As we enter the final month of the 1985 regular season, let's take a look at the current standings in the WPK:
It's an exciting time to be a Chicago Fire fan. The team, which entered the league as an expansion club in 1975, appears to be well on their way to the first postseason in franchise history and have the best record in the WPK. They are 1st in runs scored and 1st in runs against in the SJL. They don't hit a lot home runs (11th) and aren't a great base running team (11th, +11.8), but in most aspects of the game they are near or at the top of the league statistically. Their 24-year old shortstop Pat Thompson is a strong MVP candidate (likely the primary competitor for Washington's Donovan Hickson). They have a talented pitching rotation and 21-year old rookie Bill Johnson looks like a future Harris/Lee award winner. The Fire have arrived.
Their expansion mate, the Houston Cavaliers, are also on the way up, but are a bit behind Chicago still. They also have a potential MVP middle infielder in 24-year old Wilfredo Garcia, who is just an average defender but one of the very best hitters in the game. Unlike Chicago though, Houston has a weak pitching staff.
Similar story with the recently dominant San Antonio Keys, who still have a fearsome lineup but quite poor pitching. Veteran sluggers John Freeman and Mike Shervey remain scary in the middle of the lineup, with 26 and 21 home runs respectively and batting averages over .300 for both.
El Paso is on the way down but 33-year old team captain and leftfielder Jose Gutierrez remains a terrific player.
Seattle is Seattle and Milwaukee is abysmal (though they do have a ROY candidate in 21-year old right fielder Kusumua Kartosuwiryo).
The Washington Night Train continue to be the class of the SJL East, led by MVP candidate Donovan Hickson and Harris/Lee candidate Rich Freeman (more below about each). Washington's rotation isn't deep but they have a stacked lineup, solid defense, and they are a great on the bases. They have the worst bullpen, by ERA, in the SJL, so that is something to watch for in the post-season. (Because, let's face it, it will be Chicago and Washington in the post-season.)
Philly has surprisingly hung within striking distance much of the season. Most of the credit goes to a deep pitching staff and fine bullpen. But of course the perennially underrated veteran centerfielder (and fan favorite) Mike Florack is having another good season, on pace for 7.0 WAR.
Pittsburgh is pretty middle of the road in most categories, and while they are getting very fine seasons from their superstar hitters, Matt Van der Heyden and Nick Johnson, both are now in their 30's (and Van der Heyden is very injury prone) and both are on pace for 3.5 WAR seasons. Good for most players, but way below career averages for these two superstars.
In Columbus all eyes are on 38-year old third baseman Chris Tobin, who is now 22 hits shy of 3,000 for his career. It wasn't that many seasons ago when it looked like Tobin was in pretty steep decline, as a shortstop who could no longer field the position adequately. Having won his 2nd league MVP award in 1977, he then put up 1.5 and 1.7 WAR seasons in '78 and '79. But a switch to third base in his one season in Milwaukee, having been traded away from Baltimore, re-energized his career and he put up 5.8 WAR in 1980 which he then parlayed into a 3-year deal with Boston, where he had 6.9, 5.0, and 6.1 WAR seasons. This past offseason Columbus signed him to a 3-year deal as a free agent, and he is on pace for 6.5 WAR this year, so that has worked out so far. Plus he gives the fans something to follow, with the team being pretty bad. At one point Tobin seemed like a borderline future Hall of Famer. Now the only question is how close to 100% he gets on his first HOF ballot. He's not the nicest, most likeable guy in WPK history (selfish, "too self-important") but he's become one of the greatest, of that there can be no doubt.
Boston has 28-year old first baseman Kyle Adams, on pace for 30 homer season with 4.8 WAR and hitting .320. He's also a 3-time Gold Glover. After that it is pretty much ho-hum in beantown.
Jacksonville's 22-year old right-handed starting pitcher David Parker is worth watching and should be one of the best in the business soon. Really, he's 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA on a last place team, so you might say he already is. Jacksonville has had some significant injuries to key players so with a little luck they could have been closer to being a .500 team, as they have allowed the 3rd fewest runs in the SJL.
The San Francisco Velocity haven't been a great team since July 1st (they went 9-16 in July but were a bit better in August at 16-13), so they haven't completely wrapped things up in the MLG West, but it isn't like their main competitors (Denver and Los Angeles) have shown any great ability to overtake them. Jon Harrington is the odds on favorite for the Harris/Lee award (it would be his 3rd straight).
More about Denver in another post.
Los Angeles has some decent young pitchers to watch for but their pitching overall has been mediocre, while the offense is 3rd best in the MGL in runs scored and first in batting WAR. 26-year old David Tockstein is an MVP candidate, but overall their record pretty well reflects their talent.
Phoenix, who play in the most extreme hitters park in the game, don't have a great offense and do have some very talented young pitchers. It's a combination that so far has led to a lot of .500 level play.
Portland, who admittedly play in a much more pitcher friendly home park, have good pitching and very little offense. They are second in home runs in the MGL though, with 6 players in double digits in this category, led by veteran first baseman Will Masiello, who has hit 23.
St. Louis 22-year old center fielder David Cabreja, the 5th overall pick in the 1983 draft, is a bright spot for this 1980 expansion club. And they have a few good young pitchers (see Greg Grieve below) but there isn't yet much to be excited about in the Gateway City.
As has been reported here previously, a strong argument could be made that the best and deepest rotation in the game belongs to the Oklahoma City Diamond Kings. When they made a trade just before the deadline this year to get Ruben Ramirez from Portland that just made it all that much deeper. With great pitching and excellent defense, the Diamond Kings make the most of a not very exciting offensive lineup. Their MVP candidate shortstop Antonio Briones has been out since August 3rd with a sprained ankle and isn't expected back until around the final week of the regular season, but his return could certainly boost their post-season look.
The Baltimore Lords, as has been the case for most of their existence, score a lot of runs and give up a ton as well. They are getting an excellent season from staff ace, and 1981 Harris/Lee award winner, Sako Zakian (15-9, 2.63) but beyond that they don't have much pitching. Their Cuban rookie sensation right fielder Alex Afanador provides plenty of punch (33 homers) in the middle of a strong lineup. But I have a hard time seeing them catching the more talented and balanced Diamond Kings.
Detroit's offense is fairly tepid but their pitching isn't bad. 29-year old Ryan Rystrom, once a top prospect, is having a breakout season after several disappointing big league campaigns, and is second in ERA in the MGL with 2.46 (Jon Harrington leads with a tiny 2.16) and has gone 11-4 this season. Their pitching would likely be even better if their overall defense wasn't so poor (-30.0 ZR).
Brooklyn is even worse defensively (-32.8 ZR), and their rotation is getting old and mediocre at best. Their closer Michael Tucker, at age 25, is one of the best in the business. But there is very little else to get excited about with this club.
Charlotte is a good base running club and not a bad defensive one. Other than that, they pretty much suck. Former Brewer Eric Hammock is having a good season in the middle of the lineup, hitting .341/.407/.608 with 28 homers and is an MVP candidate (on pace for 6.8 WAR). And that's about it for the Sting.
And the lowly Montreal Royals. They are last in most offensive categories (although 5th in home runs). Oh, and then they are also last in most pitching categories, and near the bottom defensively. They just aren't very good. Enough said.
A quick look at monthly individual award winners:
As for Rookies of the Month, it probably shouldn't be surprising that
Javier Hernandez won that honor in the MGL as well. While Milwaukee's Kusuma Kartosuwiryo took the honor in the SJL.