Welcome back to another installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we fill you in on everything that there is to know about Delco Baseball summer ball.

With Upper Darby and Wayne having both swept their series in the Delco League semifinals, we have a few days off from that series which will begin on Sunday.

In the meantime, we can shift our focus to the Mid-County League Championship series, which will have the winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday night. We also had some big news in the Phillies world.

As always, we appreciate anyone who support us by subscribing for free below:

Mid-County:

As mentioned at the end of that newspaper cover, there is some new blood in the Mid-County League this year, and it has made for some great entertainment.

The ages in this league can vary a bit, but most teams are made up of guys who are in college or just out of college. Clifton has a ton of former Upper Darby players, Aston Valley has a ton of former Sun Valley players and also a ton of current/former Penn State Brandywine players.

We’ll see how the weather holds up, but things are looking a bit iffy for the next two days.

Phillies:

It is pretty fitting that these two headlines go together.

The bullpen imploded in Game 3 of the series with the White Sox, but reinforcements are on the way. Jhoan Duran is absolutely nasty and will be the Phillies closer for (at least) the next three playoff runs.

He throws a pitch that no one else in the big leagues does like he does with a 98 MPH splitter/sinker combo. His fastball has topped out at 104.8 MPH in the past as well.

Oh, and if entrance to the mound before the game doesn’t get you fired up, I don’t know what will;

Welcome back once again to another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, your one stop shop for everything going on in the local baseball world.

We are starting to run out of teams to cover, but the all of the teams still going are the best of the best as we have hit the championship series in all three summer ball leagues still going.

Upper Darby and Wayne will meet in the Delco League Finals, Drexel Hill and Collingdale will meet in the MSBL Finals, and Clifton and Aston Valley are currently in the middle of the Mid-County League Finals.

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

Delco League:

Upper Darby and Wayne were clearly the best two teams all season long in the regular season, so it is fitting that they have both made it to the championship.

It’s even more fitting that they both swept their way to the finals as well.

No team outside of Wayne and Upper Darby have won a league title since 2018, and that will not be changing this year. These teams have elite top of the line pitching, deep lineups, and coaches that have both won multiple titles.

We are planning on broadcasting the majority of the series on our YouTube channel. We will definitely be streaming Games 2, 3, 4, and 5. Whether we can stream Game 1 depends on if my MSBL team has to play an if necessary game on Sunday or if we win/lose in two games. Can’t leave the boys out to dry in the last game of the season.

Early prediction: Just like 2022 and 2023, this series is going five games. I don’t have a team to pick yet, but I will do some prep before the series and talk about it on our podcast preview episode.

Mid-County:

The Aston Valley offense came out of the gates swinging with 15 hits in Game 1, but Nate Mowbray had an answer for them in Game 2.

His complete game effort forces a Game 3 that will be Thursday night at 6:00 at Dermond Park in Drexel Hill, otherwise known as the Drexel Hill/Llanerch Hills Little League complex. It’s a pretty small field so anything can happen there.

Phillies:

That was a massive bounce back start for Jesus Luzardo after his meltdown against the Red Sox. Clearly he prefers his socks White not Red.

Daniel Robert (who?) allowed a few runs in the ninth to make this game look closer than it was, but Luzardo was dominant. Kyle Schwarber hit his 37th homer of the year, but getting a homer out of Brandon Marsh was very nice as well.

I never feel super great with Taijuan Walker on the mound, but winning a road series even after a tough Game 1 is all you can ask for.

Welcome back to another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we keep you in the loop on everything going on in the world of Delco Baseball.

This is a pretty quiet week overall as all of our local teams outside of the Broomall-Newtown 13’s are done in the world of Little League, Cal Ripken, etc. Their World Series doesn’t even start until August 14th.

With an off-day in the Delco League semifinals, the Mid County League championship takes center stage.

If you are wondering what “Mid-County” is, you may recognize the former name of “EDCO” for this league, which has been going on for over 75 years. It is really a great place to play for guys who might not quite be good enough or have the time to crack some of these loaded Delco League starting lineups consistently, but still want to play at a high level.

As always, we invite everyone to subscribe for free to get these updates delivered daily. We will probably keep this format come the spring for high school ball as opposed to to writing 10+ individual articles every day just based off the feedback from our readers so far.

