The 2026 baseball season is officially over. In what seems like the blink of an eye, the postseason is now around the corner after 10 weeks of regular-season competition.
The CIF Southern Section will announce the playoff pairings on Saturday at 1 p.m.
As the dust settles after Wednesday’s final day, here is a season recap and a look at the area’s league champions, along with automatic postseason qualifiers, and teams that will hope for an at-large berth on Saturday.
HARVARD-WESTLAKE WINS THE MISSION LEAGUE
Harvard-Westlake (24-5) won the Mission League, which will likely grant the Wolverines a No. 1 or 2 seed in the Division 1 playoffs. Harvard-Westlake went 14-3 in league play, including a stretch of nine wins in a row.
Sierra Canyon (23-5, 13-4 Mission) finished second, Notre Dame (20-8, 12-5) placed third, and Alemany (17-11, 8-9) did enough to hang onto the fourth-place spot, which guaranteed the Warriors a playoff berth. Loyola (15-12-1, 7-10) and Chaminade (17-11, 7-10) will be hoping for at-large berths in Division 2.
BIRMINGHAM FINALLY GETS A WVL TITLE
Birmingham Charter (23-4) has earned at least a share of the West Valley League title, which is a big deal considering all the City championships the Patriots have won under coach Matt Mowry in 18 seasons — but no league titles. It’s the program’s first league championship since 1994.
That’s right, Mowry has led Birmingham to five City titles since 2014 (all in the highest division, including three Open championships), but has never won a West Valley League title. The Patriots’ last City title victory came in 2023 against Carson at Dodger Stadium.
El Camino Real (19-8), the defending City Open champion, finished second and Granada Hills Charter (13-14) finished third. All three are likely headed to the Open Division playoffs.
OTHER NOTABLE LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
Royal (23-3-1) won the Coastal Canyon League title. Oaks Christian (22-6) and Westlake (18-8) are co-champions of the Marmonte League. West Ranch (15-2) and Castaic (19-9) are co-champions of the Foothill League. It marks Castaic’s first-ever league title, which comes in the final season for coach Darrell Davis, who plans to retire from coaching and move to Las Vegas at season’s end.
Paraclete (23-5) won the Camino Real League. Burbank Burroughs (20-4) won the Pacific League in surprising fashion at 13-1 in league play, clinching its first league title since 2016 and first outright crowning since 2015. Oakwood (21-1) went 12-0 in the Liberty League. The small school located in North Hollywood could make some noise in the lower divisions this postseason.
NOTABLE TEAMS SEEKING AN AT-LARGE BERTH
After a long season, the following teams did not finish among the top half of their respective leagues and did not clinch an automatic qualifier to the playoffs:
Loyola (15-12), Mission fifth place
Chaminade (17-11), Mission sixth place
Thousand Oaks (17-10), Marmonte fourth place
Hart (10-15-1), Foothill fifth place
Campbell Hall (15-11), Gold Coast fourth place