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| NOTHING SETTLED ATOP IL NORTH DIVISION |
| Two-Horse Race Between Yankees and Paw Sox Comes Down to Final Weeks |
| With just over two weeks remaining in the 2008 regular season, the only real question at this point centers around Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Pawtucket. Which team will win the IL North, and which team ends up as the Wild Card? No matter the answer, it seems certain both teams will make the playoffs and face each other in the first round, but the final standings will go a long way towards shaping that series in September. |
| The division title brings bragging rights for sure, along with home park advantage for the first round. The series will open for Games 1 and 2 at the home park of the Wild Card club, but Games 3, 4, and 5 (as necessary) will be hosted by the division champion. Both the Yankees (40-24) and Red Sox (42-23) have been tough to beat at home this season. |
| The IL North Champion has faced the Wild Card club in the first round of the postseason every year since 1998 when the current playoff format was adopted. Despite the luxury of home park advantage, the IL North Champions have struggled against the Wild Card teams in the playoffs. |
| The Wild Card has won seven first round series in the last nine seasons, and both losses went the full five games. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has been on the wrong end of the last two of those series, including last year when Richmond defeated the Yankees in four games before going on to win the Governors’ Cup Finals. |
| Richmond ‘s first round upset of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last season hints at another trend that has taken shape during the first ten years of the current playoff format. Wild Card teams have arguably fared better than the team with the IL’s best regular season record over the last ten years. |
| The Wild Card clubs have gone 7-3 in the first round and won two Governors’ Cup championships; the top regular season finishers have gone 5-5 in the first round and won three Governors’ Cup championships. The underlying truth of these numbers is that the playoffs really are a fresh start for all teams, and all four clubs have an equal chance to win it all. |
| Of course, that truth will do little to keep Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Pawtucket from battling hard for the division title over the next two-plus weeks. The intensity of the race is only heightened by the legendary rivalry that exists between the clubs’ Major League affiliates. The last time the Yankees and Red Sox Triple-A teams met in the postseason was the 1991 Governors’ Cup Finals, when the Columbus Clippers (managed by Rick Down) swept Pawtucket (managed by Butch Hobson) three straight. |
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