Cyclones sweep playoffs for league championship

Making the last call from Fifth Third Ballpark in South Carolina on Sept. 16, Cyclones broadcaster Justin Rocke proclaimed the happy end of Brooklyn’s rollercoaster season as leftfielder John Bay squeezed a fly ball for the final out of Brooklyn’s 2-1 win over the Hub City Spartanburgers.

“This whirlwind ride of the 2025 season has come to its final destination. Your Brooklyn Cyclones are the 2025 South Atlantic League Champions,” Rocke emphatically said.

After Bay caught the ball and put it in his pocket, he joined his teammates in the infield for a Gatorade shower as the champs celebrated after winning all four playoff games.

After accepting the Sally League trophy, manager Gilbert Gomez rallied the team around him and led an on-field Champagne-spraying celebration.

The Cyclones had an up-and-down ride this year. They won the league’s first half with a minor league-best record of 46-20. However, by midsummer they had promoted 12 of their top performers to Double-A, sending six top hitters and six top pitchers to Binghamton. During July and August, it became “A Tale of Two Seasons” as Brooklyn dropped to the bottom of the standings after former reserve players became front-line performers and a handful of call-ups arrived from Single-A St. Lucie to fill the roster. 

Although Gomez was concerned about the team’s second-half performance (26-39), by August he insisted it could improve if everyone focused on the game in front of them and on their daily routines. Noting that a minor league team must promote its best players, Gomez said his second-half group had to find its identity and be resilient to win. That resiliency manifested itself in four straight playoff wins: 4-3 and 4-1 over Greensboro in the semi-final, and 13-1 and 2-1 over Spartanburg for the title. 

This is the franchise’s third championship. The team won New York-Penn League titles in its inaugural 2001 season and in 2019, the league’s final year.