ISLANDIAN PRO ALLIANCE (RUTHLANDIA and TYCOBBIA BASEBALL UNIONS)

[Eugene Church]

5th Place


The last six seasons have not been good for the fifth place Middlefield Roosters... prior to 2057 they had won 9 division flags in 10 years and even claimed 2 Pro Cups ('52, '56)... what a run ! ... no so any longer... just a fair-to-middling ballclub with aging stars... mainstays Wyatt, Agarn and Radzikowski are in their mid 30s and on the decline... still productive, but not like the golden decade.

The Roosters can score... 756 runs (5th), batted .265 BA (20th) with fair power 124 HRs (12th)... zilch in pitching with a high-as-the-heavens 4.47 ERA (23rd)... bullpen is a liability, too... strong glove work with a .981 FA... but just a so-so club... they ran a good race most of the year, only a game out of first place on August 1st, but flopped in the stretch drive (25-29) and wound up 10 games behind Volusia (37-17).

Johnny Wyatt, Trip Agarn and Stan Radzikowski still are the best bats, but on the decline and nearing retirement... right fielder Agarn (118 G, .286 BA, 20 HR, 83 RBI, 65 R) is platoon against righties... rookie outfielder Jasper Kenton looks like a potential difference maker and budding star... Middlefield has fair starters in the rotation with youngsters Mickey O'Donnell, Andy Phillips and Nate Dorignac.

[Eugene Church]

6th Place


The sixth place Colfax Blasters last pennant came in '42... latest winning season came in '59... downhill since and near the bottom of the RU West... 15 GB this year... scored pretty good with 743 runs (11th)... good pop with 140 HR (10th)... hit very well with a .277 BA... but not much on the mound overall with a 4.50 ERA (24th)... but there are bright spots in the lineup with youngsters Lanny Waldrep, All-Star first baseman Bralen Josephson, Owen McElwain and Steven Keener... Waldrep won the RU Golden Bat in '59... on the hill there are three blossoming hurlers: starters Blaine Barkins and Quince Blakeley... and closer Karl Kruger... the Blasters stayed within striking distance of first place until they tanked in August and September with a poor 23-32 mark... good things may be on the horizon in Colfax.

[Eugene Church]

7th Place


2062 was not a good year for the dismal Fort Benton Defenders... got no higher than seventh this year in the standings... the years have not been kind to them... only twice in the team's history have they graced the playoffs in '37 and '57... nothing but second division finishes since the pennant year... pitching is the problem... 4.67 ERA (27th)... however, the Defenders can handle the bats very, very well with a .291 BA... fairly good scoring with 739 runs, but no power at all... just 78 homers (29th)... not good on defense with a .974 FA.

Marlon Hazard really stood out... he led the Ruthlandian Union with a .387 BA and 223 hits... Terry Caslin is an All-Star catcher... Travis Litchfield and Marcos Aguilar are .300 hitters... on the mound Fort Benton has only three decent pitchers... none of them standouts... Ace Rutherford, Sammy Wilshire and Jazzy McAuliffe are just somewhat reliable... and the bullpen is the worst in the league with an astromically high 5.25 ERA.

[Eugene Church]

8th Place


For the third successive season it was the RU West basement for the hapless Forest City Firebirds, 29 games back of pennant-winner Volusia... they have a couple of good ballplayers and little else... '57 was the last winning season and that was just barely at 78-76... only 5 times in the club's history have they won pennants... the last time was in 2048... not much good to say about the Firebirds... 30th in scoring with 639 runs... 22nd with a .260 BA... 15th with 119 roundtrippers... 25th with an awful 4.53 ERA... they don't even play defense well with a poor .973 FA.

About the best thing you can say about Forest City is that 35-year-old cleanup hitter Randy Snow has been a good ballplayer for 11 seasons... and that Snow and Edward Pierson had good years this year... that's about it ! ... I may be stretching the point a little bit that Rick Adriano is a quality starter... at least half the time he gives them a quality start... however, I will add something good -- the Firebirds have pretty uniforms and logos... I like to end on a positive note.

