
Thursday, April 5, 2063
DONE DEAL IN TU WEST!
REPEAT FLAG FOR RACERS
The best in the west just got better...
The Islandian Times Preseason Poll has predicted that the Rolling Hills Racers will again steamroller everybody in the Tycobbian West Division and garner their fourth straight flag and they are also the favorite to win their third Pro Cup trophy in the last four seasons... the Islandian baseball experts and connoisseurs are picking the Racers to rampage to another easy TU West division title... and they will win it by double digits... Bayview, Kenwood, La Claire and Denton City are no match and will finish far behind Rolling Hills... and the other three clubs Arlon, Chicopee and Bay St. Clair will wind up deep in the depths of the division... they could trail Rolling Hills by 40 or more games.
Are the
Rolling Hills Racers that good?... yessiree, they are that good... the Racers have outstanding hitting and scoring, plus they have now added several quality pitchers, too... they traded two talented backup first sackers and a fine backup center fielder for three starting pitchers and a second baseman... Rolling Hills got pitchers Charley Clutterbuck (14-15/3.05) and Marty Yaden (8-14/3.48) from East Point for Mark Carmickle (.300/18 HR/83 RBI) and pitcher Jordy Wales (15-5/3.10) from Southport for Dayton Mayfield (.364/0 HR/12 RBI)... Mayfield only made 10 starts last year for the Racers, but in 2060, his only full season, he batted .307 with 12 homers and 67 runs batted in... Mayfield is also a standout defender at first base... the Racers added a good second baseman Clayton Claiborne (.327/2 HR/54 RBI/52 R) from North Hill for center fielder Gil Arthur (.340/10 HR/58 RBI/51 R/10 SB)... Clutterbuck and Yaden will join starters Vance Dillaway (17-5/3.15) and Brownie Ashmore (14-5/3.34) in the starting rotation... Claiborne will be the regular second sacker this season... Rolling Hills has only one shortcoming... they could use some help in the bullpen... Rob Gates (12-6/3.66 ERA/14 saves/48 games) is just a fair-to-middling closer... Jordy Wales could be a big help there and also as a solid spot starter... and now we take a look at the Rolling Hills batting order... it's really scary... almost entirely .300 hitters, led by Teddy Stonich (.345/31 HR/134 RBI), Jean-Luc Roubique (.331/18 HR/87 RBI), Hugo Sutton (.329/16 HR/83 RBI), Jameson Mulbert (.299/2 HR/74 RBI/103 R/14 SB), Jimmy Brandini (.318/12 HR/60 RBI), Lee Fountain (.299/13 HR/8I RBI) and Clayton Claiborne (.327/2 HR/54 RBI)... and almost all of the backups are .300 hitters, too... add into the lineup, first baseman Luca Palazzi (.303/2 HR/22 RBI/41 R/6 SB)... he will be the fulltime first baseman this season... he didn't get to play much last year... Palazzi is highly-touted player and has much potential: .300 batter, 20 homers, 80 RBIs, 100 runs, 25 stolen bases are reasonable expectations according to the baseball scouts... the Rolling Hills Racers could win 110 games this year... they are that good... could be 115, too.
The
Bayview Vikings are rated the second-best club in the Tycobbian West... mainly because they have the second-best pitching staff... plus some good, solid hitters with some power... '57 (84-70) and '60 (82-72) were good years for the Viks, at least record-wise, but they haven't won a TU West pennant since 2016... they are not a very successful IPA franchise... Bayview has only appeared in the postseason playoffs 6 times with no Pro Cup trophies yet... but the Vikings are certainly not in the class of Rolling Hills... not on the hill and not at the plate... last season Bayview came in fifth, just 4 games over .500... but they have two quality starters in Ivar Rasmussen (16-9/2.90) and James Farnham (16-6/3.23)... the starters need help... and the bullpen really needs help... but the Bayview bats are pretty good with Gunnar Lindberg (.349/17 HR/72 RBI/102 R), Lou Fairhead (.283/25 HR/93 RBI), Goldy O'Toole (.287/19 HR/93 RBI), Yazzy Ricks (.244/22 HR/103 RBI), Vern Woodcock (.271/24 HR/67 RBI/87 R), Jonas Stephens (.283/16 HR/59 RBI) and Noel Connors (.300/10 HR/60 RBI).
