Eugene's accomplishment may well be the first time a club with the worst record in a league went on to win the league championship. I'm not aware of any other such occurrences offhand. It requires an usual set of circumstances.
It wasn't a banner year for teams in the league. Only two finished above .500 and another two finished at that record. The standings are given below.
Code:
2018 NORTHWEST LEAGUE Final Overall Standings
W L Pct. GB
NORTH DIVISION
Vancouver Canadians (TOR) 40 36 .526 -
x Everett AquaSox (SEA) 38 38 .500 2.0
y Spokane Indians (TEX) 38 38 .500 2.0
Tri-City Dust Devils (SDN) 35 41 .461 5.0
SOUTH DIVISION
xy Hillsboro Hops (ARI) 51 25 .671 -
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes (SFN) 36 40 .474 15.0
Boise Hawks (COL) 35 41 .461 16.0
z Eugene Emeralds (CHN) 31 45 .408 20.0
x - first half division winner
y - second half division winner
z - alternate playoff qualifier
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr
3. Why wouldn't the tiebreaker be the 2nd best overall record instead of limiting it to the 2nd half?
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Most minors which use the split season format use that rule, but not all. The Carolina League also uses the second place finisher in the second half in the case of a repeat half division winner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Westheim
Semi-related, why are they having a split season at all? Strikes me as *weird*.
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The split-season format is widely used in the minors, and has been for a long time, but it is less common in short season leagues. The Northwest League from 1955-65 used a split-season format; in 1966 it switched to a short season schedule, and dropped the split-season. It readopted the split-season in 2010 to expand the number of playoff qualifiers from two to four.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr
Minors have done that for ages. I think it maybe due to call ups. A roster in the 1st half might be quite different from the 2nd half.
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I think a major influence is from the older days of the minors, when they were more independent and received less direct financial support from the majors.
Since revenue was primarily derived from attendance, and attendance relied on a competitive season, the split-season gave two division title races each season instead of one, thus reducing the attendance-lowering effect of one club running away with the pennant since the season was reset halfway through. You can find instances in the 1950s, for example, of minors adopting the split-season during a season in response to one club building up too much of a lead, as a pennant race all but over in late June or early July meant poorer tickets sales for the rest of the summer for the clubs out of the race.
Since the split-season had been a long-running feature of many minors, it just stuck around even after the majors became more consistent in their financial backing of minor league clubs.