They may not have finished the 2014 Western Major Baseball League regular season with an above .500 record, but the Yorkton Cardinals couldn't be blamed for referring to themselves as a winning ballclub on Tuesday when it became official that a five year streak of missing the playoffs would be coming to an end as the Cards would outlast the defending champion Melville Millionaires for the final East Division playoff spot.
Following a late July win streak leading into a very difficult final stretch on the road in Alberta to close out the bulk of their regular season, the Cardinals would drop games in Lethbridge and Okotoks in a four game slide on their Western swing to see their win streak hold out the final playoff spot in the end as the Mils were mathematically eliminated from the playoff chase on Tuesday.
After picking up three huge wins over Melville the week before, things didn't go as planned once the Cardinals travelled through Alberta as following a strong start to their road trip with a win in Swift Current things never got on track in the WMBL's second province against West Division ballclubs in the Lethbridge Bulls and the Okotoks Dawgs.
In Swift Current, Yorkton would get exactly the start to the tough road trip they wanted as four and five run innings in the late stages along with an eight inning outing from Cole Roark on the mound would preserve arms as well gain some valuable momentum by the way of a needed 10-3 win over the Indians. Infielders Stetson McCollin and Zach Mihic would be the difference makers in the victory, both picking up a trio of RBI's each in the win that came thanks to a sudden barrage of hitting by Yorkton in the seventh and eighth innings.
In their first of four road games in Alberta against the Lethbridge Bulls, the Cardinals would start things off on the right foot with starter Jamie Whitehead on the mound. Going out to a 4-1 lead Yorkton gave their pitching staff more than enough run support to potentially hold onto a second straight road victory against a division leader, but the Bulls had other ideas.
Showing why they lead the West Division, the Bulls would put up two eight run innings to easily erase the 3-1 Yorkton lead in what was an eventual 21-8 final. Despite the 13 run gap, Lethbridge had just one more hit than Yorkton in what was a tough loss for the Cards.
With Whitehead only making it 3.2 innings during the loss as the starter, Yorkton would also have to empty their bullpen in the loss. Using Yorkton's Derek Marshall, Easton Etter, Matt Collier and catcher Georgie Santiago in the 13 run defeat.
Yorkton would find even less luck in Okotoks taking on the Dawgs, losing 12-3 and once again using five pitchers on the road in the loss that wasn't close as the three Cardinals runs didn't come until the eighth inning when it was all too late in a nine run blowout loss.
Saturday would see Clay Rideout give the Cardinals a quality start, going seven innings and finally giving the tired Yortkon bullpen some much needed rest. Rideout's strong outing on the mound didn't come with enough run support for a victory as despite getting a slim 2-1 victory, a two run bottom of the fifth for the Dawgs would earn them a home sweep of the Cardinals during their two game series.
Returning to Lethbridge with Cole Scanlon on the mound looking to avoid an 0-4 trip through Alberta, the Cardinals would once again have problems keeping the Bulls bats from putting up runs in bunches at their home ballpark. Runs in the first three innings for the Bulls would put them in control as Scanlon would struggle to get out of innings unscathed before a late six run inning would add insult to injury in a 14-4 loss to give the Cardinals four straight defeats while on the road.
Luckily for the Cardinals their rivals in Melville fared equally as terrible, continuing to pile up losses while needing desperately to make up ground to have any hope of making their Wednesday night season finale with the Cardinals a play in game for the last WMBL Playoff spot. That did not happen as Melville could never regain their footing despite being defending WMBL champions, finishing last in the East and allowing the Cardinals to clinch the playoffs in advance of their final games of the season.
Already into the playoffs, the Cardinals would be playing for momentum during the final game of their road trip against Swift Current. Looking to pick up where they left off in what was their lone high note of their six game road trip, Yorkton would score three runs in the top of the first thanks to RBI's from Stetson McCollin and Ben Grillo.
Unfortunately those would be the only runs the Cardinals would manage to score in the game, eventually falling off the pace in a 9-3 final that gave Yorkton a 1-5 record during their road trip. A record that the team may have felt could have cost them a chance at a playoff berth leading up to their road swing through Swift Current and Alberta, but in the end their strong mid-July run deservedly put them in the WMBL Playoffs.
Yorkton will now turn their attentions onto the Regina Red Sox, who the Cardinals will need to step up in play in order to advance against the East Division champions from the regular season as the only winning ballclub in the division this season.
Despite the gap in wins between the two clubs, Yorkton has had success against the Red Sox, including wins in Regina this season that they will need to repeat this weekend in big opening games of the series at Currie Field. If the Cards can pick up an upset in the best of five series to return to Jubilee Park with home ballpark advantage for Games Three and Four in Yorkton they will have a much better chance at advancing as underdogs.
Regardless of how the playoffs go, simply being there will be a success for a club that has missed the postseason for five straight seasons before this August. Looking to continue to prove to the city that this is a team that can bring winning baseball back to Yorkton, the Cardinals will be looking to extend their return to the postseason as long as possible.