Mid-County:

Aston Valley seems to be made up of a ton of current/former Penn State Brandywine baseball players, and all four players mentioned in this newsletter are former or current Nittany Lions.

Oxford’s Cam Baughman was the star of the day as he belted two homers, but Sun Valley alum Ryan Snyder also ripped four hits including a homer. Marple Newtown alums Michael Paytas and Mike Govan were both strong on the mound.

After a couple of days of confusion, it appears that Aston Valley Mid-County will be playing at Sun Valley on Tuesday night, while Aston Valley Delco League will be playing at O’Hara. For a while, I just assumed all four teams were going to show up at the field at the same time and play rock, paper, scissors to decide who got to use Buggy Field and who had to take the walk of shame to the JV field.

If Aston Valley wins Tuesday night it’s over, if Clifton wins, Game 3 will be on Thursday back at Dermond Park.

Delco League:

It’s starting to feel like the 2016-2019 era of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors playing each other all the time.

Upper Darby has made the finals four straight years, winning in 2021 and 2024. Wayne has won 19 titles including 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023. They are both one win away from once again squaring off in the finals.

We will be streaming Delco League Finals games on our YouTube channel. We may have to miss Game 1 depending on how my MSBL Championship series goes, but we will absolutely have Game 2 and on.

Phillies:

That was not pretty.

Bryce Harper’s two-run single had the Phillies in front for a little while, but the White Sox scored six unanswered.

Luis Robert Jr. played like he wanted the Phillies to trade for him as he made a sensational diving catch in center field and also homered in the game.

Cristopher Sanchez has earned the benefit of the doubt that he just had a fluke bad start. He let up his first homer to a lefty hitter all year in this game.

They really need a bounce-back Jesus Luzardo start, especially with Taijuan Walker throwing on Wednesday.

MLB:

This is a tough loss for the baseball world.

Ryne Sandberg was one of the good guys out there, who was a Hall of Fame player and also spent time as a manager as well.

I was born in 1999 so I can’t say I remember much about him as a player, but he managed one of the worst Phillies eras in recent memory with class and a smile when there wasn’t much to smile about.

Our thoughts are with his friends and family during this difficult time.

Welcome back to another installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter where we breakdown everything going on in the Delco Baseball summer ball world.

It was a pretty light weekend overall, as our Little League, Legion and Cal Ripken coverage has all come to an end. The Broomall-Newtown 13’s are the last local team still going and their World Series will not start for another two weeks.

We still had some great playoff baseball action in our three main summer “adult” leagues around here. The Delco League has really shifted into a high school/college league, although, the league’s likely MVP is 36 years old, so that isn’t always the case.

The Delco League at this point is really just a 16+ league. The Mid-County league I believe is officially 18+, and the MSBL league that I play in is 25+. There are a lot of available options for people like me out there that still want to play ball and have fun but are past their days of being able to consistently hit baseballs coming 90 MPH at them.

Let’s dive into the action, and make sure to subscribe down below to stay up to date:

Delco League:

After dominating all throughout the high school season en route to winning our Most Valuable Player award, Radnor’s Austin Havertine shined in his Delco League playoff debut as well. Just two hits allowed and one unearned run for Havertine is a great way to make your first playoff appearance, and his offense gave him some great run support.

Alex Barrist missed a lot of the second half of the summer after going to a different college league, but having him back has been huge. Wayne scored four in the fourth, one in the fifth, and four in the sixth to put the game out of reach.

As for Upper Darby, the Burman and Burman combo in the 3/4 spots in the lineup is lethal. Upper Darby scored two in the first and four in the second, which was more than enough to take down Aston Valley.

All season long, and really, for the last five years, Wayne and Upper Darby have been the best two teams in the league. No one else has won a title besides them since the 2018 Narberth Mudcats (now Drexel Hill Ducks).

We are one win away from the third championship meeting between these two teams since 2022, where Wayne won in 2022 and 2023.

MSBL:

The Springfield Cardinals were in the driver’s seat after an 8-0 Game 1 win, but the Collingdale Colts fought back and won the next two games.

They grinded out a 6-5 win on Saturday in Game 2 then ran away with Game 3 late to punch their ticket to the championship.

