SUNDOWN IN THE RU EAST? WILL MACS STILL DOMINATE?
Will Wynnamac continue to win in the Ruthlandian East?... 4 times in the last 7 seasons the Sundowners have hoisted the division flag... and also 8 times in the previous 13 campaigns... that is a standout record and to be envied... the Macs also bagged the 2055 IPA Pro Cup, the second time in their history they have done so... yes, the Wynnamac Sundowners have dominated the Ruthlandian East... their worst record in the last 15 seasons was 82-72 in 2050... that was manager Jerry Meeks first season at the helm... it is a great record: 8 pennants, 4 second places and just 1 third-place and 1 fourth-place finish.
However, this year the baseball soothsayers say the Macs may drop to third place behind Cold Creek Raccoons and the Sugar Valley Rattlers... but the Sundowners will have a presence in the pennant race... the outlook is for Wynnamac to wind up a very close third... fourth in the preseason poll are the Elnora Clippers, who are forecast to be a challenger as well.
2065 Ruthlandian East Preseason Poll
1st Place: Cold Creek Raccoons
The Raccoons have not been a principal in the RU East race for almost 25 years... they had a good run '36 to '41 with 5 flags in 6 seasons... but little since... however, they are on the rise with 3 straight 4th-place finishes... good pitching is their secret... that's why the preseason forecasters are shouting their praise... they give good marks to starters Markus Leopold (11-11, 3.39), Jamey Dupont (9-7, 3.05) and Jake Fischer (7-4, 2.36)... plus the bullpen is well-staffed with closer Rodger Brockhoff (10-10, 2.76 ERA, 14 saves, 65 games)... the only thing that could hold back the Raccoons is their offense... it's not very potent... but it does have a star in 23-year-old Gold Glove 2B Vince Norberg (.275 BA, 27 HR, 97 RBI, 86 R, 19 SB)... but he's the only threat in the lineup and needs a lot of help... RF Benny Patrick (.299 BA, 11 HR, 53 RBI, 62 R, 15 SB) and C Rick Turgeon (.305 BA, 6 HR, 61 RBI, 45 R) do help out a little bit... they have four new rookie bats, but none of them flourished in spring training... both the Claxton Diamonds in the RU South and the LaGrange Gators have done well with the same formula in recent years: rock-solid hurlers and lackluster hitters... Cold Creek is going to try to recreate that same kind of magic.
2nd Place: Sugar Valley Rattlers (1 GB)
Fine pitching has done wonder for the Rattlers... it blossomed last year and Sugar Valley almost won its first RU East flag in 13 seasons... they were beaten out by two games and came in second to champion Wynnamac... the Rattlers have a wealth of quality arms in returning starters Claudio Quezada (16-9, 2.92 ERA) and Monte Dale (11-5, 2.64 ERA)... they also expect good things from last year's closer Doug Graybill (5-13, 3.27 ERA, 14 saves, 55 games), who will be in the starting rotation this season... and youngster Marty Hershheim (3-1, 2.37 ERA) has a very good future according to the scouts... this year's bullpen is in very good hands with closer Buddy Blanchard (14-5, 2.57 ERA), Sid Copper (.9-4, 3.20 ERA) and Dicky Thornberry (10-11, 3.79 ERA, 17 saves, 75 games)... Sugar Valley has a few quality batters... 3B Bobby Mingo (.286 BA, 31 HR, 78 RBI, 81 R, 8 SB) has been a reliable bat over his 13-year career... Mingo seems to be getting better with age... CF Ned Woodward (.260 BA, 12 HR, 60 RBI, 85 R, 24 SB) is also a fairly good hitter... expect some improvement, too, from UIF Davy Driskill (.310 BA, 9 HR, 48 RBI, 51 R, 2 SB), 2B Jason Braziel (.284 BA, 8 HR, 47 RBI, 37 R/1 SB) and 1B Mark Northrup (.266 BA, 12 HR, 40 RBI, 54 R, 7 SB)... all of them will have more playing time this year... slick-fielding SS Dino Lazzeri (.198 BA, 24 HR, 77 RBI, 73 R, 10 SB) doesn't make a lot of contact, but he packs a wallop and can add runs in the scoreboard with his bat, too... on paper the Rattlers just might be better than Cold Creek... and perhaps as good as Wynnamac.
