MABL teams may be thinking about changing their name and sporting a new look next season, as a new trend appears to be taking shape in the 18+ Division of the Boston Men's Baseball League.

The Boston Havoc (formerly Boston Sox) become the latest franchise to win the 18+ championship in their first season since fully rebranding themselves with a new identity and a fresh new look.

This comes just one year after the Middleboro Mocka Rays won the 2020 championship and their first title in the franchise's 13-year history, immediately following a change in their team name and appearance.

Ironically, it was the Boston Sox (now the Boston Havoc) they defeated three games to one in last year's best-of-five Championship Series, however, it wouldn't be long before the two rivals would meet again and the newly branded Havoc would have their chance to exact a little revenge on the defending champions.

In the 2021 regular season, the new-look Havoc assembled a 14-6-2 record, securing the No. 3 seed in the postseason and an automatic bid to the semifinals. This marked the first time since 2017 the franchise seeded lower than a 2-seed in the postseason.

The Havoc offense, which ranked 3rd in the division with a .316 batting average, was led by veteran player/manager Omar Ortiz, who produced a team-best .490 average and placed 4th in MVP voting.

On the defensive side, the Havoc pitching staff ranked 4th with a 2.07 team ERA. Staff ace Jon Shepard anchored the rotation with a 4-1 regular-season record, 0.66 ERA, and 42 strikeouts in 32 innings pitched, placing 3rd in Cy Young voting.

For a second straight year, the Havoc's postseason began with a best-of-five semifinal matchup versus the No. 2-seeded Waltham Cutters (14-5-3), who they went on to defeat in four games after dropping the series opener in a thrilling 2-1 extra-innings affair.

Following the Game 1 loss, the Havoc rallied to win the next three games, outscoring the Cutters by a combined margin of 16-to-5 (3-2, 9-2, 4-1) in Games 2 through 4. The Havoc held the Cutters to just 7 runs in the series en route to their fourth straight trip to the MABL 18+ Finals.

The Havoc would face the winner of another 2020 semifinal rematch between the No. 1-seeded Mocka Rays (19-2-1) and the No. 6-seeded Waltham Athletics (10-10-2).

The A's advanced to the semifinal round for a third straight season with an 8-1 victory over the 5th-seeded Grays and a 4-0 shutout win over the 4th-seeded Merrimack Valley Marlins in single-elimination Wild Card action.

Riding the wave of momentum from their two upset victories in the Wild Card round, the underdog A's would take a 2-1 series lead over the top-seeded Mocka Rays in the semis, and climb within one win of their first finals appearance since 2017.

In what felt like a flashback to last year's semifinal series, the Mocka Rays bats finally came to life in Game 4, thanks to a two-home run performance from last year's MVP, Mike Cahill. The defending champs would battle back to win Games 4 and 5 (by scores of 12-1 and 3-0, respectively), securing their second straight trip to the MABL Finals.

Roughly one year after falling to the Mocka Rays in the 2020 championship, the Havoc would get another crack at the title and a chance to avenge last year's finals loss to the defending champs.

Their redemption tour would not get off to a promising start, however, as Game 1 fell in favor of their opponent for a second straight series.

Mocka Rays' starter Justin Sylvia (7 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 10 K) tossed a complete game 2-0 shutout, allowing just 3 hits to go along with 10 strikeouts.

Down 1-0 in the best-of-five series, the Havoc bounced back to win the next two games (6-2, 7-0) behind a complete-game effort from Jon Shepard (7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 6 K) and Nick Powers (7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 14 K), while the offense broke out for a combined 13 runs on 15 hits. The Havoc took a 2-1 series lead and climbed within one win of claiming their second championship in four years.

Heading into the must-win Game 4, the Mocka Rays called upon Game 1 winner Justin Sylvia (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K), who once again came through for his ball club. Sylvia picked up his second complete-game win of the series, as the Mocka Rays narrowly defeated the Havoc 2-1 to stave off elimination and force a series-deciding Game 5.

In the winner-take-all game, the Havoc left nothing to chance, breaking out for 9 runs in the first three innings, highlighted by Nick Powers' 2-RBI double in the 1st and an RBI single in the 2nd.

Andrew Millard (1.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 K) got the starting nod for the Mocka Rays, but was pulled from the game after just 1 1/3 innings. Millard allowed 5 runs on 6 hits before handing the ball over to his manager.

On just four days' rest, Sylvia (5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 K) replaced Millard and was able to slow the bleeding, but the damage had already been done.

The nine early runs turned out to be more than enough run support for Jon Shepard (7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K), who tossed a complete-game 2-hit shutout, leading the Havoc to a 9-0 victory and the 2021 MABL 18+ championship.

This came just two weeks after Shepard closed out the deciding game of the MSBL MetroWest Finals, and helped seal back-to-back championships for the Metrowest Royals, making him the first player in BMBL history to record the final out in both the MABL and MetroWest Finals in the same season.

Congratulations to the Boston Havoc on winning the 2021 MABL 18+ Championship and the franchise's third overall title (2013, 2018, 2021), and hats off to the Mocka Rays on another fine season and their second straight trip to the MABL Finals.