This weekend, the London Mets and Southampton Mustangs will square off at Farnham Park in a best-of-three National Baseball League title decider, with both teams hungry for success.
The Mets fell at the final hurdle last year in the NBL NBCs, being swept in two games by the Essex Arrows. This was the Mets’ first appearance in the title decider since they won two straight titles in 2007 and 2008.
The Mustangs have also fallen just short in recent years: they lost 12-7 to the Harlow Nationals in 2013’s single-game final.
Game 1 between the Mustangs and Mets is set to start at 15:30 on Saturday 5 September, with Game 2 scheduled for 12:45 pm on Sunday 6 September and Game 3 (if needed) at 15:30 on Sunday.
A closely-fought final seems to be on the cards.
ROUTES TO THE FINAL
London has had the easier route to the NBL championship series, flirting with a perfect season and eventually finishing with a 15–3 record, their nearest rivals coming in six games back. This secured them an automatic berth in the title decider.
Southampton, in contrast, has had to battle hard during August to make the playoffs at all. They snuck into the post-season as the fourth and last of the seeds and then, in their first of two straight elimination games, proceeded to edge out the defending champion Arrows by a score of 4–3 in extra innings. Francisco Gonzales struck out 10 in a 122-pitch complete-game win.
The victory over Essex set up another do-or-die clash, this time against the second-seeded Herts Falcons, who boasted the white-hot bats of Maikel Azcuy and Edwin Alcanatra, joint home run champions in 2015 and both members of the past four title-winning squads. The Mustangs fell into an early 5–1 hole but fought their way back for an 11–6 victory.
Southampton’s Jose Rodriguez-Almestica gave up just one run in a crucial 5-inning effort and also hit a homer to help his cause. Alberto Rodriguez co-starred for the Mustangs, pounding out four hits from five at-bats.