The MABL 18+ Postseason opens up tonight with four teams vying for the 2020 MABL Championship.

The No. 1-seeded Middleboro Mocka Rays (9-1) will take on the No. 4-seeded Waltham Athletics (4-6), while the No. 2-seeded Boston Sox (8-2) will do battle with the No. 3-seeded Waltham Cutters (6-4), both in a best-of-five series.

Let's take a deeper look at these matchups:

#1 Middleboro Mocka Rays vs #4 Waltham Athletics

Game 1 - Tue, Sep 1, 2020 at Waltham - Nipper, 8pm
Game 2 - Tue, Sep 8, 2020 at Waltham - Nipper, 8pm
Game 3 - Sun, Sep 13, 2020 at Middleboro - Peirce Playground, 4pm
Game 4 - Tue, Sep 15, 2020 at Waltham - Nipper, 8pm
Game 5 - Sun, Sep 17, 2020 at Brighton - Cassidy (CCircle), 7:45pm

The newly branded Mocka Rays (formerly Red Sox) had one of their best seasons as a franchise, locking down the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs with a 9-1 regular-season record.

They were undoubtedly led offensively by the Triple Crown Winner Mike Cahill (20-31 .645 BA), who finished the 10-game shortened season with 5 home runs, 26 RBIs, and 14 runs scored — numbers that would be impressive in a typical 24-game season, let alone just 10 games.

His fellow bash brother Kevin Luciano (15-25, .600 BA) also put up some impressive numbers on offense, finishing the shortened season with 3 home runs, 19 RBIs, and 16 runs scored.

There are very few holes in the Mocka Rays lineup, as evidenced by their league-leading .413 team batting average and 103 runs scored.

The pitching staff of the Mocka Rays closed out the regular season with a combined ERA of 3.27, led by Jake Mainey (2-1 record, 23 IP, 19 K), who tallied a 2.74 ERA on the hill.

The Mocka Rays face a perennial opponent in the Waltham Athletics (A's), who earned the No. 4 seed after finishing the regular season with a 4-6 record, and then defeating the Methuen Marlins in a play-in game.

The A's offense was led by the 2-3-4 hitters - Jason Tessari (.417 BA), Alec Christian (.321 BA), and Nick Tapper (.417 BA). On the mound, the A's were led by the ageless Jason Kurtz, who posted a 3-0 record and 0.33 ERA.

These two familiar foes have lots of playoff history, most recently the opening round of the 2019 postseason, where the A's defeated the Red Sox 2-0 in the best-of-three series.

The Mocka Rays will look to reach the Finals for the first time in the franchise's history. The A's on the other hand, have appeared in the Finals four times, winning the MABL title back in 2014 and 2017. They look to add a third championship trophy to their trophy case.

Kurtz pitched the A's into the semifinals on Sunday night, so they will need to rely on Brett O'Keefe in their attempt to steal Game 1 of the series from the Mocka Rays on Tuesday night.

#2 Boston Sox vs. #3 Waltham Cutters

Game 1 - Tue, Sep 1, 2020 at Lynn - Breed JHS Edmunds, 8:15pm
Game 2 - Thu, Sep 3, 2020 at Waltham - Nipper, 8pm
Game 3 - Tue, Sep 8, 2020 at Methuen High School, 8pm

The Boston Sox (8-2) were led by Nick Panzini, who hit .480 (12-25) on the season and showed off his speed with 8 stolen bases. Manager Omar Ortiz (11-30, .367 BA) had another great season at the plate, batting .367 with 3 doubles and 5 RBIs.

The Sox' lineup, which also includes tough outs in Rommel Peguero, Jake Perkins, and Ryan Foley, pose a challenge to any opposing pitching staff.

Speaking of pitching, the Sox will certainly rely on their ace Jon Shepard, who did not allow a run in 14 innings of work this season, while striking out 15.

The Sox' pitching staff, including Nick Panzini (2.13 ERA) and Seth Perkins (2.33 ERA), led the league with a 1.65 ERA.

The Sox will be looking for the franchise's third championship, winning the MABL title in 2018 and also back in 2013.

They will first need to get past the No. 3-seeded Waltham Cutters, who look to reach the Finals for the first time since 2011, when they defeated the Grays and won the 2011 MABL Championship.

The Cutters earned the No. 3 seed with a 6-4 regular-season record. The pitching staff was led by workhorses' Brian Rosinski (1.50 ERA, 32 K's in 23.1 IP) and Ryan Fleming (2.33 ERA, 25 K's in 30 IP), with the two combining to pitch 74% of the team's innings on the season.

Offensively, the Cutters were led by Mike Uradnik (14-25, .560 BA), Devin Conroy (10-25, .400 BA), and Tim Varakis (7-18, .389 BA).

The offense hit .289 as a team and showed lots of balance in their lineup from top to bottom, with different players producing on offense every game. This should make for a great match-up against the Sox' league-leading pitching staff.

These two teams met just once in the 2020 regular season, going back to the season-opener on July 16th, where the Sox earned the 3-2 win in walk-off fashion.

Best of luck to all four teams in the postseason!