It’s down to the final day of the regular season to determine which teams will fill the last two playoff slots in the Midwest League.
In the Eastern Division, it will essentially be a play-in game between the Fort Wayne TinCaps and the West Michigan Whitecaps on Monday, with the winner advancing to the playoffs as a second-half wild-card team. The game begins at 2 p.m. EST at West Michigan’s Fifth Third Ballpark.
The winner of that game will face the Great Lakes Loons in the first round of the playoffs. The other Eastern Division matchup in the first round will feature the Bowling Green Hot Rods and the Lansing Lugnuts.
In the Western Division, the Kane County Cougars eliminated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers by beating them 2-1 on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th inning Sunday. The Cougars enter the last day of the regular season with a one-game lead over the Beloit Snappers in the race to be the Western Division’s second-half wild-card team.
If the Cougars beat the Timber Rattlers again Monday, Kane County advances to the playoffs. If the Cougars lose and the Snappers beat the Cedar Rapids Kernels, Beloit advances instead because the Snappers would win the tiebreaker (better head-to-head record). The Cougars game begins at 1 p.m. CST at Kane County’s Northwestern Medicine Field. The Snappers game begins at 2 p.m. CST at Beloit’s Pohlman Field.
The winner of this race will face the Kernels in the first round of the playoffs. The other Western Division matchup will feature the Quad Cities River Bandits and the Peoria Chiefs.