For more than two decades, the path to a championship had been an unforgiving mountain the Somerville Senators could never quite manage to climb. Seasons came and went, rosters evolved, playoff pushes rose and fell, yet the taste of glory remained just out of reach.

Widely regarded as one of the league's most competitive battlegrounds, the 28+ Division is a place where talent alone isn't enough, and where even great teams can be undone by one-run heartbreakers and early-round exits.

But in 2025, something different happened. A season that began in turmoil transformed into the Senators' first title since 2003 — forged not by dominance alone, but by fight, faith, resilience, and one of the most unforgettable postseasons in league history.

"I'm in shock right now," said Senators' longtime manager Orazio Azzarello after the final out of the championship was recorded. "I've been doing this for a long time, and I'm so proud of these guys. We haven't won a title since 2003, and right now, this is a moment of just pure excitement."

What unfolded over the months leading up to that special moment was a journey every bit as dramatic as the title itself — and it started like anything but a championship season. The Senators dropped four of their first five games and stumbled to a 2-5 start. It was the kind of opening that derails championship dreams before they ever take shape. But inside the dugout, the mood never fractured.

The pitching remained composed, the offense stayed committed, and the belief never wavered. Slowly, then suddenly, the entire season flipped. The Senators won 13 of their next 15 games — a stretch that featured back-to-back walk-off wins and a wild seven-run seventh-inning come-from-behind victory. They closed out the regular season on an eight-game winning streak and finished third in the division at 15-7.

This wasn't just luck or a brief surge — it was the culmination of a roster finding its identity and its heartbeat. A team that once looked directionless had transformed into a fully realized contender, battle-hardened and dangerous.

A big part of that transformation came from an offense that grew more reliable and explosive with each passing week. At the top of the order, 2023 MVP runner-up Darren Hartwell (.328 average, 23 runs, 18 steals) and rookie sensation Nick Shumski (.386 average, 16 runs, 3 home runs) consistently set the table. Behind them was Mike Smith, who powered the middle of the lineup, hitting .452 with seven doubles and a team-high 15 RBIs. Rounding out the core was Evan Valcourt, who batted .400 with two home runs, five doubles, 14 RBIs, and a team-leading 26 hits.

Complementing the offense was a dominant pitching staff that served as the backbone of the club's success. Rookie southpaw Nick Lemay shouldered the workload, logging a team-high 46 1/3 innings while posting a 5-1 record with a 2.12 ERA and 43 strikeouts. Joining him in the rotation was Aidan Freeburg, who delivered a breakout campaign, going 6-1 with a 2.19 ERA and 23 punch-outs. And anchoring the bullpen was rookie closer Steve Fleury, who appeared in 12 games, compiling a 3-1 record with four saves while striking out 37 in 22 2/3 innings.

The Senators' race to the title began with a best-of-three quarterfinal matchup against the sixth-seeded Bay State Pirates (10-12), a scrappy squad that fought their way into September but had no answer for the surging Senators.

Somerville swept the series in two games behind quality starts from Mike Smith and Aidan Freeburg. Smith, the club's postseason ace, tossed five innings of shutout ball to earn the win in Game 1. The 48-year-old right-hander allowed just two hits and struck out six in an 11-0 lopsided victory.

Game 2 proved to be a tighter contest but followed the same script. Aidan Freeburg navigated four solid innings, surrendering just two earned runs while matching Smith's six strikeouts. Rookie reliever Nick Colucci took over for Freeburg in the fifth with two dominant frames, allowing no runs on just one hit while retiring five of the seven batters he faced via the K. Steve Fleury closed it out in the seventh to earn the save and secure the 5-3 victory.

At the plate, Evan Valcourt tormented Pirates' pitching throughout the series, collecting five hits in eight at-bats, including two doubles and a towering home run in Game 2.

With the 2-0 series sweep complete, the Senators advanced to the semifinals, where they found themselves staring down a familiar foe. For the third straight season, their road to the Finals ran through the No. 4-seeded, defending-champion Lowell Angels (14-8).

The friendly rivals had previously met twice in the quarterfinals with Somerville winning the three-game set in 2023, and Lowell responding with a 2-0 sweep in 2024 en route to their first championship. Now, in 2025, the stage was set for the third act of their trilogy — a semifinal showdown with a trip to the championship round hanging in the balance.

