Hello everyone,

We are super excited to bring back the Delco Baseball Now Internship program for the 2026 season.

2025 brought us an unbelievable core that helped us elevate our coverage like David Szczepanski for our broadcasts and social media content, Shelby Kauffman for photography, Nick Mazzarella for articles, and plenty more.

We are hoping to have an even better group join us this year to continue our growth and bring the best possible coverage that we can to the great people of Delaware County.

Attached at this bottom of this article is the Google Form link to apply to join the program. For High School and College students, you can get a class credit for this internship. We also had three high school seniors use this as their senior project as well, so you can also do that if your school offers that.

We have kept our roles from last year like photography, videography, reporting, etc. while also adding in some new positions like sales, event operations, and more.

Please consider joining our team for 2026!

Link to apply:

🔗: https://forms.gle/thzCCYtbvV8MJ84q9

Welcome in everyone to the final installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter for the summer of 2025.

I really enjoyed putting this together every day and I hope you all enjoyed reading. With a very small staff on hand, I think it was a great way to put all of the important information together and not burn myself out by writing 10+ different articles every night.

There is still one Delco team playing and that is the Broomall-Newtown 13’s who will start their World Series next weekend in New York, so we’ll still have coverage on that, just on its own.

The final summer baseball game of the year in Delaware County leads the way today, and it will go down as an all-time classic:

Delco League:

Baseball is a funny game sometimes.

Through the first four games of these Delco League Finals, there were a total of six runs scored:

Game 1: Upper Darby 1, Wayne 0

Game 2: Upper Darby 2, Wayne 0

Game 3: Wayne 1, Upper Darby 0

Game 4: Wayne 2, Upper Darby 0

In Game 5, the MVP Kevin McGovern and the Cy Young Tommy Bradley faced off on the mound, so another low-scoring game was coming, right?

Not quite.

Upper Darby took this one by an 8-6 final to cement their dynasty with their third title in five years. I had the honor of being the DH on the first of those three title teams in 2021 and the culture of this franchise shifted dramatically once Sammy Burman got here that year.

They have made the finals all five years and now have three titles.

Upper Darby got on the board first in the bottom of the first when Burman singled in Chase Ecker to make it 1-0. The real first punch thrown was with one out in the bottom of the second when recent Lower Merion graduate and Catholic recruit Gus Wright launched a Grand Slam to left field to shell shock the Wayne side.

Wayne got one back in the top of the third on an error, but Upper Darby scored in each of the next two innings on a Christian Strickland hit by pitch and another Gus Wright RBI on a single to make it 7-1.

Wayne wouldn’t let them run away with this one, though.

In the top of the sixth, Wayne took advantage of another error to make it 7-2. The swing that really made this game close again came off the bat of Steven Wells.

It was the matchup of the season with two former professional players facing off. McGovern spent 10+ years playing independent ball, Wells also spent some time playing pro ball as well and was the 2021 league MVP.

On a 3-2 count, Wells sent one in the gap and scored Ben Milligan, Alex Barrist and Alden Mathes to make a 7-2 game a 7-5 game.

Chris Schaller later in the inning would drive in another run, and it was 7-6 just like that.

Upper Darby got a big insurance run when Christian Strickland drove in Tim Ford with a sac fly in the bottom of the sixth to make it 8-6.

At this point, Kevin McGovern was up over 130 pitches, but he went out for the seventh inning. Nick DiEva was ready in the bullpen, but the 36-year-old McGovern had no intention of coming out.

Cole Lombardo led off the inning with a single, but McGovern retired Matt Kane and Alex Barrist to make Eliot Dix Wayne’s last hope.

On the first pitch, McGovern got Dix to ground out to Gus Wright at second base to wrap things up.

It was a series for the ages, the fifth Delco League Finals Game 5 we have had in the last seven seasons. This was a great year for the league.

Also want to give a quick shoutout to Delco League President Nick DuComb, who has been in the hospital for the majority of the season. We are being told he is starting to do better and he was tuned into the broadcast of yesterday’s game. Hope to see you back out there soon!

