Two teams that had started the season and gotten about halfway through were now out of the league.  Frank was immediately kicked out of the league.  Being that Mike P.’s removal was mutual, Frank remains the only person to be impeached and removed from the league.  Frank was also the recipient of a lifetime suspension.  He would not be allowed to play in the following two seasons, but could apply for reinstatement after Season VI.  Frank also lost all of his civil rights.  He would not be allowed any voting privileges if he ever did return to the league.  We knew a punishment for Mike P. would be nothing more than ceremonial, so no official punishment was ever handed down.  At this point in time the more pressing issue was: How do we complete Season IV? 

The solution to the Mike P. problem was simple enough.  He returned his team, so everyone would take turns playing out the remainder of his schedule.  But what of Frank’s team?  How would we play out his schedule?  Before the disaster (to this day, Frank still contends that his team perished in a plane crash) Frank’s team had played better than any Frank team that had preceded it.  He hovered around the .500 mark and appeared to be in contention for second place in the Eagle Division.  But after the biggest loss of Frank’s Strato career (i.e. the loss of his team), it was obvious that Team Eunice would drop out of contention and their remaining games would be meaningless from his team’s standpoint.  But those games would be important in determining who was going to the playoffs.  The following solution was agreed upon: Since most players had another card from another season (albeit usually a less productive season), we would replace Frank’s players accordingly.  Those players that could not be so replaced were replaced with players from the “minor leagues.”  Frank’s replacement team was assembled and play would continue with everyone taking turns managing the collection of losers. 

As we had guessed, Frank’s replacement team played a role in the playoff race.  Mike had gotten off to a fast start and appeared to be a shoe-in for the ZER4PHALE Division wildcard berth.  But as was customary for Mike, he had a mid-season mega-slump and lost his hold on second place.  The steady Louis had passed Mike and had a half-game second place lead with just one game remaining – against Frank’s replacement team.  One person who may have been elated about Frank’s departure was Louis.  This was due to the fact that the one team in his history that Frank was able to continually dominate was Lou’s.   But this situation was different.  Lou didn’t have to see Frank sitting across from him while he played this playoff clinching game.  And if that wasn’t enough, the players taking the field for Frank’s team were hardly much competition.  Mike glumly looked on as Joe filled in the lineup card for the replacement team.  The ghost of Frank Howard didn’t even bother to show up for the occasion to haunt Mike yet again.  But maybe he should have.  For a minor miracle occurred – the Frank replacement team won the game.  Mike and Lou would be matched up for a one game playoff to determine who was going to meet division winner Dan in the playoffs.