Thursday, April 6, 2084
84TH IPA SEASON IS HERE!
ROLLING HILLS AND BELAIR BEACH FATED TO MEET FOR IPA PRO CUP CROWN
The dreg and drab days of winter are gone, a glow of green is returning to the lush baseball fields all across Islandia. The Islands are coming alive again. They live and breath baseball in the Islands. Action begins tomorrow afternoon in the Islandian Pro Alliance. 64 teams striving for just one trophy - the treasured IPA Pro Cup Trophy. Only one team will end up with it. This is the 84th edition of IPA baseball. The defending titleholder is the East Point Panthers, who snared it for the first time last year, toppling the Volusia Vigilantes in six games. The renowned Islandian diamond forecasters have gone on record that this is the year of the Rolling Hills Racers. They are the choice to triumph in the Tycobbian Union and then defeat the Belair Beach Sunbirds of the Ruthlandian Union for the overall title in the Pro Cup Series.
Only three clubs are favored to repeat as division champions this season. Belair Beach in the Ruthlandian South, Wynnamac in the Ruthlandian East and Rolling Hills in the Tycobbian West. Last year's Pro Cup winner East Point is given little chance to repeat again this year. The aging Panthers are forecast to end up 7th this season.
RUTHLANDIAN UNION ROUNDUP
LAGRANGE BACK ON TOP AGAIN IN RU NORTH
Here's what the baseball analysts, soothsayers and prognosticators are saying will happen this year in the Islandian Pro Alliance. Longball-hitting LaGrange is the pick in the Ruthlandian North for the third time in four seasons. The Gators have the best arsenal of bats in the division and will win the flag. No one in the RU North has much pitching, but the Gators are supreme in scoring runs and they should possess a comfortable margin at season's end. Kilkenny and Taranto will offer some competition. Last year's division champion Far Mountain will finish far back in the pack.
BB SUNBIRDS SUPERIOR IN THE RU SOUTH, Y 'ALL
Nobody can put runs on the scoreboard like the Belair Beach Sunbirds. They are the superior team in the Ruthlandian South at the plate and on the mound and will be mighty tough to beat. According to the baseball savants and sages the Sunbirds will take the division crown by storm, beating all comers by double digits and winning back-to-back titles. Belair Beach will leave Valka, Crystal Lake and Grand City far back in their wake. The Skippers have taken four of the last five flags.
NO CLEAR FAVORITE IN RU EAST: MACS ARE SLIGHT CHOICE IN 6-TEAM TUSSLE
It going to be a wide-open shootout in the Ruthlandian East race with no clear favorite. Any one of 7 teams could be a winner. The most likely pennant winner will be the defending champion Wynnamac Sundowners. For the 5th time in 9 years the Macs look like the division champion. The Sundowners and Elnora Clippers have the best pitching, but not the best scoring. That goes to the Eastshore Cotton Kings, who suffer from a lack of pitching. Sugar Valley, Cold Creek and Marston could be contenders.
TWO-TEAM TANGO IN RU WEST BETWEEN BLACK SOX AND V'S
Only two teams impressed the baseball pundits in the Ruthlandian West this year. It will come down to last year's winner Volusia and the Colfax Black Sox. The pickers are leaning to the Black Sox with their better hitting and better pitching. Colfax will get the best of Volusia in the RU West by a scant margin. There will be no one else in the chase.
TYCOBBIAN UNION OUTLOOK
FROGS TO LEAP PAST HELLCATS FOR TU NORTH TITLE
The baseball prophets must have gotten hold of some bad tea leaves this year. They have predicted that the hapless Fairfax Frogs with no pennants since 2033 and only 3 winning years in the last 23 seasons will defeat the Hartsdale Hellcats, who have won the previous two division titles and 6 of the last 12. Maybe the crystal balls are not what they used to be. Supposedly, the Tycobbian North will be a two-team affair with Fairfax edging out Hartsdale in a very close pennant race. Time will tell, seeing is believing and wonders never cease. Sorry, the smart money should be on the hellacious Hellcats and not on the forsaken and forlorn Frogs.
AFTER 4-YEAR DROUGHT TYPHOONS TOUTED AS TOP TEAM IN TU SOUTH
From 2070 to 2079 Turon dominated the Tycobbian South Division with 8 titles in 10 years. A drought has set in since then with Cape Coral (twice), Colchester and Arroyo Grande sharing the pennants. Really and truly the Typhoons have not really been away, they could have easily won 2 division crowns. Like most years this will be a 5-horse race with Turon edging out Arroyo Grande, Cape Coral, Ginza and Summerland. The Typhoon twirlers just might make the difference. The Colchester Elites blitzed everybody last season, posting 97 victories and winning in a runaway by 13 games over Cape Coral. Not sure why, but the baseball experts have soured on Colchester and place them dead last this year.
NATS AND STALLIONS IN PHOTO FINISH IN TU EAST
Ozarka and South Fork will be the class of the Tycobbian East this season. The race will come down to a very tight two-team to-do with the Naturals skimming by down-the-stretch. Last year's Pro Cup winners and division champ for 3 of the past 4 years will not be a factor at all, forecast to finish in 7th place.
ROLLING HILLS READY, WILLING AND ABLE TO REPEAT IN TU WEST
The Rolling Hills Racers will continue to roll in the Tycobbian West. They have garnered 6 of the last 9 flags and won 3 Pro Cups and should repeat again this season. Rolling Hills just barely beat out and nipped Bayview and Bay St. Clair last season in a tense 3-team rumble. The outlook this year is for the Racers to prevailed by a pretty fair margin over Denton City, Bay St. Clair and Bayview. Rolling Hills will keep rolling along their merry way and will win back-to-back division flags.
2084 Ruthlandian Union Division Preseason Picks