This is a funny storyline here because this is a championship rematch from 2024, but from a different league. My team is now called the Drexel Hill Phillies, but last year we were sponsored by Casey’s Bar in Drexel Hill.

We played the Colts in the championship but that was a different league called the Delco Adult Baseball League (DABL) which merged with the MSBL this year to form a ten-team league.

So this is a rematch from last year where Drexel Hill won, but this is our first time in this league.

I think it should be a good series. I think we have the pitching advantage overall but the Colts have a very good offense which will make things interesting. We are unsure where the games will be played as Dermond is having the fences removed for football season. I’d guess O’Hara or Bonner next Saturday

Mid-County:

This is another series that should be very good as both of these two teams have been fantastic so far in the Mid-County (formerly EDCO) playoffs.

Clifton is made up of a lot of former Upper Darby HS players and Aston Valley has a ton of former Sun Valley HS guys. There are plenty more players added in on both sides, but a lot of these guys have been playing together for a while.

We will do our best to keep you up to date on where games are being played. Both the Mid-County and Delco League Aston Valley teams have told me they are playing at Sun Valley’s Buggy Field on Tuesday night, so someone should probably figure that out before four teams show up to the same field and zero games get played.

Phillies:

Thanks to Otto Kemp for being good at baseball on Sunday, no one else really tried to do so however.

I’ll always take a road series win, but it is so frustrating to watch this team consistently win the first two games of a series and then lose the third one with the punt lineup in.

Hopefully they can sweep away a rough White Sox team before a very good Tigers team comes to town this weekend.

Welcome back to another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where unlike Chick-Fil-A, we are open on Sundays.

We did not have a ton of action in the area on Saturday, but we did see a couple of different pitchers throw absolute gems in wins for their team, so that helps a bit.

We also talk MSBL semifinals and about another great Phillies series win, as always, we appreciate anyone who subscribes below to stay up to date:

Delco League:

If you are unfamiliar with Upper Darby’s Kevin McGovern, now is probably the time to change that.

The 36-year-old lefty pitched in Double-A with the St. Louis Cardinals back in 2021 as a Philly area guy as he went to Archbishop Ryan and also Thomas Jefferson University (Philadelphia University at the time) for college ball.

McGovern has had silly stats this season. He is 7-0 with a 0.76 ERA and has 82 strikeouts compared to just 11 walks. I wonder what it’s like to be that good at something.

McGovern has been excellent all year of course, but this 17 K game with 126 pitches thrown was something else. It’s pretty uncommon for pitchers to win the Delco League regular season MVP award, but he has a very strong case.

Wayne’s Tommy Bradley also has a great case. The Bonner alum and recent National Champion with Rowan County-Gloucester has a 0.80 ERA this season and 63 strikeouts to just 19 walks. He as well carried over that regular season dominance.

An interesting development for Wayne is that Alden Mathes was the first arm out of the bullpen in this game. The former Marple Newtown and Clemson outfielder had only pitched in one game all season, but throws gas from the left side and could be a weapon out late in games for Wayne.

Steven Wells homered again, but that isn’t really news. That’s just another day at the office for the former professional baseball player.

MSBL:

While the Delco League semis are a best-of-five series, the MSBL playoffs are best-of-three all the way.

The Collingdale Colts and Springfield Cardinals will need that third game after they split a doubleheader yesterday. It looked like the 2023 Champion Colts were dead after getting shutout in Game 1, but a great start from Dan Whalen and homers by Corbin Nyemah and Jabair Kahn forced a Game 3.

I do not know where the championship will be held next weekend, but I do know that as of right now it is supposed to be a doubleheader on Saturday with the if necessary game Sunday. Our home field of Dermond Park is having the fences taken down on Thursday due to football training camp, so I would guess the games will either be held at O’Hara or Bonner instead depending on Delco League schedules.

Phillies:

A sweep sure would be nice, wouldn’t it?

I feel like there have been SO many times this year where the Phillies win the first two games of a series then take their foot off the gas and allow the team they are playing to take game three.

You have one of the best pitchers in baseball on the mound in Zack Wheeler, please don’t let this opportunity slip away. Especially considering the fact that the Mets have won six in a row, they have to keep pace.

Side note: It’s been very nice to see the resurgence of JT Realmuto of late. I thought he was absolutely cooked, but he has looked like a different player since July began. That would be huge to get the old JT back.

