1992 Season :
Three LBS appearances for two championships and it looks like the biggest franchise is back in the game. Not usually the first name to come out about the
Black&Yellows, but 3B
Julian Little is an important piece of Lingalie North since 1985. He won a Quarter-Finals MVP last year as well as his second All-star nomination. He lead the league with 112 BB.
Since the division split, the
Nang Nius are less dominant, even in their own division. Nevertheless, they are always a contender to win the championship. Their 1B, the power-hitter,
Jorge Leija won the Semi-finals MVP award last season, he had 36 HR, 111 RBI, and a .496 SLG.
Despite their owner's ambitions, the
Kuronga Bears had only been disappointing. There is still a long path to surpass their rival, the Black&Yellows. 2B
Ka-fei Li was acquired after a breakout season, when he won both a Sapphire and a Ruby Award in 1988. After a rough start, Li is back on his tracks, as he batted for .297/.345/.350 with 4.5 WAR.
Taking part regularly in postseason since the last expansion, the
Jade Tigers had not appeared as a serious contender to the final title. Can they take a step further to won the championship ? Signed from South Africa,
Kistikumara Revati had delivered decent results in the last few years. Last season, his batting line was .317/.355/.368 with 155 hits.
Still looking for a playoff berth since 1988, the
Sea Stars will surely wake up eventually, as their roster is gaining in skill and experience. It took only 3 years for
Huang Lin to conquer th league. Silver Glove winner in 1989, Golden Ball winner last season, the young pitcher showed great potential. He led the league with 2.29 ERA, 10.9 K/9 and 6.8 WAR.
The
Tattoed Sharks could be the surprise of the season, their underdog status suit them perfectly. Acquired last season, Golden Ball winner
Javier Cisneros showed that he was worth the trust. He led the league in his favorites stats : 36 GS and 1.1 BB/9, it is the third time in four years. He also had a 3.42 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 119 K and 6.2 WAR.
Transactions/ FA :
- Soo-Yeon Kim, 36 yo C, was traded (SST --> MAP) for 1B I.Ramadhani (1 year left)
- Ruben Valentin, 31 yo SP, was traded (FRE --> DET(MLB)) for LF T.Raiford & 1B Y.Ta (1 year left)
- Roberto Revilla, 32 yo CF, opted out of his contract and signed as a FA (DIA --> LGG) a contract of 14 000 000 € in 5 y
- Filip Zadunov, 28 yo 1B, opted out of his contract and signed as a FA (SST --> SEAG) a contract of 17 200 000 € in 5 y
- Trigana Miujiza, 32 yo 2B, was traded (DIA --> CLE(MLB)) with 15k€ for SP J.Humphries & RP J.Rathwell (4 years left)
- Denny Larson, 28 yo 2B, was traded (THU --> SST) for C M.Collins, 1B I.Heri & SS M.Mwai (1 year left)
-
Myung-gu Kim was acquired during the season through waivers (FRE --> THU)
Managerial changes :
There had been many managerial changes this season, 8 out of 16 teams have appointed a new manager, the most I have witnessed so far :
DIA The legendary coach and Hall-of-famer Alejandro Zamora retired after 12 seasons as the manager of the Diamonds. Despite not losing a championship, Zamora did qualify his team 8 times out of 12, a great performance for a small-market franchise. He was the only manager that began his job in the 70's. Miguel Brito, without any past experience as manager will try to fill the void made by Zamora departure.
CITY Dempsey Grover has accepted the Expos'offer to became their manager in the MLB. He is then no longer in charge of City. Manny Mota was chosen for his minutious tactical preparations to be the manager of City.
LGG Yellel Cooper will not manage the Green Goblins another year. His bench coach Min-soo Lee was promoted and will seek more success than his previous manager position with the Jade Tigers in 1985, when he lasted only one year.
THU Taylor Morton was fired during the 1991 season after 137 games. He will pursue his career in the minor leagues affiliated to the MLB. Hunter Bailey finished the season last year and will continue his job there. He previously managed the Texas Rangers for four year with little success.
LNN Despite reaching the LBS, Matunde Gillam was disposed of after only one season. Manager of the Freros in 1963-64, Jose Mayorga is most known for his job as bench coach for the LNN (73-76), the GRE (78-85) and the A's (86-89). He will have a second chance to become a manager in the LBL.
TSH Anderson Rosario retired after 8 years as the head coach of Narballo. The fans will remember his LBS appearance in 1988. 50 years old Rubel Cespedes was designed as his successor
MAP Jordan Berry's contract ended without any extension. To replace him, the Maple Front Office had appointed Gregory Paulino. He had accomplished two decent seasons with the Padres in the MLB, finishing 3rd then 2nd of his division.
BEA The expectations were big for the Bears but the team had not meet any of them yet, as a result Hugues Chopin was fired after 4 awful seasons. Previously bench coach for the Nang Nius and the B&Y, Austin Bibens-Dirkx will have his chance to prove himself in the role of manager.
FRE Harvey Kuenn (1984-)
CITY Manny Mota (1992-)
LNN Jose Mayorga (1992-)
THU Hunter Bailey (1992-)
WHE Ahmed Wiese (1988-)
GRE Matt Curry (1989-)
TSH Rubel Cespedes (1992-)
MAP Gregory Paulino (1992-)
B&Y Andrew Lefave (1981-)
SST Oberdan Diaz (1991-)
BEA Austin Bibens-Dirkx (1992-)
DIA Miguel Brito (1992-)
JDT Daniel Albritton (1987-)
SEAG Ernie Banks (1988-)
GDD Nolan Clark (1991-)
LGG Min-soo Lee (1992-)
Moon League
The Freros won their fourth straight Metro division. In addition to the stars already there, they could count on rookie of the year Rhett Dobbs who pitched really well. The competition between the Lingalie City franchises was still fierce, as City finished 6 games behind, and the Nang Nius 10 games. As usual, the Thunders are last.
In the Outlands division, Green District reigns and no other teams seem to match with their authority. The Big Green Machine was the only team with a positive record in the division. Their 2B Ji-e Jung showed the league his class and won the Golden Glove The Tatooed Sharks finished second, ahead of the Maple and the Wheelies, will return in playoffs
Sun League
Lingalia kept their division crown this year. The Goblins had the best closer of the league, Victor Sira. Behind, it was a tight race between the rivals from Boubi Town. The Jade Tigers finished 1 game ahead, and will play the playoffs again for the 5th year straight. The Golden Dragons finished with the worst record of both leagues, and won the right to pick first in next Draft.
After a couple of years of instability, it seems the Sea Stars had found itself, as they successfully won their 4th division title, with only 2-games shy of a 100 wins season. For the second playoff berth, the Black&Yellows managed to clinch it, at the cost of the Diamonds. Kuronga had another really bad season.
Pitcher Bill Dolby was the first choice of the Golden Dragons. The American will join the Dragons' rookie team, the Neutrons.
Moon League
First appearance in the ML team for these players :
Rhett Dobbs(FRE),
Bayisa Adesola(MAP), [B]Moussier de Jong|/B](GRE),
Javier Cisneros(TSH),
Soo-yeon Kim(MAP) and
Run-ming Sun(LNN).
Players like
Daniel Flores(MAP),
Chee-hwa Er(FRE),
Ji-e Jung(GRE),
Jesse Switzer(LNN),
Yun-qi Chu(CITY),
Alex Nunez(FRE),
Robin Britton(LNN),
Luis Loeza(FRE),
Carl Leeson(GRE) are back to help the ML win.
Sun League
Absents last year, they were able to be elected again this season :
Cesar Gomez(LGG) and
Rafael de Luna(DIA)
First honors for
Tony Aviles(B&Y),
Ka-fei Li(BEA) (he played in the 1988 ASG for the ML),
Fernando Nieto(GDD)
Returning players include
Ian Bostock(SST),
Huang Lin(SST),
Victor Sira (LGG),
Xing-yun Cheng(LGG),
Rudolf Palenik(DIA),
Kahsay Nguvumali(DIA),
Kyle Petrillo(SEAG),
Herman Strazzer(SEAG),
Carlos Garica(SEAG),
Michel Dubost(SST),
Roberto Enriquez(JDT),
Jérôme Imbert &
Harris Nash(B&Y)
Unfortunately, I have lost the result of this season ASG, so sorry about that -_-. It is also the same for the 1993 ASG. So there is a two year void in history, and no one knows which league won the ASG