In Game 1 of the best-of-three series, the red-hot Senators rolled to a 7-1 victory, extending their winning streak to 11 games and maintaining their perfect 9-0 home record at Trum Field. Mike Smith turned in another vintage performance, limiting the Angels to two hits and an unearned run while striking out eight over six innings.

The top of the lineup fueled the offense, as Darren Hartwell, Nick Shumski, Mike Smith, and Mike Sorrentino all recorded two hits apiece, highlighted by Shumski's two-run blast in the second that helped set the early tone.

The Senators made the trip north to LeLacheur Park in Lowell for Game 2, just one victory shy of their sixth Finals appearance in franchise history. The Angels, meanwhile, stood on the brink of elimination, needing a win to keep their title defense alive.

Their hopes rested on Jonny McDonald, last year's unlikely postseason hero, while the Senators countered with Aidan Freeburg, with both starters seeking their second win of the playoffs. Primarily a third baseman, McDonald became one of the unexpected engines behind Lowell's championship run one year earlier, tossing back-to-back complete-game shutouts in both the semifinals and Finals.

Now, in another do-or-die situation, he was again tasked with coming through in the must-win game. The Angels' offense gave him an early cushion, striking for two runs in the second and three more in the third to build a 5-0 advantage. Leadoff hitter Dano Ierardi ignited the attack, going 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a perfect 4-for-4 in stolen bases.

The Angels never looked back from there. McDonald once again rose to the occasion, spinning a complete-game five-hitter while allowing just one run and striking out six. The 5-1 victory snapped Somerville's 11-game winning streak and forced a decisive Game 3 — one that would soon become part of BMBL postseason folklore.

The do-or-die game had all the makings of a classic — two former pros facing off on the mound with a trip to the Finals on the line. Somerville handed the ball to Mike Smith, while the Angels leaned on their ace and back-to-back Cy Young winner Brock Riley.

The reigning champs struck first, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the opening frame on a two-out RBI double from Alex Strempel. A defensive lapse by Somerville in the third gifted Lowell another run and a 2-0 lead. The Senators returned fire in the bottom half, converting a pair of Angels' miscues into two runs of their own to even the score at 2-2.

Neither side blinked over the next four innings, and the score remained deadlocked at 2-2 as the game drifted into extra innings. Smith departed after seven dominant frames, striking out a postseason career-high 13 batters — including an immaculate inning in his final frame — before turning the ball over to Steve Fleury. Fleury, normally a one- or two-inning weapon, emptied the tank with five scoreless innings of relief, yielding just two hits and striking out eight.

Across the diamond, Riley was authoring a masterpiece of his own. The two-time Cy Young winner worked an astonishing 11 innings, scattering six hits and surrendering just one earned run. Outside of a shaky third, he faced no more than four batters in any inning, keeping Lowell's season alive deep into the night.

Enter the 12th inning, with Riley still on the mound for the Angels. Nick Shumski led off with a walk, and Mike Sorrentino followed with a single, putting runners at first and second with no outs. Next up was Mike Smith, already masterful on the mound, with a chance to win it at the plate.

Down 0-1 in the count, Smith dug in as Riley delivered his 150th pitch of the night — a slider that caught a bit too much of the plate. Smith didn't miss it, driving the ball into the left-center gap as Shumski came racing home, where he was mobbed by his teammates.

The Senators walked off with a thrilling 3-2 victory, preserving their perfect 10-0 record at Trum Field and, more importantly, securing their long-awaited trip back to the Finals.

Smith capped his incredible night by going 4-for-6 with a double and the game-winning RBI. Fleury earned the win out of the bullpen, and together, the pair combined for 21 strikeouts on the night. Riley was tagged with the tough-luck loss despite a herculean effort.

For the first time since 2015, the Somerville Senators were back on the championship stage, three wins away from their first title in 22 years. Standing in their way was the seventh-seeded Boston Expos (8-14), a Cinderella team that few saw coming but none could ignore.

