Sitting in last place with a 1-5 record, the team started to come together, reeling off wins of 21-13, 20-9, and 14-4 heading into the season finale against a division rival called The Other Bleacher Bums. The Bums had a 5-4 record in the division, as did the Guardino Pumpers. AWA was sitting in a tie for third with EA Sports at 4-5. As the evening unfolded, EA Sports upended the Guardino Pumpers and AWA held off the Bums 18-16. In the most bizarre of circumstances, all four division teams ended the spring season with identical 5-5 records.

The various tie-breakers came down to net runs scored, and that's where AWA's lopsided victory over EA Sports made the difference. Incredibly, AWA was awarded the division crown, while the Other Bleacher Bums made the playoffs as the second place team.

The playoffs also had the other division leader, the Road Dogs, in the mix. The Dogs dominated play throughout the spring, posting a perfect 10-0 record. They were not just the favorite to win it all this year. They were a lead pipe cinch.

The fourth invitee for the spring playoffs was a team called Cisco-SCM. Cisco struggled to put a team on the field each week as the season wound down, and they were frequently raiding the clubhouse before games for players to avoid forfeiting. This kept them in contentionas they managed to win enough to make the playoffs, including a 19-17 slugfest over AWA. Coach Mike Applegate swallowed hard in losing to a roster of illegal players, but said nothing -- this time.

But this was to be an outrageous night for all on this playoff evening of June 28th. Cisco showed up for its scheduled first round game against AWA loaded with players who obviously not on their roster. Coach Applegate would not be at this game at the start, but he already knew what he wanted, leaving explicit instructions to protest the Cisco lineup before game time. The game started as league officials checked the roster against the driver's licenses presented by the Cisco players. The game was tied 4-4 in the top of the second inning when the officials stopped the game and awarded a forfeit victory to AWA. The Cisco lineup had five players who were not on the official roster. Coach Applegate arrived at this time and knew exactly what had happened by the intense grumbling and griping by the Cisco players. He was unfazed, and felt vindicated. It was on to the championship game.

Then things really got bizarre. The Road Dogs, possibly looking ahead to the title game, saw their year come to a crashing end as the Other Bleacher Bums scored a stunning 10-9 upset victory. That put the Bums and AWA, both with 5-5 regular season records, into the finals.

The Bums were a team much like AWA -- a veteran club who could score runs in bunches, but who could also suffer defensively. Coach Applegate saw this game as a high scoring affair, and as his team batted in the top of the first, extolled his players to "Just keep hitting!"

And the team did just that, scoring five times in the top of the first. Run-scoring doubles by Fred Forster, Maytheni Allen, and joe Sammut were the key blows of the frame, while sacrifice flies by Jody Fuller and Nick Suarez added to the scoring. But before AWA had a chance to get comfortable with its five-run lead, the Bums came back to score four times in the bottom of the inning.

A run-scoring single by Fred put the team up 6-4 in the second, and the guys were able to score two more in the third on a couple of Bum errors and singles by Nick and Mike Seabury. The Bums added a run in the home half of the third to cut AWA's lead to 8-5.

Mike Wheeler opened the fourth with a hit to left center, but he was gunned down trying to stretch it into a double. Fred followed that with a single to right, moved up when Greg walked, and scored when Jody's hard grounder went through the third baseman for an error. Maytheni followed with a hit to load the bases. After a foulout, Joe grounded one wide of first. The first baseman dove for the ball and deflected it just enough to escape the second baseman. Greg scored on the infield hit to give AWA a 10-5 lead.

The team looked to take control of the game in the fifth as the Bums continued to blunder in the field. With one out, Buddy Grimm reached safely on the third baseman's error. Frank Chavez, coming off the bench, drilled a rope to center for a hit. After Wheeler bounced into a force at third, Fred stroked a hit to right to score a run. Greg then lifted a towering fly to right center. The outfielder turned the wrong way at first, staggered as the wind played tricks with the ball, and then dropped it. Two more runs crossed the plate for a 13-5 lead. AWA was getting warmed up for the celebration.

But the Bums were not going to go out easily. The coach reminded his players that the Bums had walloped AWA 32-17 back in week 3, and that the Bums were a seriously dangerous offensive team. That fact was punctuated in the home half of the fifth when a walk, three singles, and a triple had four runs across. After five innings AWA held a somewhat tenuous 13-9 lead.

The teams traded runs in the sixth, but the team really put the bats to work in the seventh. Mike inserted himself into the game as a pinch hitter, and opened the inning with a hit. Frank and Wheeler each singled to load the bases. Fred then scorched a two-run double to right and Greg followed with a two-run double to center.Maytheni's sacrifice fly closed out the scoring for AWA, who took what appeared to be a safe 19-10 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

The Bums opened their final at bat with three straight hits for one run. After a force out, three consecutive hits had two more runs across. The bases were loaded and the heart of the Bums lineup was coming up. The next hitter grounded one to Jody, who took the ball to third for a force, as another run scored. The next hitter then shot one down the first base line. First baseman Ralph Parraz made a terrific play to stab the ball behind the bag, and then made a perfect feed to Joe, who hustled over to take the throw at first.