ISLANDIAN PRO ALLIANCE (RUTHLANDIA and TYCOBBIA BASEBALL UNIONS)

[Eugene Church]

The Mahaska Haymakers (79-75) won the TU North in a surprise last year, were this year's preseason pick and they almost repeated this year, losing out by only 3 games and tying for third place with two other teams... but most of the season they slumbered near the bottom in 7th place... the Haymakers began to take off by going 31-18 the final two months and made quite a race of it... standout starter Leo Durosa, a 21-game winner, carried them the whole year, helped out at times by Claude Renoir and Bobby Perry... Olek Novak was the only respectable batter in the lineup... like most of the teams in the TU North, Mahaska is just an average ballclub... prior to last year's TU North crown, the Haymakers hadn't been to the playoffs since 2028... the Haymakers are feeling good about the club's direction... they got the pitching... ranked 5th in the TU with a 3.29 ERA... they just needs some offense.

[Eugene Church]

22-year-old budding star Willie Nelson almost single-handedly won the TU North for the Oxford Red Caps (79-75)... he, along with pitchers Paddy McCammon and Eric Kyeldsen almost pulled it off, but the Red Caps withered in September, going 8-14 and falling out of the top spot in the standings... Oxford finished in a 3rd-place tie, beaten out by 3 games by Hartsdale... the Red Caps have been a capable team for the last 25 years with 10 pennants... they appeared in the postseason playoffs recently in 2074... one big plus for the Red Caps... they are one of the few clubs that can go deep in the TU North (153 HR)... yep, the ballpark helps their number with short fences... Oxford suffered a critical loss when veteran star second baseman Nat Kenner went down with an injury and was lost for the last month of the season... at age 33 he was hitting .335 at the time... Kenner is a 3-time All-Star and a career .317 batter... yep, I do believe that cost the Red Caps the pennant and a spot in the playoffs.

[Eugene Church]

The North Hills Hawks (79-75) were on top of the Tycobbian North standings until September... a bad August (11-17) killed their chances... yet, the came in tied for 3rd, just 3 games off the pace... the Hawks haven't graced the IPA postseason since 2045, posting only 10 winning seasons over the last three decades... the Hawks do have some talent... they have a solid set of starters with Jerome Lowenstein, Kent Burleigh and Delwyn Bell... plus Peter Breedlove and Greg Vale anchor a strong bullpen... the batting order has some fair bats with the likes of Lee Rawlinson, Cal Turner, Ozzy Hixon and Mike Damato... the future looks good in North Hills.

[Eugene Church]

The White River Rascals (77-77) ran a good race, clinging near the TU North leaders until they tapered off in July, August and September (34-41)... the Rascals wound up in 6th place, but only 5 games behind... White River has been a solid contender for the last decade with 4 pennants, the last one coming in 2073... 34-year-old ace and All-Star Shorty Meaux is still going strong after 13 years in the IPA... he just doesn't have enough help... the lineup does have a few longballers, led by Babe Coleman, Benny Schlesinger and Olaf Erikson... the Hawks can hit with some power, but still need help on the hill and at the plate.

[Eugene Church]

The Luxora Zorros (71-83) started the season poorly, slowly improved and were still in the flag chase heading into September, the final month of the season... but the Z's flopped badly (6-16) and wound up in 7th place, 11 games back... the Zorros can't hit a lick, but they do pitch well... they ranked 4th in the Tycobbian Union with a impressive 3.28 ERA, led by 3 capable starters: James Garrison, Rance Koenig, and Matt Simon... the bullpen was strong with Fuzzy Swearingen and Santiago Aldana... a few good bats could make Luxora into a pennant contender... the outlook for the Zorros is good... it's been almost two decades since they made the postseason playoffs... the last pennant came in 2058.

