Page 129 of Fake Love

And for me.

38

CITY OF CHAMPIONS

OCTOBER 29, 2022

The city of San Francisco has another set of champions roaming the streets.

First it was the San Francisco Gold winning the super bowl back in February under the helm of quarterback Hunter Jacobi.

Now, months later, for the first time in ten years, we once again have world series champions in the San Francisco Miners.

The Miners started the postseason strong by winning the division series in four games, Houston not standing a chance. They stayed on top through the National League championships and were able to beat out Miami in five games. When they reached the biggest stage in baseball, all eyes were on them.

Ben Kipper, the Miners manager, had a solid team behind him with an even stronger pitching rotation.

At the beginning of the season, it was predicted that the Miners would not even see a postseason chance but with a few additions they were able to define all the odds.

The biggest odd of them all being Maddox Bauer.

Bauer, who had a less than satisfactory season last year, what with a ninety day suspension for drug use under his belt and being released from Chicago, was better than ever. The young pitcher’s acquisition turned some heads at the start of the season but as the games went on, Bauer proved that he had what it took to be a Miner.

Kipper and the pitching staff made changes to the starting rotation back in July, adding Bauer to the mix.

For the second half of the season, the Miners were untouchable. With every pitch, every hit, every catch, they became the team to beat.

Even having a perfect game added to the history books, courtesy of Bauer.

The odds were against them but in the end the underdogs came out swinging and were able to beat New York, claiming the final game to close out the series.

The Miners played a spectacular series and an even more spectacular season.

Congratulations to the Miners organization, to Ben Kipper for a job well done.

To our world series MVP, Maddox Bauer, congratulations on the new title. The city of San Francisco is lucky to have you on their team, Chicago were fools to let you go.

Congratulations again to the new world series champs, the San Francisco Miners.

39

Maddox

The city is calm.

So calm that you would never think that there was a massive celebration that happened a few hours ago. A celebration that had streets filled with people, cheering and dancing on the streets.

People that were happy that their team had just won the World Series at home.

There is definitely something special about winning a title on your home field, that’s for sure.

There’s also something special about being the winning pitcher of the last game of the season.

After I threw the first pitch of the ninth inning, everything felt as if it was getting lighter with every single pitch that I threw.

When the first out came in the way of a fly ball, I was ecstatic but didn’t show it. I kept myself as composed as possible and moved on to the next batter as if it were any other day.

Batter two came up and he made me work for it.

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