Leafs’ Playoff Push Gets Boost with Win Over 2nd-Place Majors

By Noam Streiffer

The Leafs picked up a key victory in an 8–5 win against the 2nd-place London Majors on Saturday night. The Leafs split their weekend home-and-home series with the Majors.

With a Guelph Royals loss, the win moves the Leafs within half a game of 6th place in the IBL standings as they seek home-field advantage in the playoffs.

Josh Berenbaum got the start for the Leafs and turned in 5 solid innings of work, allowing just three runs on seven hits while generating a lot of soft contact to propel Toronto to the win.

Berenbaum spoke postgame about his start:

“It was alright. Breaking stuff wasn't landing as well as I thought it should, but it was enough to get the job done.”

Despite not having his best stuff, Berenbaum was able to put together a strong outing, backed by good defense from the Maple Leafs.

On the London side, it was Colby Ring who struggled, lasting just two and a third innings while allowing 7 runs on seven hits and walking three Leafs.

The scoring started in the bottom of the first with a solo home run by Jordan Castaldo. This would be the only home run of the night for the Leafs, who broke things open in the 3rd inning with a 6-run rally.

Toronto capitalized on shaky defense from the Majors to get things going. The rally was headlined by clutch doubles from Justin Marra and Ryan Dos Santos, giving the Leafs a 7–1 lead.

Berenbaum praised his battery mate Marra’s hitting approach postgame:

"He's staying back a little bit, which is something I think he was getting stuck on earlier in the year. His swing's coming along... it's the right time of the year for it too."

London scored runs in the 2nd and 5th on home runs from Toby Simmons and Francisco Fajardo to cut the lead to just four runs, but Spencer Ross responded with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the 5th to give the Leafs a comfortable 5-run lead.

From there, it was a battle of the bullpens, and the Leafs bent but didn’t break. Adam Jafine allowed 2 runs in the top of the 8th on a home run by Raphael Pelletier, and an error allowed Toby Simmons to come in to score, making it an 8–5 ballgame.

The Leafs turned to the incredibly reliable Luis Florentino to shut things down in the 9th inning—and he did just that, striking out two in a three-up, three-down frame to secure the win and collect the save.

Up Next:The Leafs head to Fergie Jenkins Field in Chatham-Kent to take on the 4th-place Barnstormers in a critical matchup to help decide playoff seeding. First pitch is Sunday, August 3rd at 2:05 PM.