The 1998 Russian League season opener is less then two weeks away!

This RL championship will feature six ballclubs, including  five of the last year's teams: CSKA PVO (Balashikha), SKV (Moscow), MGU-78 (Moscow), Spartak (Moscow), and RusStar (Moscow). I don't have yet any official information on the sixth team to play this season, the only thing for sure is that it will not be called SKA MVS.

Traditionally, Russian League teams don't have official  preseason schedule, they only play intrasquad games. But because of unbelievable April snowfalls and relatively cold weather, outdoor practice has yet to begin! Look for some rusty fielding.

One team that did have spring training is Spartak. The team has just returned from sunny Florida. According to Spartak's manager Pavel Gladikov, the team fared pretty well in exhibition games out there. Besides, Alexandr Toropov's fastball  was clocked in 87- 92 mph range. The righthander, born in 1980, began to pitch competitively only one and a half year ago and was so wild that he once threw a pitch over a backstop on a bounce (can you imagine that!). Toropov, who looks like Randy Johnson only without long hair, is the ultimate Wild Thing. We will see if Alexandr can master some control and learn  pitches other than fastball this season.