Now let’s trade for Eugenio Suarez.

Welcome back to another installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we inform and entertain about what is going on in the world of Delco summer baseball.

It was overall a pretty quiet Friday night, but we had one of the biggest stories of all so far this summer as the Broomall-Newtown 13’s are heading to the World Series in New York in a couple of weeks after winning the regional championship.

We’ll cover that along with the MSBL semifinals, Delco League semifinals, and a Phillies sluggest in the Bronx.

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

Babe Ruth 13U:

Broomall-Newtown is heading to the World Series for the seventh time in program history, according to Delco Sports encyclopedia Dave Burman.

BN has won two World Series titles, both coming in 2014 when their 13’s and 15’s both won. Their most recent trip was 2023 when their 14’s squad came in fifth place.

This World Series will be fairly local as they head to Jamestown, New York. They will have plenty of time to prepare as the tournament will not begin until August 14th. Shoutout to 2024 DBN First Team All-Delco outfielder Lucien Burger from Marple Newtown (top left in picture) as well as former Tiger Kevin Raftovich (top right).

Delco League:

These are two really interesting series in the Delco League semis, both with some great storylines.

Aston Valley and Upper Darby met in the 2021 and 2024 Delco League Finals. I was the DH for Upper Darby in that epic five game series where the Blue Sox won their first title and it was some great baseball. Upper Darby took down Aston Valley in four games last season, so these guys are very familiar with each other.

Chester and Wayne have not in the playoffs recently. Former Wayne star Billy Ford now plays for Chester, and former Chester star Steven Wells now plays for Wayne, so there’s some cool storylines to keep an eye on.

Make sure to check out our semifinal preview podcast with Wayne’s Steven Wells and Upper Darby’s Alex and Sammy Burman to hear more:

MSBL:

I started this account in the summer of 2022 with one main goal in mind:

Make sure my name does not get misspelled in game recaps anymore.

Unfortunately, I haven’t really done much worth writing about since then, so it’s about time I got to write about myself in the third person.

The real story of this game was Calen Reigner, who was dominant once again on the mound. Reigner and Joe Nestel combined for 13 shutout innings with four total hits and 18 strikeouts as the two starting pitchers for the Phillies in this series.

Also a quick shoutout to Tommy Crumlish for somehow making our field (kind of) playable last night. It was a bit muddy but with the amount of rain that we had, it was impressive.

Our series began early as former Ridley Head Coach and current Widener assistant Anthony Monzo is getting married today (congrats!) so playing on Saturday was never going to happen. The Springfield Cardinals and Collingdale Colts will have a doubleheader with the if necessary game Sunday.

From my understanding, the championship will be a doubleheader next Saturday with the if necessary game Sunday. Our home field is typically Dermond Park in Drexel Hill, but we were told the fences were coming down soon because of football season.

If I had to guess, the finals will probably be at O’Hara or Bonner depending on the Delco League schedule.

Beep Baseball:

This certainly was not the result that the Philadelphia Fire were looking for, but this wrapped up another great summer for the visually impaired baseball squad.

I have been following this team for a few summers now and I have never seen some of the high scores that they had yesterday. That is some serious talent being played there.

If you ever get the chance, going out to Norwood Park and seeing these guys and girls play is mesmerizing. You’ve never seen anything like baseball blindfolded.

Phillies:

That was certainly one way to respond to losing that backbreaker to the Red Sox on Wednesday.

Winning a Taijuan Walker start on the road is HUGE, and now the Phillies have Ranger Suarez and Zack Wheeler going where a win in one of those games is a series win. My expectations are higher than that, especially with Max Fried not pitching in this series.

Shohei Ohtani will probably win MVP like he always does, but Kyle Schwarber has as good of a case as anyone. He has been spectacular this year. I can’t imagine an extension gets done during the season but letting him walk would be criminal.

MLB:

I typically don’t do too much with the rest of the MLB not named the Phillies in this newsletter, but how could I not add this?

I won’t act like Lancaster is right around the corner from Delco, but a kid from less than two hours away just became the first rookie in MLB history to hit 4 HR in a game. He’s only the 20th ever!

This is easily one of the best offensive performances in MLB history when you add in that he had two other hits as well. Kurtz joins Shonn Greene as the only players to go 6/6 with 4 HR in MLB history.

