We have arrived at Opening Day of 1982 in the WPK and the prognosticators have spoken, delivering their rather detailed predictions for the about to commence season.
Shoeless Joe League:
The San Antonio Keys are expected to take their third straight SJL West title in spite of being predicted to have the highest team ERA in the SJL. But with superstar middle infielders like Bud Lindsay (how long before his wrecked injury prone status leads to disaster?) and John Mussaw, power-hitting John Freeman, now having been moved from the outfield to first base, and speedy center fielder Zach McClelland, they are expected to outscore most of their opponents by a good margin.
El Paso will once again likely be their primary competitor for the SJL West pennant, but in the relatively weak division most of the teams are expected to be clumped somewhere near the .500 mark.
Over in the SJL East, the feeling is that the Philadelphia Mud Hens will finally earn a post-season entry with veteran great second baseman Xiao-mei Mah leading the way. Much depends upon the 35-year old fragile player maintaining his health as well as young left-handed starting pitcher Bryce Ferland (also fragile) of whom a breakout year is expected. Another young pitcher, Ron Carmouche, who threw a no-hitter last season, also is known to have some injury risk.
The Pittsburgh Roadrunners, having recently lost one of their key offensive contributors (Larry Leshane) for the season, are expected to finish just behind Philly, with the best offense in the division but a more questionable pitching staff. They still have the current best player in the game (Matt Van der Heyden) plus the most dynamic young first baseman in the WPK (Nick Johnson) and their 23-year old center fielder Brendan Beaver is likely to improve his already strong game with more experience. But the rotation is either old or fragile or both. And with the 17th ranked farm system (out of 24) there aren't a lot of significant reinforcements coming soon.
As with the SJL West, parity is expected to be the dominant force in the SJL East, and so don't be surprised if a few key injuries or the emergence of a new star player or just someone having a career year means that pretty much any of these teams could rise up to capture a pennant and a chance at the KCS.
When it comes to individual performances, most of the usual suspects are expected to dominate but watch for the emergence of Jacksonville's Tim Evans, who will be turning 24 at the end of the month. Evans doesn't likely have the defensive chops to stay in centerfield but with his elite hitting tools and speed he should be a star corner outfielder soon.
Moonlight Graham League:
The Denver Brewers are expected to win the MGL West after seeing the upstart Portland Wild Things narrowly edge them out last season. The biggest factor is likely the Denver pitching, particularly that deep and talented starting pitching.
Jim Atwell is expected to remain one of the dominant aces in the game while veteran
Sadahige Kawasaki is thought to have a good chance for a bit of a comeback season (not that he was really that weak in 1981) at the age of 34 (he turns 34 in early May) and young
Eric Maisch, not long ago the #2 prospect in the WPK, is expected to start his emergence as yet another great Ace in the Brewers rotation. (And guess what- spoiler alert- the next wave is coming and sure enough yet another Brewer starting pitcher has emerged as the 3rd best prospect in the WPK now that
Maisch has graduated from prospect status.) The main question with the Brewers will be the production from an unsettled and injury-prone infield. But veteran first baseman
Brett Taranto is expected to once again be a league leader offensively (while providing Gold Glove caliber defense at first).
The San Francisco Velocity, who got off a great start in 1981 only to fade in the second half, are thought to be on the rise again. They have a very talented young outfield trio (though two of them are disruptive forces in the clubhouse) and a deep pitching staff who gets to play their home games in the best pitcher's park in the MGL. They are expected to be the only team in the MGL to put up better pitching numbers than the Brewers (though in fairness, the Brewers play in a much better hitter's park).
The reigning WPK champs Portland are expected to experience some regression this year (a somewhat beat up and not very deep rotation one of their main challenges) but it would be dangerous to count out the Wild Things, particularly given that they almost surely have the best up the middle defense in the game (shortstop Willie Romero with a 51.5 ZR in 1981, second baseman Justin Ficklin 9.4 ZR after a 13.2 ZR season in 1980, young center fielder Quincy Schultz 19.8 ZR, and catcher Kyle Luker with 3.4 ZR and a CERA of 2.63).
In the MGL East the Brooklyn Aces are expected to repeat but there is some hope that the Detroit Falcons, who not many years ago were looking like an emerging team only to see the bottom fall out the past two seasons (especially 1981, when they lost 102 games), might be reemerging as a contender. John Hemmah had a down year in 1981 but is expected to bounce back to be a strong contender for the batting title in 1982 and the rotation is anchored once again by 3-time MGL Pitcher of the Year Aaron McNally.
As for individual player performance predictions in the MGL, while some of these players may have flown below the radar a bit (Chris Caldwell of Brooklyn, Frank Ortega of Oklahoma City, Mike Sudbrink of L.A.) for the most part everyone on this list was very good last season (or, in the case of John Hemmah, prior to last season). The one new name here is bat-first outfielder Eric Hammock, who missed most of last season after having been traded from Denver to Charlotte (he is now considered fragile).
Among MGL pitchers, it is mostly experienced veterans who are expected to once again be at the forefront along with some of the younger stars who are already well established- the Joe's (Barbour and Shetler) and
Jim Atwell. The biggest new name is Denver's
Eric Maisch, as mentioned previously.