[Dukie98]

Frontier League: Upsets were the story of the day, as four of the HRDL's five 100-win teams were upended by lesser opponents. In the Frontier League, the 85-win Kansas City Mad Hatters systematically upended the 108-win Boston Minutemen in shockingly easy fashion, holding the second-ranked offense in the Frontier League to just 13 runs in 5 games. Kansas City left fielder Kevin Bass was tabbed as series MVP after hitting .412 with a homer and 8 RBI's -- including tie-breaking hits in the ninth inning of both Games 1 and 2, and a three-run homer in Game 5. Kansas City second baseman George Grantham hit .368 with a homer, 2 RBI's, 4 runs scored, and 2 steals. Boston catcher Joe Mauer led all hitters with a .500 average and drove in 2 runs. The defending champion Calgary Cattle Rustlers outlasted the pesky Philadelphia Hawks in six games, with shortstop Alcides Escobar taking home MVP honors, garnering 13 hits, slugging .654, and scoring 5 runs. Righthander Fred Newman made a strong push for the hardware, going 2-0 with 14.1 shutout innings. Calgary second baseman Bobby Grich led all hitters with 3 homers and 6 RBI's. In a Great Plains Division showdown, the Minneapolis Penguins upended the St. Louis Pilots in five games, as leftfielder Del Ennis hit .444 with 3 homers and 9 RBI's, and southpaw Madison Bumgarner threw a six-hit shutout in Game 2. The upstart Portland Skunks upset the 105-win Detroit Purple Gang in five games, as leftfielder Eric Thames hit .412 with 3 homers and 8 RBI's, and righthander Jeremy Hefner went 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 15 innings, outdueling Justin Verlander twice, including a 1-0 victory in the final Game 5.

Kansas City's magic ran out in the Divisional Series, as Calgary topped off the Mad Hatters in six games. Calgary first baseman Kevin Millar repeated his postseason heroics from 2022, hitting .455 with 3 homers and 8 RBI's, while southpaw Larry Jaster went 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA, including 8 shutout innings in the clinching Game 6. Kansas City rightfielder Gary Sheffield hit .409 with 3 homers and 6 RBI's. Despite scoring just 20 runs for the series, the Portland Pilots upset the Minnesota Penguins in 7 games, holding Minnesota to just 5 runs in their four victories. Portland leftfielder Eric Thames continued to swing the hot bat, hitting .308 with 2 homers and 6 RBI's. Portland's Jeremy Hefner went 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA, allowing just one run in seven innings in a 3-1 Game 7 victory, and Jonathan Papelbon notched four saves. Penguins leftfielder Del Ennis led all hitters with a .476 average, a homer, and 3 RBIs. Calgary returned to the World Series after defeating Portland in a six-game League Championship Series between two Northwest Division rivals. Calgary rightfielder Paul Waner took home MVP honors after hitting .435 with six doubles, a homer, and 3 RBI's, while Alcides Escobar chipped in with 12 hits, batting .444 with 7 RBI's and 4 steals. Righthander Fred Newman went 2-0 with a 1.17 ERA for the Cattle Rustlers.