Make sure to check out our full broadcast from yesterday’s game, we also Games 3 and 4 on there as well:

Phillies:

Apparently Rob Thomson knows more than we do as he once again started Max Kepler and it paid off, as his two-run double gave the Phillies the lead in the seventh.

Bryson Stott also added an RBI single with two outs, which would eventually be the game-winning run.

Jesus Luzardo allowed a run in the first but none after that as he was sharp for six innings.

For all of the crap the Phillies bullpen gets, they are apparently an MLB best 56-2 when leading after seven innings this season.

Jhoan Duran has completely shifted how I view this bullpen. I haven’t felt this confident with a lead in the ninth inning since 2008 Brad Lidge, he’s that good.

The Phillies have now built up a 4.5 game lead in the NL East over the struggling Mets, who again fell to the Brewers last night.

I say this in virtually every newsletter, but let’s see if the Phillies can actually finish off a sweep instead of just winning the first two games and punting the last. Zack Wheeler being on the mound helps.

Welcome back to a sunny Saturday morning Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we keep you up to date on everything summer baseball in the area.

Today will be the last Delco League Baseball game of the season, and it is one of the most highly anticipated games that I have ever seen being a part of this league as both a player and also in the media side of things.

As always, subscribe below to stay up to date on all of the action:

Delco League:

This right here is why you play the game.

After a 28 game regular season and seven playoff games, these two teams will see their entire season come down to ONE baseball game this afternoon.

I was blessed to be a part of the 2021 Upper Darby Delco League Champions and we took down Aston Valley in Game 5 of the finals. It simply does not get better than the stakes in this game. I expect a massive crowd at Sun Valley.

If you can’t make the game, make sure to tune into our YouTube channel to watch the broadcast. The link should pop up around 1:45 PM:

(https://www.youtube.com/@DelcoBaseball)

As for the matchup itself, it is the two unquestioned best pitchers in the league so far this season that both have very different stories of how they got here.

Kevin McGovern is a 36-year-old former St. Louis Cardinals prospect who has played independent professional baseball for the last decade plus. He is a tall lefty who has 88 strikeouts in 53 innings compared to just 11 walks. That’s good for a 0.66 ERA, and he threw a 74 pitch complete game shutout in Game 1.

He is a brutal matchup for a very lefty-heavy Wayne lineup with guys like Alden Mathes, Steven Wells, Eliot Dix, Luke Mutz, and Luke Zimmerman.

Tommy Bradley on the other hand has been on Wayne for over five years and just completed his first season of college baseball with Rowan County-Gloucester JUCO and won a National Championship. You may remember his name from the Media Little League 12 year old team that went to Williamsport back in 2023, as he was a coach alongside his Dad.

In 50 innings this season, Bradley has a 0.84 ERA and 72 strikeouts compared to just 22 walks. This is his first season as a full-time pitcher after giving up catching duties and it has paid off. He allowed one run that was technically earned in Game 1, but probably should be considered an error.

A lot of these Upper Darby players have been here before, including guys who have been on the team that have played in five straight title games like Sammy Burman, Joey Suppa, Christian Strickland, and Delco Baseball Now Vice President Ben Thorpe out of the bullpen.

There has been a total of six runs scored in this series, don’t expect this to be a shootout today.

College:

Hunter West has been in the starting rotation for Episcopal since he was a freshman in 2024, and that experience has paid off.

The hard-throwing righty will play his college baseball at Duke, but he’s still got two more years left to try and dethrone Malvern Prep as Inter-Ac and PAISAA State Champions before he does so.

Phillies:

That was a nice refreshing ninth inning to a baseball game.

Obviously, with Jhoan Duran, the Phillies backend of the bullpen has a lot more sense of stability. With that being said, one way to ensure your bullpen doesn’t mess things up is to score five runs in the top of the ninth while leading 4-1.

Brandon Marsh deserves the chance to be an every day starter in left field. Assuming the Phillies don’t choose to give Justin Crawford a shot, the lineup every game should have the same outfield of Marsh in left, Bader in center, and Castellanos in right.

Cristopher Sanchez is once again embarrassing everyone who did not think he was an NL All-Star, as he has been as good as anyone in the NL not named Paul Skenes on the mound.