[Eugene Church]

1st Place

2062 Tycobbian South Final Standings


SUN SOX SHINE IN SUMMERTIME IN TU SOUTH
Most of the season it was a three-club affair in the Tycobbian South Division between Southport, San Alejo and Summerland... the Sun Sox led almost all the way during the campaign with the Montaneros and Sunsets hanging close by... but Southport caught fire in August and September, chalking up sizzling 36-19 record and won the division flag easily by 12 games over San Alejo (29-25) and 13 games better than Summerland (30-25).

The name of the game in Southport was pitching... the starting rotation and bullpen were rock solid with 3.14 ERA (4th)... offense was better-than-average with a .270 BA (12th), 717 runs (12th) and 107 HRs (23rd)... the Sun Sox had the best offense in the TU South... that's what set them apart from their main rivals, San Alejo and Summerland... defense just average with a .975 FA... the starters were led by Roman Littrell, Jeff Moncriffe, Jordy Wales, All-Star Jake Shank and Sandy Wilbur... the relief corps was headed up by Greg Brisbourne and Billy Ray Echols... the modest run producers were Walt Walmsley, Perry Parkhill and Buzzy McGinnis.

This will be Southport's 13th postseason appearance... the Sun Sox will be seeking their third Pro Cup trophy... they were IPA champs in '44 and '47... last TU South pennant was in '58.

[Eugene Church]

2nd Place


San Alejo is a pitcher's ballpark... hitters have a tough time... the Monties rank 3rd with a standout 3.07 ERA... right up there with Southport and Summerland... both starters and bullpen are strong... offensive numbers are mediocre with 635 runs (26th), .246 BA (26th) and only 95 roundtrippers (28th)... defense is very good with a .978 FA... top twirlers are starters Paul Passos, Joca Qartez, Reynaldo Aguas and Moises Chavallos... closer Adrian Acosta was pretty reliable... for a while they gave division winner Southport a challenge and kept the Montaneros close in the race... there are very few good hitters in the batting order... the best of the lot are Dominque Juban, Roman Redondo and Hershel McKowen.

This was San Alejo's first winning season in nine years... last pennant came in '51... only Pro Cup was in '32... the Monties have made the postseason 8 times in their IPA history.

[Eugene Church]

3rd Place


Summerland depends on its pitching to survive with its 3.17 ERA (5th)… team has always had good pitching in its IPA history... bats are just fair with a .254 BA (21st), 648 runs (23rd) and 113 home runs (21st)... the Sunsets play very good defense with a .978 FA... leading the mound staff are vets Rudy Hilgendorf, Tommy Underhill, injured Mick Marlow (10-8, 2.70) and Marty Westhuizen... Jacob Vandenboom, Jared Drobish and Tex Dalford stand out in the bullpen... prime run producers are All-Star CF Johnny Pendergrass, Klaus Kronenberg and Gerritt Peerenboom... look for rookie Zee Van Holbeek to be an impact player in the future.

Summerland rarely makes the postseason... the Sunsets have finished third the last four years... last won the TU South in '46... never won the Pro Cup... never had the offense to do well overall.

[Eugene Church]

4th Place


The dominant team in the Tycobbian South for the last decade or so has been the Turon Typhoons... 6 times in the last 11 seasons they have copped the division flag... down through history the Typhoons have done very well... 21 times they have made the playoffs... and Turon has won a record 4 Pro Cups (2003, 2006, 2009, 2018)... plus they lost three times in the Pro Cup Finals (2010, 2017, 2056).

This year Turon slipped to a distant fourth in the TU South standings, trailing by 19 games... the Typhoons started slowly, but got better by midseason and finished up with a good second half... they score pretty well with 727 runs (11th), fairly good with the bats with a .263 BA (18th), but come up short on longballs with only 99 (25th)... 3.74 ERA is better-than-average... they have a tough time competing with the division's top three clubs on the hill... Turon handles the gloves very well with a .978 FA... aging top bats are All-Star Maxie Mullinax, Matthew Fears and Andy Wilkerson... they do have two very fine hurlers in Neil Riley and Ollie Dickenson... they need some help on the mound to get back in the pennant chase... the Typhoon bullpen is no help at all.

