[Dukie98]

Frontier League: The 106-win Boston Minutemen easily dispatched the Minneapolis Penguins, who were missing their injured ace, Madison Bumgarner, in five games. Boston first baseman Steve Garvey won MVP honors after hitting .364 with 3 homers and a series-high 9 RBI's, including 2 homers and 5 homers in Game 5, while Minneapolis second baseman Billy Herman hit a series-best .478 with 3 RBI's. In perhaps the best matchup of the wild card round, the Buffalo Fighting Elk won a back-and-forth series against the upstart St. Louis Pilots, taking games 6 and 7 on the road. Buffalo's Marcus Stroman won both his starts, including Game 7, allowing just a single run in 14.2 innings, and first baseman Rick Renick ripped 3 homers and drove in 7 runs. Star St. Louis catcher Gabby Hartnett took home MVP honors in a losing effort, hitting .360 with 4 homers and 6 RBI's. The Calgary Cattle Rustlers dominated the favored Detroit Purple Gang, winning in 5 games, as first baseman Kevin Millar hit .421, pounding two homers and driving in 5 runs and second baseman Bob Sheldon hit .412, with three triples and drove in 4 runs. Although the Kansas City Mad Hatters had the shakiest pitching staff in the playoff field, they held the mighty Denver Spikes offense in check, surrendering just 17 runs in a five-game victory. Kansas City shortstop Jose Reyes, coming off the worst season of his career, took home the hardware after hitting .471 and slugging .882, including 3 triples, and drove in 4 runs, while left fielder Kevin Bass hit .316 with a homer and 5 RBI's.

In the Divisional Round, Boston jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead against division rival Buffalo before dropping the next three games, with the Minutemen prevailing 4-3 in the decisive Game 7. Boston catcher Joe Mauer was named MVP after hitting .357 with a homer, 5 RBI's, and 6 runs scored. Boston righthander Don Nottebart won both his starts, including Game 7, scattering just 7 hits across 13.2 shutout innings. Buffalo shortstop Ivan DeJesus hit .522 with a series-high 12 hits, including a dramatic two-out ninth-inning triple in Game 7 which cut Boston's lead to a single run. Calgary also needed seven games to outlast Kansas City. Calgary first baseman Kevin Millar took home another series MVP trophy after hitting .407 with 2 homers and 6 RBI's, while left fielder Jerome Walton hit .448 with a series-high 13 hits and drove in 7 runs. In the League Championship Series, Calgary edged Boston in yet another seven-game series to make their first World Series. Kevin Millar's magical postseason continued, as he hit .407 with a series-high 3 homers and 9 RBI's, while Larry Jaster went 2-0 with a 1.15 ERA. Steve Garvey led Boston by hitting .444 with 2 homers and 4 RBI's.

Continental League: In an upset for the ages, the Virginia Beach Admirals swept the 109-win Charlotte Admirals, despite allowing at least seven runs in each of the first three games, and the Admirals scored 37 runs against the league's second-ranked pitching staff. Left fielder Joe Lahoud led the way, hitting .389 with 2 homers and 8 RBI's, while Chili Davis and Bill Melton matched Lahoud with a pair of homers apiece, and first baseman Brian Daubach hit .444 with a homer and 7 RBI's. The Jacksonville Gulls narrowly avoided a similar fate, winning games 6 and 7 to prevail against the upset-minded Oklahoma City Otters. Jacksonville left fielder Larry Herndon won MVP honors after hitting .441, including a series-high 15 hits, a homer, 4 RBI's, and 3 steals. Ace Dizzy Trout allowed just 5 hits and 1 run in 15 innings, and earned the win in a Game 7 romp. Oklahoma City sluggers Khris Davis and Steve Bilko each mashed two homers and drove in 7 runs. The Nashville Blues outlasted the Las Vegas Aces in a low-scoring five-game series, with walk-off wins in Games 4 and 5 -- the latter being a 10-inning 1-0 affair. Nashville right fielder Brian Jordan was named MVP after hitting .421 with a homer and 3 RBI's, while left fielder Ben Paschal hit .318 with 3 homers and 5 RBI's, and righthander Dave Ferriss threw 15.2 shutout innings. The New Orleans Crawfish dispatched the Los Angeles Kangaroos in five games. In a controversial decision, first baseman Gordy Coleman was named series MVP after hitting .381 with 2 homers and 5 RBI's over righthander Heinie Berger, who gave up just 6 hits in two dominant starts with a 0.56 ERA, including a Game 5 three-hit shutout.

The Jacksonville Gulls took the Virginia Beach Admirals down to the wire in the Divisional Series, with Jacksonville prevailing after scoring in the bottom of the ninth and tenth innings of Game 7, with the series-winning hit coming from backup catcher Jimmie Coker. Jacksonville's Larry Herndon remarkably turned in another 15-hit series, winning MVP again after hitting .484 and slugging .613. Virginia Beach third baseman Bill Melton hit .346 with 3 homers and 4 RBI's. The Nashville-New Orleans battle of divisional rivals featured similar drama, with Nashville prevailing in seven games, after tying Game 7 in the top of the ninth inning and scoring 4 runs in the top of the 10th, as left fielder Ben Paschal cleared the bases with a three-run double. Nashville center fielder Bob Brower led the way, hitting .379 for the series with 3 homers and 10 RBI's. For the Crawfish, left fielder Cy Williams hit .379 with 2 homers and 4 RBI's, while Heinie Berger continued his remarkable postseason with a 0.59 ERA. In a League Championship Series for the ages, Jacksonville edged Nashville in seven games, with the home team winning all 7 games, and four of the games were decided by a single run. In Game 6, Jacksonville erased a 5-run 8th inning deficit before winning in 11 innings. Jacksonville's Keith Hernandez took home MVP honors after hitting .355 with 3 homers and 5 RBI's, while Wade Boggs hit .424 with 4 RBI's. Nashville was led by Greg Luzinski, who hit two homers and drove in 8 runs, and Brian Jordan, who slugged .670, ripping 2 homers and driving in 7 runs of his own.

World Series: The upstart Calgary Cattle Rustlers rode a deep bullpen, headed by the three-headed monster of Dick Radatz, Bob Veale, and Steve Bedrosian, to an unexpected championship, sweeping the favored Jacksonville Gulls. Calgary took Game 1 by a 6-5 tally, as left fielder Jerome Walton homered and drove in 4 runs, with Fred Newman earning the win over the Gulls' Andy Sonnanstine. Calgary won a pitcher's duel in Game 2 by a 3-0 score, as center fielder Homer Summa broke open a scoreless game with a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning. Willard Nixon and Radatz scattered six hits in the combined shutout. Calgary took Game 3, winning 3-2 on a tiebreaking Walton solo homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Veale the win. Larry Jaster surrendered just one earned run in 6 innings for Calgary, while Dizzy Trout gave Jacksonville seven solid innings of two-run ball. Calgary romped in Game 4, prevailing 9-3, as Kevin Millar had three hits and Walton hit another three-run homer. In a controversial decision, Millar was named Series MVP -- the first player in league history to win the MVP for all four playoff rounds -- after going 10-for-17 with a single RBI, while Walton hit just .278, but blasted three homers and drove in 8 runs. Bryce Harper led Jacksonville, hitting .571 with a homer and 4 RBI's. For the postseason, Millar hit .444 and slugged .811 with 7 homers and 21 RBI's in 23 games. Jacksonville's Larry Herndon set a postseason record with 42 hits in 25 games.