Wikipedia - Muntinlupa Cagers
The Muntinlupa Cagers, also known as Muntinlupa Cagers – Elburg Shipmanagement Paramount Logistics Inc. for sponsorship reasons, are a Filipino professional basketball team based in Muntinlupa. The team competes in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) as a member of the league's South Division. They are one of three teams based in Metro Manila's Southern District and play their home games at Muntinlupa Sports Center.
The team is one of the league's charter members, first established for the 2018 MPBL season, where they also made their only Finals appearance to date. The team also took part in FilBasket.
History
2018–2019: Initial success and Finals appearance
The Muntinlupa Cagers were founded in 2018 as one of the MPBL's ten charter teams for the 2018 season. The Cagers experiences immediate success, finishing with a 6–3 record. Muntinlupa claimed the third seed and first swept Navotas in the Quarterfinals. They then had the Parañaque Patriots, who were coming off an upset against second-seeded Bulacan. Parañaque would win the first game of the series, but Muntinlupa, who were led by the likes Chito Jaime, Felix Apreku, and Allan Mangahas, took the next two games to advance to the 2018 MPBL Finals against the Batangas City Athletics. Unfortunately, Muntinlupa went on to lose the series in four games, making Batangas City the league's inaugural champions.
Muntinlupa continued their winning prowess in the 2018–19 season, keeping the same core players and once again claiming third seed in the South Division with a 15–10 record. Their playoff run was cut short, however, as the Cagers would lose to sixth-seeded Zamboanga in the First Round.
2020–present: Rebuild
Heading into the 2019–20 season, most of its core players left the team, with Jaime moving to Bataan, Apreku moving to Pampanga, and Mangahas moving to Biñan City. The Cagers, now led by GJ Ylagan, struggled, and only finished with seven wins in the 30-game season, which ranked the team 13th in the South. 2022 also wasn't a winning season for Muntinlupa, finishing with a 6–15 record, but just barely made the playoff picture by ranking 8th in the South. The team would then lose to Zamboanga once again in the First Round.
Muntinlupa then rebuilt its roster for the 2023 season. With the acquisitions of collegiate players John Amores and JL Delos Santos, as well as former Davao Occidental member Marco Balagtas, the Cagers rose to a 16–12 record, ranking sixth in the South. Muntinlupa will be facing against the third-seeded GenSan Warriors in the First Round.