Ruben "Streak" Souffront and the Denver Brewers
 

(Okay, bear with me please as this is my first attempt at including screenshots in a posting.)

As a new convert to the OOTP way of life back in the Autumn of 2017, I found myself looking at all of the fun ways the game could be played, all of the variations of projects I could see myself getting fascinated by. But at first the one type of game I was skeptical about my ability to become immersed in was a universe populated entirely of fictional baseball players.

Still, wanting to play around with the game a bit and explore I did set up a fictional league, based upon MLB structure and strategies of 1965 (the year I was born), largely with default settings. A pretty vanilla affair. And just for fun I went ahead a took over the reins of the Denver Brewers, which the AI had created (had no Denver team been randomly created, I wonder if I would have ever moved forward at all with this league) and proceeded to the inaugural draft. Fortunately, I had inherited a scouting director with a good reputation, one of the few members of the organization's front office personnel and coaching staffs to not be inexperienced or have a poor reputation. So, relying a great deal on his guidance, I drafted my Brewers team. And, moving very slowly (kind of like this post- sorry), I started to put together a team that I didn't hate. And then Round 17 came and I drafted this guy: (see below)
(Oh, hey, that worked. Cool.) (Well, sort of worked. Not sure how to get this text below the attached image. I'll keep learning.)
And something about this cat that suddenly made me think- I really like this guy. And at that point it occurred to me that this fictional league concept might be alright after all.
As you can see, Streak Souffront is likely no superstar in the making. He's a super-speedy RF with decent enough defensive skills who should be able to hit enough to stick in the majors (though he really needs to develop his plate discipline) and some really great character traits that should serve him well. What it is about him that makes me like him so much more than other players is hard to define. Might even be his face- he just looks like a smart and likable guy.

(A few quick notes before I move on: as you probably have gathered I am using a 1-10 ratings system, not the commonly used 20-80 system that more closely aligns with real-life scouting. It's just more comfortable for me at this time. And when I set up this league I didn't think things through very well and not only is set-up and strategies based upon 1965 MLB but so are statistical modifiers. More on that soon. Oh, and the league is called the W.P. Kinsella League. And that I will also elaborate on below.)
But here we go. With Mr. Souffront and several other promising youngsters and a few solid veterans on board, I was ready (well, almost ready) to plunge into the world of OOTP fictional simulations. More to follow.

deleted. whoops.

To set the context a bit:
The Denver Brewers play in the Moonlight Graham League which is one of two sub-leagues under the umbrella moniker of the W.P. Kinsella Baseball League (or WPK for short.)
The other sub-league is the Shoeless Joe League.
(In future these leagues will generally be referred to as the MGL and the SJL.)

As stated above, the WPK came into existence in 1965 and in many way mirrors MLB of that year. Which is to say that each sub-league has 10 teams and at the end of the regular season the two teams that finish first in their sub-leagues face each other in a 7-game World Series for the title of WPK Champion. It is also to say that the inaugural season of the WPK, like MLB in 1965, was one in which pitching generally dominated.

The Denver Brewers, upon inspection following the inaugural player draft, seemed to be a team built around pitching and speed primarily, as well as solid defense, particularly in the outfield. With several young players pressed into duty on the big league club perhaps a bit prematurely (including Streak Souffront) and a few aging players likely in decline, it was not clear whether the offense would contribute enough to keep the Brewers from finishing in a second division spot in the standings.
Pre-season predictions pegged them solidly in the middle of the MGL, with a predicted record of 79 wins and 83 losses, well behind the predicted MGL winner, the Brewers arch-rival's, the Phoenix Speed Devils.
But with a number of young players in the lineup and a few in the rotation and bullpen, it seemed it would at least prove to be an interesting, and possibly exciting, season of baseball in the Mile High City.

One challenge for me as the G.M. and Manager of the Brewers is the owner, who is not only an economizer who is highly focused on winning, but is a meddler to boot. This has put the organization under great strain economically, as we have the lowest budget in all of the WPK while also carrying one of the highest player payrolls at the major league level (below you will see it at #1, but most of season was at #3). On the plus side, he is a patient man and thus far he reports being largely happy with my performance.

