Entering May of the 1983 season, here are the standings:
As you can see, the San Antonio Keys and El Paso Dawgs both ended the first month of the season struggling a bit and saw the Chicago Fire, led by a pair of youngsters in 22-year old shortstop Pat Thompson (.353/.389/.441) and the SJL Rookie of the Month 25-year old left fielder Alex Martinez (.343/.375/.533), catch up to them in a virtual tie at the top of the SJL West standings. The Fire also have a young and talented pitching staff and appear to be a team on the rise. The same could also be true of their fellow expansion club (both entered the WPK in 1975), the Houston Cavaliers, whose budding superstar left fielder Alex Raymos (.341/.472/.707) was the SJL Batter of the Month.
Over in the SJL East, the reigning division pennant winner Washington is off to another solid start largely on the strength of the top scoring offense in the SJL. The Night Train's 36-year old veteran first baseman Luis Gonzales (.358/.430/.687) is off to a great start. And 39-year old right handed starting pitcher Mike Stagner is off to a 4-1 start (4.23 ERA) and with one more victory will get to 200 career wins. Philly is tied with Washington and has received very good pitching, with 22-year old left-handed starter Bill Hritz now 4-1 with a 3.35 ERA. In spite of a great start for superstar Matt Van der Heyden (.427/.561/.695), returning from an injury-shortened 1982 season, the formerly dominant Pittsburgh Roadrunners find themselves in last place with the worst record in the SJL. Chalk that up mostly to an underperforming pitching staff and poor defense.
Over in the MGL West, the Denver Brewers finish the month of April by winning 7 of their last 10 games to get into a virtual tie with Portland.
Brett Taranto once again leads the MGL in batting average (.388), while left handed starting pitcher
Austin Bond leads in ERA (1.95). Portland has allowed the fewest runs in the league with an excellent bullpen and a trio of excellent young starting pitchers at the top of their rotation. Their 23-year old second baseman Jon Lentz (.348/.370/.479) was named the MGL Rookie of the Month but they have mostly been without their Gold Glove shortstop Willie Romero, the best defensive player in the game, and their defensive numbers are noticeably down thus far.
Over in the MGL East, the Brooklyn Aces have the best record at this stage of the season in all of the WPK. Third baseman Andy Raley (.373/.385/.618), the MGL Batter of the Month, has been a bright spot in a lineup that has actually underperformed a bit thus far. 34-year old left-handed starter Joel Travino is off to a 5-0 start with an impressive 2.40 ERA. Baltimore's Sako Zakian, the MGL Harris/Lee award winner in 1981, is also 5-0 and has an even better 2.03 ERA and was named the MGL Pitcher of the Month for April. Detroit and Oklahoma City (last year's MGL East pennant winners) are trying to stay close as well with Charlotte and Montreal already, even at this early stage of the season, looking like also-rans.
A quick look at some of the basic stats for the Denver Brewers thus far:
Center fielder
Joe McPhillips is off to a great start at the plate at age 34, though the signs are that his defense in center is eroding and he would be more suited for right field at this stage of his career. (Of course, that is the primary position for 3-time MGL MVP and 2-time Gold Glover
Antonio Acuna, so that's a bit tricky.) The catching tandem of
Willie Ortega (.333/.400/.352) and
Jesse Cooper (.366/.400/.585) are off to a great start in their first year essentially sharing the job.