[Eugene Church]

5th Place


The mediocre fifth place Colchester Elites have not had a winning record for the last nine years... '51 was the last time... down through history they are certainly not among the IPA elites... only made the postseason 4 times with no Pro Cups... last division crown was in '36... but the Elites did make some good progress this year with much better pitching, improving from a 4.71 ERA to a 4.01 ERA (14th)... Colchester is pretty good defensively with a .978 FA... not so hot with the bats... only 624 runs (27th), .254 BA (22nd) and 115 homers (19th-tied)... Colchester jumped off on the right foot and topped the TU West in May, but they couldn't stand the prosperity and they quickly settled back into the second division.

Veteran Johnny Walker is a solid pitcher and is the ace of the club... the only help he got was from youngster Charlie Vann... the rest of the staff was lackluster... the only quality hitters in the lineup are two youngsters Howie Sarkissian and Mel Albertson...both had solid season... but they didn't get much help from the other players.

[Eugene Church]

6th Place


The Ginza Ninjas had magical years in '59 and '60... won the IPA Pro Cup the first year and even had a chance at back-to-back Pro Cup trophies the second year... they lost in th TU Finals to eventual Pro Cup champion Rolling Hills in an exciting seven-game series... definitely not the case any longer... the Karate Kids plummeted to fifth place last year and way, way down to sixth this year, 34 GB... hitting and scoring is down drastically from the good years... so is pitching... the offense is just not good with a .256 BA (20th), 636 runs (24th-tied) and only 84 homers (30th)... pitching is just average with a 4.02 ERA (15th)... good bullpen... but the defense is still stellar with a fine .980 FA... the best starters Kurt Brophy and Sparky Dane are just decent... but in the bullpen Abram Worth can still do the job very well... not much else on the staff worth mentioning... not much at the plate, either... Vic Carnaggio, aging 37-year-old mainstay Kuzuki Tamura and Yota Fujishima were the most productive, but certainly not adequate IPA talent-wise... Ginza badly needs wholesale changes to get back on the road to success.

The Ninjas have had limited success in its IPA history... 9 times they have made the playoffs and have won the overall IPA championship on one occasion.

[Eugene Church]

7th Place


The seventh place Cape Coral Hurricanes have endured three bad seasons in a row... pitching is terrible... 'Canes came in 38 games behind this year... they didn't post a winning month this year... never got higher than seventh in the standings... 4.73 ERA is horrendous (30th)... starters are atrocious (4.87 ERA)... but the Hurricanes do have a few contact hitters... All-Star SS Lynwood Barley is a good hitter, but with little pop... so is Barney Fiske, but not much power, either... Marvin Cordice is a real good leadoff man and base stealer... Dain Coxson and Kalian Coston are fair with the bats with decent power... not a lot else in the batting order... Cape Coral scored 686 runs (16th), hit .275 BA (8th), but only had 96 homers (26th-tied)... and the 'Canes don't field very well with a poor .974 FA... only two starters, Frisco Francis and Michael Nagy, are decent... the bullpen is just adequate with Manny Rosetti.

Cape Coral has a lackluster IPA history... only 8 postseason appearances... no Pro Cups... the last TU South pennant was long ago in '41... the last time the Hurricanes contended was in '47... it's been a long dry spell in Cape Coral.

[Eugene Church]

8th Place


What an enigma... last year the Arroyo Grande Suns came within an eyelash of the TU division title, missing out by a single game... forecast to be a serious contender this year... well, what happened?... pitching and hitting both went south... so did the Suns... they plunged to very last place in the Tycobbian South, 39 GB... 4.59 ERA (28th)... only batted a pathetic .228 (30th)... only scored 636 runs (24th-tied)... but they did crack 180 homers out of the park (2nd)... defense was average with a .975 FA... Erroll Waldrep, Rueben Jones, Gaston Robin and Chris Hardcastle went deep fairly often and drove in runs, but they rarely made contact... ditto for the other batters in the lineup... only fair starter was Carlos Jaramillo... the only good hurler on the roster was closer Kurt Wolf with 18 saves and 12 wins.