At this juncture I should probably say that the first season of the WPK (1965) is in the books, a champion has been crowned, post-season awards have been announced and arbitration and the free agency filing dates are rapidly approaching.
A good number of Brewers prospects are currently competing in the Arizona Fall League (as members of the Surprise Saguaros), and several of them are faring quite well indeed.

This thread will primarily concern itself with what comes next and will follow in particular the career path of our man (well, my man, anyway) Ruben Souffront. With any luck he and the Brewers will be travelling on an upward path together. But that remains to be seen.

But first, in the next several posts, I will provide a bit of narrative about how the 1965 season unfolded and set the stage for the continuing drama of the WPK, the Denver Brewers, and Streak Souffront.

April 1965:
Things got off to a fairly predictable start for the Brewers as they finished the month of April (with several games postponed by inclement weather) at 7-7.
As expected, the starting pitching was very good indeed as they were 2nd in the league in starter's ERA at 2.18. (The bullpen was a bit less effective, but also hadn't been used much yet.) On the other hand, concerns about the offense proved to be warranted as the team was dead last in the MGL in both batting average (.183) and OBP (.242). It was becoming clear that 1965 would be the Year of the Pitcher in the WPK, but even by the anemic standards of the season to that point, this was pathetic. However, the Brewers were surprisingly 2nd in the league in HR's, largely due to the exploits of veteran RF/1B-man Mark Compton, who finished the month hitting .271 with 5 HR's and 9 RBI's.
The Brewers finished the month in 5th place in the MGL, 4 games behind the 1st place Los Angeles Spinners.

May 1965:
The month of May started on a very high note indeed, especially when the Brewers put a complete drubbing on the Brooklyn Aces, 18-1, at the Brooklyn Grounds on May 4th. Young second baseman, Tanner Yurek, led the attack with a 4-4 day in which he clubbed 4 HR's, driving in 7 of the Brewer's runs.
Unfortunately, the month ended with a thud, as the Brewers dropped 12 of the last 16 games to finish the month at 14-18.
Their season record at that point was 21-25 and they had fallen to 7th place in the MGL, now 10 games behind the 1st place L.A. Spinners.
(Note: preseason predictions had the Spinners finishing a solid 4th with 88 wins, but at this stage of the season they looked quite a bit better than that.)

May 1965- addendum
On May 9th the Brewers made the first trade of the franchise's history, sending young minor league infielder Arturo Baca to the San Francisco Velocity for minor league starting pitcher Jon Goldman and minor league relief pitcher Jim Harrison. Not a blockbuster trade to be sure, but one that the Brewers may eventually regret. With a budding star Tanner Yurek at second base and several good middle infield prospects in the pipeline, and with an aging starting staff and not much promise on the horizon in the organization at that position, it was thought a risk worth taking. At this point it doesn't look like a great decision, but the organization is hopeful that it might still work out alright in the end.

But wait, what about Ruben Souffront, you may ask? Yes, of course. Sorry to be remiss.
Streak Souffront was proving to be, well, a bit streaky thus far. But he had put together enough good stretches with the bat that even though he was only hitting .227, he was among the team leaders in RBI with 17, had hit 5 doubles, 5 triples, and 3 HR's, and had stolen 8 bases. He was playing solid defense in right field and was earning his playing time.

June 1965:
June swoon, you say? Not for our Brewers, who would have their best month of the season, going 20-12.
After having dropped to 4 games below .500 on the last day of May, the Brewers reeled off 6 straight wins. In spite of losing 3 of 4 to the first place L.A. Spinners in the second week of June, the Brewers had a great mid-month when they went 7-1 the week of June 14th-June 20th, including taking a double-header from the dreaded Spinners (and splitting the last 2 games of the 4 game series.)
It was young LF'er Antonio Puente's turn to be in the spotlight as the MGL's Player-of-the-Week that week as he started to display his great potential with the bat and the glove. (Tanner Yurek had earlier taken such honors during the week in which he had the 4-HR game.)
The Brewers end the month of June with a season record of 41-37, in a virtual tie for 3rd place with the Detroit Falcons, and now 5 games behind the league leading Spinners.