If you wanted absolute CHAOS, yesterday’s Delco League Wild Card Round Game 3’s were for you.

I was on the edge of my seat because we recorded our semifinal preview podcast episode last night, but for a while, it looked like we may not be able to because both games were tied late and we weren’t sure if they were going to finish in time.

We’ll talk more about that, we have some Babe Ruth updates, MSBL, and plenty more in our daily newsletter, which you can subscribe to for free below:

Delco League:

Following along with both of these games was a rollercoaster.

Multiple blown leads, lead changes, pitching changes, you name it. Chester looked like they were dead so many times and rallied back. Springfield looked like they were dead until Head Coach Steve Trainor was ejected and then they fought back.

A very interesting note here is that Aston Valley and Chester both won their series, and they also both lost Game 1. That’s not an easy feat at all to be able to win two in a row with your back against the wall, especially with one being on the road.

Hopefully the weather cooperates this weekend so we can get some semifinals action on Saturday and Sunday.

Babe Ruth 13U:

While Broomall-Newtown has blown out most of the teams they have played so far, they showed they can win a tight knit game as well with a thriller over Gibbsoro-Vorhees.

They have already beaten every team in this tournament once so they will have a ton of confidence going into the championship game. I will note that in some of these Babe Ruth tournaments, more than one team makes it to the World Series out of a region so there is a chance that they have already qualified, but winning the championship game will secure that.

MSBL:

The MSBL expanded to ten teams this year, and two of those new teams are still going in the Drexel Hill Phillies and the Collingdale Colts.

The Phillies got a gem from Joe Nestel in game one and will have all of their other arms ready to go. Glen Mills got a great start from John Millison as well but their offense could not solve Nestel.

Should Glen Mills win, the if necessary Game 3 will be Sunday at Dermond Park at 2:00 PM.

Beep Baseball:

If you are new to this newsletter and don’t know what Beep Baseball is, you are probably not alone.

Do yourself a favor and check it out on YouTube, it is unlike anything you have ever seen. Playing baseball without vision does not sound like it should be possible, but these guys and girls make it look easy.

The Philadelphia Fire is a local team that plays at Norwood Park and won the World Series last year. They are two wins away from repeating as champions. One win today will get them back in the championship game, if they lose in the morning they have another shot right after.

Banana Ball:

Joe Sperone has found a new love for baseball as he has gotten involved in “Banana Ball” with the Texas Tailgaters.

The Tailgaters are basically baseball’s version of the Washington Generals that play the Harlem Globetrotters, except there are three other teams that are not the Savannah Bananas. The Firefighters and the Party Animals are other teams.

Sperone graduated from West Chester and after a short stint in Indy Ball, got an invite to come down to Savannah and tryout for the team. It’s a great balance of being good at baseball and being an entertainer.

If you want to hear more from Joe, make sure to check out our newest podcast episode that airs Friday night at 8:00 PM on YouTube.

MLB:

After taking two out of three from the Red Sox (should have been all three), the Phillies will get another AL East team in the Yankees.

I am already going to chalk up the Taijuan Walker game as a loss, but getting Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suarez in this series is a big help. I think a series win is very possible here, especially with the Phillies not having to face Max Fried.

Welcome back for another installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where we will you in on everything that you need to know in the world of summer baseball.

Today’s edition has a little bit of everything as we saw a state champion be crowned on Wednesday, we had three playoff games, a Phillies collapse, and plenty more.

As always, we appreciate anyone who takes the time to subscribe (for free) to get our newsletter delivered to them every day. Even if you don’t read it, it’s ok. It just makes me feel better.

Prep Legion:

Narberth was in a tough spot after they lost their second tournament game against Norchester 9-3 back on Sunday.

They knew they’d have to grind it out through the loser’s bracket, and they did just that. They won four straight games including two on Wednesday to capture a state championship. If anyone has any insight on the last legion state champion from Delco, please feel free to contact us to give credit.

As far as I know, my 2014 Nether Providence Bulldogs that won the 14U Sandlot State Championship was the last. Shoutout to Arizona Diamondbacks AAA pitcher Billy Corcoran for throwing eight innings and delivering us the walk-off winner in that one.

If this team is any indication, the future of baseball in the Lower Merion/Harriton school district is in pretty good hands.

