National Baseball League

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Hartford
1st RU pennant

Midway
1st TU pennant

Mike Francesa: "All right, welcome back. This is one of the most fascinating seasons the Islandian Pro Alliance has ever had. You know why? Every storyline that we've been waiting decades for... happened in the same year."

Mad Dog Russo: "Mikey! THIS IS WHY YA PLAY THE GAMES! Are ya kiddin' me?! Forty years! Forty years the Midway Wolves wandered through the wilderness! Hartford comes into the league in 1903, seven years later they're winnin' 121 games! I LOVE IT!"

"The Hartford Story"
Mike: "Let's start with Hartford. This isn't some Cinderella that snuck in with 90 wins. They dominated."
Hartford Yard Goats
121-41 (.747)
RU Champions
First pennant in franchise history
First expansion franchise to ever win a pennant
"They beat an unbelievable Ruthlandian Union."
"You had Glasco winning 115 games...
Marston winning 110...
Montreal winning 103...
One hundred and three wins—and you're eighteen games back!"
Dog:
"Can we stop there?!
One hundred and three wins...
THIRD PLACE?!
No!
FOURTH PLACE!
That's INSANE!"
Glasco Gets Forgotten

Mike:
"I almost feel bad for Glasco."
"One year after losing the Pro Cup to Kenwood...
115 victories.
Most seasons that's a runaway pennant.
Instead?
Hartford wins 121."

Dog:
"They're gonna be remembered like the '54 Yankees!"
"They had a phenomenal season...
Nobody's gonna remember it because Hartford made history!"
What Happened to Kenwood?

Mike:
"Now let's talk about the defending champions."
Kenwood:
1909 Champions
1910 Record: 71-91
"A fifty-three game collapse."
"That's one of the biggest championship hangovers we've ever seen."
Dog:
"From FIRST...
to FIFTH!
They finished behind Tuckanarra!
They finished under .500 by TWENTY games!"
"I don't know what happened in Kenwood but somebody forgot how to play baseball!"

Midway Finally Arrives
Mike:
"This may actually be the bigger story."
"The Midway Wolves."
"Original franchise."
"Forty seasons."
"No pennants."
"No Pro Cup appearances."
"Now...
123-39."
"The best record in baseball."
Dog:
"I LOVE THESE STORIES!"
"Every original franchise had reached the Pro Cup...
except Midway.
Every October...
they watched somebody else.
Finally...
THEY GET THEIR TURN!"
The Last Original Franchise

Mike:
"This is actually historically significant."
"For forty years there was one original franchise that had never played for the championship."
"Not anymore."
"Every original IPA club has now reached the Pro Cup."
"That completes one of the longest-running stories in league history."
A Guaranteed First-Time Champion
Dog:
"Here's the BEST PART!"
"No matter what happens...
SOMEBODY'S MAKIN' HISTORY!"
Hartford:
Never won the Pro Cup
Midway:
Never won the Pro Cup
"We are GUARANTEED...
a brand-new champion!"
Hartford's Remarkable Rise
Mike:
"Think about the timeline."
1902
Expansion franchise awarded
1904
First season
1910
Pennant winner
"Seven seasons."
"It usually takes expansion clubs decades."
"Hartford just blew through the learning curve."

Dog:
"And they didn't back into it!
One hundred twenty-one wins!
They earned every bit of it!"

Colfax's Stunning Collapse
Mike:
"We also have to acknowledge one dynasty that has completely disappeared."
Colfax:
Four championships
Six consecutive pennants not long ago
Now?
49-113.
Second worst record in baseball.
"They've fallen faster than almost any dynasty we've seen."
Dog:
"They've gone from Empire...
to Ashes."

The New Powers
Mike:
"Look at who's running baseball now."
Hartford
Midway
Glasco
Valka
Red Bluff
"Meanwhile the old powers..."
Colfax collapses.
Kenwood collapses.
Chicopee barely stays out of last.
"The balance of power has shifted."
Batting Champions

Mike:
"In the individual races..."
RU Batting Champion
Amreet Neha (Hartford)
.302
162 hits
80 runs
"Exactly the kind of table-setter a 121-win team needs."
Dog:
"No home runs!
Didn't matter!
Guy just kept gettin' on base!"

Mike:
"In the Tycobbian Union..."
Shamim Mughal (Blue Lake)
.309 batting average
"Blue Lake couldn't catch Midway, but Mughal gave them another batting title."

