As long as there wasn't a sweep last week then the series is scheduled to continue the Wednesday (Sep. 6) following Labor Day with a doubleheader beginning at 6:30 pm. The playoff crowds have been impressive so far and hundreds more are expected to jam the stands for the big series. Although there has been lots of discussion to begin charging admission the hottest ticket in town is still free. Though the league suggests you avoid the scalpers who have camped out at M & Broadway.

One of the teams you will see playing is the Lynx who play out of East Boston. They wear white shirts with red lettering and are led by coach, Danny Ekasela, who also bats first and plays first base. On the mound they have the dynamic duo of Jerry Thomes and Domenic Lemarra. While pitching for the Playwright, the two had paired up to win the past two M Street championships. South Boston natives, Jason Allen and Marty Jiminez, were added for their talents and their connecton to the neighborhood.

Ekasela and the Lynx sprinted to the finals last week by sweeping Murphy's Law. In the first game of the series, Juan Sanchez put the Lynx ahead to stay in the third inning when he hit a line drive homerun to center field. The Lynx then added a few insurance runs in the fourth on Kevin O'Hara's (3 hits, 3 RBI) bases clearing double to right. The runs were more than enough for pitcher, Jerry Thomes, who scattered eight hits while striking out six to pick up the win. In defeat, Dave Leahy (2 hits) and Nick Herz (3-run HR) paced the Murphy's attack.

Game two was part of a doubleheader so Murphy's had little choice but to send their only pitcher, Eric Malerba, back to the hill for the much needed win. As much of a gamer Eric is, the Lynx offense proved to be too much to handle in back-to-back starts.

Malerba ran into big trouble in the second inning when Al Martin hit a grand slam and later cleared the bases again with a triple (2 hits, 7 RBI). The Lynx took advantage of the exausted Malerba and won big, 18-1. Dominic Lemarra looked very sharp while picking up the win. At one point, Lemarra had struck out four straight Murphy batters.

In game three, Marty Jimenez smashed a grandslam homerun in the third inning that put the Lynx ahead to stay as they completed the sweep. Although down in the series and trailing in the game, Murphy's never gave up and nearly caught the Lynx in the last inning. Mike Quirk got them closer when hit a long home run to right but their rally fell short as the Lynx ended their season, 10-7.

As a second year team, Murphy's Law has a great nucleous of players and a bright future. Coaches Ryan Cox and Mike McQuirk have already begun discussing the off season addition of M Street veteran pitcher, Jim McNiff. McNiff was an impressive 11-3 in 2005 before taking a year away from the game.

The Lynx will be opposed by the Sidewalk Cafe, who are making a return trip to the finals. The four time champions were in a rebuilding year and thought to be a few years away from making an impact. However, the addition of the "magnificant seven" (Jake Drew, Josh Piekarski, Mike Smith, Jeremy Beauchemin, Brian Schofield, Mike Stankina, and Joe Andriano) exceeded expectations and now find themselves playing for it all.

Sidewalk advanced to the finals by taking down the Stadium Sports Bar, a team that many believe was supposed to beat them easily. The Stadium had finished second and had given the front running Lynx their best run for their money during the season. The two were tied at the top of the standings which set up a final regular season game to settle first place. The Lynx won that game (17-12), the Stadium finished second, and Sidewalk was an afterthought finishing in a distant third place. At the conclusion of that final game, it became clear that barring any major upsets in the playoffs the Sidewalk Cafe would face the Stadium Sports Bar in the semi-finals.

Well, as luck would have it the top teams advanced through the playoff rounds setting up the much anticpated series between Sidewalk and the Stadium. Folks, here is where penning this article gets difficult as I am the coach and pitcher for the Sidewalk Cafe and writing about myself isn't easy.

In the series opener, the Sidewalk Cafe used timely hits from Jeremy Beauchemin (HR, 3B, 2 RBI) and Peter John (HR, 3B, 3 RBI) to upset the Stadium in game one of their series.

The game lived up to its expectations when Matt Traft hit a homerun in the bottom of the fourth that got the Stadium within a run, at 5-4. The Stadium's John Gregorio and Sidewalk's Mark Senna (me) then added to the drama by hanging 0's on the scoreboard in the fifth and sixth innings.

With Sidewalk clinging to a one run lead, the speedy Beauchemin legged out a lead off triple in the to start the seventh. Brian Schofield then entered the game as a pinch hitter and quickly doubled home Beauchemin making it 6-4. Sidewalk added three more insurance runs and held on for the 9-4 victory.

In game two, the Stadium jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning only to watch Sidewalk score seven times in the bottom of the inning. Sidewalk eventually built a 17-6 lead and were cruising to victory when they ran into trouble.

The Stadium's John Martin got his team back in the game when he led off the fifth inning with a homerun to deep right. Looking for a big inning, the Stadium's offense fed off that blow as they batted around the order while scoring six runs to climb right back into the game, 17-12. The Stadium then brought Gregorio in relief and he set the order down quickly which gave his team a huge boost of morale.

The Stadium's offense went right back to work in the sixth as Paul Gurley tripled home Tommy Russell then later scored on an infield ground out. Two more Stadium singles put the tying run at the plate forcing Sidewalk to go to their pen and bring in Mark Senna (me). Steven Couturier walked on four pitches but Sidewalk got out of the inning when Chris Martin flew out. At this point, Sidewalk was clinging to the 17-14 lead entering the bottom of the sixth inning.

In the seventh and now trailing 19-14, the Stadium loaded the bases with two outs and was a hit away from getting the tying run to the plate. Matt Traft delivered with a 2-run single that made it 19-16 and gave slugger Rob Rogers an opportunity to complete the comeback. On a 1-0 count, Rogers ripped into a pitch that was gobbled up by shortstop Josh Piekarski who alertly tagged second base to end the slugfest, 19-16 Sidewalk.

Prior to the start of game three the Stadium found themselves in a must win situation. With little time to wonder how they got in such a hole they turned to pitcher, Sammy Acevedo. Acevedo had been injured during the season and was making his first start since late June.

Acevedo and the Stadium ran into big trouble in the top of the third when Sidewalk sent fifteen batters to the plate while scoring eleven runs. Joe Andriano and Peter John each hit 3-run homeruns and Brendan Flynn cleared the bases with a triple. The runs proved to be more than enough for Sidewalk's pitcher, George Pratt who picked up the 16-5 series ending victory.

In the end, the series never lived up to its hype as Sidewalk's offense proved to be too much for the Stadium to handle. Sidewalk outscored their opponent 44-25 (14.6 runs per game) in what turned out to be a short series. More amazingly is the fact that the Stadium's pitching and defense was the best in the league this year as opponents had scored only 99 runs (6.18 per game) during the entire season. Sidewalk nearly scored half of those runs in just three games.

Sidewalk (251 runs scored) will need to take that same offense to the finals and match it against the Lynx's (233 runs scored) powerful attack. If numbers mean anything then this series should be a high scoring affair. The outcome of the games will most likely be decided by the pitcher who keeps it together even after giving up the big inning.

Last year, the championship was decided in seven games and came down to the last at bat. However, the other six games of the series were not as memorable. The Lynx and Sidewalk could make league history and have this final series go on record as one of the best ever. Only time will tell.