Beware of the forfeit at the MSBL World Series

Men's Senior Baseball League World Series

60-and-over Cactus division

As Yogi Berra always said, it ain't over till it's over."

Throw out the won-loss records of round-robin play in the 60-and-over Cactus division at the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series this week in Phoenix.

The Paladin team from Albuquerque had won one game in round-robin play this week. Or was it two, or three? One or two teams in the division had some hanky-panky going on. One of the rules is a team must play 14 guys, or must match the amount of players used by an opponent (the amount of players who were entered by the manager on the roster at the start of a game). Alas, a forfeit! I know here we go again with technicalities.

So, the bottom line: The two players on the Paladin roster from the Tucson Old Timers -- Mike Dawson and John Mathews, may live to play another day. In other words, Paladin may have made the playoffs and with two wins on Friday could find themselves in the championship game on Saturday.

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. If all the rules and regulation come to an end by midnight tonight, Dawson and Mathews may find themselves back on the field tomorrow for at least a seventh game. At 1-5, including a tough 9-5 loss today at Riverview Park in Mesa, Paladin is in the running for a playoff berth due to the forfeits.

Of course, things can change in a hurry as teams await the call on the last day of round-robin play, waiting for that all important phone call with the results of all the rule changes, the tiebreakers and the all important runs-scored-against rule...and the forfeits, all which adds up to if a team stays for another day or goes home and prepares for next year.

Well, as Bookemdanosports finishes up this story, it is not quite midnight, and now the call just came in. April fools or better yet, November fools!

"No playoff game," says Big John Mathews. "We were misinformed."

"We're coming home," says Dawson. "We'll be back on the field with the Tucson Old Timers on Monday at Udall.

The TOTS will be glad to have you back.

Photo: Mike Dawson and John Mathews finished up play today at the MSBL World Series. It's official three weeks of fun for the nine members (Bob Daliege, Bill Mishler, Lloyd Barzell, Pete Peters, Pigpen Price, Tim Tolson, Joe Opocensky along with Dawson and Mathews) of the TOTS who had the pleasure of competing in the 31st annual Men's Senior Baseball League World Series.