I asked each of the four Illowa APBA League 2021 playoff teams managers to send me a photo of the APBA card of their favorite player from this season. From there, I worked something up.
Okay, you have read about the rest. Here is the best of the Illowa APBA League, Dennis Jennings.
Believe it or not, Dennis Jennings’ Global Glaciers came from behind to take first place. After our All-Star weekend, the Glaciers won 24 out of 30 games putting them in first for good.
Dennis ended the 2021 season with a 44-22 streak which propelled him to an incredible 112-50 record for the IAL season. That’s the highest win total for an IAL manager in 36 years.
That manager? Dennis Jennings himself who won 115 games way back in 1985.
I certainly can’t argue with Den’s pick of Fernando Tatis as his favorite card. It’s one the best ones and who could dispute a SS-9 who hit 57 homers and drove in 152 runs? That said, Cy Young honoree Yu Darvish (AXZ) deserves some mention. Darvish went 20-4 with a 2.06 ERA.
After looking at Tatis’ stats and tasty card, any other offensive player might seem like an afterthought. Glacier outfielder Juan Soto might change your mind though. In just 120 games and 416 at-bats, he hit 48 doubles and 31 homers while hitting .315. That comes out to a slugging percentage of .654.
And Yu Darvish wasn’t alone in the Glacier rotation. Jacob deGrom was third in the league in ERA with a 2.54 mark. It shouldn’t be any surprise that the Glaciers as a team led the IAL in ERA by a wide margin. Their 3.42 ERA eclipsed the Highlanders 3.93 mark (this just in… the IAL’s last place team had the second lowest ERA!).
Congrats to Dennis! I know he’s ready to play. He will be taking on Chuck Lucas and the Northside Hitmen in the IAL playoffs. Good luck to both!
