By Ray Hamill — The results are in and we have a clear favorite for this year’s Big 5 in baseball.

Last week, we asked our readers who they thought would win the league title and close to 300 fans responded, with the two defending co-champs pulling in more than 50 percent of all votes cast between them.

The clear favorites are the Eureka Loggers, who received 31 percent of the votes, with the Arcata Tigers second favorites after receiving 22.5 percent of the votes.

The Loggers certainly appear to have the pitching and depth to contend for the championship under first-year head coach Shannon Rodgers.

But don’t expect the Tigers to give up their title without a fight, and a young team will continue to improve under veteran head coach Troy Ghisetti.

The two teams face off in a key league-opening series this week, with a single game at Bomber Field in Eureka on Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. and a doubleheader at Arcata on Saturday.

The battle for third, according to our readers, could go right down to the wire, with little to separate the next three teams in our poll.

The McKinleyville Panthers, who have looked competitive in limited action so far this season, received 17.5 percent of the votes cast, followed by Del Norte and Fortuna, which received 14.5 percent of the votes each.

McKinleyville will host Fortuna in both team’s league openers on Wednesday afternoon, while Del Norte has an opening-week bye.