The playoffs are the most exciting part of the season, as eight teams compete to win the championship. The NECBL format is as follows: The top four teams in each division will be seeded one through four within their respective divisions. Divisional Semifinal pairings will give the home field advantage to the number 1 and 2 seeds within their division. The Divisional Final and Championship Series will give home field advantage to the teams with the best record. All Series are best-of-three formats. The team with the better record will host the first and third game of each series.
The chase for a playoff spot is on, and it is incredibly close this year.
In the Eastern Division, the All-Star game comes with just a four game gap between the #4 seed Mystic Schooners and the fifth place Sanford Mainers. Behind Sanford, New Bedford is just a game back with Plymouth half a game behind them.
It's way closer in the West, however. Vermont leads the pack but after the top four teams, North Adams and Danbury are tied just half of a game back from a playoff spot.
With a week of baseball to follow this year's All-Star game, it is almost unpredictable to who will emerge from each division. Even the top teams in each division, the Newport Gulls and Vermont Mountaineers could fall from their perches very easily.
However, I can try to provide you something to chew on, in the form of power rankings.
| RANK | TEAM | NECBL POWER RANKINGS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Newport has blow away all competition in the NECBL, as they have a league best 20 wins and boast a .667 winning percentage. Backed by the best pitching and hitting, Newport is going to be dangerous come August and the playoffs. | |
| 2 |  | Vermont has dropped six of their last ten, but there is no denying that they're the team to beat in the West. They have won three of their past four and coming back after a 4-game losing streak. | |
| 3 |  | Laconia has heated up as of late, winning their past three contests and six of their past ten. They may be in third, but with the way they have been playing lately deserves a higher rank. They are now just 2.5 games back of division leading Newport and a half game behind Ocean State. | |
| 4 |  | Keene started off the season 3-11, but have completely turned it around by going 13-2, including a 9-1 stretch over there last ten games. The Swamp Bats also have a 5-game winning streak and are catching up with the division leading Mountaineers. | |
| 5 |  | Ocean State has dropped off recently, and are now clinging to a .5 game lead on Laconia behind them. The Waves went 5-5 over the past ten games and also dropped games against Newport and Mystic, two teams Ocean State could be taking on in the playoffs. | |
| 6 |  | Mystic has begun to make up ground in the Eastern Division, as they are no longer "clinging" to the fourth playoff spot. Up four games on Sanford, the closest competitor, the Schooners are beginning to catch up to teams above them- just 1.5 games back from Laconia. | |
| 7 |  | Sitting at .500, Saratoga has struggled lately (4-6 over the last ten days) but the Brigade have shown some potential. They dropped three straight before their most recent win- two to Keene and one to Vermont, but they are staying put in third place right now. | |
| 8 |  | Holyoke has been all over the place, but they have one thing that none of the other teams listed below them have- a playoff spot. Clinging on to a half game lead, Holyoke has dropped three straight and can't afford to lose any more games. | |
| 9 |  | The Westerners are four games under .500, but have been gaining some traction with a 5-5 record over the past ten games. Danbury is a half game from a playoff spot, but so is North Adams. They're going to have to get on a roll to beat out North Adams and catch Holyoke. | |
| 10 |  | North Adams has the same record, but has dropped six of their last ten- putting them ever so slightly behind the Westerners. As mentioned in the snippet above, the Steeplecats need to beat out Danbury and catch Holyoke for a spot. | |
| 11 |  | Four games out of a playoff spot, Sanford needs to mount a comeback to catch up to the Eastern Division elite. Just four back from the closest squad, the Mystic Schooners, the Mainers could pull it off, but they need to turn there momentum around as they've lost their last three games as well as six of the last ten. | |
| 12 |  | The New Bedford Bay Sox are five games out of a playoff spot with 14 games to go, so nothing can be ruled out. And 11 of those games are in the division, so they have the chance to make up a lot of ground. | |
| 13 |  | A 11-20 record, as well as sitting 9.5 games out of first and 5.5 out of a playoff spot, the outlook isn't too good for the Pilgrims. 12 of there final 13 games are against there division- and 11 of those divisional games are against the top four teams. They only get to play New Bedford once, while they have to play Ocean State, Newport, Laconia and Mystic (four of the top six teams in this ranking) the rest of the way. |
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