[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Well, then, let's get back into it.

On September 25, 1877, the St. Louis Brown Stockings beat Cincinnati, 8-5, making the standings:

Cincinnati 30-22, 0 GB, 5 games remaining
St. Louis 30-24, 1 GB, 6 games remaining
Louisville 28-24, 2 GB, 8 games remaining

Then on the 26th, Louisville got drilled 8-6 by Chicago, thanks to a five-run third inning:

Cincinnati 30-22, 0 GB, 5 games left
St. Louis 30-24, 1 GB, 6 games left
Louisville 28-25, 2 1/2 GB, 7 games left

The following day, Louisville avenged the loss with a 6-5 victory over the White Stockings, thanks to a bottom of the ninth triple by Jim Foran:

Cincinnati 30-22, 0 GB, 5 games left
St. Louis 30-24, 1 GB, 6 games left
Louisville 29-25, 2 GB, 6 games left

On the 28th, Louisville knocked off St. Louis, 4-3, thanks to some untimely errors in the seventh inning by Jimmy Wood and Chick Fulmer:

Cincinnati 30-22, 0 GB, 5 games left
St. Louis 30-25, 1 1/2 GB, 5 games left
Louisville 30-25, 1 1/2 GB, 5 games left

On September 29th, Cincinnati played lowly Chicago, and beat them 4-3 in 10 innings when George Heubel reached on an error and then scored on a ground out. The same day, Louisville's defense was able to hold St. Louis in check for a 3-1 victory:

Cincinnati 31-22, 0 GB, 4 games left
Louisville 31-25, 1 1/2 GB, 4 games left
St. Louis 30-26, 2 1/2 GB, 4 games left

After a day off for the Sabbath, the race resumed. Chicago gave Louisville and St. Louis an opening by crushing Cincinnati 7-1, and the Grays took advantage, destroying St. Louis 10-4:

Cincinnati 31-23, 0 GB, 3 games left
Louisville 32-25, 1/2 GB, 3 games left
St. Louis 30-27, 2 1/2 GB, 3 games left

On the 2nd, Cincinnati rebounded from their loss to obliterate Chicago, 14-5. Louisville emphatically finished off St. Louis' title hopes, 9-3:

Cincinnati 32-23, 0 GB, 2 games left
Louisville 33-25, 1/2 GB, 2 games left
St. Louis 30-28, eliminated from contention

Now it was time for Louisville to take on Chicago and Cincinnati to battle St. Louis. In the Cincinnati-St. Louis game, the Brown Stockings took a 5-4 lead into the top of the ninth inning. The first batter, George Heubel, hit a fly ball to right fielder Deacon White, who promptly muffed the play and allowed Heubel to end up on second base. Then Ross Barnes hit a base hit to left field that looked sure to score a run, but St. Louis left fielder Andy Leonard made a perfect throw to get Heubel at the plate. First baseman Tim Murnane flied out to White, and all seemed lost. Then, with the team down to its last out, Tom York of the Reds hit a double into the gap to score Barnes. The game went into the 10th inning, where Cincinnati added two more runs to win the game 7-5. At the same time, Louisville was getting demolished by Chicago 8-0, so Cincinnati's dramatic win clinched the first-place finish for them.

The final standings:

Cincinnati Reds 34-23
Louisville Grays 33-27
St. Louis Brown Stockings 30-30
Chicago White Stockings 28-31
Hartford Dark Blues 27-31
Boston Red Caps 25-35

Up next: the Win Share awards.