San Diego Section Baseball Playoffs : Top Teams Better Beware Because Titles Don’t Help in the Playoffs

SAN DIEGO — All eight of the county’s league champions will get the day off today as the 1988 San Diego Section baseball playoffs begin with eight first-round games.

That will give coaches time to scout possible opponents, set their pitching rotations for the week-long playoffs, and try to instill their players with the following thought:

Winning a league championship, if recent history is any indication, doesn’t mean a thing come playoff time.

Last season, six of the eight league champions were casualties in their first playoff games. In the 3-A playoffs last season, all four league champions (Granite Hills, Madison, Chula Vista and Orange Glen) were eliminated in the first round.

Escondido, last year’s Avocado League champion, won the 2-A title, but the Cougars were only the fourth-seeded team in the tournament. They were only 13-11 during the regular season.

So, this year’s best teams may have reason to beware.

In the 3-A playoffs, No. 1-seeded Helix (23-2) won its last 16 games to become the first Grossmont League team ever to go undefeated during league play. Second-seeded Madison (24-3) ran away with the otherwise competitive City Eastern League.

But they could be challenged by Mt. Carmel (20-10) and Santana (20-7). Those schools have met in three of the last four 3-A finals, with Santana winning twice. Mt. Carmel won the title last year. Santana plays today at Torrey Pines (21-4) and Mt. Carmel plays host to Bonita Vista (17-9).

Today’s other first-round 3-A matchups are Granite Hills (15-10) at Mira Mesa (17-8) and Sweetwater (15-12-1) at Grossmont (17-9).

Mission Bay and Castle Park are again the top-seeded teams in the 2-A. And both were knocked out of last year’s playoffs.

Mission Bay (22-3-1) lost to Escondido in the semifinals, and Castle Park (23-4-1), lost to Clairemont in the quarterfinals.

La Jolla (19-7), which finished second in the City Western League, opens at home today against Coronado (16-9). Defending 2-A champion Escondido (15-11) plays at University of San Diego High (15-10).

Other first-round 2-A games today are Hilltop (8-13) at San Pasqual (15-9) and San Marcos (13-9-2) at Hoover (18-9). All games begin at 3 p.m.