Mervin Flyers MVP, Ryland McNinch and his teammates will play in St. Walburg tonight for a chance to make the playoffs. (Martin Martinson/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Martin Martinson

Take me out to the ball game

Wildcard games to clear playoff picture in NSRBL

Jul 6, 2022 | 1:00 PM

It’s “win to stay in” tonight (Wednesday) in the North Sask River Baseball League, with a pair of wildcard games to determine the playoff picture.

The #7 seed, St. Walburg Reds (4-9) will host the #10 Mervin Flyers (1-12), while the #8 Lloyd Twins (3-10) will play the #9 Unity Junior Cardinals (3-10) in Lloyd in the other wildcard matchup.

In a one-off wildcard game, the winners will advance to the quarterfinals, serving as the final puzzle pieces to the top-eight playoff picture.

Quarterfinals outlook

The top-seeded Macklin Lakers (10-3) just edged out the #2 North Battleford Beavers (10-3) for the top spot in the league standings, taking both meetings of the season series, which serves as the first tie-breaker in the event of a record tie.

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Macklin will play the lowest seed remaining of the two wildcard winners (Mervin, Unity, or Lloyd – listed in order), while the Beavers will play the higher seeded team remaining (St. Walburg, Lloyd or Unity).

Among the already established matchups, the #3 Wilkie Brewers (9-4) will play the defending champion, #6 Kindersley Stallions (8-5), while the #4 Meadow Lake Sox (9-4) will play the #5 Standard Hill Lakers (8-5).

The quarterfinal matchups will be a best-of-three series, running July 11-20.

The semi-finals will follow with the top remaining team playing the lowest seed, and the second seed versus the second-lowest, in another best-of-three, July 21-Aug. 2.

The league finals will be another best-of-three, Aug. 9-17 to determine a league champion, with weeknight game time bumped up from the standard 6:30 p.m. start time to 6 p.m.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1