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.