In recent years, there have been some concerns raised over the playoffs.  Not to say that there will not be concerns regarding our new playoff format, however, this year everyone was supposed to have been given a vote on whether to use the old playoff system of the top four teams making the playoffs or expand the playoff system. If you were not given a vote, please let me know.   The majority of people seemed to agree that we should allow more teams to make the playoffs.  Also to prevent Clifton from having to do too much extra work on the website, people have a greed that parents that have children that play or want to play in the playoffs will be on their parents team when the playoffs begin.  So with that being said, Nathan will join his father’s team when the playoffs commence.  This brings us to how the playoffs will unfold this season.

This season there will be six teams that will qualify for the playoffs.  The top two teams will get an automatic bye into the semi-finals.  The remaining four teams will play a one round playoff game and the winners advance to the semi-finals.  The third place team will face off against the sixth place team and the fourth place will play the fifth place team.  The higher seed will have first choice when picking teams and will also choose whether they want first or last at-bats for the game (meaning choose to be the home or away team).  These games will be played over the Thanksgiving Holiday.  The winners of those games will then face off against the first and second place teams in the semi-finals. 

The semifinals will be sinilar to the first round of the playoffs with a one game playoff format.  The first place team will face off against the lowest remaining seed in the playoffs and the second place team will play against the other team that qualifies for the semi-finals.  Once again the higher seeded team will have first choice when picking teams and the option of being the home or away team for this game.  The winners of these two games will go on to face each other in the championship.  These games can either be played over the Thanksgiving Holiday or the Christmas Holiday depending upon players schedules.

The championship will either be a three or five game series depending upon the players schedules during the Christmas Holiday.  The two remaining team’s captains will agree before the series starts whether they will play a three game series or a five game series.  Then the series will have the higher seeded team get first pick and choice of home or away in games one and three (and five if it is a five game series).  The lower seeded team will get first choice of players and home or away in game two (and four if it is a five game series).  The winner of this series will be crowned the champion of our league this year. 

So there you have it, our new playoff format for this season.  If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to either e-mail me or write a comment to this article on the website.  Just so you are all aware, I asked Craig to ask everyone in the league to vote on this format or the old format.  If you didn’t vote or chose not to vote, and voice your opinion now, there will be a fine imposed.  So, choose your words carefully if you decide to criticise this format and you didn’t vote on it.  Thanks for your time.  May the 2010 playoffs be remembered for giving just about every team a chance to make the playoffs and for giving every team a fair chance to win a championship.  Have a great rest of the season everybody.

Sincerely,

Your Interim Commissioner

Craig and his family hosted the first annual Root Beer Bowl.  Sorry it took so long but here are the highlights!

Rookie sensation Markus Marshall is just starting his stickball career but has the fire and enthusiasm of a veteran.  As an introduction to others around the league Markus resides in Thatcher but attends school in Pima where he will be a sophomore.  He plays baseball on the J.V and Varsity teams there.  After his first time of playing stickball with the league he was able to hit back to back homeruns and was eager and ready to continue playing.  He fell in love with Lane and Kimball’s bamboo bat and wanted to buy one as soon as he went to Colorado to visit his grandfather.  His vacation was still a few weeks away and he just couldn’t wait.  He was able to find an older man who lived in his apartment complex who had some tools and was willing to help him make a bat.  It’s kind of like the Karate Kid where an old guys at the apartments offers to help out.  Wash the car…paint the fence…sand the deck…Markus-son.  Finally he had his bat and wanted to burn some kind of logo onto the bat.  Since he was drafted and signed by the Yard Dogs he thought that along with his name would be appropriate for the logo.  Mark took the bat home and worked on it for a few days.  Markus was wondering what was taking so long and really wanted the bat back.  It is rumored that after the bat was finished by the old man that Markus would sleep with it at night, no one can confirm or deny these allegations.  The bat was finally finished and he made the trip to Colorado with the bat in the front seat with him.  It’s unknown if Markus was able to hit some stickballs in the thin Rocky Mountain air but one thing that’s for sure is that he will be a player to watch for many years to come.  Welcome to the league Markus!