The roundup - 5th August 2019

The roundup

29th July to 4th August 2019

The big stories

Manse PP Tampere promoted to Superpesis for 2020

Photograph taken from Manse Facebook (c) Jari Mäki-Kuutti 2019

As the Ykköspesis season is drawing to a close, Manse have secured top spot and automatic promotion to Superpesis for 2020. Manse finished the week with a win over Ylivieskan Kuula, giving them a 12 point lead in the table with only 3 games remaining. Manse have had a monster season, having won 20 of their 21 games, amassing 56 out of a possible 63 points. Manse’s promotion ends a 29 year absence from the top division and ranks as one of the more significant achievements in the club’s history. 

From everyone here at Superpesis roundup we want to congratulate Manse PP for being crowned champions of Ykköspesis 2019 and wish them all the best in 2020; we look forward to covering your games.

Player of the month for July 2019

KPL’s Antti Hartikainen has been named as Superpesis’ player of the month for July 2019. Hartikainen had 74 point runners advanced and crossed the home base line 15 times himself in July. Hartikainen’s overall percentage at moving the point runner for July was a staggering 90.2%. Despite his efforts however, KPL have not been able to recover 1st place from Vimpeli, although this is owing to some fantastic pesäpallo from Vimpeli, Sotkamo and KPL.

From everyone here at Superpesis roundup we want to wish Antti Hartikainen our congratulations for this achievement.

Post season picture

With only 8 days left with games scheduled until the end of the season things are starting to get tight for those teams in pursuit of a playoff spot. An “elimination number” has been calculated for each team outside of the top 8, which represents the margin the team has to make a playoff spot before they are eliminated, i.e. a team with an elimination number of 6 could drop 5 points from their remaining games and still make the playoffs IF the 8th place team does not win any more points from their remaining games. If, in this example, the 8th place team scored 7 points in their remaining games, the other team would be eliminated irrespective of their results. 

Guaranteed postseason places

As the season is drawing to its climax, the following teams have secured their place in the top 8:

Vimpelin Veto - guaranteed top 4 (home field advantage in playoffs) 

Sotkamon Jymy - guaranteed top 4 (home field advantage in playoffs)

KPL - guaranteed top 4 (home field advantage in playoffs) 

Joensuun Maila

Hyvinkään Tahko

Seinajoen JymyJussit

Pattijoen Urheilijat, Raahe

Who’s in the hunt

As things stand, the following teams are all vying for the final playoff spot:

8th: IPV

Likelihood: very good

Points behind: n/a

Elimination number: n/a 

Summary: IPV were 9th at the start of the week and were looking to put pressure on 8ty place Kankaanpää. Having won 2 of the 3 games this week IPV are tied for 8th on points, but take the 8th spot by virtue of the number of 3pt wins they have had. The hiccup in the week came with a loss to Koskenkorva, but this could be forgiven as they won 2-0 against JymyJussit. IPV still have Siilinjärvi to play again, but will also face Tahko and KPL who are both going to be tough opponents.

9th: Kankaanpään Maila

Likelihood: fairly good

Points behind: 0

Elimination number: 6 

Summary: Kankaanpää had a really tough week, playing against Sotkamo, Kitee and Joensuu. All 3 of their games went to extras, with Kankaanpää beating Sotkamo in a Supervuoro, losing to Kitee in a mammoth kotiutuskilpailu (scoring contest) which saw 22 at bats (11 per team) before a winner emerged and a supervuoro defeat to Joensuu. Having taken 3 points from the 3 games Kankaanpää will be pleased; however, given how close they came in each game to tipping the win, they may will rue their missed opportunities if they end up 9th or below at the close of the season. IPV have a game in hand against KaMa and the advantage of a game against a weaker side, KaMa however will face Kitee again and Vimpeli.

10th Kiteen Pallo -90

Likelihood: very good

Points behind: 2

Elimination number: 10

Summary: Kitee have a game in hand over IPV and are just 2 points adrift of 8th. Kitee’s schedule is not fantastic and they will have to find points against Joensuu, Kankaanpää or Tahko to make it to 8th. Their other game is against Kempele and one would see Kitee as clear favourites except Kempele managed to win 2-0 against Alajärvi this week.

11th Kempeleen Kiri

Likelihood: poor

Points behind: 6

Elimination number: 6

Summary: Kempele finally bucked their losing trend and beat Alajärvi 2-0 for 3 points. The win comes just at the right time to try and save the team from relegation. Kempele have a chance to make the playoffs if they can gather 6 or more points from their remaining games against Koskenkorva and other teams. Kempele’s chances however are slim given they have games against Sotkamo and Raahe remaining. .

Who’s eliminated from the playoff race

Despite their efforts the following teams cannot make a playoff spot:

12th Siilinjärven Pesis

13th Koskenkorvan Urheilijat

14th Alajärven Ankkurit

Under the spotlight

The spotlight moves this week to the lowest rung on the Superpesis ladder - Alajärven Ankkurit. Alajärvi have struggled in the last week and are very much heading for an elimination spot. Alajärvi took the mantle off Kempele for being the only team not to win in the week. With 4 games left in their season and 5 points adrift from 12th place, relegation looks almost inevitable; however the spotlight is on Alajärvi to try and pull something out the bag.

The table

With playoffs and relegation games only a few weeks away, things are starting to slot into place in the table. Here is a rundown of the league table: