It’s been a few days, so let’s take a minute to look at the standings through Tuesday, July 17. North first:
North | W | L | PCT | GB |
Purcellville | 20 | 13 | 0.606 | |
Front Royal | 20 | 13 | 0.606 | – |
New Market | 17 | 16 | 0.515 | 3 |
Winchester | 16 | 16 | 0.500 | 3.5 |
Strasburg | 11 | 20 | 0.355 | 8 |
Woodstock | 4 | 29 | 0.121 | 16 |
Interesting battle at the top- both the Cannons and Cardinals have 9 games remaining, and are obviously tied. New Market and Winchester could still catch them with a run, and are only a half-game apart themselves. (Rebs have 9 games left; Royals have 10.)
Strasburg needs a late run to make the playoffs, as the squad is 4.5 games behind the last playoff spot with 11 games left.
Woodstock. Oh dear. The River Bandits are eliminated from the playoffs altogether, and need to finish 5-4 in their last 9 games to tie the worst team record since 2001. (Again, Rockbridge went 9-33 in 2009.)
South | W | L | PCT | GB |
Covington | 22 | 12 | 0.647 | |
Charlottesville | 20 | 14 | 0.588 | 2 |
Waynesboro | 21 | 15 | 0.583 | 2 |
Staunton | 17 | 17 | 0.500 | 5 |
Harrisonburg | 16 | 19 | 0.457 | 6.5 |
Covington leads the way, with a 2-game lead over #2 Charlottesville and #3 Waynesboro, who are in a dead heat for the second seed. The ‘Jacks have clinched a winning season for the second time in the last 10 years, and 8th time in the last 18 seasons.
The Staunton Braves are a little bit behind the top 3, and a little bit ahead of the Turks. The Turks have 7 games remaining, thus are almost eliminated from the Division title… but certainly not the playoffs. This division seems to be the one with the best playoff race brewing.