The Expos shocked the league by knocking off the top-seeded Bombers (17-5) and the second-seeded Spinners (19-3), with both of those series going the distance. Their fairytale moment came in Game 3 of the semifinals, when Hall of Famer Jose Toledano, down to his last strike, delivered a clutch bases-clearing single that flipped the script and sent the Expos to the Finals in stunning fashion.

What followed was a drama-filled best-of-five showdown between the division's two hottest teams — one with everything to prove, the other playing with house money.

The Expos struck first in Game 1, taking a 1-0 lead courtesy of Mike Bailey's solo shot in the top of the second off Somerville starter Aidan Freeburg. The Senators wasted no time responding in the bottom half, plating three runs off Expos starter Shawn Carlson. Jon Barber drove in the equalizer and Darren Hartwell followed with a two-run knock that gave Somerville a 3-1 advantage.

Carlson settled in from there, spinning seven strong innings and keeping his team within striking distance. Meanwhile, Nick Colucci took over for Freeburg in the fifth and was lights out until the pressure finally cracked in the seventh.

Down to their final three outs and still trailing by two, the Expos capitalized on a pair of costly wild pitches from Colucci, pushing across two runs and knotting the game at 3-3. The Senators immediately threatened in the bottom half, loading the bases with no outs, but Carlson dug deep and retired the next three batters, sending the game into extras.

Branden Anderson relieved Carlson in the eighth, making his postseason debut despite logging just one inning in the regular season. The unheralded reliever matched Colucci pitch for pitch over the next five grueling frames, turning Game 1 into a full-blown war of attrition.

The stalemate finally broke in the 13th. With two outs and the bases empty, Dan Spicer singled, advanced to third on a Nelson Correa double, and scored on Colucci's third wild pitch of the game, giving the Expos a 4-3 lead.

The Senators refused to fold. Colin Henneberger opened the bottom of the 13th with a single and quickly moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt from Mike Larocque. After a Nick Shumski fielder's choice put runners on second and third with two outs, the game once again rested on the shoulders of Mike Smith.

With first base open, the Expos made the bold decision to challenge him — a risky gamble that proved costly. Smith laced a hard grounder through the left side, bringing home both Henneberger and Hartwell to complete the miraculous 5-4 walk-off victory.

For the second-straight game, Smith delivered the decisive blow, going 3-for-6 with two clutch RBIs. Colucci earned the hard-fought win with 8 1/3 innings of gutsy relief, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out 10.

Game 2 of the championship series offered a brief respite from the late-inning theatrics — though it still featured a marquee pitching matchup between the Senators' Game 1 hero, Mike Smith, and the Expos' rookie workhorse, Dan Shaw, with both starters in search of their third postseason victory.

The Expos wasted no time breaking out the sticks. Nelson Correa led off the game with a single and immediately took off for second, swiping his fifth stolen base of the postseason. Jose Paulino followed with a single that plated Correa and gave the Expos an early 1-0 lead. They added another run in the third when Vaibhav Desai tripled and came around to score on an overthrow, pushing the advantage to 2-0.

On the mound, Shaw was in complete control, limiting Somerville to just four scattered hits while striking out seven without issuing a walk. The two early runs proved to be all the support he needed, as the 28-year-old right-hander locked down his third straight complete-game victory of the postseason.

The Expos earned a 2-0 win, handing Smith his first postseason loss and just the Senators' second shutout defeat of the season.

With the series tied 1-1, the action shifted back to Trum Field, where Somerville owned a perfect 10-0 record and hadn't dropped back-to-back games in nearly two months. Nick Colucci, typically deployed from the bullpen, made his first start of the postseason opposite Expos' Game 1 starter Shawn Carlson.

From the opening pitch, Game 3 unfolded as a classic pitcher's duel, with neither side able to scratch a run across through the first five frames.

In the bottom of the sixth, Darren Hartwell worked a leadoff walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a perfectly executed bunt by Nick Shumski. Mike Smith followed with a sharp one-hopper to first, and the speedy Hartwell broke on contact, flying down the line and sliding just around the catcher's tag to give Somerville a 1-0 lead.

Steve Fleury, who'd relieved Colucci in the fifth, looked to close it out in the seventh, but the Expos had other plans. One-out singles from Chris Deane and Eduardo Soto put the tying run in scoring position. After a Corey Burrows strikeout brought the Expos down to their final out, Joe Little lined a 1-0 fastball into left field to knot the score at 1-1 and force extra innings for the second time in three games.

