It’s been a couple weeks since the Illowa APBA League Postseason and Draft weekend but things have been so crazy, this is the first time I’ve had a moment to write about it. It was a milestone event for the league. This is the 45th year of the league’s existence!
And boy, what a weekend!
We started out on Friday, March 29, 2019 with the 2018 postseason. Both Chuck Lucas’ Northside Hitmen and Mike Bunch’s Green Rock Bombers got off to a 2-0 start in the playoffs. I gotta give Don Smith and Marcus Bunch credit for hanging in there. Marc’s Moline Upperdeckers came back to defeat the Hitmen and Don’s Molly Putts Marauders fought back to beat Mike’s Bombers.
It was a tough World Series that went seven games and by the time it was over, Don’s Marauders had won it all! Congrats to Don and an “atta-boy” to the postseason participants.
Marcus didn’t go home empty handed. He was voted 2018 Illowa APBA League Manager of the Year by fellow IAL managers. His Upperdeckers placed first with a 100-62 record in 2018.
So how did the 2019 IAL rookie draft go? Do I really need to tell you how the first two picks went? Just like EVERY other APBA League I’ve read about, Ronald Acuna went #1 and Juan Soto went #2. No surprises there.
The top ten IAL draft picks
- Acuna
- Soto
- Buehler
- Torres
- Ohtani
- Keller
- Flaherty
- Andujar
- F. Reyes
- Bieber
A story about the draft…
For a few weeks, Chuck and I have been bandying about a deal that would trade me the #7 pick. It was a fair deal and we had both agreed on it in principle but Chuck wanted to wait until that pick in case there was someone he wanted available.
Fair enough.
See, I was planning on choosing Miguel Andujar with that pick to help at third base till Manny Machado moves there next year. He seemed like a safe pick.
The first few picks were going as we all suspected. Then Brando picked Brad Keller and Chuck tells me that the deal is off. Grr! Chuck, of course, wanted Jack Flaherty from St. Louis.
So no big deal. I have the ninth pick and only Mike Bunch stands in the way with his 8th.
Of course, Mike picks Miguel Andujar.
Ouch! Of course, in hindsight, it is looking good now that Miguel is now on the IL and is out till June. Thanks Chuck for looking out for me!!
By the time we finished the draft, it was still just Friday night! We had a whole weekend to begin the 2019 season. John Brandeberry who flew in from Montana was ready to play though. He played his June series with Don Smith and took an 0-6 lickin’.
There’s a lot to say about the first month of IAL play especially how my Thunderchickens fared but I’ll save it for another article. Suffice to say, win or lose, it will be a fun year.
More photos from the weekend here
As always, it was great weekend! Thanks to Rob Moore for setting up the arrangements and to Mike Bunch for keeping us real.
