2025 Triple-A National Championship

Jumbo Shrimp in Vegas might typically mean the buffet.

But this weekend, it centers around a different kind of dish.

The Las Vegas Aviators (Athletics) and Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins) will meet in the single-game Triple-A National Championship at 10:05 p.m. ET on Saturday at Las Vegas Ballpark, airing on MLB Network.

Here’s everything to know for the last Minor League game of 2025.

The Triple-A National Championship Game is set for 10:05 p.m. ET on Saturday at Las Vegas Ballpark. The game will air on MLB Network and can be streamed on the MiLB and MLB Pipeline homepages, MLB.TV and the MiLB app. Tyler Maun, the co-host of MiLBâ€s The Show Before The Show podcast, will handle play-by-play alongside MLB Pipelineâ€s Jim Callis.

Las Vegas Aviators:
1. Denzel Clarke — CF
2. Alejo Lopez — 3B
3. Nick Martini — DH
4. Bryan Lavastida — 1B
5. Junior Perez — RF
6. Cooper Bowman — 2B
7. Drew Swift — SS
8. Daniel Susac — C
9. Ryan Lasko — LF
SP – Ken Waldichuk — LHP

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp:
1. Victor Mesa Jr. — CF
2. Jacob Berry — RF
3. Joe Mack — C
4. Kemp Alderman — LF
5. Matthew Etzel — DH
6. Maximo Acosta — SS
7. Jared Serna — 2B
8. Nathan Martorella — 1B
9. Jack Winkler — 3B
SP – Morgan McSweeney — RHP

Las Vegas will hand the ball to left-hander Ken Waldichuk. The 2019 fifth-round pick is coming back from Tommy John surgery, which sidelined him for the entire 2024 season. The A’s acquired Waldichuk from the Yankees at the 2022 Trade Deadline, then called him up for his big league debut exactly a month later. He was named an MLB Pipeline Top 100 prospect in 2023 and he went on to spend the entire season in the American League before experiencing elbow discomfort in a September start. Since joining Las Vegas in June, Waldichuk has an 8.65 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 51 innings. While his fastball velocity is still down a couple ticks as he works his way back, the 27-year-old is finding success with his sweeper, which has a 37.9 percent whiff rate this season.

Morgan McSweeney gets the start for Jacksonville, just over three months after the Marlins signed him to a Minor League deal. The 2019 Draft pick out of Wake Forest had been in the Orioles system until he was released July 2024. McSweeney then made a couple stops in the independent Atlantic League before joining the Jumbo Shrimp in June. The 6-foot-4 right-hander has enjoyed newfound success in pro ball since, posting a 2.21 ERA in 61 innings across 13 games (12 starts). McSweeney isn’t a big-time strikeout pitcher, but he uses his curveball to induce weak contact.

5. Henry Bolte, OF*
11. Daniel Susac, C
15. Kade Morris, RHP
16. Eduarniel Núñez, RHP
17. Ryan Lasko, OF
27. Zane Taylor, RHP

1. Thomas White, LHP (MLB No. 21)
3. Joe Mack, C (MLB No. 71)
4. Robby Snelling, LHP (MLB No. 75)
10. Kemp Alderman, OF
13. Dax Fulton, LHP
19. Josh Ekness, RHP*
21. Victor Mesa Jr., OF
22. Deyvison De Los Santos, 1B/3B
23. Maximo Acosta, SS
29. Matthew Etzel, OF

Las Vegas got off to a strong start, with help from AL Rookie of the Year favorite Nick Kurtz, who posted a 1.040 OPS in 20 games before getting called up. The Aviators took the PCL first-half lead on May 4 and never looked back, going on to clinch a playoff spot with a 49-26 (.653) record. Overall, the club led Triple-A in hits (1,519), runs (978), average (.288), on-base percentage (.378) and sac flies (60). After a shaky final stretch of the regular season, Las Vegas got back to winning when it counted. The A’s affiliate swept Tacoma in the PCL Championship Series, outscoring the Mariners club, 14-4, in two games to win its first title since 1988.

The chase for the International League first-half title was a closer battle with Jacksonville seven games back from first place with 14 to go. The Jumbo Shrimp then went on an 11-3 run to capture their spot in the IL Finals. Flash forward three months, and Jacksonville was back on the comeback trail. After losing Game 1 of the Championship Series to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the Marlins affiliate took an early lead in Game 2 and never trailed again, forcing and winning the decisive Game 3. A big reason for the success was a dominant pitching staff that led Triple-A in ERA (3.73) and opponent batting average (.228), while ranking second in WHIP (1.24).

