Middleboro captures first MABL title in franchise history

The Middleboro Mocka Rays (formerly Middleboro Red Sox) are the MABL 18+ champions for the first time in the franchise's 13-year history, defeating the Boston Sox three games to one in the best-of-five championship series. Middleboro, which produced one of the most efficient offenses in MABL regular-season history, would bat .323 in the postseason, spearheaded by nine-year veteran and first-year manager Tyler Ferdinand, who went 16 for 31 (.516), with 3 doubles, 5 RBI's, and 7 runs scored.

This is the first MABL title for the rookie manager, who was just 13 years old when the Middleboro franchise was formed by his dad Bill Ferdinand, in 2008. Four years later, Tyler Ferdinand would join the squad and team up with his dad for the next eight seasons, but they would all end in disappointment, as the franchise failed to reach the Finals in each of its first twelve seasons. Bill knew that drastic changes were going to be necessary in order to turn the ship around for his ball club. At the end of the 2019 season, he would decide to step down as Middleboro's manager, handing over the reins to his son Tyler, but not before giving the franchise a new identity and a chance at a clean slate. Beginning with the 2020 season, the Middleboro Red Sox would become the Middleboro Mocka Rays and Tyler Ferdinand would take over as the newly branded team's skipper. The transformation appeared to have an immediate impact, because in just his first season at the helm, the rookie manager would lead the Middleboro franchise to their first-ever MABL championship. More importantly, Tyler would earn himself some well-deserved bragging rights at the Ferdinand family dinner table.

Due to the delayed start of the 2020 season, all MABL teams played an abbreviated 10-game regular-season schedule. The Mocka Rays finished the regular season with the top overall record (9-1), earning the No. 1 seed in the postseason for the first time in franchise history. Their successful 2020 campaign was due in large part to their potent offense, which led the league in nine different offensive categories, most notably their .413 team batting average, the highest team average in MABL regular-season history. The offense was powered by MVP-candidates Mike Cahill and Kevin Luciano, as the dynamic duo finished top-two in Batting Average, Hits, Runs, RBI's, HR's and Slugging %. Cahill became just the second player in MABL history to win baseball's coveted Triple Crown, finishing atop the league in Batting Average (.645), RBI's (26), and HR's (5). He also set a new MABL single-season record with his .645 Batting Average. The pitching staff of the Mocka Rays, led by Jake Mainey (2-1, 2.74 ERA, 23 IP, 19 K's), produced the league's second-lowest ERA (3.27), allowing just 38 runs on the season.

The 2020 MABL postseason comprised of the league's top four teams, beginning with two best-of-five Semifinals series. In the first of two matchups, the No. 2-seeded Boston Sox (8-2) faced the No. 3-seeded Waltham Cutters (6-4) in a 2009 Finals rematch. The Sox pitching staff, which produced a league-best 1.65 ERA in the regular season, would enter the series without their ace Jon Shepard (due to Park League playoffs), so in a surprise move, the Sox sent out rookie southpaw Nick Powers in Game 1. Powers, who had zero innings under his belt in the regular season, would throw a complete game 3-hitter and strike out 15 batters in the 3-1 opening game win for the Sox. The Cutters evened the series with a 4-1 victory in a foggy Game 2, behind the arm of rookie Ryan Fleming, who provided six strong innings on the hill, before giving way to Billy Beauchesne, who closed out the final frame with the bases loaded. Unfortunately for the Cutters, this would turn out to be their only win of the series. The Sox would clinch their third straight Finals appearance with a 4-0 win in Game 3 and 13-2 win in Game 4. Powers would go 2-0 (0.50 ERA, 23 K's) in the series for the Sox, giving up just 1 earned run in 14 innings of work.

The Sox would eagerly await their Finals opponent, to be revealed following the Semifinals series between the No. 1-seeded Mocka Rays (9-1) and No. 4-seeded Waltham Athletics (4-6). In Game 1 of a gritty back-and-forth series, the two-time champion A's stunned the Mocka Rays with a 7-0 shutout win, handing the top-seeded team their first shutout loss of the season, behind a complete game 3-hitter from Brett O'Keefe. A full week would pass before the series resumed, so the A's called upon a fresh O'Keefe again in Game 2, but the Mocka Rays would get the better of him the second time around. The top-ranked offense put up 8 runs (3 unearned) on the A's starter and squeaked out a 12-11 win in Game 2. The two teams would split Games 3 and 4 to even the series at 2-2, forcing a decisive Game 5 that featured a classic pitcher's duel between Alec Christian of the A's and 17-year old Cameron Breault of the Mocka Rays.

In the win-or-go-home Game 5, the A's jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the 1st, but the Mocka Rays would come back to tie it in the 5th on a RBI-single from Derek Pizarro. The game remained tied 1-1 and eventually headed into extra innings. In the bottom of the 9th, Zachary Walker of the Mocka Rays, lead off the inning with a single. Two batters later, he would advance to third on a base hit by Pat Yee. With the winning run now 90 feet away, Evan Chand would come up big in the clutch, driving in the winning run with a walk-off single that would send Middleboro to the Finals for the first time in the franchise's history. Breault would earn his first postseason win in the 2-1 walk-off victory, while Christian would be charged with the tough loss. Both starting pitchers threw all nine innings for their respective squad.

The 2020 MABL Championship featured a best-of-five series between the Mocka Rays' top-ranked offense and the Boston Sox' top-ranked pitching staff. In Game 1, the advantage went to the Mocka Rays' No. 1 offense, which batted .400 (12-30) as a team in the 4-3 win, including multi-hit games from Pizarro (2-4), Luciano (2-3), Thomas (2-3), and Yee (2-3). The Mocka Rays would hand Powers, the Sox Game 1 starter, his first loss of the postseason. Game 2 would fall in favor of the Sox No. 1 pitching staff - which would get a little bit of help, courtesy of the long ball. The Sox ace John Shepard, would make his first start of the postseason, holding the Mocka Rays to just two runs through seven innings. He would get very little run support from his offense up to that point, as the Sox trailed 2-1 heading into the final frame. Traverse Briana led off the inning with a base hit, putting the tying run on first base. After a fly out to right field by Ortiz, rookie Kyle Zeberlein stepped up to the plate with one out. Down in the count, Zeberlein would win the game with one swing of the bat, connecting on a 0-1 fastball from Zachary Walker, over the left-center fence for a 2-run walk-off home run, the first homer of his young career. The Sox would win Game 2 in dramatic fashion by a final score of 3-2.

Heading into Game 3 with the series tied 1-1, the three-time champion Sox appeared to have all of the momentum on their side, but Jake Mainey and Cameron Breault quickly put an end to that theory, tossing back-to-back shutouts in Games 3 (3-0) and Games 4 (6-0) respectively. Kevin Luciano lead the offensive attack, homering in both games for the Mocka Rays. 17-year old Cameron Breault became the youngest pitcher in MABL postseason history to win a clinching game in both the Semifinals and Finals.

Congratulations to the Middleboro Mocka Rays on winning the 2020 MABL Championship and to Bill and Tyler Ferdinand on becoming the first father-son duo to win a MABL championship. Hats off to the Sox on earning their third straight Finals appearance.