Captains and Dragons Meet in 2024 Midwest League East Division Championship Series

DAYTON, OH – The Lake County Captains (77-53) and Dayton Dragons (74-58), the High-A Affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, meet in a best-of-three series for the Midwest League East Division title and a trip to the Midwest League Championship Series starting Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. from Day Air Ballpark in Dayton, Ohio.

MWL EAST CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES DATES/TIMES

• Game 1 | Tuesday, September 10 | 7:05 p.m. ET | Day Air Ballpark | Dayton, Ohio
• Game 2 | Thursday, September 12 | 6:35 p.m. ET | Classic Auto Group Park | Eastlake, Ohio
• Game 3 (if necessary) | Friday, September 13 | 6:35 p.m. ET | Classic Auto Group Park | Eastlake, Ohio

SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER

• Lake County makes its sixth playoff appearance in the Midwest League and eighth total, appearing twice in the South Atlantic League postseason in 2003 and 2008 before joining the Midwest League in 2010.
• The Captains are 18-14 in the Midwest League playoffs, winning the 2010 Midwest League Championship and making two additional championship round appearances in 2014 and 2022.
• Dayton makes its first Midwest League playoff appearance since 2017 and its eighth since moving from Rockford, Illinois in 2000. The Dragons are 11-16 in the MWL postseason since 2000, looking for their first Midwest League Championship.

THE BEST IN THE MIDWEST

• Lake County finished the 2024 campaign with a .592 winning percentage, the best overall mark in the Midwest League.
• The Captains have owned the top winning percentage in the MWL in two of the last three seasons, earning the league’s third-best record in that span (218-170).

A REGULAR SEASON TO REMEMBER

• Lake County’s 77 wins are tied with the 2010 Midwest League Championship team for the second-most wins in single season franchise history.
• Only the 2003 Captains had more wins (97), making the South Atlantic League Championship Series before falling to Low-A Rome.

SCOUTING DAYTON

• The Dragons won the MWL East Second Half title, going 40-26 in that span. Since June 1, Dayton’s 50-33 record is the best in the Midwest League and tied for ninth in Minor League Baseball.
• Dayton leads the Midwest League with 114 home runs and have five hitters with 10-plus homers hit.
• Since July 1, the Dragons are averaging 4.7 runs per game, the most in the Midwest League in that span.

2024 VERSUS DAYTON

• Lake County is 9-9 against Dayton and 6-3 at Classic Auto Group Park.
• On July 5, Lake County scored a franchise record 20 runs in a 20-1 win, the largest margin of victory in franchise history (since 2003).
• RHP Carter Spivey is 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA, 22 strikeouts and seven walks in four starts against the Dragons. LHP Matt Wilkinson, MLB Pipeline’s No. 30 Cleveland prospect, is 1-1 with a 1.32 ERA, 19 strikeouts and nine walks in three starts.

5 PLAYERS TO KNOW – LAKE COUNTY

• LHP Matt Wilkinson, MLB Pipeline’s No. 30 Cleveland prospect, leads Minor League Baseball with a 37.6% strikeout percentage and 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings. His 1.90 ERA and .169 opposing average are second in MiLB.
• INF Angel Genao, MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 Cleveland and No. 89 overall prospect, leads the Cleveland player development system and is third in Minor League Baseball with 135 hits. He is the first Minor Leaguer with a .330 average, 35 doubles and 25 stolen bases through the first 132 team games of a season since OF Adam Eaton (Double-A Mobile/Triple-A Reno) in 2012.
• RHP Carter Spivey finished tied for first in the MWL with 11 quality starts and second with a 3.32 ERA, trailing only former teammate and current Double-A Akron RHP Trenton Denholm. Spivey’s 1.13 ERA against Dayton is his lowest against any MWL team this year.
• 2B Travis Bazzana, MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 Cleveland and No. 12 overall prospect, is batting .275 (19-for-69) with an .824 OPS, two homers and seven RBI since August 13. His 4.262 pitches per plate appearance are the sixth-most in the MWL among hitters with 120-plus plate appearances.
• OF Jonah Advincula is riding an eight-game hitting streak, tied for the longest active hitting streak in the MWL to close the regular season. His .515 on-base percentage in his final eight games led the MWL in that span.

5 PLAYERS TO KNOW – DAYTON

• INF Cam Collier, MLB Pipeline’s No. 5 Cincinnati and No. 100 overall prospect, finished the regular season second in the MWL in home runs (20) and RBI (74). On August 23 versus Cedar Rapids, Collier hit three home runs, the first three-homer game by a Dragon since C Pabel Manzanero on April 23, 2019 versus Lake County.
• OF Hector Rodriguez, MLB Pipeline’s No. 12 Cincinnati prospect, closed the regular season second in the MWL with 43 extra-base hits. Since August 15, his 29 hits are tied for second-most in the MWL.
• RHP Ryan Cardona ended the regular season ranking fifth in the MWL with 120 strikeouts, posting a 1.88 ERA in his last nine starts. His 3.29 ERA ranked second among MWL pitchers with 100-plus innings pitched.
• OF Ethan O’Donnell leads the Midwest League with 47 hits since August 1. In that span, he is batting .343 (47-for-137) with a .966 OPS, six home runs and 24 RBI.
• INF Leo Balcazar, MLB Pipeline’s No. 29 Cincinnati prospect, is batting .333 (22-for-66) since August 20, tied with teammate Ethan O’Donnell for seventh in the MWL in that span.