The race for seeding in the Alaska Baseball League playoffs came down to the final day of the regular season Wednesday.
The Mat-Su Miners (28-19, 26-18 ABL) earned the No. 1 seed and will host the No. 4 Anchorage Bucs (22-26, 20-24 ABL) at 6 p.m. Thursday at Hermon Brothers Field in Palmer in the first round of the playoffs.
The No. 2 Peninsula Oilers (30-26, 24-20 ABL) will face the No. 3 Anchorage Glacier Pilots (24-22, 23-21 ABL) at 6 p.m. at Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai.
Both best-of-three series will continue with the next games at 2 p.m. Friday at the same locations.
The ABL Top of the World Series will be played Saturday and Sunday.
The Chugiak Chinooks (19-27, 17-27 ABL) failed to make the postseason.
The Miners secured the top seed Tuesday in an 8-0 win over the Chugiak Chinooks.
The battle for the No. 2 seed was decided Wednesday, when the Oilers edged Mat-Su 3-2.
This season's four-team playoff format differs from last year's two-team format that included a championship between the regular season winners of the National and American Divisions back when the league had six teams before the departure of the Fairbanks Goldpanners.
The Bucs won last year's championship in three games over the Miners, who have finished runner up for three consecutive seasons.
Alaska Baseball League
Playoffs
Thursday
6 p.m. — No. 1 Mat-Su Miners vs. No. 4 Anchorage Bucs
6 p.m. — No. 2 Peninsula Oilers vs. No. 3 Anchorage Glacier Pilots
Friday
2 p.m. — No. 1 Mat-Su Miners vs. No. 4 Anchorage Bucs
2 p.m. — No. 2 Peninsula Oilers vs. No. 3 Anchorage Glacier Pilots
6 p.m. — if-necessary game(s)
Final standings
Team ABL Overall
Mat-Su Miners 26-18 28-19
Peninsula Oilers 24-20 30-26
Anchorage Pilots 23-12 24-22
Anchorage Bucs 20-24 22-26
Chugiak Chinooks 17-27 19-27
League leaders
Batting average
(Minimum 2.7 plate appearances per game)
Jonathan Washam, Oilers .344
Levi Jordan, Miners .316
Darius Hill, Oilers .314
Michael Donadio, Miners .312
Steven Sensley, Bucs .305
RBIs
Jake Scudder, Miners 28
Steven Sensley, Bucs 27
Ethan Wiskur, Chinooks 25
Michael Donadio, Miners 25
Levi Jordan, Miners 22
ERA
(Minimum .8 innings pitched per team game)
Justin Vernia, Miners 0.58
Weston Rivers, Pilots 1.25
Billy Oxford, Oilers 1.44
Brody Harris, Chinooks 1.95
Justin Mulvaney, Bucs 2.02