Cedar Rapids Kernels wrap up regular-season home schedule with, what else, a win

CEDAR RAPIDS — If you missed them Sunday afternoon, don’t worry. You still have at least one more chance to watch minor league baseball’s best team play at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Cedar Rapids Kernels concluded their regular-season home schedule with, what else, a win, this one 12-0 over Lake County on a steamy early September day.

Cedar Rapids ended the regular season equally steamy at its own ballpark, a 47-19 mark second in the minors only to fellow high-Class A member Bowling Green’s 41-16. The Hot Rods have a week of home games remaining this coming week.

“You always have the advantage at home,” said Kernels Manager Brian Dinkelman. “You are in surroundings you are used to, and also you have the last chance to score in games.”

The Kernels conclude the 2023 regular season with six games this coming week at Wisconsin. Then it’s a best-of-3 Midwest League Western Division championship playoff series against either Peoria or Wisconsin.

Game 1 will be Tuesday, Sept. 12, on the road. Game 2 will be Thursday, Sept. 14 in Cedar Rapids, with an if-necessary Game 3 the following night at Memorial Stadium. The Kernels won the first-half championship in the Western Division and entered Sunday five games up on second-place Peoria in the second half.

Piece those halves together, and you’ve got a ballclub that is 80-46 overall, a .635 winning percentage that is the best in MiLB. All of full-season MiLB.

“I just saw that today. Didn’t know that,” said Dinkelman. “We’ve played good baseball and won some games. Give credit to these guys and the rest of the coaching staff for helping them along. We’ve gone out and played well and won a few ballgames. An enjoyable season so far.

“The boys have done an amazing job and worked hard. We’ve done well as a team, and we’ve also had some good individual performances.”

This is the fourth-best winning percentage in modern-day Cedar Rapids club history, with modern day considered 1949 and beyond. The 2013 Kernels (a team that featured big leaguers Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco, Jose Berrios and Max Kepler, among others) went 88-50 (.638 winning percentage).

The Cedar Rapids Reds were 88-46 in 1990, a .657 winning percentage. The Cedar Rapids Cardinals had an 81-40 regular-season record in 1966, a .669 winning percentage.

Cedar Rapids’ last Midwest League championship was in 1994, so perhaps this is finally the year for another title for the city. Over in the Eastern Division, first-half winner Great Lakes is one of the playoff qualifiers, with West Michigan and Fort Wayne going into Sunday night tied for first place in the second half.

The Kernels won five of six games this week against Lake County, pretty much knocking the Captains out of the playoff chase. Starting pitcher Christian MacLeod threw five shutout innings and got plenty of offensive support, as C.R. scored three times each in the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.

Jose Salas went 4-for-4 with a walk, two runs and two RBI for the Kernels. Keoni Cavaco hit a three-run home run.

Both of those guys have been here all season and struggled, hitting under .200, so there’s another positive sign for the Kernels. There’s another week for Salas, Cavaco and everyone else to get fine tuned and pad their season statistics, then it’s go time.

“We played a good series,” Dinkelman said. “The only game we lost, we drew a ton of walks but just couldn’t get the big hit. A good series, a good way to finish up the home schedule.”

Regardless of what happens in the playoffs, this has been a fun team to watch. And obviously a winning team.

By the way, the Kernels drew 161,218 fans to Veterans Memorial Stadium this season, an average of 2,443 per game.

Comments: (319)-398-8258, jeff.johnson@thegazette.com