Baseball: City Section playoff pairings set for Monday

The City Section will announce its baseball playoff pairings on Monday night.

It’s almost certain that Chatsworth will be the No. 1 seed in Division I and El Camino Real the No. 2 seed. They were the co-West Valley League champions. Chatsworth won a coin flip to be entered as the top team from the league.

They are heavily favored to reach the championship game on May 28 at Dodger Stadium. But what makes this year’s tournament very interesting is that there are lots of teams that can win one playoff game. There aren’t many that can win consecutive playoff games.

In other words, there are dangerous teams that have one good pitcher and only a few that have multiple good pitchers.

Among the teams that no one wants to face in a first-round matchup are Granada Hills and pitcher Chris Murphy; Poly and comeback pitcher Danny Pimienta; Roosevelt and Kenny Gallegos; San Fernando and sophomore pitcher Steven Villagran.

Matchups are going to be critical. Chatsworth and El Camino Real have their own pitching decisions to make. Tommy Palomera, who missed several weeks with a knee injury, is back pitching for the Chancellors. They’ll have to decide whether he returns as a starter and supports Josh Garcia and Ryan Roche. El Camino Real has ace Jeremy Polon starting to pitch well, but who’s going to be No. 2 and the first off the bench among Jordan Berg, James Terrazas and Jose Campos?

Cleveland got beat twice in mercy rule games in recent weeks, then knocked off El Camino Real to end the season. Is Sam Villa back pitching the way he had been earlier in the season?

Has Birmingham found a two-pitcher lineup of Alexis Miranda and Isaac Meza to carry the Patriots to Dodger Stadium?

Is Banning, with a 12-game winning streak, ready to challenge the San Fernando Valley teams?

Can Venice or Palisades from the Western League make it to the semifinals?

Can Kennedy, under rookie coach Marcus Alvarado, put together a string of quality playoff performances?

In Division II, South Gate, Locke, Roybal, Chavez and West Adams are expected to be the top seeds.

In Division III, Community Charter is unbeaten.

Division I and II wild-card games are scheduled for Thursday, with first-round games May 17.

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