The road to a California League championship will end in San Bernardino.
On Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday (if necessary) the Low Single-A affiliates of the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Angels will face off in a best-of-three series to claim the California League championship.
The San Jose Giants, Low-A affiliate of the Giants, saw an easy route to the postseason claiming the Cal League North Division firs- half title by four games and finishing the season 81-51, tied for the fifth-best overall record across all 120 full-season teams in Minor League Baseball.
The Giants’ lethal offense led the California League in hits (1,188), runs (811), home runs (101), batting average (.261) and slugging percentage (.397); while their pitching staff held a league-leading 3.50 earned-run-average, over 0.8 runs better than the second-best ERA.
San Jose defeated the Fresno Grizzlies in two games to claim a championship berth, with their first game being a masterful pitching performance from Giants prospects Luis De La Torre and Hunter Dryden, who combined for a three-hit, 16-strikeout shutout in a 2-0 victory. They sealed the North Division title with a 7-6 win on Thursday.
Opposite the Giants, the Inland Empire 66ers, Low-A affiliate of the Angels, had an atrocious start to the season going 18-48 in the first half, the worst first-half record across all Minor League Baseball.
The 66ers made an immediate turnaround in the second half, going 42-24 to win the South second-half title, including 25 wins in their final 34 games and finishing the regular season with a nine-game win streak.
The 66ers increased that to an 11-game win streak by sweeping the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in the South Division finals, backed by a strong offense that scored 16 runs in the two games: a 5-4 victory on Tuesday, and 11-5 win on Thursday.
In the head-to-head matchup, the Giants dominated the opening six-game series in San Jose from May 26 to June 1, taking 5 of 6 games while outscoring Inland Empire 48-21. The two clubs split their second six-game series in San Bernardino from July 22-27.
Despite the rosters being notably different from their late May and late July series, 13 of the players on both sides played against each other in the Arizona Complex League (ACL) championship series, where the ACL Angels swept the ACL Giants in a best-of-three series.
Inland Empire will see their roster headlined by California League Pitcher and Player of the Month, Dylan Jordan and Raudi Rodriguez. Fellow Angels top pitching prospect Trey Gregory-Alford is expected to pitch in the final.
The Giants pitching staff will be highlighted by top prospects Argenis Cayama and Jacob Bresnahan; while shortstop Jhonny Level (named Baseball America’s top ACL prospect in 2025) headlines the Giants offense.
Neither team has announced their pitching rotation for the series, though it is expected that Game 1 will have a highly-anticipated pitching rematch between Jordan and Cayama, the Game 1 starters of the ACL Championship.
The series will begin on Sunday at 5 p.m. in San Jose at Excite Ballpark. Tickets range from $5-30.
Game 2 is scheduled for Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino, where the 66ers will continue their regular season promotion where tickets, hot dogs, popcorn, tacos and lemonade will all be $2. All tickets, excluding executive box seats, will cost $2, with executive box seats ranging from $18-28.
If necessary, Game 3 will be held at San Manuel Stadium on Wednesday with a first pitch time to be decided. Tickets will range $5-22. Parking is not included with the ticket price for any of the three games.
