[Eugene Church]

THE ISLANDIAN TIMES
Tuesday, June 20, 2034

2034 Tycobbian West Mid-Season Recap

One-Team Race In TU West, Chicopee On Top
Things are changing in the Tycobbian West... the long-suffering Chicopee Braves just might finally win the flag for the first time in history after more than 30 years of frustration... the Braves are far and away the best team in the division this year and possibly the best team in the IPA... Chicopee (51-22) has played marvelously at the mid-year break and piled up an almost insurmountable 12-game lead over runnerup Kenwood (39-34), 13 games up on third place Bayview (38-35) and 14 games in front of fourth place La Claire (37-36), the defending division champion... in the TU West second division are Bay St. Clair (36-37), which trails by 15... tied for sixth place are Denton City (34-39) and Arlon (34-39), both 17 games off the pace... and last place belongs to the Rolling Hills Reds (26-47), 25 games back of the leader.

The perennial division doormats, the Chicopee Braves have perked up the last two seasons with third-place finishes... this season the Braves were tagged the favorite to take the TU West title in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES preseason poll and they are more than living up to the hype... Chicopee has rode a solid offense and average pitching to great success this year... their 51 victories are the best in the IPA... the Braves are hitting .272 (9th) with 87 homers (4th) and 390 runs scored (5th), while the team ERA is 3.89... the starting four are a pretty fair bunch, headed up by Heyoka Chaska (9-3/2.85), rookie Byron Wilson (11-1/3.69), Kajika Fleetfoot (12-5/3.59) and Ryan Ledbetter (8-5/3.30)... five fine hitters including three TU All-Stars spark the Braves batting order, led by All-Star Alfredo Cobos (.327/13/57/39), All-Star 1B Kurt Gustavsen (.327/16/57/51), All-Star and rookie 2B Todd Goodwin (.315/10/48/40), LF Charley Kota (.262/16/52/56) and 3B Stefan Tanner (.289/4/34/38)... it would take a colossal collapse for Chicopee not to win the pennant.

The Kenwood Wildcats wound up second last year and were forecast to be a solid contender again... the Wildcats are playing well, but not at the level of Chicopee... Kenwood is batting at a record-breaking pace with an astounding .299 team BA (1st), first in the IPA, but the Wildcats are tied for seventh with 375 runs and don't have a lot of power... they have hit only 57 homers (27th)... on the hill Kenwood is just average with a 3.90 team ERA (18th)... All-Star CF Vince Barbieri (.340/7/52/43) and RF Pettis Pentleton (.316/9/36/38) are the main bats with lots of help from 1B Glen Carraway (.379/6/24/18), 3B Rodney Harrison (.310/7/25/40), 2B Jan Kessinger (.296/0/31/31), C Antonio Dominguez (.294/2/32/30) and SS Randy Towns (.283/1/22/49)... the most dependable pitchers are Claude Watson (8-6/3.69), Freddy Gooch (8-7/3.88) and Doug Kirkpatrick (7-9/3.47).

The Bayview Vikings are in third place at the halfway mark... the Viks are coming off two bad, cellar-dwelling years and it's been almost two decades since the club made the Pro Cup playoffs... so the team is over-achieving a bit this season... the Vikings were rated the fifth-best club in THE ISLANDIAN TIMES preseason picks... improved pitching has really helped the team... Bayview has registered a 3.44 team ERA (8th) and has a decent offense with 358 runs (10th) and 115 homers (1st-tied)... they are tied with East Point for the IPA home-run lead... six players have 10 or more homers, led by 3B Jerry Culpepper (.268/23/55/40), 1B Claude Kingston (.281/18/46/42), SS Marius Lokken (.280/16/43/42), CF Cleve Belton (.274/13/30/34), RF Tandy Connery (.279/12/37/26) and LF Roy Ricks (.239/10/33/43)... Christy Kane (6-2/2.43) and Jergen Fyelstad (9-5/3.33) pace the pitching corps.