Mike's Pro Cup Preview
"I think this is one of the freshest Pro Cup matchups we've ever had."
"No dynasties."
"No repeat champions."
"No history between these clubs."
"One expansion success story."
"One original franchise ending forty years of frustration."
"Both over 120 wins."
"This feels like two heavyweights who have never been under these lights before."
Mad Dog's Prediction
"Mikey...
there are NO BAD OUTCOMES!"
"If Hartford wins...
they become the FIRST expansion franchise ever to win the pennant and immediately finish the job with a championship."
"If Midway wins...
forty years of heartbreak...
OVER!"
"This is baseball history either way!"
"And ya know what?
Sometimes the best World—uh—the best Pro Cup isn't Yankees-Red Sox.
Sometimes it's two franchises who have NEVER tasted glory.
That's what we've got in 1910.
I CAN'T WAIT!"

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1910 Pro Cup Series

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Mike Francesa: "All right, this is why you love October baseball."
"Game 1 of the 1910 Pro Cup."
"Hartford. Midway."
"First appearance for both franchises."
"And they play... nineteen innings."
"I mean, what more could you ask for?"
Mad Dog Russo: "NINETEEN INNINGS!"
"I was exhausted just readin' the box score!"
"These poor guys played TWO GAMES!"
"A Classic From Pitch One"
Mike:
"This wasn't sloppy."
"This wasn't bad baseball."
"This was terrific pitching."
"Hartford scratches one across in the second."
"Midway doesn't score until the seventh."
"Hartford ties it in the eighth."
"And then...
nobody scores...
for ELEVEN MORE INNINGS."
Fareed Tareen Was Incredible
Mike:
"I've got to start with Hartford's starter."
"Fareed Tareen."
11 innings.
9 hits
2 runs
164 pitches
"He deserved a better fate."
"He kept Midway quiet almost all afternoon."
Dog:
"One hundred sixty-four pitches!"
"In today's baseball they'd send an ambulance to the mound after 110!"
"He emptied the tank!"
Xing-peng Shan Matched Him
Mike:
"And don't overlook Midway's starter."
"Xing-peng Shan."
Seven innings.
One run.
Seven strikeouts.
"He set the tone."
"The bullpen simply carried it from there."
Midway's Bullpen Wins the Game
Mike:
"This is really where Midway won."
After Shan left:
Amal Kenyatta
Dean Lowe
Maksimillian Naidenko
Mellal Sau
Combined:
12 innings
7 hits
No earned runs
"That's championship pitching."
Dog:
"They used FIVE pitchers!"
"They were pullin' guys outta the bullpen every couple innings!"
"And every single one got OUTS!"
Hartford Left the Door Open
Mike:
"Here's the story."
"Hartford had chance...
after chance...
after chance."
19 hits?
"No."
13 hits.
Five walks.
Multiple innings with runners in scoring position.
Nothing.
Dog:
"Nineteen men left on base!"
"Tung Lang by himself left TEN!"
"You can't do that in October!"
The Turning Point Nobody Will Forget
Mike:
"I thought Hartford had it in the eighteenth."
"Abhiraja Virasana leads off with a triple."
"Nobody out."
"They don't score."
"That's the game."
Dog:
"THAT'S IT!"
"I wrote in my scorebook—"
"'Hartford's gonna regret this.'"
"Leadoff triple...
NOBODY OUT...
and they don't score!"
"You NEVER survive that!"
The 19th
Mike:
"Bottom of the nineteenth."
"Bhutani singles."
"Gets thrown out stealing."
"So Hartford catches a break."
"Then Mellal Sau walks."
"Steals second."
"Sodhani singles."
"Sau to third."
"Sodhani steals second."
"And then..."
"Ziyad Rashid."
"Deep fly ball."
"Ballgame."
The Hero
Dog:
"Ziyad Rashid!"
"He drives in TWO runs during the comeback in the seventh..."
"Then wins it in the nineteenth."
"Three RBIs."
"He was EVERYWHERE."
Mike:
"He doesn't have the walk-off hit."
"He gets the sacrifice fly."
"But that's baseball."
"Sometimes the biggest swing is simply putting the ball in play."
Hartford's Missed Opportunities
Mike:
"I counted several innings where Hartford looked ready to break through."
13th
15th
17th
18th
"They kept putting runners aboard."
"They simply couldn't get the big hit."
Dog:
"They were ONE HIT away for SIX HOURS!"
"Every inning..."
"'Here they go!'"
"Nope."
"'Now they're gonna score!'"
"Nope."
"It was unbelievable!"
Midway Finally Wins a Pro Cup Game
Mike:
"Think about the history."
"Midway waited forty years just to reach the Pro Cup."
"They don't ease into it."
"They win the longest game in franchise history."
"And now...
they lead the series."
Hartford Isn't Done
Mike:
"If you're Hartford, you actually leave encouraged."
"You went into Midway."
"You matched the Wolves pitch for pitch."
"You lost because one fly ball finally found enough depth."
"This series isn't over."
Mad Dog's Final Thought
Dog:
"Mikey...
if Game ONE goes NINETEEN INNINGS..."
"...what are the next six games gonna look like?"
"We got two clubs chasing their FIRST championship."
"They're both nervous."
"They're both talented."
"And nobody blinked for nineteen innings!"
"This has the feel of one of those legendary Pro Cups people are STILL gonna be talkin' about fifty years from now."

