BREWSTER – One of Cape Cod’s great summer traditions will come to a conclusion this weekend as the iconic Cape Cod Baseball League holds its championship series.
The Bourne Braves are battling the Brewster Whitecaps, with each franchise looking for their second title in their history.
Big crowds are expected for the weekend games. Both Bourne and Brewster drew well over 2,000 fans in the second round series. More than 4,000 attended the finale of the Brewster-Orleans semi-final series.
“I think it shows the league itself attracts not only the best ballplayers but the best fans around,” said Chuck Sturtevant, the President of the Cape League. “You get to see real true hometown baseball the way I think a lot of us grew up envisioning it the way it should be played,”
The Braves have steamrolled their way to the finals, sweeping both Cotuit and Wareham in the western division playoffs. Brewster has proven to be a resilient group, coming back from series deficits to eliminate three-time defending champion Yarmouth-Dennis and the Orleans Firebirds, the league’s best regular season team.
On Friday night, Brewster defeated Bourne 5-4, taking game 1 and are now one win away from the Championship.
Both Bourne and Brewster are the youngest franchises in the league, having both come into the fold in 1988.
Saturday night’s game begins at 6 p.m. at Doran Park on the campus of Upper Cape Tech in Bourne. If necessary, a decisive Game 3 will be played Sunday at 4 p.m. at Stonybrook Field in Brewster.
The Braves have announced that a parking overflow shuttle will run from the nearby Gallo Ice Arena on Sandwich Road to the park when spaces fill up at Upper Cape Tech.
Nearly 300 Cape League alumni played Major League Baseball in 2016.
By MATT McCARTHY, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
About CapeCod.com NewsCenter
