Aug 24, 2025 By Chris Dugan 4 min read

It might have been the most restrained playoff-clinching celebration in professional baseball history.

That’s because nobody had worked out all the possibilities ahead of Sunday night, when the Wild Things defeated the Mississippi Mud Monsters, 7-5, completing a weekend series sweep.

After the game, Washington players gave high-fives on the pitchers mound, threw Victory Balls into the crowd and walked back to the clubhouse before signing autographs for the kids on the concourse. There was no champagne-popping or beer-spraying on the field or in the clubhouse. It was a normal Sunday night victory.

The math, however, said Washington entered Sunday with a magic number of 3 – Wild Things wins or Mud Monsters losses – to clinch a postseason berth. The Washington victory dropped that number to 1, and it gave the Wild Things the win in the season series, meaning that any tie in the final standings with the Mud Monsters would go to the Wild Things, dropping the magic number to 0 and clinching the playoff spot.

Washington is 50-40 with six games remaining. Mississippi is 44-46, also with six games to play.

Thus, the best the Mud Monsters can do is tie the Wild Things at 50-46, but Washington would advance as at least a wild card based on the head-to-head tiebreaker.

“We just had to keep playing,” Washington manager Tom Vaeth said. “We had no choice. So it was good to see that we got off to a fast start today and the way we battled back Saturday night (an 8-6 win, scoring six runs in the eighth inning). Three wins brings new life to the clubhouse. We knew what was at stake today.”

Another interesting fallout from the weekend is Washington has moved to within one game of first-place Lake Erie in the Central Division. Lake Erie was swept by Schaumburg, which means the division title is suddenly back in play for the Wild Things.

The division title will be decided by winning percentage as there will not be a tie between the Wild Things and Crushers because Lake Erie will play no more than 94 games. Early in the season the Crushers had games at New York and New Jersey that were rained out and will not be made up.

“We have to keep winning,” Vaeth said. “When this series began, we were just trying to win Friday night. That’s the approach we’re going to take Tuesday night (at Joliet) and see what shakes out.”

Washington jumped out to a 6-0 lead in three innings against Mississippi starter Jeremy Peguero (1-4). Eddie Hacopian scored on a fielder’s choice in the first inning and drove in Ethan Wilder with a single in the second. Hacopian scored his second run of the game when Pavin Parks followed with a triple to right centerfield. Charles Mack had a run-scoring single in the third and Kyle Edwards followed with a two-run double to give Washington a six-run cushion.

Mississippi made it interesting by scoring four times in the fourth against Washington starter Regi Grace (4-2). The Mud Monsters hit back-to-back home runs, by catcher Victor Diaz and right fielder Karell Paz.

Washington answered in the bottom of the fourth as first baseman Andrew Czech hit a solo homer, his 24th of the season and the 86th of his career, moving him ahead of Morgan Burkhart and into third place on the Frontier League’s all-time home run list. Burkhart was the first former Frontier League position player to play in the major leagues (2000).

Grace gave up six hits and four runs over seven innings. He walked one and struck out five.

Christian Diaz gave up a run in the eighth as the Mud Monsters moved to within 7-5, but Zach Kirby, a starting pitcher, was brought in to throw the ninth and record three outs – including a pickoff at first base – to record his first professional save.