Mid East and Mumbai prepare for historic United Series showdown

The stage is set for the Mid East Falcons and Mumbai Cobras to face off on Friday, December 12 at Baseball United Ballpark (8:00 PM) for the first baseball championship series in the region's history - the United Series.

Both teams finished tied atop the Baseball United Season One standings with a 6-3 record, however, Mumbai will start and close Game 3, if necessary, as the home team, as they topped the standings after winning the head-to-head series.

The Cobras are the first professional baseball team from India, representing nearly 30 million people in Mumbai and 1.5 billion people in India - the majority of whom are “Bat and Ball” fans with cricket the nation’s top sport.

The Mid East Falcons represent the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, but they have quickly grown both a regional following across the GCC, as well as a global following in Japan.

More than half of the Falcons’ roster is made up of Japanese players, including Nippon Professional League (NPB) legends Munenori Kawasaki and Hiroyuki Nakajima.

The team also has young prospects from the Yokohama Bay Stars - one of Japan’s top professional baseball teams - adding to its appeal within that baseball-loving nation.

Locally, the Falcons have drawn the largest attendance for each of their games at Baseball United Ballpark, with attendees from more than 50 nationalities coming to support the Mid East team.

“This is the United Series matchup that fans across the world were craving. Fans across the baseball world will be watching closely as we crown our first-ever United Series Champion this weekend,” said Kash Shaikh, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Baseball United.

The United Series is a best-of-three championship series in which the first team to win two games is crowned the league champion. After Friday’s opening game, Saturday’s game is scheduled for 7:00 PM GST, and Sunday is slated for 4:00 PM GST, if necessary.

The Falcons are managed by Dennis Cook, a 15-year MLB veteran who won a World Series title with the Florida Marlins in 1997. Cook has been a part of Baseball United since its inaugural showcase games in November of 2023.

“Baseball United’s leadership team has done an outstanding job to get us to this point,” Cook said. “We are very excited to play against Mariano (Duncan) and the Mumbai Cobras, and we are very focused on becoming the first Baseball United champions in history.”

“We are a very diverse team, it’s been great to work with the Japanese kids. I admire them and I like the way we communicate. I don’t speak Japanese, but we have our own way to communicate and it has been a lot of fun,” added Cook, who has had a unique challenge of managing a roster in which the majority of the players do not communicate in English.

The Falcons led the league in both batting (.271 BA) and pitching (2.25 ERA) as a team, and nearly swept the league’s regular season awards, with Kazuki Yabuta winning the award for Best Pitcher, Manato Tanai winning the award for Best Fielder, Munenori Kawasaki winning the Clubhouse Award, and Alejandro De Aza winning the award for Sportsmanship.

In addition, Nakajima has been atop the league leaders in batting (.400) throughout the year. LHP Shuto Sakurai will be the starting pitcher for Game 1 of the United Series.

Brantley Bell (.441 BA, 1.213 OPS), the star third baseman from the Cobras, won the league’s first-ever Most Valuable Player Award.

In addition to Bell, Caleb McNeely (3 HRs, 10 RBIs, .688 SLG), Lou Helmig (2 HR, 10 RBIs) and Miguel Ojeda Jr. (2 HR, 8 RBIs) led the Cobras’ batting attack.

The Mumbai bullpen was also solid all year behind Akeel Morris (0.00 ERA) and LHP Brandon Kaminer (0.00 ERA), who together have accumulated 18.0 scoreless innings with 16 strikeouts.

In addition, there are three Indian-born pitchers who have caused a sensation in their country: Akshay More, Tushar Lalwani and Saurabh Gaikwad.

More is 2-0 with 11.1 innings pitched and a 1.59 ERA. Karan Patel, the franchise's number one starter, will take the mound to start the United Series on Friday night. Patel has 14 strikeouts in 10.1 innings.

Mariano Duncan, a 12-year MLB veteran who won two World Series Championships, manages the Mumbai Cobras. Duncan has also been a part of Baseball United since the Dubai Showcase in 2023.

“It’s been an honour to be part of Baseball United. The first season has been an amazing experience, I'm so proud to be part of this history. This team has a great chemistry and passion for the game of baseball, but we also have good batting, good pitching, power and speed, and we are going to close strong to make history this weekend.”