Mapes' Magic Runs Out, Season Ends

2022 IBL Championship Series - Game 6

September 22 - London Majors at Toronto Maple Leafs

Majors win 8-7 and win the series 4-2

The London Majors pour onto the field to celebrate their second consecutive IBL championship after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs.

We should have known what to expect by the weather. Cold, grey, grim.  Devilish wind in our ears whispering, "Summer is over, no more joy for you."

Last night at Christie Pits, the Toronto Maple Leafs' season ended.  

Over eight innings, they had mastered the London Majors and it looked like a series-deciding Game 7 was in the offing.

In the 9th inning, the magic ran out.

London staged a come-from-behind rally to put five runs on the board and take the IBL Championship Series with an improbable 8-7 victory.

For most of the game, fans bundled in jackets and hats looked on as starter Angel Castro held the majors in check, giving up three runs in eight innings while striking out 13.

The Leafs seized an immediate lead in the bottom of the 1st, thanks to a two-run home run by right fielder Marcus Knecht.

The Majors responded with a pair of runs in the 2nd.

The sea-saw battle continued in the 3rd, when catcher Justin Marra blasted a two-run homer -- his fourth of the series -- to make it 4-2 Leafs.

Throughout the series, the Leafs had been getting the better of London's ace starters, first Owen Boon in Game 4 and Jose Arias in Game 6.  Arias lasted six innings but was knocked around for seven runs, five earned.

The Leafs added three more in the bottom of the 5th.  Runs were driven in off the bats of first baseman Jordan Castaldo, Knecht, and third baseman Johnathan Solazzo.  It was a 7-2 ballgame through five.

A solo home run made it 7-3 for Toronto through eight innings.  All around the Pits, a cacophony of cheers, claps, heckles, megaphone sound effects and other noises filled the place.  Expectation cut through the cold air.

In the top of the 9th, Castro returned to the mound looking for a complete game win that would send the series back to London.  He didn't record an out.  Instead, London rallied with two singles, a walk, and a two-run homer.  That made it 7-5.  Closer Franklin Hernandez was called in from the pen to finish the game once and for all.  He couldn't do it.  A walk, a single, three wild pitches and a sac fly drove three runs across the plate and London took a stunning 8-7 lead.

Stunning, stunner, stunned.  The season was suddenly down to three outs.  

The Christie Pits rally skunk made an appearance, but in vain.  

A walk, a double-play and a strikeout, and the Mapes' magical ride came to a sudden, jarring halt.  London took the 8-7 FINAL and won the IBL championship four games to two.

The Majors poured onto the field to celebrate as we all looked on.  Congratulations to them for winning a second consecutive title in style.

And with that, the long and terrible winter has begun.

London 8 10 2

Toronto 7 5 0

W - Lewington (1-0, 6.75)

L - Hernandez (0-1, 4.09)

S - Fernandez (2)

BOXSCORE

Maple Leafs baseball will return for its 54th season at Christie Pits on Sunday, May 7, 2023.