No matter how much the IronPigs have struggled since the All-Star break, no matter how good Pawtucket has been, no matter how fast the number of games remaining at the top of B&B's Pigs Path to the Postseason has declined, and no matter how many key players have been called up to Philadelphia, I've still (perhaps naïvely) assumed that the Pigs would make the playoffs.
But tonight as I sit in Coca-Cola Park for the final time in 2012 (postseason or not), I'll be watching a team that, barring a miracle, will be starting their final weekend of baseball.
It wasn't naïve to believe last week that the Pigs could make the playoffs. They were still hanging around by a game or two and even up by half a game at one point. Yet as this week started you couldn't help but feel that things weren't going to turn out like last season. You knew one of these nights was going to do the Pigs in. That night came last night.
The Pigs' 5-0 loss to Scranton (who clinched the division) combined with Pawtucket's doubleheader sweep of Gwinnett puts them three games behind with only four left to play. There have been bigger comebacks in sports history, but if the Pigs were to make the playoffs at this point, it would certainly be a weekend to remember.
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| Good times: Ryne Sandberg, Delicious, and Sal Rende after clinching the 2011 Wild Card (Photo by Michael LoRe of The Express-Times if I remember correctly) |
Now the good news for the Pigs is that we don't have to be a game up on Pawtucket at the end of Monday. We just have to be tied. It's tricky to understand, but here's how things could work:
According to the IL's playoff procedures, the first tie-breaker used is the head-to-head series. The Pigs and PawSox each went 8-8 against one another this season. So throw that out.
The second tie-breaker that would be used is each team's record vs. the IL North. Updating the record from last night's game notes, the Pigs are 41-36 against the division. After a long search, I found the PawSox game notes which say they are 42-34 against the North. So bad news, right?
Not necessarily.
For the Pigs to tie the PawSox they would have to win 3 of 4 while the Sox lost 3 of 4 this weekend. They're playing Scranton, we're playing Syracuse and Buffalo - all three are IL North teams. So if those two scenarios played out, the Pigs would be 44-37 (.543) against the division and Pawtucket would be 43-37 (.537). The official tiebreaker goes by winning percentage. Pigs win the wild card and play Scranton starting next Thursday.
But that's easier to type than it is to do.
Enjoy CCP this weekend and listen to Matt Provence one final time because it could be 7 long months until you see and hear them again.
Lots of hard work from you this season. It's not so easy, is it? Particularly when nobody has anything nice to say ever, right?
ReplyDeleteOh well. Life sucks and then you die. But not before you get to pay lots of taxes, first. (the trick is to live in an area that will give you a taxpayer-funded $ 179.5 million Palace of Sport ... Amherst does not have one of those, at least not yet!)
The IronPigs played north of the minimum .500 standard and were sincerely in a hunt for the post season --- Personally, I can draw satisfaction from that.
Ausgezeichentes Baseballsaison, Minuteman --- herzlichen Glueckwuensche!!!
"ausgezeichnetes" ... dislexia? ... :-)
ReplyDelete$179.5 million? Price has gone up to $234 million!
ReplyDeleteThe Pigs did put together a good season no matter what happens this weekend.
Danken Sie für lesesn. Ich bin sehr glücklich, dass ich bin fertig mit Deutsch studieren. Das ist wahrscheinlich völlig falsch.
No, no, my friend.
ReplyDeleteIt's 233.7 million dollars in terms of the ENTIRE PROJECT, of which The Morning Call has announced $ 179.5 is for the hockey rink ... don't forget about the hotels, parking decks, "whatever else is in those magic plans and specifications."
Do not worry, though, as NONE of the cigarette tax money will be used for the hockey rink --- only the hotels and parking decks ... The Morning Call had a front page article to remind us of that so we should take care to keep that in mind, too.
Your German is not so bad, have more confidence. I can understand you just fine and so would the Germans. At the end of the day, that's all that counts. Fact is, my German is not the best by any stretch but the Germans lie to me all the time and tell me my German is is better than I know it is because they really appreciate the effort.
:-)