And so it has come down to this. The final week of the Triple-A regular season and five teams are still mathematically alive for the International League second-half title.
In the driver’s seat are the Yankees’ own Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. However, objects in the rearview mirror are, indeed, closer than they appear.
With six games remaining, the first-place RailRiders (45-24) hold a three-game lead over the second-place Syracuse Mets (42-27). The Indianapolis Indians and Toledo Mud Hens (both
40-29) trail by five games and the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (39-29) are 5.5 games back.
The RailRiders conclude the season with a series in Buffalo, a team they have beaten 10 times in 12 meetings so far this season. Their magic number to clinch the second-half title is four. Syracuse winds up its season at Lehigh Valley. Indianapolis finishes at the Gwinnett Stripers, while Toledo wraps up at the Iowa Cubs.
Allan Winans is scheduled to start the series opener in Buffalo for the RailRiders tonight. He has faced the Bisons twice this season. On July 11th, he pitched 5.1 scoreless innings, allowed one hit, walked one and struck out seven to get the victory, 10-1. On August 23rd, he pitched four innings in relief of starter Brendan Beck and allowed one run on two hits with no walks and five strikeouts to get the save in a 10-3 triumph.
Winans (11-1) suffered his first loss on Wednesday against Lehigh Valley. Remarkably, it also was the first time this season the RailRiders lost a game in which Winans appeared (19-1). Still, the veteran right-hander leads the league in wins and ranks 25th in strikeouts (99). Despite having a league-low 1.64 ERA, he does not have enough innings (93.1) to qualify to win that category.
One player who is riding a bit of a hot streak heading into the Buffalo series is Spencer Jones. MLB Pipeline’s No.3-ranked Yankees prospect has a 10-game hitting streak and a 17-game on-base streak, during which he is batting .25o (17 for 68) with five doubles, one triple, one home run, five RBIs and 39 strikeouts.
Since his three-homer game July 24th at Rochester, Jones has only socked four home runs. Still, he ranks second in all of Minor League Baseball with 33 home runs combined at Double-A and Triple-A. Ryan Ward of the Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets, top affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, leads with 34 home runs.
Jones is batting .272 (67-for-246) in 62 games with the RailRiders with 13 doubles, one triple, 17 home runs, 41 RBIs, 56 runs and 102 strikeouts. Overall, in 111 games, he is batting .273 (115-for-421) with 21 doubles, one triple, 33 home runs, 73 RBIs and 172 strikeouts.
Heading into the final series, Jose Rojas will look to further etch his name in the franchise record books. With 31 home runs, the potential International League MVP candidate is one shy of tying Jorge Vasquez’s mark of 32 set in 2011. Rojas’ 103 RBIs are three away from the mark of 106 held by current Arizona Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo in 1999 as a Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Baron.
Besides trying to clinch the second-half title, the RailRaiders also are involved in the race for the best overall record in the International League.
By winning four of six games last week against the RailRiders, Lehigh Valley not only claimed the IronRail Trophy by taking the season series between the teams, 11-10, the IronPigs (85-57, .599) also moved 1.5 games ahead of the RailRiders (83-59, .589) for the best overall record. The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (85-59, .590) are one game back.
If and when the RailRiders are able to secure the second-half title, they would advance to the best-of-three International League championship series at first-half champ Jacksonville beginning a week from today, September 23rd. The IL champ then plays the Pacific Coast League winner in the Triple-A National Championship Game on September 27th in Las Vegas — a title last claimed by Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2016, with quite a memorable ballclub.