As a (Milwaukee) Brewers fan I really like this story :)

So what about this starting pitching staff that had done so well for the Brewers this season and kept them in the race. Who are these guys?
Well, they are led by a trio of veterans, with the outspoken elder statesman, Jason Lawson the ace of the staff. Workhorse lefty Alex Burley provides valuable consistency. Jeff Burdick, who was the Brewers very first pick in the inaugural draft (16th overall), has been a disappointment and it now seems his best year are in the past, but he does provide smarts and another lefty arm in a park that favors left-handed hitters.

The starting staff is rounded out with two youngsters: Miguel Campos, a fireballer who struggles with control issues and allows too many HR's, but shows flashes of great potential, and Chris Montefusco, who had a great spring training and continues to be consistently solid during the season, when he is not fighting nagging injury issues. Montefusco is not expected to be much more than a spot starter but if he continues to surprise it could become clear he is underrated and belongs as an important piece in the back-end (or, best-case scenario, middle) of the rotation.
(Another note about Campos: he is currently pitching in the Arizona Fall League, where he is once again displaying great inconsistency, hurling an 8-inning gem with 15 K's one game and two starts later getting shelled for 7 runs on 9 hits in 4 IP.)

But any discussion about the 1965 Denver Brewers starting pitching would be incomplete without a mention of two durable veteran relievers who provided 30 starts between them due to the multiple injuries suffered by Montefusco (and a short DL stint for Jeff Burdick) and the mid-season demotion to AAA of Campos (along with the fact that the most capable starter at AAA also spent two rather extensive periods on the DL). While neither Logan Dunbar or Tony Harrison are starter material, they both served ably enough and each of them threw at least one complete game shutout during the season (Dunbar actually compiled 6 CG and Harrison 4.)

And what about the rest of the bullpen? Well, veteran lefty, and all around good guy, Ron Poblano anchored the pen and was one of the finest relievers in the league (more about that later.) (Note: the ratings shown here for Poblano show declines from his 1965 regular season ratings.) Two youngsters also provided strong support. Bill Roache, in particular, gave indications of the ability to become a consistent pen mainstay for years to come. Lefty David Windecker was less consistently solid and a bit too likely to issue free passes, but does show potential.

And finally, three youngsters with varying degrees of potential who spent time both on the big league club and in AAA during the 1965 season. Armando Cruz, a hard throwing 19 year old lefty who struggled mightily with command during his time with the Brewers looks to have a promising career as a set-up man at the very least. But he was clearly outmatched at the major league level this season. (He is currently competing in the AFL and having good success there.) Ben Malzone is a young man with good leadership skills (but questionable intelligence) who has limited potential but has recently developed a third pitch (a rather poor change-up) and might still surprise. (Also in the AFL, has pitched little but quite well.) And finally, Brad Schmidt, who is slightly older (nearly 25), has a good cutter and works hard and throws hard. Schmidt, in just 13 innings pitched with the Brewers, was incredibly successful, though his .167 BABIP would seem to indicate this was probably more luck than skill. Schmidt will likely be a AAAA guy brought up to the team in times of emergency, but could serve well in that capacity.

But enough with the introductions for now. Back to the 1965 regular season.
July 1965:
July saw the Brewers tumble back to earth a bit, as they finished the month with a 12-15 record.
There was some good news as 3 Brewers were named to the All-Star team. The aforementioned anchors of the starting rotation and bullpen- Jason Lawson and Ron Poblano- and the Brewers starting catcher and team captain, Sam Rogers. Probably a bit odd that I haven't mentioned our fearless captain up until now. But the reality is that the catcher position is a particularly weak one in the WPK and while Sam is a great leader, he is just an adequate backstop. (Spoiler: he did show signs of greater potential as the season progressed, especially with the bat.) Unfortunately, the MGL lost the AS game when the Pittsburgh Roadrunners veteran slugger, Mike Kuehn, hit a walk-off 3-run HR off our own Mr. Lawson.

