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IL1 International League

Governors' Cup Playoff Preview

August 23, 2019 - International League (IL1) News Release


And down the stretch they come! With eleven days remaining in the 2019 International League regular season, it is far from certain which four teams will be competing for the Governors' Cup in September. The first ticket was punched on Thursday as Columbus clinched the franchise's 17th West Division title. The Clippers swept a four-game series against Louisville to officially become the first team to secure its positition in the postseason.

The North Division race has heated up as four teams are within 4.0 games of 1st. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre remains on top, though the hard-charging Syracuse Mets are within just 1.5 games of the leaders. Syracuse has won eight straight, slowed only by weather as the club's bid for a ninth straight victory on Thursday at Lehigh Valley was suspended in the 2nd inning. 3rd-place Buffalo and 4th-place Rochester split a four-game series this week that included a 9-inning no-hitter by Bisons' hurler T.J. Zeuch and a 20-3 thumping by the Red Wings to close things out on Thursday.

In the South, it still appears two teams will make the playoffs. Gwinnett won on Wednesday and Thursday, providing a 1.5-game edge for the Stripers currently over 2nd-place Charlotte. The Knights are winners of six straight and 18 of their last 23, and now have the Wild Card slot in their grasp with a 4.0-game lead over the defending Governors' Cup champion Durham Bulls.

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.

North and South Divisions in a Free-for-All in Final Days

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders were sitting pretty earlier this month, owners of a 6.0-game advantage in the division as recently as August 6, but a sub-par stretch has opened the door to the upstate New York clubs, all three of which have made a push. Since the Wild Card is likely to come from the South, the four contenders in the IL North Division are battling for a sole playoff berth. If two clubs finish tied for 1st in the division with only one to advance, an extra game will be held the day after the regular season concludes to determine the final standing. The IL tiebreaker formula (page 2) determines the home team for such an affair, with head-to-head record being the first criteria used. If three (or more) teams tied for 1st, there would be no extra game, and the tiebreaker formula would be used to determine the division champion, again based first on head-to-head competition followed by intradivisional record.

It's been closer in the South for a while, though Gwinnett has been alone in 1st place since July 21. In the South, no extra game would be used to break a 1st place tie if both teams are advancing. The head-to-head record would merely determine playoff slotting. Any tie for the Wild Card would be broken only using the criteria. In a threeway tie with two to advance, the formula would be used first to determine the division champ, then the Wild Card.

Twins and Blue Jays Franchises in Search of First Governors' Cup

For any MLB organization, it's a huge boost to the entire farm system to see the top affiliate bring home a League championship at the Triple-A level. Some of the organizations with an opportunity to capture the Governors' Cup in 2019 are no stranger to International League postseason success, such as the New York Yankees (IL-best 16 Governors' Cups, most recently Scranton/ WB in 2016), the Cleveland Indians (eight Governors' Cups, most recently Columbus in 2015), and the Tampa Bay Rays (six Governors' Cups, most recently Durham in 2017 & 2018).

The 2019 season could end with a new MLB organization seeing its partner hoist the Governors' Cup. The Buffalo Bisons are hoping to make the playoffs for the first time since becoming an affiliate of the Blue Jays in 2013. The Syracuse franchise spent over three decades partnering with Toronto, but the closest it came to winning a League title during that era was finals appearances in 1979, 1989, and 1994.

The Minnesota Twins haven't seen an affiliate claim the IL's coveted postseason trophy in 27 seasons trying. The Red Wings partnered up with Minnesota in 2003, since which time they have only made the postseason in 2006 and 2013 as the Wild Card. The Rochester club's 21-year drought without a Governors' Cup is the longest stretch without a title in franchise history. The New York Mets are making a bid to win the Cup in the organization's first season in the IL since 2012. The last Mets affiliate to win an IL title was the 1985 Tidewater Tides. The last time an affiliate of a National League club won the Governors' Cup was in 2007 when Atlanta had its Triple-A club in Richmond.

