'69 O's sweep '54 Tribe to clinch AL Flag

Good pitching beats good hitting. The 1969 O's have both and then some. With a starting rotation that features 3 ace's (Palmer, Cuellar and McNally) the O's are a tough team to beat. Cleveland's staff is nothing to sneeze about either, but they unfortunately did not have their rotation setup due to having played the '61 Yankees in the ALDS, where Early Wynn and Bob Lemon both took to the hill.

The opener saw a classic matchup of HOF'ers with Jim Palmer matching up against Rapid Robert (Bob) Feller. Both pitchers were on their game. Palmer's was A+. Feller ran out of gas in the 7th and yielded 3 big insurance runs as the O's won 5-0. Palmer fanned 10 Indian batters and yielded only 3 hits enroute to the complet game shutout. Baltimore struck first in the opening stanza after Don Bufford walked and Paul Blair singled him home a few batters later. The O's scored again in the 3rd after Mark Belanger led off with a walk and Brooksie brought him home with a sac fly. As the late great Bob Murphy would say, "oh those bases on balls...they'll get you everytime". Feller was pitching fine, but this O's lineup is strong from top to bottom and they are very selective hitters. The 8th inning saw Feller laboring, but Cleveland's manager kept him in since his opposing number was scheduled to lead off. With nothing left in the tank Feller yielded a lead off double to Palmer who scored along with Mark Belanger on a Frank Robby triple. For good measure Boog Powell hit a sac fly to knock Frank in and increase the lead to 5-0 where it would stay.

Game 2 saw a classic pitcher's duel between lefty Mike Cuellar and his unlikely opponent Al Houtterman. Both went the distance, but Houtterman wound up on the short side of the ledger as Cuellar tosses a 3 hitter. The O's would score all of their runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings respectively, but with the way Cuellar was dealing he didn't need more. With 2 outs in the bottom of the second catcher Ellie Hendricks drilled one to deep left center to break the ice and put the O's up 1-0. In the 3rd catlyst Don Bufford lead off with a double. Frank Robby singled him over to 3rd and big John Wesley "Boog" Powell hit a sac fly to bring him in and put the Tribe on the brink of elimination.

Game 3 saw the series shift to the "mistake by the lake". The Tribe had reason to feel confident as ace Early Wynn would be on the hill. The O's were trotting out their 3rd ace in a row, lefty Dave McNally. Cleveland struck first as they loaded the bases and Al Smith hit a sac fly to bring in Hank Majeski. This was Cleveland's first run of the series, and sadly for the hometown faithful their last. Unable to capitalize on a 1 out bases loaded scenario the Tribe had to hope that Wynn could keep the O's in check and be near perfect, and for 6 innings he was. The top of the 7th saw Baltimore find a chink in Wynn's armor and tag him for 2 runs, which is all they would need to put away the Tribe's anemic offense. Big guns Frank Robinson and Boog Powell lead off with singles. Paul Blair bunted them up a base and the stage was set for Brooks Robinson to deliver. With everyone sitting on the edge of their seats Wynn got Robinson to ground to short. The ball was hit neither hard, nor soft enough for the runner to advance, so with 2 out the O's looked to be in trouble. Sensing the moment of destiny was at hand Wynn threw a ball that got too much of the plate and back up catcher Andy Etchebarren delivered a big 2 run triple that took all the air out of Municipal Stadium.

With the score 2-1 the O's lifed McNally for a pinch hitter and put the ball in their bullpen's hands. Dick Hall blanked the Tribe in the 8th and faced 1 batter in the 9th to give way to lefty Pete Richert who got the one lefty he faced. That put the ball in the hands of closer Ed Watt who made things interesting by walking Al Rosen and giving up a 2 out single to Al Smith. Cleveland went to the bench and brought in Vic Wertz to pinch hit for Dave Philley. Wertz hit a bullet to gold glover Mark Belanger deep in the hole at short, who calmly flipped it over to Davey Johnson who was covering second to record the final out of the series.

The O's put together a fabulous 3 game sweep and now sit back and wait to see which Dodger team they will face in the World Series.

'54 Tribe sweeps '61 Bombers to advance to ALCS

In the opener starter Early Wynn went the distance and gave up only 1 run as the Tribe scored 7 off of Ralph Terry and rolled to an easy victory. Larry Doby was the hitting star with a huge 3 run clout in the Indians 4 run 5th inning. The victory put the Bombers on the brink of elimination in this best of 3 series.

Wynn kept the Yankee hitters off stride all day and fell into a nice comfortable grove once he got that big lead to protect.

Game 2 saw the second place Yanks needing a win desperately to extend the series to a 3rd and final game. That was not going to happen. the offensive explosion continued for Cleveland in this game as they banged out 13 runs, while the Bombers could only muster 4. Yankee starter Rollie Sheldon went 2 innings and was chased from the hill after yielding 6 runs. Whitey Ford was summoned from the bullpen to help stop the bleeding but he too was inefective as the Tribe added 5 more (4 unearned). Curiosly both Maris and Mantle both had 3 hits off of Cleveland starter Bob Lemon, but neither could find a way to hit the long ball.

