Tonight's PawSox Triple-A Championship to Air on NBC Sports

9/16/2014

2014 International League Champion Pawtucket Red Sox will face the 2014 Pacific Coast League Champion Omaha Storm Chasers (Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals) in the Gildan Triple-A National Championship Game on Tuesday night at 7:00 pm at BB&T Ballpark in uptown Charlotte, NC and will be televised live on the NBC Sports Network.

Pawtucket will be the home team thanks to the IL defeating the PCL in the Triple-A All-Star Game, 7-3 back on July 14 in Durham, NC.

Triple-A National Championship

This winner-take-all one game championship between the champs of the two Triple-A leagues began in 2006 as the Bricktown Showdown. From its inception through 2010, the Championship was hosted in Oklahoma City. In 2011, Triple-A Baseball began a new tradition of rotating game sites as the 2011 game was held in Albuquerque, NM. In 2012, for the first time, an International League city hosted the game as Durham Bulls Athletic Park was the site with the 2012 Governors’ Cup Champion PawSox losing that game to the Reno Aces, 10-3. The game added a national sponsor for the first time in 2012 as Gildan, one of the world’s leading suppliers of t-shirts, activewear, underwear, and socks, has now been the Title Sponsor for the last three Gildan Triple-A Baseball National Championship Games (2012-2014).

Triple-A National Championship Results

The Pacific Coast League won the first three Triple-A Baseball National Championship Games. The International League won the next three but the PCL has regained the all-time lead by winning each of the last two games. The results…

2006
Tucson Sidewinders 5
Toledo Mud Hens 2

2007
Sacramento River Cats 7
Richmond Braves 1

2008
Sacramento River Cats 4
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 1

2009
Durham Bulls 5
Memphis Redbirds 4    (11 innings)

2010
Columbus Clippers 12
Tacoma Rainiers 6

2011
Columbus Clippers 8
Omaha Storm Chasers 3

2012
Reno Aces 10
Pawtucket Red Sox 3

2013
Omaha Storm Chasers 2
Durham Bulls 1

History Making

Last Saturday September 13th, the Pawtucket Red Sox captured their second Governors’ Cup in three years (and their second in 30 years for that matter) when they defeated the host Durham Bulls, 4-1 to take the 82nd Annual Governors’ Cup Finals championship series, 3 games to 2. Pawtucket also won the Governors’ Cup in 2012 when they swept Charlotte in 3 straight, but they lost the Gildan Triple-A Baseball National Championship Game to Reno that year. Prior to their 2012 championship, the PawSox had last won the Governors’ Cup in 1984 when they beat the Maine Guides, 3-0 in the decisive 5th game of that series. Their only other Cup Championship before that came in 1973.

Good Time to Get Hot

Pawtucket is 6-2 in the post-season having swept Syracuse in three straight to win their semi-final series and then winning three of five in the Governors’ Cup Finals vs. Durham.

Post-Season Stats

In their 8 playoff games, the PawSox have out-scored the opposition by a 34-22 margin. Pawtucket pitchers have been sharp going 6-2 with a 2.42 ERA (21 ER in 78.0 IP) with an impressive line – 78.0 IP, 54 H, 22 R, 21 ER, 34 BB, 77 SO – holding opponents to a .194 batting average (54-for-278). PawSox batters are hitting .260 in the playoffs (77-for-296) but with 17 2B, 2 3B, and 5 HR to average 4.3 runs/game. Furthermore, the Sox defense has been solid making only 5 errors in 8 post-season games thus far.

The Cup is at McCoy Stadium

When Frank “Shag” Shaughnessy introduced his playoff system to the International League in 1933, the Governors’ Cup was born. Sponsored by the Governors of New York, New Jersey, and Maryland, as well as the Lieutenant Governors of the Canadian Provinces of Quebec and Ontario, the trophy known as the Governors’ Cup has been awarded to the International League’s postseason champion in each of the 82 years since. The original Governors’ Cup now resides at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, while a new trophy has been in circulation since 1988. The Cup was housed at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket from September 14, 2012 to September 14, 2013 but had been in Durham since until the PawSox brought it back to Rhode Island this weekend.

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