The final day of the 2025 Cape League regular season consisted of nearly seven hours of nail-biting games, with four of the five contests being decided by one run as teams fought for their postseason lives.

Sunday’s slate kicked off at 4 p.m. with Orleans taking on Brewster at Stony Brook Field, as Orleans looked to secure its spot as the top team in the league. With a win, the Firebirds would take home the President’s Trophy awarded to the team with the best regular-season record. Meanwhile, Brewster was already locked in as the third seed in the East Division heading into the matchup; however, the Whitecaps would’ve loved nothing more than to play spoiler against a division rival.

Brewster jumped out in front in the second inning when Michael Anderson (Penn State) launched a homer to left-center field and Ryan Martin (Dallas Baptist) scored on an error to make it 2-0 Whitecaps. After a passed ball cut Brewster’s lead to 2-1 in the third inning, Tyler Myatt (Tennessee) turned the game on its head by crushing a two-run blast to give Orleans a 3-2 advantage.

The Firebirds appeared on their way to handling business and securing the one seed in the East when a wild pitch in the eighth inning gave them a two-run lead. Brewster wouldn’t go away easy, as Brody DeLamielleure (Florida State) hit a grounder for an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to make it 4-3 Orleans.

With Orleans holding a slim one-run lead, the Whitecaps rallied to load the bases against Steele Murdock (UC San Diego) in the ninth inning with a single, a walk and an error. Murdock lost a six-pitch battle by walking Dalton Wentz (Wake Forest) to tie the game, then Adam Magpoc (San Diego State) jumped on the first pitch and hit a liner off the wall in left-center field for a game-winning hit to give Brewster a dramatic 5-4 victory.

The crushing loss for the Firebirds meant they had to wait until the last game of the night between Harwich and Chatham to find out if they would take home the division crown.

The next three games of the day all got underway at 6 p.m., with Y-D taking on Bourne, Wareham facing Hyannis, and Cotuit playing Falmouth.

Y-D and Bourne was the only contest on Sunday that didn’t have any postseason implications, as both teams were already locked into their playoff positioning. Bourne secured its spot as the top seed in the West Division with a win over Cotuit on Saturday, while Y-D couldn’t move out of the fourth seed in the East.

Despite the game not having the highest stakes, it still came down to the wire, with both teams getting strong pitching in a 2-1 Bourne victory. After falling behind 2-0, Y-D rallied late with a run in the eighth inning and a runner in scoring position in the ninth. With a runner on second and two outs, Landon White (Bryant) was able to secure the victory for the Braves by getting Jack Bell (TCU) to strike out looking.

The matchups between Wareham and Hyannis, along with Cotuit and Falmouth, decided the final two playoff spots in the West Division on Sunday. Hyannis, Cotuit and Falmouth all entered the day without having a spot clinched in the postseason but also not eliminated from contention.

The Harbor Hawks had two paths to a playoff spot: either control their own destiny and take down Wareham, or Cotuit would need to beat Falmouth. Wareham made a statement early by jumping on the board with three runs against Hyannis in the first inning, capped off by an RBI double by Christopher Ramirez (Cal Baptist).

Both sides went quiet with the bats after the three-run first inning by the Gatemen, as that 3-0 lead held all the way until the ninth inning. With playoff hopes on the line, Hyannis made a charge in the ninth by loading the bases with one out against Tony Pluta (Arizona). However, Pluta was able to slam the door and complete a 3-0 Wareham victory by striking out Jayce Dobie (Nevada) and getting Brody Briggs (Arizona State) to pop out.

With the loss, Hyannis needed a Cotuit win over Falmouth to get the final playoff spot in the West. The stakes were simple in the Cotuit-Falmouth game: win and you’re in. The Kettleers and Commodores traded blows all night, with Cotuit fighting back from a two-run deficit to tie the game at 4-4 and send it into extra innings.

In extra innings, Joe Sabbath (University of Rhode Island) was able to get the first two outs of the 10th inning on the mound for Falmouth without the automatic runner moving past second base. Following an intentional walk, Sean Martinez (Boston College) and Ryne Farber (Texas State) delivered back-to-back run-scoring singles to give Cotuit a 6-4 lead.

The Commodores fought back with two consecutive hits to start the bottom of the 10th to cut their deficit to 6-5. After a sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third base, Luke Deschenes (Seton Hill) got a lineout and a groundout to finish off a thrilling 6-5 win for Cotuit. Just 20 minutes after suffering a loss to Wareham, Hyannis still found itself celebrating a postseason spot with the Kettleers’ victory, while Falmouth saw its season come to an end.

The final game of the night at 7 p.m. was a battle between Chatham and Harwich, where Harwich had a chance to bring home the President’s Trophy. Although Chatham came into Sunday as the only team in the league eliminated from postseason contention, the Anglers had a chance to end the regular season on a high note against one of the best teams in the league. Both sides went back-and-forth in the early innings, with a couple of lead changes before Chatham tied the game at 2-2 in the third inning.

Pitching was the story from there, as there were no runs scored across the next six frames to send another game into extra innings. Harwich had a golden opportunity with bases loaded and no outs in the ninth inning, but Leam Powell (Keystone) pulled off a magic act to escape the jam unscathed and keep the game tied at 2-2.

After Harwich was unable to bring in the automatic runner to score in the top of the 10th inning, Chase Fralick (Auburn) scored on a wild pitch from Josh Donegan (Long Beach State) in the bottom half of the inning to give Chatham a 3-2 win and complete a hectic night across the Cape at around 10:45 p.m. The victory from the Anglers handed the top seed in the East Division to Orleans, along with the best record across the entire league.

With the results of this chaotic final day of the regular season, the first-round playoff matchups are Y-D vs. Orleans, Brewster vs. Harwich, Hyannis vs. Bourne, and Cotuit vs. Wareham. The opening round of the postseason will begin on Tuesday.