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August 7, 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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We're into the final week of games, and the playoff picture is now a little clearer, with three teams in and five teams out. It's All Over! The Arkansas Golden Falcons have locked up home-field throughout the playoffs, and need five wins in their final seven games to set a new league record for most wins in a season, and the Newark Sugar Bears have clinched the second-best record in baseball. Both teams get a first-round bye. The Vancouver Iron Fist have clinched a post-season berth and have a magic number of 4 to secure the third seed in the playoffs. On the opposite side of the coin, the Phoenix Dragons, Stanhope Mighty Men, Brooklyn Bean Counters, Philadelphia Endzone Animals and Harrison Rats are all out of contention this season. The Rats are guaranteed the No. 1 pick in next year's draft after going 51-104 (.329), the worst performance by any team in two years, but the other four teams could finish anywhere from 8th to 13th.
Hoboken Cutters (81-74, .523)
Tijuana Banditos (79-76, .510)
Wanaque Wolverines (78-77, .503)
Honolulu Sharks (77-78, .497)
Columbia Rattlesnakes (74-81, .477)
Carolina Mudcats (71-83, .461)
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. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Four must be their lucky number: The Cutters are in
fourth place; they're four games behind the
third-place Vancouver Iron Fist; and they're
four games ahead of the seventh-place Honolulu
Sharks. So their magic number to clinch a playoff
spot is, predictably, 4. They have to start shrinking
that number tonight with the start of a three-game
series against the 11th-place Stanhope Mighty
Men, a team they've gone 6-4 against this season.
If they don't take care of business against the Mighty
Men, things get real interesting: Their next game is
against the Newark Sugar Bears, who they're 4-7
against this season; that's followed by three with the
Arkansas Golden Falcons, who they've gone 4-5
against.
Last week, 
The lower-ranked teams will do a lot of scoreboard
watching this week, and the team they'll look at first
are the Wolverines, holding onto the sixth and final
playoff spot with just a one-game lead over the
Honolulu Sharks. In fact, the Wolverines close
out the season with a three-game series in Honolulu, a
team they're 5-4 against this season. They certainly
want to wrap things up well before that series, and
they can take a big step by knocking off the
ninth-place Carolina Mudcats in their
three-game series tonight, followed by a single game
against the 12th-place Philadelphia Endzone
Animals. Philly is already out of it and just one
win against Carolina would send them packing. The
Wolverines need to take all four to ensure they head
into Honolulu with a margin for error this weekend.
That darn Magic 8-Ball predicted the Sharks
would go 8-8 to finish the season in a tie for the
final playoff spot. They've tried to prove the
Magic 8-Ball wrong by losing five straight
games... But the Magic 8-Ball is never wrong!
The Sharks can still reach the post-season by going
5-2 in their final seven games, and the schedule
favors such a finish. The Sharks have three left
against the Columbia Rattlesnakes, a team
they've gone 6-3 against; then they have one game
against the Brooklyn Bean Counters, who they've
posted a 6-5 mark against. If they can sweep those
four games, they'll be one game out of the playoffs no
matter what the Wanaque Wolverines do -- and
guess who they play their final three games against?
The winner of that three-game set would go to the
playoffs, and they'll be played in the Shark Tank.
The 'Snakes aren't going quietly, winning six of their
last nine to jump into 8th place, four games out of
the playoffs. They close out the season with three
must-win games against the Honolulu Sharks;
they've gone 3-6 against them this season, but at
least two of those games are at home. That's followed
up with an away game against the Tijuana
Banditos, a team they've gone 5-6 against.
Assuming they're still alive after those four games,
the 'Snakes catch a break from the schedule gods with
a three-game set against the Harrison Rats.
They still need a lot of help to reach the promised
land, however, with a tragic number of 4. One small
bit of consolation: If they can win at least three of
their final seven games, they'll set a franchise
record for most wins in a season.
After a four-game losing streak, the ninth-place
Mudcats are all but dead, with a tragic number of 2 to
be eliminated. They host a three-game series against
the Wanaque Wolverines that begins tonight;
unless the Mudcats sweep, they're out. They then play
a road game against the Vancouver Iron Fist.
They've gone 6-15 (.286) against these two teams so
far this season, but if they can somehow go 4-0, they
have an excellent shot of beating up on their final
opponent, the Stanhope Mighty Men -- a team
they've gone 8-0 against this season. But even if they
run the table, the Mudcats need the Wolverines to
finish the season with a record no better than 1-6.