In the bottom of the eighth, Mike Larocque led off with a single. One out later, Shumski doubled into the right-center gap, putting runners at second and third and setting the stage for a moment that felt ripped straight out of a Hollywood script.

Already the hero twice in the last three games, Mike Smith strode to the plate as a wave of deja vu swept over the ballpark. Just days earlier in Game 1, the Expos had faced this exact scenario — runners on second and third, first base open, and a critical decision to make. They chose to pitch to Smith, and it cost them dearly. Now, with history threatening to repeat itself, they decided to tempt fate once more.

Smith quickly fell behind 1-2, and for a moment it appeared the gamble might pay off. But two pitches later, he lifted a fly ball to deep left, plenty deep for pinch-runner Pete Barsam to tag up from third and race home with the winning run, sealing a 2-1 walk-off victory — the Senators' third walk-off in their last four games.

Once again, the spotlight belonged to Smith, who went 1-for-3 and drove in both of Somerville's runs. Fleury earned the win in relief of Colucci, who received a no-decision despite allowing no runs on just one hit to go along with eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.

With a 2-1 series lead heading into Game 4, the Senators stood one win away from putting an end to their 22-year championship drought. Mike Smith, already a postseason legend in the making, took the ball on just four days' rest, going up against Alan Avila, who was tasked with keeping the Expos' Cinderella season alive.

Two scoreless innings passed before the Expos broke through in the third, taking a 1-0 lead on a Vaibhav Desai sacrifice fly. Somerville answered right back in the fourth, plating two runs on a Mike Sorrentino RBI double and a Jon Barber sacrifice fly to go up 2-1. The Expos quickly countered, tying the game 2-2 on a bases-loaded fielder's choice from Mike Soule.

In the top of the sixth, Nick Shumski led off with his second double of the night, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and later scored on a hard-hit groundball to second by Sorrentino, pushing the Senators back in front, 3-2.

The Expos immediately threatened in the bottom half. Back-to-back singles and a wild pitch put runners in scoring position with no outs, prompting a visit to the mound. After a brief pep talk, Smith beared down and struck out the next two batters before inducing an inning-ending groundout to escape the jam.

The Senators rode that momentum into the seventh, going up 5-2 after tacking on two huge insurance runs on a bases-loaded error and another RBI single from Sorrentino, his third RBI of the night.

Steve Fleury, making his fifth appearance of the postseason, looked to close it out in the bottom of the seventh, but this wouldn't be an Expos-Senators series without one last dose of drama. Correa was hit by a pitch to open the inning, Desai walked, and Jose Paulino singled to cut the deficit to 5-3.

Moments later, Jose Toledano lifted a deep fly to left, allowing Desai to tag and score, trimming the lead to 5-4. Another Mike Bailey single kept the pressure on before Chris Deane's ground ball to third produced the second out of the inning.

With the tying run at second and one out separating Somerville from its long-awaited title, Corey Burrows stepped to the plate. For longtime Senators faithful, agonizing memories of 2006, 2009, and 2015 came rushing back. Three trips to the Finals. Three crushing defeats.

But this story would have a different ending. Burrows swung at the very first pitch, lining a shot toward second base. The ballpark went silent as Henneberger dropped to his knees, corralled the ball, and rose with it clenched in his glove for the final out. The Senators held on for a 5-4 victory, capturing the 2025 28+ championship.

Mike Smith capped a historic postseason with his third win, allowing two runs on seven hits to go along with nine strikeouts in six innings of work. Fleury earned his second save.

Overall, three of the four championship games were decided by a single run. Two ended in extra innings via walk-off. And through it all, one name towered above the rest.

Mike Smith was the unanimous postseason MVP, batting .378 (14-for-37) with five runs scored and eight RBIs — three of them game-winners. On the mound, he went 3-1 with a 0.93 ERA and 43 strikeouts, authoring one of the greatest individual postseason performances in league history.

Congratulations to manager Orazio Azzarello and the Somerville Senators on winning the 2025 28+ championship — the franchise's third overall title and first in 22 years. Also, a huge tip of the cap to the Boston Expos for an absolutely incredible postseason run.