3rd Place: Wynnamac Sundowners (2 GB)
Don't let the pollsters sour you on the Macs... they still have it... they can still pitch and they can still score runs... look at these pitchers: Billy Skidmore (12-7, 2.79 ERA), Dick Vanner (13-8, 3.18 ERA), Pepe Vital (15-4, 2.96 ERA), Luc Ogburn (11-12, 3.06 ERA)... not a bad rotation at all... then add in rookie late bloomer, 32-year-old Dick Milliken, who really did well in spring training... the scouts and scribes expect him to be a big deal this year... and the bullpen is full of solid twirlers like closer Lucius Towers (15-15, 3.65 ERA, 18 saves, 81 games), Don Loewenthal (6-4, 2.45 ERA, 9 saves, 43 games), Tike Collazo (6-4, 3.51 ERA, 1 save, 24 games) and Kuparr Bunji (0-0, 2.58 ERA, 1 save, 22 games... the Sundowners have one of the best staffs in the IPA... and guess what, the Macs have bats, too, led by superstar RF Snooky Bartels (.315 BA, 20 HR, 74 RBI, 83 R), aging superstar 1B Manny Sendejas (.261 BA, 25 HR, 71 RBI, 96 R, 6 SB), 2B Nathan Tuttleton (.287 BA, 16 HR, 79 RBI, 69 R, 2 SB) and SS Shelly Nelson (.279 BA, 3 HR, 56 RBI, 54 R, 4 SB)... 3B Chuck Waterman (.316 BA, 5 HR, 41 RBI, 41 R, 8 SB) should give a boost to the offense this year... this season he will be a full-timer... no longer platooned... last season Waterman put up his numbers in 75 games.
4th Place: Elnora Clippers (7 GB)
There were big expectations for the Clippers in recent years with two RU East pennants in '62 and '63... its high-powered attack was expected to take the club to the highest heights in the IPA, but they lost two straight years in the first round of the playoffs... lack of pitching hurt them... sadly, last year the bats deserted them, too, and they fell to third place, but not too far behind (8 GB)... Elnora looks to be about the same caliber club... fairly good offense with a mediocre mound corps... the best of the starters are Norm Griffith (12-10, 3.72 ERA), Ted Mulbert (11-7, 3.39 ERA), Matthew Minden (6-6, 3.54 ERA) and Barney Mayberry (9-14, 4.11 ERA)... 13-year vet closer Stevie Tucker (16-8, 2.90 ERA, 29 saves, 96 games) can still do the bullpen job quite well at age 35... Jonny Strecker (7-3, 2.50 ERA, 7 saves, 48 games) is quite a reliever, too... the Clipper attack is led by 4-time All-Star LF Donald Ray Mooney (.284 BA, 19 HR, 77 RBI, 77 R, 7 SB), SS Teddy Knox (.285 BA, 16 HR, 68 RBI, 78 R, 17 SB), 3B Lee Carnahan (.279 BA, 17 HR, 72 RBI, 53 R, 1 SB), 1B Sherrill Fielding (.259 BA, 24 HR, 79 RBI, 60 R, 2 SB), CF Robin Staroff (.264 BA, 10 HR, 56 RBI, 64 R, 25 SB), RF Boo Dowdle (.287 BA, 0 HR, 42 RBI, 55 R, 7 SB) and C Kuro Ishikawa (.256 BA, 12 HR, 57 RBI, 60 R)... they can still dent the scoreboard... Elnora is still good enough to challenge for the pennant... if last year's batting slump goes away and the Clippers hit like they used to, they could very easily win it again.
5th Place: Marston Nine (10 GB)
Marston last went to the playoffs in '59... in recent years they have been fairly successful... Marston finished among the top four clubs in the RU East the last 5 seasons, however last year, the Nine went to sleep at the plate and dipped to sixth place, 17 games out of first place, tied with Belle Plaine... the bats are still down due to the lack of longballs, but the pitching might be on the rise... Marston has the makings of a quality mound staff with starters Galen Busby (13-2, 2.98 ERA), Tonico Ribiero (9-11, 3.56 ERA) and George Gaither (8-10, 4.12 ERA)... the key to the season will be newcomers to the rotation, D. D. Klem and Stan Pirosko... both of them had good spring trainings... the bullpen has some new faces as well with Dean Walton (4-2, 2.52 ERA, 2 saves, 16 games) and Lance McElveen (1-3, 2.77 ERA, no saves, 14 games)... they both had excellent springs... batting-wise, the Nine can make contact... leading the way this year are RF John Bobo (.321 BA, 8 HR, 47 RBI, 63 R, 11 SB), 3B Harv Beauchamp (.316 BA, 2 HR, 53 RBI, 68 R, 3 SB), 36-year-old star 2B Damien D'Amboise (.281 BA, 8 HR, 60 RBI, 85 R, 18 SB), SS Gino Mastroianni (.265 BA, 2 HR, 54 RBI, 81 R, 8 SB) and CF Tom Tuckett (.268 BA, 4 HR, 51 RBI, 54 R, 10 SB)... LF George Chizek (.309 BA, 11 HR, 46 RBI, 44 R) will be a fine addition to the batting order... he only played 63 games last year... Chizek will be in left field full-time this season... Marston still looks like it can be a solid contender this year in the Ruthlandian East pennant hunt.