July 1965 (con't):
So the Brewers found themselves at the end of July sitting in 3rd place in the MGL one game over .500 at 53-52 and 10 1/2 games behind the surging, and now 1st place, Oklahoma City Diamond Kings (too wordy that one). The L.A. Spinners were now sitting 3 1/2 games behind the Diamond Kings in second place.
Young Ruben Souffront finds himself at this point mired in a mid-season slump and at the end of July is hitting just .225 with 4 HR's and 31 RBI but also has 16 stolen bases.

August 1965:
An early August game at Detroit did provide a tantalizing glimpse though of the potential of Ruben "Streak" Souffront. In an 11-2 drubbing of the Falcons, not only did Souffront go 2 for 4 with 3 runs scored, 1 driven in, and 2 walks in the game, but in the top of the 3rd inning he gave ample of evidence of the true meaning behind his nickname. After singling his way on he stole second, and then after being moved to third base by a Pablo Gonzalez single, Souffront took the Falcons completely by surprise by stealing home. Streak indeed!

August 1965 (con't.):
Perhaps this was a catalyst or just a sign of things to come, but August would prove to be a nice bounce-back month for the Brewers as they went 17-11 in the month. Winning 5 of 6 in the month against the now tumbling Oklahoma City club helped. Unfortunately, as the Diamond Kings tumbled the L.A. Spinners were resurgent. At the end of August, while the Brewers had improved to 70-63, they remained in 3rd place in the MGL, just a half a game behind the Diamond Kings but now 11 games behind the L.A. Spinners who now had 81 wins.

And now a short word about the enemy. The enemy would be of course, generally, and probably for obvious reasons, the LA. Spinners. But on the Spinners one man epitomizes all that is unholy and feared: 25-year old relief pitcher, Jamel "Cobra" McNeil. Despised by teammates, coaches, and fans alike, McNeil is nevertheless the best darned relief pitcher in the WPK and when he enters the game the opponent senses that defeat is inevitable.
I give you, Brewers Enemy #1, Jamel McNeil:

Wow, a closer that logs 152 innings and strikes out 195 batters while compiling a 0.75 WHIP :crying:

Yes, those numbers are crazy. Then again, remember this is using strategies and statistical modifiers that correspond with the 1965 MLB season. So not as out of line for that period of baseball as it would be now. Still- this guy is just crazy good. And, of course, unlike modern closers (even though that is technically his job title), he was brought into games in high leverage situations in various innings, not just in the 9th with a lead, and with his stamina could rather easily pitch 2-3 innings or even more on occasion.

(I hadn't really looked at this terribly closely or thought about it that much since he isn't on my team- but crunching the numbers he averaged more than 1 2/3rds innings per appearance. Whereas my own closer- Poblano- who ended up with an impressive 11 wins and 21 saves, averaged just a bit over an inning per appearance.)

BTW, Germaniac, I want to thank you for following along and commenting. I will certainly be following your European League!
It is hard to find a way to talk to someone about a fictional league that only you actually know so my hope here is to slowly paint a picture that might make some of these players and this league come to life for someone other than just me.
It is good to have this area of the forum to interact with other OOTP'ers who enjoy the fictional side of things.

September 1965:
The final full month of the season saw the Brewers holding their own as a number of the young players on the team were showing clear signs of starting to adjust to being at the big league level. Although the team started the month a bit sluggish, they soon heated up and reeled off 7 straight wins from September 6th through the 14th. One of the young players helping to lead the way during this stretch was Ruben Souffront. Souffront went 10 for 25 (.400) with 12 RBI, 3 doubles, 2 triples, 1 HR, and 1 SB during the 7 game win streak.
Young shortstop Chad Brown also displayed great progress, having his best month with the bat, hitting .277 with 10 runs scored, 7 RBI, and hitting his only 2 HR's of the season. More importantly, Brown, who had committed 24 errors at the end of June, 32 at the end of July, and was up to 40 at the end of August, only picked up 3 more errors the rest of the way. Brown, who turned 19 on August 20th, looks to be a premiere defensive shortstop eventually, but largely due to his rookie struggles in the field, he ended the 1965 season with a -1.0 WAR. Still, our head scout is very high on his future potential and for the time being the starting shortstop job is his to lose.