Three things to know about the Aviators

While many teams will try to claim it, Las Vegas can truly say its offensive dominance this year was a team effort. Aside from Darell Hernaiz’s .305 average ranking eighth, no Las Vegas player cracked the top 10 of any major batting category in the PCL. Daniel Susac (ATH No. 11 prospect) and Colby Thomas led the squad with 18 homers apiece, while the former also topped the team with an .832 OPS.

Before the season started, Las Vegas was named the host city for the Triple-A National Championship for the fourth straight year, and the International League was set as the home team, which means the Aviators will be the away team in their home ballpark on Saturday. The club had a .633 winning percentage at Las Vegas Ballpark compared to a .493 mark on the road in 2025, so this game will be an interesting test case of if a friendly crowd outweighs batting in the home-halves of the innings.

Ryan Lasko was on another level in the PCL Finals. The A’s No. 17 prospect went 4-for-7 from the ninth spot in the order with two homers, a triple and five RBIs. This comes less than a month after the A’s promoted the 23-year-old from High-A straight to Triple-A. Lasko, a 2023 second-rounder out of Rutgers, isn’t known for his power — the tool grades out at 45 (on the 20-80 scale) — but he seems to have unlocked something at Las Vegas Ballpark this week.

Three things to know about the Jumbo Shrimp

The next great battery for Marlins fans to be excited about closed out the season at Triple-A, with MLB’s No. 71 overall prospect Joe Mack catching top hurlers Thomas White (MLB No. 21) and Robby Snelling (MLB No. 75). White fanned 17 in 9 1/3 innings, while Snelling posted a stingy 1.27 ERA in 63 2/3 frames during their Triple-A tenures. While it’s unlikely to see the hurlers on Saturday since they pitched in the IL Finals, Mack is in position to make his battery mates proud. The catcher drilled a team-leading 18 homers, despite playing in just 99 Triple-A contests.

After being limited to 77 games in 2024 due to a broken hamate, Kemp Alderman found his power stroke once again in the Arizona Fall League, then he left early to get married. Since then, Alderman’s been arguably Miami’s best hitter down on the farm. The 2023 second-round pick led full-season Marlins Minor Leaguers in average (.285), homers (22), RBIs (70), slugging (.482), OPS (.820), hits (139), extra-base hits (47) and total bases (235). Alderman has seven dingers in September, including one in the IL Finals, so look for him to try to get a hold of one and let it fly in the desert air.

The city of Jacksonville’s baseball roots can be traced back to the late 1800s, seeing greats like Satchel Paige and Babe Ruth come through. Hank Aaron won the 1953 South Atlantic League MVP while with the Jacksonville Braves. In 1962, the Jacksonville franchise we know today began as a Triple-A affiliate of Cleveland. The club changed parent clubs 11 times since then, moving to Double-A in 1970, then back to Triple-A in 2021. So while Jacksonville has won eight total league titles, this year’s was the first at Triple-A since 1968.

Las Vegas is led by Fran Riordan in his eighth season as the Aviators’ skipper. The Virginia native began playing in indy ball in 1997, then transitioned to a player/manager in 2000. He would remain a skipper in the independent Frontier League for 15 years. In 2015, Riordan joined the A’s organization, making stops with then-Single-A Beloit, Double-A Midland and Triple-A Nashville before the affiliation moved to Las Vegas in 2019. A multi-time PCL Manager of the Year, Riordan is the winningest skipper in franchise history, going 451-413 (.522).

The MLB Draft League doesn’t just develop players — David Carpenter spent two seasons managing his hometown West Virginia Black Bears at his college ballpark before taking over for Jacksonville in 2025. A 2006 12th-round pick out of West Virginia University, Carpenter played in the Cardinals, Astros, Blue Jays, Braves, Nationals, Yankees, Angels, D-backs and Rangers organizations from 2008-2019, pitching 214 2/3 innings in The Show.

Triple-A National Championship history

In 1904, the International League’s Buffalo Bisons squared off against the American Association’s St. Paul Saints in the Little World Series. Since then, there has been nine formats and 76 iterations of an interleague championship at the Minors’ highest level. The format moved to a single-game showdown between the International and Pacific Coast League champions in 2006, and has remained that way ever since. The PCL has a 10-7 lead over the IL in that time. The 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic, and there were no Triple-A playoffs in 2021.

Last year, Astros prospect Shay Whitcomb celebrated his 26th birthday by leading Sugar Land to its first Triple-A National Championship with a 13-6 win over Omaha, the Royals’ affiliate.

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