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IL1 International League

Governors' Cup Playoff Preview

August 28, 2015 - International League (IL1) News Release


International League's Three Division Races to be Settled on the Field

And down the stretch they come! With eleven days remaining in the 2015 International League regular season, nothing has been settled quite yet relative to the four available playoff berths. Division leaders Indianapolis, Norfolk, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre each still have work to do, along with the current Wild Card leader Columbus, as the September 7 regular season finale approaches.

Norfolk's lead in the South has dwindled to 2.0 games over Gwinnett after last night's 9-3 loss at Coolray Field. The Tides and Braves still have seven games remaining with each other between tonight and next Friday.

It's even tighter in the West where Indianapolis' lead is down to 1.0 game over Columbus, but both teams appear headed to the postseason thanks to the Clippers' 4.5-game edge over Gwinnett in the Wild Card race. The Indians and Columbus begin a four- day stretch against each other on Monday. Meanwhile with no further interdivisional play, the other Wild Card contenders won't have the benefit of playing Columbus themselves. North-leading Scranton/Wilkes-Barre embarks on a five-day trip Saturday to face their closest competitors for the division, Buffalo and Rochester. The RailRiders swept the Red Wings last weekend at PNC Field, severely hurting Rochester's chances of coming back to win either the division or the Wild Card. At 66-67, Buffalo's impact may now be limited to playing spoiler.

2015 INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE POSTSEASON SCHEDULE.

Governors' Cup First Round (Best of Five):

September 9,10

West Division Winner at South Division Winner, North Division Winner at Wild Card Winner

September 11,12*,13* South Division Winner at West Division Winner, Wild Card Winner at North Division Winner

* If Necessary

Governors' Cup Finals (Best of Five):

September 15,16

North/Wild Card Series Winner at South/West Division Series Winner

September 17,18*,19* South/West Division Series Winner at North/Wild Card Series Winner

* If Necessary

Gildan Triple-A National Championship Game (Winner-Take-All):

September 22

Pacific Coast League Champion at International League Champion (El Paso, Texas)

2015 Governors' Cup Race: The View from the Booth

Few have a better-informed perspective on this season's playoff race than the broadcasters who have called the action along the way. From their perch above the field, the chief broadcast voices from this year's leading contenders offer their view of how we've gotten here and their club's keys to success in September.

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS - Ryan Mitchell

"We expected the Clippers to be one of the better teams in the IL this year, but the way in which they have done it has been entirely unexpected. We thought the Clippers would have one of the top offenses in the IL. As it turned out, the pitching and defense has led the Clippers into the playoff race. Toru Murata leads the League with 13 wins and has a top-10 ERA as well. Shawn Armstrong's 14.35 K/9 ratio would lead the League if he weren't just shy of the required innings. The Clippers have committed only 78 errors and have the 2nd-best fielding percentage in the IL. Erik Gonzalez hasn't hit much, but he is every bit as exciting at shortstop as Francisco Lindor, who is now with Cleveland. A candidate to make an impact offensively in the playoffs is Michael Choice, who has 4 RBI in his first three games with an OPS of 1.084. Michael Martinez has been the Clippers best hitter since mid-May, raising his average to .288. The Clippers chances in the quest for the Cup rest with their starting pitching. No current Clippers starter is on the Indians 40-man roster, so the rotation should remain intact."

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS - Howard Kellman & Andrew Kappes

"The defining moment for the Indians came in the days and weeks after falling out of first place on July 28. The team went 19-8 after having dropped the first two games of a four-game set with Columbus. The offense has been much improved in the last month thanks to the emergence of players who started their seasons in Double-A Altoona - the likes of Josh Bell, Willy Garcia, Keon Broxton, and Dan Gamache. The keys for a playoff run are going to be Bell and Garcia fueling the middle of the lineup along with top prospect Tyler Glasnow anchoring the rotation."

NORFOLK TIDES - Pete Michaud

"Pitching and defense has given this team a chance to win almost every night. They lead the minors in 1-run games. They've had the best pitching in the league all year, but newcomers like Terry Doyle & Elih Villaneuva will have to step up to help hold off Gwinnett. Chris Jones has become the unsung ace of the starting staff while Steve Johnson has quietly become the unheralded star of the bullpen late in the season, along with the untouchable Oliver Drake. Offensively, Dariel Alvarez has been the club's key run producer, but he has slowed a bit in August. Christian Walker, meanwhile, has been reborn, leading the IL in homers & RBI since the All-Star break. Aside from those two, the team has little power, and Julio Borbon is the only serious running threat. Runs may remain tough to come by, at times."

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE RAILRIDERS - John Sadak

"The youngest and most prospect-oriented SWB team in its era as a Yankees affiliate possesses one of the minors' deepest and hardest-throwing bullpens. The offense leads the League in batting average, on-base percentage and runs scored while ranking second in slugging despite calling cavernous PNC Field its home. The club has consistently found a way to get the clutch hit, often in rather dramatic fashion. From Austin Romine's six-RBI game in June after missing nearly a week due to a beaning in the head, to Ben Gamel's walk-off inside-the-park home run earlier this month, it has been quite a ride.

Add in powerful mega prospects like Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, and the RailRiders just may be the most fun team to watch in MiLB this season."

