2025 25+ Mountain
2025 25+ Mountain
Motor City Mariners 8, Indy Orioles 4
The Motor City Mariners would head down the Arizona for their third go-round at the MSBL World Series after testing the waters and winning the Fall Classic in West Palm Beach last year. The team would stay relatively intact from all four years with a few new faces that included Joey Pejuan, Andre Hutchins, Jesse Rometty, and Marcus Stewart.
The Mariners would quickly punch their ticket to the playoffs, given the format in pool play, going 3-0 off the bat with pitching performances by Marcus Stewart, Larry Wood, and Steve Simmons, who all notched quality starts or complete games, surrendering less than three runs in each start.
The offense would also erupt in the first two games of pool play with a combined 20 runs over two games with offensive performances from Rob Brenay, Jake Boylan, Jessy Hernandez, Joey Pejuan, Tyler Frankhouse, Brad Jones, Steve Simmons, Andre Hutchins, Dom Mora, and the twins Alex and Aaron Dyke, who all notched multi-hit games or RBIs.
The Mariners would then go into pitcher-saving-mode over the next two games while dropping the final two pool play games in an extra inning loss in game four and a game of “who can make the least errors” in game five (it wasn’t us).
The unsung hero of the tournament was Dan Smith. An OG (original gangster) of the Mariners who ate 10 innings of a 72-inning marathon while posting an impressive 3.60 ERA across those innings and keeping the Mariners’ lead intact.
The 25+ Mountain playoffs would take on a very different vibe. A vibe that the Detroit MSBL is very used to…elite pitching. The Mariners would draw a tough Denver Kokopellis team that defeated them in pool play two years prior.
The Mariners would send Jesse Rometty to the mound, who would go all nine innings, allowing only one run and striking out 14 while leading the Mariners to a 3-1 win to advance to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals, it would be Deja vu as Steve Simmons would take the mound against a very talented Nassau Bucs team, who rivaled the Mariners in pitching excellence in pool play. Simmons would also go the distance of nine innings for the second time in 48 hours while only allowing one unearned run. Simmons would end the tourney with a line of 18 IP, 2R, 1ER, 2BB, 23K.
The championship would have a slightly different feel as the Mariners would face off against a fellow Midwest team in the Indy Orioles. The Mariners would counter the Orioles offensive prowess with Larry Wood, who would…you guessed it…also go the distance of all nine innings, accompanied by a later inning offensive attack from the totality of the Mariners lineup, posting an 8-4 World Series victory!