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It was a fun Saturday / September.
The Xenos, staying put in a league that featured only 2 PL title holders (the Barlin Crab Shuckers with 4 and the Grand Rapids Rippers with 7), scuffled along for most of the season. On Wednesday, we raised the funds to sign 93 Schoendienst, who came along with SE 99 Harry Brecheen and we turned our season around. Everybody lit up: 87 Kirby Puckett (yes, I'm running him out in RF) had a torrid September to lead the league with 216 hits. He batted .336, second only to teammate Smoky Burgess's .342. Yes, a catcher can win a batting title in Perfect. But the story was Brecheen. Brecheen was scintillating in 20 starts: 11-4, 2.58 ERA, 102 Ks, 0.4 HR/9, 1.21 WHIP. On the last game of the season, Brecheen shut out the 93-69 Gross Mimmelage, completing a 3-game sweep to win the division. Truly, the Xenos had controlled their destiny. And so what if their destiny was to win only 82 games this season. It was enough to win their division and avoid the Wild Card game!
The Wind-Up Birds also controlled their destiny. But they spent most of September destiny-ing their way out the post-season. Despite going 1-9 in our last ten, we were guaranteed a spot if we won the 162nd game. The matchup featured two Rookie Sensations, our fifth starter SE 94 Ken Forsch versus their 4th starter 94 Hideo Nomo. Forsch gave way to 94 Fingers (who blew the save), to Live Snell (who struck out 2 batters in 6 pitches - that guy can really play in Perfect), to 98 DiPino (who committed a throwing error and was subsequently pulled), and finally to fan favorite 93 Nate Pearson (?!?) who strikes out 89 Wade Boggs with runners on 2nd and 3rd. In our half of the 9th, Buck Leonard hit a single to bring home Ken Griffey Jr. Mayhem in the stadium.
The Orogenes, the only non-FTP squad I run, were led by the recently acquired TOTY Mike Trout. There was another Trout (Live Trout) in the league so it was real easy to compare the cards. Live Trout went .232 with 41 HR and a 5.2 WAR while TOTY Trout went .284 with 33 HR and a 9.0 WAR.
All 3 of our teams made it. Going to be a busy Sunday.
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