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2016 - Regular Season
In the Atlantic division Philadelphia (95-67) re-claimed top spot from Boston (94-88) by a single game, although they finished the season losing three-straight to the lowly New York Senators. Both clubs boasted explosive offenses with RF Jun Santos (31 HR, 116 RBI) and 1B Jesus Guillen (40 HR, 112 RBI) fuelling the Independence while 1B Sergio Woods (45 HR, 114 RBI) and 3B/RF Larry Peterson (40 HR, 115 RBI) provided the power for the Pilgrims. Washington fell back from 84 to 71 wins to finish third and the Senators once again struggled and finished three behind the Generals in last place.
The Central division was a close season long battle between eventual winners Indianapolis (93-69) and defending champs Detroit (92-70). The contrast between the two teams offensive philosophies couldn’t be more stark, the Racers, relied on power hitting, with SS Vicente Padilla (41) and Maximo Nunez (38) leading the way they belted a new league record 214 home runs during the season. Detroit on the other hand, played more small-ball, hitting a league low 85 homers but once again leading in triples, this time with 55, and also stealing 185 bases. Chicago finished third sixteen games back from Detroit with 76 wins while Cleveland (62-100) were last and still awful defensively, giving up a league record 897 runs on their way to another 100-loss season.
The Southeast division was won at a canter by Miami (95-67) who boasted the Eastern League’s No1 pitching staff, led by star David Rocha (18-7, 2.28 ERA). Atlanta slumped from winning 96 games the previous season dropping all the way down to 80, to finish a distant second. New Orleans climbed out of the basement for the first time, improving to 76 wins while Tampa Bay brought up the rear with just 70 wins.
In the West, Minneapolis rode the NABL’s best pitching staff featuring Floyd Tillman (17-8, 2.11 ERA and Anthony Barrett (16-8, 2.28 ERA) to the Midwest division crown, narrowly missing the 100-win mark for the second straight year finishing with 99 wins. Oklahoma City improved to second in the division but with a worse record finishing on 88-74 while Kansas City finished third with a record of 84-78. The biggest surprise was the fall of Denver, the Wildcats suffered injuries to key players throughout the season and struggled to find any consistency as a result, the 2015 division winners eventually finished with a losing record at 80-82.
In the Southwest division, the crown went to Dallas (95-67) who, with ace pitcher Jose Marino (18-8, 2.65 ERA) in top form, crept past Houston (93-69) in the last week of fixtures to steal the division title. Las Vegas was third, well off the pace at 75-87 followed by Phoenix three games further back. Memphis improved to 65 wins but still couldn’t get out of the division basement.
Over in the Pacific, Seattle (89-73) and Los Angeles (86-76) engaged in a season long back and forth struggle with the Pioneers coming out on top to take the division. For LA finishing second was a massive disappointment, as with an offense featuring 1B Dan Connibeer (32 HR, 100 RBI) and SS Kevin Jones (34 HR, 74 RBI) along with a pitching staff headlined by Javier Mendez (21-4, 1.65 ERA), much more was expected. Sanfrancisco finished at .500 for the second straight year, San Diego were fourth with only 72 wins while San Jose were once again rooted to bottom of the NABL standings, winning only 55 games.
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