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Mike Francesa: "All right, so after a nineteen-inning marathon in Game 1, everybody's wondering who's got anything left."
"The answer?"
"Fareed Tareen."
"He goes right back out there the very next day... and throws a complete-game, two-hit shutout."
"I mean, are you kidding me?"
Mad Dog Russo: "MIKEY!!
This guy is SUPERMAN!"
"Yesterday...
ELEVEN innings!
One hundred sixty-four pitches!
Today?!
Nine innings...
Two hits...
SHUTOUT!"
"That's TWENTY innings in TWO DAYS!"
The Series Turns
Mike:
"Remember where Hartford was."
"They lose an absolute heartbreaker in nineteen innings."
"They could've folded."
"Instead, their ace says,
'Don't worry about it. I've got this.'"
"And now the series is tied."
Remember the Name: Fareed Tareen
Mike:
"You mentioned something that's important historically."
"Fareed Tareen was the 1900 Pro Cup Series MVP with Chicopee."
"So this isn't new."
"This guy has performed on the biggest stage before."
"And ten years later...
he's doing it again."
Dog:
"That's why veterans matter!"
"Everybody talks about regular-season numbers."
"October's DIFFERENT!"
"Tareen knows how to pitch when the pressure's highest!"
Twenty Innings of Greatness
Mike:
"Let's put these first two games together."
Game 1
11 innings
2 runs allowed
Game 2
9 innings
Complete-game shutout
Series Total
20 innings
2 earned runs
11 hits allowed
6 walks
10 strikeouts
"If Hartford wins this championship...
we're going to look back at these first two starts as legendary."
Midway Couldn't Touch Him
Dog:
"They got TWO HITS!"
"TWO!"
"You know how hard that is?"
"They just played nineteen innings yesterday!"
"They've seen every pitcher Hartford's got!"
"And today...
they couldn't square up ONE GUY!"
The Fifth Inning Breakthrough
Mike:
"The game was scoreless through four."
"Then Midway blinked."
"Barhistha Nailadi reaches on an error by Jon Graham."
"Tung Lang singles."
"Hartford takes advantage."
"That's championship baseball."
Defense Matters
Mike:
"You know what jumps out?"
"Midway committed two errors."
"Only one run was unearned...
but those mistakes completely changed the rhythm of the game."
Dog:
"You can't give away outs against Tareen!"
"You make an error...
you might as well put a run on the scoreboard because he's not giving anything back!"
Insurance Runs
Mike:
"Hartford didn't stop."
"Sixth inning."
"Amreet Neha triples."
"Gebre-Mariam Boukrouna drives him home."
"Two-nothing."
"Then Jason Gold triples in the seventh."
"Another Midway error."
"Three-nothing."
"That was plenty."
Tung Lang Quietly Delivers
Mike:
"We talked yesterday about Tung Lang leaving ten men on base."
"Today?"
"Different story."
"Two hits."
"Drives in the first run."
"Excellent game behind the plate."
"He responded."
Xing-peng Shan Was Good Again
Dog:
"I almost feel bad for Shan!"
"Game One...
he pitches great.
No decision.
Game Two...
six innings...
two runs...
only one earned...
and he LOSES!"
"His ERA in the Series is under one-and-a-half!"
Jason Gold Gets Tossed
Mike:
"And then there's the funny moment."
"Top of the ninth."
"Jason Gold strikes out looking."
"Doesn't like the call."
"Gets thrown out."
Dog:
"Game's basically over!"
"They're up three!"
"He's STILL arguin'!"
"I love it!"
"That's October!"
Heading to Hartford
Mike:
"So now the series shifts."
"One game apiece."
"Hartford has home field."
"But here's the question."
"Who pitches Game 3?"
"Because Hartford already used its ace for twenty innings in forty-eight hours."
Mad Dog's Closing Thoughts
Dog: "Mikey, I think we just watched one of the greatest back-to-back pitching performances in Pro Cup history."
"Game One:
Eleven innings.
Game Two:
Complete-game shutout."
"Twenty innings!"
"This guy already had a Pro Cup MVP back in 1900 with Chicopee, and now—ten years later—he's reminding everybody exactly why."
"If Hartford goes on to win its first championship..."
"...they'll build a statue of Fareed Tareen outside Dunkin' Park!"
Mike: "And don't underestimate the momentum swing."
"Midway had all the emotion after that nineteen-inning walk-off."
"Hartford answered with the oldest formula in baseball."
"Give the ball to your ace."
"He did the rest."
"And now, for the first time ever, Pro Cup baseball is headed to Hartford with the series tied at one game apiece."

