Having reached the middle of the final month of the season let's take a look at the WPK standings:
And here are the pennant chase odds for each division at this time:
As you can see, the San Antonio Keys, having finished in 1st in the SJL West for the past two seasons, and having also won the SJL pennant in 1979, prior to divisional play, look like they may be on the way to retaining their status as the best of the west. They do have one final 3-game series against the main competitor, the El Paso Dawgs starting on September 24th, but other than that they are mostly playing second division clubs, including a 4-game series starting tomorrow against the SJL East last place Columbus Whalers on the road and finishing the season with a 3-game set at home versus the Chicago Fire.
We have a race heating up in the SJL East, with Washington finally feeling pressure from the reigning champs, the Pittsburgh Roadrunners, and Philadelphia still having a shot as well. Washington and Pittsburgh have finished their season series but the Night Train do face up against Philadelphia one more time in a 3-game series in Philly starting on the 24th. Philly and Pittsburgh also face off one more time in what will be the penultimate series of the regular season for each team, with the Mud Hens playing host.
The one division that seems to be essentially wrapped up is the MGL West, but don't tell anyone in the Denver Brewers front office or dugout that as they don't want to hear it until the division has been clinched. And even then, it means little without a KCS championship title. The reigning WPK champs, Portland, have been flat down the stretch, while the San Francisco Velocity have played quite well in a case of likely too little too late. But watch for them in 1983.
And in the MGL East, Oklahoma City recently drew even with Brooklyn, though they are now again a game and a half back. Both teams are not playing great at this moment but Oklahoma City had been on a real hot streak for a time to move back into contention. This one could end with some drama as the last series of the season sees these two meeting head-to-head in Brooklyn. Detroit is still hoping to sneak into contention, but they have seemingly the hardest schedule ahead, starting with a 4-game series in Denver starting tomorrow. After that, and an off day, they return home to face the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings, so at least they can help themselves there but they have no games remaining against the Aces and they end the season on the road against the still dangerous Baltimore Lords.