2026 History Maker Baseball Big League “Fast Forward”
This blog entry will serve as a running summary of our annual regular-season and playoff “fast forward,” using the 2026 Pro In-Season card set for History Maker Baseball!
As detailed in our September CONNECT e-newsletter, here are our final "fast forward" standings...
Working from our final standings and playoff pairings, here are our playoff results (below). The name of the PLAAY gamer who conducted the series is listed in parentheses, followed by their personal comments, where applicable…
Wild Card Round
These series are best-of-three, with all games played at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team…
(#4) San Diego defeats (#5) Chicago (2-1)
(Keith Wibbels) The Padres are movin' on! They won Game One in an epic nail-biting 1-0 win, with Ty France getting the walkoff single in the home 10th. Game Two had the Padres jumping out to a 2-0 first inning lead, and then the Cubs scored five in the second. San Diego made it 5-4 Cubs in the 5th, but the Cubs scored two more in the 7th and won Game Two 7-5. Game Three was the San Diego gun show: six homers for the Padres! Tatis was a monster 4/5 with two HR and 4 RBI's] and ended up cruising to a 10-3 win... Casey Mize pitched for 5 innings and gave up only two hits for the decisive win.
(#6) Philadephia defeats (#3) Atlanta (2-0)
(Kurt Bergland) In a battle of suffocating, shut-down pitching the Phillies swept the Braves by identical 1-0 scores! Here are the two scoresheets from Kurt's series...
(#6) Chicago defeats (#3) Cleveland (2-1)
(Michael Bratta) The Guardians win game one 4-3, take the lead in the eighth, when Catcher Jake Rogers allows his second passed ball. Game two, Chicago wins 3-0, uses four pitchers to get a combined shutout. Guardians' pitcher Gavin Williams strikes out 12 in 7 1/3 of an inning. Deciding game three, Sox are down to their last out, with the bases loaded when Miguel Vargas hits a Grand Slam to win the game (and series) 7-5!
Walks plagued both pitching staffs. Cleveland had trouble on the base paths, having three runners thrown out attempting extra bases and one caught stealing second base. Vargas's HR was a decider die roll! I was afraid to look at the outcome of the roll and had to call my girlfriend in the room to tell me. Once again, thanks for letting me play this. This series is what makes HMB such a great and entertaining game.
(#4) New York defeats (#5) Boston (2-1)
(Cory Highfield) Boston won the opener in 13 innings 4-3, but the Yankees came back to win the last two (3-2, 2-1) to take the series. All three games, one run difference. Here's Cory's series summary…
Divisional Semi-Finals
These series are best-of-five, with the first two games played at the home stadium of the higher-seeded team…
(#2) Texas defeats (#4) New York (3-1)
(Steve Carey): GAME 1 - Cam Schlittler allowed only 3 singles over 8 innings, Heliot Ramos slugged a pinch-hit 3 run HR, and the Yankees shutout the Rangers 4-0; GAME 2 - Cody Bradford out-dueled Max Fried and Texas closer Jake Latz escaped from a bases loaded / nobody out situation as the Rangers shutout the NYY 2-0 to even the series; GAME 3 - Jacob deGrom went 7 strong innings, Joc Pederson hit a 2 run HR as Rangers won 4-1 at Yankee Stadium II. Texas now leads the series 2 games to 1; GAME 4 - Evan Carter slammed a 2 run HR and Josh Jung delivered a late RBI single as the surprising Texas Rangers prevailed 3-2, thus advancing to the ALCS.
Series MVP collectively goes to the Rangers bullpen who basically shutdown the Yankees offense and posted a 1.80 ERA over 15 innings.
(#6) Chicago defeats (#1) Tampa Bay (3-1)
(Michael Bratta)(Game 1) Tampa Bay 3, Chicago 0: Three runs in the first is all the Rays need, along with seven strong innings from Rasmussen; (Game 2) Chicago 6, Tampa Bay 2: C. Montgomery (Grand Slam) 4 RBI, Grant Taylor 2 innings, 7 batters faced, 5 K's; (Game 3) Chicago 6, Tampa Bay 4: Tampa takes a 1 run lead in the 2nd, only for the Sox and Grichuk (grand slam!) to take the lead 4-1. Wild pitches would plague both teams. Allowing the Rays to tie the game with 3 runs in the 5th. In the bottom of the 8th, Teel gets the go ahead run with a triple, and then scores on a wild pitch. (Grichuk goes 4 for 4); (Game 4) Chicago 5, Tampa Bay 4: Sox take a 3-0 run lead in the 4th. Rays get 1 run in the 6th, and then take the lead 4-3 in the 7th. Grichuk gets a clutch game tying HR in the 8th. In the 9th Teel gets a one out base hit. With two outs Peter's gets a walk off triple for the win and allowing the White Sox to advance!