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Mike Francesa: Welcome back. We got ourselves an absolute baseball classic. Fifteen innings. Four hours and thirty-four minutes. A rain delay. Forty-two-year-old Fareed Tareen throwing almost thirteen innings. And somehow... he loses.
Chris "Mad Dog" Russo: Mike! Mike! This is one of the cruelest games you'll ever see! Tareen was UNBELIEVABLE! The guy is forty-two years old! One hundred sixty-one pitches! One run! SIX...TEEN...ONE pitches! In the Pro Cup! In 1910! Are you kiddin' me?!
Mike: His Game Score was 90. That's one of the great postseason starts we've seen in this league. He deserved better.
Dog: He deserved a parade! He deserved Game MVP even though Hartford lost! They actually gave him Player of the Game because nobody could deny what they watched!
Mike: And Hartford had chances.
Ninth inning. Tie game. They get runners everywhere after Midway finally scratches across the tying run. Boukrouna intentionally walked. Billy Cuevas singles. Bases loaded. One out.
Nothing.
Mashwanis strikes out.
Tung Lang strikes out.
Ballgame stays tied.
Dog: THAT WAS THE GAME! Mike, you've gotta cash that ticket! You're home! The crowd's alive! Tareen has carried you for nine innings already! You cannot leave three men standing there!
Mike: Then the eleventh.
Walk.
Sacrifice.
Another intentional walk to Boukrouna.
Dog, they wanted no part of him.
Dog: NOPE!
Mike: Ke-yue Yong grounds into a double play.
Opportunity gone.
Dog: That's two gigantic chances! Two! Hartford left this game sitting there for the taking!
Mike: Let's give Midway's pitching staff credit too.
Xing-peng Shan was outstanding.
Eight innings.
One unearned run.
Only five hits.
Then Kenyatta.
Then Dean Lowe.
Then Maksimillian Naidenko closes the final three innings.
That's how you win championships—every reliever does his job.
Dog: And Shan got robbed too! Everybody's talking Tareen—and rightfully so—but Shan gave Hartford NOTHING after the first inning! The only run scored because of his own throwing error in the first!
Mike: Exactly.
Hartford never solved him.
Dog: I loved Midway's patience too.
Bottom of the ninth...
You're down 1-0.
Subramanien singles.
Sandoval Miller singles.
Rashid bunts them over.
Then Riyad bin Siraj—pinch hitter!—ties the game with the sacrifice fly.
Little baseball!
No hero swings!
Just execution!
Mike: That's winning baseball.
Dog: And then the FIFTEENTH!
Ekansa Phadnis doubles.
Hartford intentionally walks Bhutani.
Balakunda Sodhani singles.
Now you've got the bases loaded with one out.
Mike...I'm screaming, "Don't strike out!"
Mike: They didn't.
Naidenko, the pitcher, hits a sacrifice fly.
Gets the run home.
Professional at-bat.
That's your winning run.
Dog: The PITCHER drives in the winning run!
How many World Series games are decided because the pitcher gets the RBI?
Mike: Let's talk Hartford.
This franchise has never won the Pro Cup.
They had all the momentum after Game 2.
Now they've lost home field.
They're down two games to one.
And tomorrow...they've got to find a way to recover emotionally from this.
Dog: Recover emotionally?!
Mike, this is the kind of loss that keeps managers awake until sunrise!
You throw almost THIRTEEN innings from your forty-two-year-old ace...
You lose...
Your bullpen gives up the winner...
You strand runners in the ninth...
You strand runners in the eleventh...
Then Boukrouna hits a triple in the fourteenth and STILL doesn't score!
How do you walk back into that clubhouse?!
Mike: On the other side, Midway has all the confidence now.
Their bullpen threw seven shutout innings.
Their bench contributed.
They won a game they easily could have lost.
Those are championship-type victories.
Dog: And here's the scary part!
Midway still hasn't had one of those offensive explosions they're capable of!
They've scored two runs tonight...
they've got a 2-1 series lead...
and they're one win away from putting Hartford against the wall!
Mike's Final Take
"Fareed Tareen delivered one of the greatest losing performances in Pro Cup history. But baseball isn't fair. Midway stayed patient, got elite pitching from four different arms, capitalized on the few opportunities they had, and now they control the series. Game 4 suddenly feels enormous."
Mad Dog's Final Take
"Mike, if Hartford loses this Series, everybody will remember one thing—not Tareen's masterpiece—but those bases loaded in the ninth! You HAD the Wolves! You had 'em! And now you've gotta beat 'em three times in four games! That's a brutal, brutal way to spend the night in Hartford!"