6th Place: Belle Plaine Musketeers (14 GB)
The Muskies just might be the worst franchise in IPA history... their one and only pennant was eons and eons ago... it was way, way back in 2008... it's been a lifetime of being at or near the bottom rung of the RU East Division year after year... a losing record for the last 9 years... how bad are the Musketeers?... well, they set an Islandian Pro Alliance all-time record for losses in 2061 with 109... last year, by Belle Plaine standards, was not too bad... the Musketeers were 72-82 and tied for sixth place with Marston... the prediction is pretty much the same this year... there are very few bright spots on the team, but one of them is outstanding... his name is Eliot Marcum (.328 BA, 32 HR, 100 RBI, 108 R)... the left fielder has been one of the best in the IPA the last three seasons, winning the Ruthlandian Golden Bat the last two years... Marcum gets a little help from 1B Julien Brodnax (.293 BA, 10 HR, 43 RBI, 68 R, 16 SB)... the best of the rest are mediocre at best... Belle Plaine has two so-so starters in Antoine Simon (14-11, 3.88 ERA) and Dusty Pendleton (14-14, 3.82 ERA)... and a crackerjack closer Adrien Renaud (5-7, 2.14 ERA, 25 saves, 67 games)... look for Lew Chapman (9-5, 3.99 ERA) and Timothy Brazle (0-2, 5.94 ERA) to help out this year... they both did well in the spring games... looks like a sixth-place finish for the hapless Belle Plaine Musketeers... they should upgrade by trading Markum and Renaud... they might get six players of fairly good talent in return... both could really enhance any of the playoff contenders that need offense or pitching.
7th Place: Eastshore Cotton Kings (15 GB)
After a pretty good season in '61 (82-72), good for the third spot in the RU East standings, the Cotton Pickers have swooned... 8th place twice and sixth place once... the last really good year was in '56, when they won the pennant... pitching is the culprit in Eastshore... and it doesn't look like it has improved any since last year when it was one of the lesser staffs in the IPA... last year's top starters were Irving Cordell (6-13, 4.13 ERA) and Curtis Kilshaw (9-11, 4.37 ERA... hopes are that newcomers Pete Barrows, Karl Kuebler and Kendall Burk will help... they did fairly well in spring training... one thing the Cotton Kings can do is hit the ball and score a few runs... star 3B Norbert Ruston (.314 BA, 4 HR, 63 RBI, 113 R, 18 SB) can play with anybody... so can 1B Dayle Killian (.280 BA, 15 HR, 100 RBI, 77 R) and RF Percy Basford (.327 BA, 5 HR, 66 RBI, 73 R, 16 SB)... but there's not much after this talented trio in the batting order... the outlook for Eastshore is near the bottom of the RU East standings again.
8th Place: Beechwood Jackrabbits (20 GB)
The Jacks have not appeared in the postseason playoffs for about three decades now... 2027 was the most recent year... it has been a 19-year dry spell with no winning seasons since 2045... three times in the last decade Beechwood lost over 100 games... but the Jackrabbitts made a little bit of progress last season, coming in fifth with a 76-78 mark and 13 games out of first place in the RU East... they almost had a winning season... Beechwood did it with improved pitching... they finished 12th in the Ruthlandian Union with a 3.65 ERA... last year's solid starters featured Junior Blauser (16-8, 3.09 ERA), Doyle Eaddy (13-10, 3.50 ERA), Corvell Eddins (11-15, 3.16 ERA) and Lucky Stetson (10-12, 3.69 ERA)... and in the bullpen was a strong closer... Luis Villavaso (11-10, 2.53 ERA, 26 saves, 92 games) had a really fine year... Bryan Byrnes (6-4, 1.51 ERA, 10 saves, 33 games) stood out, too... what the Jackrabbits are desparate for are some good bats... they have some decent bats with good power in 3B Marcos Cienfuegos (.249 BA, 26 HR, 70 RBI, 65 R, 1 SB), 1B Kellen Dunne (.280 BA, 27 HR, 60 RBI, 66 R, 1 SB), CF Tim Baham (.249 BA, 17 HR, 57 RBi, 77 R, 14 SB) and LF Antonio Lopez (.264 BA, 15 HR, 48 RBI, 69 R, 18 SB)... Beechwood hits homers, but they don't hit for a high average... it may be tough for the Jackrabbits to finish as high as fifth like they did last year... it will probably be near the bottom.
2064 Ruthlandian East Final Standings
