The final week of the Atlantic League’s regular season got off to a rousing start on Tuesday night. Lancaster took a big step towards winning its third straight North Division second half title with a win over Hagerstown while South-leading Charleston dropped its fifth straight game in trying to clinch its first playoff berth since 2021.
Here’s a look at how the two divisions shape up in the final week of the regular season.
Lancaster (37-21) has a three-game lead over Long Island (34-24) and a 4.5 game lead over York (32-25). The Revolution have already clinched a playoff spot by virtue of their first half North Division championship. With five games remaining, Lancaster has a magic number of three to win the title and join an elite group of ALPB teams to win three consecutive second half titles. Only Long Island (2017-19) and Somerset (2014-16) have claimed three straight second half titles since the league split into divisions in 2000. The Stormers, the two-time defending ALPB champions, are hosting Hagerstown in the mid-week series and will entertain Staten Island on the weekend.
Should the Stormers reach the postseason, they would stand a chance to become the first ALPB team to win three consecutive league championships.
Long Island is battling to return to the playoffs for the second straight year. The Ducks own more league championships than any other active club save Lancaster as both have won the title four times. Long Island is faced with an equally hungry High Point team that is also seeking the postseason. The Ducks can win 39 games in the second half if they can sweep the final five games from High Point and keep Lancaster from winning more than two games. Long Island has the tiebreaker advantage over Lancaster should the two teams finish the second half tied.
York has already secured its playoff berth after a 43-20 first half season that put them 12 games ahead of second place Lancaster. York has opted to open the playoffs on the road on September 17-18 before playing the final three games at WellSpan Park.
The Ducks own the tiebreaker advantage over York as well, having topped the Revs in seven of 12 second half games.
Lancaster controls its own destiny and needs just three wins and/or Long Island losses to advance to the postseason.
The South Division, which Charleston has controlled for the majority of the second half, is a bit more complicated.
The Dirty Birds are 36-22 in the second half and are in the midst of a season-ending six game series at Gastonia (34-24). While the Baseball Club has its playoff picture in perfect focus after having won the South first half title, both Charleston and High Point (33-25) are in the thick of the race.
Gastonia, which posted the league’s best first half record at 46-17, would open the South Division series on the road on September 17-18 and then host at CaroMont Health Park on Sept. 20-22.
After Tuesday’s nights results, Charleston holds a two-game lead over Gastonia and a three-game margin over the Rockers. Should Charleston and High Point tie, the Dirty Birds have an 8-5 second half series lead over the Rockers.
Charleston has a magic number of four in order to win the title. Any combination of four Charleston wins and Gastonia losses puts the Dirty Birds in the catbird seat. And since the two play each other five more times this week, the Birds could wrap up the title by the end of the night on Thursday.
High Point’s hopes for a postseason berth hinge on the Gastonia-Charleston series at Gastonia this week. Should the Rockers win their five remaining games with Long Island, and Gastonia takes four of five from Charleston, the Rockers and Baseball Club would be South co-champs with High Point earning a berth. The Rockers can also hope that Gastonia wins the South outright and triggers the inclusion of a wild card team. Should either division first half champion repeat as second half champ, the wild card berth goes to the team with the best overall record on the season. That scenario elevates the stakes in this week’s High Point at Long Island series as both teams have postseason hopes on the line.
From a statistical standpoint, Charleston (36-22) and Gastonia (34-24) are incapable of tying for the South title. Seeing as they face each other in five games this week, only one team will emerge with a better record than the other.
As of Wednesday morning, the Rockers were holding onto a slim one game lead over Lancaster in the wild card.
As Wednesday night’s games progress, you can bet there will be a lot of out-of-town scoreboard watching across the Atlantic League.