Delco League:

Not one, but TWO Game 3’s tonight!

What we do know is that if Springfield wins, they will play Wayne. If Aston Valley wins, they will play Upper Darby in a 2021 and 2024 finals rematch, both of which Upper Darby won.

Chester and Drexel Hill will obviously just depend on how the other series go.

It will be interesting to see what both teams have in terms of pitching. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some high scoring games today. If you are in the Delco area, definitely consider heading out to Chester or Springfield to see some high stakes intense baseball.

MSBL:

Unfortunately, me going 1/2 was not quite good enough to crack the newspaper cover, but in a lefty/lefty matchup I was expecting to go 0/2 so I’ll take it.

Joe Nestel was the story of this game, even after wearing a line drive off the ribs during the game. He is a Delco League caliber pitcher who would rather just play here with his boys and there’s no complaints from me.

Ryan Tecco had an RBI double and also a sac fly. Ryan Hodinko added a sac fly as well as the Phillies had some good situational baseball being played in this one.

Calen Reigner will get the ball on Friday looking to send Drexel Hill to the championship game in its first year playing in the 25+ league.

Mid-County:

Dom Ervin skipped our MSBL game to pitch for Clifton instead, and it appears it was a win-win.

Ervin recovered from a rough first round playoff outing to do what he does best, and that is keep his pitch count low and trust his defense. He also has a rubber arm so the pitch count doesn’t really affect him all too much, but it is nice.

Now that the Broomall Gators got bored after winning five of the last six titles, there will be some new blood in the finals with Clifton and the Aston Valley Bombers, which appears to be made up of a good amount of Sun Valley alums and current Penn State Brandywine players.

The championship series will be Monday at Dermond, Tuesday at Sun Valley (Aston Valley Delco League might get priority if they win tonight, though) and Thursday back at Dermond.

Babe Ruth 13U:

It was odd seeing the score of the Broomall-Newtown game being 4-1 in the night game considering how dominant their offense had been so far. They have won multiple games by a 13-0+ score and also put 24 on Mifflin.

This win definitely helped show them that they can win a tight low-scoring game, because it won’t always be this easy for them the later that they go.

BN is just two wins away from a trip to the World Series, and a win Thursday would have them sitting in the championship.

Beep Baseball:

If you missed a few if our previous newsletters, Beep Baseball is baseball for those who are blind or visually impaired.

If you are wondering how the hell that even works, you are not alone.

The players all wear blindfolds to even the playing field. Your coach is your pitcher and they have a set verbal cue (typically something like “set, ready, pitch”) and are trying to match your swing plane so you can hit it.

Once you hit it, you have to run and tackle a beeping football tackling dummy before the defense tracks down the ball, which is also beeping, and secures it.

It is jaw-dropping to watch in person.

The Fire look to be three wins away from defending their title. They will face the Gateway Archers in the winner’s bracket semifinals. If they win that, they will play Friday against the winner of the Indy Thunder and Indy Edge to try and get into the championship game Saturday.

MLB:

Only the Phillies could waste five home runs and a 5-0 lead in a series sweep effort.

Jesus Luzardo is starting to become a problem, he’s just way too inconsistent. The playoff rotation will likely be (in this order) Wheeler, Sanchez, Suarez, and Nola if I had to guess. I can’t see them putting Nola in the bullpen, he’s never done that before.

Side note: Bryston Stott finally changed his walk-up song and immediately had a great day. Maybe it was the additional dad strength added for baby #2 arriving as well.

The Phillies will head up the The Bronx to take on the Yankees next. Taijuan Walker will face Will Warren on Friday at 7:05 PM. Ranger Suarez will face Marcus Stroman on Saturday at 1:05 PM. Zack Wheeler will face Carlos Rodon on Sunday at 1:35 PM for the finale.

Hello there, welcome in to another installment of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter. We had a pretty light day overall on Tuesday night as one by one as the amount of teams we are covering as started to shrink, but the level of competition has gotten higher.

This edition will feature the first round of the Delco League playoffs, second round of the Mid-County playoffs, legion, Babe Ruth, and a brilliant start on the mound from Cristopher Sanchez in the Phillies win last night.

As always, we appreciate anyone who takes the time to subscribe to get these updates every day. Some people said they had some issues with the newsletter going straight to their junk folder (pretty funny objectively) so if you signed up and can’t find it, check there.

