The Long Island Ducks are one series away from a championship, and the series is coming to Central Islip. On Friday night in Hagerstown, Maryland, the Ducks beat the Flying Boxcars 3 to 1 to finish a three-game sweep of the North Division Championship Series, and with it they claimed the 2026 North Division title. The Atlantic League Championship Series starts Tuesday, and by Friday it will be at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.

How the sweep happened

The Ducks made the series look short on purpose. They took the first two games at home on Tuesday and Wednesday, then closed it out on the road Friday behind starter Anthony Escobar, who held Hagerstown to one run over five innings and struck out five. That left no need for the two extra games the best-of-five format keeps in reserve, and it gave the Ducks a few days of rest their opponent will not get.

The bat that carried them belonged to Marcus Chiu, who was named the series most valuable player. Chiu went 7 for 12 across the three games with three doubles and a home run, drove in four runs and scored three more. In a short series, one hitter staying that hot is usually the whole story, and this time it was.

What they are playing for

The Ducks have been playing in Central Islip since 2000, and in those 26 seasons they have won the Atlantic League four times: 2004, 2012, 2013 and 2019. The trophy case has been quiet since that 2019 team, which means a win in this series would be the franchise's first championship in seven years and its fifth overall.

Standing in the way are the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, who won the South Division and earned the right to host the first two games. The Blue Crabs and the Ducks have shared the Atlantic League for years, and the format gives each side its home crowd: a best-of-five that opens in Waldorf, Maryland and finishes, however long it lasts, on Long Island.

The schedule, and when to show up

Games one and two are Tuesday, September 22 and Wednesday, September 23 at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, both at 6:35 p.m. Then the series shifts north for everything that remains:

Game three is Friday, September 25 at 6:35 p.m. at Fairfield Properties Ballpark. If the series is still alive, game four follows Saturday, September 26 at 6:35 p.m., and a winner-take-all game five would be played Sunday, September 27 at 5:05 p.m. Every remaining game of the Atlantic League season, from Friday on, happens in Central Islip.

There is a scenario worth rooting for and a scenario worth bracing for. If the Ducks split or better in Maryland, Friday night could be the start of a title run finished at home. If they sweep two in Waldorf, Friday could be the night the championship is clinched in front of the home crowd. And if they drop both, Friday becomes an elimination game, which is its own kind of night at the ballpark.

Tickets, including the ones in your junk drawer

Tickets for the home games are on sale now through the Ducks. The one detail worth knowing before you buy: the team has designated all three potential home dates as unused ticket days. Any unused ticket from earlier this season can be exchanged at the ballpark box office for a championship series ticket of equal or lesser value, with a 1 dollar surcharge per ticket. The exchange only works in person at the box office, not online and not by phone. The window is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and during home games.

That makes the rain-date ticket from a July game you never made it to worth a dollar less than a seat at a championship series, which is the best conversion rate that ticket will ever see.

What it means for the week ahead

Long Island has had a good September for the sports fan who likes their events close to home: Belmont Park reopened to sold-out crowds a week ago, and now the island's own ballclub is hosting a championship series. The Ducks were built as the affordable, local answer to a trip to the Bronx or Flushing, and a September playoff run is the version of that promise that only comes around every few years.

The short version for your calendar: watch the road scores Tuesday and Wednesday, and hold Friday night. Whatever happens in Waldorf, the next Atlantic League champion will be decided at a ballpark twenty minutes from most of Suffolk County, and the home team is three wins away.