PawSox Playoff Picture

With 25 games left to play in the regular season, now is a perfect time to take a look at the PawSox odds of making the playoffs. At 65-54, Pawtucket is a mere 0.5 game outside of first-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Keep in mind, the three division winners clinch a playoff berth, with a fourth team – with the best remaining overall record – getting in with the wild card.

The three teams, in order of importance, to keep an eye are the Scranton/WB Yankees, Lehigh Valley IronPigs, and Columbus Clippers. If the regular season ended today, the PawSox would make the playoffs via the wild card. However, Lehigh Valley is just -1.5 games back, Columbus -2.5 back.

In the spirit of college football being around the corner, here is the “strength of schedule” for the four mentioned teams the rest of the regular season:

Pawtucket Red Sox

Nearly half (12) of the PawSox remaining games are against first place teams. Pawtucket will play eight games against the Yankees, and four games (on the road) against the Charlotte Knights. At 68-52, the Knights trail only Indianapolis for most wins in the league and took three-out-of-four against the PawSox in June.

Pawtucket plays four games versus fourth-place Rochester, and four against fifth-place Buffalo. The weakest team remaining on the schedule is last-place Gwinnett at 53-67 (four-game series).

In 2011, his first season as PawSox manager, Arnie Beyeler guided Pawtucket to a North Division championship. (Kelly O’Connor)

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

While the PawSox play 12 of their remaining 25 games against first-place teams, the Yankees play 12 of their remaining games against teams in fourth-place or below. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre has three games remaining against last-place Syracuse, and seven against Buffalo (including five in a row).

The toughest task for the Yankees will be eight games remaining against the PawSox, and five games in six days versus Lehigh Valley.

Lehigh Valley IronPigs

The only first-place team left on the ‘Pigs schedule is the Yankees (five games). They’ll play 19 of their remaining games against teams in fourth-place or below, including seven games against last-place teams (Toledo and Syracuse).

Columbus Clippers

While the Clippers have six games remaining against top-winning Indianapolis, all of their other games are against teams with, as of now, less than 60 wins (Durham Bulls, Louisville Bats, Toledo Mud Hens). In fact, the Clippers’ last seven games of the season are against teams with less than 50 wins (Louisville and Toledo).

Especially with such an easy schedule over the final weak of the season, the Clippers could easily make a strong push for the wild card if they’re still in the mix.

-AG

@aaronmgoldsmith
agoldsmith@pawsox.com