Thursday, April 3, 2063
2064 IPA PRESEASON PREVIEW
What lies in store for the Islandian Pro Alliance fans all across the Islands for the new 2064 season?... will the rich get richer, the poor get poorer... will there be any surprises this year?... will the defending IPA Pro Cup titlist, the surprising Hartsdale Hellcats, win it again?... will the Oxford Red Caps regain their TU North throne from the Hellcats?... will the Rolling Hills Racers dominate their division again?... we'll know most of the answers at the end of September... and we'll definitely know it all by November... till then, we'll just have to guesstimate and prognosticate as best we can... last year we didn't come close... not one soul mentioned Hartsdale winning the Pro Cup... not one of the top six picks made the Pro Cup Finals... only one of the six teams won their divisions... that was the overwhelming favorite, the defending Pro Cup champion... yet Rolling Hills fell in the first round of the playoffs to South Fork.
Here we go once again for the 64th time... let take a quick perusal of what could happen in the Islandian Pro Alliance this year... let's hope we do better in our forecasts this year... the baseball writers and broadcasters are picking Rolling Hills and Oxford to fight it out once again in the Tycobbian Union... Wynnamac and Rocky Rapids are favored to battle it out in the Ruthlandian Union... when it's all said and done, the Rolling Hills Racers will win it all.
Sure they will...
Around the IPA very quickly... Glasco is the choice in the tightly-bunched Ruthlandian North, but it will be a free-for-all with Valmara, last year's winner LaGrange, Taranto and Far Mountain... anybody could win.
I speak a Slavic language a little bit... so I may be a little partial to the Valmara Vipers... been a closet fan since the beginning of the IPA years ago... Viper outfielders Jet Kazmarek and Jan Szymanski are two of my favorites from the early years... Kazmarek was a great hitter, but a lousy fielder a la Babe Herman... he is the all-time best hitter in the IPA with a career .350 BA and nine batting titles... Szymanski was just a fine center fielder, clutch hitter and a winner... he got a late start in the IPA... Szymanski was already 29 when the IPA had it first season in 2001... he batted .269 in six seasons with 147 homers and 550 RBIs... never forgave the Vipers for trading both of them... love the Valmara logo and nickname, too... two of their grandsons are starters on the '64 edition of the Vipers, second sacker Vladimir Szymanski and right fielder Dominik Kazmarek.