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IL1 International League

Governors' Cup Playoff Preview - August 16, 2019

August 16, 2019 - International League (IL1) News Release


Playoff Picture Coming into Focus as Regular Season Winds Down

As the International League regular season comes down the home stretch, eight teams are within at least 4.0 games of a playoff berth, but only four will advance to play for the Governors' Cup in September. The circuit's three division winners plus a Wild Card club will compete in two best-of-five rounds to determine the League's champion for 2019.

The Columbus Clippers are on track to be the first to secure a spot in the postseason. After sweeping a Thursday doubleheader against Gwinnett, the Clippers now enjoy a 9.0 game advantage in the IL West Division over Indianapolis, who lost Thursday to Rochester to fall to a game below the .500 mark.

Gwinnett's lead in the South is now down to 2.5 games over Durham with Charlotte also lurking 3.0 games off the pace. The 2nd place team in the South stands to win the Wild Card, adding excitement to the three-team battle within the division.

The North Division race also remains close, with 4.0 games separating the top four teams. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has lost eight of its last nine games, allowing Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse to all keep their hopes alive.

The upcoming weekend August 16-18 marks the conclusion of interdivisional play in the 2019 regular season. Beginning Monday, each team will play the final two weeks of the schedule entirely within its own division.

The 2019 regular season concludes on Labor Day (September 2). In the League's pre-determined playoff format, the South Division winner will meet the West Division winner in Round 1 while the North Division winner faces the Wild Card club.

Knights Hoping to Ride Offensive Surge to a League Title

Charlotte became the first International League team to score 700 runs on the year, passing the milestone Wednesday night during an epic comeback win over the RailRiders. Offensive dominance has been a trademark of Governors' Cup championship clubs over the past decade. Five of the ten most recent champions, including the 2018 Durham Bulls, were the regular season League leader in runs scored. Only twice during the past ten seasons did the team pacing the circuit in runs fail to advance to the postseason - most recently, the Charlotte Knights in 2014. Charlotte's offensive surge this season has coincided with its playoff push down the stretch. Over the past 30 days, Charlotte has scored 178 runs. Only one other IL club scored more than 150 runs during the same timeframe (Rochester, 155). The Knights also own the League's top team batting average (.283) and home run total (47) over the past thirty days. The IL South has seen a lot of offense this season. Not far behind Charlotte on the list of highest scoring teams in 2019 are the two teams ahead of it in the standings currently, Gwinnett (3rd) and Durham (4th).

Extra Innings to Operate Under Traditional Rules in Postseason

At all levels of Minor League Baseball, an experimental rule has been in place the past two seasons whereby all extra innings begin with a runner placed on second base. That rule will not be observed during the 2019 Governors' Cup Playoffs. Any extra innings played will begin without runners on base. The last three times the IL playoffs have seen extra innings, including twice in 2018, have all come in first round action between the Lehigh Valley and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre clubs.

Four Franchises Have Dominated Recent IL Playoff History

The past eleven Governors' Cup championships have been claimed by a total of just four franchises, leaving ten International League clubs in the midst of a title drought. Following Richmond's defeat of Durham in the 2007 finals, the Columbus, Durham, Pawtucket, and SWB franchises have been the only teams to hoist the Cup. Charlotte, Indianapolis, Lehigh Valley, and Gwinnett eached reached the finals once during the span, but none could break through.

Nothing Settled Just Yet in Division & Wild Card Races

NORTH DIVISION REPORT: The North race looked to be firmly in the control of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (New York Yankees), but August has not been kind to the division leaders. SWB has won just three times this month and is 13-20 since the All-Star break. That has allowed the Buffalo Bisons (Toronto Blue Jays), Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota Twins), and Syracuse Mets (New York Mets) to all keep their playoff hopes alive. The Bisons have a grip on 2nd place after taking two out of three games against Toledo in a mid-week series. Rochester and Syracuse both pulled their records up to .500 with wins Thursday. The Red Wings prevailed 7-3 at Indianapolis, while in Syracuse the Mets got past Durham 5-3 thanks to a pair of home runs by All-Star Dilson Herrera. SWB has just four games left head-to-head against any of the North's other top contenders, which will happen when they host Buffalo to wrap up the regular season August 30-September 2.

WEST DIVISION REPORT: The Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians) are concluding a decade of dominance in the IL West Division. Thursday's doubleheader sweep over Gwinnett improved the lead over the 2nd place Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh Pirates) to 9.0 games in this year's race. A division title in 2019 would be the fifth for Columbus this decade. Since 2010, the Clippers have not finished lower than 2nd place in the West. Columbus is the only team in the IL to have won 40 games away from home already this season, as the series win in Gwinnett improved the club's winning percetange on the road to .678 (40- 19). Most of the games down the stretch for Columbus will come against Toledo and Louisville. The Indians have just a two-game series at home August 30-31 remaining head-to-head with the Clippers this season.

SOUTH DIVISION REPORT: Three teams in the South still have postseason aspirations, and at most two of them can reach the playoffs. The division lead continues to be held by the Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta Braves), who own the League's best record to date at 70-51. The Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays) are just 2.5 games back, but have lost two straight and now find the Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox) hot on their heels. Durham still holds the edge for the Wild Card, but Charlotte has now won nine out of its last ten games to pull within just a half-game of the Bulls. The in-state rivals from North Carolina have seven games remaining on the schedule head-to-head beginning August 19. Durham also has seven games left against Gwinnett. The Knights and Stripers will not meet again in the 2019 regular season.

WILD CARD REPORT: Any tie for the Wild Card would be broken using the League's tiebreaking criteria, not a play-in game. Should the Bulls and Knights finish the regular season tied, the team with the best record in the head-to-head series will advance. Durham currently leads the series 9-7, though seven games remain between the two. The last time a team from the South Division captured the Wild Card came in 2009, when the Gwinnett Braves did so in their inaugural season. The Wild Card club will meet the North Division champion in the first round of the Governors' Cup playoffs.

SERIES TO WATCH THIS WEEK:

Aug. 16-18: Durham at Buffalo

The Wild Card race heats up as two top contenders do battle at Sahlen Field in Buffalo. The Bisons haven't been to the postseason since 2005, a span during which the Bulls have been there nine times. Buffalo traveled to Durham in late July, losing two out of three in the only previous meeting this season between the two clubs.

Aug. 16-18: Columbus at Charlotte

In Charlotte, the West Division leaders come to town as the home team continues to fight for a playoff berth. The Knights came to Columbus in May, splitting a pair of games before the third was postponed. Thus, the upcoming series is a four-game set over three days with the Clippers scheduled to be the "home" team in Game 2 of Saturday's doubleheader.

Aug. 16-18: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at Gwinnett

The Stripers made a statement last week by traveling to SWB and taking two out of three games from the RailRiders at PNC Field. Now the two potential playoff opponents will square off for three more at Coolray Field in Gwinnett. The Stripers will have just four more home games after this series, coming August 26-29 against Norfolk.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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