ATL wins 4-2
Game 1: ATL 7, CLE 6
Game 2: ATL 4, CLE 3
Game 3: CLE 3, ATL 1
Game 4: CLE 8, ATL 1
Game 5: ATL 4, CLE 3 (12)
Game 6: ATL 5, CLE 2


SF wins 4-0
Game 1: SF 3, MAN 1
Game 2: SF 10, MAN 9
Game 3: SF 2, MAN 1 (10)
Game 4: SF 5, MAN 4 (12)

GAME 1 - Atlanta 7, Cleveland 6    BOXSCORE
Cobra Spearheads Slugfest
Toppers Rock Reuschel
ATLANTA (Sept. 23) -- Rookie batting champion Dave Parker was 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, leading a 14-hit outburst as the Atlanta Hilltoppers edged the Cleveland Barons 7-6 in Game 1.  Barons' ace Rick Reuschel, making his first start in four months, was routed for 14 hits and seven runs in 7.2 innings.  Cleveland led 5-3 in the seventh, but Joe Torre tied the game with a two-run single, and took the lead in the bottom of the eighth on a error by Jorge Orta and an insurance RBI by Parker.  Atlanta starter Ron Reed started slowly, allowing a run in each of the first three innings, reliever Mike Littell got the win after a scoreless eighth inning, and Randy Moffitt got the save despite allowing a Cecil Cooper solo homer.

GAME 2 - Atlanta 4, Cleveland 3    BOXSCORE
Bradley Solid, Toppers Rally Again
Costly Errors Hurt Hooton
ATLANTA (Sept. 24) -- The Hilltoppers staged another comeback, turning back a 3-1 deficit with a three-run fifth inning to win 4-3 and take a 2-0 lead in the Semifinal Series.  Tom Bradley scattered five hits, and Dave Parker was 2-for-4, including a two-run homer that put the home side up for good.  Burt Hooton was solid for Cleveland, but was hurt by errors by Dave Josephson and Zoilo Versalles that yielded three unearned runs.  Rany Moffitt earned his second save in as many games.  The series moves to Municipal Stadium for Game Three; probables are Nelson Briles (12-10, 3.86) and J.R. Richard (16-11, 2.66).

GAME 3 - Cleveland 3, Atlanta 1     BOXSCORE
Richard Stiffs Atlanta
CLEVELAND (Sept. 26) -- J.R. Richard scattered eight hits and came within two outs of a shutout, as the Cleveland Barons beat Atlanta 3-1 for their first win in the Semi Series.  Cecil Cooper and Zoilo Versalles homered in the fourth and fifth innings and Don Demeter scored on a wild pitch in the sixth as the home team applied Chinese water torture offense on Nelson Briles.  Steve Carlton stanched the flow with two perfect innings, but Richard's dominance kept the Toppers off the scoreboard until Bill Russell plated Manny Trillo with a sac fly in the ninth.  Despite the loss, Briles pitched superbly, holding the home side to just four hits and two walks in six innings.

GAME 4 - Cleveland 8, Atlanta 1     BOXSCORE
Barons Pound Dal Canton
Reuschel Goes the Distance for 5-Hitter
CLEVELAND (Sept. 27) -- Rick Reuschel atoned for his rough Game 1 start with a five-hit complete game gem, and Cecil Cooper and Dan Driessen each had four hits to pace a 15-hit Cleveland attack, as the Barons rolled to an 8-1 win to level the series at 2-2.  The Barons scored three in the first inning and four more in the fourth, chasing Bruce Dal Canton and effectively putting the game out of reach.  Cleveland's 3-6 hitters batted a combined 13-20 with 8 RBIs.  Game 5 probables are Ron Reed (0-0, 5.68) and Burt Hooton (0-1, 1.13).

