How do you win your division and not make the playoffs?
Apparently, if you're a New York farm team in the inferior division of your league, and thus cast out of the modified minor-league playoffs in 2021.
That, sadly, is exactly what happened to the Mets' Low-A affiliate in St. Lucie and both the Yankees' High-A team in Hudson Valley Renegades and Double-A squad in Somerset, who all won their divisions…and yet didn't make the postseason, as every minor league's playoffs this year consisted of a single five-game series between the teams with the two best records in the league, regardless of division.
Hudson Valley won the Low-A East's North Division with a 71-59 record, but saw 82-36 Bowling Green and 74-46 Greensboro, who finished first and second in the South Division, move on to the final series to decide the High-A East Champion.
Likewise, Somerset's 72-47 record was tops in the Double-A Northeast's Northeast Division, but Akron (73-46) and Bowie (73-47) had better records in the Southeast Division – and even worse for Somerset, their fate wasn't sealed until Sunday, the final day of the season.
They needed only a win over Akron or a Bowie loss to earn a playoff berth, but the Patriots fell to the Rubberducks while the Baysox beat Altoona to end up stealing the spot, concluding the only permutation of four results among the three teams that left Somerset on the outside looking in.
As for the St. Lucie Mets, well, they were ostensibly tied with Jupiter for the lead in the Low-A Southeast's East Division (their 60-55 record was percentage points ahead of 61-56 Jupiter), but it was the 71-48 Bradenton Marauders, who finished second in the West, that will play the Low-A Southeast best Tampa Tarpons (73-43) in the championship series.
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At least neither Triple-A team has to worry, because both get 10 additional games as part of the Triple-A level's modified "Final Stretch" system. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre finished 68-49 and Syracuse finished 47-69, but either team could be crowned Triple-A East champion if they win the most games over a final 10-game stretch that begins Wednesday.
SWB and Syracuse will play five games Wednesday-Sunday, and then the RailRiders will face Rochester while Syracuse will face Buffalo in next week's five-game sets.
The Rookie-level Florida Complex League's season ended Saturday, with the Yankees finishing second and the Mets sixth in the 18-team circuit, which had no scheduled postseason.
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