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Mike Francesa: Alright, welcome back. Hartford, Midway, Game 4. I gotta tell ya, this series makes absolutely no sense anymore.
Chris "Mad Dog" Russo: No sense! None! I'm pullin' my hair out! Every game has been a different movie!
Mike: Here's the pattern, Dog. It's unbelievable.
Midway wins the marathon games.
Hartford wins the regulation games.
That's what we've seen.
Game 1? 19 innings, Midway.
Game 2? Nine innings, Hartford.
Game 3? 15 innings, Midway.
Game 4? Nine innings, Hartford.
It's like if somebody finishes the game before dinner, Hartford wins. If they need midnight coffee, Midway wins.
Dog: It's unbelievable! It's like two different sports! Hartford says, "We'll beat ya in three hours." Midway says, "Nah, let's make it five hours and THEN we'll beat ya!" I've never seen anything like it!
Mike: And the story today is one man.
Fareed Tareen.
Nine innings.
Three hits.
One walk.
Eight strikeouts.
Complete-game shutout.
Again.
This is his second shutout of the series.
Dog: Two! TWO shutouts in four games! Mike, this isn't Deadball baseball—well...okay, maybe it IS deadball baseball—but still! This guy's ERA in the Series is down to 0.65! He's practically pitching with cheat codes!
Mike: Midway finally got a big hit in the sixth.
Indrani triples with two outs.
You're thinking, "Here's the tying run."
Nope.
Jon Graham grounds out.
That was basically the only real threat Tareen faced all afternoon.
Dog: And give Xing-peng Shan credit too! He pitched great! He deserved better!
Mike: Absolutely.
Look at Shan's line.
Six and a third.
Three runs.
Only one earned run.
He loses 3-0.
Sometimes baseball is cruel.
Dog: Hartford scratched across the first run in the fourth. Bases loaded.
Hit by pitch.
Not exactly artistic.
Mike: Doesn't matter.
Then the seventh inning...
Nailadi doubles.
Another Midway error.
Passed ball.
Before you know it, it's 3-0.
Against Tareen?
Game over.
Dog: Can we talk about Midway's offense? Three hits! THREE! Bhutani gets two of 'em! Indrani gets the triple! That's it! That's the offense! Everybody else looked like they were swinging wet newspapers!
Mike: Rashid goes 0-for-4.
Graham 0-for-4.
Passa 0-for-3.
Wen 0-for-3.
Subramanien 0-for-2 with two strikeouts.
That's not enough.
Dog: Meanwhile Hartford only gets FIVE hits! They don't exactly light up the scoreboard either! But they cash in the mistakes! That's championship baseball!
Mike: Exactly.
Hartford doesn't overwhelm you.
They wait.
They defend.
They let Tareen dominate.
Then they capitalize on the one inning where Midway blinks.
"Turning Point"
Mike: The sixth inning.
Indrani standing on third with two outs.
One swing ties the game.
Instead...
Ground ball.
Inning over.
Tareen walks off the mound like nothing happened.
Dog: And then Hartford comes right back in the seventh and says, "Thank you very much!" That's what good clubs do!
Series Outlook
Mike: So now it's a best-of-three.
Series tied.
Two games left in Hartford before a possible Game 7 back in Midway.
Momentum?
I'd say Hartford has it.
Dog: Absolutely! But here's the problem! Midway has already shown they NEVER panic! They lost Game 3, everybody said the series changed...they won the next extra-inning game? No—they didn't get one! Now it's tied! If Game 5 goes 14 innings I'm picking the Wolves! If it's nine innings I'm picking Hartford!
Mike: (laughing) That's actually the safest prediction anybody's made all week.
Dog: Exactly! Somebody tell the umpires—if it gets to the tenth inning, Hartford should just get on the train and head home!
Mike: Game 5 suddenly becomes enormous.
Win it, and you're one victory from the Pro Cup.
Lose it, and you're facing elimination.
After four games, this series has become exactly what everyone hoped for—a tense, low-scoring battle where every mistake, every pitch, and every inning feels like it could decide the championship.

