Well, here we are, on the final day of the regular season schedule for the WPK for the 1981 season and all of the pennant races have been decided save one: the MGL West.
Yesterday, the San Antonio Keys defeated the El Paso Dawgs in El Paso 4-1 behind 23-year old Cuban right-hander Humberto Ramirez, who the Keys signed as an international free agent in the off-season. This clinched the second straight SJL West title for San Antonio and sends them to the post-season for the third straight year as they also try to win their second straight KCS championship title.
It might be a tough road for them though as they will be without staff ace Steven Wells (20-6, 2.78, 1.18 WHIP), who suffered an oblique strain in his last start and will be unavailable until well into the off-season, they continue to be without the services of center fielder Zach McClelland, who has not played since late July due to a strained hamstring and whose recovery time remains unknown, and on top of that they recently lost the services of second baseman John Mussaw, a legitimate candidate for the SJL MVP- at least he would be if Pittsburgh's Matt Van der Heyden wasn't so otherworldly and hadn't all but clinched this by mid-season. Mussaw has a severely sprained ankle which is expected to sideline him for at least 6-7 weeks. On top of that, their third baseman Ethan Stallworth, having a career year with a 6.6 WAR, is currently day-to-day with back stiffness.
As for the MGL West, your Denver Brewers traveled to Los Angeles and took 2 of 3 from the Spinners, dropping the final game of the series in spite of having ace
Jim Atwell on the mound, as veteran Craig Luther (16-13, 3.37) shut out the Brewers in spite of giving up 11 hits. Meanwhile the Portland Wild Things took 2 of 3 from Phoenix.
The Brewers then also went to Phoenix and this was a great lift for the batters even if Phoenix Municipal Stadium is not the most comfortable place for a pitching staff. (Think Coors Field, pre-humidor.) And after taking an early 10-0 lead, the Brewers held on for a 12-8 victory in game 1.
Unfortunately for Denver, the Portland Wild Things won both ends of a double-header in St. Louis against the Red Birds, 1-0 and 2-1.
The next day, yesterday, the Brewers once again built an early lead against Phoenix, leading 8-0 going into the bottom of the 6th and holding on for an 8-3 win, propelled largely by 2 homers off the bat of
Antonio Acuna, including a 3rd inning Grand Slam.
But the Brewers didn't get the help they needed from St. Louis as the Portland Wild Things got another win, stifling the Redbirds for a 3-0 shutout.
So we go into the last day of the regular season and the best the Brewers can hope for is a tie, which will require them to complete the sweep of Phoenix while Portland falls to St. Louis.