Two additional teams will make the Ban Johnson Collegiate League playoffs this season — and the league’s longtime coaches in the postseason race are thrilled.
“I love the expanded format,” said Building Champions manager Jim Hernandez, whose team is currently second in the National Division. “It gives more teams the opportunity to play playoff baseball, so getting six teams in is great.”
Five of the six teams currently atop the standings in the American and National Divisions are led by managers with multiple years of experience in the BJCL.
They universally applauded the league’s decision to expand the playoffs, rewarding the division winners with a first-round bye while the second- and third-place teams meet in a best-of-three series.
The regular season division winners and winners of the first-round advance to the best-of-three league semifinals. Then the American and National Division champions meet in the best-of-five BJCL Championship Series.
“It looks like the dates are pretty close together, so there’s two important factors: How much pitching a team has and how much time off they will get,” said Creche Innovations Stars manager Kyle Clifton, whose team currently sits atop the National Division.
“The team with a bye obviously gets a boost from being able to rest their pitchers,” Clifton said, but the lineups for the other two teams “aren’t going to have extended time off so the hitters will be ready.”
“There’s different ways to look at it, but it probably is going to boil down to management,” Clifton said.
This first go-round in the new playoffs format will be a learning experience for all of the BJCL coaches, even the league’s veterans.
Manager Jack Williams, whose Milgram Mustangs are in second place in the American Division, believes the top seed could be “critical” under the new playoff format, especially for teams that lack pitching depth.
“Teams earning that position with a numerically low amount of pitchers can catch a break, get some rest and be as ready as anyone else with one less series to play,” Williams said.
Ban Johnson Legends manager Cary Lundy, whose reigning champion program boasts the best record in the BJCL this season, agreed.
“I believe whenever you play in the postseason and there is a bye involved it’s an advantage,” said Lundy, who is tied for the all-time BJCL record with eight career championships as a manager. “It’s also a reward for the teams having a good record during the regular season.”
But Williams noted that having the bye doesn’t always work out well for Major League Baseball teams. Since the league introduced postseason byes in 2022, five of the eight teams that earned a bye during the last two MLB playoff cycles have lost their first series to lower-seeded teams.
“Although the bye would be beneficial, getting in is the most important thing and getting the opportunity,” Hernandez said. “Our team has been focused and has competed since the season began with the goal of getting in the playoffs.”
Two teams — the Legends and Stars — have clinched postseason berths.
The Legends (17-3) also are closing in on a first-round bye with a 4.5-game lead in the America Division ahead of the second-place Mustangs (13-8) and 5.5-game lead ahead of Regal (12-9) with seven games to play.
The Stars have a six-game lead on fourth-place MBC (9-12) with six games to play, but punched a playoff berth by virtue of a head-to-head season sweep.
But the battle for the bye in the National Division remains tight with BC (14-7) and the Raiders (13-7) both within 1.5 games of the Stars.
The Raiders and Stars play a critical three-game series this week, while the Raiders and BC open the week with a matchup that could muddle — or bring a degree of clarity — to the fight for a bye.
Six teams have separated themselves in the postseason battle so far, but Regal Plastic manager Clint Culbertson believes the regular season is better with added incentive to go for the top seed and additional teams staying in the hunt later in the season.
“More teams means more opportunity and more intrigue down the stretch,” Culbertson said.
Adapt PT Prospects and the NKC Apartments Giants are both 9-12 and face a steep uphill climb to make the postseason.
Both teams sit three games behind Regal and four games behind the Mustangs with six games to play in the American Division.
MBC (9-12), which plays six more games, sits 4.5 games behind the Raiders, who have seven more games.
The teams meet July 9 for a season-ending doubleheader, but any combination of three wins for the Raiders or losses by MBC would lock up a postseason berth for the Raiders.
The KC Knights, MSBL Royals and Natural Baseball Academy, which lost the season series against the Raiders, have been eliminated from playoff contention.