The La Claire Lynx are a good ballclub... they are the defending TU West titleholder and have two flags in the last six seasons... pitching is the name of the game for the Lynx with a splendid 2.81 team ERA (2nd)... they are not much at the plate with a .262 mark (22nd), 341 runs (15th) and 58 roundtrippers (25th-tied)... the starting foursome are strong with Alvar Vickers (6-2/1.19), All-Star Rance Raymond (8-4/2.29), Pat Kovacs (8-8/2.43) and Angelo Rossi (9-8/3.44)... the Lynx's best offensive performers are CF Andy Tibbett (.289/2/21/47), 3B Jarred O'Neal (.282/10/27/40), 1B Stan Hynoski (.263/12/54/26) and LF Kelly Chamberlain (.244/7/38/40)... the good pitching will give La Claire a good shot at the runner-up spot in the TU West... they were forecast to finish fourth in the standings.

The fifth-place Bay St. Clair Buccaneers copped the pennant in 2030, but have since slipped with each succeeding season... mainly because of its mound staff, the Bucs were highly-touted in the preseason poll and rated the number-two squad behind Chicopee... thus far, the team ERA is an impressive 3.19 (4th) with the starters excelling and the bullpen faltering... the rotation is led by Jim McBride (11-8/2.86), John Karlsen (8-5/2.85) and Conrad Coleman (5-4/3.29)... however, offensively the Buccaneers are weak with a .252 BA (27th), 274 runs (31st-tied) and 54 home runs (29th)... RF Milt Powers (.248/8/43/33) is the best of a mediocre lot... career .316 hitter CF Cotton Cornwall (.312/11/35/26) has been sorely missed in the lineup... he has missed about a month of the season... pitcher Carlo Nardini (3-3/2.22) has also been on the DL for quite some time... both players should really help Bay St. Clair upon recovery.

The Denton City Redbirds have ended up sixth in the race the last last three years, were selected sixth in the preseason poll by the scribes and broadcasters and are currently in the sixth spot, tied with Arlon at the All-Star hiatus, playing one game under the .500 mark... after making the playoffs eight times in the first 12 years of the IPA, the Redbirds have fallen on hard times and missed the postseason every year since 2013... the pitching is bad with a 4.46 team ERA (28th), but the offense is fairly good with a .276 BA (6th), 81 HRs (9th) and 338 runs (16th)... Denton City comes up short on the mound... Francisco Salcido is the only pitcher of merit with a 10-5 record, but a 4.12 ERA.

The last time the Arlon Champions appeared in the playoffs was 2020... most of those seasons they finished in the TU West second division... the Champs have been near the bottom three of the last four years... they are tied for sixth this season and trail by 17 games at mid-year... Arlon has fairly good pitching with a 3.65 team ERA (12th), but are woefully weak at the plate with only 274 runs (31st-tied) and just 37 HRs (32nd) with a .253 BA (26th)... Alex Beckner (8-6/2.94) is the top starter... the Champs' best bats are All-Star C Paco Diaz (.343/3/30/28) and RF Mark Cameron (.301/12/39/34)... Diaz tops the TU in batting average with a .343 mark.

The bottom has dropped out for the proud Rolling Hills Reds, the winners of 8 pennants and two Pro Cups since 2019... the Reds slumped to fifth last year and all the way to the basement this year with one of the worst records in the IPA... they were ranked seventh in the preseason poll... pitching is the problem... the team ERA is an atrocious 4.86 (31st)... veteran Buck Myers (7-10/4.39) is the best starter on a struggling staff... but the Reds still have a little punch in the batting order with rookie 3B Marty O'Reilly (.303/10/45/35), CF Jason Garrett (.303/5/37/39), veteran star LF Scotty Yiska (.316/15/31/50) and veteran 1B Angelo Nardone (.293/7/38/26).