Back on the Beat

(but not the Twins' beat!)

The first round of the IBL playoffs was surprisingly academic – the first through fourth seeds advanced, and the fifth through eight seeds were eliminated. As I remember it, in addition to Brantford sweeping the Twins, Guelph and Barrie beat Oshawa and Kitchener respectively in five games, and Toronto knocked out the defending pennant winners (and seventh game championship losers) London.

Interestingly, Kitchener got close – very close, even – against Barrie, even if the 4-1 series win doesn’t show it. Two of their losses were by a single run, another was by 2 and the third by five. For a team that started the season 8-8 and then only won a single game the rest of the way, that ain’t bad at all.

So, the second round (semi final, actually) pairings feature Brantford against Guelph and Barrie against Toronto. Both series are already underway, and to recap:

Brantford dropped game one at home by a count of 5-1, but bounced back to win game 2 on the road 4-2. They had a week’s layover between their sweep of the Twins and game one, and let’s face it – they hadn’t had to play hard for the back half of the Twins’ series, either. Until Guelph can prove otherwise, I’m going to say that Brantford was just shaking off a bit of rust and are good to go for the rest of the playoffs.

I’m not too sure what the storyline going into the Toronto-Barrie series is. Toronto had a very see-saw six game first round against London, and there’s no question they had to be locked in all the way to the end. That would suggest to me that they carry some momentum into the Barrie series. As for the Baycats, though, I think their far-from-overpowering showing against Kitchener may have something to do with how early they clinched and the fact that they were on cruise control for what must have been a long time in a league like the IBL. Maybe the Kitchener series was just them getting back into the swing of meaningful baseball, and they could well be newly awakened giants from here on out.

Barrie won game one by a count of 8-7, so that could well bear my argument out. Game two goes tomorrow (Sunday) at Christie Pits at 2 PM, and I’m planning on being there. I fully expect an exciting game and great atmosphere tomorrow, as well as a competitive series the rest of the way!