GAME 5 - Atlanta 4, Cleveland 3, 12 inn.     BOXSCORE
Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory
Barons Blow Ninth Inning Lead
CLEVELAND (Sept. 28) -- Cleveland rallied from an early deficit, took a 3-2 lead, then squandered it in the ninth inning and lost in the twelfth.  Joe Torre's two-run blast put the Toppers ahead in the first inning, but Burt Hooton settled down for seven shutout innings, and Cleveland tied it up in the fourth on a solo shot by Jorge Orta and a sac fly by Zoilo Versalles.  Don Demeter's solo blast off Ron Reed in the eighth put the home team up 3-2 and with closer Frank Linzy on the hill, the Barons were poised to take a 3-2 series lead back to Georgia.  But Sal Bando led off the ninth with a solo homer, sending the game to extra innings, where the 11th-ranked Atlanta bullpen threw 4.2 shutout innings.  Al Fitzmorris and Steve Mingori matched them for two innings before Mingori got into trouble in the 12th.  Buck Martinez led off with an infield single, moved to second on Juan Beniquez' sac bunt, and scored on Bill Russell's single, putting the visitors up 4-3.  Cleveland rallied in the bottom half of the inning, getting the first two runners on base, but failing two attempts to drive in a runner on third.  Cesar Tovar struck out looking to end the game.  Atlanta returns home with two chances to put the series away and advance to their third World Series since moving from Louisville in 1965.

GAME 6 - Atlanta 5, Cleveland 2     BOXSCORE
Toppers Advance With Fourth Comeback Win
Bradley Stymies Barons, Wins Again
ATLANTA (Sept. 30) -- The Hilltoppers staged their fourth comeback win of the series, winning 5-2 to eliminate the Cleveland Barons and book a date with the San Francisco Spiders in the 1974 World Series.  Tom Bradley allowed just two runs, fanning six, for his second win of the series, and Manny Trillo and Bill Freehan each had two hits and an RBI.  Vada Pinson tripled and Jorge Orta homered to lead off the first, staking the Barons to an early 2-0 lead, but they never scored again (and won't until next spring).  Game 3 winner J.R. Richard had control issues, allowing eight hits and eight walks in six innings, and imploded in the bottom of the sixth, when the Toppers broke a 2-2 tie with a three-run inning.  Richard walked three in a row, driving two runs, and then gave up a sac fly to Roy Foster.  The Barons got a pair of singles off closer Randy Moffitt in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate, but Moffitt struck out Freddie Patek and Vada Pinson to snuff the rally and send the Toppers to their first World Series since 1971.


GAME 1 - San Francisco 3, Manhattan 1    BOXSCORE
Jenkins Ties Up Sox
Spiders Win Pitcher's Duel
MANHATTAN (Sept. 25) -- Ace Fergie Jenkins led the San Francisco Spiders to their first playoff victory in 15 years with a 3-1 victory at Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of their Semi Series.  Jenkins allowed just six hits and one run in seven innings of work, and a trio of relievers bent but didn't break, as closer Terry Forster pitched himself into a jam in the ninth, but ended up striking out the side.  The Spiders took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk by John Mayberry and a double play groundout by Mark Belanger.  Manhattan starter Steve Rogers was glad to have escaped the inning having allowed just two runs, after loading the bases with no outs, but as it turned out, those two runs were all the visitors would need.  Jim Rice tacked on a third run with an RBI single in the fifth, but Bill Melton's leadoff homer in the seventh was all the offense the East Division champions could muster.

GAME 2 - San Francisco 10, Manhattan 9    BOXSCORE
Spiders Outlast Sox in Slugfest
Sox Unraveled by Four Errors
MANHATTAN (Sept. 24) -- In one of the wildest playoff games in league history, San Francisco slugged four homers, built a 10-2 lead, then nearly threw it all away before holding on for a slim one-run win with the bases loaded in the ninth.  The visitors exploded for four runs in the fifth inning, including back-to-back homers by Richie Zisk and Darrell Evans, chasing rookie starter Craig Swan.  But his replacement Al Santorini fared no better, giving up four runs on three hits and two errors, as the Spiders expanded their lead to a seemingly insurmountable eight runs.  But after Lou Brock homered in the eighth inning, reliever John Hiller opened the floodgates in the ninth.  The Sox batted around, scoring six runs on six hits, including a three-run homer by Craig Robinson and a solo shot by Carlton Fisk.  But after walking the bases loaded, Terry Forster again got the save by inducing pinch hitter Larry Brown to fly out to right.  The series moves west for Game 3, where the Spiders will start rookie Doyle Alexander (4-3, 2.31) against Manhattan lefthander Ken Brett (17-7, 3.33).

