2047 Triple-A: Port Elizabeth Windies
Port Elizabeth have always been in a difficult position with their top players so often passing through quickly on the way to Riyadh. Last year they had a good finish to take them two games over .500, but they just couldn’t do that again. Finishing with seven less wins they did at least improve their batting average, but the staff ERA was up almost an entire point. Despite that, 74 games, almost half their entire schedule, either went to a one run decision or to extra innings. Unfortunately, the Windies could only win 33 of those games, The total attendance of over 333,000 was also up virtually 50,000 on their inaugural year, showing the potential in Port Elizabeth.
It was a slow start to April with just three wins in their first 12 games, but the Windies picked up and eight wins out of the month’s last 10 games left them 13-14 going into May. Finishing April with an 11-0 win it was looking good, but six straight losses to start the second month set the tone for the month. Wins were few and far between as Port Elizabeth shipped 15 & 14 runs in losses. A tally of 11-18 for the month left them with that sinking feeling at 24-32 overall. The Windies recovered a bit at the start of June, opening the month 7-3, but it didn’t last. Only two wins in the next ten games put paid to their recovery and Port Elizabeth finished June at just 13-15, down to 37-47 overall. July was their best month of the season; it still wasn’t a month over .500 though. A streak of six straight losses in the middle put paid to any real improvement as they finished the month 14-14, their first non-losing month which was helped by five wins in the last six games, but their overall tally was still way down at 51-61. August started with five straight losses as Port Elizabeth couldn’t find any consistency overall. They went 5-2 in the next seven games, but that was the last ray of sunshine in the month. The Windies finished August 12-17 and with an overall tally of 63-78. There was just three games in September, a home series against Ndali, and they powered home, sweeping the Barns and outscoring them 27-12. A 66-78 season wasn’t as good as 2046, but it wasn’t disastrous either given the state of the franchise.
24-yr-old Martin McLeish was the man with the bat for Port Elizabeth. He really built on a good 2046 performance, playing 127 games before moving on to Riyadh he hit 19 homers, 75 RBI and drew 49 walks, all team leading stats as he also led the team in just about everything else too. All his averages were team leading, total bases, singles, doubles and homers led too, he was only bested in triples by Donnie Peacock who hit four to his one. The biggest puzzle though was how his WAR dropped from 4,6 to 2.2? Still 6.8 WAR in two years in Triple-A can’t be sneezed at.
26-yr-old Ramon Rojas made the most starts off the mound (26), kept his opponents to the lowest averages against him, had the best ERA (4.79) but his 160 hits allowed and 17 homers given up was an indication as to why despite all that he led the team with 11 losses (a 6-11 overall record). Alfonso Cuvas led the team in wins with a 9-0 record with one save out of the bullpen in 54 appearances. In 114 innings pitched he struck out 141 batters earning him a second straight September appearance in Riyadh, but unfortunately couldn’t get a UMEBA ERA below 10.00 again.
