2025 Rays Sweep Blue Jays for 35+ Sunday National Division Title in Sacramento MSBL
Sacramento MSBL, 35+ Sunday National Division
Sacramento Rays 9, Blue Jays 4
Submitted by Steve Conn, manager
This season was my 24th season playing men’s league baseball and my 20th as the player-manager for the 35+ Sacramento Rays.
As I mentioned in my first championship story in 2021, it took me 19 seasons to win my first championship. Now, we’ve been fortunate enough to win the last three out of the last five, in 2021, 2023, and 2025.
With that said, I don’t take getting to the championship series or winning the championship for granted.
In the 24 years of playing in the Sunday league, this season was our best regular season record at 16-2, with the only two losses coming to the Tigers, led by my friend and former teammate Matt Bouler.
This year’s championship series was a rematch of last year’s series against the Blue Jays, led by player/manager David Whitesal.
In last year’s championship series, game one was a grudge match, going 15 innings, with us winning game one. Then the Blue Jays battled back to win games two and three on the shoulders of pitcher Travis Robinson.
During this year’s playoffs, our MVP was Stevie Johnson, who put us on his shoulders and pitched complete games in the semifinal game, game one, and game two of the championship series.
The championship wins were both team victories with everyone contributing on either offense or defense.
Also, a very special shout-out to our scorekeeper, Francine Johnson, and her husband, Gary Johnson. They both show up to every game, even if their kids don’t show up. lol!
They always arrive with big smiles and positive attitudes, which helps set the tone for our team.
Inevitably, every season, we lose a handful of players to injuries and other reasons.
So, a shout-out to Eric Aller and Sam Calagna for building positive relationships with players within the men’s league community, which helps us when we need to replenish our roster with good players to keep us competitive and give us a chance to win the title.
The new players this season, who were all major contributors to this season’s championship run, included Coco Murphy, Miguel Rubio Jr., Frank Costa, Darin Zunich, Aaron Mojica, Nick Findley, Malachi Grant, and also included the return of James Stamps and Ben Young.
A shout-out to Don Logsdon, who takes the time to come out to many of our games to take pictures. He took all of the pictures that were submitted with this story.
Shout out to Jason Morris, the league scheduler, for always trying his best to accommodate our team, as five of our players also play on the 18+ Redbirds.
Shout out to the Blue Jays and their player/manager, David Whitesal, for exhibiting good sportsmanship throughout last year’s and this year’s championship series. I know they will continue to be a tough team to beat.
Shout out to league president Alan Van Ness for everything he does for the league to help it run efficiently and smoothly, including organizing the father/son tournament, the firecracker tournament, and the Labor Day tournament.
Shout out to William Swanson (Swanny) and Holly Abplanalp, and all the other umpires from the RCOA, for putting up with us during the long season.
And lastly, shout out to all the players on the Rays. The Sunday league is definitely a grind, starting in March and ending on the last Sunday of September. It is different than the night league, as we only get one shot at a title, as opposed to in the night league, you get two opportunities. So, shout out to my players for grinding it out, battling injuries and getting the job done this season.