Continental League: For the fourth time in five years, a dominant regular season by the Charlotte Aviators ended in a wild-card upset -- this time at the hands of the 87-win Las Vegas Aces in just five games. Although Charlotte dominated the regular season matchup, winning eight of nine games, Las Vegas pulled out 3 one-run wins, including a walk-off series-clinching win in Game 5 when Stephen Piscotty ripped a pinch-hit single. Las Vegas first baseman Jason Thompson was named MVP after hitting .400 with 2 homers and 5 RBI's, including a tie-breaking double in the 11th inning of Game 2. Reliever Javier Lopez earned three wins in relief, while Ryan Rupe garnered the Aces' other win with a four-hit shutout in Game 4. Charlotte centerfielder Tommie Agee hit .318 with 3 homers and 6 RBI's. In perhaps the most dramatic series of the Wild Card round, the 106-win Jacksonville Gulls edged the Los Angeles Kangaroos in 7 games, erasing a three-run deficit in the 9th inning of Game 6. Jacksonville third baseman Grady Hatton was named MVP after hitting .393 and slugging .821, with 3 homers and 8 RBI's. Los Angeles leftfielder Gary Matthews, Sr. hit .367 with 3 homers and 5 RBI's. The El Paso Armadillos dominated the Memphis River Pirates, who were making their maiden postseason appearance, scoring 41 runs in a 4-game sweep -- and drawing an incredible 40 walks in the series, including 20 in a 20-4 Game 4 rout. El Paso rightfielder Frank Howard hit .353 with 3 homers and 6 RBI's, while fellow slugger Steve Bilko hit .375 with a homer and 4 RBI's. The Nashville Blues ousted the 100-win New Orleans Crawfish in 7 games, erasing a 3-games-to-1 deficit. Nashville leftfielder Ben Paschal led all hitters with 14 hits, batting .483 with a homer and 6 RBI's, while Blues first baseman Greg Luzinski hit .370 with 2 homers and 8 RBI's. New Orleans third baseman Matt Chapman hit .333 and slugged .583, with 3 doubles, a homer, and 2 RBI's.

In the Divisional Series, Jacksonville blasted Las Vegas, scoring 37 runs in the five-game series. Jacksonville left fielder Larry Herndon was an easy MVP choice after hitting .435 with 5 homers and 11 RBI's, while Jacksonville shortstop Orlando Arcia and Milt May each rapped 2 homers and drove in 4 runs. Las Vegas first baseman Jason Thompson hit .333 with 3 homers and 8 RBI's in a losing effort. Nashville dispatched El Paso in 6 games, winning the final game on a 13th inning double by backup catcher Hobie Landrith in his lone at bat of the series. Nashville's Greg Luzinski was named MVP after hitting .348 with a homer and 6 RBI's, while right fielder Brian Jordan hit .292 with a homer and 3 RBI's. El Paso's Rube Foster won both of his starts and did not surrender an earned run in 14.2 innings, allowing only 7 hits along the way. Jacksonville outlasted Nashville in seven games in the League Championship Series, taking Game 6 2-0 behind 8 shutout innings from Ray Sadecki, and winning Game 7 15-7 after a 10-run explosion in the 7th inning. Jacksonville first baseman Keith Hernandez ended his postseason slump, ripping 13 hits on his way to a .481 average, the game-tying homer in the 7th inning of Game 7, and 3 RBIs. Left fielder Larry Herndon hit .375 with 7 RBI's, and catcher Milt May ripped a homer with 8 RBI's. Sadecki went 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA, allowing just 9 hits in 17 innings. Nashville right fielder Brian Jordan hit .357 with 3 homers and 6 RBI's in defeat.

World Series: Remarkably, the first repeat matchup in HRDL history resulted in an identical result -- the Calgary Cattle Rustlers sweeping the Jacksonville Gulls. Calgary battered Jacksonville ace Dizzy Trout in a 10-5 Game 1 victory, as Paul Waner homered, doubled, and drove in 3 runs. Calgary prevailed 7-2 in Game 2, as left fielder Jerome Walton ripped four hits and scored three runs. Willard Nixon outdueled Jacksonville's Adam Conley, and Doc Ayers earned an unexpected save with 2.2 innings of shutout relief. Calgary took Game 3 5-1 behind a dominant two-way performance from Larry Jaster, who surrendered just two hits in 7 innings and also homered off Ray Sadecki; Walton also chipped in with a two-run homer. The Cattle Rustlers pulled out Game 4 by a 4-3 margin, as Ruppert Jones ripped a pinch-hit RBI double in the seventh inning, and Kevin Millar singled in Jay Porter, a defensive replacement who hit a leadoff triple in the eighth inning, to score the tiebreaking run. Closer Bob Veale got the win in relief, with Joakim Soria taking the loss. Waner was named series MVP after going 8-for-17 with 2 doubles, a triple, a homer, 3 RBI's, and 5 runs scored. Walton hit .500 with a homer and 2 RBI's, while center fielder Homer Summa hit .400 with 6 RBI's. Bryce Harper paced Jacksonville with a .429 average and 4 RBI's in a losing effort.