John Keats hit a grand slam in the 8th inning to break a 2-2 tie, as the Florence Banners defeat the Boston Secrets 7-2 in the seventh game of their series, in Boston.
The Florence Banners advance with 2 other teams to the second round, as the only Wild Card Team from the 5 divisions. The Banners won 89 games during the regular season, finishing 2 games back from the 2nd seed Dublin Laureates, who also advanced, defeating the LA Gamers in 6 games. The Banners will now take on the Phoenix Universe, who took 6 games to beat the 3rd seed Madrid Crusaders, the team owned by Philip II of Spain, whose fortunes rose with the mid-season acquisitions of Beethoven and Mozart. The Universe won 82 games in their season, edging out John D. Rockefeller’s Chicago Buyers in the Modern Division. If the Banners beat the Universe—and they are favored, despite being a Wild Card team—the World Series will feature two Glorious Division teams—the Laureates from Dublin and the Banners from Florence. The Secrets, with the best record in the league (95 wins) could not beat Virgil (in games 3 and 7) and that was the difference.
Game 7 in Boston was a re-match of Game 3 in Florence, between starters Virgil and Pushkin, whose records during the regular season are similar: Virgil 19-11, 3.01, 280 K, 4 Shutouts, Pushkin 19-5, 3.61, 328 K, 5 Shutouts. Pushkin was all too happy to play for Ben Franklin, owner, and George Washington, manager of the Boston Secrets—who some have called, “America’s team,” with their “Founding Father” bullpen; their “Republic” author, Plato, and Edgar Allan Poe as top pitchers; and Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne, gracing their starting lineup. The complex negotiations of a world poetry league, put together by Muse Inc., favored the English-speaking lands. It was rumored Edgar Poe convinced Pushkin to join the Secrets, but Pushkin said “No one had to convince me. Russia and the United States grew up as nations together in my beloved 19th Century. Poe did tell me something about the British Empire and how their “free trade” wasn’t really “free trade.” I knew what he meant. I will always love the United States.”
Pushkin homered and fanned 15 in the loss. Washington refused to take Pushkin out in the 8th, with the bases loaded. Virgil reached on a bloop single, Ben Mazer walked, and Christina Rossetti beat out an infield hit, for her 15th hit of the series, bringing John Keats to the plate. With Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton warming in the bullpen, pitching coach Clarence Thomas checked on Pushkin, who said he was fine. John Keats has made no secret of the fact that he wanted to play for the Secrets. Shelley wanted to, as well. Both poets preferred America even to England. But Dante, Cavalcanti, Ficino, and Boccaccio told Banners’ owner Lorenzo de Medici they would not play unless he signed both Keats and Shelley. Shelley convinced Keats the Banners would be a great team and bestow great honor. What must Keats have been thinking, when he stepped to the plate against Pushkin and the Secrets in that crucial moment? It would be silly to speculate. Keats reached for a 1-2 curve just off the plate and poked it down the line for an opposite-field home run, breaking the tie in Game 7, bringing glory to the Florence Banners. Paul Simon, the Secrets right-fielder, had the ball in his glove as he smashed against the fence, and made the claim that a fan (a visitor from Florence?) somehow knocked the ball out of his hand for a home run, but replay evidence was inconclusive. The controversy stopped play for half an hour.
With the score 6-2, Friedrich Schiller added a run for the Banners, smashing a home run off Thomas Jefferson in the top of the ninth, to make it, 7-2, and Erasmus, Florence’s manager, stayed with Virgil in the ninth—who ended up with 16 strike outs, and a marvelous series for the Banners. Stephen Cole began the Secrets 9th inning with a double, just missing a home run off the top of the wall, but Virgil quickly retired the next 3 hitters. Virgil was in total command throughout the game.
The second round of the playoffs begins with Steven Spielberg’s Universe hosting the Banners in Phoenix. Leonardo da Vinci (14-11 3.44 229 K 5 SO) will pitch for the Florence Banners against Martin Luther King Jr (11-7 3.99 156 K 1 SO) of the Phoenix Universe. The Dublin Laureates, as the top seeded team remaining, will play the winner of the best-of-seven contest between the Universe and the Banners—for the top prize.