[Eugene Church]

Alas... now we come to the poor and pathetic Fairfax Frogs (68-86)... no playoffs since 2033... not much talent again this season... and not a lot of hope... the Frogs don't hit well, score well, nor pitch well... they also don't play defense very well... therefore Fairfax came in last in the TU North... yep, dead last... right smack dab in the proverbial cellar, but only 14 games behind... it could be a lot worse... just ask the Ancona Jumbos (34 GB), Arlon Champions (36 GB) and the gosh awful Cape Coral Hurricanes (44 GB)... so there is some hope for a turnaround on the horizon for Fairfax... sadly, the Frogs spent the whole season in the cellar... at best Dirk Garrix, Adam Pumphrey, Darryl Cousins and Carlo Caldovino were mediocre at the plate... nope, mediocrity does not win pennants... ditto on the mound... Whiz Williamson, Chico Gomez and Dominic Crabbe did not instill fear in opposing hitters, but they were fairly decent... maybe a tad better than mediocre.

[care4ameatball]

I was wondering, what's the best division in the IPA in terms of Pro Cups won?

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by care4ameatball

I was wondering, what's the best division in the IPA in terms of Pro Cups won?

Actually, it is pretty even.

Tops is the TU South with 12 Pro Cups:
Turon (5), Southport (5), Ginza (1) and San Alejo (1)

TU East with 11 Pro Cups;
South Fork (3), Tuckanarra (3), Midway (2), Red Bluff (2) and High Mesa (1)

The TU West with 10 Pro Cups:
Rolling Hills (8), Arlon (1) and Kenwood (1)

The RU North with 11 Pro Cups:
Valmara (4), Far Mountain (3), Ranford (1) and Taranto (1)

The RU South with 9 Pro Cups:
Crystal Lake (4), Waleska (3), Belair Beach (1) and Claxton (1)

The TU North with 9 Pro Cups:
North Hills (4), Oxford (2), Hartsdale (2) and Blue Lake (1)

The RU East with 8 Pro Cups:
Wynnamac (4), Eastshore (2), Elnora (1) and Sugar Valley (1)

The RU West with 8 Pro Cups:
Middlefield (3), Forest City (1), Sligo (1), Rocky Rapids (1), Volusia (1) and Colfax (1)

[Eugene Church]

2077 Tycobbian Union South Division Final Season Recap

TURON TRIUMPHS IN TU SOUTH 6TH TIME IN 8 YEARS
The Turon Typhoons are no strangers to the Islandian Pro Alliance playoffs... this will be the 27th time the Typhoons have graced the postseason... they will be seeking their 6th Pro Cup Trophy... Turon staved off two rivals this season to take the Tycobbian South title... the Colchester Elites and Summerland Sunsets gave them fits until September when the Typhoons blew them away... this year's division champion bested second place Summerland by 7 and a half games and Colchester by 8 games... last year's pennant winner San Alejo limped in far back in 7th place, 23 and a half games off the pace... Turon was the preseason favorite, Summerland was a distant second choice, while Colchester was ranked down near the bottom in 7th place... look for the Typhoons to do well in the playoffs... they are a rock-solid and well-balanced club... yep, Turon is the early favorite to win it all in the IPA this year in 2077.

First place Turon (97-57) is blessed with three fine starters: All-Star Wyatt Quinton, Clete Engstrom and All-Star Billy Pearl, two of them 20-game winners... they may be the best starting threesome in the playoffs, rivaled only by Kilkenny (RU North) and South Fork (TU East)... the Turon bullpen is solid with Odie Warfield... the Typhoons are well-equipped at the plate, too, paced by Robert Hazle, Artie Falcon, Joe Dan Goldsmith and Robert Newell... however, superstar and All-Star center fielder Eliott Carleton is missing from the lineup... he is out with a fractured ankle... he hit .341 in 88 games and stole 57 bases... that is a humongous loss, pilgrim.



