2026 Mets Overtake Ducks for Sixth 18+ Championship in Capital District (NY) MSBL
Capital District MSBL, 18+ Division
Mets 8, Hometown Ducks 1
‘Jaylen Cuevas Named Playoff MVP’
Submitted by Rick DiJohn, 18+ Commissioner
The #1 seed Hometown Ducks (18-1), led by manager Jim Bonaparte, faced off against the #2 seed Mets (14-4-1), led by manager Jim Fiorita, after both teams had a first-round bye and won in the semifinals. The Mets in the semis got there by defeating the 2023-2025 3-peat league championship team, the #3 seed Bombers, on the back of young rookie Jaylen Cuevas, who in game 1 had a save, and after game 3 was a tied continuation 4-4, he pitched in and got the win in the continuation; and in game 4, played right after, kept pitching and got the win in game 4.
And in the continuation, Jaylen also had a 2-RBI single and a game-winning hit. The Mets overcame the hot hitting Gorman brothers on the Bombers to advance to the finals. The Ducks had even a tougher road in the semi-finals, running into a red hot upstart #4 seed Huskies team, who were up 2-0 in the series against the Ducks after a miraculous comeback in game 2 down 7-1 bottom 7 (and winning 8-7), and huskies were also up 4-0 in the 5th in game 3, only got the Ducks offense to explode and come back winning game 3 and then games 4 and 5 to win 3 in a row to make the championship.
The Mets last faced the Ducks in the championship in 2019 where the Mets won their last championship (and 5th overall, tied with the Bombers for all-time league lead in championships). The Ducks now have made their 11th championship in 12 years, and 10 championships in a row. This is the second time the Ducks came back down 2-0 in the semis to win 3 in a row to get there (which they did against the Mets in 2024).
In game 1 of the championship, Ducks would send their lefty stud pitcher Gabe Stewart to the hill while Mets would send long time veteran pitcher Brian Conroy. In top of the first, the hitting Scott Buniak of the Mets would hit a 2 RBI double and a couple of Ducks misplays would make it 4-0 early. The score would remain 4-0 until the bottom of the 5th where Mets had a couple of misplays themselves followed by the favorite to win the regular season MVP Anthony Mantova would hit an RBI single to bring the score to 4-2.
Bottom 6 Ducks would rally again with a few timely hits tying the game 4-4. Mets would go to pitcher Jaylen Cuevas (who had a save in game 1 of the semis followed by 2 wins in one day), but Ducks hitter Spencer Brown would connect with a deep shot RBI double dead center over Mets CF Greg Jette’s head, and Ducks Steve Martino ( another hot hitter who along with Brian Hoffman had 10 hits each in the semis) would follow by hitting an RBI single, giving the Ducks the lead 6-4.
Ducks used a lot of pitching in the previous full 5 game series, so in the 7th not an often used pitcher Jayden McLellan would come in and close the game out for the Ducks and get the save. Ducks led the series 1-0 after a 6-4 final.
Game 2 would feature pitcher Dino Ferrarese for the Ducks (who pitched great in game 3 of the semis in relief to keep the Ducks alive in that game and series) and for the Mets twilight league legend Tyler Travis would get the start. Both pitchers looked a little fatigued from the previous series and once again the Mets would take an early 4-0 lead with Scott Buniak hitting a first inning RBI single then later on hitting a solo HR at the deep A Diamond field in Schenectady (where all of the championship games were played), with a few other runs grinded out by the Mets.
Later on in the game, Ducks would once again erase a 4-0 lead like in game 1 with a 2 RBI single by Brandon Baumann and a 2 RBI double by Tony Poveda (who led the league in RBIs with 28 during the regular season). The score was once again 4-4. Ducks reliever Jacob Nagengast was in and looked very sharp. But in the 6th inning Buniak would reach on an error, Greg Jette would hit an oppo single, and Phil Weinman would hit an RBI ground out. In the 7th inning Mets would tack on another run, and Mets reliever Zach Andi would come in and close the door and get the save for the Mets. Ducks won game 1 6-4, and Mets won game 2 6-4.
The series was now tied 1-1 with a pivotal game 3 looming. Long time Ducks player, former Cy Young winner and current Cy Young pitcher Dan Jones would take the mound, while long time Mets player and great pitcher Sean Conroy would get the start for the Mets.
After an inning where both pitchers were a little sluggish, the score after 1 inning was 3-2 Mets in the lead led by a John Fiorita RBI single and Phil Weinman 2 RBI double for the Mets, while Ducks catcher Joe Campbell hit a 2 RBI single. The two all-time great pitchers in the league would then lock on, neither allowing a run innings 2-6.
The score remained 3-2 in the bottom of the 7th where Jayden McLellan led off the inning by reaching base. The next batter then hit a slow roller to 3rd, where the Mets fielder threw it away on a tough play. Mets second baseman Fausto Franco (who also had a double in the top of the 7th) made one of the most clutch and spectacular plays in the league’s playoff history. He saw the play unfolding and quickly ran to backup first on a bad throw, got there and McLellan saw the ball get by and broke for third, Fausto got it and threw a strike to 3rd to get Mclellen on what had to be a perfect throw to get him.
So Fausto’s awareness and effort and perfect throw saved the Mets from having to deal with 1st and 3rd no one out in a one run game. Instead it was 1 out and a guy on first. Ducks still managed to load the bases and regular season probable MVP Anthony Mantova was up.
Sean Conroy still in the game battled Mantova in a fantastic pitching sequence where Mantova fouled a few tough pitches off. Then after staying outside, Sean Conroy dropped a 2-2 slider on the inside corner to get arguably the leagues best hitter out looking. Mets held on to the 3-2 win and took the lead in the series 1-1.
In game 4 Ducks would call upon Spencer Brown, who had a fantastic regular season pitching, and also in the semis against the Huskies pitched two different games where he had 5 shutout innings. Mets would go to Jaylen Cuevas, who had 2 wins and a save in the previous series. As advertised, it turned out to be a great pitching duel. Both pitchers were on, and the score was 0-0 going into the 5th inning. Spencer now had a consecutive playoff streak of 14 innings without allowing a run.
The savvy Mets team realized this and had to try something different. Scott Buniak (who was on fire all series) led off the inning with a bunt base hit. This kicked off a Mets rally where John Fiorita hit an RBI single and the Mets eventually loaded the bases. With 2 outs Zach Schellenger laid down a perfect bunt for an RBI bunt single, while Fausto Franco did the same exact thing the very next at bat for another RBI bunt single. This gave the Mets a 3-0 lead, and they did what it took to score off of a locked in pitcher. In the 5th and 6th innings the small ball and bunting led to a 8 run lead, and the Mets ended up winning 8-1 and taking down their 6th overall championship.
It was a great team effort by the Mets with every player contributing and doing the small things when needed to win against a great Ducks team. Jaylen Cuevas was named playoff MVP for the Mets for his 3 pitching wins, 1 save and game winning hit over the course of the semis and finals. Congrats to the Mets on a well-played and well-deserved 6th championship!