As we approach the end of the second half of the WCL regular season, the Bellingham Bells are contending for a playoff spot. With just four league games remaining ahead of tonight’s game against the Portland Pickles, let’s break down how Bellingham can find themselves competing for the 2021 WCL title.
The West Coast League divides itself into two halves for playoff seeding. Teams play a total of 48 league games in the regular season, divided into two 24-game halves. The WCL is also divided into two divisions, North and South.
Per the bylaws of the WCL, playoff berths are awarded to the first-half winner of each division. The next two playoff berths are either awarded to the second-half victor in each division, or the team with the best overall record over the year if the same team wins both halves. Bellingham is currently in the driver’s seat in both, with an opportunity to catch the Pippins and just games away from securing the top record. The Yakima Valley Pippins won the WCL North first half, and the Corvallis Knights won the WCL South.
The Bells lost two of three games against the Knights last weekend and have won the first two games against the Portland Pickles, looking for a sweep tonight.
Here are the updated WCL North second half standings as of August 5:
| North Division | W | L | PCT | GB | STREAK | LAST 10 | GP |
| Yakima Valley Pippins † | 10 | 7 | 0.588 | – | 3L | 6-4 | 17 |
| Bellingham Bells | 11 | 9 | 0.550 | 0.5 | 3W | 7-3 | 20 |
| Wenatchee AppleSox | 6 | 11 | 0.353 | 4 | 2W | 4-6 | 17 |
| Port Angeles Lefties | 5 | 12 | 0.294 | 5 | 2L | 3-7 | 17 |
| Walla Walla Sweets | 5 | 15 | 0.250 | 6.5 | 10L | 0-10 | 20 |
And here are the WCL North full season standings:
| North Division | W | L | PCT | GB | STREAK | LAST 10 | GP |
| Yakima Valley Pippins † | 25 | 16 | 0.610 | – | 3L | 6-4 | 41 |
| Bellingham Bells | 22 | 22 | 0.500 | 4.5 | 3W | 7-3 | 44 |
| Wenatchee AppleSox | 16 | 25 | 0.390 | 9 | 2W | 4-6 | 41 |
| Port Angeles Lefties | 14 | 30 | 0.318 | 12.5 | 2L | 3-7 | 44 |
| Walla Walla Sweets | 12 | 29 | 0.293 | 13 | 10L | 0-10 | 41 |
For the Bells to make the playoffs, they would either need to beat the Yakima Valley Pippins in the second half standings (0.5 games behind), or finish with a better overall than the other teams in the season-long standings. Bellingham has four games left to play in the WCL regular season.
The Bells have already secured a better overall record than the Port Angeles Lefties and the Walla Walla Sweets. Those two teams have not yet been eliminated from the playoff picture, but would need to win the WCL North second half to earn the berth.
Bellingham’s magic number to clinch a better overall record than the Wenatchee AppleSox is 2, and Wenatchee has 7 games to play. This means that if, over these last games, if Bellingham’s number of wins plus Wenatchee’s number of losses gets to 2, the Bells secure the better record and would earn a playoff berth.
(For example, if the Bells win one game and the AppleSox lose one game, the magic number is hit. Another scenario could be if the Bells lose two games and the AppleSox lose two games, or if the Bells win two).
Just a few more wins, and Bellingham can see them competing for their first WCL title since 2014. Tickets for the final non-league home series against the Highline Bears and tickets for any potential playoff games can be found at www.bellstickets.com