Birmingham’s playoff-bound!

After a harrowing couple of series, the Barons back into the postseason, courtesy of a Tennessee Smokies defeat

Appropriate for the Double-A team for what is currently tied for the 12th-worst major league team in baseball history, the Birmingham Barons lost on Sunday, 5-4 — but through a gift from the gods still clinched the Southern League North.

Crazier still, both teams playing in Montgomery today clinched the playoffs. The Biscuits, courtesy of their defeat of the Barons, leaped past first-place Pensacola in the standings and won the Southern League South.

Only manager Sergio Santos and the rest of his club would know whether feet eased on accelerators once the Barons took the field already knowing that Tennessee was down, 6-0, to the Mississippi Braves. Let’s hope not. But it’s a lot better way to rationalize what was a fairly monumental collapse for our Double-A club down the home stretch.

Two weeks ago, Birmingham was 37-20, not only in command of the division but one of the strongest teams in all the minors. But the Barons stumbled to 4-8 to finish the first half and lost seven of their final 10. After coughing up a lead to the Biscuits for good in the fourth inning, the Barons ended up in need of mercy from the 30-37 Braves, who delivered with a 9-7 win. Both games were nail-biters, and either could have flipped results.

Ky Bush, nails all season as the third-best starter in the ferocious Barons rotation, picked this must game for his worst start of the season, laboring through 79 pitches and making just five hits over five frames count, as two left the premesis. Tristan Stivors, Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa and Jake Palisch held it down OK from there, with one earned over the final three frames. But the Barons offense was unable to rally.

The Hack Attack that is Edgar Quero led off the second inning with a double, as Birmingham already trailed, 1-0. Tim Elko pushed him to third with a single, Wilfred Veras cashed in the run to tie it with a single, and after some Monty sloppiness Jason Matthews gave the Good Guys the lead with a sac fly.

That would be Bham’s only lead of the game, with Montgomery punching right back with a two-spot in the fourth. Biscuits starter Cole Wilcox stepped aside with a 4-3 lead after six, and that invited the Barons to rally back. Jacob Burke greeted reliever Keyshawn Askew with a double, was wild-pitched to third, then scored on a Matt Hogan grounder to shortstop.

Sounds clean, but like everything Birmingham did over these past two weeks, it wasn’t. In fact, Burke broke home on contact and was actually dead to rights but for a brutal short-hop throw by Monty shortstop (and MiLB Gold Glove winner!) Carson Williams:

And it was catcher Kenny Piper who was given the error!

No matter, though, for the lead was lost in the bottom of the eighth when Hoopii-Tuionetoa surrendered a leadoff double and Palisch coughed up the tiebreaking safety later in the inning.

In the ninth, the Barons went down 1-2-3 and it was a tense 10 minutes of scoreboard watching, as the Smokies-Braves game was into the ninth inning; with a division win just three runs away, the Smokies were whiffed on 16 pitches — and Birmingham breathed a very deep sigh of relief.

OK, there were some bubbles after all of the sighs:

Not only is this the first season the White Sox organization will have as many as two playoff teams in one season since 2018 — it is the first postseason in the White Sox minors since 2018.

Game polls and other postgame reax to be updated later in the night.