1989 Season :
The specialists of expansion years,
the Expendables, are once again the favorites to win the Outlands division. 1988 LBS MVP
Kinnon Henn had a breakout season last year at 31. The 1B batted for
.208/.366/.451, 33 HR, 83 RBI & 5.1 WAR
Surprisingly good for their first postseason appearance, the
Tattoed Sharks lost their best hitter Kyle Petrillo. But there are still talents in Narballo, as SP
Wing-tat Tsai achieved a solid season for his second year there. He was
10-15 with
3.37 ERA,
1.11 WHIP,
200 K and
6.7 WAR.
Incredible in the regular season last year,
City is finally benefitting from their rebuilding years. Yun-qi Chu, Dave Jackman and Josh Mendez are the most known players, but SP
Jim Kimball did really well for his return in the LBL after one year at St Louis. He had
19 W (league high),
9 L,
2.89 ERA, 243 K and
6.1 WAR.
The best team of the SL in 1988, the
Black&Yellow have yet to win a championship in this decade. This is their longest drought and they want to end it soon. The ACE
Kevin Delahaye is incredible since 1986. He won his first Golden Ball. The Canadian pitcher lead last year in
ERA (2.04), K (292), WHIP (0.91), K/9 (9.8), BABIP (.247) and WAR (9.1)
First winner of the Colourful Valley division, the
Silver Eagles will contend for the championship again. The 1988 Golden Glove winner
Herman Strazzer was exceptional for his second full season in the LBL. The German 3B batted dominated the SL with
129 RBI, .509 SLG, .886 OPS and 8.4 WAR. He also had
34 HR, .275 AVG and
.377 OBP.
Maybe the biggest outsider to have not participated in last season playoffs,
Linga Bay will seek their 2nd championship. Catcher
Soo-Yeon Kim may have his best years behind him, but he is still one of the best catcher in the league. He won his 9th Ruby Award last year. Add to this his 8 Sapphire awards. In his first season for his fourth team, Kim batted for
.230/.312/.423 with 23 HR and 4.2 WAR
Transactions/ FA :
- Cesar Gomez, 34 yo SP, signed as a FA (SST --> LGG) a contract of 15 000 000 € in 5 y
- Kyle Petrillo, 30 yo C, signed as a FA (TSH --> SEAG) a contract of 19 840 000 € in 3 y
- Emilio Cantu, 28 yo SP, signed as a FA (GRE --> PHI(MLB)) a contract of 1 870 000 € in 3 y
- Ka-fei Li, 26 yo 2B, signed as a FA (MAP --> BEA) a contract of 7 740 000 € in 4 y
- Daniel Flores, 29 yo 2B, signed as a FA (CITY --> MAP) a contract of 7 170 000 € in 7 y
- Julian Williams, 30 yo CL, signed as a FA (LNN --> B&Y) a contract of 1 860 000 € in 3 y
Managerial changes :
CITY Boutros Nyachae retired at age 61. He managed to win a division title for his last season. Inexperienced coach Ryan Sebra will replace him.
THU Michael Lewington was fired after his poor results as the manager of the Thunders. Previously bench coach for Lingalia, Fidel Pena has been chosen as the new manager of the Thunders.
GRE Oberdan Diaz and Green District ended their collaboration on a successful season last year. He is currently waiting for other coaching opportunities. Matt Curry is his successor. This will be his first job.
SST Once again, the Sea Stars have appointed a new manager. William Cherry will now pursue his career as the manager of the Thunderbolts in the l-league. Donn Clendenon has been appointed for the 1989 season.
LNN Paul McCarthy (1982-)
FRE Harvey Kuenn (1984-)
THU Fidel Pena (1989-)
CITY Ryan Sebra(1989-)
TSH Anderson Rosario (1984-)
MAP Jordan Berry (1988-)
WHE Ahmed Wiese (1988-)
GRE Matt Curry (1989-)
DIA Alejandro Zamora (1979-)
B&Y Andrew Lefave (1981-)
BEA Hugues Chopin (1988-)
SST Donn Clendenon(1989-)
LGG Yellel Cooper (1986-)
JDT Daniel Albritton (1987-)
SEAG Ernie Banks (1988-)
GDD Yic Xu (1988-)
Moon League
Not in postseason for the last three years, the Freros mark their comeback with an impressive 110-52 record to win their 3rd division title. Golden Ball winner Myung-gu Kim was stellar. Their old rivals, the Nang Nius had clinched the second postseason berth in the Metro division, just one win ahead of City. The Thunders did improve and at least, they did not finish the season with more than 100 losses.
The reigning champion, Green District did much more better than last season by winning 102 games. Mike Jackson achieved again a great season as the team DH. Narballo was a bit less performant than in 1988, but it was enough to participate again in the playoffs. The last two teams have both lost more than 100 games. Stonegap is the only 1988 expansion team to not finish last of their division.
Sun League
In the Colourful Valley div., the team placed in the same place as last year. The Silver Eagles finished with exactly 100 wins. Their offence were amazing this season with 821 runs scored. 2B Strazzer won back-to-back Golden Glove. He was perfectly surrounded as Morales, Barraza or Garica also did a great season. The Golden Dragons finished with more than 100 losses, a bit disappointing after their solid first season.
The Diamonds were able to get ahead of the Black&Yellows to win their 4th division. Their bullpen included the closer that won the Silver Ball in SL : Lothar Frisch. Once again, the Sea Stars are left out of postseason. After their awful season last year, the Bears did better but still lost 100 games.
Markus Iisalo, a pitcher from Finland was picked first in the 1989 Draft by Kuronga.
Moon League
In the ML, some players did affirm themselves like
Yun-qi Chu(CITY),
Robin Britton(LNN),
Xin-Yun Cheng(FRE),
Alex Nunez(FRE) or
Shuichi Mizusawa(CITY).
Experienced players like
River Ford(LNN),
Myung-gu Kim(FRE),
Akira Kazama(LNN),
Dave Jackman(CITY),
Omar Almendarez(LNN),
Mike Jackson(GRE) make their return.
Sun League
The SL team welcome notable newcomers
Kyle Petrillo(SEAG),
Lothar Frisch(DIA),
Carlos Garica(SEAG),
Carlos Bermudez(DIA)
Osmo Karppinen(B&Y),
Roberto Revilla(DIA),
Victor Sira(LGG),
Herman Strazzer(SEAG),
Victor Morales(SEAG),
Jose Barraza(SEAG),
Jérôme Imbert(DIA),
Michel Dubost(SST),
Soo-Yeon Kim(SST) are the biggest players to play in their second ASG.
In the Nomatica Arena of Narballo, the Sun League defeat their opponent to make it even between the leagues.