We finally have our first grand finalist in the Humongous League!
In a dramatic upset, theo.epstein's Minnesota Twins win over Freakshow55's New York Mets in a 3 game series at Cement Gardens, which was both of their home fields. While both teams have had incredible defense the entire regular season (giving up just 15 runs each over 14 games), each win in the series came at the cost of a defensive misplay.
In game 1 the Mets made a costly mistake of selecting the wrong person to chase after the ball, leaving Derek Jeter to stand there in Center Field instead of chasing the ball and giving the Twins the go-ahead run that allowed them to win the game 1-0.
Game 2 featured a marginally funnier error, with the Twins center fielder Sarah Maxwell rocketing the ball over 2nd baseman Reese Worthington's head and into the concession stand(?) by the 3rd base line. 3rd baseman Tony Delvecchio picked the ball up and threw to 2nd to get the out... but the ball went way over Reese's head for a second time! This allowed the Mets to score, giving them the win of 1-0.
The final game featured the worst misplay of them all, with Derek Jeter throwing the ball from center field to 2nd base, but it fell just short, bouncing over 2nd baseman Fred Benson's head, bouncing past both the pitcher *and* the catcher, all the way out of play, giving Marilyn McDonnell a *triple* when she would have otherwise been held to a single. Alicia Blakely hit in the final RBI of the series, an RBI single, and the Twins managed to hold on for two more innings to take the win!
While the Mets were undefeated in the regular season, the first team to ever finish 14-0, they were unfortunately defeated in the playoffs by a team with the same strategy as them. Great minds certainly think alike, and epstein's trip through the season has been a pretty substantial one, considering he wasn't even supposed to play in the Humongous League at all! He was only given a spot because enough HL coaches from last season decided not to play. Truly an underdog story for the ages. He drafted a perfect defensive team in a patch that nerfed power hitters substantially, and his drafting strategy really paid off. Congrats to him for making the League Championship!