The road to the Delco League championship still runs through the usual suspects.
Not since 2018 has anyone other than Upper Darby or Wayne hoisted the Charlie Kress Trophy, and based on the way the 2026 regular season unfolded, that trend looks tough to break.
Defending champion Upper Darby (22-6) finished atop the standings with 66 points, 12 clear of runner-up Wayne (17-7-3). The Blue Sox, winners of the last two league titles, and Wayne, both earned first-round byes into the semifinals.
The quarterfinals get started Tuesday with a pair of best-of-three series. Third-seeded Chester (14-11-3) plays No. 6 Aston Valley (11-15-2), while fourth-seeded Ridley (14-13-1) meets No. 5 Drexel Hill (13-15).
The semifinals and championship series are best-of-five. Upper Darby will face the lowest remaining seed.
The Blue Sox have been the league’s most complete team all summer. They scored a league-best 166 runs and have plenty of firepower at the top of the lineup. Brendan Till is batting .460 with five doubles and 18 runs scored, while Adam Fine is hitting .368 and leads the club with 24 hits and 30 runs scored.
On the mound, Kevin McGovern has picked up right where he left off after closing out last year’s championship series. He’s 6-0 with a sparkling 1.47 ERA. Quinn Perilli has been nearly as stingy with a 1.79 ERA.
Wayne, meanwhile, has leaned on dominant pitching again. The team has surrendered just 55 runs and finished with a league-best plus-99 run differential.
Recent Radnor graduate Austin Havertine has been exceptional, posting an 0.85 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 24.2 innings. Offensively, veteran Sean Wells owns a .522 slugging percentage with four home runs and 17 RBIs, while Danny Braslow is batting .361 with six doubles, 17 RBIs and 22 runs scored.
Chester swept a doubleheader to leapfrog Ridley for the No. 3 seed. Bill Ford has paced the offense with a .310 average, six doubles and 18 RBIs, while Dylan Rickards is hitting .357 with four doubles, two triples and 12 RBIs.
Ridley features one of the league’s two-way players in recent Garnet Valley graduate Ryan McGhee. He’s batting .361 with a .489 on-base percentage and .586 slugging percentage while also compiling a 2,43 ERA.
Drexel Hill won five of its last six regular-season games to earn the fifth seed. Austin Cannon is batting .338 with six doubles, a homer and 12 RBIs, while Liam Jung has anchored the pitching staff with a 1.90 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 22 innings.
Aston Valley backed into the playoffs on a seven-game losing streak.. The Knights have been more competitive than that skid suggests, with three of those losses coming by a run. Brett Walmsley has been their offensive catalyst, hitting .462 with eight doubles, four triples and 14 RBIs.