Quarterfinals: Dugouts (5) @ Bayberry Park
Get ’em a Brew: 2026 MVP Brew Crew | 7-4, 150 RF/127 RA/+23 RD
After losing a chunk of offense from the 2025 club, MVP’s path to winning in 2026 became clear: defend and stay close enough for the lineup to make one big swing.
That formula nearly delivered again Sunday for the JM.
The Brew Crew held the formidable Dugouts to six runs, continuing a season-long defensive identity that kept opponents at seven runs or fewer five times – a franchise best.
Unfortunately, MVP couldn’t turn contact into rallies consistently, finishing with 11 hits and just two extra-base hits: JM’s first-inning home run, and a fifth-inning double from next year’s ROY, Danny Owens.
There were chances throughout the game, but the big inning never came, and, still, the game was right in front of MVP.
Trailing 6–3 entering the ninth, MVP refused to let up. With the season down to the final out, Shane White, once again, drove in two with a clutch hit, pulling the Brew Crew within one, and bringing the winning run to the plate.
Big Z, who already owns a Bayberry walk-off from the 2025 season, had another chance to make history. This time, the magic did not return.
It is tough to put into words how shocking this one was, even with all of the offensive woes this year. The Dugouts are a great team, but this was still MVP, a club that has spent years finding a way in games like this.
Not this time; MVP suffers its first Bayberry loss at the most inopportune time.
Dugouts 6-5
MVP eliminated
2026 Season Review: Year I of the Jewish Shohei
The award finishes told you everything you needed to know about MVP’s stars for 2026.
JM, Rob, and Shane were the bright spots in an otherwise quiet offensive year for the Brew Crew. MVP did not hit enough, especially when the game tightened up, and that momentum carried into the quarterfinals, and, ultimately, was too much to overcome.
But the change in identity was meaningful, and Jon did a phenomenal job leaning into it. The defense gave MVP a chance in almost every big game, but chances created and opportunities seized are two different things.
But, as the ad-age goes: defense wins championships, and the Brew Crew were not an easy team to score against.
That is exactly why the team found itself in six games decided by four runs or fewer, going 3–3 in those contests, including the playoff loss. Yet the defeat still registered like an upset. Even in a down offensive year, and a 4/5 game on paper, MVP has made a habit of putting itself in positions to survive and advance.
They just could not finish Sunday, but the path forward feels clearer now.
The defense stepped it up 10-fold, and the Brew Crew will enter the new year with more options, more potential depth, and a better understanding of what this group needs to find its offensive form again.
One anonymous former batting champ had an idea: pre-game batting practice. That would require punctuality, another area of improvement opportunity.
Nonetheless, for the first time in years, MVP will have a hit list instead of a target on its back, all the more reason to come back.
One thing is for sure in 2027: win or lose, we’ll booze.
Go MVP!
MVP Insider is an affiliate of the MVP Brew Crew with unofficial access to the front office, clubhouse, and a board of self‑appointed trustees. All reports, sources, and stats are unreliable and never influenced by the JM. Any rebroadcast or retransmission requires written consent, in purple crayon, from Weslie James.
MVP Brew Crew, 2026.
MVP Brew Crew Softball Club 
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