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Major League Baseball teams are deep in contemplation trying to decide whether they are in the playoff running and therefore whether they should be buyers or sellers as Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s non-waiver trading deadline draws near.<\/p>\nMajor League Baseball teams are deep in contemplation trying to decide whether they are in the playoff running and therefore whether they should be buyers or sellers as Saturday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s non-waiver trading deadline draws near.<\/p>\n
While there might not be trades involving multi-million dollar players at stake, teams in Britain are also staring at the standings, studying the schedules and working out where their seasons may be headed.<\/p>\n
After last Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s results, some teams already know that their playoff place has been secured. For others, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all to play for over the next few weeks of the regular season.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n
National Baseball League: Mets make the NBC<\/strong><\/p>\n London Mets (21-3) made sure of a top two finish, and automatic qualification to the National Baseball Championships, by earning two wins against the bottom-placed Essex Arrows (3-19).\u00c2\u00a0 Bracknell Blazers (17-3) kept pace with the Mets as they took two wins against Herts Falcons (6-14), the second of which featuring a final inning comeback.\u00c2\u00a0 The Blazers remain two games behind the Mets and need just one more win to be sure of joining their closest rivals in the NBC, ready to defend the title they won last year.<\/p>\n Southampton Mustangs (13-11) and Richmond Flames (12-10) are having a great battle for third place and they split a double-header on Sunday.\u00c2\u00a0 Both teams are good bets to move on to the playoff stage, which makes the bottom half of the NBL all the more fascinating.\u00c2\u00a0 Herts Falcons, Croydon Pirates (7-15)and Mildenhall Bulldogs (5-13) are battling for two spots and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impossible to predict with any degree of certainty which one will miss out.\u00c2\u00a0 The Bulldogs started the season brilliantly, but have been badly hampered by a player shortage over the last couple of months.\u00c2\u00a0 They were able to field a team on Sunday and showed the sort of form they are capable of by sweeping a double-header against the Pirates.\u00c2\u00a0 However, their forfeited games could prove to be their undoing in the end.<\/p>\n This Sunday could be an important round of games when it comes to deciding those last two playoff spots.\u00c2\u00a0 The Pirates will look to improve their chances of staying in the mix with two games against Essex Arrows, while the Bulldogs and Falcons are scheduled to meet at the latter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0Grovehill Ballpark. Further details and reaction from last Sunday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s games can be found in Simon Fitzjohn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report<\/a>.<\/p>\n AAA: Redbacks reign over Kings, Trojans keep ahead in the North<\/strong><\/p>\n The top two teams in the AAA-North will head on to the AAA National Baseball Championship and with the top four teams separated in the standings by just two games, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going to be quite a contest to see who makes it.\u00c2\u00a0 Liverpool Trojans (16-6) are in the driving seat as they are two games ahead of the chasing pack.\u00c2\u00a0 It looked like that lead would be 2.5 games midway through their double-header against the fifth-placed Halton Jaguars (6-16).\u00c2\u00a0 However, the Jaguars scored six runs in the first inning of the second game and went on to win it 9-2, leaving Liverpool with a split and perhaps ruing a missed opportunity.\u00c2\u00a0 Manchester A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s (14-8) took advantage of the Trojans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 slip and moved into third place by winning two games against Glasgow (1-19).\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n Harrogate Tigers (10-4) are the wild card in the North as they current sit second on winning percentage but have played less games than their rivals (8 less than the Trojans and A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, 6 less than the fourth-placed Menwith Hill Patriots \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 13-7).\u00c2\u00a0 Several of their missed games are currently listed as \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcpostponed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, but it seems likely that they will not have time to make all those games up and it will be interesting to see how that is dealt with in the standings.\u00c2\u00a0 The Tigers are scheduled for a double-header away to the Jaguars this Sunday, with the A\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s and Patriots meeting for two and the Trojans travelling up to Glasgow.<\/p>\n The AAA-South brought us the result of the weekend as the Essex Redbacks (8-8) won both games of a double-header against the league-leading Oxford Kings (17-3).