I believe someone was asking about Fresno's playoff chances

by joe t on Jul 30, 2009 10:42 AM PDT Comment 5 comments

and the possibility of the wild card; my apologies, I forgot who it was and what thread it was in. Anyway, long story short--it looks like the Grizzlies are out of luck (from MILB.com site):

Qualification

The club with the best overall record in each of the four divisions shall be declared Divisional Champion. In the event of a tie for first in any Division, the Division Champion will be determined by:

the record between the two clubs; if still tied,
the record against clubs in the same Division; if still tied,
the record against clubs in the same Conference; if still tied, then
a one-game playoff between the two clubs with the home team determined by the President of this League's flip of a coin.

In the event of a three-way or four-way tie for first in any Division, the Divisional Champion shall be determined by:

the record between the tied clubs; if still tied,
the record against clubs in the same Division; if still tied,
the record against clubs in the same Conference; if still tied, then
the differential of runs scored versus runs allowed throughout the season.

Conference Playoff Format

First Round Format. Best three out of five. Two games in first city followed by three games in the other Divisional Champion's city.
Starting Date. Second day after the end of the regular schedule.
Starting Times. The host team shall notify the League President by noon of the closing day of the regular championship season via fax or e-mail of the starting times for its playoff home games. The original scheduling, along with any rescheduling of postponed games during this series, shall be approved in advance by the League President.
Location of games.

This FanPost is reader-generated, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of McCovey Chronicles. If the author uses filler to achieve the minimum word requirement, a moderator may edit the FanPost for his or her own amusement.

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Every affiliate, from Fresno to the Domincan Rookie League, is significantly over .500. That has to be a good thing, right?

by I'm_a_Man on Jul 30, 2009 11:57 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Tops in all of baseball!

Not that it means assured future success (but it sure is cool to dream what we could have in SF in a few years), but we have the best overall winning percantage of any minor league system. Every team is either in 1st or 2nd place in their divisions, and 3 of the 7 teams have the best record in their leagues. Also, every team except Fresno has a legit shot at the league title.

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

by Fla-Giant on Jul 30, 2009 12:18 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, that’s what I was looking for. Occam’s Razor prevails again; the simplest, clearest source for the info was right under my nose the whole time.

Supporting San Francisco Dugout since 2005 and Manny Burriss since 2006, and bringing you all your California League needs since 2009.

by BaronVonCurrentEvents on Jul 30, 2009 12:30 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

On one hand a high winning percentage is great as it promotes a winning culture within the organization – however, if you start players at a lower level than they should be started in order to achieve that winning formula, then aren’t you retarding player development for the sake of winning and the minor leagues should be foremost about player development. I say this because I have read rumblings in the past to the effect that the Giants start some players at a lower level than other organizations might and it creates a somewhat false sense of ability.

by APGiantsFan on Jul 30, 2009 1:16 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

It might have been true in the past couple of years, but I don’t have the energy or inclination to check it out. I don’t think the claim could be justified this year, beyond having MadBum and T2 start the first 4 weeks in SJ, and Buster playing about 4 weeks too many there. Ironically enough, SJ has a better record after MadBum, T2, and Crawford (BTW, one could easily argue that Brandon was moved to fast to AA) were promoted – and they’ve been nearly unbeatable after Posey was promoted.

IMO, the key to winning in the minors is having teams with good, balanced pitching (both SP and relievers). Hitting will come and go, but good pitching in the minors is even more valuable than in the majors. The Giants’ farm system has fared so well this year because every team with the exception of Fresno and Conn. (before the arrival of MadBum and T2), has the top, or one of the top, pitching staffs in their league. Some may say that they’re not all age-appropriate, but you have to have open spots for players before you promote them to the next level. No team is going to promote a player (expecially a SP) to the next level if there isn’t a spot for them to play regulary and get their work in. Until this week, the Giants’ minor league pitching was so stacked that guys who might have been promoted in some other team’s system (ie. Barnes, Clark, Runzler, King, Surkamp, and Tanner) had no spot available to them at the next level.

As for the short-season and rookie leagues, pretty much every system populates those with players that were drafted and signed this year, along with a smattering of players from foreign leagues and ones that couldn’t cut in in low A ball. Here the Giants have gained an advantage by:
1. They had a very strong and deep 2009 draft (both pitchers and position players), and they did a much better job than almost any other team of quickly signing draftees from rounds 3 through 40 .

2. They’ve done a great job of signing Latin American free agents the past 3 years, and many of these kids have made an impact on our lower-level farm teams starting last year.

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

by Fla-Giant on Jul 30, 2009 2:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs