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Wayne Cavadi | NCAA.com | October 3, 2019

Here are the players from current DII baseball programs in the MLB postseason

Tampa wins the 2019 DII Baseball National Championship

October baseball is here and the MLB postseason is set to begin when the Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals square off in the National League Wild Card game on Oct. 1 at 8:08 p.m. ET.

There will be three former DII baseball players on the national stage in that ballgame, joining 15 other alums of DII programs on the rosters heading into the MLB playoffs. Let's take a look at how the rosters breakdown this October.

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DII baseball in the MLB playoffs: By the numbers

Before we get into the 18 former student-athletes, let's go beyond the box scores and take a peek at some numbers.

0.00 — Former Colorado Mesa pitcher Sergio Romo's career ERA in the three World Series he's appeared in, so far. This is Romo's fifth trip to the MLB postseason and first with the Minnesota Twins after being a key cog in the San Francisco Giants' run.

2 — Schools with multiple players represented. Slippery Rock has a pair of players in Oakland A's pitcher Lou Trivino and Nationals first baseman Matt Adams, while Nova Southeastern has a pair of pitchers in Oakland's Mike Fiers and St. Louis' Miles Mikolas. Fun fact: The two were teammates atop the 2009 Sharks' rotation with the big-hitting J.D. Martinez giving them plenty of run support. (Update: Trivino did not make the A's Wild Card roster).

3 — Most players rostered in the postseason. The Nationals have Matt Adams, Yan Gomes and Tanner Rainey listed on their NL Wild Card roster. One NL team also has three players on the current active roster, whoever the have not announced its NLDS roster just yet. The St. Louis Cardinals carry Ryan Helsley, Miles Mikolas, and Daniel Ponce de Leon. The Tampa Bay Rays had three on the roster — Emilio Pagan, Trevor Richards and Joey Wendell — in the American League, but Richards was left off the Wild Card roster.

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4 — Consecutive trips Yan Gomes has made to the playoffs. The former Barry star and 2009 Sunshine State Conference player of the year made three-straight trips with the Cleveland Indians before joining the Nationals this year.  

6 — Sunshine State Conference players represented on MLB playoff team rosters. Nova Southeastern leads the way with two players. Matt Joyce from Florida Southern, Tommy Kahnle from Lynn, Daniel Ponce de Leon from Embry-Riddle and Yan Gomes from Barry are the others with SSC roots. 

Nova Southeastern Athletics Mike Fiers and JD Martinez were teammates at Nova Southeastern.

12 — Former DII pitchers on MLB rosters this October. There are three outfielders and one first baseman, second baseman and catcher making up the list.

18 —  Total players from current DII programs in the postseason. That's up five from last season.

20 — Saves recorded by former Belmont Abbey pitcher Emilio Pagán in 2019. That led the Tampa Bay bullpen. 

MLB postseason: The complete list of DII baseball players in the playoffs

Here are the former college baseball players by playoff team, listed by the school's current affiliation in the DII. Positions and colleges were taken from MLB.com's official active rosters at the end of regular season play on Oct. 1. We will keep tabs as playoff rosters are cut to 25 and update and note any changes, should they occur.

Player Position MLB Team School
Matt Joyce OF Atlanta Braves Florida Southern
Nick Markakis OF Atlanta Braves Young Harris*
Kyle Garlick OF Los Angeles Dodgers Cal Poly Pomona
Randy Dobnak P Minnesota Twins Alderson Broaddus
Sergio Romo P Minnesota Twins Colorado Mesa
Tommy Kahnle P New York Yankees Lynn
Mike Fiers P Oakland A's Nova Southeastern
Lou Trivino P Oakland A's Slippery Rock
Ryan Helsley P St. Louis Cardinals Northeastern State
Miles Mikolas P St. Louis Cardinals Nova Southeastern
Daniel Ponce de Leon P St. Louis Cardinals Embry-Riddle
Emilio Pagan P Tampa Bay Rays Belmont Abbey
Trevor Richards P Tampa Bay Rays Drury
Joey Wendle 2B Tampa Bay Rays West Chester
Matt Adams 1B Washington Nationals Slippery Rock
Yan Gomes C Washington Nationals Barry
Kyle McGowin P Washington Nationals  Savannah State +
Tanner Rainey P Washington Nationals West Alabama
* = was NAIA school when player attended.
+ = was Division I when player attended.
BOLD = Did not make the WIld Card roster.
Italics = Did not make Division Series roster.

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