The False Note

The Ft. Worth Piano Tuners failed attempt to clinch a Cold League pennant in Season 7 of the Hellmouth Cup is remembered less as a Cinderella story and more as a mass head-fake. A collective that had spent previous seasons dissolving into Partytime soup by Day 45 suddenly began executing high-level defensive blocks against the Tucson Butchers . To the fans and analysts, this success felt deeply uncomfortable, like watching a dog walk on its hind legs for too long. It looked like Golly, but the behavior of the patterns created strange, unsettling impressions on the subconscious. Pretty much everyone knew something fishy was going on, but no one knew exactly what it was.

The Piano Tuners' LDS win over the Butchers led to a Championship Series against the Long Beach Flightless Birds , where they attempted to assemble a complex formation early in Game 1. The result was a disaster - they just didn't have the precision needed to pull off the formation. The Flightless Birds, sensing the weakness, swarmed the Tuners in a huge flock and picked away at their soft spots until they had swept the Tuners in 3 straight games. The Tuners desperately claimed they were "experimenting with jazz improvisation," but everyone knew the truth: the imposters had been hoisted by their own petard.

Season 7 Cold League Championship Series Results Table
Long Beach Flightless Birds vs. Ft. Worth Piano Tuners
	Winner	W Score	Margin	L Score	Loser	Generations	Link
Game 1	Long Beach Flightless Birds	189	78.31%	41	Ft. Worth Piano Tuners	2,000	f790629d-593c-4085-9ab9-39b935f34e0b
Game 2	Long Beach Flightless Birds	104	23.08%	80	Ft. Worth Piano Tuners	1,032	8057f51f-17e6-49e8-8a0c-265759f6198e
Game 3	Long Beach Flightless Birds	96	42.71%	55	Ft. Worth Piano Tuners	2,029	fd98019c-4cea-41c2-b2ed-cbfcd94aee59

For the Flightless Birds, the display of strength would plant seeds of enmity between the Birds and the Tuners, which would not take many seasons to sprout, bloom, and create noxious fruit.