Arroyo Grande is one of the worst franchises in the IPA... just four playoff appearances... no Pro Cups... no pennants since 2024... 'nuff said.

[Dark Horse]

Beaman got 18 wins and 18 saves!?!?! i want his baseball card.

And did the Sun Sox move Jordy Wales to the bullpen for the playoffs?

Looks like i'll be keeping an eye on the Vigilantes and Sun Sux this post season.

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by Dark Horse

Beaman got 18 wins and 18 saves!?!?! i want his baseball card.

And did the Sun Sox move Jordy Wales to the bullpen for the playoffs?

Looks like i'll be keeping an eye on the Vigilantes and Sun Sux this post season.

Beeman made 78 appearances... 3 starts... 18-7 record... with 18 saves... pitched 150 innings... finished 43 games.

I don't understand some of the AI's moves... Wales should be a starter... the AI does strange things like this fairly often... a good starter get stuck in the bullpen and is little used in spite of being very effective and having good numbers... you would think an effective pitcher would be used... often I noticed real good players have a good season and then are relegated to second string the next year by a player of lesser quality... don't understand this... the AI seems to be unaware of a player's stats.

Sun Sox don't hit well enough in my opinion... lately it's the high-powered hitting teams that do well in the postseason... prior to the last few seasons, it took good hitting and good pitching to win the Pro Cup.
Southport will meet powerful Oxford in the first round of the playoffs... Volusia will take on hard-hitting Elnora in round one... Elnora has lousy pitching... the Vigilantes played very well in the playoffs last year... may do it again... they do well without longball power.

[Eugene Church]

1st Place

2062 Final Tycobbian North Standings


RED CAPS COP 4TH STRAIGHT TU NORTH TITLE
What do you expect?... the high-scoring and high-octane Oxford Red Caps are the defending IPA Pro Cup champion... shouldn't they win the Tycobbian North Division again?... Well, that's exactly what transpired in the TU North this season... the Red Caps prevailed for the fourth year in a row... and they won it handily over the Mahaska Haymakers by 9 games... nobody was even close... third place Blue Lake was 13 games back... and fourth place Luxora and North Hills, 17 GB.

Right out of the gate this season Oxford was 17-5 in April and already on top by a one and a half games... 5 and a half ahead in June... increased to 9 and a half games by July... a double-digit 11-game bulge by August... and a whopping 12 and a half games in front by September... Looking back the last three years the Red Caps won the TU West title in '61 by 8 games, in '60 by 10 games and in '59 by 11 games... now that is some kind of ballclub... this will be the team's 12th postseason appearance... Oxford will be seeking its third Pro Cup trophy... they also won it in 2007.

The Oxford Red Caps outhit, outscored, outhomered and also almost outpitched everybody in the Tycobbian West Division... the Oxfordians batted .274 (9th), scored 776 runs (3rd), slammed 169 HRs (4th), posted a 3.77 ERA (12th) and fielded well with a .977 FA... Top-to-bottom Oxford's lineup is chocked full of good batters, led by superstar All-Stars Buddy Blackford and Showboat Lynn, along with rock solid Roland Latimer... the Red Caps' rotation features two strong starters in Pat McFarlane and Rico Alessi... All-Star Maury Statler is a third quality starter... however, Oxford does have one weakness -- its bullpen -- they only have one good reliever, Freddy Tilford... closer Chucker Pitts is not consistent... he runs hot-and-cold at times.

