[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Monday, September 17, 2046

KENWOOD CRUISES TO 5TH FLAG IN 6 YEARS
There was only one contender in the Tycobbian West this year... that was the Kenwood Wildcats (92-62), who cruised wire-to-wire to their fifth division title in six years... the Wildcats wrapped up the West with a 12-game lead at the end of June... they just coasted in the second half of the season, beating the runner-up Arlon Champions (82-72) by 10 games... third place Rolling Hills (79-75) by 13 games and fourth place La Claire (76-78) by 16... according to the baseball experts Kenwood is a solid, all-around good ballclub and should be a force in the Pro Cup this season... it should really be a battle royal in the Tycobbian playoffs between four fairly evenly matched teams... Summerland and Hartsdale are slight favorites, but Red Bluff and Kenwood should make their presence known as well... the Ruthlandian Union will be well-represented with defending Pro Cup champ Sugar Valley leading the way and backed up by Rocky Rapids and Valmara, two strong and viable Pro Cup challengers.

1. KENWOOD: the Wildcats have plenty of talented bats and quality arms and should make some noise in the playoffs... they ranked third with a .276 BA, tied for fifth in scoring with 759 runs, hit 181 roundtrippers (7th) and registered an impressive 3.15 team ERA (4th)... superstar C Corky DiNozzo (.332/41/103/82), 2B Country Crowder (.328/2/55/90), SS Ben Daniels (.302/26/78/74) and LF Warren Vickers (.296/15/70/79) provide the punch and the offense... on the hill the standouts are Rusty Bradford (22-6/2.75/6 saves) and Tommy Carter (20-10/2.42)... number three Gregg Campbell (19-11/3.35) and number four Freddy Gooch (16-14/3.90) also provided quality starts, too... young southpaw closer Mike Jones (3-5/2.14/18 saves) also had a fine season in the bullpen... the Wildcats will be shooting for their first Pro Cup trophy since the golden year of 2014... they have an outside shot this year.

2. ARLON: the Champs moved up from fifth place (12 GB) to second this year (10 GB)... five times they have won the TU West, but don't have a Pro Cup title yet, although they came fairly close to one in 2039, when Waleska topped them in six games... they are a little better-than-average ball club... year-in and year-out left-hander Lanny Gray (22-11/2.21) is one of the better pitchers in the IPA... he got a little help from veteran starter Pat Stuyvesant (16-16/3.63) and reliever Mack Blair (10-6/2.79/20 saves), who made 77 appearances and ranked fifth in the IPA with 20 saves... RF Mark Cameron (.281/34/86/91) and C Nick Shafer (.260/20/85/56) were the prime run providers, but they didn't have a lot of help.

3. ROLLING HILLS: the Reds haven't made the postseason in 15 years, but they do have two Pro Cups in their possession, winning them in 2029 and 2031... they have good pitching and a fair offense... top arms are Johnny Howard (16-18/3.05) and Steve Adams (11-14/3.07)... both were better than their won-loss records... both suffered from lack of offensive support... Hootie Ferris came back in July after missing a year with injury and was quite effective... Ferris was 7-1 with a 2.70 in 8 starts... and Benny Young (9-6/2.85/15 saves) did a quality job in the bullpen in 75 relief assignments... star 1B Darwin Tard (.310/24/78/101) had another solid year and got some help from slugger RF Jimbo Foxx, who led the club with 30 home runs, while batting a lowly .235 and driving in 84 runs... CF Orin Phillips (.277/21/87/84) topped the team with 87 RBIs and had another solid season.

4. LA CLAIRE: after two straight seasons in the TU West cellar, the Lynx snapped out of it and climbed up to the first division and fourth place (16 GB)... they have never claimed a Pro Cup trophy and last went to the playoffs in 2038... biggest winners on the staff were Nelson Stubbs (20-14/3.62) and Bruce Kinson (20-15/4.42), but both were inconsistent at times... vet Terry Baird (8-6/2.06/17 saves) was the bullpen standout as usual... at the plate LF Hank Morton led the club with a .328 BA and 175 hits... CF Donny Griffith was tops with 20 HRs, 86 RBIs and 82 runs, batting .303... 2B Donnie Nilsson also chipped in some good offense with a .280 BA, 12 HRs, 58 RBIs and a club high 90 runs.

