The final strike came with two runners on base and the tying run within reach.
Kenyon Yovan caught Biloxi’s Braylon Payne looking, completing the final five outs of a 3-1 victory at Toyota Field. The Trash Pandas had won their first Southern League championship. After five postseason games, a summer of roster changes, and a division race that lasted through the final day, Rocket City had finished on top.
For the fans who watched that September 23 celebration, the moment capped a season that had offered plenty to remember long before a championship became the story.
The first visitors came from across the world.
Before Opening Night, Toyota Field hosted the Global Baseball Series, bringing Japan’s Toyota Red Cruisers to North Alabama alongside Alabama A&M and UAH. The Red Cruisers earned their first North American victory against Alabama A&M, and the Trash Pandas closed the three-game event with a 6-3 win over Toyota on April 1. Tucker Flint homered twice before 4,355 fans, while a cherry blossom planting and the presentation of both countries’ flags and anthems gave the series a setting beyond the usual preseason exhibition.
Three days later, Rocket City recorded its first regular-season victory and the 300th win in franchise history. Gustavo Campero and Flint homered in a 9-4 victory over Biloxi. It was an early milestone against an opponent that would return to Toyota Field with much more at stake in September.
As the season unfolded, some familiar names reached their own finish lines.
Seven former Trash Pandas made their Major League debuts, bringing the franchise total to 53. Walbert Ureña began the year with an Opening Day appearance for the Angels, followed by George Klassen, Coleman Crow, Samy Natera Jr., Brett Kerry, Luke Murphy, and Blake Weiman. Crow reached Milwaukee after returning from Tommy John surgery. Kerry arrived after establishing several of Rocket City’s career pitching records.
Murphy and Weiman made the jump directly from the Trash Pandas to the Angels. Murphy left with a 0.71 ERA and 18 saves, then threw a scoreless, hitless inning in his Major League debut. Weiman earned his opportunity at age 30, in his ninth professional season. Their departures changed Rocket City’s bullpen, but they also gave fans another reason to follow the players they had watched at Toyota Field.
Back home, the season supplied nights that stood out for very different reasons.
On July 2, a long rain delay and an early deficit gave way to a record-setting offensive performance. Rocket City scored 13 unanswered runs to defeat Pensacola 16-6, setting Toyota Field marks for runs and hits. Jake Thompson’s grand slam capped an eight-run sixth inning—the first in the ballpark’s history.
In August, the sky became part of the show. Three hundred synchronized drones formed Trash Pandas and Grateful Dead imagery above Toyota Field following Grateful Dead Night, adding a new postgame attraction after Milltowne’s pregame performance on the Rock Porch.
Later that month, Huntsville Stars Night connected the region’s baseball history with the legacy of Microwave Dave Gallaher. The tribute paired a special Stars T-shirt with support for the Microwave Dave Music Education Foundation, bringing together two parts of the musician’s life: music and baseball.
Then Toyota Field welcomed four people whose season had taken them much farther from home.
The Artemis II crew visited on August 31, sharing stories from their journey around the Moon with thousands of attendees. Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen reflected on the mission and recognized the Huntsville community’s role in making it possible. For one evening, the ballpark became a place where the Rocket City could hear directly from the astronauts it had helped send into space.
Meanwhile, the baseball race kept tightening.
Jake Munroe reached base in 38 consecutive games, setting a franchise record and providing steady production through nearly two months of the second half. Flint broke his own single-season RBI record with his 64th on August 28. Even that milestone came inside a tense game: his bases-loaded hit-by-pitch tied the score in the ninth before Birmingham answered with a walk-off win.
Two nights earlier, Rocket City’s pitching staff had made history at the same ballpark.
Austin Gordon retired Birmingham’s first 18 batters and completed seven scoreless innings. Lucas Mahlstedt and Camden Minacci handled the final two frames of an 8-0 victory. After a postgame scoring change turned a seventh-inning hit into an error, the performance became the third no-hitter in Trash Pandas history.
The win also moved Rocket City back into first place. Gordon’s August ended with four victories, a 1.44 ERA, and Southern League Pitcher of the Month honors. His most important starts were still ahead.
September brought an offense that made the final week difficult to look away from.
The Trash Pandas collected 21 hits in an 18-9 victory at Chattanooga on September 9, with Thompson driving in a career-high six runs. Four days later, Arjun Nimmala broke a tie with an eighth-inning home run, Caleb Bartolero drove in four, and Anthony Scull added a ninth-inning blast in a 12-9 victory. Rocket City had secured the North Division second-half title.
The regular season ended at 72-65, a 27-win improvement over 2025. Under first-year manager Joe Kruzel, the Trash Pandas had returned to the postseason for the first time since 2022.
They quickly went farther than any Rocket City team had gone before.
A 9-2 home victory over Knoxville was followed by a 13-3 win on the road, completing a two-game sweep. The Trash Pandas had earned their first playoff series victory and first North Division championship. Next came Biloxi.
Rocket City rallied to win the championship opener 5-4 on the road, then returned to Toyota Field one victory from the title. A franchise postseason-record crowd of 4,756 attended Game 2. Tyler Bremner delivered five scoreless innings, but the Shuckers pulled away for a 7-0 win.
There would be one more game.
Gordon took the ball and struck out 10 over 6.1 innings. Nick Rodriguez and Flint supplied RBI singles to build a 2-0 lead. When Biloxi cut the advantage to one in the seventh, Nimmala answered with a solo home run.
Yovan entered in the eighth with runners at the corners and one out. He preserved the lead, then faced another threat in the ninth as Biloxi put the potential tying run aboard. He finished with consecutive strikeouts.
The final one brought the championship home.
Rocket City’s title was the Angels’ first Double-A championship since 2008 and the Huntsville area’s first outright Southern League crown since 1994. Fans beyond North Alabama followed along, too, with Angels TV carrying all three home playoff games.
The season had begun with international visitors, continued with Major League debuts, new records, and memorable nights at Toyota Field, and ended with the Trash Pandas together on the field as champions. For everyone who followed the summer, the last out gave those moments a shared ending—and a season worth reliving.