Dixie League Playoffs

DIXIE – The results are in from the regular season doubleheader finale in The Dixie League and the post season teams named.  In the Eastern League, the Florida Jesters self destructed in the final week of play, just posting 4 runs to fall to both Sanford and Flat Rock and finish with an 11-11-0 record, a full game and a half back from making it into the Eastern League Championship Series.  The Sanford Celeryfeds dominated in Week 11, scoring 19 runs in their doubleheader sweep, while the Westfield Bombers split their pair of games, just barely squeaking out an 8-7 win over New Orleans, but both teams are headed to the ELCS.

Both teams end the regular season with identical records of 12-9-1 but Westfield leads in the standings thanks to the 2-1 head-to-head record they enjoy over Sanford.  The Celeryfeds, however are the favored team in this best of 3 series, averaging 2 more runs per game than Westfield, and are entering the series on a five game win streak, while the Bombers have lost 5 of their last 6.    Sanford was named the Homerun Derby Cup Winner at the conclusion of the regular season, racking up 55 touchdowns on the year; they are also the league scoring leader, posting 135 runs in the regular season.

The Western League Championship Series came down to tiebreakers.  The Western League leader, Andalusia Arrows were a lock with a Week 11 doubleheader sweep and a final record of 16-6-0.  Andalusia finished second overall in scoring with 126 runs scored on the season, and their challenger will be the 2015 Dixie runner-up and 2015 Pro Bowler New Orleans Black Hats who finished right behind them at 124 runs.  The Black Hats finished 13-6-3 and so did the third place Little Rock Radio Flyers, so the standings went to tiebreakers.  With the first tiebreaker being head-to-head record, the Black Hat’s single 8-3 win over Little Rock in Week 6 proved to be the edge as the teams tied in their other two meetings.

The Alabama Archers are the favorite in the WLCS, with their league #1 record.  They have swept their last 6 games, averaging 13 points per game over that stretch.  Thirteen may be their lucky number, in three previous meetings with the Black Hats, they defeated them 13-10, 13-8, and 13-8.  New Orleans is averaging just below them at 12 points per game over the same stretch, but the average is skewed by a monster 21 run outing they had in Week 9, and they have not topped 8 points in either of their final 2 outings.  They won both the Steals Award for defensive turnovers and the Efficiency Award for committing the fewest errors all season, with just 8 INT’s, fumbles, and missed kicks committed all year, and they’ll need to keep that up to have a shot at beating Andalusia in this best of 2 series.

All four post season teams are managed by AF Registered Coaches.  The winners of the two Championship Series’ will meet in the Dixie League Championship Series in Weeks 15-17.