A Race to the Finish—The South Division First Half Playoff Race By John Kocsis Jr.
Hickory The Fireflies just got done splitting a series at L.P. Frans Stadium last week. The two teams also collided at Segra Park earlier in the season. Columbia won the series and so they own the tie-breaker vs Hickory. The Crawdads do have the easiest schedule to close out the first half of the season though. Hickory will play six against the last-place team in the South Division, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. After that, they’ll close things out with three against the team with the worst record in the league, the Delmarva Shorebirds. Hickory has seen both of those two teams already. They played Myrtle Beach and then Delmarva to close out May. They were able to take four of six against both teams, which helped push Hickory back into the playoff race. It’s worth noting that the series at Delmarva featured a pair of doubleheaders and Hickory took three of the four games featured in the twin bills Columbia The Fireflies have the toughest path to the first half division crown. Columbia plays their first six against the South Division-leading Kannapolis Cannon Ballers and their final three of the half against the North Division-leading Carolina Mudcats. The first series vs Kannapolis is previewed above, but Columbia has played Carolina this year as well. The Fireflies took the series 4-2. The club took the first four games and lost the pair of weekend games. The two clubs showed a lot offensively. The week-long series featured a pair of 20-run games. Columbia won the series-opener 12-11 and Carolian took Saturday’s contest 11-10. If that’s any sign of what’s to come, expect to see some fireworks to close out the first half. Charleston The RiverDogs may be the furthest from first in the group, but Charleston is the blue blood of the South Division. The RiverDogs have made the playoffs every year since the league restructured for the 2021 season and they won the Carolina League in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The RiverDogs are also surging right now. Charleston has won eight of their last 12 games while playing the Cannon Ballers and the Mudcats. If that weren’t enough, Charleston can control their destiny with two of the four teams in front of them. They’ll play six against Augusta and three against Kannapolis with both series previewed above.
The Columbia Fireflies jumped out of the gates strong. Columbia led the South Division each day from April 17-May 23, a 36-day stretch that included a red-hot 18-9 start to 2025. The bats hit a stellar .269 over April, the second-highest mark in the Carolina League over the opening stanza. After a team-wide slump at the plate in May, the team was on the outside looking in, but with nine games left in the final 10 days of the half, there’s a dash for first in the South.
Kannapolis leads the pack, a pair of games in front of Columbia. Augusta sits in second, one game back of the Cannon Ballers. Hickory is in third, 1.5 games behind the leader. Columbia is two games back and in fourth place. Finally, Charleston is three games back of first as the RiverDogs have caught fire over their last 20 games. Each team has six games against one opponent and then will play three games against a second opponent to close out the first half. It’s time to review each team’s path to clinching the first playoff spot for the 2025 season! Kannapolis Admittedly, the Cannon Ballers have the advantage. They’re one game in front of every other team and right now have a magic number of nine to clinch back-to-back playoff berths. Kannapolis starts their journey with six games against the Columbia Fireflies. The two teams have already played an unprecedented 12 times in the first half. The two teams have split the games down the middle. Columbia took four of six in April and then Kannapolis won four of six when the two teams played in May. All six games were played at Atrium Health Ballpark. After facing Columbia, Kannapolis closes the half with three games against the Charleston RiverDogs. Charleston won four of six against the Cannon Ballers, including the final three games they played to close out the month of May. Augusta Augusta was a thorn in the side of the Columbia Fireflies in the first half of the year. The GreenJackets won two of the three games the two teams played Opening Weekend and then split a series at Segra Park in June—meaning the GreenJackets own the tiebreaker against Columbia after five wins in nine contests. The GreenJackets start the climb against the Charleston RiverDogs. Augusta took five of six games against Charleston in mid-May as part of a stretch where Augusta won 10 of 12 games in two weeks. After that, Augusta hosts the surging Lynchburg Hillcats. The North Division opponent is in second in the North Division and has a 35-22 record. Lynchburg sits one game back of the Carolina Mudcats, so they’re fighting in their own playoff race heading into the final 10 days of the season.
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