The South Shore Spartans defeated the Boston Cardinals three games to one in the best-of-five Championship Series to claim their second MSBL 28+ title in two years — both with the Cardinals as their opponent.

Overall, the top-seeded Spartans went 8-1 in the postseason and outscored opponents 59-9, with five of their eight wins coming in shutout fashion.

In the 2018 regular season, the Spartans finished with a 21-0-1 record, becoming just the second team in MSBL 28+ history to go undefeated in the regular season.

In their historic regular-season run, the Spartans defeated opponents by an average of 7 runs per game and led the league in nearly every offensive category, including average (.375), runs (174), hits (229), and RBIs (155). The pitching staff also finished atop the division with a 1.62 ERA.

The Spartans' regular-season dominance carried over into the postseason, where the defending champs batted .325 as a team, banged out 83 hits, and scored a total of 55 runs. The pitching staff produced a 0.92 ERA, allowing just 8 earned runs over 61 innings.

Their Finals opponent for a second consecutive season was the No. 3-seeded Boston Cardinals (15-6), who had a fine postseason of their own, first sweeping the Cantabs (8-14) in the quarterfinals, and then persevering past the Bombers (16-4-1) in a tense semifinal series that went to a decisive Game 5.

The Cardinals earned their third straight trip to the MSBL 28+ Finals and a chance to avenge last year's Finals loss to the Spartans.

Their revenge tour got off to a strong start, as the Cardinals handed the Spartans their first loss of the season in Game 1 of the best-of-five Championship Series.

Patrick Yaroch (5.2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 K's, 2.47 ERA) earned the win for the Cardinals, allowing just 2 runs on 2 hits in 5.2 innings of work. Yulkin German (1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 5 K's, 0.00 ERA) recorded the save and helped secure the 4-2 Game 1 victory with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief, striking out all five batters he faced.

The Cardinals' celebration would be short-lived, however, as the Spartans pitching staff, made up of Troup, Smith, and Henry, shut down the Cardinals' offense for the remainder of the series, allowing just two runs over the next three games en route to the franchise's second championship in two years.

Congratulations to the South Shore Spartans on winning back-to-back MSBL 28+ titles, and hats off to the Boston Cardinals on their third straight Finals appearance.