Tuesday, July 4, 2079
TURON, CRYSTAL LAKE, ELNORA FLYING HIGH AT MIDSEASON
The reigning Pro Cup champion Turon Typhoons and the Crystal Lake Skippers were the darlings of the preseason pollsters, forecast to romp to easy division titles and
eventually meet in the Pro Cup Series. So far, halfway through the IPA schedule Turon and Crystal Lake are living up to expectations with hefty leads in their division races.
However, the Wynnamac Sundowners in RU East and the Luxora Zorros in the TU North have disappointed the baseball gurus thus far with their slow starts. So has the Sligo
Rovers in the RU West.
Surprise performers include Elnora Clippers in the RU East, Fort Benton Cannons in the RU West and Mahaska Haymakers, Blue Lake Blue Caps, Oxford Red Caps all in the
TU North. All of these clubs were given poor odds as pennant contenders, but they are serious challengers at the All-Star break.
It's time to take a quick peek at the Islandian Pro Alliance races and give a midseason report on them.
VIPERS TRYING TO KEEP CATS FROM 3-PEATING IN RU NORTH
The Ruthlandian North is running pretty close to prediction. Currently the preseason favorite Valmara has a slight edge on its forecast challengers, Taranto, LaGrange and Kilkenny. The Vipers (48-29) are up by 4 and a half games over second place and last year's division winner Kilkenny (43-33), 7 ahead of third place LaGrange (41-36) and 8 games in front of fourth place Taranto (40-37). It's still a race in the RU North. Valmara has a good blend of hitting and pitching to get the job done. The Vipers also play very good defense. They seem to have it all. The Kilkenny Cats have fine pitching, but fall short when it comes to scoring runs. LaGrange has the home-run power, but not enough pitching to be a serious pennant challenger. Taranto has some very fine pitching and solid longball power, but the Tars just don't put enough runs on the scoreboard. It should get down to a race between Valmara and Kilkenny. The Tars might sneak into the fracas with its impressive pitching.
CRYSTAL LAKE SAILING HIGH IN RU SOUTH
The media baseball prophets are dead on in their preseason observations at least in the Ruthlandian South. The Crystal Lake Skippers (51-27) are already running away from everybody with an 8 and a half-game lead at the halfway point in the season. Belair Beach (42-35) is way back in second place, Waleska (41-36) trails by 9 and a half-games in the third spot and Grand City is below .500 (38-39) and 12 and a half-games back in the race. Crystal Lake ranks high in just about every category. The Skippers can hit, can score, have power, speed and strong pitching. Nobody is close to them in the RU South. Crystal Lake is better than the crystal ballers think they are.
ELNORA'S MAKING MOCKERY OF RU EAST
Preseason favorite, last season's division winner and persistent power Wynnamac is having its worse season in memory. You have to go back to 2049 when the Macs had their last losing season. The Sundowners wound up 7th and 65-89 that season. Yep, it might happen this year unless they right the ship soon. Elnora (51-25), picked for a distant third and double digits behind, has the best record in the IPA, along with Crystal Lake (51-27) in the RU South and Pro Cup champion Turon (50-27) in the TU South. A postseason matchup with both Crystal Lake and Turon would be a fan's delight. All three ballclubs are something else. The Skippers can do it all except for defense. They come up short in that category. Everybody is following far behind in their wake. Eastshore (40-37) is already 11 and one-half games behind the Clippers, Marston (39-38) is 12 and one-half games out and fourth place Wynnamac (37-39) is 14 games off the pace. 'Nuff said. You might say that Elnora is probably going to win the league flag and win big.
FIREBIRDS ARE BEST IN THE RU WEST, CANNONS CLINGING CLOSE, WHILE SLIGO SLUMBERS
Preseason favored Sligo (37-40) has been very disappointing this year. The Rovers are the defending champion in the RU West. However at midyear, they are struggling badly in 5th place, 8 and a half-game out. The strong Sligo mound corps has not performed well. That is the culprit. A second-half turnaround is needed for the Rovers to get back into the chase. So far in the RU West it has been a 3-team race between Forest City (45-31), Fort Benton (43-34) and Volusia (40-37). The Firebirds are 2 and a half games up on the Cannons, 5 and a half better than the Vigilantes and 8 games ahead of the fourth place Colfax Black Sox (37-39). The race is developing into a 2-team affair between Forest City and Fort Benton, although Sligo might get back into it with a solid second half. The Cannons are batting .300 as a team. They could hit their way to the RU West title.
2079 IPA Ruthlandian Union Midseason Team Statistics
