[Westheim]

The offseason in Portland began in a mixed, but overall happy mood. Yes, the team had lost the World Series. But that was the same team that, merely two years ago, had finished rock bottom in the CL North for the fourth straight time. We had come a long, looong, looooooong way to finish second overall.

There weren’t nearly enough O’s in the world to properly describe the length of that word.

As I had said before the season, this was a great team assembled here, that had two seasons to achieve greatness. It only had two for a variety of reasons, money being one, the age of Chris Powell being the other.

Christopher Powell may not be the best overall pitcher in the league, but for years he’s been the best (and sometimes only good) one the Raccoons have ever had, as far as starters are concerned. He had had to endure a lot with the awful teams of 1977-82. He would long have been a 100-game winner with a decent team. Now we won a pennant with him.

Many other guys on the team are around 30 now, so they have a few more years, but the team will break apart after the next season for money reasons (safe for a juicy budget raise).

So, the 1984 season will be our second chance.

It begins with decision making in October.

Below, my first score as Raccoons GM that is bigger than 2. What do I get if I actually win the World Series?