Just like the weather recently, the race for the West Coast League baseball playoffs has really heated up.
And the Victoria HarbourCats are right in the thick of the postseason race.
As the HarbourCats get set to board the MV Coho for the trip across the water to Port Angeles for a key three-game weekend set with the Lefties, Victoria finds itself one game back of a wild-card playoff spot and two games back of the Wenatchee AppleSox in the race for the North Division second half title, which earns an automatic postseason berth.
With the Bellingham Bells having already clinched a playoff spot thanks to their North Division first-half title, the perennial powerhouse Bells can relax a little, although they are just a half-game back of the AppleSox and could sweep both half-season titles.
If the AppleSox hold on and win the second-half division title and join the Bells in the postseason, the two North Division wild-card playoff spots would go to the next two teams with the best overall records.
Going into Thursday night’s action, the expansion duo of Kamloops NorthPaws (20-22) and Edmonton Riverhawks (20-23) held down those spots, with Kelowna (19-22) and Victoria (20-25) right on their heels.
If Bellingham were to win the second-half crown as well, then the next three teams with the best overall records — currently Wenatchee (22-22), Kamloops (20-22) and Edmonton (20-23) — would advance to the playoffs.
So any way you slice it, there’s little room for error now for the HarbourCats. After this weekend’s three games in Port Angeles (4-13 second half, 15-28 overall), Victoria closes out the regular season with three games in Bellingham (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) and three games at home against Edmonton (Aug. 5-7).
In the South Division, the first-half champion Corvallis Knights also lead the second half with a 14-4 record (32-12 overall). The Portland Pickles and Yakima Valley Pippins are a game back, with the Ridgefield Raptors four games behind. In the wild-card race, Portland (28-14), Ridgefield (25-17) and the Bend Elks (24-19) remain in a tight race.
The first round of the WCL plays are all best-of-three series, while the division championship round and league championship are both single-game, winner-take-all formats.