1985: Tides Win Their Last Governors' Cup to Date After Thrilling Pennant Chase

The Tidewater Tides were one of the IL's most successful franchises of the 1970's and 1980's, capturing five Governors' Cups in a fourteen-year span that concluded with the 1985 title. That season's pennant race saw the top five teams finish within 4.0 games of each other, with the Tides managing to squeak into the postseason just a half-game ahead of Richmond.

Skipper Bob Schaffer guided the Tides past Maine in a five-game first round series before taking out Columbus three games to one in the finals. A Mets affiliate, the 1985 Tides were paced by offensive stars like third baseman Kevin Mitchell (.290) and outfielders LaSchelle Tarver (.311), Lenny Dykstra (.310), Terry Blocker (.307), and Billy Beane (.277 with 19 homers). The Tides have won just one postseason series since, which came over Richmond in the 1995 semi-finals.

NORTH DIVISION REPORT: The 1st- place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (New York Yankees) have gotten it done this season despite a revolving door in the clubhouse.

Already the RailRiders have fielded 71 different players this season, including 43 different pitchers (24 starters).

After splitting Thursday's doubleheader with Lehigh Valley, SWB's lead is now 5.0 games over the 2nd-place Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota Twins) and 8.0 games over the Buffalo Bisons (Toronto Blue Jays). SWB will spend the next seven days playing the Bisons and Red Wings before closing out the season with three games at Syracuse. Both Buffalo and Rochester conclude their home schedules next Wednesday with the final five games of the regular season on the road.

WEST DIVISION REPORT:

The West will almost certainly be won next week when the Indianapolis Indians (Pittsburgh Pirates) and Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians) meet for a four-game, home-and-home series. Columbus hold a slim 9-8 advantage head-to-head this season, meaning the Clippers need to at least split the four games next week to claim the tiebreaker over Indy.

In the event of a tie for the West, if both teams are headed to the postseason regardless, the tiebreaker will be applied only to determine playoff positioning. Otherwise a play-in game would be held September 8 in the home park of the team owning the tiebreaker advantage. This will be the fifth straight season either Indy or Columbus will win the West.

SOUTH DIVISION REPORT: The International League has never seen an entire division finish with a record at or above .500, but it could happen in the South this year. Durham's current hot streak collided with the division-leading Norfolk Tides (Baltimore Orioles) this week, as the Bulls swept a pair at Harbor Park. Norfolk followed that with last night's 9-3 defeat at the hands of the 2nd-place Gwinnett Braves (Atlanta Braves), leaving Gwinnett just 2.0 games behind the Tides. The two clubs meet seven more times in the next eight days. Gwinnett now leads the season series 8-7, the first criteria for a tiebreaker, followed by intradivisional record, which would also belong to the Braves if the clubs finish tied. The 3rd-place Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox) are 4.5 games back, but they play Norfolk head-to-head just twice more beginning Monday at Harbor Park.

WILD CARD REPORT: Any tie for the Wild Card entry would be broken solely by the IL's tiebreaking criteria. A tie would not be an advantageous scenario for the current leader Columbus, nor to Indianapolis should they end up as the Wild Card. The Clippers would lose a tiebreaker with both Gwinnett or Norfolk. Indianapolis would be on the wrong end of a tiebreaker with Gwinnett but would prevail over Norfolk. The Braves were swept three-straight earlier this week at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte, keeping hope alive for the Knights. Charlotte and Gwinnett will wrap up the regular season with a three-game set at Coolray Field. Rochester's shutout of Syracuse last night was their 20th, the most in the IL in four decades. The Braves, Knights, and Red Wings are all closer to catching their division leader than they are to surpassing Columbus for the Wild Card.

SERIES TO WATCH NEXT WEEK:

August 27-30: Norfolk at Gwinnett

The Tides and Braves began a crucial four-game series last night at Coolray Field, where Cedric Hunter extended the IL's longest hitting streak this season to 21 games in the 9-3 Braves victory.

August 31-September 3: Indianapolis at Columbus / Columbus at Indianapolis

The West Division could very well be decided when the Indians and Clippers meet for four straight days beginning Monday. After a pair in Columbus, the teams head 175 miles west for two more at Victory Field.

September 1-2: Scranton/WB at Rochester

The RailRiders hope to be in position to clinch the North by the time they arrive in Rochester on Tuesday. These are the final two regular season games at Frontier Field.

Triple-A National Title Shot Awaits Governors' Cup Champ in El Paso For the tenth straight season the International League champion will square off against the Pacific Coast League's top team in a one-game, winner-take-all battle for the Triple-A National Championship. This year's tilt takes place at El Paso's Southwest University Park, home of the Chihuahuas, on Tuesday, September 22 at 8:00 p.m. eastern on NBCSN.

It appears there will be a new victor this season, as the back-to-back National Champion Omaha Storm Chasers trail in the PCL American North race, currently 6.5 games behind leader Oklahoma City (Los Angeles Dodgers). With a 5.0 game lead in the PCL American South, Round Rock (Texas Rangers) appears to be in line to meet Oklahoma City in the first round of the playoffs.

Meanwhile in the Pacific Southern Division, Las Vegas (New York Mets) owns a 3.5-game edge over El Paso (San Diego Padres) in the PCL's tightest division race. The team that prevails will earn a first round date with Fresno (Houston Astros), who clinched the Pacific North on Tuesday night to give the franchise its first division title since 1998. The Chihuahuas are bidding to become the first team to play in its home park in the ten-year history of the Triple-A National Championship Game.

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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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