The Pensacola Blue Wahoos won their first Southern League title in 2017, sharing a co-championship with the Chattanooga Lookouts in a playoff format shortened by the threat of Hurricane Irma. On the strength of a first-half South Division title, the Blue Wahoos met the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in a best-of-five Division Series. After the midseason promotions of stars Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle, and a season-ending injury to Nick Senzel, a different cast of Blue Wahoos put the team on their backs and achieved playoff glory. The series-clinching Game Three, moved to Blue Wahoos Stadium to avoid the hurricane, saw Gavin LaValley and Aristides Aquino hit back-to-back homers in the top of the eighth inning to give Pensacola a 4-3 lead. Jacksonville’s Austin Dean kept the season alive with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to force extras, but Aquino delivered again in the top of the 12th with an RBI single to score Gabriel Guerrero and send the Blue Wahoos to a series sweep and Southern League crown.

The 2022 Blue Wahoos clinched a playoff spot in June with a first-half South Division championship, but limped into the playoffs with a roster decimated by injuries and promotions. After a road loss to Montgomery in Game One of the best-of-three SLDS, the Blue Wahoos kept their season alive with a comeback Game Two win, capped by a dramatic and unlikely Nasim Nunez eighth-inning homer. Game Three of the SLDS was a classic, with Dax Fulton fanning 13 Biscuits batters over 6.0 innings and Norel Gonzalez delivering an RBI single in the eighth inning for a 1-0 win. The SLCS against the Tennessee Smokies unfolded in much the same way, as the Blue Wahoos lost Game One and came back to win Game Two before a winner-take-all Game Three. Eury Perez fanned the first eight Smokies batters of the game, and Cobie Fletcher-Vance delivered the big hit with a go-ahead grand slam in the fifth inning. Closer Sean Reynolds finished off an 11-4 win, sending the Blue Wahoos to their first outright title in franchise history.

Ten Moments that Defined Pensacola's 2022 Championship Season