Oh, man. What a series, all three games.

First off, congratulations to the River Heights Sleuths on a phenomenal season and again, a series they’ll be talking about for some time. Never an easy out, never an easy game, and especially with that rotation, never an easy night at the park. Let’s recap:

Game 1

Game 1 started off with a pair of All-Star aces: Kaz Takahashi for River Heights (4-2, 3.17 in 65.1 IP) and Dakota Story for Brooklyn (6-2, 3.20 in 70.1 IP and good for the Nocturnes’ first All-Dice selection). As expected, runs were a premium. The Sleuths struck first in the 4th, as back to back doubles by Maddox Nygaard and Mikey Adams gave River Heights a 1-0 lead. With the Nocturnes’ struggles against Kaz, the worry set in—in 2 preseason games prior to last season, Takahashi threw 2 complete game shutouts, 18 shutout innings against Brooklyn. As the innings ticked away, Kaz seemed as invincible as ever, the Nocturnes’ Kryptonite.

But Tanner Stewart and Chubby Kingman walked to start the 7th inning, bringing 2 on and no out for Ryne Snider, but Kaz got him to roll over for a double play. With a man on 3rd and 2 out, Brooklyn called on Remi Paige to pinch hit, and thanks to an auto-advantage card, he rolled high for a double and got to 3rd thanks to another card to finally tie the game at 1 and break the scoreless streak at 24.2 innings, forcing a 1-1 game to the bullpens for the final two innings.

The bullpens put up zeroes in the 8th and 9th, so the Nocturnes’ first postseason game would be their first postseason extra-inning game, as Brooklyn’s big three of Ray Thunderchild, Gomer Phillips, and Rusty Finch all threw scoreless innings in the 8th, 9th, and 10th. Brooklyn had two on in the bottom of the 10th, but couldn’t break the deadlock. The game went to the 11th where Niko Fawkes came in and struggled, loading the bases with 2 outs. The +3 Grand Salami gave Vaughn Turner a 2-run single, where he stole 2nd to set River Heights up for more, but Branch Simmons struck out on his own card to keep it 3-1 going into the bottom of the 11th.

Brooklyn had 1 card left (as there are no additional cards in extra innings), and played it: Rally Cap, giving +1 for the inning or until the game was tied. It paid off immediately, as Skipper Carson homered on a 20+1 on the pitcher’s card (his homer is a 22, but the pitcher’s is a 21) making it a 3-2 game. With 1 out, Chubby Kingman singled, bringing Snider up, where he got advantage.

Snider had a contentious start of the season with departed hitting coach Teddy Aurora (departing towards the end of the season for personal reasons—like being the former Senorita Weaselo’s teddy bear and therefore needing to be with her). He had a clutch single in the first game without Teddy (fittingly against the Anchorage Kodiaks), and this time, he did it for Teddy, as his 20+1 sailed into the stands giving the Nocturnes a walk-off 4-3 win in 11 innings and a 1-0 lead in the best of 3 series.

Game 2

Brooklyn had a decision, as both of these two rotations, along with New Orleans, had a claim for best 1-2 punch in the league. In a must-win game, of course Ricardo “Cardi G” Gomez would start for River Heights, but would Claude Sellers need to start for the Nocturnes, or hold off until Game 3? With the bullpen condition of only being able to use the best 4 relievers for one of the two remaining games, Brooklyn turned to Sellers.

