Cedar Rapids Kernels begin Midwest League playoff trek

CEDAR RAPIDS - It’s old hat for one of these franchises. For the other, it’s something that hasn’t happened in awhile.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels and Beloit Sky Carp play each other in the Midwest League championship series that begins Tuesday night. The first game of the best-of-3 set is in Wisconsin, with Game 2 at Veterans Memorial Stadium on Thursday night at 6:35.

A deciding Game 3 would be Friday night in C.R.

This is the first postseason appearance for Beloit since 2018. The Kernels are in the playoffs for the 11th time in 12 seasons as an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.

Cedar Rapids was the 2023 Midwest League champ. The Eastern Division finals see West Michigan play Lake County.

West Michigan had a minor league best 92-39 record in the regular season. Lake County is the MWL defending champion.

“A lot of these guys, they have never played this many games in a season in their life,” Kernels Manager Brian Meyer said before the team concluded the regular season with six games last week at Quad Cities. “The fatigue thing is real, and we’re not the only ones dealing with it. It’s everybody. At this point of the year, it’s about resilience and mental toughness and overcoming things, because your brain is going to want to quit before your body does. And we want to make sure we remain mentally strong so we can finish strong and go into the playoffs playing good baseball.”

The Kernels qualified for the playoffs with a first-half division title. They went 32-34 in the second half to finish 72-60 overall.

Beloit won the second-half division championship with a 38-27 record, finishing 68-63 overall. Cedar Rapids won the season series between the teams, 14-10, splitting six games recently at C.R.

As it is in the minor leagues, the clubs are vastly different than they were even a month ago. The Kernels have had a ton of player movement necessitated by injuries and trades at the major league level.

For instance, catcher Eduardo Tait was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies organization in a deal that involved big league closer Jhoan Duran. Shortstop Marek Houston, Minnesota’s top draft pick in late July, came to Cedar Rapids from low-Class A Fort Myers last month, though he missed the final three games of the regular season with an apparent injury.

Meanwhile, Beloit has nine players who were 2025 draft picks of its parent club, the Miami Marlins. That includes starting position players Aiva Arquette (first-round shortstop, No. 6 overall), catcher Wilson Weber and outfielders Cam Cannarella and Brandon Compton.

Meyer said Cedar Rapids will go with right-hander Jose Olivares as its Game 1 starter. He went 6-6 with a 4.38 earned run average in the regular season and is coming off a dominating outing last week against Quad Cities in which he gave up just one hit and an unearned run in six innings, striking out 10.

The manager said he has been told Beloit will counter with righty Aiden May, a Competitive Balance B-round pick last month out of Oregon State. He had not officially been added to Beloit’s roster as of late Tuesday afternoon, having pitched most recently with low-A Jupiter.

“Be ready for opening pitch Tuesday,” Meyer said about his message to his team.

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