Baseball league permits all eight teams to participate in playoffs
By Mark Schadenberg
In a previous life, I was manager of the Woodstock junior Navy Vets
baseball team in Junior InterCounty.
A few years later, and for about five summers, I had the privilege of doing
play-by-play for London Majors baseball for Rogers TV in the InterCounty loop
(IBL). Sometimes I was the only person in the booth -- akin to Vin Scully.
With expansions and contractions, relocations and disappearing acts,
the league this year featured eight teams and a 42-game schedule, increasing
the number of games from 36 in previous campaigns.
The club I have always followed (When I was a Fanshawe broadcast
student in 1987 I interviewed then Majors owner Arden Eddie for a 30-minute program),
the London Majors (www.londonmajors.com)
completed its sked with a 26-16 mark – second place in the league (www.pointstreaksites/view/theibl).
Impressive! Congratulations to Roop Chanderdat, Scott Dart, the cast of
players, and lastly Woodstock’s Jeremy Parking who is an assistant coach.
After a busy condensed schedule of battling rain outs, player work
commitments, broken wood bats, pinch runners, and bus trips to locales such as
Christie Pits in Toronto, the Majors did well to earn the league’s second best
record and an opportunity to play for the championship versus the likes of (always-contending)
Brantford (33-9), Kitchener (25-17), Barrie (25-17), Toronto (21-21), Hamilton
(16-26), Burlington (13-29) and Guelph (9-33). That’s right – Guelph, which
managed to win just 21% of the time of hitting the diamond, still has a chance
to win the league title. You see, all eight IBL teams make the playoffs.
Have a look at Facebook
My suggestion, and I’ve posted on the IBL Facebook page, is that just
four teams should make the playoffs. You have to understand that while many of
the IBL stars have previous experience at various NCAA levels and some in
semi-pro and the minors of MLB, many are under the age of 23 and still own
scholarships and will soon return to school. A young rebuilding squad will certainly
lose a few players when Labour Day weekend arrives or even sooner.
So the league began its playoffs this past weekend with its best-of-seven
quarterfinal brackets. A team may have to play as many as 21 more games to win
the Jack And Lynne Dominico Trophy, which by the way has been won by the
Brantford Red Sox every year dating back to 2008.
Burlington is opening opponent
As of Sunday night, the Majors lead Burlington Bandits 3-0 with
victories on three consecutive days. Game 4 is Thursday in Burlington, while
Game 5 (if needed) is Friday at 7:30 at the wonderful Labatt Memorial Park at
the fork of the Thames in London. The stadium is more than a diamond . . . it’s
a gem.
While I don’t like the playoff structure, I do admire the IBL and its
long tradition, its quality of play, and dedication of its players.
Check out the league’s website and then check out a few games.
I love selling homes, and love following baseball, hockey, golf . . .
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757 Dundas
St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519) 537-1553,
cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
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