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Mike Francesa: Welcome back. This Pro Cup has become one of the strangest championship series we've ever seen. Hartford wins Game 5, 2-1, on a walk-off double by Billy Cuevas, and now the Yard Goats are one win away from their first championship. Hartford leads the series three games to two.
Chris "Mad Dog" Russo: Mike...I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS SERIES! Every game is a nail-biter! Every pitch feels like the season's on the line!
Mike: Think about the pattern.
Game 1: Midway wins in 19 innings.
Game 2: Hartford wins in 9 innings.
Game 3: Midway wins in 15 innings.
Game 4: Hartford wins in 9 innings.
Game 5: Hartford wins in 9 innings, walk-off.
Midway owns the marathons. Hartford owns regulation.
Mad Dog: That's exactly it! The Wolves are built for endurance. The Yard Goats are built for execution. If this game ends in nine innings, Hartford somehow finds the big hit. If everybody's exhausted at midnight? Midway turns into the better club!
Mike: And today's hero wasn't a superstar.
Billy Cuevas spends the afternoon on the bench.
Bottom of the ninth.
Two outs.
John Rouse gets hit by a pitch, steals second...
Cuevas comes off the bench...
Bang.
Game over.
That's how championships are won.
Mad Dog: Mike Whitehead deserves credit! He pushes the right button. Cuevas gets ONE at-bat...ONE!...and he may have just become a Hartford legend forever!
Mike: And how about Nick Golder?
Complete game.
Nine innings.
Three hits.
One run.
Four walks.
One hundred thirty-seven pitches.
That is an old-fashioned ace performance.
Mad Dog: He's matching Fareed Tareen now! Hartford's rotation has been unbelievable! Tareen throws two shutouts, Golder throws a complete-game masterpiece...the pitching is carrying this club.
Mike: Don't overlook Xing-peng Shan, though.
Eight and a third innings.
Two runs.
Only three hits allowed.
He deserved a better fate.
His ERA in the series is microscopic, yet he's 0-3.
That's baseball.
Mad Dog: That's gotta drive ya CRAZY! Three starts, pitching his tail off, and every time somebody scores one lousy run and that's enough! He's been outstanding!
Mike: The turning point was actually the sixth inning.
Hartford's defense completely unraveled.
An error by catcher Tung Lang.
An error by shortstop Barhistha Nailadi.
Jon Graham steals second, advances to third on the throwing error, Matt Passa singles him home.
Midway ties the game without really hitting the ball hard.
It looked like Hartford had let Game 5 slip away.
Mad Dog: And then Golder says, "Not today."
Seventh inning? Nothing.
Eighth inning? Nothing.
Ninth inning? Nothing.
He never blinked.
Mike: Here's another interesting number.
Through five games...
Hartford has scored 11 runs.
Midway has scored 6 runs.
And Hartford leads the series 3-2.
That's because every run has been magnified. Every mistake has mattered.
Mad Dog: This is one of those series where EVERY PLAY gets remembered!
The passed ball!
The errors!
The stolen bases!
The bunts!
Now the pinch-hit double!
There's no wasted moment!
Mike: Now the pressure shifts completely.
Game 6 moves to Shea Stadium.
Midway has to win to force Game 7.
Hartford needs one more victory to bring home the first Pro Cup in franchise history.
Mad Dog: Mike...if you're Midway, maybe you root for extra innings again!
Mike: (laughing) Based on this series?
That might actually be the strategy.
Stay tied through nine.
Because so far, Hartford has proven it knows how to win the sprint.
Midway has only figured out how to win the marathon.

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Mike Francesa probably would have emphasized it like this:
"Here's the stat that jumps off the page. Hartford leads the series three games to two, and they've outscored Midway 11-6. This hasn't been a case of one team getting lucky in a bunch of coin-flip games. Hartford's pitching has absolutely dictated this series."
And Mad Dog would jump in:
"Mike, they've held Midway to six runs in five games! That's 1.2 runs a game! How are ya supposed to win like that? Tareen throws two shutouts, Golder throws a complete game, everybody in that pitching staff is dealing!"
Another remarkable trend:
Hartford in victories: 3, 3, and 2 runs (8 total)
Midway in victories: 3 and 2 runs (5 total)
Neither offense has reached four runs in any game. This has been an old-fashioned dead-ball-style Pro Cup where every stolen base, bunt, defensive mistake, and clutch hit has been magnified. One swing—like Billy Cuevas' walk-off double in Game 5—can completely change the course of the championship.