[Eugene Church]

2nd Place


For the past three seasons the Mahaska Haymakers have finished in the runner-up spot to powerful Oxford... the Farmers contended, but never really got close enough to seriously challenge the powerful Red Caps... Mahaska has only won 4 pennants in its IPA history, the last one coming long ago in 2028... the offense is good enough, but the pitching is very poor with a 4.43 ERA for the starters... defense is very good with a .978 FA... top bat performers are All-Star 2B Elvis Gilford, All-Star catcher Stefano Matrisciano, Timothy Honor and Lanny Neagle... top hurlers are All-Star Luke Grantham, Marty Mobley and Pip Cordice.

[Eugene Church]

Like Mahaska, the Blue Lake Schooners have played well the previous three seasons, winding up in third place each time... the only problem is the Oxford Red Caps... they are just good... Blue Lake is one of the lesser franchises in the IPA... just three pennants in 62 years... the most recent one came in a really good year -- 2030 -- that's the year the old Blue Sox won their only Pro Cup trophy.

This year the Schooners hit .266 and scored well... with fair power and some good pitching... but the defense is plain bad with a .972 FA... there are four fine players in the starting lineup: superstud Steve Schueler with a .335 career BA for six seasons, 3-time All-Star Daryl Monaghan with a lifetime .314 BA, plus up-and-coming rookie Amos Hunnicutt and Carl Barrymore... Blue Lake has some good quality hurlers as well in Weldon Nettleton, Timmy Aaron and Albert Kendrick.

[Eugene Church]

4th Place -Tied


The Luxora Zorros tied North Hills for the fourth spot in the TU North standings... the Z's are just a fair-to-middling club with average hitting, power and pitching... defensively they are excellent with a .980 FA... the club leader is 3-time All-Star catcher Francisco Queiro... other reliable contributors are Marvin Harrelson, Omar Solis, Donald Wren and Odis Easter... and they have three dependable and quality starters in Juliano Machado, Howie Huntsman and Wallace MacPherson.

Luxora won the pennant in 2058, but has slipped some since... the Zorros have made the postseason playoffs 12 times in their history, but never won a Pro Cup trophy... the best the Z's ever did was in 2018... they lost in the first round in 7 games to the eventual Pro Cup champion Turon Typhoons, a great team for that era, one of the best of all-time... from 2006 to 2019 the Typhoons won 11 pennants in 14 seasons and three Pro Cups... Turon also lost in the Pro Cup Finals in 2010 and 2019.

[Eugene Church]

4th Place - Tied


After two bad seasons in '60 and '61, things perked up for the North Hills Hawks, mainly because the can hit the heck out of the ball... but the pitching is just not there, especially in the bullpen (4.57 ERA)... the Hawks hit at a blistering .294 clip this year... great contact hitters, but no power whatsoever... only 62 flew out of the park (32nd)... still they scored well with 745 runs (8th)... however, Denny Darby, Victor Bates, Patrick O'Grady, Jarred Creed and Clayton Claiborne can really sting the ball... the other three starters hit fairly well, too... the starting rotation is adequate with Cy Swindell, Lance Lear, Eddy Salem and Lew Luxton... they would do much better if the bullpen could protect leads... defense is average with a .975 FA.

Historically, North Hills has a fabled story in the IPA... from 2034 to 2045 the Hawks captured a remarkable 11 pennants and 4 Pro Cups in 12 years... they were IPA champions in '34, '36, '38 and '41... but those glory years ended in '45... no TU North titles since.

[Eugene Church]

6th Place


The hapless Hartsdale Hellcats haven't raised any heck since '46 and '47 when they were TU North flagwinners... they even won the Pro Cup in 2046... the Hellcats have made the playoffs 9 times in the club's history... for the last 10 long seasons they have been a sub-par ballclub with no winning records... this year they wound up in the sixth spot in the standings and trailed Oxford by 18 games... the Hellcats have an average offense with decent power and a mediocre mound corps... just average with the gloves (.975 FA)... Walt Ivy and Cooter Eldridge are the only solid threats in the lineup... the only reliable pitchers are starters Tommy Johnson and Wallace Roscoe... not a lot of help in the relief corps.