2051-3 At Least It’s Finally Over

[indiansfan]

At Least It’s Finally Over

Calgary closed out it’s season getting swept in 3 games by the Phoenix Talons. None of the games were close. It was a fitting end to what has to be the most disappointing seasons in Calgary’s team history, if not in the entire history of the BBA. The complete collapse of this team, during the stretch run, has only been equaled by a handful of teams in the past, that deliberately put awful squads on the field to move up in the draft. Calgary did this while trying to win the division.

While a 90-72 record and a wild card spot might seem like a great season, we have to look back to where the team was before it fell apart. On August 18th, the Pioneers were 79-44, playing .642 ball and leading the Frontier Division by 2 1/2 games over 75-45 Mexico City. They were on pace to win 104 games, the most since 2019 and their first division title in 12 seasons. The team’s offense had been ranked in the top 2 of the JL in runs scored, batting average and home runs for most of the season and the bullpen was ranked 1st for many weeks. The starting rotation had been in the top 4 of the league. Everything was looking great in the land of the North.

Calgary won on the 18th and then they lost 6 in a row. They managed a winning record in August, because of the early weeks, finishing 16-12. Then came September. The overall month was terrible, 7-20, but even worse the team lost 13 out of the final 15 games. If we hadn’t seen it with our own eyes we wouldn’t belief it. The rotation fell apart and while Terry Cochran kept moving pitchers in and out of spots, it just got worse. So after August 18th the team went 11-28 and from 1st place and up 2 1/2 games to 3rd place and 14 games back.

That top rated offense? Well it fell to 7th in runs scored and 5th in batting average. The bullpen held on to 3rd in the JL, making the owner very happy, as he had called for improvement from the 12th place pen in 2050. The rotation went from a top 4 to 10th.

Now on the other hand let us take a look at Mexico City. The Aztecs finished at 104-58 (Calary’s projected finish on 8/18) meaning that after that date they were 29-13. That folks is how you win championships. They played over .700 ball in both August and September.