It’s been a while since the Phillies have faced old rival Jacob deGrom, who is putting together a very nice and healthy season with Texas this year which is awesome to see.

Speaking of those Mets, they once again lost last night to the suddenly unbeatable Brewers, and the Phillies now lead the division by 3.5 games.

Welcome back to another installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we are keeping you up to date with everything going on in the world of Delco summer ball.

If this is you’re first time here, you’ve come at the right time.

It will be a shorter edition this time, but the stage is set for one of the most highly anticipated Delco Baseball games of the year.

As always, we appreciate anyone who takes the time to subscribe below:

Delco League:

No team in this series has scored even one run away from their home field in these Delco League Finals.

Now?

Both teams will be away from home in Game 5.

The Upper Darby Blue Sox are the home team in this series, but their typical home field of Cardinal O’Hara is unavailable for Game 5 on Saturday.

The Upper Darby coaching staff decided on Buggy Field at Sun Valley High School as the site for Game 5, which will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday. For two struggling offenses, it’s another layer of difficulty added on as there is a white school in the background with no batter’s eye.

Selfishly, I’m alright with it because there is a press box for us to set up.

Wayne won this game with some vintage small ball. Chris Schaller doubled to lead off the fifth, which was the only hit of the day for Wayne off of Quinten Perilli.

Cole Lombardo was walked, and then Matt Kane’s bunt was thrown down the right field line for the first run.

Drew Van Horn then followed that up with a perfect safety squeeze to score Lombardo and make it 2-0.

The starting pitching in this series has just been masterful on both sides, with each game featuring a pitcher throwing a complete game shutout.

Game 1: Upper Darby’s Kevin McGovern

Game 2: Upper Darby’s Nick DiEva

Game 3: Wayne’s Austin Havertine

Game 4: Wayne’s Luke Zimmerman

Wayne has confirmed that Tommy Bradley will start Game 5 after throwing six innings with one unearned run in Game 1 on Sunday.

For Upper Darby, I am not sure. I overheard some people saying that Kevin McGovern is away in Canada right now but am not 100% sure if he is out or not. Nick DiEva threw 134 pitches in Game 1 on Monday, so he has four days rest but that is a lot of pitches to bounce back from.

Delco Baseball Now VP Ben Thorpe will be ready out of the bullpen, as should Kevin King who has thrown a little in Games 3 and 4 but not enough to keep him out.

Vegas currently has the over/under for the game at 1.5 runs.

Make sure to come out to Sun Valley for this one but if you can’t make it, tune into YouTube to watch.

Phillies:

This is a massive opportunity for the Phillies to start building an NL East lead.

The Mets have been struggling lately and face a Brewers team that somehow wins basically every game that they play.

The Phillies also play the Nationals seven times over the next two weeks which helps.

The Rangers are 4-6 in their last ten, so this would be an ideal team for the Phillies to take another 2/3.

Welcome back to another installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we’re talking all things summer baseball in Delco.

The Delco League Finals have been a dream if you are a fan of pitcher’s duels, as there has been just FOUR runs scored over the first three games total.

Four!

We’ll cover all that and more, as always, we appreciate anyone who takes the time to subscribe:

Delco League:

When I joined the Delco League back in 2019, the idea of two high school kids facing off in a Delco League Finals game would get you laughed at.

It was mostly a college/adult league at that point, but the league gets younger and younger every year.

Our 2025 Delco Baseball Now Most Valuable Player Austin Havertine from Radnor got the start for Wayne and pretty much just did exactly what he did all season at the high school level, pounding the zone and getting a ton of week contact.

Through 19 innings of this series, Wayne had zero runs, until one swing of the bat brought some life back into the dugout.

I need to give a quick shoutout to former Wayne outfielder and current Drexel Hill Ducks Head Coach Sean Mohollen real quick for a fantastic prediction. He came into the broadcast booth for the fifth inning and predicted that this game would be won by someone on a solo home run because no one has been able to get the big hit with runner’s in scoring position,

One inning later, Luke Zimmerman absolutely blasted a solo homer onto the roof to give Wayne the lead.

