Tuesday, October 2, 2063
SUPER SEASON IN THE IPA ! GLORIOUS FINISH !
The 2063 Islandian Pro Alliance season is over... and it really finished with a flourish... one division was decided on the final day of the regular season... one division was decided in the last few days of the season... two divisions were decided after the regular season was over in dramatic sudden-death fashion with one-game playoffs... what a fantastic fan-friendly photo finish!
The Elnora Clippers claimed their second straight Ruthlandian East title with a 9-3 shellacking of the Wynnamac Sundowners in sudden death... and the Hartsdale Hellcats did the improbable in the Tycobbian North and upset heavily-favored powerhouse Oxford... the Hellcats made up a six and a half-game deficit in a rousing September surge to force the Red Caps into a one-game winner-take-all clash... Hartsdale finished the Cinderella comeback with a 4-2 victory over stunned Oxford... the Claxton Diamonds won the Ruthlandian South on the final day of the season... they won their last game, while the St. John Crusaders lost their last game... in the Ruthlandian West, the Colfax Black Sox went 4-2 the last week of the season and beat out the Sligo Rovers by two games... the Rovers could only manage a 2-4 mark and lost by two games... for the 9th time in the last 11 seasons, Sligo has finished in the runner-up spot.
2063 Ruthlandian Union Wrap-Up
2063 was a glorious season for the pennant-starved LaGrange Gators... they topped the Ruthlandian North Division start-to-finish and won their first division title in 37 years... the Gators (96-58) chomped up on everybody and won going away by 15 games over the preseason choice, the Glasco Foxhounds (81-73)... the Taranto Tars (80-74) and Kilkenny Cats (80-74) tied for the third spot in the standings... the rest of the division wound up under .500... LaGrange posted the second-best record this year with 96 victories... current Pro Cup champion Rolling Hills led with 106 wins... the Gators will have trouble getting past the firepower of Elnora and Colfax in the Ruthlandian Union... and an even tougher task of whipping Rolling Hills and Hartsdale in the Tycobbian Union... LaGrange pitches very well, but has a lackluster offense with limited home-run power... the postseason does not bode well for the Gators.
The Ruthlandian South was hotly contested by six clubs... Claxton (85-69) and defending RU South champion St. John (84-70) ran a spirited race with no more than two games separating them during the entire season... the Diamonds finally eked it out by one single game over the Crusaders the last day of the season... St. John had won it the past three years in a row... this was Claxton's first RU South flag since 2047... the Valka Blackhawks (81-73) were forecast the best team in the preseason poll... they did well but came in third, winding up 4 games back in the race... the Waleska Westerners (79-75) and Crystal Lake Skippers (79-75) tied for fourth place, just 6 games behind... sixth place went the Grand City Cybercats (77-77), who broke even for the year and were just 8 games off the pace... the division bottom dwellers were the Belair Beach Sunbirds (66-88) and the San Dimas Rancheros (65-80)... the Sunbirds' last RU South crown came in 2047 and the Rancheros last won the pennant in 2041... Claxton depends heavily on its fine pitching... offensively the Diamonds will have a tough time in the Pro Cup playoffs... the offense is mediocre at best with little power... when you go up against the big boys with the big bats like Elnora and Colfax, you have to be able to score runs... and that's just to win the Ruthlandian title... not to mention what you might have to face in the Pro Cup Finals with likes of mighty Rolling Hills and and up-and-coming high-powered Hartsdale.
And speaking of the devil, the Ruthlandian East champion Elnora Clippers (88-67) are a dynamite ballclub... they led the Ruthlandian Union with 765 runs scored and a .285 batting average... the high-explosive attack helped them beat out the Wynnamac Sundowners (87-68), but just barely... Elnora had to beat the Macs in the one-game sudden-death playoff game for the RU East crown... the Marston Nine ran a solid race and came in third, just 4 and a half games out... one bad month, 9-17 in July, killed their pennant hopes... the fourth place Cold Creek Raccoons (82-72) were another solid challenger in the pennant chase... they finished only 5 and a half games out of first place... a poor June (10-18) and mediocre August (13-15) hurt their pennant chances... the rest of the Ruthlandian East was just mediocre to bad and never really contended.
It was a colossal year for the Colfax Black Sox (91-63) in the Ruthlandian West Division... they hadn't made the playoffs for 32 long seasons... but this year they put together a solid, well-balanced club with good scoring, good power and good pitching... they batted .271 (6th), scored 691 runs (6th), homered 142 times (6th-tied) and really sparkled on the mound with an excellent 2.95 ERA (2nd)... the Black Sox could be the surprise of the postseason this year... in spite of the great season, they were pushed hard by the runner-up Sligo Rovers (89-65), who wound up just 2 games back in the race... a 12-13 mark in July hampered the Rovers... just a few more wins that month and they might have copped the RU West Division title... the preseason pick was the Volusia Vigilantes (84-70), who won the division three of the last six seasons... the V's were good enough to make the Pro Cup Finals the last two years... a slow start in April and May put them too far behind... they closed it to just 3 games going into September, but then ran out of gas with a 13-13 month and ended up 7 games behind Colfax... another good ballclub was the Rocky Rapids Snappers (83-71)... they hung close throughout the entire year, but just didn't have enough pitching to move up into the class of Colfax and Sligo.... none of the second tier of teams in the Ruthlandian West were ever seriously in the hunt, but the Stoner Silver Sox did have a few days of glory... the Silver Sox (16-8) led the division at the end of April, but they faded to seventh place by season's end... the Forest City Firebirds also had a brief fling in the sun... they were in third place (27-23) at the end of May... but soon reality set in... at the end of June the Firebirds (33-43) were near the bottom of the RU West standings.
2063 Ruthlandian Union Final Standings
Tuesday, October 2, 2063
