Here are the updated standings as we head into the month of October and the last handful of regular season games:
Two of the four division races are settled, with Chicago headed off to the SJL Championship series to begin the defense of their WPK champion title, and the Detroit Falcons going to the post-season for the first time in their history, representing the lowly MGL (L)East.
It certainly appears as though the Jacksonville Wolf Pack will prevail in the SJL East, with Boston and Washington battling it out for second place.
And in what probably doesn't quite qualify as an epic collapse, but certainly is a turn of fortunes in the wrong direction, the Denver Brewers, who entered September with a 2 1/2 game lead over Phoenix and a whopping 9 game lead over San Francisco, now find themselves tied with San Francisco, 3 games behind the leading Phoenix Speed Devils, having gone 10-18 in the month of September.
Batters of the Month:
Shoeless Joe League:
George Brown was the 2nd overall pick in the 1978 draft out of South Florida Community College. During his rise to the big leagues he was ranked as high as #5 on the top prospects list. But thus far his WPK career has been pretty modest, with only one All-Star appearance and his best WAR in a season being 5.3, which he accomplished in 1984. At age 30 Brown is considered injury prone (fragile).
But setting aside high expectations, Brown is a valuable role player on a great team. He plays solid defense both at third base and in right field, he's a good all-around hitter with a career OPS+ of 130. He'll never hit for a high average but he gets on base at a good rate (career OBP of .363) and has decent power (averaging 18 homers per season). When healthy he contributes and it is greedy to ask for much more than that from any player.
And in the month of September, as his team was in the push towards back-to-back division wins, Brown shone.
Moonlight Graham League:
What more can we say about Hyeong-uk Chun? Yes, he has shattered the single-season WPK home run record as a rookie with 66 bombs and counting. Yes, his 11.2 WAR is by far the best in the WPK this season. Yes, he has driven in a WPK-best 143 runs, has an ISO of .409, an OPS+ of 186, and his 94 extra base hits is more than 20 higher than his nearest competitor.
But what might be missed with all of this offensive production is that he not only plays center field, but plays a pretty fine center field, with a ZR of +6.6 and 13 outfield assists. He can run a little too, having stolen 14 bases (granted, being caught 8 times also) and he has a UBR of 3.9 and a BsR of 3.0.
He is the MGL Batter of the Month for the 3rd time this year (and the Rookie of the Month for the 5th time) but let's face it, that's small fry in comparison to the seasonal awards hardware he will walk away with after this, his rookie season. He is the sure thing Rookie of the Year and MGL MVP, among other honors, and might still lead his team to a WPK championship.
Pitchers of the Month:
Shoeless Joe League:
Jacksonville's success is multifaceted, but give a lot of credit to their 1-2 combination of young aces at the top of the rotation in Casey Van Fossen and David Parker.
Van Fossen is not only the September Pitcher of the Month in the SJL but will almost surely be the Harris/Lee Award winner this year in the SJL at the end of the season. And he hopes to lead his team to the 4th championship in the franchise's history, what would be their first since 1973.
Moonlight Graham League:
After an impressive 1985 season, his first in the St. Louis rotation, Greg Grieve has been a bit more inconsistent this season while rotation mates Dan Clark and Greg Kratochvil have outshone him most of the season. But Greive has been good down the stretch even as his team was being eliminated from contention once again and he well deserves the September MGL Pitcher of the Month honors.
It should also be mentioned that the Rookie of the Month in the SJL was Milwaukee left-handed starting pitcher Malik Miller, who is still developing at age 24, but has a nasty curveball, a plus forkball, and an above average fastball. Since joining the big league club on July 23rd he has gone 7-3 with a 3.12 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. While Miller doesn't profile as a future ace he certainly looks like he could be a solid mid-rotation arm for many years to come.