Larry Doby was again the hitting star as he slammed two homers and knocked in 4 runs. In total the Tribe had 16 hits (the Bombers had 12) as they eliminated the mighty Yankees in a clean sweep to head to the ALCS and face the even mightier Orioles.

'88-LA defeats '86-NYM in classic 3 game playoff

Game 1 at Dodger Stadium,Dodgers 5.......Mets 1 During the regular season, the Mets had little trouble with the Dodgers as they defeated the blue crew 3 games out of 4. However, that was then and this was now. The Dodgers are one of the hotest teams in the league right now and threw Tim Belcher on the mound as he went against Met ace Dwight Gooden. The Mets got on the board first with a run in the third inning as spark plug Lenny Dykstra drove in George Foster with a basehit. The score held until the bottom of the 7th. Jeff Hamilton was hit by a Gooden pitch to lead off the inning. Dave Anderson followed with a walk to put runners on first and second. Tim Belcher was due up but was lifted for pinch hitter Tracy Woodson. Woodson singled up the middle to score Hamilton to knot the game up at 1. The hottest Dodger Steve Sax came up next and untied the game with a hit to hit as Anderson scored. After Scioscia grounded out Gibson walked. Roger McDowell came in to relieve a tired Gooden. Marshall hit a deep fly ball to right field to score Sax from third to make the score 3-1 Dodgers. Franklin Stubbs then lined a double down the right field line for two more runs to make the score 5-1 after 7 innings. Brian Holton and Tim Crews came in to nail down the victory for the Dodgers in game 1. Winning pitcher was Tim Belcher (5-2). Gooden(1-5) received the lost.


Game 2, Shea Stadium Mets 7.....Dodgers 4. Game 2 turned into an exciting game as the Mets evened the series with a late rally to keep their playoff hopes alive. A pair of southpaws got the start. Sid Fernandez for the Mets and John Tudor of the Dodgers. It looked like Los Angeles was going to settle the series quickly as they erupted for two runs in the first inning on a 2-RBI double by third baseman Tracy Woodson (who has driven in 3 runs in the series so far). Los Angeles plated two more runs in the 5th inning on a throwing error by Fernandez and an RBI hit by Steve Sax. Going into the bottom of the 5th inning LA lead 4-0. The Mets would not go down without a fight. New York scored 2 runs in their half of the 5th inning to make the score 4-2 in favor of the Dodgers. In the seventh inning, the Mets got to John Tudor as five straight batters reached base. Strawberry lined a game tying 2 RBI double to center field and Gary Carter drove in the go ahead run with a base hit to left field. On the single, left fielder Kirk Gibson bobbled the ball allowing another run to score. New York added an insurance run in the 8th inning to make the final score 7-4 and a series tie. The victory went to Terry Leach (1-0) and John Tudor(2-1) suffered his first loss of the year.


Game 3, Shea Stadium The deciding game was played on an overcast day and matched up veteran pitchers Don Sutton of Los Angeles and Bobby Ojeda for the Mets. Lenny Dystra walked to lead off the first for the Mets and then promptly stole second base. Gary Carter drove him in with a line drive basehit. Both pitchers were on top of their games as they held the opposing offenses in check. In the fourth inning, .207 hitting Alfredo Griffin tied the the game with a duck snort down the left field line to score Mike Marshall who singled earlier. That would be the only scoring for the next 11 innings as relief pitching dominated both teams. Steve Sax lead off the Dodger 16th inning with a double to left. The next batter was Mike Shelby. Shelby bunted the ball in front of the plate. It looked like an easy play for catcher Gary Carter but his throw to third base floated over Ray Knight's head allowing Sax to score the go ahead run. Brian Holton was on the hill for the Dodgers in the bottom of the 16th inning and surrendered a lead off hit to Keith Hernandez. Gary Carter swung at a split finger fast ball and hit into a 6-4-3 double play. The Dodgers only needed one out to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs but Strawberry singled followed by a Ray Knight hit that sent Strawberry to third. Runners at first and third with two outs and rookie slugger Kevin Mitchell due up. On a 2-1 slider, Mitchell was fooled and rolled a routine grounder to Griffin at shortstop, who cleanly fielded the ball and threw to first well ahead of Mitchell to end this hard fought game. Final score in 16 innings...Dodgers 2...Mets 1. Winning pitcher Brad Havens (1-0) and Holton earned his second save. Doug Sisk (0-3) got the lost. The 1988 Dodgers will face the 1962 Dodgers in the best of 5 games NLCS.
-contributed by Joey Scigliano-

Cinderella '88-Dodgers win 1 game playoff vs '79-PIT

Pittsburgh - (AP): On a cold, windy, overcast night in Pittsburgh, the Dodgers and Pirates matched up to see who would play the 1986 Mets in the wild card series. The Dodgers came in with a 4 game winning streak but still were considered underdogs. Los Angeles had a well rested Orel Hershisher going while Pittsburgh had their ace John Candelaria on the hill. Pittsburgh scored first on a Tim Foli RBI in the second but was quickly tied during the top half of the third inning on a Kirk Gibson RBI single to plate Steve Sax.

