Hot Rods shortstop Jake Cronenworth fields a ground ball during their win over Fort Wayne on Monday, Sept. 5, 2016, at Bowling Green Ballpark. (Austin Anthony / photo@bgdailynews.com)

After a historic regular season, the Bowling Green Hot Rods will look to rewrite the franchise’s postseason history when BG plays at Great Lakes (Mich.) in the opening round of the Midwest League playoffs at 6:05 p.m. CDT on Wednesday.

The best-of-three series will return to Bowling Green Ballpark for Game 2 at 6:35 p.m. on Thursday with Game 3 scheduled for 6:35 p.m. on Friday at Bowling Green Ballpark if necessary. 

Bowling Green enters the postseason with plenty of confidence, winning a franchise record 84 games. The Hot Rods cruised to the Midwest League second half Eastern Division championship and are 45-17 since July 1.

Now Bowling Green will try to do something that the franchise hasn’t done since its move to BG in 2009 – win a playoff game.

The Hot Rods are 0-6 all-time in the postseason, getting swept by Fort Wayne (Ind.) in 2011 and 2013 and swept by Lake County (Ohio) in 2012. Four of the six losses have been by three runs or more, with Bowling Green never holding the lead at the end of an inning in any point in the six games. BG has only led twice total, taking 1-0 leads against Lake County and Fort Wayne in 2013. Lake County tied the game in the bottom of the inning after BG took the lead in 2012 and Fort Wayne scored two runs in the bottom the inning to answer the Hot Rods run in 2013.

Bowling Green doesn’t want to think about the past, instead focusing on what the Hot Rods can do in this series.

“I think we are really confident,” first baseman Kewby Meyer said. “You just have to take it day by day and pitch by pitch. It’s the ones that focus on that instead of the outcome that will usually come out on top.”

Great Lakes presents a challenge for the Hot Rods, with the Loons also entering the postseason with confidence after a strong close to the regular season.  At 64-75, Great Lakes is the only sub .500 team in the Midwest League playoffs, but the Loons finished 18-7 in the final 25 games to overtake Lansing and win the second-half wildcard. 

The teams were evenly matched in the regular season, with Bowling Green taking the season series 8-6. Pitching dominated on both sides, with the Hot Rods hitting .209 and Great Lakes hitting .213 as a team. The Hot Rods’ best two hitters in the season series – Joe McCarthy and Michael Russell – are not on the roster.

That puts the emphasis on pitching and the Hot Rods feel like they have the right guy with right-hander Jose Mujica (8-4, 3.46) scheduled to start the opener.

Mujica had a string of nine straight quality starts end in his last start when he went three innings in a tune-up for the playoffs. He’s 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA in two starts against Great Lakes.

 “It’s a good advantage for us because he is pitching well for us right now,” Bowling Green manager Reinaldo Ruiz said. “He was the right guy. We tried to do everything we could to have him (start) the first game of the playoffs. The good thing is we clinched early and was able to set it up so we had Mujica the first game of the playoffs.”

The Hot Rods’ Game 2 starter is to be announced, but it lines up for lefty Genesis Cabrera (11-5, 3.88) returning to the 25-man roster. Official rosters aren’t announced until 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Right-hander Blake Bivens (8-4, 2.52) would likely start Game 3 if needed.

The Loons’ tentative rotation is hard-throwing Cuban right-hander Yadier Alvarez (3-2, 2.29) in the opener, with a pair of Vanderbilt products – Jordan Sheffield and Walker Beuhler – expected to start Games 2 and 3. 

The Hot Rods beat Alvarez on Aug. 21, scoring two runs in four innings, but haven’t faced Sheffield or Beuhler. 

Ruiz said anything can happen in the playoffs, but he thinks his team is ready to add to its historic season.

“At the beginning, we didn’t know that we were going to break any franchise records this year,” Ruiz said. “Hopefully we can continue to do that in the playoffs. We’ll see how it goes. We are ready. We have a lot of energy and we want to win for this franchise.”

 — Follow Hot Rods reporter Micheal Compton on Twitter @mcompton428 or visit bgdailynews.com.