In what seems like a common theme to Marc’s games, this final match starts much the same, with a Rickey Henderson leadoff hit. Once again, that hit is a double and Rickey does what Rickey does. Rickey scores on Ruth’s homerun and quickly, Marc takes a 2-run lead.
In the 3rd, Rickey leads off with a walk, Ruth follows with the same and Trout drives Rickey in with a single. Yadier Molina drops a curveball in the dirt and Ruth takes the plate before Gehrig triples Trout in to bring the score to 5-0. Pedro is down to business, perfect through 4, before he allows his first base runner on a single in the 5th with two outs.
He allows his second hit in the 6th when Alomar singles, but Alomar is quickly thrown out trying to steal second. Jack doesn’t go down without a fight, though. In the 9th, His pinch-hitter leads off with a walk, Griffey Jr. singles, and Pujols hits a 3-run HR, but Gagne then comes in and finishes off Bonds and Aaron to complete the tourney win for Marc.
Congrats Marc, no one managed to top your lineup challenge!
Final: Marc Carig 5 – Jack Flaherty 3Even though I didn’t win, I had fun doing this. There were so many lineups submitted in response to Marc’s original challenge. Aside from Marc inspiring this whole thing and all the lineups people provided, I want to thank the team at WhatIfSports for making this all possible.
I hope all of you whose lineups I featured enjoyed this as much as I did (and that I did them the respect you’d have desired). Anyone who wants to get in a league with me over at WIS let me know, we can have some fun… I’ve got a bunch of stats from the lineups in this series (number of times each player appeared, team salaries, similarity scores, etc) that are presented below for anyone interested. Mostly, congrats to Marc for first a great challenge and second to winning the whole damn thing. Way to stick to your guns on Rickey!