1980 Season :
Announcement about the future expansion :
- The Lingalia Green Goblins will join the Moon Division while the Narballo Tatooed Sharks will join the Sun Division.
- The schedule will be rearranged but all the teams will still play 120 games.
- An expansion Draft will be carried at the beginning of the pre-season 1982. All teams will be able to protect 18 players.
The surprising champion of last year, the
Sea Stars, will come back again with more experience. They have plenty of promising young players. 1B
Antonio Avila, the MVP of last year LBS, is an incredible contact hitter, finishing four seasons with an average above .300. His last season OBP was
.383, the highest in his LBL career started in 1973.
Defeated for the third time in the four past seasons, the
B&Ywill try to participate again in the LBS. They will rely on a experienced roster, the core of the players are indeed composed of players that have been around since the first title of the franchise back in 1966. SS
Robert Puason is one of them, winning also
6 Ruby Awards. His three last seasons are the best he has produced and it seems that his age will not stop him any time soon.
The
Freros were finally back in the playoffs last season. They were quite underdogs as no big players were part of the teams and quite a lot of the roster are still young. One of their top prospect is CL
Alfredo Sifuentes who were drafted in 3rd position in 1978. He did perform so well in the AA league (
13G, 20.1IP, ERA of 0.00) last season that he was quickly called up to the Freros' bullpen. Unfortunately, he was not able to reproduce these numbers but he still have plenty of time to develop himself.
Since their last participation in the playoffs in 1975, the
Diamonds had tried to reinforce its strenght with new players. They could be one of the underdogs of this season. They will most likely rely on
Chien-Shih Au, the starting CF since 1970. He had a rebound last season (
.257/.349/.449) after a disappointing 1978 season.
Finishing last of their division after some promising debuts, the
Lingalie City Baseball franchise will most likely take the rebuilding route from now. Their most known player,
Jo Adell has not really performed as he was expected to, when he was acquired in 1977. The 39 year old CF is on decline and chances are that he will soon retires.
Moon Division
Great battle between three teams in the Moon Division. But in the end, only the Freros and the Nang Nius clinched a playoffs berth with only one more win than the Expendables. The two other teams, City and the Maples Leaves, have noticeably played better this season, the gap between them and the other historical franchise may soon disappear.
Sun Division
The teams in the Sun Division were much more performant this year, as 4 of the five teams would have ended first of the other Division. Surprisingly, the Black & Yellow finished last of the division, missing the postseason for the first time since 1961. The Silver Eagles topped the division for the first time with the best record this year (.633), while the Sea Stars got ahead of the Diamonds for one win.
The first pick of this year is RF Daniel Leanos for CITY. He has previously been drafted in 1977 by the Freros but they failed to reach an agreement and he went to college instead.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Sea Stars defeated the Nang Nius 4-1, while the Silver Eagles had more struggle with the Freros. This resulted in a previously unseen final between the Silver Eagles and the reigning champion, the Sea Stars. In the end, the Silver Eagles won the LBS 4-2 and their first league title !
A glance of the players behind this title :
Who were the best player this year ?
The manager of the Silver Eagles,
Edgar Lemus has been named the manager of the year. He has been working in the league since 1969, and he has turned the Silver Eagles into a serious contender in the recent years and won his first title as coach this year.