The 2025 Arizona Fall League season wrapped up and I remorse to tell you that the Surprise Saguaros gained the title for the third time in the previous 4 years. But the Mesa Solar Sox virtually shocked the Saguaros in the semifinal earlier than lastly succumbing on a walk-off RBI single with two outs in the backside of the ninth.
Cubs prospect Owen Ayers was honored with the AFL “Breakout Player of the Year” Award. I don’t know precisely what meaning, however I assume it means he was the participant who shocked everybody the most along with his superior play. Ayers had a superb marketing campaign in the AFL, which was all the extra spectacular once you understand that Ayers has by no means performed above Low-A Myrtle Beach and that the AFL is historically for gamers in Double-A and above.
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Just as a reminder, the Arizona Fall League is a postseason minor league the place prospects can get in extra work earlier than the winter begins. The Mesa Solar Sox are the staff that Cubs prospects play for and the staff performs their dwelling video games at the Cubs Spring Training dwelling of Sloan Park. The different 4 groups with gamers on the Solar Sox this 12 months are the Athletics, Yankees, Marlins and Rays.
For extra data, take a look at the take a look at the week one, week two, week three, week four and week five updates.
The 2025 AFL season was reduce quick so in order to complete the season earlier than the torrential rains which can be pounding the western third of the nation got here to Arizona on Saturday night time. So that signifies that the Solar Sox performed simply two common season video games this week after which two playoff video games. They gained the first three and, as famous above, gave up a walk-off single in the backside of the ninth in the semifinal.
The Solar Sox completed the common season 14-14, which put them in third place in the six-team AFL. Here are the two common season video games this previous week. The dwelling staff is listed second.
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Monday, November 10: Solar Sox 2, Glendale Desert Dogs 1
Tuesday, November 11: Peoria Javelinas 3, Solar Sox 5
And listed below are the two playoff video games.
Wednesday, November 12: Salt River Rafters 0, Solar Sox 3
Thursday, November 13: Solar Sox 3, Surprise Saguaros 4
Here’s how the Solar Sox did this previous week. I’m including the common season video games along with the playoff video games for the weekly totals, however notice that the “season” stats solely depend the common season video games.
Catcher Owen Ayers: Ayers was the AFL “Breakout Player of the Year” for his robust marketing campaign. As I famous above, it’s spectacular contemplating that Ayers has solely performed as excessive as Myrtle Beach.
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Ayers performed in the final recreation of the common season in Tuesday and went 2 for 3 with a stroll and two RBI. In Wednesday’s playoff win, he was accountable for all three Mesa runs with a three-run dwelling run in the fifth inning. Then in the semifinal, Ayers went 1 for two with two walks and a stolen base. He additionally had an RBI and a run scored as a part of a three-run sixth inning that tied the recreation up.
So for the week, Ayers was 4 for 9 with a house run, a stolen base and three walks. He drove in six runs and scored two. For the total AFL common season, Ayers hit .379/.539/.591 with three dwelling runs. Ayers led the Solar Sox in the three proportion stats and was fourth in the league in batting common, second in on-base proportion and eighth in slugging.
Utility participant Ed Howard: Howard performed in each of the common season video games for Mesa this previous week, however didn’t play in the two playoff video games. He performed left subject in each video games and went 1 for five with two walks. He scored as soon as and had one RBI.
For the AFL common season, Howard hit .222/.354/.259 with 4 steals. He definitely did higher as the season went on after a horrible begin to the marketing campaign.
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Corner infielder Cole Mathis: Mathis performed first base and went 1 for 3 with two walks and an RBI in Monday’s win over Glendale earlier than sitting in the common season finale. Mathis performed first base in each playoff video games and went 0 for six with a stroll. The one stroll, nonetheless, began that three-run rally in the prime of the sixth in Thursday’s recreation. He scored that one time. So I suppose that’s 1 for 9 with three walks over the week.
For the AFL common season, Mathis hit .280/.439/.400 with two dwelling runs and three steals.
Catcher Logan Poteet: Poteet didn’t play in the final week of the season. He solely performed in six video games in the common season, placing up a line of .158/.200/.263 with two doubles.
Right-hander Luis Martinez-Gomez: Martinez-Gomez pitched three innings of scoreless reduction in Wednesday’s playoff recreation and ended up getting the win. So a Cubs pitcher bought the win in the playoff recreation and a Cubs hitter offered all the runs. Martinez-Gomez gave up one hit on Wednesday. He struck out three and walked nobody.
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For the AFL season, Martinez-Gomez threw seven video games and made one begin. He completed with a 2-1 document with one save. His ERA was 3.86. Over 9 1/3 innings, he struck out 16 and walked 5.
Right-hander Koen Moreno: Moreno pitched three essential innings of reduction in Thursday’s semifinal. He allowed one run, however he saved the recreation shut, which allowed Mesa to tie the recreation up in the sixth inning. Moreno completed his outing on Thursday permitting one run on one hit over three innings. He walked 4 and struck out 5.
For the common season, Moreno was 0-1 and likewise had a 3.86 ERA. Over three begins and two reduction appearances, Moreno threw 14 innings. He struck out 18 and walked seven.
Right-hander Mat Peters: Peters pitched the backside of the ninth in the common season finale on Tuesday and bought the save. He did his greatest Wild Thing impersonation as he walked three batters and struck out the different three batters he confronted.
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Peters completed the 12 months throwing 9 innings in eight reduction appearances. Peters walked 13 batters and struck out 5 whereas posting an ERA of 9.00
Right-hander JP Wheat: Wheat didn’t pitch in the final week of the AFL season. Overall, he went 0-2 with a 23.63 ERA over six reduction appearances. That’s most likely why he didn’t pitch in the final week. Wheat threw 5.1 innings whereas placing out 5 and strolling a whopping 16 batters.