Robles, Edwards bringing SBs back

The days of Rickey Henderson, Tim Raines, and Vince Coleman are long gone. You can blame the "Moneyball" effect of devaluing stolen bases or the rise in analytics generally. Or maybe it's just that chicks dig the long ball.

Arkansas, Poovey last 21 innings

Arkansas and Poovey Farms went 21 innings last Tuesday night in the longest game of the season, just one inning short of the longest game in DMBL history.

Cruz earns MVP in Tucson's 1st title run

Nelson Cruz came up with a number of big hits during this year's title run for top-seeded Tucson, earning playoff MVP honors after the Scorpions won Game 6 over Arkansas to win their first DMBL title.

In war of attrition, Tucson takes Game 5 in 14 innings

Tucson outlasted Arkansas for a 2-1 win in a critical Game 5 on Monday, taking advantage of a fielding miscue after an epic pitching battle that lasted into the 14th inning.

Lester twirls 4-hitter to even series

It was another crisp, well-pitched matchup in Game 2 of the DMBL World Series but this time Tucson came out on top, thanks to some timely hitting and a brilliant 4-hit shutout by Jon Lester.

Arkansas sneaks past Tucson in 12 innings

The Game 1 pitching duel between Jake Arrieta and Dallas Keuchel came to fruition if only for 6 innings but it was Lorenzo Cain's magic postseason bat that came through for Arkansas yet again for a 2-1 extra-innings win at Tucson.

Keuchel, Cain power Falcons to sweep

A rematch of last year's five-game DMBL final ended a game sooner as Arkansas swept San Francisco with a 4-0 win in Game 4 at San Francisco.

Arkansas pulls out Game 3 in the 9th

Mike Fiers and Edison Volquez matched one another for 6-plus innings but Falcons pulled out another late victory with a run in the 9th for a 2-1 win in San Francisco. The Game 3 triumph puts the defending champion Arkansas in a commanding 3-0 lead in the Best-of-7 semifinal series.

Keuchel shuts down Frisco for Game 1 win

Arkansas took Game 1 in their semifinal series against San Francisco in a rare postseason duel between 20-game winners.

Cespedes, Stanton race for the Mitchell

Allentown slugger Giancarlo Stanton and Hopatcong's Yoenis Cespedes have done their best the past week to make the Kevin Mitchell Award a two-man race in the home stretch of the season.

Pearce nabs MVP as Golden Falcons take title

The 5th-seeded Arkansas Falcons went through a gauntlet of the 4th-seeded Poovey Farms Dairy Cows in 4 games, an epic 7-game series versus the top-seeded Tucson Scorpions, and finally knocked off the No. 2 seed and defending champion San Francisco Experience in five games to claim the 2015 DMBL title.

Arkansas did it behind it's killer P's lineup: Steve Pearce, Jhonnny Peralta, Buster Posey and Martin Prado. And don't forget Anthony Rizzo, along with some great pitching from Alex Wood, Marcus Stroman and a solid bullpen.

Pearce, who started all 16 games in the postseason, led all players in hits with 18 (along with teammate Lorenzo Cain), slashing .310/.412/.552, with a team-high 3 home runs, with 7 RBIs. Leonys Martin and Wood, both picked up from Philly at the trade deadline, also got consideration for postseason MVP honors. Arkansas gave up a 9th rounder for Martin and a 2nd and a 6th for Wood.

Martin only started 10 games in the postseason, including just one in the finals, but led the Falcons with 11 RBIs. He came up with 3 hits and 5 RBIs in a decisive Game 7 win over Tucson in the semi-finals. In a critical Game 3 against San Francisco, Martin propelled the Falcons to a 6-5 with 3 RBIs on 3 hits.

Wood tossed 7 shutout innings in the championship-clinching Game 5 and went 8 2/3 shutout innings in a vital Game 5 win in the semi-finals versus Tucson. Despite leading the league in postseason walks with 12 -- thanks to a 6-walk effort in Game 1 of the finals -- Wood was the Falcons' best pitcher. He was 2-1 with a league-high 27.2 innings, to go with 24 strikeouts (second only to Chris Sale's 32) and 1.30 ERA.

In the finals, Pearce led the Falcons with 8 hits and 17 total bases, slashing .444/.565/.944. Peralta, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 draft after Zach Duke, had a team-high 6 runs and 3 doubles, slashing .368/.455/.842, and right behind Pearce with 16 total bases in the five games during the finals. Overall, Arkansas hit .273 in the final, .337 on-base and slugged .483. They out-homered San Francisco 9 to 4.

The at-times dominant Sale was handled by the Arkansas lineup. San Francisco's ace made two starts in the finals, lasting only 10 2/3 innings, with a 5.89 ERA and 1.96 WHIP. The Experience saw some of their biggest hitters tamed in the finals, getting most of their offense from an unlikely source in platoon catcher Renee Rivera, who had 5 of San Francisco's 15 RBIs. Thanks to two big swings, he led the team in hits, batting, slugging, on-base, total bases and RBIs. Victor Martinez was just 3-for-21, the only other San Francisco regular to homer, with a 9th inning solo shot in Game 4. The team hit just .222, with an on-base of .287 and slugged a meager .323 in the finals.

It was Rivera's eighth-inning grand slam in Game 5 that proved to be San Fran's last gasp, cutting the Falcons lead to 5-4 at the time. Arkansas would add an insurance run in the 9th before finishing off the Experience for good.

San Francisco's Adam LaRoche led all batters in RBIs in the postseason with 12, and a league-high four home runs, followed by Martin with 11.

It's the 6th DMBL title in franchise history for Arkansas. The Golden Falcons are the first wild card team to advance to the series since Newark in 2010 and the first wild card to win the title since Marietta in 2009. It's also the second year in a row that the defending champion lost in the finals (San Francisco knocked off Hoboken in 6 games in the 2014 series).