[JayW UK]

2037 Regular Season

Eastern League Review

A coming of age season from 25-year-old pitcher Brett Knight (15-6, 2.97 ERA) and solid contributions from LF Rob Penney (.308, 27 HR, 104 RBI) and C Eduardo Moreno (35 HR, 101 RBI) propelled Boston (89-73) to the Atlantic division title, New York were their nearest rivals with their young core led by pitcher Brent Brown (18-7, 3.09 ERA) and 1B Jerry Wright (.261, 45 HR, 101 RBI) giving Senators fans plenty to cheer for, the Senators pushed Boston hard all season but ultimately never quite managed to get ahead of the Pilgrims in the standings and finished the campaign three games back. Big Spending Baltimore failed once again to truly challenge for a postseason spot, having to settle for third place and an 81-81 record, while Philadelphia who despite their star-studded roster struggled with consistency and injury all season, culminating in an 80-82 finish, their first losing season since 2030. Bringing up the rear as expected was Washington (71-91), although the team did improve their record by 10 games over 2036, manager Dave Wildridge still had plenty of work to do to make the Generals competitive.
In the Central, Indianapolis (99-63) missed out on a 100-win season by losing their final two games, RF Jose Cintron (.288, 33 HR, 122 RBI) was the catalyst on offense, while off-season signing Ramon Schoof (19-4, 2.77 ERA) ably supported by Dave Lockhart (14-6, 3.00 ERA) and Jose Franco (15-7, 3.93 ERA) locked down the rotation. With impressive seasons from McKenzie Ransford (19-6, 2.90 ERA) and Les Scott (20-6, 1.82 ERA), St. Louis rode their pitching all the way to the club’s first playoff appearance, collecting a franchise best 93 wins along the way. Chicago got typically strong seasons from Eugene Fey (19-7, 2.67 ERA), Josh Deric (.313, 17 HR, 81 RBI) and 2B David Evans (.317, 26 HR, 106 RBI) but fell woefully short of expectations with an 83-79 campaign. New manager Cisco Rivera had little effect as Detroit (69-93) continued to struggle with inconsistent pitching being the biggest problem, Larry Moreno (13-7, 3.08) was excellent while Greg Hardy (6-17, 5.72 ERA) and Leo Wright (4-17, 4.92 ERA) were not. Cleveland (65-97) stumbled to their tenth consecutive year without a winning season, haemorrhaging money, with the NABL’s lowest payroll and only 1.4M fans turning out to see them, the franchise was sliding inexorably into crisis.
With an offense propelled by the quartet of SS Brandon Townsend, RF Daron Murphy, 3B Alfonso Alvarez and 21-year-old CF Luis Garza who all hit 20+ homeruns and a pitching staff featuring David Reyes (19-6, 3.63 ERA), Jim Jacques (14-9, 3.11 ERA) and youngster Rich Sutton (13-5, 3.25 ERA), Charlotte (93-69) held off Tampa Bay to claim their third straight Southwest division crown. The Hurricanes (88-74) looked to be on their way to reclaiming the division title until injuries to 3B Bryant Manton (.260, 39 HR, 98 RBI) and CF Steve Blanton (.291, 24 HR, 105 RBI) robbed them of their two best players down the stretch leading to 4-9 record over the final two weeks handing Charlotte the division. Miami’s pitchers struggled all season to keep the ball in the park, surrendering a league high 202 homeruns, a big reason why the Everglades finished a distant third with a 75-87 record, Atlanta fell back from 79-wins to 73 but had reason the believe better days were in store with several youngsters breaking through, 23-year-old catcher Luis Guerra (.308, 33 HR, 96 RBI) the best of them. New Orleans (66-96) finished in the basement once again (the fourth season in a row) and just as before, a strong season from 1B Rick Flynn (.259, 28 HR, 77 RBI) was wasted, just how long the club could hope to keep Flynn was anyone’s guess.

Final Standings

Atlantic Division
Boston 89-73*
New York 86-76
Baltimore 81-81
Philadelphia 80-82
Washington 71-91

Central Division
Indianapolis 99-63*
St. Louis 93-69*
Chicago 83-79
Detroit 69-93
Cleveland 65-97

Southeast Division
Charlotte 93-69*
Tampa Bay 88-74
Miami 75-87
Atlanta 73-89
New Orleans 66-96