The
Eastshore Cotton Kings (72-82) did not live up to preseason expectations, either... the offense flopped and so did the hurlers... injuries played a part, too... they lost two promising starters: Manobu Wolf (9-3/3.26 ERA) in June to injury and Elroy Vannoy... he was hurt in the spring and missed the entire season... Vannoy impressed in 2076 with a 5-2 mark and 3.27 ERA... the Cotton Kings were clinging close to the leaders through June, never more than 3 games off the pace, but they tumbled badly in July when Elnora skyrocketed to first place with a magnificent 21-5 mark... the Cotton Pickers fell 12 games behind... yep, the season was over for them... 6th place and 14 GB... Eastshore also lost its best batter in September... 3B Rodney Reeson (.315 BA/12 HR/71 RBI)... nobody else was close to his numbers... the Cotton Kings had two quality starting pitchers in Clay Addis and Vance Culpepper... and closer Maury Miles was very good in the bullpen... Eastshore was a better team than their record this year... they coulda, woulda, shoulda, but didn't... looking back at the Eastshore history, 10 times they captured the RU East Division crown and twice they reigned supremely with Pro Cups... they were the Elegants back then and won back-to-back Pro Cup trophies in 2016 and 2017... maybe they should go back to the old nickname... what do y 'all think?... do teams do that?
