|
THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, June 19, 2035
Favored Braves Way Ahead In TU West
As forecast in The Islandian Times preseason poll, the Chicopee Braves are the head of the class in the Tycobbian West... at the All-Star break the hard-hitting Braves have already run up a 7-game bulge over second place Bayview... Chicopee breezed to the title last year and is well on its way to doing it again... the Braves and the Vikings are the only two clubs with winning records... La Claire is well back in third place, 10 games off the pace... Bay St. Clair is 11 games behind and in the fourth spot in the standings... the best of the second-division are the Arlon Champions, 12 games out... the Rolling Hills Reds trail by 14 games in sixth place, followed by Denton City and Kenwood in seventh and eighth respectively... the Redbirds are 15 games behind leading Chicopee and the Wildcats are 16 out of first place.
Chicopee won 98 games last year and are even better this year, at least by the numbers... the Braves have improved at the plate from .275 to .286 and from 3.64 to 3.44 in ERA... they have the highest team BA in the IPA and only the RU's Sugar Valley and Elnora outscore them in the IPA... leading the explosive bats are three All-Stars LF Alfredo Cobos (.345/16/61/54), CF Charley Kota (.338/16/51/62) and 1B Kurt Gustavsen (.343/13/54/38)... then add in 3B Stefan Tanner (.292/5/39/27), SS Felix Roubique (.291/4/30/33) and RF Nelson Hunter (.287/6/21/39) and you've got a high-scoring attack that averages over 5 runs a game... not only do the Braves hit the ball very well, they do a good job on the hill, too, with starters Heyoka Chaska (11-3/3.52), 31-year-old free agent from Grand City (RU) Vito Sanfratello (10-6/3.35) and Ryan Ledbetter (6-6/3.41)... ace Kajika Fleetfoot (7-5/4.22), a 21-game winner last year has struggled so far... standout relievers are Byron Wilson (8-3/2.57/8 saves) and Matt Reeves (3-2/2.45/3 saves)... the Braves are ready and waiting to redeem themselves in the Pro Cup playoffs... last year they were beaten by IPA champ North Hills in seven games in the Tycobbian Final Four.
The runner-up Bayview Vikings can put runs on the scoreboard like Chicopee... and they possess fairly good pitching... offensively the Viks are paced by All-Star SS Wade Rosewall (.322/12/39/45) in his sophomore season, All-Star 3B Jerry Culpepper (.289/17/48/40), RF Roy Ricks (.286/11/38/45), 27-year-old free agent from Sugar Valley 1B Giles Butler (.279/13/26/34) and CF Cleve Belton (.242/14/40/29)... Bayview's mound staff is led by starters All-Star Joaquin Lima (13-4/3.71) and Christy Kane (10-8/2.95)... the Vikings are hampered by a weak bullpen.
After being rated the sixth-best club in the TU West in the preseason poll, the La Claire Lynx's fine pitching has spurred them to third place... All-Star Mac Jackson (12-6/1.96) tops the staff... Pat Kovacs (5-9/2.44) has also pitched very well, but hasn't gotten much run support... the best run producers have been All-Star 3B Jarrod O'Neal (.300/13/44/39), 1B Kris Wilson (.298/11/33/24), CF Billy Holland (.290/2/18/30) and C Biggie Mondale (.287/7/33/25)... La Claire won flags in 2028 and 2031 when they possessed better hitting... improved bats would have the Lynx flirting with the top clubs in the division.
The Bay St. Clair Buccaneers are on a 6-year streak of the first division and they might be able to stretch it to seven years... the Bucs are currently in fourth place and could finish as high as third... they have above-average pitching and less-than-average bats... 26-year-old rookie Jay Callahan (5-4/2.65) looks like the real thing... but 20-game winners Jim McBride (8-8/3.66) and John Karlsen (7-9/3.59) have stumbled so far this season and need to perk up in the second half... McBride won the TU Golden Arm last year when he was 25-10 with 2.34 ERA... Bay St. Clair just doesn't have much at the plate... 3B Bailey Holmsworth (.275/10/41/29) and LF Cotton Cornwall (.246/11/32/32) are the best they have.
According to the baseball experts, the Arlon Champions were supposed to challenge for a first-division spot this season for the first time in 5 years, but it didn't come to be so far... instead the Champs find themselves in fifth place, ranked near the bottom in pitching and hitting... the top pitchers are starters Emil Nowak (8-7/3.06) and Alex Beckner (7-7/3.63)... the top batters are All-Star C Paco Diaz (.325/4/29/46) and LF Charley Hastings (.286/2/40/38), along with RF Tandy Connery, who has 12 homers and 47 RBIs, but is batting a lowly .247 for average.
Once-proud Rolling Hills is in the throes of a third-successive bad year... the Reds are in sixth place with mediocre hitting and pitching... but they do have some quality arms in Kevin Meeks (8-6/2.70), Jakob Wagner (9-7/3.90) and Matthew Christianson (4-8/2.83)... the only dependable bats are C Stan Ellis (.302/7/45/30), LF Scotty Yiska (.310/9/27/34) and 1B Angelo Nardone (.299/8/32/28).
The downtrodden Denton City Redbirds were supposed to rise and shine this year after four consecutive sixth-place finishes... some scribes picked them as high as third place... but it's not the case... the Redbirds are still in a second-division rut resting in seventh place... the starting rotation is adequate with Francisco Salcido (8-8/3.12), Denny Mills (6-11/3.35), Stephen Edwards (5-7/3.92) and Kevin Blevins (5-6/4.13), but the bullpen is almost non-existent... the offense is sufficient, but down 20 points from last year's .278 BA... most of the batting order is having a sub-par season... LF Kenny Kuebler (.308/9/38/44), SS Sammy Thornton (.302/1/24/34), 2B Dickie Samuels (.294/4/35/34), 1B Barry McKnight (.279/10/36/31) and Sam Carson (.277/9/31/30) are the main contributors.
The Kenwood Wildcats set a new IPA standard with a remarkable .297 BA last year, breaking the old mark of .295 by the Ozarka Naturals in 2017... this year they have dipped to only .263, suffering the free agency losses of 2B Jan Kissinger (.310) to Grand City (RU) and CF Vince Barbieri (.319) to Ginza (TU), plus the trade of 3B Cal Copeland (.381) to Belle Plaine (RU)... as a consequence the Wildcats have tumbled to last place... Kenwood still has some talented bats in All-Star 3B Koora Nawajuk (.311/7/37/29), 19-year-old All-Star C Corky DiNozzo (.310/17/54/35), who is having a great rookie season, and 1B Randy Towns (.310/0/22/37)... pitching has also suffered as well, rising from 3.68 to 4.00... Claude Watson (9-4/3.34) has been the best of the litter.
Tycobbian West Forecast: juggernaut Chicopee is pretty much a shoo-in for the pennant... Bayview will be a distant second... the Viks' bats will keep them ahead of third place La Claire and fourth place Bay St. Clair... the Bucs can't match the Lynx on the scoreboard... Rolling Hills' starting rotation could bring them in fifth... Denton City will be sixth... Arlon seventh and Kenwood last.
|