Post Season

[stringer bell]

With just over a week to go, it looks like three of the Twins top five affiliates will be making the post-season.  Fort Myers has clinched by virtue of winning their division in the first half of the Florida State League season.  New Britain has been eliminated although the Rock Cats do have a .500 record with eight days to go.

 

Still in doubt are playoff spots for Rochester, Elizabethtown and Cedar Rapids.  The AAA Red Wings have a lot of work to do in a short time.  They trail by six games in their division, and by two and a half in the wild card race.  It seem unlikely that Rochester can make up six games on division-leading Syracuse.   The Red Wings would have to pass both third-place Buffalo and second-place Pawtucket to secure the wild card.  They trail Buffalo by a game and a half and Pawtucket by two and a half games.

 

Elizabethtown is a perennial power in the Appalachian League.  The E-Twins lead their division by a game and a half and the third place team is two and a half back.  The top two teams in each division advance, so the E-Twins are a good bet to be playing beyond Labor Day.

 

Cedar Rapids is a near lock to make the playoffs based on a strong second half.  The Kernels are in second place in the second half of their season and their magic number is 1 to advance.  They can advance as second half division champions if they finish ahead of Wisconsin and they lead them by seven games. 

 

It has been a pretty good year for Twins farm teams, despite injuries to top prospects. 

[bird]

When your top five minor league clubs all have positive W-L records, it affirms the opinions of the experts that the system is deep in above-average prospects. However, since only a small percentage of these prospects will succeed at every future level, it's a bit dangerous to conclude that getting into the playoffs and the depth it suggests will translate into future meaningful impact for the big club. I think we still have to look at the best couple dozen prospects to predict the magnitude of that anticipated future improvement.

 

But it's fun to see the team success of these affiliates, and it's good for the overall health of the system. This year more than almost any I can remember in years, there are so many great individual stories. I'd recommend going out on MILB and pulling up the individual stats, affiliate by affiliate. You'll find dozens (dozens!) of impressive prospects who haven't (yet) made it onto anyone's Top 50 organizational prospects list. Very encouraging stuff.

 

And yes, I'm fully aware of the fact that Drew Butera was once one of these type of prospects.

[Paul Pleiss]

Drew Butera (#BoatAnchor) is my favorite Dodger. I like watching him pitch more than Kershaw.