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Mike Francesa: Welcome back. Game 6 of the 1910 Pro Cup. Folks... this is one of those games that people in the Islandian Pro Alliance are gonna be talking about for decades. Midway beats Hartford 2-1 in sixteen innings, ties the series at three games apiece, and now everything comes down to Game 7.
Mad Dog Russo: MIKE! HOW DO YOU LOSE THREE EXTRA-INNING GAMES IN THE SAME SERIES?! HOW?! Hartford's gonna need therapy after this! Sixteen innings! Fifteen innings! Nineteen innings! They're one hit away every night and somehow Midway keeps finding the last punch!
Mike: Think about it. Through six games, Hartford has scored just twelve runs.
Dog: TWELVE!
Mike: Twelve runs... in six games.
Dog: And they're STILL one win away from the championship! That's the craziest part! Every game is 2-1, 3-2, 1-0... this isn't offense, Mike. This is trench warfare!
"Pitching clinic after pitching clinic"
Mike: Fareed Tareen was magnificent again.
Seven innings.
One run.
Four hits.
Then Nick Golder...
Four and two-thirds scoreless.
Victor Ojeda...
Three and a third scoreless despite walking a tightrope practically every inning.
Hartford's pitchers throw 15⅔ innings, allow only two runs, and lose.
Dog: You know what's unbelievable?
Hartford gave up 11 hits and NINE walks... and STILL almost won!
Ojeda walked five guys! Midway stranded FIFTEEN runners! Every inning somebody's standing on second or third!
Xing-peng Shan starts another classic
Mike: Shan only worked six innings because of the rain delay, but he was outstanding.
One run.
Five hits.
He kept Hartford off the board after that first inning triple by Amreet Neha and RBI single from Boukrouna.
After that?
Nothing.
Dog: Then Morrison goes bullpen by committee!
Dean Lowe.
Amal Kenyatta.
Maksimillian Naidenko.
And then...
MELLAL SAU!
"The center fielder becomes the winning pitcher!"
Dog: Mike, I LOVE baseball.
The CENTER FIELDER ends up pitching the 16th...
...throws a scoreless inning...
...then comes up and wins the game!
You can't script that!
Mike: That's one for the history books.
One inning pitched.
Gets the win.
Then lines the series-winning—well, series-saving—walk-off single.
Pretty good afternoon.
Hartford had chances...
Mike: They absolutely did.
Second inning—first and second, nobody out.
Eighth inning—errors put runners at the corners.
Eleventh inning—another Midway error gives them life.
Fourteenth inning—double with two outs.
Fifteenth inning—another leadoff hit.
Every opportunity...
Nothing.
Just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position feels about right watching that game.
Dog: Mike, ELEVEN hits...
ONE RUN!
That's Hartford this whole series!
You keep saying, "Maybe this inning."
Then...
ground ball.
popup.
strikeout.
double play.
Repeat for SIXTEEN innings!
Midway keeps escaping
Mike: You have to give the Wolves credit.
Three defensive errors.
Nine walks.
Thirty-one baserunners allowed.
One run.
That's incredible damage control.
Dog: They're living on the edge every night!
It's like watching somebody juggle chainsaws!
You keep waiting for Hartford to cash in...
...and they NEVER DO!
The decisive 16th
Mike: Bottom of the sixteenth.
Walk.
Single.
Hartford elects to bring in Ke-yue Yong.
Then comes one of the smartest defensive plays of the game.
Sandoval Miller hits a grounder.
Hartford cuts down the runner at the plate.
Still alive.
Then an intentional walk loads the bases.
Two outs.
Mellal Sau.
Line drive.
Ballgame.
Dog: After nearly six hours including the rain delay!
The crowd of fewer than 4,000 people probably felt like they'd lived an entire baseball season by the time Sau hit that single.
Where the series stands
Mike: So now it's exactly where everybody hoped it would end up.
Game 7.
Hartford expansion club.
Midway's chance at another championship.
Winner takes everything.
Mike's final thought
"This has become one of the greatest Pro Cup Series the IPA has ever produced. Six games have produced just 18 total runs, and yet the drama has been off the charts. Three marathon extra-inning games. Every pitch feels season-defining. Tomorrow, one game decides immortality."
Mad Dog's final thought
"Tomorrow? Nobody sleeps tonight! Hartford's trying to win a championship in just its eighth season after entering the league in 1903. Midway's trying to finish one of the grittiest postseason comebacks you'll ever see. Forget style points—this is survival baseball! Game 7! I CAN'T WAIT!"

