Bees Capture First Premier League Cup
With 122 wins the Salt Lake City Bees captured their first Premier League Cup after winning the Premier League by 13 games. They once again did it with strong pitching and defense, and an offense that scored the second highest runs in the league.
22 year old
Doc Scanlon made just 4 starts last season, but after joining the Bees rotation as their fourth starter this season it would be Scanlon who would set a Premier League record with 37 wins this season against just 5 losses to go with a 1.64 ERA. When the Bees fourth starter pitches like an ace, and joins a rotation featuring
James Drohan (26-15, 2.07),
Rip Ragan (27-16, 2.14), and
Addie Joss (31-10, 2.33) that make the Bees a tough team to beat. Center fielder
Harry Davis led their offense with a .338 batting average, 11 home runs, and 117 RBI while swiping 52 bases.
Mallards and Moose Set to Make Spalding Cup Debut
Five years ago
Christy Mathewson made the trip from Factoryville, Pennsylvania to Minot, North Dakota to join the Minot Mallards, and each year he's shown improvements, and the Mallards keep moving up Leagues. In his first year in the Premier League Mathewson was 30-10 with a 2.44 ERA, and helped the Mallards to a second place finish, and a spot in the Spalding Cup.
The Portland Moose finished just one game ahead of the Sacramento Grizzlies to claim the final spot in the Spalding Cup. 26 year old
George Cooper is Portland's candidate for the Jumbo McGinnis Award after going 28-14 with a 1.51 ERA.
The final spot in the Spalding Cup goes to the Arizona Wrens, who finished in third place with a 107-61 record. Arizona again featured a solid rotation with
John Baker (29-10, 1.66 ERA) leading the way.
Missing the Cut
29 year old shortstop
Kevin Wright had a breakout year for the Brooklyn Dodgers, hitting .293 with a .340 on-base percentage while driving in 71 runs and scoring 95. Wright helped lead a rejuvenated offense for the Dodgers, who scored the third highest amount of runs in the Premier League, but fell two games short of missing the Spalding Cup.
On the bottom end of the standings the Wisconsin Badgers finished with an identical record to the Scranton Electrics, but won the tie-breaker against Scranton by beating them 6 of 8 games to avoid a relegation series.
The Electrics weren't as lucky, and they'll be facing off against the Massachusetts Generals, with the San Antonio Bullets taking on the Charlotte Champions, and the Macon Peaches taking on the New Orleans Crescents in the three promotion/relegation series.