White River Home Page (12 postseason appearances, no Pro Cups)
5th: White River Rascals (96-58)
The Rascals are resting their hopes on superlative pitching and some good home-run power by Quick, Bowman and McTavish... Meaux, Maddux and Lucas are standout starters... actually all 8 hurlers on the staff are excellent... White River doesn't hit a lot for average... it depends on the longball... scoring is tough... the Rascals' defense is also bad... the worst in the playoffs with a .958 FA.
Red Bluff Home Page (11 postseason appearances, 2 Pro Cups in 2004 and 2057)
6th Place: Red Bluff Red Sox (93-61)
The Red Sox depend on their fine pitching (3.28 ERA) and strong defense (.969 FA)... bats are woeful with a .243 BA, worst of all the playoff teams... scoring is second worst (716 runs)... but most of the Red Bluff batting order can go deep... Goldsmith, Angeletti and McDade head up a good starting rotation... backed up by a quality relief corps with Gilbreath, Treadway and Cummings... they put up a 3.21 ERA this season between them.
Volusia Home Page (12 postseason appearances, 1 Pro Cup in 2001)
7th: Volusia Vigilantes (94-60)
The V's have a 2.82 ERA, tops in the IPA... the staff is anchored by Ojima, Cayton and Waldrep, all with ERAs under 3.00... it's a formidable rotation that doesn't allow a lot of home runs... the bullpen is also strong with an impressive 2.98 ERA... Conlin and Darrow anchor the relief corps... but Volusia hit only .252 for average, is the worst-scoring playoff team and has the fewest number of home runs... the Vigilantes scored only 692 runs and hit only 92 roundtrippers... in addition, the V's play poor defense (.961 FA)... the pitching will have to be out of this world for Volusia to win the Pro Cup Trophy... not likely to happen so say the soothsayers.
Belair Beach Home Page (8 postseason appearances, no Pro Cups)
8th: Belair Beach Sunbirds (91-63)
It would be a grand story of great delight if the Sunbirds soar to the greatest heights of IPA baseball and win the much-revered Pro Cup after an absence of 24 long, long seasons and capture their first-ever IPA crown... ah, that would be glorious indeed... that would be a great fairytale of great proportion... before we get carried away, let's check out the facts and see if this fable is real or not... we do know Belair Beach upended a harden Pro Cup perennial this year in the Ruthlandian South race... they dethroned the Claxton Diamonds, who had won the division for 8 consecutive seasons... the Sunbirds did it with a bevy of batters that could hit and score runs in abundance... Elbourne, De Jonker and Cochran are the top hitters... pretty much top to bottom in the lineup there is a fairly tough out... they don't depend on a few batters to provide the offense... they all produce... couple this with three quality arms like Hebb, Belzer and Edgworth on the mound staff and a very capable bullpen led by Goudeau and Arrissen and you have a competitive team... just ask the Valka Blackhawks, Claxton Diamonds and the other 5 clubs in the RU South... the Sunbirds are for real... can Belair Beach pull off this remarkable story and win the Pro Cup?... in a word - nope - but sometimes in the real world, dreams and fairytales come true... in the last decade the Karate Kids and the Ginza Ninjas did the highly unlikely in '59 and almost repeated in '60, unheralded Hartsdale won the Pro Cup in '63 and Claxton surprisingly upset heavily-favored Rolling Hills in '64... all things are possible in love and war and in the Islandian Pro Alliance.
2070 Islandian Pro Alliance Pro Cup Playoff Outlook:
Rolling Hills will top White River in a tense TU Title Round and Valmara will topple Belair Beach in a dramatic RU Title Round... the Vipers will put asunder the Racers' dream of back-to-back Pro Cups in a sizzling 7-game series... methinks, Rolling Hills is too old to win another Pro Cup... sadly, their magical and remarkable run is probably over... youth, vigor and vitality are on the side of the Vipers.
