The Portland Sea Dogs won again in New Hampshire on Sunday afternoon 5-0, sweeping a six game series over the Fisher Cats. Portland has now won eight games in a row and are in contention for their first Eastern League playoff appearance since 2014.
Portland now leads the Somerset Patriots by three games in the Eastern League Northern Division with 12 regular season games remaining. The Sea Dogs start their final regular season home series of the season on Tuesday night with six against the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, before a six game road series with the Patriots. The playoff format in the Eastern League pits the first half winner of the season in each division against the second half winner in a best of three series. The teams that come out of those divisional playoff matchups square off for a best of three league championship. Somerset won the first half, with Portland (36-21) now holding that three game cushion in the second half.
If Portland can hold on to their second half lead and can qualify for the postseason and meet Somerset, game one of that divisional playoff series would be at Hadlock Field on Tuesday, September 20. If the Sea Dogs happen to reach the league championship series, games two and game 3 (if necessary) would also be in Portland on Tuesday, Sept 27 and Wednesday, September 28.