Delco League:

The series is far from over, but I would like to toot my own horn for a second as I predicted Mark Zuppo would be the series MVP in our first round preview on the podcast.

Church Road Park in Springfield is known as a field that doesn’t have a fence, but Zuppo created his own as he belted one into the trees in left center field. It was originally a triple but the umpires got together and called it a homer.

Recent Marple Newtown graduate Jack Maholick made his first career playoff start and gave Springfield exactly what they needed with one run over five innings. Recent Harriton graduate Charlie Belli threw two innings of shutout ball for the save.

Both of these guys are heading to Catholic University in the Fall.

As for Drexel Hill, Bonner alum Bryan Henry also turned in five sharp innings with one run allowed. Fellow Bonner alums Harry Carr and Austin Cannon drove in some runs as well as Neumann-Goretti alum Evan McCoach.

If these teams close out their current series, Springfield would play Wayne and Drexel Hill would play Upper Darby. One game at a time, though.

Mid-County:

Apologies to whoever “Cole” is on the Aston Valley GameChanger, but your teammates/coach did not put your last name on the roster so I don’t know who you are.

Congrats on the walk-off single in Game 1 and the complete game in Game 2, if someone lets me know your name I will add it in here.

Aston Valley will take on either the Clifton Outlaws or Top Lumber Expos. Clifton leads 1-0 and Game 2 of that series will be Wednesday night at O’Hara at 6:00 PM. Game 3 if necessary would be Thursday under the lights at Dermond at 8:00 PM.

MBSL:

I may be too washed up to be a Delco League starter, but I’m ready for a playoff run with the Drexel Hill Phillies.

I heard a lefty is pitching tonight so I will be useless in this one, but the rest of the playoffs I’m ready. This is our first year in the league so I’m not really sure what to expect here but I’m looking forward to it.

The Glen Mills Rays swept the Aston Marauders in the first round to get here. This series will be played on a very small field at Dermond Park, so anything can happen with fly balls. The series is being started early due to a wedding on Saturday for a Rays player, so the other semifinal series will not start until Saturday. Both will be over by Sunday, though.

Babe Ruth:

Is this Broomall-Newtown team the greatest team of all time?

It may be a bit early to say that, but they are absolutely crushing everyone that they play. Their closest game was an 8-2 win, and everything else was 13-0 or worse. We’ll see if anyone is able to compete with that offense today, as they can at the very least earn a spot in the knockout stage.

Prep Legion:

Narberth has made their way through the loser’s bracket and the mission is clear.

If they win two games Wednesday, they will be State Champions. I have never seen a bracket quite like this before, but there are currently three teams left and all three teams have one loss. Narberth will play Boyertown while Norchester awaits the winner.

Narberth showed that the bats are ready to go after yesterday’s 16-1 win over Swoyersville, but we’ll see if they have the arms to get through two games in a row.

MLB:

Everyone involved in choosing the NL All Star team should be fired.

They didn’t have Cristopher Sanchez, one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and they also didn’t have Trea Turner who led the NL in hits. But good thing we put in a Brewers pitcher who has made five career starts!

Anyway, Sanchez was just dominant against Boston. He let up a solo homer but that was it, these guys looked lost against him. He has had great stuff since he came up to the big leagues but every year his fastball ticks up a little bit as well and now he is lethal.

Max Kepler homered, and he really needed that one mentally. Kyle Schwarber also homered as well, he didn’t necessarily need that one but it sure was nice.

With a rested up bullpen the Phillies will look to sweep the Red Sox before they head to New York to face the Yankees this weekend after an off day Thursday.

Welcome back to another edition of the Delco Baseball Now newsletter, where every game from here on out in the Delco Baseball world is officially either a playoff or a tournament with the Delco League playoffs beginning tonight.

The Delco League regular season can look a bit rough at times. It’s a 28 game season and it can be a struggle to get players at times for weekend games and whatnot.

To put it this way: I started a game this summer for Wayne (had 2 RBI no big deal) in a day where we only had ten players available.

The playoffs are a whole different animal, as players need only seven appearances to be playoff eligible. I personally think that number should be a bit higher to reward the players who stuck it out all season, but that’s a conversation for another day.

