Camden returns to the World Series for the 2nd straight year and the 4th time in the last 5 seasons, while San Francisco appears for the 2nd time (losing to Surprise in '19).

Game 1

Woodruff vs. Mahle

CMD's Woodruff has a rough first inning, allowing 3 hits and a walk, including Garver's two-out two-run double (a 1 pull on a range play for CMD's Gallo, a 2 in CF) for a 2-0 SF lead.  CMD gets on the board in the 4th on Seager's single, cutting the deficit to 2-1.  That score remained into the 8th when Acuna led off with a BP HR chance of 1-12, but the split of 14 denied the blast (a recurring them for HAR in the last series). Machado singled with one out and Bell followed with a double, putting the tying run at third with one out.  Baez K'd and SF's lefty reliever Alvarez intentionally walked lefty-killer Schoop.  With another lefty-killer in Soler coming up, SF countered with their righty closer Kittredge, who got Soler on a flyout to end the threat and maintain SF's one-run lead.  In the bottom half, SF's Grandal homered to lead off the inning, and Kittredge shut down CMD in the 9th for the 3-1 SF win.

Game 2

Mayers vs. Lucchesi

Rest issues from the previous series forced a bullpen game for both teams in game two.  After a scoreless first, SF's Walsh homered off lefty reliever Loup for a 1-0 SF lead, but CMD answered in their half.  Cruz reached on a lead-off error on Fraley in left field, then Arenado doubled to plate Cruz and Gallo singled to score Arenado and CMD led 2-1.  CMD extended that lead to 4-1 in the 3rd on Acuna's homer and a Baez single.  A trio of CMD relievers had control issues in the 4th, culminating with Hendriks walking Luplow for force in a run, and the lead was down to 4-2.  CMD got that run back in the 5th on a Goldschmidt solo shot, but SF rallied in the 7th down by three.  With Marquez on the mound, Story and Urias walked with one out.  Daza singled to score Story (a huge gift on a 1/2--20 lineout pull) and Chargois replaced Marquez.  Cronenworth singled to score Urias, Chargois then balked in a run, and Tucker singled through the drawn-in infield to score Cronenworth, and SF led 6-5 after a few huge gifts from Strat.  In the 9th, Acuna doubled with two outs to put the tying run at second, and Goldschmidt was walked intentionally to face Bell, who struck out to end it.  SF 6-5.

Game 3

Urias vs. Gomber

In a battle of lefties, it didn't go well for SF's Gomber.  Cruz hit a two-run homer in the first and Seager crushed a solo homer in the second, and Cruz struck again in the third for a solo shot and CMD led 4-0 on the back of the three homers.  SF tied it up in the 4th on a double by Story and three-run blast by Walsh (who again got lefty Loup for a homer).  But CMD would retake the lead in the top of the 5th on a Bradly solo shot and a two-run double by Machado.  SF would cut the three-run deficit to two runs on Tucker's solo homer in their half of the 5th.  Story would be denied a solo homer in the 6th on a 15 pull on a 1-12 HR chance, and CMD would extend the lead to 8-5 in the 9th on a Machado single.  SF could not muster a rally in the bottom half as CMD takes game three, 8-5 and cuts the series deficit to 2-1.

Game 4

Marquez vs. Ryu

CMD would get a two-run homer from Arenado and an RBI single from Seager for a 3-0 lead in the second in this pivotal game four.  They then loaded the bases in the third on three walks, but Baez grounded into the 1-2-3 double play and Machado grounded out to end the threat.  In their half of the 4th, SF cut the lead to 3-1 on a Phillips solo homer.  CMD would miss another BP HR chance in the 5th, pulling an 18 on a 1-10 opportunity for a three-run shot, but still held a 3-1 lead entering the 6th inning.  Phillips and Cronenworth singled to start the inning, then Grandal was intentionally walked to lead the bases after a Tucker strike out.  Righty Sadler relieved to face Garver, who drove in a run on a groundout, and then Fraley followed with three-run blast to give SF the 5-3 lead.  SF relievers Luchhesi, Sims, Alvarez, and Kittredge held down the CMD bats over the final 3 innings and SF takes game four, 5-3, putting them one win from the series victory.