\u00c2\u00a0 The Redbacks were rightfully proud<\/a> of their achievement while putting it down to “relentless hitting” and a strong performance from their infield that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153shut down the Kings’ offense from creating any momentum\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 The Kings still hold a three game lead over Bracknell Inferno (12-4), so they will not be panicking just yet.\u00c2\u00a0 The anticipated double-header between Inferno and the third-placed Herts Eagles (11-5) does not appear to have been played. Both teams are due to be in action this Sunday, with Bracknell hosting the red-hot Redbacks and Herts travelling to Bristol to face the Badgers, who were handed two forfeit wins against Kent Mariners (0-20) on Sunday.<\/p>\n AA: Looking good for Leicester, Three wins for the Pilots, Playoff spots look set in the south<\/strong><\/p>\n The playoff picture became a little clearer in the Midlands on Sunday.\u00c2\u00a0 The league-leading Leicester Blue Sox (14-4) beat the Blue Sox 2 (2-14) team twice, meaning that they only need to split their double-header with Birmingham Maple Leafs (11-4) on 8 August to win the league<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 In any case the Maple Leafs look likely to join the Blue Sox in qualifying for the AA playoffs.\u00c2\u00a0 Meanwhile the Blue Sox 2 are guaranteed an \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA’ playoff place in their debut year after Mildenhall Bulldogs 2 (0-15) confirmed that they have withdrawn<\/a> from the league.\u00c2\u00a0 MK Bucks (11-7) will be the other \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 playoff representative from the Midlands unless a big turnaround sees them usurp the Maple Leafs from second place.<\/p>\n In the North, Bolton Robots of Doom (13-5) were able to add two wins to their total while enjoying a lie-in on Sunday as Manchester Torrent (9-9) forfeited their two games.\u00c2\u00a0 That wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the only good news for the Robots this week as they have just received a new grant<\/a> for a permanent outfield fence to further improve facilities at The Ballpark at Stapleton Avenue\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The only slight downer for Bolton is that their two-game lead at the top of the league was still cut as Humber Pilots (12-6) swept a triple-header against Oldham North Stars (0-20), one game of which being a postponed game from earlier in the season.\u00c2\u00a0 Torrent\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s forfeits make it likely that they will take a third or fourth-placed finish and go on to the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 playoffs, leaving Bolton, Humber and Sheffield Bladerunners (11-7) to battle it out for the top two positions, and AA playoff qualification, with the \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcloser\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 joining Manchester in the A playoffs.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n In the South, Richmond Knights (13-1) and Essex Archers (13-3) are now guaranteed to finish as the top two in Pool B despite the third-placed Sidewinders (8-6) earning a 20-6 win over Herts Hawks (3-10) on Sunday.\u00c2\u00a0 The Archers won both games of a double-header against Windsor Bears (9-7), meaning that Sidewinders cannot overtake them even if they win their remaining four games.\u00c2\u00a0 The Knights beat Brentwood Stags (0-12) 23-13 to stay one game ahead of the Archers at the top of the pool.<\/p>\n In Pool A, Poole Piranhas (13-2) secured top spot after being handed a forfeit win over Horsham Hurricanes (0-16).\u00c2\u00a0 Windsor Bears are likely to join them in qualifying for the AA playoffs despite those two defeats to the Archers.\u00c2\u00a0 The third-placed Croydon Pirates III (7-9) need to win both of their two remaining games and hope that Windsor Bears not only lose both of theirs, but do so via at least one forfeit.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n A: Dragons roar into playoffs, Old Timers move ahead in Pool B<\/strong><\/p>\n Richmond Dragons (10-2) didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a game on Sunday, but their playoff spot is secure in Pool A.\u00c2\u00a0 The third-placed Southampton Mustangs III (7-3) took a 32-12 victory<\/a> over Chelmsford Clippers (5-7); however, the best Southampton can hope for now is to match the Dragons\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 win-loss record and if they did that, Richmond would still come out on top in the standings due to their 22-12 win over the Mustangs III back on 25 April.\u00c2\u00a0 The Mustangs did pull level with Guildford Mavericks (7-3) after the latter lost 16-13 to Old Timers (6-4), and Southampton and Guildford meet this Sunday for a potentially crucial game.<\/p>\n Pool B has turned around in recent weeks as Braintree Rays (5-6) have fallen from the top of the standings.\u00c2\u00a0 They had to forfeit their game on Sunday against London Marauders (4-5) and that lifted their opponents above them into second place, with both the Rays and Marauders being 1.5 games behind the Old Timers.\u00c2\u00a0 The Rays are due to play Tonbridge (3-7) on Sunday, while the Marauders travel to Melbourne Park in Chelmsford to take on the Clippers (5-7).<\/p>\n