What to know as the Lexington Legends begin their playoff run
Playoff baseball comes to Lexington on Tuesday night.
That’s when the Lexington Legends will play their first home playoff game of 2021 in pursuit of the team’s fourth championship.
The four-team 2021 postseason for the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball will feature a North Division series between the Long Island Ducks and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, and a South Division series between the Legends and the Charleston Dirty Birds.
The Dirty Birds were formerly known as the West Virginia Power before rebranding in late September.
The winners of the Ducks-Blue Crabs and Legends-Dirty Birds series will meet in the five-game Atlantic League championship series.
The division series are each best-of-three contests to determine which teams will advance to the championship series.
Both division series begin Monday night, with Game 1 of the Lexington-Charleston series taking place in Charleston, West Virginia, at 6:05 p.m.
Tuesday’s home game at Lexington Legends Ballpark will have the first pitch at 6:31 p.m. and will also feature a Brandon Phillips bobblehead giveaway.
The playoff game will have a “Pumpkin Playoffs” theme, with pregame activities and a first pitch thrown by Kentucky basketball sophomore guard Dontaie Allen.
Tickets for Tuesday night’s game range online from $5 to $24.
If a Game 3 is needed on Wednesday in Lexington, the first pitch would also be at 6:31 p.m.
Both Long Island and Lexington qualified for the playoffs after leading their respective divisions at the season’s midway point. In the first half of the season the Legends went 35-25.
During the second half of the Atlantic League season, pitchers threw from an increased pitching distance of 61 feet, 6 inches.
Lexington had a winning season overall in 2021, the team’s ninth winning season since its inaugural campaign in 2001.
While the Legends struggled in the second half of the regular season, outfielder Courtney Hawkins was named the Atlantic League’s September Player of the Month after batting .412 with 18 home runs and 36 RBI, and recording 47 hits last month.
This is the Legends’ first season in the eight-team Atlantic League.
Last December, the Legends lost their attachment to MLB’s farm system, which the team had held since 2001. In February, the team announced its move to the Atlantic League, an independent league but also an official MLB partner league.
Brandon Phillips, a former MLB All-Star and Gold Glove-winning second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds, is a player and part-owner of the Legends.
In August, Phillips told the Herald-Leader that he expected the Legends to be successful during his first season as part of the team’s ownership.
Brandon’s brother, P.J. Phillips, is the Legends’ manager.
“We’re all here just to play a game that we love, try to win,” Brandon Phillips said. “I want to stay on top. I’d like to be like the 1990 Reds man, wire-to-wire (champions).”
The format for the best-of-five Atlantic League championship series features Game 1 and Game 2 on Friday and Saturday at the winner of the North Division series, with Game 3 on Monday at either Lexington or Charleston.
Game 4 and Game 5 of the championship series, if necessary, would also be played in either Lexington or Charleston.
