The Peninsula Oilers officially clinched a playoff spot in the Alaska Baseball League postseason Tuesday night without ever taking the field.
The Oilers (15-29) ended their regular season Sunday with a doubleheader split with the Anchorage Bucs, but were left to rely on the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks losing one of their two remaining games to sew up the fourth and final ABL playoff spot.
The Chinooks lost 4-1 Tuesday to the Mat-Su Miners, officially ending their playoff hopes. The Chinooks (13-29) are mathematically eliminated and can not catch the Oilers in the ABL standings. The Bucs (29-14) sit atop the board as the No. 1 seed for the Top of the World Playoffs and will get the Oilers in the first round semifinal series. The other semifinal series will feature the No. 2 Anchorage Glacier Pilots (26-18) and the No. 3 Miners (25-18).
A win for the Chinooks on Tuesday would’ve kept the drama going as Chugiak-Eagle River was able to pass the Oilers in the standings with two straight wins, but Oilers head coach Kyle Brown said Sunday that the team would have argued for a July 23 rain-cancelled game between the Chinooks and Bucs to be made up. With the lost game taken off the schedule, the Chinooks have one less regular-season game played.
