The Ridgefield Raptors are alive for a West Coast League playoff berth with three games to play. It’s a situation that could end up being very straightforward or extremely complex.
Corvallis is in, having won both the first and second half titles in the South Division.
The second berth goes to the team with the next-best season-long record. Ridgefield entered Tuesday tied with the Portland Pickles and Bend Elks in that race, with Cowlitz lurking one game behind.
Ridgefield travels to play Walla Walla in a three-game series starting Tuesday. Bend travels to Corvallis, Portland travels to Port Angeles and Cowlitz hosts Bellingham.
The Raptors would seem to have the easiest route as Walla Walla has lost 11 games in a row. But, as any baseball person knows, nothing is guaranteed.
Where it gets complicated is if the race winds up tied. Here are those tiebreaker scenarios:
If Ridgefield and Bend tie, Ridgefield advances by virtue of a better head-to-head record vs. Bend (6-0).
If Bend and Portland tie, Bend advances (4-2).
If Ridgefield and Portland tie, Portland advances. The teams split their six meetings. But Portland had a better record against first-place Corvallis (1-5) than Ridgefield (0-6).
If Ridgefield, Bend, Portland and Cowlitz tie, Ridgefield advances by virtue of a better head-to-head record among four teams tied (Ridgefield 12-6, Cowlitz 9-9, Portland 8-10, Bend 7-11).
If Ridgefield, Portland and Cowlitz tie, Cowlitz advances. All three teams were 6-6 against each other. Cowlitz advances by virtue of better record (by winning percentage) against first-place Corvallis (1-2) than Portland (1-5) and Ridgefield (0-6).
If Bend, Portland and Cowlitz tie, Bend advances by virtue of a better head-to-head record among three tied teams (Bend 7-5, Cowlitz 6-6, Portland 5-7).
If Ridgefield and Cowlitz tie, Cowlitz advances. The teams split their six meetings. But Cowlitz had a better record against first-place Corvallis (1-2) than Ridgefield (0-6).
If Portland and Cowlitz tie, Cowlitz advances. The teams split their six meetings. But Cowlitz had a better record (by winning percentage) against first-place Corvallis (1-2) than Portland (1-5).
If Bend and Cowlitz tie, Bend advances. The teams split their six meetings. But Bend had a better record (by winning percentage) against first-place Corvallis (3-3, at worst) than Cowlitz (1-2).
Whichever team claims the South Division’s second playoff berth will face Corvallis in a best-of-three series. Game One is Saturday at the No. 2 seed with games two and three in Corvallis.