September 1965 (con't):
While the Brewers and their fans were generally not under any delusion that they were likely to win the MGL in 1965, on September 22nd it was still a disappointment having to face the mathematical reality of having no chance to do so.
Still, going 15-11 for the month assured the Brewers of a winning record and left them in 2nd place at the end of September, 1 game ahead of Phoenix, with 3 games left in the regular season.

So with 3 games left in the regular season, let's step away a moment to take a quick tour of the Moonlight Graham League and get a quick introduction to each team (leaving, for the moment the Los Angeles Spinners, who we know a bit already and who will get plenty of attention soon) and at least one player on each team who stands out, particularly those players the Brewers have come to fear and respect.
And we will start with the Brewers closest geographic rival, the Phoenix Speed Devils. Coming into the last few games of the season the Speed Devils have moved into 3rd place, just a game behind the Brewers.
The Speed Devils have a fairly balanced team as they would finish the season tied for 5th in the league in runs scored and alone in 5th in runs allowed. In terms of their pitching staff, their bullpen was a bit stronger than their starting staff. Overall, the real strength of their pitching was the ability to strike out opponents, as their staff strikeout total of 1045 was best in the league. On the other hand, they were 6th in the league in HR's allowed (147) so that was a relative weakness.
On offense, the Speed Devils earned their nickname as they stole 126 bases, second only to our Brewers. Their team batting average was an anemic .223 (8th in the MGL) but their SLG and OPS were both 4th in the league. A key contributor to this was their 22-year old star Left Fielder, Joe Esman.
The Brewers split the season series with Phoenix, 9-9. It probably helped that for some reason Esman was relative quiet against us.

Next up, let's take a look at the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings. The Diamond Kings were an up and down team and when at their best looked like the class of the league. They led the MGL in team batting average (.240), and Starters ERA (3.04) as well as defensive efficiency (.741) But on offense they were under-powered (96 HR, last in the league) and impatient (451 walks, last in the league) and this led to them being only 7th in the league in runs scored. They fared better when in the field, as they were second in runs allowed. But to the extent that they did not walk on offense, they did allow the opposition plenty of bases on balls (7th in league) and HR's (156, 8th in the MGL.)
And in spite of the heroics of their great and speedy young Center Fielder, Felix Lopez, who hit .358/.403/.552 with 11 stolen bases and only 1 caught stealing against the Brewers on the season, Oklahoma City proved to be the second easiest opponent for the Brewers in 1965, as we had a record of 12-6 against them.

Starting our tour now of the teams that finished below the break-even mark in the MGL, we will begin with a trip out east to visit the Baltimore Lords. The Lords were one of the least balanced teams in the league as they had a dynamic offense and a very lacking pitching staff. The Lords led the league in runs (629) while finishing 8th in runs allowed (620). While their bullpen was quite respectable (2.51 ERA, 2nd), their overall ERA ranked 7th and their Starters ERA (3.47) ranked 8th. On offense they were 1st or 2nd statistically in every major category except bases on balls (7th) and stolen bases (10th, with only 27.)
Our Brewers struggled a bit though against the Lords solid offense, winning 8 games while losing 10.
Third Baseman Ron Ganier was a particular thorn in the side of Brewers' pitchers (.328/.397/.459).

Next up: The San Francisco Velocity. A very poor hitting but respectable pitching team that just totally had our number during the 1965 season.
The Velocity finished either last or next to last in nearly every offensive category and their highest ranking was in HR's (144) where they merely ranked 6 out of 10 teams. They were, however, 2nd in team ERA (2.98) and 3rd in runs allowed (566) and they were very stingy with the longball (114 HRA, 2nd.)
Against the Brewers the Velocity won 13 games while losing only 5.
One reason was the way young knuckleballer, Dennis Daniel pitched against us. in 3 starts against the Brewers he went 3-0 with a 1.54 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 21 K's and only 4 BB's.

