The 2008 Northwoods League playoff matchups are set. Thunder Bay defeated Duluth Sunday to clinch the second half title in the North Division. Wisconsin picked up one win against La Crosse and Green Bay lost to Eau Claire to give the Woodchucks the second half title in the South Division.

Wisconsin will host Madison Tuesday in Wausau to open the South Division playoffs. Game two will be in Madison and game three will be back in Wausau if necessary.

Mankato and Thunder Bay have yet to determine who will host on Tuesday. The MoonDogs and Border Cats have identical 41-26 records. If Thunder Bay wins Monday they will gain home field which means they’ll head to Mankato for game one Tuesday and be back at home for games two and three (if necessary) Wednesday and Thursday. A Mankato win Monday coupled with a Thunder Bay loss will give Mankato home field, thus sending them on the road to Thunder Bay Tuesday to be back in Mankato for games two and three.

Wisconsin also has a 41-26 record which means home field in the Championship Series is still up for grabs. Madison won’t have it but everyone else has a chance. This makes winning Monday for Wisconsin, Mankato, and Thunder Bay extra meaningful.

Today’s schedule of games relevant to the playoffs (all times Central):
St. Cloud at Alexandria, 1:05 PM
Mankato at Waterloo, 3:05 PM
Wisconsin at La Crosse, 4:05 PM
Duluth at Thunder Bay, 5:05 PM
Green Bay at Eau Claire, 6:05 PM 

We’ve arrived to the final two days of the Northwoods League regular season. Here are the scenarios.

North Division

Thunder Bay Border Cats (+ 1/2 game, vs. Duluth for 2)
Thunder Bay’s magic number is two. They’ll clinch today with a win against Duluth and an Alexandria loss to St. Cloud. They are currently tied with Mankato for the race for home field advantage in the North Division playoffs.  With one win, one Mankato loss and one Alexandria loss, Thunder Bay will clinch the second half title and take home field advantage in the North. In this scenario, game one would be in Mankato on Tuesday and games two and three would be in Thunder Bay Wednesday and Thursday.

Alexandria Beetles (- 1/2 game, home and home with St. Cloud for 2)
Alexandria can lose a game and still win the half, but realistically they need to beat St. Cloud twice. If they do that, all they’ll need is one Thunder Bay loss to Duluth. If this happens Alexandria will host Mankato on Tuesday for game one of the Division Series.

Mankato MoonDogs (- 1 game, at Waterloo for 2)
Mankato has already clinched their playoff berth by winning the North Division title in the first half of the season. Although it is now very unlikely that they will win both halves, it is important for Mankato to outplay Thunder Bay in the final two days to assure home field advantage in the Divisional Playoffs. Assuming Mankato, Thunder Bay, and Alexandria all don’t go 0-2, Mankato will need a better record than Thunder Bay in the final two games to have the opportunity to host two home games in the first round. If Alexandria wins the half this will become irrelevant. If all three go 0-2, home field between Thunder Bay and Mankato will be decided by a coin flip. This is because both tiebreakers would be tied (head-to-head 4-4, and intradivision 30-18).

South Division

Wisconsin Woodchucks (+ 1 1/2 games, at La Crosse for 3)
Wisconsin and La Crosse resume a game today that is tied 5-5 in the eighth inning. Following that the teams will play their regularly scheduled games today and tomorrow. If Wisconsin wins one game they will knock La Crosse out of the race. If Wisconsin wins two or Green Bay loses one then Wisconsin will clinch.

La Crosse Loggers (- 1 1/2 games, vs. Wisconsin for 3)
La Crosse doesn’t control their own destiny but they control most of it. They can put themselves in first place by winning all three games against Wisconsin. If this happens and Green Bay loses at least one game against Eau Claire then La Crosse will win the Second Half South Division Title. If they lose just one game their playoff hopes will vanish.

Green Bay Bullfrogs (- 1 1/2 games, at Eau Claire for 3)
Green Bay is also completing a suspended game today. Eau Claire leads 5-3 in the third inning. Their second game will be a seven inning contest. Green Bay needs to win all three games agasint Eau Claire the next two days to have a chance. If they do this and La Crosse beats Wisconsin at least twice Green Bay will be the South Division Champion.

South Divison Second Half Champion
Whether it’s Wisconsin, La Crosse, or Green Bay, the South Divison Second Half Champion will have home field advantage over First Half Champion Madison. Game one on Tuesday will send Madison on the road. The Mallards will host game two on Wednesday and will head back on the road Thursday if necessary.

You can also listen to the scenarios on today’s “Daily Recap”.

http://www.northwoodsleague.tv/DailyRecap.aspx?id=DailyRecap

The Green Bay Bullfrogs ended their 2008 home season with an exciting extra innings win on Saturday night beating the Wisconsin Woodchucks 6 to 5. The win moved the Bullfrogs to within 1 1/2 games of Wisconsin with 3 games left. Wisconsin will travel to La Crosse for 3 games while Green Bay will head to Eau Claire for 3.

