The International League Playoffs begin on Wednesday night. The first round of the playoffs is a best of five series that puts the South Division Winner against the West Division Winner in one match up and the North Division Winner against the Wild Card Winner in the other. The winners of both series will face off in the best of five Governors' Cup Finals. The match ups for the semifinal series are:Durham Bulls (88-55) vs Louisville Bats (79-64)
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (87-56) vs Columbus Clippers (79-65)
The Bulls have made the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year and the ninth time in the franchise AAA history dating back to 1998. They have won the league title in 2002, 2003 and 2009 as well as the AAA Championship in 2009. They finished the 2010 season with the best record in the league. The Bulls will face Louisville in the first round of the playoffs. The Bulls hold a 5-3 advantage in the eight meetings this season between the two clubs. They also outscored Louisville 40-29 in those contests. Historically, these two teams have faced off four times in the playoffs with the Bulls winning all four of the meetings.
Here is how the two clubs match up:
The probable pitching matchups are:
- Game One: Richard De Los Santos vs Chad Reineke
- Game Two: Anuery Rodriguez vs Tom Cochran
- Game Three: Alex Cobb vs TBD
- Game Four (if necessary): TBD vs TBD
- Game Five (if necessary): TBD vs TBD
Games one and two will be played on Wednesday and Thursday at Louisville Slugger Field. The series moves to Durham Bulls Athletic Park for games three through five on Friday through Sunday.
Good summary. Typo in Louisville Bats record up top. It's 79-64. Correct further down in the table.
ReplyDeleteNice table, by the way.
team wOBA matchup up is close. Bulls .347, Bats .345. But with the team roster turnover not sure stats are very meaningful.
I'm gonna go with management, pitching, and defense as the keys.
Per Matt DeMargel here are the probable pitchers:
ReplyDeleteGame One: Wednesday, Sept. 8; Richard De Los Santos @ Chad Reineke, Louisville Slugger Field, 6:05 p.m.
Game Two: Thursday, Sept. 9; Aneury Rodriguez @ Tom Cochran, Louisville Slugger Field, 6:05 p.m.
Game Three: Friday, Sept. 10; TBA vs. Alex Cobb, Durham Bulls Athletic Park, 7:05 p.m.
Game Four Saturday, Sept. 11 (if necessary): Ben Jukich vs. Bobby Livingston, Durham Bulls Athletic park, 7:05 p.m.
Game Five Sunday, Sept. 12 (if necessary): TBA vs. Paul Phillips, Durham Bulls Athletic Park, 5:05 p.m.