Grape Chews Blow Their Last Chance

In Toroidal/Season 17 the Detroit Grape Chews and Milwaukee Flamingos met in the Hot League Championship Series, while the Tucson Butchers faced the Cold League Choke Artists the Baltimore Texas in the Cold League Championship Series - a special Double Choke scenario that meant the winner of the Hot League series would surely face the Butchers - the third leg of the Midwest Love Triangle.

Prior to the Hot League Championship Series, the Flamingos made a deal with the Grape Chews. If the Grape Chews could win the Season 17 Hot League Championship Series, and then win the Toroidal Cup series against the Butchers, the Flamingos would agree to resurrect the Midwest Crown rivalry, abandon their romance with the Butchers, and go back to the way things were in the early seasons of the Hellmouth Cup to give things another shot. If the Grape Chews lost the series, or the Toroidal Cup series, the Flamingos and Grape Chews would mutually agree to close the book on the Midwest Crown and retire the rivalry forever.

The Grape Chews agreed. The Grape Chews and Flamingos tied up the series at 2 games apiece. And then, the Grape Chews choked in a critical Game 5.

In Game 5 f69096d2-d073-4be2-8b7f-9f105667cbb4, arguably the most important and defining game of the entire Detroit Grape Chews franchise, the Grape Chews started off weak, and only got weaker, until they were completely overrun by the Flamingos. It was a characteristic choke under maximum pressure.

The Grape Chews would later refer to this game as "The Breakup," including repeated attempts to bring up Game 5 out of nowhere in conversation and refer to it as "The Breakup," but everyone else in the league considered this self-gloss to be poor form, and ignored it.