Forgetting the two teams at the top and the four at the bottom, eight teams are left to battle over four playoff spots. We looked at their remaining schedules to see who has the best shot of reaching the 2002 post-season!

Strength of Schedule
team	record	opponents	record vs.
Vancouver	82-68 (.547)	340-398 (.461)	29-22 (.569)
Hoboken	75-71 (.514)	411-321 (.561)	23-25 (.479)
Wanaque	75-72 (.510)	384-352 (.522)	25-24 (.510)
Tijuana	75-73 (.507)	428-311 (.579)	21-29 (.420)
Honolulu	74-72 (.507)	380-353 (.518)	24-23 (.511)
Carolina	70-79 (.470)	342-400 (.461)	27-23 (.540)
Columbia	69-78 (.469)	335-403 (.454)	27-21 (.563)
Phoenix	68-78 (.466)	426-310 (.579)	19-28 (.404)

Cecil Fielder's Magic 8-Ball
team	current	games left	predicted
Vancouver	82-68 (3rd)	12 (4h,8a)	7-5 89-73 (3rd)
Hoboken	75-71 (4th)	16 (13h,3a)	9-7 84-78 (4th)
Wanaque	75-72 (5th)	15 (3h,12a)	7-8 82-80 (5-T)
Tijuana	75-73 (6-T)	14 (9h,5a)	6-8 81-81 (7th)
Honolulu	74-72 (6-T)	16 (10h,6a)	8-8 82-80 (5-T)
Carolina	70-79 (8th)	13 (6h,7a)	8-5 78-84 (8th)
Columbia	69-78 (9th)	15 (7h,8a)	8-7 77-85 (9th)
Phoenix	68-78 (10th)	16 (6h,10a)	6-10 74-88 (10th)

Vancouver Iron Fist (82-68)
Of all the post-season contenders, the Iron Fist have the fewest games remaining -- just 12. Only four of those games at home, but the Iron Fist have a .548 road winning percentage, third-best in the league.

Vancouver's remaining opponents are Tijuana (2 games), Carolina (3), Stanhope (1), Philadelphia (3) and Phoenix (3). Those teams have a combined record of 340-398 (.461), and Vancouver has gone 29-22 (.569) against them -- one of the softest remaining schedules of the eight teams fighting for a playoff spot. They've owned the Banditos, winning 8 out of 11; their worst performance came against the woeful Endzone Animals (4-6), who have little left to play for.

Based on their previous performance, strength of schedule and other factors, Cecil Fielder's Magic 8-Ball predicts Iron Fist will go 7-5 in their final 12 games and finish the season at 89-73 to hold onto the #3 seed.

Hoboken Cutters (75-71)
Hoboken has the daunting task of drawing four post-season hopefuls during their final drive. But the Cutters do have an advantage in that 13 of their final 16 games will be played in The Quarry, where they're 40-28 (.588), the third-best home record in baseball.

Hoboken's remaining opponents are Phoenix (3 games), Newark (4), Honolulu (3), Stanhope (3) and Arkansas (3), who have a combined record of 411-321 (.561) -- the third-toughest remaining schedule of the eight contenders. Hoboken has gone 23-25 against them (.479), having the most trouble with the Sugar Bears (2-7). They're within 1 game of .500 against their other foes.

Cecil Fielder's Magic 8-Ball predicts the Cutters will go 9-7 in their final 16 games, finishing the season at 84-78 -- holding onto the #4 seed by a two-game margin.

Wanaque Wolverines (75-72)
Owner J. Marshall Knowsley, who operated the Toledo Mutthens from 1996 to 1999, has a chance to go to his first post-season with the Wolverines. Of their 15 remaining games, 9 are against teams with losing records. But 12 of those games are on the road, where the Wolverines are a disappointing 31-38 (.449).

Wanaque's remaining opponents are Columbia (2 games), Philadelphia (4), Arkansas (3), Carolina (3) and Honolulu (3), a group with a respectable combined record of 384-352 (.522). However, Wanaque has played them tough, going 25-24 (.510) against them. They've dominated the Endzone Animals (7-2), a team they play four more times. Their toughest opponent are the Golden Falcons (2-8), but at least the Wolverines are the home team in those three games.

Cecil Fielder's Magic 8-Ball predicts the Wolverines will go 7-8 in their final 15, which would drop them into a 5th-place tie with the Sharks.

Tijuana Banditos (75-73)
A playoff team two years ago (when they were known as the Kentucky Hillbillies), this franchise took a step backward last season but bounced back with a solid 2002 campaign. The Banditos have been very streaky recently, winning three in a row and 7 of their last 10, but that followed a seven-game losing streak -- and that came after a six-game winning streak! The Banditos will have to keep riding that streak if they hope to reach the playoffs, with all 14 remaining games against other post-season contenders. Nine of those games are in Corona Stadium, where the Banditos have gone 39-33 (.542), a home winning percentage that ranks in the middle of the pack.

Tijuana's remaining opponents are Vancouver (2 games), Columbia (4), Carolina (2), Arkansas (3) and Newark (3), who are a combined 428-311 (.579). That ties the Banditos for the league's toughest remaining schedule, and they've gone just 21-29 (.420) against them, second-worst among playoff hopefuls. But a look inside the numbers shows it's not all bad: The Banditos actually have a winning record against everyone except the Golden Falcons (2-8) and Iron Fist (2-8). If they can win a game or two in their five games against those two opponents, they have an excellent chance of reaching the playoffs.

But Cecil Fielder's Magic 8-Ball predicts the Banditos will go 6-8 in their final 14 -- just missing the playoffs by a single game!

