American Association Daily provides insights, features, and recaps of the action from around the American Association of Professional Baseball League, as well as player and coaching profiles and transactions. In today’s edition, Robert Pannier takes a look at the playoff races and series for the final week of the 2022 American Association season.

Down to the Wire

The first 15 weeks of the 2022 American Association season are completed, and we are down to the final week. While six playoff berths are already set, there are still two up for grabs and playoff positioning is not set. Only two teams have been eliminated with four others vying to get those final two playoff spots.

This is an exciting final week, with a lot of great series that are going to have direct impacts on the playoff chase. Here is a look at the big series this week and what the playoff picture will look like seven days from now.

Who’s In?

In the West Division, the Kansas City Monarchs, Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, and Winnipeg Goldeyes have already locked their place in the playoffs. Currently, Kansas City trails Fargo-Moorhead by 2.5 games for the top spot in the division.

The RedHawks have a three-game series against the Sioux City Explorers, who are battling to earn that fourth and final playoff spot in the West. The RedHawks are 7-2 against the Explorers this season, which is not good news for Sioux City, something that will be discussed more later on. After finishing three against the Goldeyes, the RedHawks head south for four games against the Monarchs to close out the season. With seven games left, the magic number for Fargo Morehead to clinch the top record in the American Association is five.

Kansas City is in Winnipeg for a three-game set, and already won the first game of this series. They are on a six-game winning streak entering Tuesday’s game and they determine their own destiny when it comes to the division title. Even if the RedHawks sweep the Explorers, six straight victories to close out the season would give the Monarchs the division title and the best record in the American Association.

The Goldeyes look locked into third place. They cannot move up in the standings, but can drop if they should have a very bad week and Sioux City dominates down the stretch. The magic number to clinch third place is four. After the three-game set against Kansas City, the Goldeyes remain home to welcome the Sioux Falls Canaries for the final four of the season. With Sioux Falls struggling as they are, it looks like third place is a lock.

In the East, the Milwaukee Milkmen, Kane County Cougars, and Chicago Dogs have all punched their tickets to the playoffs. This is going to be a very exciting final week in this division, as Chicago holds a three-game edge over both Milwaukee and Kane County. However, they close out the season with three in Milwaukee and four in Kane County. It could very well be possible that the Dogs begin the week in first and finish it in third. This club is 9-16 in August, including losing 10 in a row at one point. That has allowed both Kane County and Milwaukee to get back into the race to win the division title.

The Cougars and Milkmen are done playing each other. Should these teams finished tied in the standings, Milwaukee would win the tiebreaker as they went 8-5 against the Cougars this season.

After taking on the Dogs, Milwaukee heads to Gary for four games while Kane County starts the week with three in Gary before welcoming Chicago for four.

The magic number for the Dogs to clinch the East is five. Since they take on Kane County and Milwaukee in the final seven games, each victory over one of these clubs means that they are cutting their magic number by two. For the Cougars or the Milkmen to clinch the division, the magic number is seven.

Waiting to Punch Their Tickets

There are two teams in each of the divisions that are battling for the final playoff spot. In the East, it is the Cleburne Railroaders entering the week with a four-game edge over the Gary SouthShore RailCats. This should be a near lock for the Railroaders to earn that final playoff spot as they welcome the Lake Country DockHounds for seven games at home. Lake Country is playing a lot better lately, but they are 34-59 and eliminated from the playoff picture.

On top of that, the RailCats end with three games against Kane County and then four against Milwaukee. Clearly, Cleburne has the easier schedule while Gary has a brutal finish. The Railroaders are 6-4 in their last 10 while Gary SouthShore is 3-7. The magic number for the Railroaders to clinch the final spot in the East is three.

In the West, Sioux City is battling the Lincoln Saltdogs for the final playoff spot. Lincoln trails the Explorers by three games entering the week and have a golden opportunity to grab that final playoff spot.

The Explorers have a three-game set against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, who are still trying to lock down the top record in the league. The RedHawks have dominated the Explorers this season, and could very well sweep this series. That is great news for Lincoln, who has a three-game series in Sioux Falls to begin the week, a club they have gone 7-2 against this season.

Should the RedHawks sweep the Explorers and the Saltdogs sweep the Canaries that would set up an incredible scenario where the Saltdogs and Explorers would be tied entering the final weekend. That would add a lot of drama, as Lincoln travels to take on Sioux City for the final four games of the season. The Saltdogs are 6-4 against the Explorers the season, so a split of that series would give the teams identical records which would earn Lincoln that final playoff spot because they had the better record against the Explorers.

That requires a lot of things to occur for that scenario to pan out. For the Explorers, their magic number is five. That means even if they were to sweep the RedHawks, as long as Lincoln was not swept by Sioux Falls, Sioux City would still have to win at least one of those games against Lincoln to win the final playoff spot.

Get Out the Oxygen

There are some incredible series for this week. While Cleburne is likely to grab that final playoff spot in the East, the top record in this division is up for grabs and there will be a lot of scoreboard watching going on for sure.

The West is equally as exciting. The top spot in this division and the fourth-place spot could all be decided with four-game series between the clubs competing for those spots. Kansas City-Fargo is going to be a great series and will determine who has the best record in the American Association. Lincoln-Sioux City is going to determine who gets that final playoff spot in the West. The only team that gets to relax a little bit this week is Winnipeg.

So, hopefully there is a lot of paper bags in the training rooms. Expect a lot of hyperventilation this week.

By Robert Pannier