2077 Tycobbian Union South Division Final Standings

[Eugene Church]

The second place Colchester Elites (89-65) can match the Turon offense, but fall short on the hill... Sarge Agarn, Buddy Ball, William Van Halen and Jonas Shieber can put runs on the scoreboard aplenty... on the mound they do have a quality pair in their rotation: Steve Wickham and Marlon Gallimore... and they have a good closer in the bullpen in Tory Tydings... to compete with Turon, the Elites must improve their pitching... this year Colchester stopped an 7-year string of losing seasons... their playoff history is lousy... the last pennant came in 2035

[Eugene Church]

The third place Summerland Sunsets (88-66) are a force at the plate... their top guns are All-Star Kirk Guilbeau, Blair McLin, Joey Cordell, Arjen Van Halen, Neil Crichton, Arie Vermeer, Crooner McCollum and Armin Hauer ... top to bottom in the batting order is a good hitter... that is rare in the IPA... where the Sunsets come up short is on the hill... except for ace and All-Star Sammy Lasorda, they are just an average pitching corps... the bullpen is handled well by Luc Cochrane... Summerland has been a winning franchise in the IPA, but hasn't won a lot of pennants... the last one came in 2074 when they almost won the Pro Cup, beaten out in an exciting 7-game affair with Crystal Lake... most of that lineup is still around and doing well... but the pitching has declined since that fine IPA title run.

[Eugene Church]

None of the other 5 teams were in the pennant race... none of them had winning records... the Southport Sun Sox (75-79) came in 4th, 22 GB... the Sun Sox could really sock the ball with one of the best attacks in the IPA... they had a bunch of booming sticks: All-Star Ralph Damazio, Junior Evans (age 38), Sasha Osinski, Freddy Blades and Gordy Hebron, but zilch on the hill... Vinnie Harrington was the only good starter... all the rest were poor... the bullpen is fair with no one worth mentioning... lordy mercy, do the Sox need some quality slingers!... actually, this was a terrible year for the proud Southport Sun Sox... this is their first losing season in two decades... plus they have gone 8 years in a row without winning the TU South flag... 2069 was the last real good season... the Sun Sox won two Pro Cups back-to-back in '65 and '66... the fans are getting restless and long for the good old days of Pro Cup glory.

[Eugene Church]

Poor Arroyo Grande (72-82) last made the postseason way, way back in 2024... they tied for 5th place this year... the Suns finished 25 games back in the race... and it looks like a pennant is still way, way off in the future... it's been 10 years since they had a good season... that was 83-71 in 2067... well, this year the Suns do have some good pitchers, but just can't score runs... they only have two solid hitters that hit for average: Frenchie LeRoi and Nicky Carrick... Capet Stadium is a small compact field... hard to hit for average, but easy to hit homers... no one can explain what has happened... back in the old days the team had plenty of .300 hitters... it was a hitter's park then... but not now... were they better hitters back in those days?... doubtful... today's athlete is superior to yesterday's... it must be the heavy ocean air and the heavy humidity... could it be climate change has hit the IPA?... nope, that's just "fake news"... yep, just a bunch of malarkey, pilgrim.

[Eugene Church]

So sorry, the Ginza Ninjas (72-82) had their 6th successive losing season... they tied for the 5th spot in the TU South, 25 GB... the Ninjas have some good bats that can score runs fairly well, but they are according to Roget's Thesaurus "pitiful, feeble, miserable and wretched" on the mound... Ginza has a 4.49 team ERA... the starters are even worst at 5.02 ERA.. Juro Kinura and Bret Myers are only slightly better-than-average hurlers... however, closer Derrell Howland is strong in the bullpen... good thing that the Ninjas have some pretty fair hitters in the batting order, sparked by Tony Embree, All-Star Koji Kuroki, Akio Tanaka and Yu Yokoyama... they score 4.5 runs a game, while the pitchers give up 5.2 runs a game... it's been almost 20 years since Ginza won a pennant... they won back-to-back titles in 2059 and 2060... even winning their only Pro Cup in '59... the "Karate Kids", picked to finish last in the TU South, upended vaunted Valmara in a 4-game sweep... yep, it was the magic of Mr. Miyagi that won the Ninjas their first and only Pro Cup Trophy... had to be... couldn't be any other reason.

They need to bring back the magic to Ginza.

