Brains! 2064.1: Zombies Rise From The Dead

[aaronweiner]

How ruined is a season where a team starts 0-5, then 2-9? Jacksonville fans would have probably said totally, early on in this season. However, the Zombies have risen from the dead, and now stand in playoff position at the All-Star Break.

"We just kept scrapping and pushing and we got back up," said Zombies' superstar Pepe Aragon, possibly having the best season of his career so far. "This has been a team effort, but we're making waves here."

Aragon is a humble individual, but he's also right: the Zombies' offense, which started in a lackluster fashion, has exploded over the past three months. The Zombies are in first place in the Johnson League in offense, scoring a massive 5.5 runs per game when the league average is 4.5 per game. Similarly, Jacksonville is first in OPS, 65 points above league average, and has hit almost fifty more homers than the average as well this year.

And while Aragon has been incredible, he is not the only player on the offense who is performing well. Steve Holcombe has rebounded from his horrible mob "accident" last year to post the highest OPS numbers of his career. Gabe Manuel is always good, and Iso Takimoto has improved this year. The team has an offensively functional catcher unit between Hector Pineiro and Juan Flores. Randolph Clarke keeps hitting way above his weight. Vlad Wishenkoff continues to be a solid two-way center fielder.

It's a good thing too, since the pitching has been erratic at best and poor at worst, especially the starters. Jacksonville has also let up the second most runs in the JL. Of course, this is half a run per game less than their offense, but it does beg the question as to where the team might be if they even had functional pitching.

"We're blessed with a lot of good hitting, and we're hopeful that some of our starting prospects make it up soon and that some of our frontliners get it under control," said manager Shoiab Kardar. "Our owner insists our money trouble this season is imaginary, and we should be able to afford the market this offseason if anyone shakes loose, too."

The Zombies should have a reasonable chance to improve their team over the next few seasons. They have five pitching prospects within the top 275 overall prospect list, and speaking of prospects, this year's first round pick, Mack McIntosh, was listed as the #55 prospect in the BBA shortly after the draft.

"We're doing fine now, but we need to stay focused," said Aragon. "But this team has a lot of character. If we can get a few good bounces, we might even find our way into the division race this year."

Jacksonville is currently 46-43, in the third wild card position and eight games back of Charm City.

[Trebro]

it ended up being an awesome season for you. given my ambitions and my start I'm hoping to take inspiration!