International League playoff race shaping up to be a doozy

As the triple-A baseball season goes into its final three weeks, the International league playoff race is starting to take shape. Six teams are jockeying to earn a spot in the four-team playoff bracket, and two of the three divisonal races could go down to the wire to see who will get a shot to win the league's Governor's Cup trophy.

While the IL north and south divisions are being hotly contested, the Louisville Bats have a Ted Nugent-like stranglehold on the West division. Louisville, who owns the league's best record at 71-51 going into Tuesday night's game, already has a magic number of  just 12 to clinch their second consecutive division crown. If/when Louisville gets to the playoffs, they will face the winner of the league's south division, regardless of record. As luck would have it, the south currently houses the Gwinnett Braves, who have a record almost identical to the Bats (71-52), meaning we could see a first-round matchup between the league's premiere teams. Gwinnett, which is located outside Atlanta, is in their first year in the dirty south, after moving from Richmond, Virginia. The G-Braves currently hold a three-game lead in the division over the Durham Bulls (68-55), who put Louisville out of the playoffs last year. The first round playoff series would be a best of five-series, and games three through five would be at Louisville Slugger Field (ticket info here).

If Louisville was to get past the south division champ, they would face the winner of the series between the north division champ and the league's wild card. Currently, the defending league champion Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (67-52) are sitting atop the north by three-and-a-half games over the Syracuse Chiefs (64-56). For all of those who aren't MIT graduates, Scranton is the top farm club of the New York Yankees, while the Chiefs are triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.

The International League champion will get an opportunity to play in the triple-A championship game in Oklahoma City, called the Bricktown Showdown. This one-game series will pit the king of the International League against the winner of the Pacific Coast League. As of now, the Sacramento River Cats, who are the Oakland A's top farm team, have to be considered the favorite in the PCL, as they currently hold a 73-45 mark.