GAME 3 - San Francisco 2, Manhattan 1, 10 inn.    BOXSCORE
Spiders Lead 3-0
Error in 10th Burns Sox
MANHATTAN (Sept. 26) -- In a classic pithcers duel, Ken Brett and Doyle Alexander battled to a 1-1 draw through nine innings, before an error by Billy Grabarkewitz and a sac fly by George Foster pushed across the winning run in the 10th, as San Francisco took a commanding 3-0 series lead.  Brett allowed just five hits and struck out seven, and the San Francisco rookie held Manhattan to six hits.  Both teams scored in the sixth inning, the Sox on a Lou Brock single and the Spiders on a Jim Rice double.  Closer terry Forster, who saved Games 1 and 2, got the win, while Ken Tatum took the loss.

GAME 4 - San Francisco 5, Manhattan 4, 12 inn.    BOXSCORE
Spiders Sweep After Wild and Wooly Finale
Sox Rally in Ninth, Lose on Wild Pitch in 12th
MANHATTAN (Sept. 27) -- A Dave Giusti wild pitch sent Len Randle scampering home with the game- and series-winning run, as San Francisco edged Manhattan 5-4 in 12 innings to complete a four-game sweep.  The lead changed four times in a see-saw battle that saw the Spiders take a 3-2 lead in the seventh on a two-run single by John Mayberry, the Gray Sox recapture the lead in the ninth on a two-run pinch single by Dick Dietz, and the Spiders tie it up in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of walks and a George Foster sac fly.  Fergie Jenkins was solid again, holding the visitors to six hits and striking out seven in eight innings, and Don Sutton was dominante at times, with nine Ks in as many innings, but both closers blew save opportunities.  Manhattan committed seven errors in the series and were outscored in earned runs in only two of the four games.


Playoff Preview
by Glen Reed

ATLANTA
Record vs. other playoff teams 8-4 v CLE; 6-6 v SF; 5-7 v MAN

the atlanta model is self-evident--use your mashers to take the lead and rely on a sweet closer to finish the game off. your starters don't have to be great if you give them five runs or more a game in support. certainly, when you have a core of torre-bando-gamble-foster-freehan and then add the presumptive rookie of the year in dave parker, as well as a number of high contact guys in the shape of beniquez and russell, you are looking at a ferocious offense capable of attacking a pitching staff in a number of ways--you want contact? we're talking about the team that's led the league in avg and ops for four straight seasons. power? got more XBH than anybody on the circuit. walks? not league leading, but even an average number of walks allayed to the #1 batting average means ATL leads the league in OBP by a wide margin. Virtually no speed, tho. On the pitching side, the only thing the 'topper starters do well is suppress homers. in terms of hits allowed, babip, and walks allowed, they rank near the bottom of the league. the bullpen (outside of the closer) is also poor by playoff standards. but of course, playoff baseball has a way of hiding some of those deficiencies because you chuck out your worst starter and presumably get fewer innings from your middle relievers.

