Breaking down the NBC scenario
Published on -7/27/2010, 3:30 PM
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By CONOR NICHOLL
The National Baseball Congress World Series committee released a preliminary bracket Monday for the annual World Series that starts Friday and runs through Aug. 13. The Hays Larks are not currently in the field, but could be in the coming days.
The Jayhawk League receives two automatic bids to the teams that finish 1-2 in the league race. Hays (20-16 overall, 16-14 Jayhawk) secured third place in the league with a 3-0 win Monday night against Derby. But with two games left, the Larks can't catch second-place Liberal, which has 20 league wins.
But Hays could still get in.
"We are going to play hard for two more days and see what happens," Larks manager Frank Leo said.
The Haysville Heat has wrapped up the Jayhawk League crown and won the Midwest Regional, a tournament that also gives them an automatic bid. Since Haysville has two automatic bids, it can choose which bid it wishes to receive. If the Heat take the regional bid, then the second- and third-place Jayhawk League teams (Liberal and Hays) would receive automatic berths into the 32-team field.
If Haysville takes the league bid, then Hays is left looking for an at-large berth.
"What I have been told is Haysville has not decided what bid to take," Leo said. "They are leaning towards the league bid. If they do that, Liberal gets the second-place bid and we are looking in the window. If they take the regional bid, Liberal gets Jayhawk No. 1 and we get Jayhawk No. 2.
"What I have been told from the NBC (Monday) morning, there are going to be 32 teams in the tournament this year," Leo said. "They are cutting the field down to 32. Hays will definitely be the first at-large bid if there is one."
