Are St. Paul Saints About To Break Championship Drought?

That was the last time the Saints have won a league championship. In fact, that league, the Northern League, is no longer in existence, as St. Paul is now a part of the American Association.

Since joining the association in 2006, the Saints have made five trips to the playoffs, reaching the championship three times but losing each of those series in five, most recently in 2011. It has been a disappointing run as St. Paul joins Sioux City in being the only original members of the league not to have won a title.

The Opportunity to End the Rut

Entering Tuesday night’s games, the St. Paul Saints are two games ahead of the Gary Southshore RailCats in the North Division and have a magic number of two to clinch one of the two playoff spots in the division with seven games to play. It could be quite likely that by night’s end they will have punched their ticket to the post-season as the Saints enter their game against the Winnipeg Goldeyes as winners of eight of their last 10.

In any sport, there is truly no better time to get hot than just before the playoffs begin. Should the Saints get in, a near certainty, they would start play on Tuesday, September 4, most likely facing the RailCats. The RedHawks are still mathematically alive, but they are six games back with seven to play and are losers of six of their last ten.

Gary Southshore has not played much better, winning only five of their last ten, but they are the team with the four game lead over the RedHawks, and only need victories in three of their final seven games to earn a post-season berth.

A Hot Month of Baseball

The St. Paul Saints are choosing the most opportune time to play their very best ball of the year, looking for a chance to end that playoff drought. Over the last 25 games, they are 18-7. That record includes two four-game winning streaks and one of five. They have also taken three of four from the RailCats during that stretch, the team they are likely to face in the first round.

St. Paul has been devastating at home of late, winning 10 of their 13 games in August. That is in sharp contrast to the team that lost 14 of their first 26 games at CHS Field this season. They are also 8-4 on the road during the month.

The Saints have been dominating opponents, scoring 178 runs in 25 games (7.1 runs per contest) while allowing 122, a 56 run differential. They have scored ten or more runs on six occasions, and are hitting .324 as a team in August.

The pitching staff has not been bad either. Despite allowing nearly five runs per game, they have given up three runs or fewer in seven contests and only once have they given up four more runs than their team has scored, ensuring that this potent offense has a chance to win nearly every night.

The hot performance has been a collaborative effort.

• Dante Bichette, Jr. had a 24-game hit streak snapped Monday night. That streak started on August 1 and is the third longest in team history. It is also the longest streak in the American Association this season.
  
• Kyle Barrett is currently on a 20-game hitting streak where he has multiple hits in 11 of those contests.
  
• Aaron Gretz has hits in six straight games, a span where he has gone 12-20 with nine runs scored and six RBI.
  
• Max Murphy tied the franchise record for hits in a season on Monday, recording his 128th hit. That ties the record set by Adam Olow who set the mark in 2004, the last time the Saints won a title.
  

Somebody Should Break A Drought

There are still five teams fighting for a place in the 2018 American Association playoffs. The Sioux City Explorers clinched the South Division on Monday, leaving the Wichita Wingnuts and the Kansas City T-Bones to battle it out for the final playoff spot in the division. Kansas City leads Wichita by a half game and these two teams begin a three-game series on Wednesday in Kansas City.

The St. Paul Saints look like they will be the next team to earn a playoff spot as they do not face a team with a winning record the rest of the way. Should St. Paul and Sioux City win their opening series, it will mean that one of these teams will see their championship drought come to an end. Should the Saints do so, it sure will make St. Paul seem like heaven.

Robert Pannier covers the St. Paul Saints as well as all of the American Association for the Minor League Sports Report.