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Hartford Yard Goats: 1910 IPA Champions (1st title)

Mike Francesa: "Good afternoon, everybody. We got ourselves a Game 7 for the ages. Hartford 3, Midway 2. The Yard Goats are champions for the first time in franchise history. They finish the job after a 121-win season, and let me tell ya something—they earned every bit of it."
Chris "Mad Dog" Russo: "Mikey! They had FOUR HITS! FOUR! Four stinkin' hits in Game 7 and won the championship! How does that happen?! They looked like they were hitting with pool noodles all afternoon!"
Mike: "Because championships aren't always about piling up hits. They're about getting the big one. Third inning. Two outs. Bases loaded because Midway kicked the ball around. Then Amreet Neha absolutely smoked that double into the gap. Three runs. That's the entire offense."
Mad Dog: "Three-run double! BOOM! Hartford says, 'Thank you very much!' Midway out-hits 'em TEN TO FOUR! Doesn't matter! You know why? Because baseball can be cruel."
Mike: "Let's talk about Fareed Tareen. Nine innings. Ten hits. Two runs, only one earned. 130 pitches. Complete game in Game 7. That's an old-school championship performance."
Mad Dog: "He kept bendin' but he NEVER snapped! Second inning, runners everywhere! Fifth inning? Bases loaded! Sixth inning? Double at third! Eighth inning? Another threat! Every inning I'm yellin', 'They're gonna tie it!' They never did!"
Mike: "And that's what elite pitchers do. They make the big pitch when they absolutely have to."
The Turning Point
Mike: "The entire championship turned on one sequence."
Mad Dog: "Third inning! No question!"
Mike: "John Rouse walks. Hadi bin Abdul reaches on Bhutani's error at first. Suddenly you've got life. Then Neha hits the laser into right-center."
Mad Dog: "Three-run double! Hartford only gets ONE hit in the inning and scores THREE RUNS! Midway gave 'em every opportunity with that defense."
Mike: "Those are championship mistakes. You simply cannot give extra outs away in Game 7."
Midway's Missed Chances
Mad Dog: "Mikey, I can't believe the Wolves only scored TWO RUNS! TEN HITS! They had people on base ALL AFTERNOON!"
Mike: "Let's count 'em."
Second inning: first and second, nobody scores.
Fifth inning: bases loaded, nobody scores.
Sixth inning: runner on third, one out, nobody scores.
Ninth inning: leadoff single...and then the game ends on a line-drive double play.
Mad Dog: "The ninth inning was BRUTAL! Bhutani singles. They bunt him over. Now you've got the tying run at second with one out! Sandoval Miller lines one RIGHT at Boukrouna—BANG! Double play! Ballgame! Championship over!"
Mike: "That's baseball. Hit it hard. Hit it right at somebody."
Xing-peng Shan: The Unluckiest Losing Pitcher
Mad Dog: "Can we talk about poor Xing-peng Shan? Five innings, THREE runs—but NONE of 'em earned!"
Mike: "Exactly. His ERA stays at 1.16 for the Series, and he's 0-4. That tells you everything about October sometimes."
Mad Dog: *"He's gotta be sittin' in that clubhouse sayin', 'What else did ya want from me?'"
Hartford's Defense
Mike: "The defense deserves a ton of credit."
Two double plays.
Caught two runners stealing.
Turned the game-ending double play.
Mad Dog: "And don't forget Jason Gold. Didn't get a hit—but THREE walks. He kept getting on base and making Midway work."
What This Means
Mike: "Think about Hartford's rise."
121-41 regular season
Ruthlandian Union champions
Win the Pro Cup in seven games
First championship in franchise history
Mad Dog: "THE PARADE IS GONNA BE NUTS! Hartford's gonna be partyin' for a week! Yard Goats everywhere! Confetti! Everybody's callin' outta work tomorrow!"
Looking at Midway
Mike: "You also have to feel for the Wolves."
Mad Dog: "Absolutely! Original franchise...still waiting. They out-hit Hartford ten to four in Game 7! They hit into bad luck all day."
Mike: "Sometimes the better statistical game doesn't win. Hartford got the one swing that mattered."
Legacy Talk
Mike: "So let's update the history books."
1910 Pro Cup Champions: Hartford Yard Goats
First championship in franchise history.
Fareed Tareen goes 3-0 in the Series and caps it with a complete-game Game 7 masterpiece.
Amreet Neha delivers one of the biggest hits in IPA history—a two-out, bases-clearing double that brought home all three Hartford runs.
Mad Dog: "You know what's amazin', Mike? We just watched the birth of a brand-new champion. Kenwood's got five. Red Bluff's got four. Colfax's got four. Valka's got two. Chicopee's got two. Blue Lake's got three. Now Hartford joins the club! That's what makes this league GREAT! Every October somebody's writin' another chapter!"
Mike: "And the chapter for 1910 belongs to Hartford. Four hits. Three runs. One unforgettable pitching performance. One historic championship."
Mad Dog: "THE YARD GOATS ARE ON TOP OF THE IPA! WHO'DA THOUGHT IT?!"

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