied with two outs. They got three straight singles with the final one featuring an error in right field, allowing Vasile Nacu to score the winning run. The Nordiques took the game 4-3 and the series 4-2, becoming the 51^st of MLB’s 64 teams to earn a World Series trip.



Nacu ended up as the series MVP, as the Moldovan shortstop went 10-18 with 1 homer, 4 RBI, and 5 runs. He had joined Quebec City for 2038 after seven years in Europe with Warsaw, where he was known as a defensive specialist with a weak bat. Nacu had a 76 wRC+ and .667 OPS on the season, but 1.7 WAR thanks to a strong glove.