Wayne’s Luke Zimmerman absolutely CRUSHES this no-doubt homer to right field as Wayne takes Game 3 by a 1-0 final.

Wayne extends the series another day as Game 4 will be tomorrow night at 5:45 PM back on our YouTube channel 🎥 pic.twitter.com/eKipbBbMPu

— Delco Baseball Now (@DelcoBaseball) August 6, 2025

Now, the former Marple Newtown state champion and St. Joe’s Hawk will head to the mound for Game 4 trying to keep Wayne’s season alive. We believe that former Penncrest Lion Quinten Perilli, who will be heading to Rutgers this fall after three years at Elizabethtown, will pitch in Game 4.

I kind of have two dogs in the fight as I have played for both teams, so I don’t really care that bad who wins. I am just rooting hard for a Game 5 on Saturday, especially now that we are being told it will NOT be at O’Hara due to a field conflict.

No one is happier about that than me, as we have just been killed by the lack of internet there while trying to stream games.

The internet at Devon was pretty good, so make sure to tune into the Delco Baseball Now YouTube channel tonight at 5:45 PM for Game 4.

Phillies:

I am too lazy to look up the official stat on this, but I swear every time that the Phillies win the first two games of a series, they lose the last one.

I’ll take a series win whenever we can get them, but it does get a bit old that they can’t finish off the sweep.

The good news is that the Cleveland Guardians do know how to finish off the sweep, as they took care of the Mets in three games. The Mets will head to Milwaukee to take on the scorching hot Brewers this weekend.

The Phillies currently have a 2.5 game lead in the NL East heading into the weekend. Their next series against the Mets will be August 25-27 in New York.

Welcome in for another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we’re talking all things Delco Baseball.

We only have a few days left of the newsletter for the summer, potentially even just one if Upper Darby finishes off the Delco League title tonight, but it will certainly return next spring/summer for high school and college.

As always, we appreciate anyone who takes the time to subscribe:

Delco League:

If you want elite starting pitching, this has been the series for you.

Upper Darby has tossed back-to-back shutouts, and they have only needed to use two pitchers in the process. Kevin McGovern took all of Game 1, and Nick DiEva took all of Game 2.

They will look to Lower Merion alum and Quinnipiac ace Sam Wright, the 2024 Finals MVP, to close out the series tonight. We are expecting Marple Newtown and St. Joe’s alum Luke Zimmerman to start for Wayne, but that has not been confirmed yet.

Tommy Bradley and Cam Mathes were great for Wayne, they just did not receive any offensive support.

We were absolutely bullied by the internet connection at O’Hara on Monday night which tanked our stream, but assuming Devon Prep isn’t an absolute dead zone, we will be back on YouTube for Game 3 tonight.

Mid-County:

This might have been the longest three-game series of all time.

It started last Monday, had Game 2 Tuesday, then didn’t have any more games the rest of the week due to rain. Then on Monday, the umps didn’t show up until 6:30 so they only got the first four innings in.

They finally wrapped it up on Tuesday, with Nick Fratangeli dominating for five shutout innings of relief in the win.

Quick shoutout to my guy Dom Ervin who won both the MSBL and Mid-County championship in the span of three days as well.

It was a very encouraging year for the Mid-County league, who fielded 12 teams and is turning into a very legitimate second option for summer ball outside of the Delco League.

College:

Spencer Schuh will be staying local-ish as he heads to Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster to continue his baseball career.

Schuh is one of the best pure hitters that I have covered, he does an incredible job at hitting the ball where it’s pitched with a very clean swing and very few strikeouts. He was a big part of the Episcopal offensive resurgence this season.

We expect to see many of our Delco rising juniors/seniors begin to commit to schools in the next few weeks, so we’ll keep you up to date.

Phillies:

Many people (including myself) have had a lot to say about Taijuan Walker, but he has been an excellent #5 starter this season.

He can certainly have some frustrating starts, but I’ll take a 3.53 ERA from the last guy in my rotation every day of the week. He looked like he was throwing a wiffle ball out there last night.

It was also nice to see that the offense could still produce five runs without Schwarber, Harper and Turner having to carry the load.

