Friday, August 29, 2014

Astros Minor League Playoff Pictures

With four days left in the minor league regular season, let's take a look at the Astro affiliates' playoff picture. I will try to update this daily until all of the playoffs have been decided.

OKLAHOMA CITY

Playoff Picture - 4 games left; elimination number is N/A

For the season:
1st     74-66     .529     -.- GB     W5

With the RedHawks off on Thursday, Omaha got a W to take advantage and move a half game closer to first. Oklahoma City is now only one and a half games ahead of Omaha (elimination number of 3) and four games in front of Iowa (elimination number of 1). All three teams now have four games left. Omaha took the home opener in their five-game series against the last place Colorado Springs Sky Sox (53-87); Colorado Springs is now on a five-game losing streak. The 'Hawks and the Iowa Cubs will play their final four in Oklahoma City. Go 'Hawks! (And Go Sky Sox!)

CORPUS CHRISTI - Eliminated

LANCASTER - Clinched

For the season:
1st    78-58    .574    -.-GB    W1

For the second half:
1st     34-32     .515     -.-GB     W1

Playoff Picture - 4 games left; elimination number is N/A

The JetHawks clinched their playoff berth by winning the first half. All that remains at this point is to see whether or not they can win the second half as well. Lancaster's win last night assured that they would retain sole possession of first place in the second half standings for another day, but second place Inland Empire and Lake Elsinore (one game behind) kept pace as they also won. Rancho Cucamonga and High Desert each lost last night and fell further back in the second half standings. Lancaster will play its final four games against Inland Empire (33-33 in second half) at home while Lake Elsinore (33-33 in second half) hosts Rancho Cucamonga (31-35 in second half) for their final four.

QUAD CITIES

For the second half:
T4th    32-33     .492     11.5GB     (2.5GB for playoff berth)    W1

Playoff Picture - 5 games left; elimination number is 3

I finally figured out all of this playoff stuff. The Midwest League is confusing because so many teams advance to the playoffs, but MiLB.com in their infinite wisdom doesn't bother to track elimination numbers for anything but the second half winners; they show the three teams jockeying for the final playoff spot as having been eliminated. So I had to do cyphering to figure it all out. And I'm tired. Worn out. Exhausted. Spent. Shot. Outta Gas. Kaput. Well, you get the general idea. So I've admittedly done a lousy job of tracking some of these. Feel free to dock my pay. Oh, that's right .... never mind.

But I digress. Here is the situation. Wisconsin is two and a half games ahead of Peoria and Quad Cities in the hunt for the final playoff spot. Wisconsin won last night, but both Peoria and Quad Cities were rained out and will both play double-headers today. The elimination number for both Peoria and Quad Cities is currently three. Any combination of three Wisconsin wins and three Quad Cities losses will mean that Quad Cities is eliminated; the same is true for Peoria. I absolutely refuse to get into tie-breaker scenarios unless and until it proves necessary!

Wisconsin (35-31 in second half) has four games remaining. They play one at home against Burlington (28-38 in second half) followed by three in Beloit (22-42 in second half). Peoria, with five left, will play a double-header at home against Beloit today, followed by three at Kane County (44-22 in the second half). Quad Cities, also with five left, will host a double-header against Clinton (28-37 in the second half) today and will end their regular season with three in Burlington. Phew! I think I'm going back to bed now.

It is not impossible for the River Bandits to secure a playoff berth, but they are going to need A LOT of help.

TRI-CITY - Clinched

1st     44-28     .611     -.-GB     W1

Playoff Picture - 4 games left; elimination number is N/A

Finally! After four straight losses, the ValleyCats finally got the elusive win that they needed to out-and-out clinch the Stedler Division title (as opposed to winning it on a tie-breaker). Now all that remains is to see is who they will face in the Semi-Final Championship Series. As things stand today, their opponent would be State College, but if they end up with the best record (currently held by Hudson Valley), they would take on the Wild Card team, which has yet to be determined. However, Brooklyn currently leads the Wild Card standings and Tri-City will be hosting the Cyclones for two games starting tonight.

GREENEVILLE - Eliminated

Alas, the news for the Appy Astros last night wasn't as good. They were officially eliminated from a possible playoff berth as they fell to the Johnson City Cardinals. The Cardinals clinched the final west division playoff spot with their win.

GCL ASTROS - Eliminated

DSL ASTROS ORANGE - Eliminated

DSL ASTROS BLUE - Eliminated

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