Columbus Awaits Company in the IL Postseason Picture

NORTH DIVISION REPORT: It seems anything could still happen in the North, where the League's hottest team has surged nearly all the way to 1st place. The Syracuse Mets (New York Mets) were two games under .500 when they last were defeated on August 13. The lead still belongs to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (New York Yankees), who won three out of four this week against last-place Pawtucket. SWB continues a stretch of eleven games overall facing the North's bottom two clubs before concluding the season with a four-game series against the team currently in 3rd, the Buffalo Bisons (Toronto Blue Jays). Just one game further back and still alive are the Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota Twins). The Bisons and Red Wings split four games in Rochester this week, and will see each other for four more next week in Buffalo.

WEST DIVISION REPORT: The Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians) are champions of the West Division and now turn their sights towards their opponent in the semi-finals round of the Governors' Cup playoffs, which will be the winner of the IL South Division. Only twice in the current decade has the West Division champion advanced to the finals, occuring when Columbus won it all in 2011 and 2015. The Clippers split their six-game season series this year with current South-leaders Gwinnett, dropping two of three to the Stripers at home in late July before returning the favor on the road last week. Likewise the Clippers are 3-3 against Charlotte, including splitting four games played at BB&T Ballpark last week (Columbus was the home team for one game due to a previous postponement in Columbus).

SOUTH DIVISION REPORT: The race for the South flag could go to the wire, though the top two contenders hope the Wild Card provides them both a ticket to the playoffs. The Gwinnett Stripers (Atlanta Braves) hold a 1.5 game edge over the Charlotte Knights (Chicago White Sox). Gwinnett has a magic number of six to clinch a postseason berth, though the Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays) get seven games head-to-head with the Stripers down the stretch. Charlotte swept a four-game series over the Bulls this week which solidified its place in the Wild card race and brought the Knights close to the top of the South. Charlotte and Gwinnett don't play again during the regular season. The last time the two were scheduled to meet was August 4, a game cancelled due to weather.

WILD CARD REPORT: The Wild Card race was dead even on Monday when Charlotte came to Durham for a four-game series. Four days later, the Knights own a 4.0-game lead for the Wild Card. Syracuse has won eight straight. The Mets begin their final homestand of the season with a series against Rochester and a set with Lehigh Valley that will include the conclusion of Thursday's suspended game. Charlotte will host Durham for three games beginning Monday. The team winning the Wild Card will host the champion of the North Division when the first round of the Governors' Cup playoffs begin on September 4.

SERIES TO WATCH THIS WEEK:

Aug. 23-25: Gwinnett at Durham

It's crunch time in the South and the Stripers invade Durham for a crucial series between playoff contenders. Gwinnett plays seven of its last eleven regular season games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, where they haven't been since early May. The Bulls have won four of the seven games played at home against the Stripers this season.

Aug. 23-25: Rochester at Syracuse

The Mets kick off their final homestand of the 2019 regular season with a three-game set against fellow playoff contender Rochester. The last time these two in-state rivals got together was the first week of July when the Red Wings took two out of three from Syracuse in Rochester.

Aug. 26-28: Durham at Charlotte

Durham's tough road to the end of the regular season continues early next week in Charlotte. The series originally scheduled for four games was adjusted to three due to the NFL game at Bank of America Stadium on the evening of August 29. Durham stopped in Charlotte on June 10 to play the extra game, winning 7-3. August 29 will be an off day for both clubs.

Triple-A National Title Shot Awaits IL Champion in Memphis

For the fourteenth 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 Baseball National Championship.

This year's tilt takes place at AutoZone Park in Memphis, Tennessee on Tuesday, September 17 at 8:00 p.m. eastern on FOX Sports.

In the Pacific Coast League this season, two divisions appear to have races that will go down to the wire. Just 2.0 games separate the top two teams in the PCL Pacific Southern Division, as Las Vegas (Oakland) clings to a modest advantage over El Paso (San Diego). The team that emerges from the Southern Division will likely face Sacramento (San Francisco), a club closing in on the Pacific Northern Division title.

Meanwhile in the PCL's American conference, Iowa (Chicago Cubs) holds a commanding lead in the Northern Division while in the Southern Division it's a two-team race between Round Rock (Houston) and San Antonio (Milwaukee).

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International League Stories from August 23, 2019


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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