[Eugene Church]

Last year was a wonderful year for the San Alejo Montaneros (70-84)... yep, they reached great heights in IPA baseball almost going to the mountaintop and almost winning the whole shebang in 2076... but the Monties dropped a heartbreaking 7-game series to the IPA champion Wynnamac Sundowners... this season San Alejo's pitching staff failed them with a starting rotation that put up a lofty 4.36 ERA... a year ago the team had a strong 3.22 ERA... lordy mercy, what a difference a year makes... San Alejo slumped and tumbled badly to 7th place in the TU South standings, 27 games behind... Dennis Selvy was the only pitcher on the team with an ERA under 4.00... and he just barely made it with a 3.96 ERA and a 9-5 record... however, the Montaneros still have a fine set of hitters, led by superstar All-Star Matty Cardosa... Enrique Clarizio and Alberto Amigo provided a bunch of runs, too... Only Cardoza, Ollie Ringer and Rodolfo Vera batted over .300... San Alejo will climb up in the standings when they get better pitching.

[Eugene Church]

Cape Coral is heavenly for hitters and horrible for pitchers... it's a run-scoring paradise... in 2072 the Hurricanes set an IPA record with a .306 BA... they scored 812 runs, but came in 6th with a 71-83 record... the pitchers gave up 875 runs and posted a 4.99 ERA... 'nuff said... that's a lousy year... not just for the pitchers, but for the entire team... nope, that's not acceptable... this season was absolutely terrible for the 'Canes... last place... only 53 wins... 101 losses... 44 games behind the Turon Typhoons... offense was fine... pitching was a disgraceful 5.37 ERA... no, they didn't set a new IPA record, but it was fairly close... the 4th worst in history... Arroyo Grande holds the infamous record with 5.79 ERA in 2002... only Jeff Sumner and Cal Beeson were under the .500 ERA mark... but there were a few bright spots... star first sacker Wade McClure was outstanding with a .356 BA, 211 hits, 101 RBI and 111 runs scored... rookie third baseman Loren Mickelson excelled with a .320 BA, 51 RBIs, 92 runs and 28 SB... he should win the TU Rookie of the Year Award... and center fielder Cal Abrams hit .286, drove in 42 runs, scored 107 runs and stole 50 bases... nope, Cape Coral has not been to the postseason of late... the last Tycobbian South flag came long, long ago on a planet far away... yep, that was in 2041... the only success the Hurricanes have ever had was from 2003 to 2006... they made the playoffs every year... they had very good pitching then.

[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 2023
EC's Life Is Full of Glee in 2023

In the last year or so I discovered the great joy of reading books.
Since our retirements in the early 2000s my lovely wife has been a voracious and insatiable reader... she reads a book every 2-3 days.
Most of the time when I see her around the house, she is on the couch with her nose in a book... when I go to bed at night, there she is with a book again.
Since 1985 she has read 2470 books, fiction and non-fiction... yep, she keeps track of them, so she can tell if she has already read a book or not, when she gets a new one.

Not so EC... all I ever read was comic books and sports pages when I was a kid... I wasted a lot of years by neglecting books in grammar school, high school and college... my education sure lacks the great literary classics or even the bestsellers of the day... I had to read a few literary classics in high school, but not very many... nope, EC will never know how much I missed out on in life, but it's got to be a lot.

I still read the newspaper cover-to-cover each day... thank goodness, I did read the newspaper most of my life... it gave me good knowledge of the world and a pretty good vocabulary... I wish I had read the Encyclopedia Americana when I was in school... what great things I could have touch on by reading it A to Z.

Hope you guys that read this dynasty report learn from my mistake... motivate your kids to read the great classics of literature... and maybe later on, they can read the great classics of baseball, too.

Thank goodness for baseball... it taught me to do basic arithmetic... you have to know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide to do batting averages, ERAs, fielding averages and winning percentages while playing APBA, a board baseball game from the 1950s... baseball really helped EC learn fractions, too.

In the last year, I have read about 20 of the great baseball classics... my lovely wife gets them at the library or buys them for me... Ball Four, The Boys of Summer, The Glory of Their Times, Red Smith On Baseball, The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty, Our Team (about the 1947 Cleveland Indians), Ahead of the Curve, The Only Rule Is It Has To Work, The Soul Of Baseball, The Baseball 100 and others.

