It’s getting close to playoff time but there is much yet to be decided in the Western Major Baseball League playoff race. The Okotoks Dawgs hold a narrow lead over the Medicine Hat Mavericks for first-place in the West Division with both teams playing their regular season finale on July 28.
“We’re so far away from anything being decided,” Dawgs coach Brandon Newell said on Monday.
With four teams in each playoff bracket, the East and West divisions will send three teams to the postseason while the top-two finishers in the Central Division will also claim spots.
The top team between the East and West Division will finish with home field advantage throughout the playoffs and will also have the Central Division’s lower seed (Moose Jaw) in their bracket. The Swift Current Indians, the winners of the Central Division, will head to the bracket with the lowest winning percentage between the division winners.
The Regina Red Sox, the East Division champions, are currently in the drivers seat with a .750 winning percentage as of Tuesday, July 26. The Dawgs sit second with a .721 mark.
As the playoff picture begins to shape out, the Dawgs appear likely to face either the Lethbridge Bulls or the Moose Jaw Miller Express in an opening round five-game playoff series – provided they win the division.
As the higher seed, Okotoks would host Game 1, 2 and a potentially decisive Game 5, if necessary, at Seaman Stadium.
However, a matchup with Swift Current could also be looming if the Dawgs are overtaken by Medicine Hat.
“There’s so many scenarios right now that I don’t even know where to start,” Newell said.
With both season series in the books, the Dawgs would appear to favour a matchup with the Lethbridge Bulls in round one.
Okotoks took six of eight games with the Bulls while they split four contests against the Miller Express.
Okotoks only faced Swift Current twice but came away as winners in both contests.
However, Newell cautioned against using the season series as an indicator of a favourable matchup.
“Lethbridge is playing unbelievable right now,” he said, noting that the Bulls recently took three straight games from Medicine Hat.
“They’ve always been a team that has come on and played better in the postseason than they have in the regular season.”
With so much up in the air, the Dawgs’ emphasis right now remains on winning their games and securing home field advantage.
“For us, it’s really important. We haven’t lost a lot of games at home this year.” Newell said.
The challenge of the summer collegiate league, the Dawgs coach added, is that there are often players who minds tend to drift towards home life and school, as the summer days get shorter.
For a team to take home the WMBL crown, they will need the proper mindset.
“The team that wins in the playoffs is the team that really wants to still be there,” Newell said.
As the Dawgs continue their hot play down the stretch, it appears that they are developing that resolve.
“I think that we’re building towards that,” Newell said.
“I’d like to think that we have enough players that have their eyes on the prize at the end of the season.”
The WMBL playoffs are tentatively scheduled to begin on July 30. The Dawgs will likely be hosting either the Lethbridge Bulls or the Swift Current Indians in the opening round. Game 1 would be Saturday at 7:05 p.m. with Game 2 at 7:05 p.m. Sunday. Both games would be at Seaman Stadium.
For more up-to-date information, visit www.wmbl.ca or www.westernwheel.com
