Royals repeat as MetroWest Champions

The Metrowest Royals are the 2021 MSBL MetroWest champions, following a two-game sweep of the Metrowest Orioles in a rematch of last year's Finals.

The second-seeded Royals (14-4) defeated the top-seeded Orioles (15-3) by scores of 6-4 and 7-3 in the best-of-three Championship Series, winning their second consecutive title and repeating as MSBL MetroWest champions.

The Royals become the first MetroWest team in the Boston Men's Baseball League (BMBL) era to win back-to-back titles, posting a combined 8-0 undefeated postseason record in their historic back-to-back championship seasons.

This is the fifth overall title for the Royals' franchise, and their fourth title in seven years (2016, 2018, 2020, 2021) as a member of the BMBL. They now own a combined postseason record of 20-2 in their four BMBL championship seasons.

In the 2021 regular season, the reigning MetroWest champs produced a 14-4 record, clinching the No. 2 seed in the postseason and a guaranteed berth in the semifinals for a second straight year.

The Royals' offense finished third in the MetroWest division with a .372 team batting average, once again fueled by Mike Power (18-for-28, .643 Avg.), who took home the MetroWest batting title for the second year in a row.

Six players in total batted .400 or higher on the regular season, including Ryan Bere (18-for-45, .400 Avg.), Jay Hussey (16-for-37, .432 Avg.), Brian Schools (12-for-25, .480 Avg.), Mike Feetham (26-for-45, .578 Avg.), and Miguel Gonzalez (11-for-18, .611 Avg.).

The pitching staff of the Royals ranked second in the league with a 2.05 ERA, once again spearheaded by their ace and last year's Cy Young Award winner Chris Dion, who posted an 8-2 record with a 1.70 ERA and a league-leading 82 strikeouts.

The Royals 2021 postseason campaign began with a semifinal doubleheader versus the No. 3-seeded Northborough Cardinals, who matched the Royals with a 14-4 regular-season record.

The Royals claimed the regular-season series, defeating the Cardinals two out of three times, with all three games decided by two runs or less.

The two teams had just one prior meeting in the postseason, back in the 2019 Semifinals, where the Cardinals swept the Royals in two games and eventually went on to win the 2019 MetroWest Championship.

This time around, Chris Dion (7 IP, 2 H, 12 K's, 0.00 ERA) and Jon Shepard (8 IP, 6 H, 14 K's, 2.63 ERA) would make sure the Cardinals did not stand in the way of another Finals berth for the blue and white.

The pitching duo combined to go 2-0 with 26 K's in the semifinal series, while the offense combined for 11 runs on 19 hits, as the Royals secured their second-straight Finals appearance with a 6-1 win in Game 1 and a 5-4 extra-innings win in Game 2.

Their Finals opponent for the second year running was the top-seeded Metrowest Orioles, who composed a league-best 15-3 record in the regular season — marking the fourth straight year and the fifth time in six years the O's finished the regular season with the best overall record.

Offensively, the O's led the league in multiple statistical categories, including Average (.389), Slugging (.514), OPS (.995), and OBP (.481), while also hitting a franchise-high 8 home runs.

MVP-candidate Paul Goodwin charged the O's offense with a team-best .627 batting average and a league-leading 32 hits.

Brian Lindsey once again anchored the pitching staff with a 9-2 record and a team-best 1.97 ERA. Lindsey, who is no stranger to a workhorse role on the hill, tossed 67% of his team's innings (74.2 IP) in the regular-season.

The Orioles' postseason began with a best-of-three semifinal series versus the No. 5-seeded Marlborough Red Sox (6-12), who earned their spot in the semis with a 9-3 upset win over the 4th-seeded Douglas Tigers (12-6) in a first-round single-elimination matchup.

The Red Sox and O's faced off just once in the 2021 regular season, back on opening day, where the O's offense exploded for 18 runs on 22 hits in an 18-5 lopsided win.

A similar result unfolded in Game 1 of their semifinal matchup, as the O's No. 1 through 4 hitters combined to go 8-for-13 with 5 runs scored, leading to an 11-3 win.

The Red Sox answered right back with an 8-3 win in Game 2 to keep their playoff hopes alive and stretch the series to a decisive Game 3, where ultimately their Cinderella run would come to an end.

The O's defeated the Red Sox 7-2, behind a stellar performance from Steve Cadoret (7.1 IP, 3 H, 6 K's, 1.91 ERA) who picked up the Game 3 win and helped secure the O's third straight trip to the MetroWest Finals — and a shot at redemption.

For the second time in two years, the Orioles battled the Royals in the MSBL MetroWest Finals, hoping for a different result this time, after getting swept by their longtime rivals in last year's Finals.

On the opposing side, the Royals looked to successfully defend their title and pull off the first repeat performance in MSBL MetroWest history.

In Game 1 of their Finals doubleheader, the O's took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd on a sac fly from the starting pitcher Steve Cadoret.

The Royals countered with four runs in the top of the 4th and two runs in the top of the 6th, highlighted by an Alex Wong (1-3, 3B, R, 3 RBI's) three-run triple and two different steals of home, one by Mike Power and the other by Steve Robb.

Trailing 6-1, the O's began to mount a comeback, plating three runs in the bottom of the 6th on a double from Chris Deane (1-3, 2B) and a triple from Brett Manley (2-3, 3B, R, RBI), to pull within two.

That was as close as the O's would come to pulling off the comeback, as Royals' starter Chris Dion (7 IP, 6 H, ER, 7 K's, 1.00 ERA) was able to work his way out of the 6th-inning jam, and then toss a scoreless 7th to earn the 6-4 Game 1 victory and bring his team within one win of the championship.

In Game 2, the scoring came early and often for the Royals, backed by a Jay Hussey (1-3, 2B, 2 RBI's) bases-loaded 2-run double in the 1st, and a 3rd-inning bases-loaded fielder's choice by Miguel Gonzalez that scored Anthony Perry from third and Alex Wong all the way from second.

Pete Lankarge (4 IP, 4 H, 2 K's, 1 ER, 1.75 ERA) got the starting nod for the Royals, and was able to keep the O's bats at bay, allowing just one earned run on four hits in four innings of work.

Down 5-3 in the 4th with two outs and a runner on first, the O's once again threatened to spoil the Royals' lead, as Nick Dill (1-2, 2B) blasted a double over Chris Perry's head in right, however, Perry was able to quickly track it down and fire it to his cutoff man Gonzalez, who threw a perfect relay home to nail out the runner, ending the inning and the threat.

The Royals tacked on two more insurance runs in the 6th for Alex Wong (2 IP, 3 H, 2 K's, 0 R, 0.00 ERA) and Jon Shepard (1 IP, 0 H, 0.00 ERA), who combined to throw three innings of shutout relief and help seal the 7-3 victory and the Royals second-straight MetroWest championship.

Lankarge (1-0) earned the win for the Royals in his only postseason start, while Lindsey (1-2) was charged with the loss.

Congratulations to the Metrowest Royals on winning the 2021 MSBL MetroWest Championship and repeating as champions. Hats off to the runner-up Metrowest Orioles on another fine season and their third straight trip to the Finals.