According to the baseball scribes and sportcasters the third-best team in the TU West will be the
Kenwood Wildcats... they had a fine season last year, winding up 93-61... but not good enough to compete with Rolling Hills... the Wildcats trailed that powerhouse by 9 games... they had the offense to hang with the Racers (.287 BA), but didn't have the pitching (4.24 ERA)... same thing this year, except the pitching appears to be worse... Dennis Tarrant (19-7/3.66) is the best starter... the rest are just mediocre: Red Bradford (16-8/4.12) and Mickey Maughan (13-9/4.28)... the bullpen is not so good, either, with closer Pee Wee Windham (6-11/4.35 ERA/29 saves/58 games)... but Kenwood can hit... leading the attack are Bralen Connally (.307/27 HR/102 RBI), John Michael Lansdell (.342/24 HR/96 RBI), Gabriel Macedo (.304/29 HR/88 RBI), Joe Kellogg (.305/8 HR/77 RBI), Bailey Brumley (.309/6 HR/69 RBI), Lorne Latimer (.313/5 HR/55 RBI), Esra McCluskey (.345/5 HR/36 RBI) and Eliot Epperson (.318/3 HR/29 RBI)... down through its IPA history the Wildcats have fared well with an overall winning record (.514)... with 10 playoff appearances and one Pro Cup (2014)... Kenwood did well last year with a high-octane attack... may be they can do it again... second place in the Tycobbian West sounds good... methinks, on paper the Wildcats are better than Bayview.
The
La Claire Lynx are pretty much in the same boat as Kenwood... good offense, lackluster pitching... last year they did well with an 84-70 mark, good enough for the third spot in the standings, but that was still 18 games behind TU West champion and Pro Cup winner Rolling Hills... they are picked to finish fourth in the race this season... heading up the offensive attack are Jonny Bacon (.285/23 HR/100 RBI), Derek Winchester (.320/12 HR/100 RBI), Taro Lansing (.277/17 HR/94 RBI), Sean McEwen (.277/13 HR/83 RBI/100 R/20 SB), Dandy Zack (.300/15 HR/61 R/105 R), Pat Delancy (.294/12 HR/60 RBI/78 R) and Horace Rutherford (.316/11 HR/47 RBI)... that's a fairly potent bunch of bats... La Claire's starters are fairly good with Kraig Cutler (13-3/2.97), Maurice Aronson (15-7/3.65), Tim Halliburton (10-8/3.90) and Tommy Trantham (11-14/4.01)... but the bullpen is bad... Aronson was last year's closer with 15 saves... taking his spot will be Lanny Phipps (9-8/3.81 ERA/12 saves/48 games)... the Lynx have not fared well in the Islandian Pro Alliance... they have won only 4 pennants in the team's history... never won a Pro Cup... never gone deep into the playoffs... no TU West pennants since '37 and '38... last year was the first winning season in 8 years... fourth place sounds good... might sneak up to third place... Bayview may not be as good as the pollsters are forecasting.
The
Denton City Redbirds wound up fourth last year (82-72), 10 games over the break-even mark, but 20 games back of Rolling Hills... they are just a middle-of-the-road club this season and forecast to finish in fifth place in
The Islandian Times IPA preseason poll... the Redbirds hit well, score well and have some pitching... Robert Currie (19-10/3.87) and Rance Hasbrough (16-12/3.91) give them two quality starters... the bullpen is fairly good, led by longtime closer Burnell Kelley (3-5/3.38 ERA/32 saves/36 games)... at age 33 he may be showing signs of decline... to improve over last season, Denton City needs to find 2 or 3 more quality starters and some help in the bullpen... the Redbird offense seems to be in fine shape with superstar Vincent McCloud (.323/25 HR/107 RBI/114 R), TU batting average champ Ozzy Crenshaw (.365/15 HR/75 RBI/95 R), Danley Donovan (.284/25 HR/96 RBI/80 R), Winky Biggio (.282/17 HR/84 RBI/85 R), Josh Karnes (.275/10 HR/55 RBI/109 R/14 SB) and Troy Helton (.317/4 HR/62 RBI/41 R)... looking back over the Denton City history, they have made the postseason 13 times, but never won a Pro Cup, but the Redbirds reached the Pro Cup Finals twice (2005, 2008)... in recent times Denton City has won the Tycobbian West pennant four times in the last decade ('53, '55, '57, '59)... the mound corps was better in those seasons.