Max Kepler, another often criticized guy, had a double and a homer. As did Brandon Marsh, who has been one of the best hitters in the team since he returned from injury in May. Even Bryson Stott added an RBI triple.

For once, can the Phillies just sweep a series after winning the first two games?

Please?

Welcome into another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we take you around Delco to talk all things summer baseball.

In our four years of running Delco Baseball Now, we have a clear biggest rival and it is not even close:

The internet connection at Cardinal O’Hara High School.

I can’t even call it a rivalry because we have never one. It’s a very one-sided rivalry similar to the Eagles vs the Giants over the last decade.

We tried to stream last night’s Delco League Finals game but we just got bullied by the internet, even with the WiFi password. Our off-season will be spent with sleepless nights trying to figure that out.

Until then, we apologize for the inconvenience and look to be be back on the air Wednesday night at Devon Prep. Seeing some more subscribers pop up will help with the pain.

Delco League:

The starting pitching in this series has somehow surpassed the hype that it had going into the series.

Upper Darby has not allowed a run in 14 innings so far this series. After Kevin McGovern threw a complete game shutout in Game 1, Nick DiEva did the same in Game 2.

It took DiEva about 60 more pitches as he gutted through 134 pitches on the night. Upper Darby scored one run early after an errant throw on a steal allowed a run to come in, and Sammy Burman drove in his second run of the series to make it 2-0.

There’s only been three runs scored in the entire series through two games, so he could be an early MVP favorite.

Even in the loss, you have to tip your cap to Wayne starter Cam Mathes, the 2022 and 2023 Finals MVP. Mathes had not thrown a pitch since July 9th and was very sharp in this one. The Wayne offense just has not been able to get anything going.

I would guess the pitching matchup Wednesday will be Luke Zimmerman for Wayne and Quinten Perilli for Upper Darby, but that is all up in the air.

I just hope that Delco Baseball Now Vice President Ben Thorpe gets to make an appearance at some point in this series.

Mid-County:

As the higher seed in this tournament, Clifton is the home team for Game 3.

The problem is that their home field, Dermond Park in Drexel Hill, had their fences taken down because it is also used for football. Game 3 was moved to Aston Valley’s home field of Sun Valley High School.

It appeared that no one told the umpires that.

The game did not get underway until nearly a half hour later, a suicide mission for everyone involved to try and get a full game in. There were four innings played, leading to a sprint to the finish line for tonight’s finale.

This might be the longest three-game series of all time as it officially started eight days ago.

MiLB:

While a lot of the hype in this area is around Bonner alum Kevin McGonigle in the Tigers’ system, Ethan Pecko looks like he’s going to be a big leaguer as well.

Pecko has ascended up the Houston Astros system and will be heading to Triple-A at just 22 years old. Pecko isn’t as much of a household name because he lost his senior year in 2020 due to the pandemic so he isn’t quite as well known.

Side note: The Sugar Land Space Cowboys may be the best logo in sports right now. I almost don’t want him to get called up for a bit just so he gets to play here for longer.

Phillies:

Move over Shohei Ohtani, this MVP is Kyle Schwarber’s to lose.

Schwarber blasted his 39th and 40th homers of the year already on Monday night. He already has 94 RBI, just ten short of his career high and it is only August 5th. This is looking like a 2008 Ryan Howard end of the season right now.

While only Howard has hit one into the third deck, Schwarber hit one off the front of it last night and certainly could get one up there. He is the leader of this team and deserves every penny of the contract that he is about to get.

It better be John Middleton signing it.

Welcome back to a Monday morning edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter as we head into the final week of the newsletter for the summer.

We had one championship decided on Sunday, one that will be decided on Monday, and one that got of the gates hot with a great Game 1 on Sunday as well.

Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date for this last week, and also for the future as some version of this newsletter will return in the spring for high school baseball.

Delco League:

There are plenty of times in baseball that some wildly hyped up pitching matchups don’t live up to the hype. Zack Wheeler and Tarik Skubal this weekend was a perfect example of two guys who threw well but nothing crazy.

This was not one of those cases.

