It was the best of the seasons; it was the worst of seasons.  The best of seasons for several reasons.  With further expansion, the number of teams now totaled eight.  This allowed for an exciting new format: two separate divisions, with four teams in each.  Season IV also featured Dan striving to become the first team ever to reach the 100-win plateau.  An exciting race for the final playoff spot was also featured.  It was the worst of seasons for two reasons: Frank Panasci and Mike “Mike P.” Purcell.

With Mike P. becoming the league’s eighth team, the league was divided into two separate divisions for the first and only time.  Additionally, an unbalanced schedule would be played.  In order for there to be some degree of equity it was determined that the six hard-core Strato players would be evenly split between the divisions.  Frank and Mike P., likewise, would be split up.  Mike P, because of his rookie status; and Frank, because…..well, because he’s Frank.  The teams were randomly picked and divided up as follows: Mike, Dan, Lou, and Mike P. in one division; Joe, Eugene, John, and Frank in the other.  The members of each division voted upon names for their respective divisions.  The divisions, it was determined, would be called The ZER4PHALE Division and The Eagle Division.

Things moved along nicely early on.  Mike published a newsletter (“This Week in Strato”) to keep everyone up-to-date on the news of the league; the guys in the Eagle Division made up some sort of wing-flapping rallying call; and most importantly, games were played.  But before too long, two separate disasters struck.  In one case it was a sudden, devastating kind of disaster.  In the other case it was a long drawn-out painful type of disaster.  The league which had moved through three relatively blissful seasons, was experiencing growing pains.  

Mike P.  Hell of a guy.  You’d be hard-pressed to find yourself a nicer individual. Lou introduced Mike P into the league.  We were always on the lookout for new talent, and Mike P seemed to fit the bill.  He was a baseball fan who obviously knew a lot about the game.  He was fun to hang out with.  He was intelligent; we were sure he’d pick up the game in no time.  As a matter of fact, he informed us, he had actually played the game before, several years earlier in college.  This was just too good to be true.  Yes it was. 

Mike P started out okay.  His first couple of draft picks were solid.  He was enthusiastic about playing.  He came up with a good name for his team: The Conundrums.  He even created his own signature homerun call.  If he rolled a 2-10 on Johnny Bench, he would survey the card, and after about two or three minutes he would realize that Bench had homered.  He would then look up from the card, a smile would appear on his face, his right index finger would point to the ceiling and then the blasted finger would begin rotating.  For all his good traits, though, it seemed that Mike P just was not able to pick of the game. We started to wonder exactly what game did he play in college?  Strat-O-Matic hockey perhaps?  APBA baseball maybe?  We weren’t sure, but we were pretty sure it wasn’t Strat-O-Matic baseball.  We may have even attempted to ask him this question, but somewhere near the mid-point of Season IV, Mike P just disappeared.