MVP Prevails in Instant Classic

I went back to look for what I wrote after last year’s finals loss. There was nothing. No recap, no reflection. Just silence. Maybe that was fitting. 

2025 DSSL Championship Final Score: MVP 11 | Boys 10 (F/11) 

Player of the Game: John “One-Leg” Merrill – 2-4, RBI 2B, scored winning run in 11th

Recap

The Commissioner called it one of the best games he had ever seen, as did Tom Loesch. He said the defenses separated us from the rest. That part felt right. MVP and the Boys gave up five combined runs in the semifinals. So it made sense that the finals came down to a hustle play and a throw that got away.

The Boys opened with three. MVP answered in the bottom half. Two swings from the GM, one ruled foul, one ruled fair, the latter as poetic as could be. Shane followed with a double that drove in Ev and Nick. After one, MVP led 4 to 3.

The Boys leapfrogged MVP in the third and Ev brought home the GM with a sacrifice fly in the fourth. That evened things up at 5 to 5.

At this point, it felt like the big inning was going to swing the momentum. The Boys found a lot of grass in the top half of the fifth, plating five and doubling MVP. Momentum shifted as MVP fell behind 10 to 5. But we did not kick it around. They hit. We had time. We just needed to chip away.

One-Leg doubled in Mullahey, whose fingerprints were all over this game, in the bottom of the fifth. In the sixth, KB, the GM, and Brady all crossed with Nick’s big two out double bringing in two. Boys 10 to 9 after six.

In the seventh, Mullahey scored again on a deep fly from Z-Dubs. Game tied.

From there, it was a grind. MVP had runners in scoring position in the eighth and tenth. On paper, it looks like MVP squandered big opportunities. But I do not feel that way. With second and third, one out, MVP was sure to take the lead in the eighth, but the Boys made two great plays. The same goes for the tenth after a Mullahey triple put MVP 60 feet away with one out. CJ and Z put great swings on the ball. What can you do?

Meanwhile, they did not score again. And like the Bagas, they endured six straight shutout frames from MVP to end their season.

Heading into the eleventh, it felt like the game had already tilted. One-Leg, who sparked our first rally back in the fifth, led off again. Then Matty Baylous followed. A tough season by the numbers, worst in the Statcast Era if you are counting, but none of that mattered now. He kinda squared one up. Another base hit. Two on, nobody out.

With one out, Kyle came to the plate. His 2025 season had tracked closely with MVP’s own arc: early struggles, including another loss to the Boys on Father’s Day in the first matchup post finals, and for Kyle, a stretch where he could not have predicted just how rough the numbers would look. But the second half told a different story. He settled in, took over the leadoff spot, and in the playoffs, anchored the defense masterfully.

Then he lifted a fly ball to MVP’s sixth string outfielder. I watched as One-Leg lined up the sprint from second to third, and then he ran like a bat out of hell. He was going to be safe. It was not even worth a throw. But they threw it anyway and as it sailed, so did the Boys’ shot at a repeat.

FINAL/11: MVP 11 – Boys 10

For a game like that to come down to the hustle of John “One-Leg” Merrill, off the bat of our Captain, to win us our fourth championship and MVP’s sixth, that is what makes MVP, MVP. It is players like John who catch every inning, dive for every ball, and cheer on every teammate. Or the guys like the Baylous boys who, despite a down year by their usual standards, elevated in the biggest inning of the biggest game in some time.

So if I had to sum up the season, I would have to agree with Copilot:

“This season was about the next guy up. The extras, the free agents, and the regulars. They were at the center of this season’s resurgence, while others who had been slipping, stepped up.

Over the years, MVP had an identity—stellar defense, timely hitting, and an undeniable chemistry that made them unstoppable when it mattered. 2025 was no different”

The Numbers

I ran the stats. Twelve of the top fifteen batting averages across 2024 and 2025 came this year. Last year’s MVP hit .520 with 123 runs. This year’s hit .632 and scored 269.

Every single player stepped up. The regulars. The additions. The ones who had been quiet. The ones who had something to prove. It was all there in 2025.

A Final Note

Sunday was my last game as GM. I’ve said that before. But this time, it stuck. And nothing will top it.

Back in 2021, after we lost to the Boys, I was fired up to take the reins. Game 1 as GM? A classic MVP loss, 8–7 to the Bagas. Ryan James channeled his inner Kyrie, showed up late, left early, and blamed communion. That’s when I realized: getting us to want to be there would take more than just beer.

So we built something. Jersey Days. Walk-up songs. BBQs. Rizz, RJ, and Muscles went nuclear. We rattled off 10 straight and won our first chip since 2019.

2023 was even better ending in an 11-inning war with the Goblins for our third title. I thought that game couldn’t be topped…

Then came 2024. We got complacent. Life crept in. The Boys wanted it more, and they earned it. Honestly? That loss saved us. It forced change. We added the rover. Mixed up the lineup. Brought in CJ. And after Father’s Day, we never lost again. We outscored opponents by 102 runs in the final stretch of 10 games. 

Heading into Sunday, I knew it was ours. We were MVP at its best. And we prevailed in a game this league will not forget anytime soon. So thank you…

To Rizz and CJ, getting a second chance to run with you meant everything.

To the SWR crew and Shane (Shorehamite by proximity), what a joy to share the field again.

To the OGs, Tom, One-Leg, Cirincione, Keith, and the rest, thank you for letting us into your tradition and always keeping us competitive as we refined our baseball swings.

MVP Brew Crew 2022-2025

And with that, it’s with immense gratitude that I step down as the GM of the MVP.

Now that the dust has settled, I thought hard about what is next. Do I find a successor? Do we merge? I was not sure, until the playoffs and a few conversations with a very good friend.

Big game. Old school energy.

The kind of guy who, as Tom once said about me, might sell his mother for a flawless day at the plate.

The new GM is a good one. You’ll see soon but you can brush up on your history HERE.