Kevin McGovern and Tommy Bradley will likely finish first and second in the league Cy Young voting this season, and they showed why on Sunday. McGovern, a former St. Louis Cardinals prospect and longtime independent professional pitcher now has an ERA of just 0.66 in 53 innings this season in his first season with the Blue Sox.

Tommy Bradley in his first full season as a pitcher has a 0.84 ERA in 50 innings as well.

Upper Darby set the tone in Game 1, so we’ll see what Game 2 has in store. I’m not quite sure what the pitching matchup will be here. Upper Darby will likely start either Quinten Perilli or Nick DiEva. Wayne would most likely start Austin Havertine or Luke Zimmerman.

Either way, Game 2 will be Monday night at 5:45 PM and will be broadcasted by yours truly on the Delco Baseball Now YouTube channel with our normal play-by-play guy David Szczepanski out until Game 4 due to a work conflict.

Apologies for not streaming Game 1, I was a little busy with the next story here on a day where we were a little short on guys…

MSBL:

For anyone out there who thinks they still have some baseball left in the tank but aren’t quite Delco League caliber anymore, get yourself on an MSBL team next year if you are 25 years old or older. If you aren’t over 25, Mid-County (next story) is the place for you.

This was a great series between my Drexel Hill Phillies and the Collingdale Colts. Drexel Hill won Game 1 7-0, Collingdale won Game 2 6-5, so it all came down to Game 3.

Collingdale took a 6-2 lead in the second inning, but Drexel Hill scored five in the bottom of the second to make it 7-6. Dom Ervin came on in relief and was lights out, working so fast that you would think he had a reservation at Casey’s for 5:00 that he needed to get to in time.

My two-time former roommate Ryan Hodinko drove in four runs in his last baseball game in Delco before he moves back to Virginia, a great way to go out. The heart and soul of our team, Cedar McCredie, made one of the best catches I have ever seen in person for the final out with two runners on base as well to end it.

We’ll see you next year, hopefully I can move my body by that time because I am too old to play three games in two days.

Mid-County:

Dom Ervin may have thrown 78 pitches in Game 3 in MSBL, but he’s ready in relief for his Clifton Outlaws tonight in another winner-take-all game.

This one is almost a week in the making due to weather and field availability, but we will finally get a champion after the rare six-day break in a series.

For anyone still catching up to speed, Aston Valley and their barrage of former and current Penn State Brandywine players slugged three homers in an 8-5 Game 1 win. In Game 2, Nate Mowbray threw a gem for Clifton in a 3-1 win to tie the series back up at 1-1.

In most cases, teams would be short on pitching for a Game 3, but in this scenario, both teams should have a full stable ready to go.

Phillies:

Every time Cristopher Sanchez makes another start, it is even more embarrassing that he wasn’t named an all-star.

This guy is one of the best pitcher’s in the league and showed it once again on a national stage with eight shutout innings on Sunday Night Baseball.

I was a little surprised that he did not go out for the ninth inning to try and finish it off, but having an actual MLB caliber closer really changes things and allows you to not have to push your pitchers too far.

Also, we all wanted to see Jhoan Duran’s entrance show again, so no complaints here.

The Phillies now face an Orioles team that has really struggled this season for three games starting Monday night.

Welcome back to another installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we keep you up to date on everything Delco Baseball summer ball.

It’s championship week in Delco as all three summer baseball leagues will crown a champ over the next week or so, including two in the next two days.

I am way too old to be playing three games in two days, but that’s what it will take to bring home an MSBL title from my Drexel Hill Phillies after splitting on Saturday.

We’ll cover all that and more in today’s edition, make sure to subscribe below to stay up to date:

MSBL:

A dominant season from Drexel Hill pitcher Calen Reigner ended in style as he threw 29.1 innings and did not allow a single earned run. He only allowed one run in general. From start to finish all year he was sensational and his complete game shutout in Game 1 set the tone.

Cedar McCredie went 3/4 with two doubles in that game. Ryan Hodinko and Tommy Crumlish both drove in two runs while Christian Summers also two hits.

Collingdale bounced back in a big way in Game 2 as they scored five runs over the first two innings. Kenny Searle went 2/3 with 2 RBI, as did Corbin Nyemah. Dan Whalen was a horse on the mound, throwing 116 pitches over seven innings to get the win.