It was a good decision, as he threw a 6-inning quality start, allowing 3 runs. He left with a 4-3 lead, as a pair of 2-run homers by Snider (in the 2nd) and Carson (in the 5th) kept Brooklyn from lagging behind. Apart from those two pitches (both on Gomez’s card, as he has a 20 homer) the lefty was dominant, giving up 5 hits and 4 walks total, striking out 10 through 6. With a chance to end the series, Brooklyn started to go to the back end of the pen, but even with By the Book giving a -1 to lefties, Gomer Phillips struggled in the top of the 7th, giving up a pair of 2-out advantage RBI singles to Joe Stotz and Finley Rabbit, turning a 4-3 lead into a 5-4 deficit at the Stretch. River Heights went to the big guns in their bullpen to try and force Game 3, as Brooklyn now tried to stay away from Thunderchild and Finch unless the lead returned, but down 5-4 going into the bottom of the 9th meant that a win would have to be another walkoff. Guy Herzog hit a pinch-hit double, but the -3 Switchback kept the ball in the park. (I gambled on whether he’d have the card). If, for instance, not a switch hitter Shiloh Clancy had come in to pinch hit, all else equal, the resulting 22 instead of 19 (20+2 instead of 20-1) would have left the yard and tied the game. This would have been crucial down the line. Rider Keegan sacrificed Herzog to 3rd, with the hope that Greg Zanfino (now armed with the +1 Rally Cap) could at least hit a ground ball, which thanks to having the Advancing card would tie the game. But Zanfino struck out, and Smokey Roberts hit a long double off the top of the wall.

That double was yet another 20. The Rally Cap made it a 21, which stays a double on the Nocturnes captain’s card. (He’s a 22+ homer.) HOWEVAH, had Clancy homered it would have tied the game and there would have been no need or availability to play Rally Cap, which stays on the field for the rest of the inning as long as the team trails, locking you out of playing any other pre-pitch cards. In a tie game, trying to make something happen, I likely would have played 2-Out Rally, which due to the lefty pitcher against a righty hitter, would have given Roberts a +2 and pushed the ball over the fence for a series ending walkoff homer. (Granted, Keegan would not have sacrificed in a tie game, so the rolls would have been all over the place, but fallacy of the predetermined outcome.)

Instead, Skipper Carson flied out and once again we went to extras, where after Jeff Schoonover pitched his 2 innings (9th and 10th), burning a long reliever for Game 3, Fawkes came in (burning him) for the 11th, debating either Ray Thunderchild to keep it tied but burning all my trusted setup men, or Hal Zanni, the lower-rung 2-inning longman, we went to Zanni, who gave up 3 runs in the top of the 12th. It was the top of the order (and also, hey, that Rally Cap could have come in handy here!) as Roberts singled, Carson struck out, Stewart doubled, and Kingman flied out—no reason to send the runner down 3. Snider walked to load the bases, which brought up Felix Ermantrout, armed with a +3 Grand Salami. It didn’t end the game but the 2-run single made it 8-7 and put the tying run on 3rd. Shiloh Clancy (who had to come in for Herzog regardless for defense) walked, putting the game on Rider Keegan’s bat, tying run on 3rd, potential series-winning run on 2nd.

But Keegan struck out, as River Heights held on, 8-7 in 12, and we’d go to a winner-take-all Game 3.

Game 3

Bullpens? Diminished. 3 arms left on both sides: A long reliever and 2 standard 1-inning relievers for River Heights (all +2s, two of the three with 20 homers), and 3 relievers for Brooklyn, but one of the primary setup men and the All-Star closer. Chevy Mayflower had a solid season for River Heights, while Mark Falvo had an up and down year for Brooklyn. It was going to either be a pitcher’s duel or a slugfest.

Brooklyn scored first with an RBI single by—who else?—Snider, making it 1-0 in the 3rd. Before that both pitchers escaped, Mayflower in the bottom of the 1st where the Nocturnes left the bases loaded, Falvo in the 3rd after men on the corners to lead off the inning.

But the lead didn’t last. Vanderslice, fresh off a 5/8 performance in Game 2, finally homered on his own card, a 2-run shot that flipped the scoreboard to make it 2-1 Sleuths.

2-1 in stayed until the 6th, when there went that man again. Snider homered for the 3rd time in the series to tie the game at 2. After a Ritzy Chambers auto-advantage single, two batters later Rider Keegan made up for Game 2 with a 2-run homer making it 4-2 Nocturnes.

Falvo took care of the 7th with a 1-2-3 inning. Ray Thunderchild struck out the side in the 8th, and Rusty Finch locked it down in the 9th.

Nocturnes win, 4-2 and take the series 2-1. Onto the Dice Baseball World Series, still at home, vs. the small-ball Harrisville Ham ‘n’ Eggers!

All right, this is already late, so more later.