The last three teams in the Tycobbian West suffer from a lack of hitting, power and pitching... the
Bay St. Clair Buccaneers are slated for the sixth spot in the Tycobbian West this season... that will be much-improved over last year's basement-dwelling finish (49-105)... it's been five years since the Bucs had a winning season... the last pennants came in '49 and '50... 11 times Bay St. Clair has made the postseason playoffs, but they have never captured a Pro Cup... the Buccaneers made the Pro Cup Finals in 2015, but were beaten by Taranto in 5 games... checking out this year's Buccaneer edition, Darcey Kennedy (5-17/3.41) is an effective starter... he gets a little help from Jerrock Gillock (11-13/4.23) and Benny Daye (8-9/4.37)... that's it for pitchers... zilch in the bullpen... also there are no reliable threats in the lineup... the hitters are average at best and there are not many of them... Bay St. Clair is just not a very good baseball team... they look like a 100-loss team again... Whiz Ivie (.289/2 HR/41 RBI/69 R/16 SB) has the best average... followed by Steven O'Connor (.270/15 HR/75 RBI/76 R), Dan Berryhill (.276/4 HR/63 RBI) and Manny Cedeno (.242/15 HR/57 RBI/56 R)... this team may not escape the TU West cellar.
The
Chicopee Braves have been mired in the bottom of the Tycobbian West for the past four seasons... they came seventh last year (63-91), 39 games behind Rolling Hills... and it looks like more of the same this year... they are rated by the pollsters to be the seventh-best team in the TU West... but help may be on the way... the pitching rotation has been revamped with four rookies: Kevin Quick, Mark Meriweather, Canaan Harris and Chatan Kota... all of them did well in the Spring... Chuta Shaman (13-13/4.02) is the only returning starter... and the bullpen has a fairly good closer in Cy Abernathy (3-7/3.46 ERA/28 saves/53 games)... so Chicopee could be better this year on the hill... however, the batting order is filled with lightweight hitters... the best of the lot are Herm McCanless (.303/11 HR/75 RBI), Lou Stankowski (.319/11 HR/53 RBI), Stacey Whitmire (.300/6 HR/50 RBI) and Phil Crichton (.292/4 HR/52 RBI... the most productive is Kohana Chaska (.250/15 HR/92 RB)... sixth, seventh or eighth place is the Braves most likely destiny in 2063... in its history Chicopee is one of the lesser lights in the Islandian Pro Alliance... only three playoff appearances ('14, '15, '16)... with no Pro Cups... the Braves have never gone deep into the postseason.
The
Arlon Champions had a nice stretch of success from '51 to '59, winning four Tycobbian West pennants ('51, '54, '56, '58) and one Pro Cup (2051) in that time frame... overall in their IPA history they have made the playoffs on 9 occasions with one Pro Cup... since '60 the Champs have been stuck near the bottom of the division... not a lot of hitting... and not a lot of pitching... the top bat is Rebel Bryce (.261/28 HR/90 RBI/90 R)... the best contact hitter is Enos Benham (.324/14 HR/65 RBI/67 R)... Landon Moore (.317/6 HR/65 RBI/40 R) makes good contact, too... but that's about it in the batting order... the best arms in the Arlon starting rotation are 11-year veteran Ty Coffee (12-12/3.91) and 12-year veteran Erik Branham (11-15/4.06)... Coffee is 40 and Branham is 34 and both are on the downgrade... the bullpen chores are handled well by closer Clyde Burney (8-7/2.67 ERA/9 saves/53 games) and Rex August (7-6/3.29 ERA/9 saves/57 games)... the outlook for Arlon in '63 is not very optimistic... the Champions are ranked last by the preseason pollsters in
The Islandian Times.
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2063 Tycobbian West Preseason Prediction ************************************************** *******************************
2062 Tycobbian West Final Standings *********************