On to the Brooklyn Aces. Brooklyn was a team with solid hitting but underwhelming pitching and porous defense. They were 3rd in team BA and OPS and 4th in runs scored in the MGL, but 7th in runs allowed, 8th in team ERA, and 9th in defensive efficiency.
The Brewers went 11-7 against the Aces on the year.
Veteran Center Fielder, Eric Canova, did do some damage to the Brewers though (.258/.303/.581, 5 doubles, 5 HR, 14 RBI).

Another team the Brewers fared pretty well against were the Charlotte Sting. Then again, the Sting were, well, just not very good. They finished 9th in runs scored and 9th in runs allowed in the league. Really, their best skill on offense was not striking out too terribly much (929, 5th) and when in the field it was the ability to not allow too many free passes to the opposition (480, 6th.)
The Brewers went 11-7 against Charlotte.
One player who did do some damage to Denver was young Right Fielder Rigby Muckenfuss (who the Brewers manager liked to call by a rather colorful variation of his last name, which is not printable here.)

Then we have the Detroit Falcons. Another unspectacular club. The Falcons finished 8th in runs scored and 6th in runs allowed. On offense they did manage to finish 2nd in the league in bases-on-balls but with poor contact skills as a team, their OBP was only 6th best. Their pitching staff was rather stingy with the longball (127 HRA, 3rd) but otherwise they were mostly in the bottom quarter of the league and their defensive efficiency was dead last.
The Brewers took 11 of 18 from Detroit.
Even the aptly named slugging third baseman Jamison Bash only managed one round tripper against the Brewers. But he's a home run hitter named Bash, so I had to spotlight him here.

And finally, ending our tour of all the also-ran teams in the Moonlight Graham League: the Portland Wild Things. What can I say about the Portland Wild Things. Well, they have a great name. And they were 1st in the MGL in OBP as a team. And dead last in 7 of the major pitching categories. But hey, they have a great name.
The Brewers were 13-5 versus the Wild Things. My guess is a few of those might have been games where our guys let up a little out of pity.
Then again, for all of the fun I am poking at the Portland club, they do have one of the best players in the game, in his prime, Andy "Lemonhead" Wilson. (I'm constantly mistakenly referring to him as Puddin' head.)

But now, for a moment, to interrupt the story of the 1965 Brewers season for a little current event reporting: in the Arizona Fall League today (today, in this case, being 11/07/1965), Brewers farm hand Zach Barr tossed a no-hitter. Barr, a pretty pedestrian prospect as a AA and AAA closer this past season, has been starting in the AFL and has been amazing the entire AFL season thus far, but today's no-hitter really took things to another level. Is it possible that our own scouting department and the OSA have all been underestimating this guy? (Okay, probably not. Just a nice stretch. Still, it's pretty fun while it lasts.)

The man of the moment: Mr. Zach Barr:

Well, Zach might have earned 'shortlist' status, at the least. I'd be interested to see how he follows up on this outing.

With just one game left in the AFL regular season, Zach has had a few more starts. And while they weren't nearly as dominant as his no-hitter, he has continued to be one of the stronger pitchers in the league.
He will certainly be monitored closely in Spring Training and could possibly earn a spot in the pen. But more likely, as you suggest, I will shortlist him at AAA and watch closely for any positive development. Given that his success in the AFL has been as a starter, and that my system is weak in that area, it would be wonderful if somehow he developed that third pitch into something not horrible and possibly became a usable back-end of the rotation guy. Not counting on it, by any means. But one can always hope.

