COLUMBUS, OH - The 2026 season is headed towards the finish line, and the Columbus Clippers remain mathematically alive in the wild-but-true twenty-team International League free-for-all.
Sure, more than a few things need to go right over the final five days of the regular season, but after the Clippers won 1-0 on Tuesday night, a path to the playoffs does exist.
Clippers Director of Media Operations & Statistics Anthony Slosser has identified the narrow path through countless computer simulations. Stay with us now - though the Clippers enter play on September 16 tied for 11th place with a second-half record of 35-33, there is a way that Columbus could shoot past all ten teams ahead in the standings before play concludes this Sunday.
To make the playoffs, ALL of the following must happen over the final five days of the regular season (assuming all games are played as scheduled):
🤞 Columbus must win all five remaining games against St. Paul
🤞 Buffalo must win all five remaining games against Rochester
🤞 Gwinnett must win all five remaining games against Indianapolis
🤞 Durham must win exactly three of the remaining five games against Worcester
🤞 Jacksonville must win at least four of the remaining five games against Scranton/WB
🤞 Lehigh Valley must win at least four of the remaining five games against Syracuse
🤞 Norfolk wins at least one game against Charlotte
🤞 Memphis wins at least one game against Nashville
🤞 Louisville wins at least one game against Toledo
If somehow, someway things play out that way, the Clippers would finish tied atop the standings with Worcester (and possibly also Scranton/WB), and Columbus would win the tiebreaker formula to prevail as the International League second-half champion.
Stranger things have happened, right?
The final homestand of the 2026 season continues on Five Dollar Wednesday at Huntington Park. First pitch is 6:35pm between the Clippers and Cubs and you can see the action for just five bucks. Special discounts are available for military and first responders and well as students. Get Clippers tickets with lower online fees than ever at ClippersBaseball.com.
