Mets to face Dunedin in FSL Championship Series

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (September 17, 2022) – The St. Lucie Mets will battle the Dunedin Blue Jays in the Florida State League Championship Series.

Game 1 of the best-of-three series is Sunday in Dunedin at 6:30 p.m. The series will shift to Clover Park for game 2 on Tuesday at 6:10 p.m. If necessary a deciding game 3 will be Wednesday at Clover Park at 6:10 p.m.

Tickets for game 2 are on sale now at www.stluciemets.com. The Clover Park box office will open Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. for fans who want to purchase tickets in person.

Tickets for a potential game 3 will go on sale after Tuesday’s game if necessary.

All games in the series will be broadcasted on the St. Lucie Mets Baseball Network. Fans can listen live at www.stluciemets.com for free. Home games will be streamed on MiLB.TV. Airtime is 15 minutes prior to first pitch.

The Mets and Blue Jays (Toronto Single-A affiliate) met for a pair of six-game series in the regular season. They tied the season series 6-6. The teams played to a 3-3 series draw in Dunedin from May 24-29. In the lone series at Clover Park from July 12-17, the Mets won the first three games and the Blue Jays rallied to win the final three.

The Mets are in the FSL finals for the first time since 2011. The swept their best-of-three series FSL East playoff series against the Palm Beach Cardinals earlier this week. The Mets won game 1 on Tuesday 6-1 behind excellent pitching from Blade Tidwell, Javier Atencio and Raimon Gomez.

The Mets trailed 2-0 through five innings in game 2 at Clover Park on Thursday but rallied for a 3-2 win. The Mets scored two runs to tie the game on a passed ball and wild pitch in the sixth inning. Kevin Parada smashed a go-ahead single later in the sixth. Mets pitcher Joel Diaz pitched six scoreless innings of relief to finish the game. He struck out 11 and retired the last 12 batters he faced.

It was the first postseason series win for the Mets since they swept the Bradenton Marauders 2-0 in the first round of the 2011 playoffs. They went on to lose in the finals to the Daytona Cubs, 3-0.

The Mets last won the FSL title in 2006. That season they also swept Palm Beach 2-0 in the first round and went on to sweep the Blue Jays 3-0 in the finals.

The Mets have won the FSL five times – 1988, 1996, 1998, 2003 and 2006.

The Blue Jays won the FSL West second half and defeated the West first half champion Fort Myers 2-1 in their best-of-three series. The Blue Jays won game 1 wire-to-wire on Tuesday. After blowing a three-run lead late in game 2 on Thursday, the Blue Jays won the deciding game 3 on Saturday afternoon. The game was postponed from Friday night leading to Blue Jays having no off day in between the Division Series and the Championship Series.

The Blue Jays won their only FSL title in 2017 when they were co-champions with Palm Beach. The finals that season were canceled due to Hurricane Irma.