The Metrowest Royals are the 2020 MSBL MetroWest Division champions, producing an undefeated 4-0 record in the postseason with series wins over the No. 3-seeded Douglas Tigers and No. 1-seeded Metrowest Orioles.

This is the Royals third MetroWest title (2016, 2018, 2020) since joining the BMBL in 2015, and their fourth title overall as a franchise (2013 MetroWest Adult Baseball League Champions).

What a difference a year makes. The Royals entered the 2019 season as the reigning MetroWest champs, but by season's end, they owned a mediocre 9-9 record and suffered an early exit in the postseason semifinals after getting swept by the would-be champion Northborough Cardinals.

Following the disappointing season, Royals' skipper Anthony Perry vowed to get his ball club back to their winning ways in 2020. Perry would make good on that promise, bolstering the Royals' offensive prowess with the preseason acquisition of Alex Wong and Nicholas Rotolo, while also solidifying the defense with the addition of SS Mike Oliveira and OF Chris Careyand.

The new and improved offense finished the 2020 regular season with a league-leading .390 batting average. Eight different players batted .400 or higher, including Mike Power, who fueled the offense with a .640 average and .720 slugging %.

On the defensive side, the Royals' pitching staff produced a league-best 1.81 ERA, backed by their ace and Cy Young candidate Chris Dion, who compiled a perfect 6-0 record with a 1.23 ERA, including 39 Ks in 40 innings pitched.

At the conclusion of the 2020 regular season, the Royals found themselves back on top of the MetroWest standings as co-owners of a league-best 10-2 record.

Joining the Royals atop the standings with a matching 10-2 record were the Metrowest Orioles (formerly Framingham Orioles), led by longtime skipper Chris Currie, marking the third straight year and fourth time in five years the O's finished the regular season with the best overall record.

The 2018 Cy Young Award winner Brian Lindsey produced another outstanding season on the hill for the O's, assembling an unbeaten 6-0 record and a team-best 1.16 ERA.

Offensively, the O's led the league with 95 runs scored and amassed the league's second-highest batting average at .370. Steve Paddock (15-30, .500 Avg.), Chris Deane (19-39, .487 Avg.), Zak Platts (14-34, .412 Avg.), and Andrew Kelley (13-32, .406 Avg.) all hit over .400 and accounted for half of the team's hits, runs and RBIs.

Because the Royals and O's both finished the regular season with identical records while also splitting their regular-season series, the recipient of the No. 1 seed would be determined by a coin flip, per MetroWest Division rules. With Lady Luck on their side, the O's would win the coin flip and claim the top seed in the postseason.

Their opponent in the first of two semifinal matchups was the No. 4-seeded Grafton Braves, who secured the final playoff spot with a 6-6 regular season record.

Their semifinal series opened up with a Sunday morning double dip, just one week after the O's defeated the Braves in both sides of a doubleheader to end the regular season.

The Braves refused to let history repeat itself for a second straight weekend and promptly took a 12-5 lead over the O's in Game 1 after just 3 innings of play.

The O's slowly chipped away and cut the lead down to four heading into the final frame, but the Braves added three more runs in the top of the inning and quickly built their lead back up to seven.

Those insurance runs would turn out to be crucial, as the O's responded with five runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to pull within two, but that was as close as they would come to pulling off the miraculous comeback. The Braves squeaked out the 15-13 Game 1 win. Alex Bulger (2-3, 3 R, 4 RBI) and Josh Haglund (3-4, 3 R, 5 RBI, HR) led the offensive attack for the Braves, combining to go 5-for-7 with 9 RBIs.

In Game 2, the O's offense was the storyline, as their No. 1 through 4 hitters went a combined 15-for-19, highlighted by Paul Goodwin's 9-RBI performance, which broke the MetroWest Division record for most RBIs in a postseason game. The O's rolled to a 26-0 Game 2 victory to even the series at one game apiece and force a decisive Game 3.

Due to the Columbus Day holiday, the two teams would have to wait two weeks before the series-deciding game got underway. Unfortunately for the Braves, the lengthy delay appeared to have an adverse effect on their defense, which the O's capitalized on, scoring six unearned runs en route to a 7-2 Game 3 victory.

The O's would advance to the Finals for a second consecutive season and third time in four years. Andrew Kelley went 2-0 in the series with a 0.63 ERA for the O's.