Game 5

Woodruff vs. Mahle

Facing elimination down 3-1, CMD fell behind in the first on a two-run homer by SF's Grandal.  SF would load the bases in the second on a walk and two HBP's, but Tucker would ground into the inning-ending double play.  In the third, CMD got on the board with a Sanchez solo homer to cut the lead to 2-1.  Woodruff settled down and kept SF off the board as the score remained 2-1 into the 5th.  Yelich opened with a walk and Sanchez reached on an error on SF's Phillips in CF.  Seager bunted the runners over and Goldschmidt's sac fly tied the score. Acuna and Machado both walked to load the bases and Ryu was done, as righty Rasmussen came in to face Cruz.  CMD countered with Stallings, who ripped a two-run single for a 5-2 CMD lead.  The Lumberjacks extended that lead to 6-2 on Arenado's two-run homer in the 7th.  SF couldn't muster any offense off lefty Chafin over three hitless innings as CMD fends off elimination with the 6-2 win, forcing the series back to CMD for game six.

Game 6

Mayers vs. Lucchesi

In another bullpen game with both teams managing usage issues, SF scored first on Garver's solo homer in the 2nd.  They would then extend that lead to 2-0 in the fourth on two-out Urias single, following a big walk on a lefty-lefty matchup of Fraley/Chafin.  In the 5th, Garver would strike again with a two-run homer off Chapman for a 4-0 SF lead, while unlimited Carlos Martinez continued to hold down the CMD bats.  That magic wore off in the 6th when Stallings ripped a two-out double to score Goldschmidt, cutting the SF lead to 4-1.  That score held into the 8th when CMD loaded the bases on three walks, but Knebel struck out D'Arnaud to end the threat and hold the 3-run lead.  SF closer Kittredge put down CMD in order in the 9th to nail down the 4-1 win and win the series, 4 games to 2.  Martinez earned the win over 4 innings of relief, allowing just one run on three hits, no walks, and striking out four.  Kittredge earned his 4th save of the series with the perfect final frame.

Once again, following the SF/HAR series, Travis could not overcome Strat's shenanigans against his team.  He continued to miss BP HR pulls, allowed a critical run on a single 1 pull, and lost a game on a double on a range chance for his 2-rated CFer.  Despite being ill-treated by Strat, Travis remains a great sport and is always a pleasure meeting up with him on Netplay.  Seemingly all the breaks went against him, but in the end, CMD could not drive in runs.  They left 55 runners on base over the series, compared to just 35 for SF.  They were an abysmal 8 for 48 with RISP (.167), while SF was 9-35 (.257).  Their lack of timely hitting explains how they lost a series where they outhit SF 42-27.  It was a crazy close and tense series as SF outscored CMD by only a single run, 25-24.  CMD was led by Nelson Cruz (.500, 2 HR's, 4 runs, 3 RBI's), Stallings (.500, 4 RBI's), and Arenado (.429, 2 HR's, 5 RBI's). Hendriks was outstanding out of the pen with 4 hitless innings and Chafin allowed just 2 hits over 7 scoreless innings.  But Loup was disappointing with a 12.60 ERA over 5 innings, allowing 6 hits and 3 homers (all against lefties, two to Jared Walsh and one to Kyle Tucker).

SF was led by series MVP Mitch Garver (.273, 2 HR's, 6 RBI's), who singlehandedly won two games, including the deciding game six.  Kittredge earned four saves with 6 scoreless innings, and Carlos Martinez danced out of trouble, allowing just 4 runs despite 8 hits and 9 walks over 11 relief innings.  In fact, SF's bullpen was stellar (outside of Sims), with 8 relievers combining to allow just 3 ER over 35+ innings for a 0.76 ERA, as San Francisco wins their first ARBA title!