5. BAYVIEW: 2046 was another lackluster year for the Vikings... they came in fifth (19 GB)... the year before they were sixth (14 GB)... it's been years since they made the playoffs... the last pennant came in 2016... the Viks' trophy case contains no Pro Cups... one thing the Vikings can do is go deep and score runs... they batted .268 (6th) with 759 runs (5th-tied) and 204 HRs (3rd), but really have trouble keeping the opposing teams off the scoreboard... SS Andreas Stokke is the worst-hitting regular with a .269 BA, but he slugged 37 homers, drove in 111 runs and scored 107... super-duper superstar 3B Jerry Culpepper (.287 BA) led the IPA with 52 HRs and 138 RBIs, while scoring 100 runs... LF Ivar Nilssen also put up some hefty numbers with 31 roundtrippers, 93 RBIs and 86 runs with a .288 mark... CF Rusty Hunter hit .287 and was second on the squad with 102 runs... and the top batting average belonged to 2B Zack Mason (.325/10/44/69)... no one great on the mound... Bobby Knudsen (19-17/3.88) and Johnny Young (15-15/3.65) were the most reliable starters and biggest winners... in the bullpen Sammy Sarver (7-6/3.44/12 saves) had a pretty fair season.

6. CHICOPEE: after finishing fourth with a 77-77 season (7 G B), the Braves slipped back into the second division to sixth place (24 GB)... they have only made the postseason three times, back-to-back seasons in 2034, 2035 and 2036... no Pro Cup in the team's history... the Braves had fairly good pitching this year, but lousy bats... Paul Foster (15-13/3.47), Tony Dazzi (17-18/3.12) and Josh Dougherty (13-20/3.06) gave them some quality starts, but they suffered from bad run support.... 3B Ken Smith (.288/4/57/61) had the best BA at .288 and the most hits with 166... 1B Sam Patrick (.272/25/81/66) had the most homers with 25 and the most RBIs with 81... and CF Marty Hogart (.241/11/65/77) was the club leader with 77 runs.

7. BAY ST. CLAIR: for the 11th successive season the Buccaneers were unsuccessful and ended up in the TU West second division... for the second year in a row they wound in the next-to-last spot in the standings (24 GB)... nine times in the club's history they have made the playoffs, but not since 2030... and they have never won a Pro Cup... the Bucs did make the Pro Cup Finals one year, but lost to Taranto in 2015... the top mound performers were 22-year-old Dion Hawkins (17-10/3.58) and 27-year-old Clyde Gordon (15-16/3.54)... SS Edison Randall was the only decent bat with a .285 BA... he topped the club with 184 hits, 71 RBIs and 75 runs and was third in homers with 12... the HR leader was 1B Joel Wilkerson (.221) with 18... 3B Dan Modak (.249) was second with 17.

8. DENTON CITY: after being in the first division four years in a row, the Redbirds tumbled all the way down to the TU West basement and last place (30 GB)... it was a dismal season... in the team's early history they made the playoffs eight times in their first 12 years in the IPA... twice the Redbirds made the Pro Cup Finals, but twice they came out on the short end... Denton City was terrible at the plate and not a lot better on the hill... superstar 1B Wayman Stetson is the only talent on the team... Stetson was the club leader with a .301 BA, 186 hits, 38 homers, 84 RBIs and 80 runs... no one else approached his numbers... 28-year-old Harry Elliott (19-20/3.49) and ancient 41-year-old Francisco Salcido (13-18/3.38) were the most reliable pitchers.

2046 Tycobbian West Finals Standings and Team Statistics