GBL Playoffs Preview

With only three weeks left in the Golden Baseball League season, the playoff chase for 2nd Half Division titles is heating up. While the Orange County Flyers are trying to keep ahead of Tucson and Yuma in the overall season standings, Maui has already clinched its post-season berth by winning the first half over Yuma by .005 in winning percentage.

The Flyers have put enough distance between Tucson and Yuma that it would be tough to see them overtaking them in the second half, however they could potentially get close enough to threaten for the 2nd best overall record in the GBL South, which would secure the playoff berth if Maui wins the second half as well.

In the season-long overall standings, Orange County currently has a 6-game lead over Yuma, however the Scorpions have struggled in the second half after losing key pieces to their puzzle like Daryl Arreola, Tim Rodriguez, Zac Cline, Bill Pulsipher, Santo De Leon, and many others.

The Yuma Scorpions have had their troubles, but the schedule is in their favor the rest of the season. After returning from Maui, which has yet to lose a home series this season, Yuma is playing Orange County for three games in Fullerton this weekend. After that, the Scorpions will not leave the state of Arizona for the rest of the season, playing Victoria, Calgary, Tijuana and Tucson the rest of the way.

In the North Division, the Chico Outlaws clinched the first half with a strong start to the season, and 14 early games against the Tijuana Cimarrones to get ahead of the competition. The Outlaws have slumped in the second half, having to make two road trips to Canada and losing some home games with the RoadRunners financial troubles. Chico will get to make up the St. George games later in the season at Nettleton Stadium, but they'll have hurry up and get back into form if they're going to hang with the Calgary Vipers, who appear to be on their way to the 2nd Half North Division title.

Prior to the Capitals meltdown after manager Brent Bowers' resignation in the wake of his homophobic blowup against an umpire in Orange County on July 31, my thought was that the Capitals would still have trouble overtaking the Calgary Vipers down the stretch. Since OC swept Edmonton out of Fullerton, the Capitals have dropped to 8 games out of first place. Calgary now leads Victoria by six games, but the Seals picked up a couple extra home games against St. George instead of having to play them on the road. The Seals will also have plenty of games in Canada, however the defending champs in the Stampede City have won 9 of their last 10 and don't appear to be slowing down.

As of now, it looks like you can pencil in the four playoff teams, but in a crazy game like baseball, anything can happen. The GBL post-season is scheduled to start on Tuesday, September 6 with two games hosted by first-half winners on September 6 and 7. Thursday, September 8 would be the travel day and Games 3 (and 4-5 if necessary) would be over the course of the following Friday, Saturday, Sunday. The GBL Championship series is scheduled to start on the ensuing Tuesday.