So, let's wrap up the 1965 WPK regular season shall we. When we left our Brewers, at the end of September 1965, they were sitting in 2nd place in the MGL (1 game ahead of the Phoenix Speed Kings) with 3 games left in the season. The Brewers lost to the Detroit Falcons on the 1st of October but Phoenix also lost, to the Baltimore Lords, to keep the status quo. The Brewers then would win their final two games against Detroit- very narrowly (3-2, 4-3). On October 2nd in 11 innings on a walk-off run-scoring single by veteran first baseman Pablo Gonzalez and on October 3rd with another walk-off win, this one thanks to a 10th inning Sam Rogers solo HR. This was only the 4th HR of the season for captain Sam.
And with the Speed Kings winning their last two against Baltimore the Brewers needed these extra-inning heroics to hold on to 2nd place.
A very respectable finish indeed!

The final standings of the 1965 W.P. Kinsella League would show the Jacksonville Wolf Pack easily winning the Shoeless Joe League while the Los Angeles Spinners, who led most of the season, rolled to a World Series invitation with a Moonlight Graham League title.

The Spinners would jump off to a very strong start in Game 1 of the WS, defeating the Wolf Pack in Jacksonville, 10-0 behind beloved ace starting pitcher Jose Santos (the anti-Jamel McNeil) and on the strength of a 5 for 6 game for veteran center fielder Justin Jackson.

The Wolf Pack would bounce back in Game 2 at home, scoring 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th, breaking a 1-1 tie. Amazingly, the scoring outburst started against the usually unbeatable Jamel McNeil. The big blow of the game was a 3-run HR off the bat of young Jacksonville center fielder, James Watson.

With the series shifting to L.A., the Wolf Pack took the advantage by getting a 7-3 victory on the road behind fan favorite Jose Foskey.

A great performance by young righty German Rodriguez would give the Wolf Pack a second straight win at Los Angeles Grounds and put them one game away from being crowned WPK champions.

But with Jose Santos on the mound, the Spinners claimed a gusty 2-1 victory in Game 5 of the series. Oddly, with 3 relief pitchers also helping L.A. to the finish line in this squeaker, it was Jamel McNeil who was once again the weakest link- allowing 1 run on 3 hits and a walk in 2 1/3rd innings pitched.

With the series shifting back to Jacksonville and the Wolf Pack just needing one more win to claim the championship, the L.A. Spinners said, not so fast. Behind young right handed starting pitcher David Harrison they would take a 6-2 win to the send the series to a 7th, and deciding, game.

And of course, in this back-and-forth series, the very first World Series in WPK history, with two powerful teams facing off, it only makes sense that it would take extra innings to reach a conclusion. The series would be decided in the bottom of the 11th inning when Jacksonville's talented young third baseman, Jared Stephenson, who would be named series MVP, singled home fellow youngster Ken Brackeen (who had a key hit-driving in the go-ahead run- in Game 2).
And with that, in what will likely go down as a classic WPK World Series- the first ever, of course- the Jacksonville Wolf Pack of the Shoeless Joe League are crowned the first ever W.P. Kinsella Champions!

To skip forward to the present again- today (11/19/1965) the Arizona Fall League regular season ended with the Brewers-affiliated team, the Surprise Saguaros clinching the Western Division on the last day of the season with an 11-8 win over the Scottsdale Scorpions. The Scorpions were the champions of the Eastern Division and finished the AFL season with a 22-10 record while our Saguaros had a final record of 21-11.

And in the one-game championship game, the Saguaros take a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the 9th only to lose 4-3 to the Scorpions. Saguaros/Brewers starting pitcher Miguel Campos is Player-of-the-Game in spite of being on the losing side while fellow-Brewer Armando Cruz takes the loss. And thus the 1965 AFL season ends.

Some interesting performances from Brewers prospects you might be hearing more from soon.
The most advanced of the group, a player who is considered a likely member of the 25-man squad to start the 1966 season, is first baseman/outfielder, Erik Shelton. Shelton doesn't look like a future star in the bigs, but he does have a nice blend of above average hitting, fielding, and running abilities. Shelton came up through the system as a natural center fielder, but with a plethora of talent at that position he has been getting much more playing time at first base, where the Brewers may be needing a replacement soon. For 1966, Shelton should provide a solid bat and speed off the bench while playing both the infield and outfield.