Honolulu Sharks (74-72)
Just two weeks ago, the Sharks were 1 1/2 games out of the top wildcard spot; now, after dropping three in a row and six of their last seven, they're in a flat-footed tie with the Banditos for the final playoff spot. Ten of their final 16 games are at home, but the Sharks are pretty good on the road (37-38, fourth-best in the league); they're a mediocre 37-34 (.521) in the Shark Tank.

As befitting one of the league's streakiest teams, the Sharks have a streaky end-run. They go up against the Sugar Bears (3 games), Cutters (3) and Wolverines (3), but also draw Brooklyn (4) and Columbia (3), two teams looking forward to an early off-season. The extremes of very good and very bad average out to a 380-353 (.518) record. The Sharks have gone 24-23 (.511) against these five teams, but a look inside the numbers reveals they've mostly been bullying the Bean Counters and Rattlesnakes (12-6), but have a losing record against everybody else.

Cecil Fielder's Magic 8-Ball says past performance is no indicator of future success, but predicts the Sharks will split their final 16 games right down the middle, which would leave them in a tie with the Wolverines for the final two playoff spots. The Sharks' whole season will come down to how they do in their six games against the Wolverines and Cutters.

Carolina Mudcats (70-79)
The Mudcats have one of the weakest remaining schedules, but they'd have to win at least 11 of the remaining 13 games to have any hope of reaching playoffs for a second straight year. Six of those 13 games are at home, where the Mudcats are 42-33 (.560), fifth-best in baseball.

Carolina's remaining opponents are Harrison (1 game), Vancouver (3), Tijuana (2), Wanaque (3) and Stanhope (4), who have combined to go 342-400 (.461), and the Mudcats have gone 27-23 (.540) against them. But even if the Mudcats go 5-0 against Harrison and Stanhope, teams they're 16-3 against this season, it's tough to imagine them taking 6 out of 8 from Vancouver, Tijuana and Wanaque, who they've gone 11-20 against.

Cecil Fielder's Magic 8-Ball predicts the Mudcats will go 8-5 -- a strong finish, but four games short of the playoffs.

Columbia Rattlesnakes (69-78)
The team formerly known as the Crusaders opened the season with a new nickname and a new attitude, but the Rattlesnakes aren't likely to achieve two goals this year that have so far proved elusive over their 11 DMBL seasons: Reaching the playoffs, or reaching .500. But, facing the league's easiest remaining schedule, they can take a baby step forward this year by winning 7 of their final 15 games to tie their previous team record for most wins (76-86, in 1997). The 'Snakes play 8 of their final 15 games on the road, where they're an unimpressive 30-43 (.411).

Columbia's final opponents are Wanaque (2 games), Tijuana (4) and Honolulu (3), who are ahead of them in the standings, and Philadelphia (3) and Harrison (3), who are behind them. Those teams are 335-403 (.454), and the Rattlesnakes are 27-21 (.563) against them. That includes the predictable 13-6 mark against the Endzone Animals and Rats, but the 'Snakes also have taken 7 of 11 from Wanaque, a team they play twice more at home. Columbia needs to take 6 of 8 from those three teams to set the new franchise mark.

Cecil Fielder's Magic 8-Ball predicts the Rattlesnakes will do it, with a win to spare: They'll go 8-7 to finish the season at 77-85, five games out of the playoffs but one step closer to respectability.

Phoenix Dragons (68-78)
For the first four years of their existence, Phoenix never finished higher than 11th place. But last year the surprising Dragons came within four games of a post-season berth and this year it looked like they were surging forward again, just a game out of the playoffs six weeks ago. But then they went into a long slide, capped by losing 9 of their last 12 to almost disappear from the race. Of the eight playoff contenders, Phoenix needs the most help to reach the playoffs -- but the great schedule-maker in the sky isn't offering any, as the Dragons face the league's toughest remaining schedule. Ten of their final 16 games are away from home, but the Dragons have a .451 road winning percentage, not much worse than their overall record (.466).

The Dragons have the unwelcome assignment of facing the top four teams: the Golden Falcons (4 games), Sugar Bears (3), Iron Fist (3) and Cutters (3). Their only break is a 3-game set against the Bean Counters, and those games will be played in Brooklyn. Their opponents are 426-310 (.579), and the Dragons are just 19-28 (.404) against them. But, although they've been dominated by Arkansas and Newark (5-13), the Dragons have hung tough against Hoboken and Vancouver, going 10-9. They can wreak havoc on the final three weeks of the season if they can keep shocking those two playoff hopefuls.

But, alas, the Cecil Fielder Magic 8-Ball doesn't see good things for the Dragons, predicting a 6-10 finish that will give them yet another top-5 pick in the first round of next year's draft.

Playing for History

The Arkansas Golden Falcons and the Newark Sugar Bears have already clinched their respective divisions, so each will have a first-round bye. The Golden Falcons currently have a 8 1/2 game lead over the Sugar Bears for the best record in baseball (and home field advantage throughout the playoffs), with a magic number of 8. Even if the Sugar Bears finish the season on a 16-0 run, the Golden Falcons only need to go 8-7 to clinch the best record in baseball.

The Falcons (108-39) have already set the franchise record for most wins, shattering the '99 team's 105-57 mark. They need to go 10-5 to tie the '97 Iron Fist (118-44) for the best single-season record in the history of the DMBL.

The Sugar Bears (99-47) need to go 10-6 to tie their own franchise mark for most wins in a season (109-53), set by the '98 squad. They've already passed Vancouver as the league's most successful franchise, with a .638 winning percentage (713-405); the Iron Fist, who began the year at .635, can't catch up this season. The Golden Falcons are next, at .605.

Cecil Fielder was the first selection in the DMBL's inaugural draft in 1991. Since then he's enjoyed a solid career as a member of seven DMBL teams. He is now retired and serves as the color man for the Columbia Rattlesnakes radio team. Click Here for past articles.