With the state tournament fast approaching, the end of the season is nearing for American Legion baseball teams that sit in the bottom half of the standings.
The final five days of the regular season begin Friday, and as it stands right now, eight teams are in command of the eight state tournament spots available.
Those teams are Chugiak, Juneau, West and Wasilla from the National Division and Dimond, Kenai, Service and South from the American Division.
Among the other eight teams, seven have been mathematically eliminated from contention — Eagle River, Bartlett, East, Palmer, North Pole, Kodiak and Fairbanks.
Only Ketchikan, which is 5-7 with six games left, still has a shot of grabbing a state tournament berth, and it's an outside shot.
Ketchikan needs to go 6-0 or 5-1 in the final week of play — and even if it does, one of the teams in the top half of the standings would have to go winless down the stretch.
Berths for the July 27-31 state tournament at Mulcahy Stadium are determined by points accumulated during the regular season — four points for a win, two for a tie, one for a loss. The top three teams in each division are awarded automatic tournament berths, and at-large spots go to the two remaining teams with the most points in either division.
Right now, there's a sharp cutoff in each division between the top four teams and the bottom four teams.
All of the top teams have 44 points or more, and none will finish with fewer than 48. South, for example, is the fourth-place team in the American Division with 44 points, and even if it loses all four of its remaining games, it would still wind up with 48 points.
None of the bottom teams have more than 27 points, and only Ketchikan could finish with 48 or more. If Ketchikan goes 6-0, it will have 51 points; if it goes 5-0-1 it will have 49; if it goes 5-1, it will have 48.
Entering the final stretch of regular-season play, Dimond and Chugiak are the division leaders with 56 and 55 points, respectively. Dimond has three games left and Chugiak has two.
Standings through Thursday games
National Division
Chugiak (55 points) — 13-3 conference, 18-9 overall
Juneau (45 points) — 11-1, 17-1
West (44 points) — 10-4, 14-9
Wasilla (44 points) — 10-4, 12-10
Eagle River (27 points) — 4-11, 8-20
Bartlett (22 points) — 2-14, 4-21
Fairbanks (21 points) — 3-9, 7-13
East (21 points) — 2-13, 5-19
American Division
Dimond (61 points) — 15-1, 20-6
Kenai (46 points) — 10-6, 16-13
Service (45 points) — 10-5, 14-11
South (44) — 10-4, 19-8
Ketchikan (27 points) — 5-7, 11-1
Kodiak (25 points) — 4-9 7-14
North Pole (18 points) — 2-10, 5-14
Palmer (15 points) — 1-11, 7-16