The Metro Red Sox fell one game short in their quest for the franchise's second three-peat and 11th overall title, as the Bistro 781 Bulls defeat the defending champions 2-1 in the best-of-three MSBL Masters Championship Series.

The Bulls become the first team to win the Masters title in their inaugural season, taking home the 2019 hardware after producing a 6-1 record in the postseason, where the offense hit .318 as a team, averaged 9.6 hits per game, and belted a pair of home runs.

Their postseason success was fueled by the Bulls' 3-4-5 hitters (Johnny Hayes, Tim Hart, and Steve Busby), as the trio combined to hit .428 (27-63) with 19 RBIs.

On the defensive side, Jon Tenney led the Bulls' pitching staff with a 4-0 record and 1.42 ERA.

In their inaugural regular-season campaign, the Bulls assembled a 13-7 record, joining the Gigantes, Milton Breakers, and Metro Red Sox in a 4-way tie for second place.

Sitting at 5-7 with a month remaining in the regular season, the Red Sox actually found themselves at risk of missing the postseason for the first time in the franchise's 17-year history, however, the 10-time champions pulled off an 8-game win streak to close out the season and force the first 4-way tie in Masters Division history.

Masters' Commissioner Mike Powers had to bust open the rule book and run through all of the tie-breaker scenarios in order to determine the final playoff seeding between the four teams.

In the opening round of the postseason, the Bulls, recipients of the No. 4 seed, edged the No. 5-seeded Gigantes in two games (7-4, 5-4), quickly moving on to do battle with the top-seeded Somerville Alibrandis in the semifinals.

After a first-round bye, Somerville earned their spot in the semis with a two-game sweep (2-1, 19-6) of the No. 8-seeded Saugus Sea Dogs in the quarterfinals.

The Bulls faced Somerville twice in the regular season and ended up on the losing side in both of those contests, however, the underdogs would flip the script and avenge those losses with a two-game sweep (9-3, 3-1) over Somerville in the semis.

Robert Austin (7 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) and Jon Tenney (6 IP, 4 H, ER, BB, 2 K) held the top-ranked team to a .225 batting average in the series, helping the Bulls punch their ticket to the Masters Division Finals.

Meanwhile, the No. 3-seeded Red Sox extended their winning streak to ten games, after shutting out the No. 6-seeded Avi Nelson Rockies in both games (5-0, 3-0) of their opening-round matchup, quickly advancing on to the semifinals to face the No. 2-seeded Milton Breakers.

The Red Sox' dominance continued in the semis, where they held their opponent scoreless for a second straight series, this time shutting out the Breakers in two games (7-0, 3-0). The Sox lengthened their winning streak to 14 games and, more importantly, reached the Finals for the third consecutive season.

The two-man pitching crew, made up of Sam Steed and Andres Conde, combined to go 4-0 with a 0.00 ERA in the first two rounds for the Red Sox.

This set the stage for a Finals matchup between the Bistro 781 Bulls and the defending champion Metro Red Sox. The Bulls looked to become the first team to win the Masters title in their inaugural season, while the Red Sox looked to successfully defend their title and become the first Masters' franchise to pull off a second 3-peat.

The two teams were somewhat familiar with one another, seeing that the Bulls roster included several players from the 2018 Red Sox championship squad. Another commonality was the 6-0 postseason record each team brought into the Finals, where it quickly became evident that neither side was ready to suffer their first postseason defeat.

The opening game of the 2019 Masters Finals saw three different lead changes in the first five innings, before the score became knotted at 4-4 heading into the 6th. The scoring then came to a halt over the next two innings and the game headed into extra frames, but due to the field curfew, the game was suspended after 9 innings of play.

The two teams would have to wait an entire week before resuming the suspended game, with Game 2 scheduled to begin immediately following the conclusion of Game 1.

One week later, the game resumed in the top of the 10th, where the Bulls quickly pushed across what turned out to be the game-winning run, after Tim Troup tossed a scoreless 10th inning to earn the save and preserve the 5-4 Game 1 win.

The Bulls handed the Red Sox their first loss in nearly two months, putting an end to their 14-game winning streak. Johnny Hayes (2-2, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Kevin Lyons (3-4, RBI, R), and Rusty Young (3-4) each had multiple hits for the Bulls in the win.

In Game 2, the Red Sox promptly took a 4-0 lead in the 1st, but the pesky Bulls' squad roared their way back and cut the lead down to one after five innings of play.

In the 6th, the Red Sox would tack on the eventual game-winning run, taking Game 2 by a final score of 6-5, despite a valiant effort by the Bulls to pull off the comeback. Doug Spofford and Mark Moise combined to go 6-for-7 for the Red Sox in the win.

With the series tied at one game apiece, the Masters Championship would come down to the all-important Game 3. In this game, it was the Bulls jumping out to an early lead, scoring three runs in the 1st off the Red Sox' ace, Sam Steed.

Steed (7 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 8 K, 3.00 ERA) would ultimately find his groove and go on to pitch all seven innings for the Sox, but the damage had already been done. The first-inning runs were more than enough for the Bulls' Game 3 starter, Jon Tenney (6 IP, 4 H, 3 K, 0.00 ERA), who tossed six scoreless innings, giving up just four hits to go along with three strikeouts.

The Bulls would add an insurance run in the 7th for Tim Troup, who once again closed out the game and helped secure the 4-0 Game 3 victory and the 2019 MSBL Masters championship.

Congratulations to the Bistro 781 Bulls on winning the Masters championship in their inaugural season, and hats off to the runner-up Metro Red Sox on a fantastic postseason run that came down to the final game.

Click to watch a video replay of Game 3.