Welcome in to a Sunday edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we keep you up to date on everything going on in the summer baseball world.
Sunday will be the final day of the Delco League regular season, so make sure to tune into our newest podcast episode that will be released on Monday as we preview the postseason.
We also have some legion updates, the MSBl playoffs beginning, some Cal Ripken, and the Phillies rallying for a big win over the Angels.
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Senior Legion:
Narberth and UDHL decided not to play the Main Line League Championship last week because it was too close to regionals as a result of the rain.
This game is basically the league championship here as one team will head home, and the other will live to fight another day.
Prep Legion 13U:
Another Narberth team is deep into the legion postseason with the prep team in the State Tournament in Boyertown.
We just found out there is another Heck brother (or cousin?) that threw three shutout innings in this win.
Hard to ask for a much better performance to announce your presence at a tournament than what these guys did today.
Delco League:
The first round matchups have been decided in the Delco League playoffs, but where those games will be played is not quite set.
#6 Aston Valley will play #3 Springfield, we do know that. Chester and Drexel Hill will play, but where that game is will depend on Sunday afternoon’s game. If Chester beats Springfield, they will be the #4 seed and host Games 1 and 3. If they lose, Games 1 and 3 would be at Bonner.
The Wild Card round will be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with the semifinals starting next Saturday and Sunday.
Upper Darby as the #1 seed will play whoever the worst team remaining is. Wayne as the #2 seed will play the best team remaining.
MSBL:
I believe this is our first mention of the MSBL League this summer.
I play in this league for the Drexel Hill Phillies and the reality is that no one cares about the regular season in this league so it’s really not worth covering. It’s our first season in the league after the MSBL and the DABL merged this offseason, so I’m excited to see how the playoffs go.
Hopefully I get to write about myself in the third person.
The Collingdale Colts will face the Springfield Cardinals in one semifinal next weekend, while my Phillies will face the Glen Mills Rays.
The series is supposed to be two games Saturday and an if necessary game Sunday, but we were told a ton of Rays players will be going to one of their teammates weddings on Saturday so we may play Thursday/Friday/Sunday instead.
We are also looking to add more EDCO playoff coverage, but a lot of teams do not use GameChanger there. If anyone ever wants to send updates, please feel free to send them to delcobaseballnow@gmail.com.
I do know that in EDCO #8 Media upset #1 Garnet Valley and will play #4 Aston Valley in the semifinals. #2 Clifton will take on the #6 Expos in the other semifinals. Both start on Monday.
Cal Ripken:
I don’t have too much more to add here besides what was already said.
I’m not sure how many teams make the World Series out of this regional, but I would guess just the champion. Nether-Swarthmore is just three wins away from making that happen.
If anyone missed a previous update, the Nether-Swarthmore 12U team opted out of regionals for a previously scheduled trip to play at Cooperstown. Hard to argue with that.
MLB:
The Phillies need to pay Kyle Schwarber whatever he wants.
I tweeted it on our Delco Baseball Now account yesterday but the reality is that while Bryce Harper is the best player on the Phillies, Kyle Schwarber is the team leader. Bryce isn’t a natural leader in terms of being vocal, he just leads by example.
Winning on Sunday would be huge after this series looked like it was heading south after another meh Taijuan Walker start.