(#2) Los Angeles defeats (#4) San Diego (3-2)
(Keith Wibbels) Well, “Dr. K” went all-in on this, all games played with the full-play version of HMB, and a separate re-cap for each…
Game 1
King [SD] - v - Glasnow [LA]
The tone was set for this series with the first batter, Fernando Tatis Jr... He smacked a slicing drive into right field that got flagged down on a real hustle play by.... KyleTucker [yeah, THAT Kyle Tucker!] and the lockdown pitcher's duel was in place... in the end, Shohei Ohtani went 3-4 and knocked in both LA runs, which were enough for a 2-0 Game One win for the Dodgers. Winning pitcher Tyler Glasnow's line: 7.0/ 0 runs/ 2 hits/ 6 K's/ no walks... this was a game of what might have been for the Padres, especially Jackson Merrill, who led off the Padre 5th with a roll of 3-3-3... now all you HMB vets know that's a possible triple [or HR] if the batter isn't utility and if they're a HR king.....Merrill is semi-utility/ semi HR king... so if he doesn't roll the dot, it's at least a triple....he rolled the dot. As the luck of random numerical generation would have it, he came up again in the 7th with two men in scoring position and the roll is 3-3-3 again.... and the dot again! That's why I love HMB above all others!
Game 2
Pivetta [SD] - v - Ohtani [LA]
The Dodgers cruised into a 4-0 lead after the 4th, sparked by a 1st inning leadoff HR by Ohtani... and then in the 3rd Ohtani hit a two run shot... On the mound, Ohtani retired the first ten batters and the first eleven of twelve. His only glitch came in the Padre 6th, when Jackson Merrill caught one for a three run HR and suddenly it was game on and 4-3 Dodgers... but the Dodger bullpen did the rest and an 8th inning add-on run made it 2 games to none for the Dodgers on a 5-3 win.
Game 3
Skubal [LA] - v - Mize [SD]
Even though Casey Mize had been inconsistent down the stretch, he got the call for the Game 3 start.... and he was magnificent when it mattered!... No runs on two hits, and the Padres got all their runs in the 4th, when the Dodgers uncharacteristically made two errors that cost them when Samad Taylor doubled in the third and fourth Padre runs of the inning, and that was that...
4-0 Padres. Skubal got snakebit in this one; he pitched really well but got let down by his defense....
Game 4
Snell [LA] - v - Buehler [SD]
San Diego's season is still on the line as Game 4 gets underway... both pitchers are in total command early. The Dodgers' first base runner was Freddie Freeman on a 4th inning single, but Blake Snell matched Buehler out for out.....LA got two in the 4th as Freeman scored on a two run shot by Will Smith, and they added the third run in the sixth when Teoscar Hernandez doubled in Mookie Betts to lead it 3-0. San Diego got one back in the home half of the 6th when Tatis Jr. scored on a ground ball hit deep into the hole at short...The Padres made it 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th when Tatis Jr got a leadoff double, and was driven in on a two out single by Jackson Merrill. [BTW] Buehler got pulled in the 5th after the third Dodger run scored, and Robbie Ray was put in to do long relief... and in the 9th, Ray retired the Dodgers in order, and the Padres have three outs to save their season. I'm just going to recap the scoresheet...Bogaerts [who had a miserable series offensively AND defensively] singles to lead off the bottom of the 9th...Klein comes on in relief for the Dodgers....Cronenworth strikes out....Klein throws one "JUUUUST a bit outside" and Bogaerts is at second on the wild pitch...Samad Taylor beats the throw on a weak little dribbler to third and we have runners at the corners.... and now Freddy Fermin [who has replaced Luis Campusano at catcher] comes to the plate.... and he hits one down the right field line.....it's fair!!! Bogaerts scores to tie it at 3-3, and Taylor [who is semi-active] is waved around third....he will score on a 1-5 on a 1D6....Tucker digs it out and throws it to the relay man, Freddie Freeman who turns and guns it home.... and the roll is..... a 6!!! Taylor is out, but Fermin has taken second on the throw.... and now comes Fernando Tatis Jr.... who waits for his pitch and catches one that Klein wishes he could have back and launches it into the right-center gap.... Fermin is full stoic, but he still has about two weeks to score before the ball gets back to the infield.... and the Padres have pulled off a miracle 4-3 win!!...Robbie Ray gets the W....Great game!!! Blake Snell didn't get the decision, but this is his line: 5.1/ 1/ 3/ 11 K's/ 1 BB.
Game 5
King [SD] - v - Yamamoto [LA]
It all comes down to this....and both pitchers were magnificent... not a lot to report here, the pitcher's lines will tell the story: Yamamoto 7.0/ 1/ 4/ 5/ 1, and for King 8.0/ 3/ 3/ 8/ 1.... the Padres had two on and nobody out in the 8th, but Tanner Scott came in and put out the brushfire and retired the Padres in order in 9th to send them home and keep LA in the playoffs... the number 3-3-3 was again significant for the Padres because the Dodgers scored three runs on three hits [including a three run HR by Max Muncy] in the 3rd inning....Ohtani basically went off the air for the last three games...[one for twelve {a single} and seven K's] but a great series to play out on the tabletop here at the global HQ of the Yosemite Tabletop Baseball Network.... I really enjoyed the great pitching and all the postseason drama...
(#1) Milwaukee defeats (#6) Philadelphia (3-2)
(Kurt Bergland): The Brewers fell behind two games to one in the series, but took the final two games to win it, three games to two. Misiorowski allowed only one earned run in 16 innings of work, striking out 23, and was clearly the MVP. Scores: (game 1) Milwaukee 2, Philadelphia 1; (game 2) Philadelphia 6, Milwaukee 2; (game 3) Philadelphia 6, Milwaukee 4; (game 4) Milwaukee 8, Philadelphia 0; (game 5) Milwaukee 5, Philadelphia 2.
League Championship Series
(#2) Los Angeles at (#1) Milwaukee
(Keith Wibbels):
(#6 Chicago) at (#2 Texas)
(Michael Bratta):
