{"id":4146,"date":"2026-05-11T13:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T13:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146"},"modified":"2026-05-11T13:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T13:18:18","slug":"santa-margarita-baseball-is-prepared-for-the-cif-ss-playoffs-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146","title":{"rendered":"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Santa Margarita\u2019s baseball team finished in last place in the Trinity League, but the Eagles kept practicing even after their final regular-season game.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4145\">Runners beat a path to 22nd annual OC Marathon finish<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Because you never know.<\/p>\n<p>The Eagles know now that their season isn\u2019t over \u2014 it will continue in the CIF Southern Section playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>Santa Margarita found out Friday that it received an at-large spots in the Division 2 bracket of the playoffs. The Eagles (15-13 overall) will play a first-round game Thursday at Rancho Christian in Temecula. Rancho Christian (22-4 overall) won the Sunbelt League championship.<\/p>\n<p>Teams have to earn one of their league\u2019s automatic spots in the playoffs or they can get into the playoffs as an at-large team \u2014 if a spot in the bracket is available \u2014 if they have an overall record that is .500 or better.<\/p>\n<p>Santa Margarita got one of the three at-large berths in Division 2.<\/p>\n<p>The CIF-SS used the Massey Ratings System to place teams into the nine playoff divisions and to seed them. Rankings are used for the same purpose in other CIF-SS sports, including football, basketball and softball.<\/p>\n<p>Strength of schedule is important to a team\u2019s rating, so playing in the mighty Trinity League did influence Santa Margarita\u2019s rating number even though the Eagles finished last in league.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Thousand Oaks was Santa Margarita\u2019s top competition for Division 2\u2019s final at-large berth. Thousand Oaks was above Santa Margarita in the ratings going into Tuesday \u2013 Thousand Oaks had a rating of 8.159, Santa Margarita was at 8.116.<\/p>\n<p>Santa Margarita beat Capistrano Valley 9-0 on Tuesday; Thousand Oaks played its final regular-season game May 1. The final day of the regular season was Wednesday, and that was when Santa Margarita rose above Thousand Oaks in the ratings \u2013 Santa Margarita finished with a rating of 8.142; Thousand Oaks 8.115.<\/p>\n<p>Santa Margarita coach Chris Malec said he gave the team\u2019s players two days off before resuming practice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to be caught scrambling if we got the opportunity to be in the playoffs,\u201d Malec said. \u201cSo we decided to have some fun practices, just to be prepared if we got the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>CIF-SS assistant commissioner Joe Hoggatt, in charge of the section\u2019s management of the baseball playoffs, said Saturday afternoon that he had not reviewed the tiny changes in the ratings for Santa Margarita and Thousand Oaks and the dozens of other baseball teams that had altered numbers over 48 hours.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4144\">Status Update: Mother\u2019s Market opens in Dana Point; MemorialCare taps new CEO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Most of the queries Hoggatt received Saturday morning were about why a league champion was playing a first-round away game against a team that had finished lower in its league\u2019s standings. For decades, a league champion was guaranteed a first-round home game. Now, when two teams meet in the first round, the team with the higher rating is the home team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeague finishes are still important to playoff eligibility,\u201d Hoggatt said. \u201cBut that\u2019s about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>DIVISION 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Division 1 playoffs have 16 teams this season and start out in a pool-play format. Each team is guaranteed two games.<\/p>\n<p>The Division 1 pools in order of seeding:<\/p>\n<p>Pool A: Norco, Notre Dame\/SO, Ayala, Maranatha.<\/p>\n<p>Pool B: Harvard-Westlake, Temecula Valley, Huntington Beach, La Mirada.<\/p>\n<p>Pool C: Sierra Canyon, St. John Bosco, Cypress, Oaks Christian.<\/p>\n<p>Pool D: Orange Lutheran, Corona, Etiwanda, Corona Santiago.<\/p>\n<p>For the Orange County teams in Division 1, the opening matchups are: Huntington Beach at Temecula Valley, Cypress at St. John Bosco, and Orange Lutheran plays Corona Santiago at Hart Park. All games are at 3:15 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Orange Lutheran often plays night games at Hart Park, but Tuesday\u2019s game has a 3:15 p.m. start.<\/p>\n<p>In each pool the winners of Tuesday\u2019s games will play each other Friday. The teams that emerge from Friday at 2-0 advance to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n<p>The losers of Tuesday\u2019s games will play each other Friday, too. The teams that emerge from Friday at 0-2 are eliminated.<\/p>\n<p>The 1-1 teams play each other May 19. The winners of those games advance to the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n<p>The winners in the quarterfinals advance to the semifinals (May 26), the winners of the semifinals advance to the final, which will be played May 29 or 30.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re looking at the top 16 teams in the section there,\u201d Hoggatt said of the Division 1 group. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be fun to watch how it all plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4143\">5 new Orange County restaurants and food spots to put on your radar<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Santa Margarita continued to practice after the regular season ended, just in case it got an opportunity in the playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facts","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs - Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Santa Margarita continued to practice after the regular season ended, just in case it got an opportunity in the playoffs.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-11T13:18:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"headline\":\"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-11T13:18:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146\"},\"wordCount\":762,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/594c704475d8e8b3c892a8735ce57657.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Facts\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146\",\"name\":\"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs - Silicon Valley Moving Post\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/594c704475d8e8b3c892a8735ce57657.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-11T13:18:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/594c704475d8e8b3c892a8735ce57657.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/594c704475d8e8b3c892a8735ce57657.webp\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":633},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=4146#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs - Silicon Valley Moving Post","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs - Silicon Valley Moving Post","og_description":"Santa Margarita continued to practice after the regular season ended, just in case it got an opportunity in the playoffs.","og_url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146","og_site_name":"Silicon Valley Moving Post","article_published_time":"2026-05-11T13:18:18+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7"},"headline":"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs","datePublished":"2026-05-11T13:18:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146"},"wordCount":762,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/594c704475d8e8b3c892a8735ce57657.webp","articleSection":["Facts","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146","url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146","name":"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs - Silicon Valley Moving Post","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/594c704475d8e8b3c892a8735ce57657.webp","datePublished":"2026-05-11T13:18:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/594c704475d8e8b3c892a8735ce57657.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/594c704475d8e8b3c892a8735ce57657.webp","width":1024,"height":633},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=4146#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Santa Margarita baseball is prepared for the CIF-SS playoffs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/","name":"Silicon Valley Moving Post","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/#\/schema\/person\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com"],"url":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}