Cats Prep for Playoff Sprint

Playoffs!  It’s one, two, or three chances for Sea Kittens (5-1) Thursday night in Madison Sport & Social Club Fall League playoffs.  The Cats’ opening round matchup will be at 6:30 PM on Bowman Park Field #2 against Beer View Mirrors (4-3).  The Mirrors have been up-and-down this Fall, having alternated wins and losses since week 1 but have an almost-even run differential, while Sea Kittens will have to knock the rust off after a two-week layoff and shake the sting of a loss in their regular-season finale.  The #6 seed in the bracket, BVM opened its playoff slate with a 14-8 win over Whomping Willows (1-6) last week.

In the clubs’ regular-season matchup, Sea Kittens jumped BVM with a 17-run second inning, assisted by a handful of miscues upon which the Cats capitalized mightily.  While the game’s outcome was sealed at that point, the Mirrors battled back late and demonstrated run-scoring ability the third-seeded Sea Kittens will have to respect to avoid an opening-round playoff upset.

Lose, and Los Gatitos are done until April 2023.  Win, and the club faces second-seeded Make Signs Not War (5-1) in a 7:30 PM semifinal on Field 2.  Should the Cats win that game, they’d slide over to Field 1 for the 8:30 PM league championship game.

Game Notes

• Sea Kittens have lost three of their last four playoff games, dating to Fall, 2021.
• Should the Cats make it through Round 1, the 7:30 game will be the first time in the Fall season all 12 rostered Sea Kittens will be present together.
• The 6:30 PM game will be the 200^th Sea Kittens game of Joe’s career!