The Blue Rocks mascot, Rocky, during a Blue Rocks home game. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
The Wilmington Blue Rocks finished the first half of the South Atlantic League season with a 31-34 record and a third place finish in the standings.
The MLB All-Star break is fast approaching, signifying the unofficial halfway mark of the baseball season, but for the Blue Rocks the first half of their season is already complete.
Since 2022, the Minor League Baseball (MiLB) schedule at the High-A level is broken up into two halves that determine the playoff participants. This year the first half of the season concluded on June 18 and the second half began on June 19.
The Blue Rocks finished the first half of the season in third behind the Greensboro Grasshoppers (Pittsburgh Pirates affiliate) and the South Atlantic League North division champion, Frederick Keys (Baltimore Orioles affiliate). The Keys’ first half victory ensures their spot in the postseason along with the Bowling Green Hot Rods (Tampa Bay affiliate) who won the south division title.
The Blue Rocks started the season strong entering May in second place trailing the first place spot by a half game. The team played well throughout the month, but a tough series against the Winston-Salem Dash (Chicago White Sox affiliate) near the middle of the month dropped their record to 19-19. The Blue Rocks finished the month with seven wins in their remaining 12 games and entered June in third place with a 26-24 record.
The Blue Rocks won only two of their first 12 games in June, but rebounded with three straight wins before the June 18 cut-off to cement their third place finish.
The Blue Rocks carried that momentum into the start of the second half completing a series sweep of the Brooklyn Cyclones (New York Mets affiliate) and splitting a series against the Keys to wrap up June. The Blue Rocks split their most recent series against the Hudson Valley Renegades (New York Yankees affiliate) and sit two games behind the Grasshoppers for first place.
Wilmington will play one more six game series before the All-Star break, taking on the Cyclones in Brookly starting tonight at 6:40 p.m. After the break, the Blue Rocks will play nine straight home games against the Jersey Shore Blueclaws (Philadelphia Phillies affiliate) and Hudson Valley Renegades before ending the month on the road against the Keys.
For more information on tickets and promotions during that homestand click here.
Blue Rocks in Philadelphia
Two Wilmington Blue Rocks — Washington Nationals’ No. 1 prospect Eli Willits and No. 17 prospect Miguel Sime Jr. — were selected to participate in the 2026 All-Star Futures Game on Sunday, July 12, during MLB’s All-Star Week hosted in Philadelphia.
Willits’ was the first overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft and is the best prospect in the Nationals organization according to MLB.com. Willits has played in 20 games for the Blue Rocks since his promotion on June 9, amassing 17 hits (nine of them for extra bases), 13 RBI and 20 walks in 76 at-bats at the High-A level.
Similar to Willits, Sime Jr. joined the Blue Rocks in early June after receiving a promotion from the Low-A Fredericksburg Nationals. In six starts with the Blue Rocks, Sime Jr. has given up 12 hits in 19.1 innings with a batting average against of .182. Sime Jr. has struck out 30 batters and only allowed one home run thus far.
The Futures game will start at noon and be televised on NBC and Peacock.
Ryan Colasanti joins Delaware Live following four years at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism. There he covered multiple sports for the school’s radio station as both a reporter and editor. Ryan is excited to return back to the state and cover all things Delaware sports.
