Dayton Dragons: New cast trying to make good on first-half success Midwest League playoffs start Tuesday

The Dayton Dragons are a perfect example of why the minor leagues split the 132-game season into halves.

The players trying to win the first Midwest League championship in club history are largely different from the players who won the East Division first-half championship to secure a berth into the semifinal round of the playoffs.

The first-half Dragons were led by players like Alfredo Duno, Carter Graham, Carlos Sanchez, Kien Vu, Yerlin Confidan, Ryan McCrystal and Peyton Stovall. They led a surge of eight wins in the final nine games of the first half.

Then they all went to AA Chattanooga. That team didn't make the playoffs.

But the holdovers and a slew of new young players get to play more baseball this week for Dayton. And Vu, infielder Johnny Ascanio and pitchers Victor Diaz and Jose Montero came back to Dayton last week to bolster the lineup and the staff. McCrystal, a catcher, came back early in the second half so he could play regularly instead of sit behind top prospect Duno in AA.

"It's a really cool thing to be able to play baseball that matters," McCrystal said. "We're always trying to develop and win every single game because I believe that's how you develop the best is to win together. But it's a really cool thing when it's win or go home."

Game 1 of the best-of-three series is Tuesday, Sept. 8 at second-half champion Great Lakes in Midland, Michigan. Game 2 is in Dayton on Thursday followed by Game 3 on Friday, if necessary.

The Loons led most of the first half before the Dragons clawed past them. The Loons won the second half with a 39-26 record and own the best overall record in the division at 75-54. The Dragons were 28-36 in the second half and 67-63 overall.

This team is led by 2026 draft picks Justin Lebron and Eric Becker, 2025 picks Vu and Ty Doucette and 2024 high-school pick Tyson Lewis and second-year Dragon John Michael Faile. The starting pitchers planned for the three-game series are Edgar Colon, Kyle McCoy and Mason Morris.

"It's been fun," said Lebron who bats leadoff, hits for power and gets on base. "Coming out here each and every day, playing for each other and getting ready for the playoffs."

One constant is Faile, whose powerful bat has helped the Dragons finish the final two weeks at 7-5 and gain a little momentum.

"We had a great team the first half, a team that really came together from the first game from opening night, and now a lot of those guys are moved on, which is awesome for them," he said. "This team's different. We have a lot of younger guys, a whole different team, and so this group's coming together. Hopefully, coming together at the right time, and I think we can make a special run and see what happens."

The experienced Dayton players — McCrystal, Faile, McCoy, reliever Jimmy Romano — are the clubhouse leaders that a team full of new players needs.

"Those guys have kept the team pretty even keeled," Becker said.

McCrystal is in a unique position to lead the entire team through his attitude because of his experience and because he is a catcher working with young pitchers. He got a taste of AA, then came back, not because he couldn't play at AA, but because the Reds wanted him to play.

He's relied on his faith and the counsel of his fiancé to work through the difficulties of the grind, learning not to take bad games home and accepting that Dayton is where he belongs for now.

"Understanding that you're back here for a reason and learning how to be a leader, learning how to lead," McCrysytal said. "It's a tough thing because coming back here, it's not like I played bad there."

Hitting coach Troy Gingrich has helped McCrystal see what he should focus on through the ups and downs of a long season.

"Troy said to me one time, and it's kind of stuck with me, you're trying to look at the whole dartboard when I'm just looking at the bull's-eye," McCrystal said. "You can't look at all the negatives when there's a ton of positives as well. But you need to try and keep your eyes focused on the bull's-eye, which is the positive things, the things that God's blessed. And then you'll be able to ignore the negatives, and the more you do that, the better that you're going to be."

That's the Dragons' chore this week. Ignore the negatives of a second-half losing record, and focus on the playoff opportunity.

"That's all you can really do," Lebron said. "Just got to keep playing baseball."