We’ll get into all of that along with some legion updates, Mid-County league semifinals, Babe Ruth, Beep Baseball, and one of the most bizarre endings to a Phillies game you will ever see.

As always, we appreciate anyone who takes the time to support us by subscribing (for free) to get this newsletter delivered daily.

Delco League:

The Delco League playoffs begin tonight, and I am fired up.

Ever since my 2021 Upper Darby Blue Sox won the first title in franchise history, I have loved every second of the Delco League playoffs. It’s the only league where you can see at the time 49 year old Johnny Gonzalez and 17 year old Sammy Burman competing for the same Finals MVP trophy.

If you have not yet, check out our newest podcast where we have FOUR interviews from players/coaches on the four first round teams.

We have Aston Valley OF Vinny Proietto, Springfield Head Coach Steve Trainor, Drexel Hill Head Coach Sean Mohollen, and Chester C Ben Ettien all in a row.

Upper Darby’s late season surge stole them the #1 seed from Wayne, so they will await whoever the lowest seed remaining is in the semifinals. The playoffs do reseed, so if Springfield wins they will play Wayne and if Aston Valley wins they will play Upper Darby.

The championship series will be broadcasted on the Delco Baseball Now YouTube channel.

Babe Ruth 13U:

Broomall-Newtown begins their quest for a seventh World Series trip as they take part in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament.

They absolutely ran through the PA State Tournament, winning 14-0, 14-0, 15-0, and 8-2, so it surely looks like they have a good shot to get there again.

The tournament has five teams in it. Three teams advance to the knockout stage with the one seed getting a bye into the championship, so getting that top seed should be a priority.

Note: Ridley qualified for this regional but elected not to go. I am not sure why, but Mifflin County accepted the bid to be the second PA rep.

Mid-County:

While Aston Valley and Media had to be suspended due to darkness in Game 1 of a three game series, the Clifton Outlaws and Top Lumber Expos did not even start until 8:00 PM as they played under the lights at Dermond.

Upper Darby High School Head Coach Kenny Kissinger showed his players how it’s done as he ripped a homer and a double to lead the offense. Clifton will look to close the series out on Wednesday night at O’Hara.

We believe that Media and Aston Valley will look to end their Game 1 tonight at Penncrest before starting Game 2.

Senior Legion:

I am definitely glad to see that legion is having a bit of a resurgence, because a lot of really good players took the field for Narberth and Upper Darby in this regional, as well as Broomall-Newtown, Ridley, and Springfield in the Main Line.

Travel ball will always take priority for uncommitted guys which is understandable, but legion certainly has a place here.

Prep Legion:

While the Narberth Senior Legion team may be out, the Prep Legion team is still battling in the State Tournament.

It is a bit of an odd tournament format, but the gist of it is that Narberth will have to win three more games to be state champions. Against who is still TBD.

I do not believe that at this level there is anything past states.

Beep Baseball:

If you haven’t ever seen Beep Baseball before, you will be stunned to find out what it is.

Beep Baseball helps visually impaired athletes do what they love. All athletes wear blindfolds and the pitchers are coaches from their own team. They have a verbal cue to tell their hitters when the ball is coming and it is their job to put it right in their swing path.

The ball beeps, so the defense can hear it and they try to find the ball and secure it before the hitter runs and tackles a beeping tackling dummy down the first or third base line. You kind of have to watch it to understand.

I went out to an event in 2022 and it blew my mind. I was still recovering from an injury so I wasn’t able to run to the bases, but I did get to swing. It took about 10-15 swings before I even made contact.

The Philadelphia Fire usually play at Norwood Park, but they are in St. Louis this week to try and defend their World Series title.

Check out this video for some context and make sure to subscribe to follow along with their games this week:

MLB:

A walk-off… catcher’s interference?

What an odd way to end the game, especially considering the Phillies had to challenge the call because Edmundo Sosa was adamant that catcher’s interference should be called, and he was right.

According to baseball reference, that has only ever happened one time, when the Dodgers beat the Reds in 1971 with Johnny Bench behind the plate.

The Phillies probably would have won anyway with the bases loaded and nobody out, but this team does struggle with runners in scoring position so you never know.

The Phillies will look to win the series on Tuesday night when Cristopher Sanchez faces Richard Fitts.