[MrNFL_FanIQ]

Three of the four Wild Card Round series in the CBF First League were sweeps with the home team winning. In the West-South Conference, San Francisco downed Dallas 6-3 and 11-5. Miami ended Phoenix’s hot-streak with 5-4 and 6-3 wins. In the first game, the Makos shortstop Samuel Meadows had a two RBI single to walk it off.

In the East-Midwest Conference, despite the weaker overall record, the strong-at-home Minneapolis Millers ousted Brooklyn with 4-3 and 8-2 wins. The other series saw St. Louis give Toronto a scare by taking game one in an upset 6-2. The Blue Jays bounced back in game two 7-4 and then routed the Cardinals 13-0, meaning the second place team beat the third place team in all four series.



The second round in the EMC saw Midwestern division champ Chicago sweep Toronto 3-0. The Cubs won 5-2, 4-3, and 8-5. It seemed Philadelphia was going to cruise on the other side, taking game one over Minneapolis 5-4 and game two 3-1. The Millers bounced back 5-3 in game three and won a 2-1 pitcher’s duel game four. In game five, Minneapolis scored four runs in the top of the first. However, the Phillies got five in the fourth and three in the fifth, ultimately prevailing with a 9-7 win.

While the division champs won both series in the EMC; the wild cards each came up victorious in the WSC. San Francisco went south of the border and struck immediately with a 7-0 win at Mexico City, getting 10 strikeouts over 7.1 shutout innings from Baltemar Muniz. Los Diablos battled back to take game two 6-4, but the Seals offense powered them to an 11-5 game three win and a 10-3 win in game four to advance. Second baseman Jake Harper for the series was 8-17 with two homers and four RBI.

The biggest stunner was Miami upsetting Hollywood, as the Stars finished with the First League’s best record at 113-49 and were the overall favorites. With 1099 runs scored, the boasted the offense in baseball and were tied with the Makos for second in the conference with 724 runs allowed. It was Miami’s offense that set the initial tone, whacking 20 hits in a 16-7 game one win. Eight innings of shutout pitching from Jamie Esguerra gave Hollywood a 4-0 game two win to even it up.

In game three, the Makos rocked Pitcher of the Year candidate Glenn Baker, scoring nine runs in the first inning en route to a 12-3 win. But Hollywood took game four 4-2 to force the decisive game five in Los Angeles. The Stars were up 7-3 after the sixth inning, but a four-run seventh tied it up with solo runs in the eighth and ninth giving Miami the series and a 9-7 win. In game five, left fielder K.J. Larsen hit two home runs and had five RBI. For the series, Larsen had five dingers, 10 runs scored, and 10 RBI.