[Elendil]

2013: The Stretch Run

Standings

Here are the Alaskan League standings as of August 15, 2013:

Seward Division

Team	W-L	GB	Magic #
Chugiak Jets	52-41	-	12
Anchorage Glacier Pilots	50-45	3
Bethel Mushers	48-46	4.5
Peninsula Oilers	49-47	4.5
Anchorage Bucs	46-47	6
Kodiak Grizzlies	43-52	10

Denali Division

Team	W-L	GB	Magic #
Mat-Su Miners	51-43	-	13
Whitehorse Yukoners	52-45	0.5
Juneau Senators	48-46	3
Sitka Sentinels	46-47	4.5
North Pole Nicks	45-48	5.5
Fairbanks Goldpanners	35-58	15.5

In the Seward Division, the natural order had seemingly righted itself. The Jets had passed the Oilers, who had even sunk to the level of the Mushers. The Glacier Pilots surprised a bit, but their late signings were really propelling them. They had a fantastic offense but a horrible defense, winning one August game against Sitka 22-12.

In the Denali Division, the Yukoners had faded and now were surging again, trying to take back the lead from the Miners. The Sentinels and Nicks were still disappointing but had started to show some life in the past two weeks. The Senators had been treading water all along, but with the Miners' recent drop, they found themselves in contention as well.

Schedule

Much to the relief of the Mushers and Oilers, the Jets and the Glacier Pilots will now do battle for four games, two at Oberg followed by two at Mulcahy. The Jets then have a gruelling schedule with three each at Kodiak and versus the Bucs, including two doubleheaders with no days off. Then they will host Peninsula for three, finally get a day off, and finish out the season at Peninsula for two. It will be a tough schedule for them.

The Glacier Pilots will host the Oilers for three games after the Chugiak series, then play the Mushers for three, and finally the Bucs for three to finish out the season. Not as tough a schedule for them, although the Oilers and Mushers are hardly pushovers.

The Miners will have to weather a storm up front, playing Juneau for three games, then Whitehorse for three, then Juneau again for three. After that there will be a respite, however, as they will play North Pole for two and Fairbanks for three to finish out the year. Their rivals will need to strike early before Mat-Su gets that easy schedule at the end.

Whitehorse rests on the 15th, then gets two against North Pole, followed by three at Mat-Su, then three at Fairbanks, finally followed by three against Sitka to finish the season. It will be a relative cakewalk for them, assuming they can do well against Mat-Su.

The Senators, meanwhile, will have their fate in their own hands, with the six games against Mat-Su remaining. However, they will also get a chance to beat up on Fairbanks for three games and will also play North Pole twice and Sitka three times.

So the bottom three in the Denali will get ample opportunities to play spoiler, and the only thing one can say about that division is that it ought to be a fight to the very end.

Transactions

There was only one major deadline deal this year. On June 24, the Glacier Pilots sent reliever Zander Dyck (1-0, 4.61) and outfielder Harry Harkness (.282/.331/.435), reliever Alec Walker (0-0, 5.26), and 3B prospect Aaron Spurrell to the Bucs for good-fielding shortstop Walt Duff (.286/.324/.347) and starting pitcher Jesse Alexander (2-1, 2.51).

The trade made sense for the Pilots because they had just lost star shortstop Sherman Ferris for two months. They also had lost second baseman Chris Webb for the rest of the season, so they would move Tim Arnold from third to second and start Scott Bradley at third, another recent signing who had come back to Alaska after a long absence (he hit .292/.363/.471 in 2007 with Kodiak). For the Bucs, it was a move that dropped some salary and made them a bit younger. Nevertheless, ownership continued to insist that they were committed to winning in the short term, whatever the standings may have said.