With three games left in the regular season, here are some pertinent magic numbers. A magic number, in my own words, is the combination of one team’s wins and a competing team’s losses that when equaled will secure a better finish in the standings for the first team in question.

South Divison, Second Half Champion

Wisconsin Woodchucks = 2

With Wisconsin holding the tiebreaker against every team but La Crosse the Woodchucks magic number is 2 against all teams still in the race. Wisconsin, La Crosse, Eau Claire, and Green Bay all have four games remaining (suspended games to be completed Sunday) and Waterloo has just three. A win tonight for Wisconsin will eliminate Green Bay (they play each other) and any of the other teams that don’t win. That means Waterloo, La Crosse, and Eau Claire all must win tonight to stay in the race if Wisconsin wins. I’ll update this scenario after play on Saturday. With so many teams involved it’ll be a lot easier to explain tomorrow.

North Division, Second Playoff Participant

Mankato MoonDogs or Thunder Bay Border Cats = 3

This may not be scientific but for simplicity sake both of those teams have a magic number of three against Alexandria. If that number is reached by either, Mankato and Thunder Bay will meet in the playoffs. If it isn’t, Alexandria will win the North Division’s second half title. Alexandria is a 1/2 game back with three to play. Mankato hosts Thunder Bay tonight and will clinch home field advantage in the North playoffs with a win. That’s because they would clinch at least a tie for overall record with Thunder Bay and a win tonight would give Mankato a 5-3 advantage in head to head meetings, the first tiebreaker.

Things should be much clearer at the end of the night.

Curt Carstensen
Director of Operations
Northwoods League

Bobby Pritchett pitched 7 innings and only gave up 2 runs on 3 hits as the Wisconsin Woodchucks beat the Green Bay Bullfrogs 8 to 4 to knock the Bullfrogs back to 2 1/2 games behind the Woodchucks. Waterloo won however to stay 1 1/2 back. Troy Frazier had 3 RBI for the Woodchucks, including a 2 run home run, his 9th of the season. The teams meet again on Saturday as Green Bay ends its home season and looks to split the 4 game series.

As of last night I’ve seen at least one game at every Northwoods League park in 2008. It took me awhile, but I got it done and was able to see a very interesting game in Battle Creek, Michigan. Brian Cavazos-Galvez (New Mexico) put on a show offensively going 5-for-5, Tillman Pugh (Arizona State) made what might be the catch of the year in the Northwoods League robbing Waterloo’s Joey Register (Texas A&M) of a home run on a ball hit along the left field line, and the benches cleared very briefly in the eighth inning. 

Battle Creek’s C.O. Brown Stadium is a part of Bailey Park, which ranks as one of the best amateur baseball facilities in the country. Regionals for the Stan Musial World Series were being played at adjacent fields last night.

I took a few photos last night that are posted below. C.O. Brown Stadium’s deck area is massive and has several levels. They added a fan deck to the existing deck prior to this season. Fans have the option of purchasing the fan deck ticket for all you can eat and drink or enjoying the deck experience while purchasing items a la carte.

The Bombers State of Michigan liquor license allows them to keep the party going until well after the conclusion of the game. Fans used their extra time to build a pyramid of used beer cups on Thirsty Thursday at C.O. Brown Stadium.

Chris Slater had 3 RBI on Thursday night to lead the Wisconsin Woodchucks over the Green Bay Bullfrogs 6 to 1 and helped the Woodchucks extend their division lead to 1.5 games. Brad Allen got his first win of the summer as he went 5 innings and gave up 3 hits. Jon Karcich picked up the lone RBI for the Bullfrogs and Jason Dovel was tagged with the loss. The teams meet again Friday and Saturday in Green Bay as this series continues to help decide the South division title.

The Green Bay Bullfrogs set another attendance record on Wednesday night but more importantly they inched closer in the South division standings. The previous attendance record was shattered by about 300 people as 2,319 fans showed up and were treated to an offensive explosion by the Bullfrogs as they won 12 to 3. Green Bay scored 6 runs in two seperate innings and behind a solid pitching performance by Matt Lange, that was enough to coast to a victory and close to a half game of the first place Woodchucks. They continue their 4 game series in Wausau tonight.

Dave Geiger pitched a solid game and picked up his first Northwoods League win on Tuesday night as the Wisconsin Woodchucks beat the Battle Creek Bombers 5 to 1. The win keeps Wisconsin in first place and extends their lead to 1.5 games over Waterloo and Green Bay. The Woodchucks will play the Green Bay Bullfrogs the next 4 nights, which will be very a pivotol time in the South division.

Home runs by Dusty Harvard and AJ Shindler were enough to push the Battle Creek Bombers over the Wisconsin Woodchucks on Monday night, beating them 5 to 3.  Parker Berberet hit a two-run double to right center in the top of the 9th inning off of Rob Currie to put the Bombers ahead for good. These teams meet again tomorrow night, which will decide even more in the jammed South division.