Published in the August 10, 2020 edition.

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — Most would say the Unknowns have a tremendous opportunity tonight. I say it depends on your perspective.

If you’re one point out of a playoff spot and just one win away from taking second in the Twi League, then sure it’s a great opportunity.

But if you’re one of the poor souls who volunteered years ago to help run the league and are still stuck with figuring out the four who will make the postseason, then you might argue the Highlife have a pretty big opportunity as well – an opportunity to make this nice and simple.

The Life already won the shortened eight-game regular season title, their 12 points good for a full two games ahead of second place. Which brings us to our annual Twi predicament: There are currently three teams tied for second with eight points each. The Unknowns are in 5th place with seven points. So, a Highlife win tonight, 5:45 p.m. at Moulton Park, and the four are set: Life, Loafers, Slappers and Brewers.

An Unknowns win? Here we go.

What we do know is the Highlife and Unknowns would have the first and second seeds, respectively.

How the league would determine which two of the three tied teams make it in is currently for lack of a better word, unknown.

Based on last year’s home stretch in which all six teams had a chance for a playoff appearance going into the final game, the tiebreaker is first based on head-to-head matchups.

That’s obviously a problem when you have three teams tied. The Brewers are 2-0 against the Loafers but 0-2 against the Slappers after Friday night’s 12-4 Slap victory threw a wrench in the works. The Loafers beat the Slappers in their only matchup this season.

Up next is run differential. The Loafers lead the group with a +14 followed by a +11 for the Slappers and a +6 for the Brewers. In this case, Friday’s eight-run Slapper win would prove to be the difference as the Brewers would be the odd men out.

The Twi isn’t exactly known for its rabid fans, so if you hear any “Let’s go Highlife” chants sounding out at Moulton tonight, odds are they’re coming from members of the Brew Crew.

An Unknown victory isn’t even the worse case scenario for those league deciders. The Highlife and Unknowns met for the first time a week ago on Aug. 3. The result? You guessed it, a 2-2 tie.

Please no.

Of course, that would put four teams tied at eight points.

Let’s not even go down that road.