The Baltimore Blast will travel to Mexico this week to take on the Chihuahua Savage. The winner of the series will be the 2022-23 MASL Champions. The games will be held on Thursday, April 27 and Friday, April 28. Both games will be at 10 p.m. EST.
This season has been unprecedented for Baltimore, who has never had to play an entire playoff series on the road. Due to a lack of availability at venues in Baltimore, the Blast played both games of the Eastern Conference Final on the road, and both games in the MASL Championship will be on the road.
“In as much as we would have loved to have games in our home arena at Towson, we are pressing ahead to win both games in Chihuahua for a return of the championship trophy to Baltimore,” said Baltimore Blast owner Ed Hale. “Our players and coaches make me proud!“
In addition to the scheduling conflict in the playoffs, the Blast has dealt with many injuries throughout the season. Jereme Raley, Patrick Thompson, Tony Donatelli, Mike Deasel, Maxi Schenfeld and Onua Obasi played less than 20 of the team’s 24 regular-season games. In addition, Adriano Dos Santos played in five games before suffering a season-ending injury, and Ozzy Annang played in six games before he was out for the season.
Still, the Blast persevered through adversity. After finishing the regular season as the No. 2 seed in the East, Baltimore defeated the Florida Tropics 3-2 in the mini-game to take the series and advance to the Eastern Conference Final. This past weekend, Baltimore had to play two games in Milwaukee against the No. 1 seed Wave and won them both.
Despite only a 3-6-3 record on the road in the regular season, Baltimore is a perfect 3-0 on the road in the playoffs so far. They will look to carry that momentum into the Championship series on Thursday and Friday.
A preview of the matchup will be sent out this week, going more in-depth at the matchup between Baltimore and Chihuahua, the first meeting between the two teams this season.