Baseline League playoff scenario: Alta Loma holds the key
With one week left in the regular season, the outcome of this league appears fairly simple...unless, of course, winless Alta Loma upsets Los Osos on Friday. Before we get into the mind-bending scenarios that would create, I'll cover the more likely outcomes.
If Los Osos beats Alta Loma, it will share a league title with the winner of Thursday's Rancho Cucamonga-Etiwanda winner but Los Osos will be the No. 1 playoff seed thanks to wins over both Rancho and Etiwanda. Under this circumstance, the three automatic playoff berths will go to Los Osos, Rancho and Etiwanda, leaving Upland and Claremont to play the fourth-place game on Friday.
Despite being for fourth place, the Claremont-Upland game is vital because the winner could get the CIF-SS Central Division's lone at-large playoff berth.
If Upland wins, it will undoubtedly be the at-large selection with an 8-2 record. (Whatever league champion draws Upland in the first round is going to be livid.) If Claremont prevails the Wolfpack will have a 6-4 record, the same as its primary challenger for the at-large bid, the fourth-place team from the Sierra League. The loser of Thursday's Ayala-Glendora game will finish fourth in the Sierra League.
Now, if Alta Loma happens to upset Los Osos, the league will be thrown into chaos. If Upland wins and Los Osos loses the two will have an identical 3-2 league record. The winner of the Rancho-Etiwanda game will be the outright league champion and the loser will fall into a three-way tie for the final two playoff spots that can't be settled by the head-to-head tiebreaker because... Los Osos defeated both Rancho and Etiwanda, who both defeated Upland, who defeated Los Osos. I believe a coin flip would determine which two would get the automatic playoff berths.
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About Clay
Clay Fowler has been covering high school sports for six years in California and Texas. He was born in Dallas, attended the University of Texas and worked in Central Texas before joining the Daily Bulletin staff in 2006.
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"Now, if Alta Loma happens to upset Los Osos, the league will be thrown into chaos. If Upland wins and Los Osos loses the two will have an identical 3-2 league record."
Comedy, and if the sun rises in the west and if cats start barking and....