With 2 outs in the third inning, the rain came down with a steady down pour and the game was halted for 103 minutes. When play resumed, Canderlaria could not come back out and was replace by veteran hurler Dave Roberts. Unfortunetly, Roberts did not have his stuff and was belted around for 6 runs on 7 hits in 2.1 innings pitched. Orel Hershisher threw 7 innings of 1 run, 3 hit ball to earn his second victory and improve to 2-4 on the year. Roberts got hung with the loss and is now 1-2. Final score: Dodgers 8....Pirates 1. The Dodgers will now face off against a powerful 1986 Mets club in a best of 5 series. On the regular season, the Mets had little trouble with the Dodgers as they took 3 of the 4 games played.

3 way tie for 2 Wild Card Spots in NL forces playoff

In an unusual case of mediocrity 3 NL teams finished tied for the 2 Wild Card slots with identical 17-19 records. The 1986 NY Mets split their final series as did the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates. The 1988 Dodgers got to this point by pulling off the improbable sweep of the 1981 Dodgers, who were favored in that series.

The playoff to get in the playoff will be decided by the league's tie breaking system.

The 1986 NY Mets will receive the bye and thus get awarded the 1st wild card slot. This is because they were tied with the 1988 LA Dodgers with 9-7 divisional records, but the Mets beat the 1988 Dodgers 3 of 4 times head to head. The 1979 Pirates finished with an 8-8 divisional record, so they automatically were relegated to the play in game.

The league conducted a coin flip (as per rules) and determined that the 1979 Pirates will host the play in game at three Rivers Stadium.

After the 2nd wild card slot winner is determined the Wild Card round playoffs will commence the following day.

1962 LA Dodgers clinch NL Div Title at .500

Congrats to Mike Roberts who jumped in and took over the 1962 Dodgers in time for series #5 and piloted them to a division title !!! Scott Dyer resigned as manager with the team sitting at 6-10 and in turmoil. Mike Roberts came on board and "righted the ship". Finishing 12-8 down the stretch including a final series where he took 3 of 4 from the 1977 Yanks Mike won the division title ! Kudos to Mike and the Dodgers, who got an MVP type performance out of Tommy Davis (.378-7-32) and a Cy Young performance out of Double D, Don Drysdale (6-3, 2.08). I find it spectacular that Mike was able to win all those games down the stretch when Maury Wills hit only .242 and had a .298 on base % and Sandy Koufax finished with a dismal record (2-3, 4.19)

'88 LA and '61 Bombers split series

Game 1 at Dodger Stadium, The Yankees and Dodgers faced off in the first of a four game set. The Yankees drew first blood with a run in the second inning. The Dodgers came back with a run in the bottom half of the second inning as pitcher drove in the first of his three runs with a sacrifice fly. Roger Maris hit a two run homerun in the top half of the third to give the Bronx Bombers a renewed 3-1 lead. Los Angeles tied the game in the bottom half of the third and took the lead in the fourth inning with two runs. The Dodgers added two more runs in the 5th and that was all they would need. The Yankees added a run in the ninth to make the final score 6-4 in favor of Los Angeles. Tim Belcher pitched 6 innings and gave up 4 runs but earned his 3rd win of the year against 2 losses. Sheldon got the start for the Yankees and got hung with the loss. Sheldon's record stands at 1-2.

Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, Fernando Valenzuela got the rock and very short rest but hung in there for 5 1/2 innings of no run 2 hit ball. Fernando hung around just long enough to get the win(2-3). The Dodgers scored the first run of the ballgame in the 5th inning with an RBI single by Rick Dempsey. The Dodgers plated three more runs in the 6th inning to increase their lead to 3-0. The Yankees avoided the shutout with Yogi Berra's solor homerun in the 8th inning, his 6th of the year. Final score: Dodgers 4...Yankees 1.

Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, Bill Stafford and Tim Leary took the mound in the third game of the series and it looked to be a good pitching duel. Both pitchers threw well. Stafford threw a complete game for the Yankees and Tim Leary threw 8 innings of 2 runs. Fortunetly for Los Angeles scored 4 runs for a 4-2 victory. Steve Sax connected for his first homerun of the year to aid in the Los Angeles victory. Tim Leary improves to 2-2 on the year and Jay Howell pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his 3rd save of the year. Stafford fell to 3-3 on the year.

Game 4 at Yankee Stadium, The Yankees scored early and held onto the lead to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Dodgers. Hard luck pitcher Orel Hershisher served up a two run homerun to Roger Maris in the first inning and that was all New York would need in defeating Hershiser and the Dodgers. All year, the Dodger offense has been unable to support Hershiser. The Dodger righthander is 1-4 on the year. Hershisher pitched a complete game while only surrendering 3 runs on 7 innings. On the other side of the mound Ralph Terry pitched great as he pitched 7 innings and improved to 4-1.