Monday, October 1, 2074
BRAVES, COTTON KINGS, SUNSETS SURVIVE SEPTEMBER, MAKE IPA PLAYOFFS
In a photo finish, 2 Islandian Pro Alliance divisions went down-to-the-wire... in the Ruthlandian East and the Tycobbian South, Eastshore and Summerland dodged bullets from the Wynnamac Sundowners and Southport Sun Sox and survived determined September challenges... the other 6 division champions had a lot more breathing room... Oxford bulldozed the Tycobbian North with ease... Tuckanarra clobbered the Tycobbian East... and the Chicopee Braves repelled the Kenwood Wildcats in a pretty close race in the Tycobbian West... over in the Ruthlandian Union, the Stoner Silver Sox held off Fort Benton in a tight battle... the Taranto Tars had a hot September and won the RU North going away... ditto for the Crystal Lake Skippers in the RU South.
However, there were a couple of neck-and-neck races... the TU South went down to the very last day and very last game... the Summerland Sunsets nicked the Southport Sun Sox by a single game... the Sunsets defeated Colchester 5-1 on the final day, while the Sun Sox lost a heartbreaking thriller to Turon 4-3 in 10 innings... in the RU East it all came down to an end-of-the-season 3-game series between Eastshore and Wynnamac... the Macs had to sweep all 3 games to take the pennant... the Sundowners won the opener 7-6 in 10 innings, but the Cotton Kings prevailed in a nailbiter 2-1 in 11 innings to take the division crown... Wynnamac won the lame duck 3rd match 3-1.
2074 Ruthlandian Union Season Summary
TARANTO, CRYSTAL LAKE, EASTSHORE, STONER HEAD TO POSTSEASON PLAYOFFS
It was a 3-team affair until midseason in the RU North between preseason pick and defending champ Valmara, LaGrange and Kilkenny... Taranto started very slowly and was near the bottom during most of the first half of the season... in July the Tars joined the pennant fight... they really sizzled the rest of the way (51-28) and beat Kilkenny (39-39) and Valmara (38-40) handily by 7 and 8 games... the LaGrange Gators (35-43) ended up 10 GB in 4th place.
It was only a close race in the RU South until the end of May between preseason favorite Crystal Lake, last year's winner Valka and Belair Beach... then the Skippers took command in June (22-5) and never looked back... Valka was 16-11 and stayed somewhat close at 9 games back... Belair Beach fell 15 games behind with a 12-15 mark that month... Crystal Lake triumphed by 8 games over the Blackhawks and 16 games better than the Sunbirds.
In the RU East the critics choice Wynnamac looked like the king of the hill in the early going... the Macs jumped to the top in June with a 7-game edge over the 4th-rated Eastshore Cotton Kings... by this time early contenders Cold Creek and Sugar Valley had fizzled out and dropped out of the race... Eastshore slowly whittled the Sundowners' lead to 3 and 1/2 games by August and only trailed by 1 game going into September... the Cotton Kings went 14-12 in the month and won by one game... Wynnamac was 13-13 in September... it all came down to the last series of the season head-to-head against one another... by salvaging game 2 out of 3, Eastshore won it by 1 game over the Sundowners.
Forest City was the darling at the beginning of the season and chosen to take the RU West... but the Firebirds flipped, flopped and fizzled... they never did get off the ground and fly high... they would wind up a dismal 5th in the standings, 15 games behind... 6 teams were still in the hunt in June... Stoner had a slight lead over Sligo (3 GB), Colfax (5 GB) , Volusia (6 GB), Fort Benton (6 GB) and Middlefield (7 GB)... only the Silver Sox (17-8) flourished in July... all the other rivals staggered through the month with losing records... by the start of September only the Silver Sox and the Defenders were left... Stoner was 4 and and a half games up on Fort Benton... neither club closed out the season well... the Silver Sox were 12-14 down the stretch, while the Defenders were a little bit better at 13-13... Stoner won the pennant by 4 games.
2074 Tycobbian Union Season Summary
OXFORD, SUMMERLAND, TUCKANARRA, CHICOPEE PRO CUP PLAYOFF-BOUND
It was a resounding season for Oxford... the Red Caps were pegged for 5th place in the preseason poll by the baseball pundits... however, they soared to great heights with the best record in the IPA, piling up 100 victories in the TU North... only last year's division winner White River made a race of it and only until June (4 GB)... Oxford went a blistering 21-6 in June, while the Rascals dipped to 11-16 and fell completely out of the race... the Red Caps ran away with it after that, eventually taking the division title by a whopping 17 games over runner-up Hartsdale.... Luxora came in third, 19 GB... and White River wound up fourth, trailing by 21 games.
A 3-team chase was forecast between preseason favorite and last year's champ Turon, Summerland and Southport by the baseball analysts... Cape Coral and San Alejo also joined them and hung around awhile within striking distance... the Hurricanes fell back into the pack at midyear... by September it is a tightly-bunched 4-team logjam... the Sunsets are ahead of the Sun Sox by a half game, 1 and a half better than the Montaneros and 2 and a half in front of the Typhoons... the last month of the season is the time to put up or shut up... San Alejo (12-14) and Southport (8-18) dropped the ball, so to speak, and fell out of the race... it came down to Summerland and Southport... the Sunsets went 15-10 and won it by 1 game... the Sun Sox really tried hard with a 16-10 September and came close -- but baseball is not horseshoes... coming close doesn't win the pennant.
It's a 5-team hullabaloo in the TU East... can you believe one of the worst team in IPA history is in the pennant hunt?... yep, the pathetic East Point Panthers, who haven't finished higher than 7th for the last 15 seasons, is in contention as late as July 1st... favored Tuckanarra and Hillsboro are deadlocked for first with Red Bluff and reigning Pro Cup champion South Fork 4 games out and surprising East Point is only 5 games off the pace... August really take its toll on everybody but the Tucks, who jumped ahead by 7 games over South Fork and 10 in front of Red Bluff... the Tiger Cats blitzed everybody in the second half of the season with a 51-27 mark... Tuckanarra beat South Fork by 9 games... the Stallions were no slouches with a 48-31 record... they were just beaten by a better ballclub.
And now let's go and find out who the best in the West is... yep, got some great news for you... the Chicopee Braves have finally won the TU West for the first time in almost 3 decades... the Braves have only made the playoffs 3 times in the team's history... it was 3 straight years way, way back in 2034, 2035 and 2036... finally, they turned it around with a 4th place finish in 2071 and edged closer in the last two season, coming in third... the baseball forecasters picked Chicopee to end up in 5th place... Rolling Hills was rated the top team, followed by Denton City, last year's flag winner Kenwood and LaClaire... it's a 3-team free-for-all at midseason... the Wildcats are a half-game up on the Braves with the Racers 6 games out... Chicopee goes on a red-hot rampage, posting a terrific 37-18 record in July and August, while the Kenwood slumped to 25-28 and Rolling Hills is 28-24... heading into September, the Braves boosted their margin to 8 and a half games over the Wildcats and 10 up on the Racers... Chicopee and Rolling Hills go 13-13 in the last month... Kenwood sizzled at 17-8, but it is not good enough to catch Chicopee... the Braves win the Tycobbian West by 4 games.
Yep, Chicopee just might be my sentimental favorite to win the 2074 Islandian Pro Alliance Pro Cup Trophy... to quote the Beach Boys and Marvin Gaye... "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "How Sweet It Is".
2074 Ruthlandian Union Final Standings and Statistics
2074 Tycobbian Union Final Standings and Statistics