I'm going to begin a new segment in my Islandian Pro Alliance dynasty report and also my South Island League dynasty report... I will call it "Diamond Minds: Wit, Quips and Quotes"... I will take quips and quotes from the baseball books I have read and share them with you.

Hope you like them.

[Eugene Church]

2077 Tycobbian Union West Division Final Season Recap

LA CLAIRE PREVAILS IN 5-TEAM SCRAMBLE IN TU WEST
5 teams sparred the entire season in the Tycobbian West... when it was all said and done and the last game played, it was the La Claire Lynx that survived the ordeal by 2 games over runners-up Chicopee and Denton City... Bayview was clinging close in 4th place, just 3 off the pace... and 5th place Kenwood was only 5 games out... the Lynx and Braves were deadlocked going into September... the Redbirds, Wildcats and Vikings were snapping at their heels, all within 4 games of first place.

In the final month La Claire went 12-10 and won it... Chicopee was 9-13 and lost it... Denton City and Bayview finished up 13-9 and 13-10 and hung close, but didn't win a cigar... in crunch time down the stretch Kenwood clunked at 9-13... the Braves held the top spot in the standings until September 22... Chicopee lost their last 5 games, while La Claire won 4 of its last 5 and stole the division title from the Braves... defending champ Rolling Hills never was in the chase and wound up in 6th place, 9 GB.

La Claire (87-67) will just be making its 6th postseason appearance, the first since 2072... prior to that it was long ago in 2038... the Lynx will be stalking their first Pro Cup Trophy... they boast a good group of quality batters and have dependable starters... All-Star and Gold Glove LF Charles Larsen sparked the attack... he is a 6-time All-Star and 2075 Tycobbian MVP and Golden Bat... Larsen gets plenty of help from Rolf Bunderson, All-Star catcher Liam McWhirter and Cole Newell... anchoring the rotation are the foursome of Perry Como, Pauley Conlin, Anxo Di Lima and Wayne McClintock... plus closer Warren Bayham does his job fairly well in the bullpen... if Larsen and Company can put runs on the board in abundance in the playoffs, La Claire could surprise a few teams.



2077 Tycobbian Union West Division Final Standings

[Eugene Church]

Poor Chicopee (85-69) had a good shot at winning the TU West this season... the 5-game losing streak at the tail end of the season cost them the pennant... they came within 2 games of winning the pennant... the Braves have had shots at pennant in 3 of the last 4 seasons... they last captured the division crown in 2074... Chicopee won 91 games in 2075, but could not keep up with that year's Pro Cup champion Rolling Hills, who won 100 games and copped the TU West title... pennants have been scant and few over the Braves' 76-year IPA history... Chicopee has won the TU West only 4 times overall with no Pro Cups... Hugh Beaumont, Clancy Mahaffey and Raymond Weatherly give them three good starters and they have some decent bats, led by Jerry Haddock, Al Sturdivant, Oliver McKay, Bart Schmidt and Stan Chronis... Chronis had a fine year but missed one-third of it with an injury... Chicopee really blew it this season... you can bet the Braves will be in the battle next year, too... they are a good club.

[Eugene Church]

The Denton City Redbirds (85-69) ran a good race for almost the whole season... 11-16 in August really hurt them... they came close, winding up tied for second place just 2 games behind division champ La Claire... the Redbirds have a good attack with superstar and 2076 Tycobbian MVP and Golden Bat Virgil Welsh leading the way... he has led the TU in RBIs the last 3 seasons... this year Welsh topped the league with 30 doubles and 34 homers, too... and he gets plenty, plenty help from Jeff Thigpen, Don Wilhelm, Hans Hammerstein and Russell Gilbert... Denton City has some solid hurlers, too, paced by starters Luis Rosario and Angus McDade... standouts in the bullpen are Andre LaFrance and Tad Irwin... it is hard to find a reason why the Redbirds are not the best team in the TU West... on paper they really look the best... looking at the team's IPA history, it has been a while since they won the pennant... 2059 was the last one... never won the Pro Cup... that might change soon... things are progressing nicely for Denham City... they are a heck of a good ballclub.