If you want to win a Cape Cod Baseball League championship, your first objective should be to build a good team.
Your second objective should be to keep the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox out of the playoffs.
With an 8-1 win over Hyannis in game three of the title series Wednesday night, the Red Sox won their second consecutive Cape League crown and their fifth in 12 years. They’ve been the East Division’s No. 3 seed each of the last two years, hardly the favorite. They beat the East’s best team in the semifinals in both years. And they beat a sentimental favorite in the title round both times, dashing the dreams of clubs in long championship droughts in favor of more hardware for an already crowded trophy case.
It’s hard to quantify how they do it. But they keep doing it. Since the Cape League expanded to eight playoff teams in 2010, no first-place team has won the title. It’s always been an upstart, often a No. 3 seed, and nobody has done it better than the Y-D Red Sox.
Last year, they got off to a slow start in the regular season but were a much different team in the final two-thirds of the year. Though they only rose to third place, they went 24-19-1 and were playing some great baseball. When their pitching took over in the postseason, it was all over.
This run was more unlikely. The Red Sox started the summer with four consecutive losses. They made their push again but barely cleared the .500 mark and finished 22-22. They ranked third in the league in hitting, fifth in ERA. In a year where parity did not reign – where division winners Orleans and Hyannis led almost wire-to-wire – average marks would not be good enough.
The Red Sox needed a win or a Harwich loss on the final day of the season just to make the playoffs. The Mariners obliged and lost. That game finished a few minutes before Y-D’s finale ended. Learning that they were safely in the playoffs, the Red Sox took a deep breath — and lost. They hit the playoffs on a two-game slide.
But they were in. And when they’re in, they know what to do.
Three pitchers pieced together a strong opener and the Red Sox scored three in the eighth to beat Brewster. Ricky Thomas followed with six shutout innings in a 7-3, sweep-clinching win.
Top-seeded Orleans needed three games to win its first-round series but was off-and-running against the Red Sox, winning the opener 4-0. Order would be restored.
But just as it did last year, Y-D’s pitching staff began to flex its muscle.
Cory Malcolm, Ben Bowden and Chad Hockin never blinked in a 13-inning marathon that resulted in a 2-1 win for the Red Sox. It was an elimination game – with five elimination innings folded in – and the Red Sox stayed alive.
Dustin Hunt carried the torch in the third game. This wasn’t a Walker Buehler coming to the rescue from the College World Series and Team USA; this was a guy who pitches for Northeastern and started the year in the bullpen stepping up for an enormous performance.
In both games, the Y-D offense scuffled, but got it done, and the Red Sox moved on.
Sunday, Hyannis greeted the Red Sox with an 8-1 win. Again, the Red Sox had their backs against the wall. Again, order would be restored.
But that pitching…
And, out of nowhere, the offense.
Thomas stayed perfect on the summer with a dominant performance in game two and the Red Sox smashed 18 hits. They never trailed. After a rain-out Tuesday, it all came down to game three Wednesday night, back at McKeon Park in front of the Harbor Hawk faithful.
The Red Sox saved their best for last.
Gonzaga’s Brandon Bailey, the loser in game one of the Orleans series, struck out seven in six innings of one-hit baseball. The one hit? A bunt single. Ben Bowden followed him to the hill. The Vanderbilt lefty’s ability to dominate in long relief outings made him Y-D’s best playoff weapon, and he was on his game Wednesday. He struck out three in three innings of relief.
Both Bailey and Bowden pitched with a lead, as Y-D’s offense one-upped its 18-hit attack in game two with a 19-hit outburst Wednesday. An error let a run score in the first. Donnie Walton doubled in another in the fifth. Cole Billingsley blew the game open with a three-run homer in the eighth. The Red Sox did a good bit of their damage off Devin Smeltzer, who threw a no-hitter in June, and reliever Aaron Civale, who had a 0.36 ERA in the regular season.
Hyannis, a perfect 5-0 in the playoffs before Monday’s loss, found itself in an even more unfamiliar position.
Through an incredible eight innings, Y-D pitchers had faced the minimum. The Harbor Hawks finally made some headway, showing the grit that helped them author a special year, but it happened with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
A run came in, but Bowden got a ground ball, flipped to first for the final out, and waited for the dog pile.
Somehow, some way, they had done it again.
I’d like to be able to break it down, pinpoint exactly how these last two Y-D teams have gotten hot at exactly the right time. Pitching is certainly the No. 1 factor. They play good defense, too. And the lineup – with the reinforcements that every team needs – has its mainstays, too, guys like Billingsley and Walton.
It doesn’t pan out every year, but it has worked to perfection two summers in a row.
Falmouth felt the sting last year. Hyannis was the victim this year. The franchise was on the cusp of its first title since 1991, back when they were the Mets. They’ve had their own tremendous run in recent years, winning three division titles in the last five years. But the top prize has proved elusive, and Y-D kept it that way.
They called it the YDynasty back in 2007, when the Red Sox won their second consecutive Cape League championship and their third in four years. Those teams were all No. 1 seeds.
These teams have been different – No. 3 seeds without the star power that made those ’04, ’06 and ’07 teams so good. But they hit the same finish line.
If 12 years can count as one dynasty, then dust off the YDynasty label.
The Boys of August fit right in.