Meanwhile, in the second of two semifinal matchups, the No. 2-seeded Metrowest Royals battled the No. 3-seeded Douglas Tigers (8-4).

The Tigers earned the 3-seed after closing out the regular season on a five-game winning streak, outscoring opponents 53-to-3 in their final five games.

The unquestioned strength for the Tigers in the regular season was their dominant pitching staff, made up of Carlos Mejia (2-0, 0.48 ERA), Ray Begin (4-2, 0.65 ERA), and Ben Nugent (2-1, 1.13 ERA). The pitching trio produced the league's top three ERA's, allowing just seven earned runs combined on the shortened season.

The Royals and Tigers split their two-game series in the regular season, despite the Tigers holding the Royals to just three runs in those two meetings.

The postseason was a different story, as the two squads combined to score 23 runs on 34 hits in the first two games of their semifinal matchup. The Royals would come out on top in both of those contests (8-4, 8-3) and quickly move on to the Finals to face their longtime rivals — the Metrowest Orioles.

For the first time in league history, the Royals and O's slugged it out in the MSBL MetroWest Championship. And despite these two familiar foes never locking horns in the Finals, they still shared plenty of history.

Dating back to 2014 (when the MWL started tracking stats in 400Hitter), the two teams faced each other 23 times in the regular season, with the Royals owning a narrow 12-11 advantage in those meetings.

The two squads also met four times in the postseason semifinals, with the Royals prevailing in the last three of those four matchups. Since 2008, the two franchises have combined to win seven titles, with at least one of the two teams reaching the Finals in each of the previous thirteen seasons.

Game 1 of the 2020 MetroWest Finals featured a pair of dominant southpaws, as Andrew Kelley of the Orioles faced off against Chris Dion of the Royals.

The Royals' offense would manage to get to Kelley early, loading the bases in the very first inning, however, Kelley would settle down and work himself out of the jam, limiting the Royals to just one run on an RBI-ground out by Mike Feetham.

Three innings later, the Royals increased their lead to 3-0 on a pair of RBI singles from Mike Oliveira and Chris Careyto. The 3-run cushion would prove to be more than enough run support for Dion (7 IP. 3 H, 7 K's, 0.00 ERA), who earned the 3-0 complete game shutout win, allowing just 3 hits over 7 innings while striking out 7. Dion did not allow a single O's runner to reach past second base in his outing. Kelley (7 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 3 K's, 3.00 ERA) was charged with his first loss of the postseason, allowing 3 runs on 10 hits to go along with 3 K's.

Up 1-0 in the series with a chance to clinch their third BMBL championship, the Royals sent out right-hander Jon Shepard, in a flashback to the 2016 Finals. The O's countered with their longtime ace Brian Lindsey, in a matchup that did not disappoint.

Lindsey would keep the Royals' hitters off-balance early on in Game 2, surrendering just four hits over the first four innings.

In the 5th, the Royals finally broke the scoreless tie on a 2-out RBI-single by Miguel Gonzalez that drove in Anthony Perry and gave his team a 1-0 lead. One inning later, Ryan Bere drew a walk with the bases loaded and doubled that lead to 2-0.

On the defensive side for the Royals, Shepard continued to improve upon his postseason resume, taking a no-hitter into the 7th inning and setting the stage for a suspenseful ending to Game 2.

Down to their last three outs, the O's leadoff hitter Alex Hall ended the no-no bid with a bunt single. Andrew Kelley followed with a base hit down the third-base line to give the O's runners on first and second with no outs.

A sacrifice bunt by Rick Downs moved the runners into scoring position for Steve Cadoret, who laced an RBI-single up the middle to cut the deficit to one. To avoid the double play, Cadoret took second base on defensive indifference, giving the O's runners on second and third with one out, trailing 2-1.

With the momentum suddenly shifting in the O's favor, the Royals looked up to the baseball gods praying for a big defensive stop. Their prayers would be answered as Paul Politsopoulos proceeded to line a fastball directly at the Royals' 2B Gonzalez, who caught and flipped the ball to his teammate Oliveira at second for a game-ending double play.

The Royals pulled off the dramatic 2-1 Game 2 win, taking home their third MSBL MetroWest title in the last five years.

Congratulations to the Metrowest Royals on winning the 2020 MSBL MetroWest Championship, and hats off to the Metrowest Orioles on a fantastic series and another fine season.