A New Leader

In Northwest Baseball League Action last night, the Boise Hawks won 9-5 to end a 3-game losing streak. At the same time, divison-leading Spokane lost 1-0 to Everett, while the Yakima Bears fell out of their third place tie with the Hawks with a 13-5 defeat at the hands of Salem-Kaiser. The Eastern Division got a new leader as the Dust Devils beat the Eugene Emeralds 4-3.

Thus, this is the standing in the Northwest Baseball League’s Eastern Division:

So, 2 games seperate first and last place with 12 left to play. Anything can happen. At this point, all four teams are entering a crucial point in their season, as they only have intra-division games left. Tri-City’s series in Spokane is crucial as the first place Dust Devils visit the Second Place Indians. For the Hawks, their series in Yakima is absolutely crucial. They don’t have to take 2 of 3, but they really can’t afford to be swept at this point in the season either.

Finally, at this point, not only is the entire Eastern Division under .500, so is every team in both divisions other than the Salem-Kaiser Volcanoes.

The Western Division’s Eugene Emeralds as the easiest road to a .500 season, only having to go 7-5 the rest of the way, the Vancouver Canadians  and Tri City dust devils would have to go 8-4, the Spokane Indians, Boise Hawks, and Everett Aqua Sox would have to go 9-3, while the Yakima Bears would have to go 10-2. It’ll be interesting to watch. It’s a safe bet that should any team in the Eastern Division reach the .500 mark, they’ll win the division.