CLEVELAND
Record vs. other playoff teams 6-6 v SF; 6-6 v MAN; 4-8 v ATL

pitching, pitching, and more pitching. the baron's full-year stats actually understate how great their playoff pitching staff is. the team rank second in runs allowed for the full season, with the #2 starters and #10 bullpen. those stats were achieved with the benefit of just 9 starts from rick reuschel, among the best starters on the circuit. but rockin' ricky has returned just in time to start game 1 against the prodigious 'topper lineup. indeed, one of the best games of the season was a reuschel start against ATL that evolved into an epic 3-2 CLE win in 15 innings. my gut says that if cleveland is to win the series, that is exactly the template they will have to follow. it's doable too, because the bullpen is much better in reality than the bottom-half full-season ranking. super reliever frank linzy was acquired in a mid-season trade and has been very effective in the closer role. in addition, cecil upshaw, who had been forced into a starting role to cover for injuries in the rotation, will return to the pen. then figure that those arms are backed by a defense with an above-average glove at every position except third base and you get an image of a squad that will be extremely difficult to score on. on offense, tho, it seems fair to say CLE is likely to struggle. the team ranks in the bottom half of the league in virtually every offensive statistic, and must make do without their spine and likely 1-2-3 hitters in the form of maddox, stennet, and hunt. the team have very little power and rank dead last in the league in walks. but one advantage they can hope to exploit is that they put the ball in play like no other team on the circuit, and have a decent batting average. that could be the key thing to watch in a series against ATL, whose staff gives up a ton of hits. as a result, you figure CLE's template will be to get guys like pinson and orta on base, steal against freehan's weak-tit arm, and score on a groundout. it's a far cry from earl weaver's two-walks-and-a-dong offense, but it will have to do. good news is that should CLE survive the first round, they can expect to get hunt back for the title tilt.

MANHATTAN
Record vs. other playoff teams 7-5 v ATL; 6-6 v CLE; 5-7 v SF

MAN are the most balanced side in the tournament, top three in runs scored and top five in runs allowed. they aren't the best at any one thing, but are solid in every dimension, tho i suppose there's an argument to be made that they bring the best closer still playing. their four likely starters all have slightly better-than-average ERAs, but perhaps only rogers you would call really studly. MAN are likely to miss young LH SP don gullett (out through injury), because first-round playoff opponent spiders are noticeably worse v lefties than they are against righties. on offense, the team have good, but not great, power (#7 in HRs), scoring instead through the combination of average (#2), walks (#7), and speed (#2). the team actually remind me alot of the mid- to late-50s superba sides (before the acquisition of mantle) where you have an obp-based team that relies on hits, walks, and steals to move guys around the sacks, with the brilliant craig robinson playing the granny hamner role. those brooklyn teams managed winning regular season records every year from '55 to '59, but also lost two of three playoff series in that time, indicating that it can be hard to string together enough hits and walks to put up big numbers against playoff-caliber pitching. in addition, the gray sux are another team hampered by injuries heading into the playoffs. they will be without their cleanup man, steve garvey, for at least the first round, and their preferred shortstop, billy grabs, will miss the first few games against SF. so while it's easy to fall in love with a team that ranks second or third in just about every offensive stat, there are some real caveats to consider.

SAN FRANCISCO
Record vs. other playoff teams 7-5 v MAN; 6-6 v CLE; 6-6 v ATL

spiders are an interesting case. after years of pumping them up, i finally give up on them and of course they come good, and they do so without their ace and the guy that the game calls the #1 pitcher in the entire league, and that's bob moose. they are in a sense the embodiment of the argument about great defense making a contribution to team success, as they committed the fewest errors in the league, were the hardest team to get a hit against, and were second in opponent BABIP. this helps explain the outperformance (relative to ratings) of guys like albury and alexander. fergie jenkins gives them a legit ace, with mcglothen, hedlund, and likely alexander rounding out a rotation that is backed by the best remaining bullpen in the tournament. i tell you all this because the "secret sauce" of playoff success is defined as team defense, power pitching (SF have the most Ks as a staff of teams still playing), and closer (SF have the best overall pen, tho i hesitate to say they have the best closer. i'd likely go with tatum if i had to choose from the four remaining). things are just as interesting on the offensive side of the ball, where you have a team in the bottom half in every meaningful statistic except homers (sixth). that's important though, because there is another key argument about postseason offensive success that says that the team that scores the greatest percentage of runs on homers is at an advantage (because of the aforementioned difficulty in stringing together a bunch of hits against high-quality post-season staffs). turns out SF score a greater percentage of their runs (24%) on taters than any of the other three (CLE, 16%, and MAN, 19%, score the lowest percentage of their runs on circuit clouts. ATL clocks in at 22%.). also keep an eye on this crucial matchup--munson has one of the best arms in the league, and a tightly contested series may come down to whether or not he can shut down the MAN running game. also, i may have mentioned this elsewhere, but SF are far better (nearly 150 points on win percentage) v RH than LH pitchers, and only MAN brings a quality lefty SP to the playoffs.