Monday, September 24, 2085
CRYSTAL-CLEAR PREDICTIONS DOWN-THE-STRETCH IN THE IPA
Who's gonna take the division flags?
EC's gonna go out on a limb and say Belair Beach in the RU South. There ain't a lot better than a 6-game margin going into the last 6 games of the season. Yep, you are right, a 7-game lead would be better. The Claxton Diamonds are not gonna catch the Sunbirds. Yeah buddy, EC has a real good crystal ball, don't he? I got it used and on sale at a shop in the French Quarter in New Orleans from Marie Laveau, the infamous Voodoo Queen. Most probably LaGrange will take the RU North. The Gators just have too much home-run power and a 4-game lead to lose it to Taranto. LaGrange is playing well. The Tars are not. The clubs will play a 3-game series early this week in Taranto. The Gators could wrap it up there. They were 13-6 against the Tars this season. Taranto has the better pitching corps, but can't compete with LaGrange at the plate and on the scoreboard. Eastshore in the RU East and Hartsdale in the TU North. My cheap crystal ball gets a little misty and foggy for the rest of the divisions. My gut feeling is Forest City will edge out Colfax in the RU West. The Firebirds have better HR power and a better bullpen than the Black Sox. Better bats, too. The clubs have a 3-game matchup in the last series of the year.
High Mesa will prevail over Hillsboro in the TU East. The Buckaroos are a fine team with strong, all-around pitching and good power. The Blazers are a better scoring team, but lacks the pitching staff. However, the scary thing is that Hillsboro is playing better ball right now and has the easier schedule. Still EC will go with High Mesa. Their pitching will protect their skimpy 2-game lead. Both teams close out the season with 6 games on the road.
In the TU South race San Alejo takes a slim one-game lead into the last 6 games of the year over the second place Turon Typhoons. The clubs close the season with 3 games in San Alejo. The Montaneros may have the best overall pitching staff in the IPA. They also have some reliable bats throughout their lineup. Turon has 5 fine starters and one of the best closers in the IPA. The Typhoons just have trouble putting runs on the scoreboard. They also suffer from a lack of depth in the bullpen. Look for the Monties to win out in a photo finish with Turon. In addition, head-to-head San Alejo won 11 of the 19 games against the Typhoons this year. They will also be at home.
There ain't no way to tell who is gonna win the big mess in the TU West. EC just gets dizzy when I have to compare 5 teams and all the various variables. Chicopee's bullpen is suspect, but the Braves are playing well this month. La Claire is not playing well and has no power at the plate, but possesses good starters. Got all that? Are you taking notes? However, the Lynx play nothing but contenders, Bayview and Arlon in the final week. Fortunately both series are at home. The Lynx bullpen is questionable, too. Rolling Hills has trouble scoring with little power in the batting order. Pitching is pretty good. Bayview has a little power, good pitching, but has trouble scoring. The schedule favors Rolling Hills. The Racers play poor teams the final 6 games on the road, but the lackluster bats and no power hurt their chances. Rolling Hills has pretty good pitching. Still it will be hard to make up the 2 games so late in the season. Bayview is playing well right now at the right time, but they must close the season on the road in La Claire and Chicopee. The Vikings don't score well. They will have to depend on their fine starting pitching to win the pennant. Winning out against the two top teams in the league will be a big challenge. And nope, the bullpen is not very good. Plus the Viks are 3 games out. Arlon is not playing good ball. Don't have a lot of good pitching and they are 4 games behind.
So after all of that astute research, reasoning, biased guesstimating and crystal balling by my semi-great baseball mind who is EC going to pick in the TU West? Yeah buddy -- surprise, surprise -- my choice is the FIRST PLACE Chicopee Braves with their good pitching and their 2-game edge in the standings. That's a big, big plus with just 6 games to play.
That's all, y'all. That's enough soothsaying for today. You wore EC out. I'm too old to be spending so much of my very short and limited time left in this world on a silly ole computer baseball game created by of all people a German. How can he know so much about the Great American Pastime? That's got to be unAMURICAN, pilgram.
Hmm. Maybe the very ancient and very old Amurican, EC, can create a computer soccer game -- that's football for you folks and aliens in the rest of the known universe -- that will run Football Manager out of business. Yeah buddy, that's quite a thought.
