A maiden final for the Knight Riders against a record-breaking Washington Freedom
The Los Angeles Knight Riders reach their first Major League Cricket final on Saturday, where a Washington Freedom side fresh off the highest chase in T20 history stand between them and the 2026 title.
Jul 17, 2026
Major League Cricket has its final, and it pits a side reaching the stage for the first time against one arriving in the sort of form that makes records fall. The Los Angeles Knight Riders will face Washington Freedom at the Oakland Coliseum on Saturday, July 18, with the 2026 title on the line and two very different journeys behind them.
The Knight Riders got there the direct way, beating the table-topping San Francisco Unicorns to seal a spot without a nervous second chance. Washington needed two escape acts in two days, including the highest successful chase men’s Twenty20 cricket has ever seen, just to reach the same point. One team is playing for a maiden crown, the other for a second title in three years.
The Knight Riders finally break through
Three seasons in, the Knight Riders had a reputation as the competition’s nearly men. That changed in the Qualifier, when they posted 187 for 3 and then squeezed the Unicorns across 20 overs to win by seven runs and book a direct passage to the final. San Francisco had topped the league table and looked the strongest team all tournament, but the playoffs cared nothing for that.
The win leaned on the two players the whole campaign has leaned on. Andre Russell finished unbeaten on 62 and Rovman Powell was there with him on 50 not out, a Caribbean pair built for the closing overs of a T20 innings. Once the two of them found their range, a middling total turned into an awkward one, and the Unicorns never found an answer. Add Sunil Narine’s control with the ball and the Knight Riders carry match-winners into a final for the first time.
Washington arrive on the back of history
Washington’s route was far more dramatic. In the Eliminator they chased down 267 against MI New York, the highest successful run chase in men’s T20 history, and knocked it off with eight balls to spare. Andries Gous made 132 from 51 balls, the first century by a USA batter in the competition, and Steven Smith struck the fastest hundred of his career, reaching three figures in 40 balls before finishing unbeaten on 110. Their stand of 241 was the biggest third-wicket partnership the format has seen.
The next day they had to do it the hard way. Gous hit 73 to push Freedom to 238 for 6 in the second Eliminator, and every run counted, because Matthew Short answered with an unbeaten 121 that dragged the Unicorns to 231 for 6. Washington’s bowlers held their nerve at the death to win by seven runs and end San Francisco’s tournament. It was a second narrow survival in 48 hours, and it sends a team that won the 2024 title and finished runners-up last year back into a final.
What to watch, and when
The matchup writes itself. Washington’s top order has been the most destructive unit in the tournament, with Gous and Smith turning big targets into routine ones. The Knight Riders will hope Russell and Narine can drag the contest into the kind of tight finish they have already shown they can win. A side chasing its first title against one that keeps finding a way when the game is on the line should make for a compelling decider.
The final starts at 4:30pm local time in Oakland on Saturday, which for fans in India lands in the early hours of Sunday, around 5am IST on July 19. Whoever holds their nerve on the Coliseum outfield walks away with the 2026 Major League Cricket trophy.