Just like last year (in a different league), these two teams will face off in a winner-take-all championship game, Drexel Hill took it last year so we’ll see what today has in store.

Delco League:

Unfortunately, we will not be streaming Game 1 of this series due to me playing in that above MSBL Championship, but we will be broadcasting every other game of this series on the Delco Baseball Now YouTube channel.

Game 1 will be the pitching matchup of the year as Cy Young and MVP Favorite Kevin McGovern will take the mound for Upper Darby. Wayne’s Tommy Bradley, who has been the second best pitcher in the league this year, will get the ball to oppose him most likely.

This is two heavyweight teams going at it, the clear best two teams in the league all season long. Great pitching, great hitting, great defense, great coaching.

Do yourself a favor and get out to one of these games, and if not, tune in on YouTube for games 2-5.

Mid-County:

If you completely forgot this series was happening, you are not alone.

Games 1 and 2 were all the way back last Monday and Tuesday, but rain wiped out the Thursday Game 3 and also the possibility of a Friday makeup game. Mid County rarely plays on weekends ever so this Game 3 will take place on Monday at Sun Valley.

Game 1 was a slugfest, Game 2 was a pitcher’s duel. We’ll see what Monday has in store as every team’s pitching is fully rested after six days off.

Phillies:

The pitcher’s duel between Zack Wheeler and Tarik Skubal did not quite live up to the massive hype, but both pitcher’s still turned in overall solid starts.

Zack Wheeler had some issues with the long ball, and the Phillies offense didn’t really come alive until it was too late as the Tigers evened up the series.

Sunday Night Baseball should be a good one.

Welcome back to another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we keep you up to date on all things Delco Baseball during the summer.

We took the day off yesterday due to the rain cancelling everything in the area, as it didn’t really feel necessary to have an entire newsletter revolving around the Phillies trading for Harrison Bader.

We’re back again today as we have two of our summer ball leagues starting their championship series over the next two days, so let’s dive into the action.

As always, we appreciate anyone who takes the time to subscribe:

MSBL:

I’m only 26 years old, so it feels a bit harsh to call this the “Men’s Senior Baseball League”, but I am excited to begin our championship on what should be a cool Saturday afternoon at O’Hara.

It will be a doubleheader with Game 3 coming Sunday if needed at Bonner.

This is a bit of rematch from last year in a different league so there’s some history between these two teams. I think my Phillies may have the pitching advantage, but the Colts have some big time bats in the middle of the order.

Should be a great series.

Delco League:

The Delco League Finals have been dominated by Upper Darby and Wayne the last five years, and this year is no different.

Going back to 2018, these are the only two franchises to win:

• 2019: Wayne over Concord
• 2020: Wayne over Narberth
• 2021: Upper Darby over Aston Valley
• 2022: Wayne over Upper Darby
• 2023: Wayne over Upper Darby
• 2024: Upper Darby over Aston Valley

This year of course will be no different, and these two teams were the clear best two all season long. Upper Darby has two of the best pitchers in the league in MVP favorite Kevin McGovern and Nick DiEva, while Wayne has a loaded lineup with guys like Alden Mathes, Steven Wells, and Luke Mutz.

I can easily see this one going five games. Make sure to check out our preview episode on YouTube with Upper Darby’s Joey Suppa and Wayne’s Tommy Bradley joining the show:

Phillies:

If you wanted drama, Jhoan Duran’s first game in Philadelphia lived up the hype.

Every fan in that stadium wanted to see his closer entrance song and light show, and when the Phillies were trailing 3-0 in the seventh, it did not look great.

The Phillies put three on the board in the seventh, but the Tigers came back and made it 4-3. The Phillies again answered, this time with two to go ahead 5-4.

Jhoan Duran came in with the stadium absolutely energized and recorded the save in four pitches. I won’t say he’s better than Brad Lidge quite just yet, but this guy absolutely has the talent to become the best closer in Phillies history.

Jonathan Papelbon is currently our all-time leader in saves, so I wouldn’t mind seeing a new face up there.