Mariners v. Dodgers in Game 7 with Classic Statis-Pro Cards

We are a few days away from shifting to our Value Add Basketball Game half of the year for the blog, with about 40 new unique readers clicking to those game instructions every day ... but still wrapping up the Statis-Pro baseball half of the season.

George Springer kept the Mariners out of the actual MLB World Series, and voters may have denied Cal Raleigh the MVP on an incredibly close 17–13 vote, but in the Statis-Pro Classic Baseball Cards World Series the Mariners have forced a Game 7.

With the classic Statis-Pro cards, the Dodgers–Mariners best-of-7 was tied 2–2.

In Game Five, the Dodgers once again used dominant starting pitching to gain control of the series. Blake Snell pitched six strong innings (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K). George Kirby matched him with an equally solid outing (5 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K). The game remained tied 1–1 into the eighth inning, when Teoscar Hernández broke the tie with an RBI single. He finished 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. The bullpen closed it out for the Dodgers, with Blake Treinen earning the save in the 3–1 victory. The series headed back to L.A. with the Dodgers leading 3–2.

In Game Six, the Mariners faced elimination — and Seattle’s big bats returned to save the season. Another subpar outing from Yoshinobu Yamamoto opened the door, and Seattle blew the game open with an eight-run fifth inning capped by Cal Raleigh’s three-run homer. Yamamoto gave up five runs in just four innings. Also contributing to the Mariners’ offense was Eugenio Suárez, who went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Luis Castillo pitched five innings to pick up the win. This series is headed to a Game Seven.

Leading up to these games:

In our 2024 Statis-Pro World Series — when the Montana league used the 2023 Classic Statis-Pro Baseball cards and the Dodgers won the NL, and Milwaukee used the 2024 projected cards as Seattle won the AL — the Dodgers were much better, sweeping the series in four dominant games.

In the actual MLB season this year, the Mariners just missed the World Series when George Springer’s late three-run homer in Game 7 kept them out. They saw just how close they were when Toronto not only barely beat Seattle, but then barely lost to the Dodgers in their own Game 7 — only because of an out at home by less than an inch, in a play best summarized by this headline: “Andy Pages brutally ran over Kiké Hernández to save the Dodgers in the World Series.”

The Mariners were that close to a World Series title, and Cal Raleigh was just as close to the MVP — chosen by 13 of 30 clubs, barely edged out by Aaron Judge.

This year, the Mariners were not going to be blown out. After last year’s sweep, they’ve at least forced a 3-3 series, once again one win away — and this year the loser will get a second chance. For the first time, we’re playing two World Series with the same matchup: this one with the 2024 Classic Cards, followed by a second using the projected 2025 card sheets.

Our two commissioners started playing Statis-Pro baseball as sophomores in high school in Richmond, VA, using the 1979 cards — and now, decades later, we’re still here playing for another Game 7.