AL North
Kansas City Yardbirds(Owner holleybard-10th season)
Season 35/ 99-63(Division Champ, ALCS runner up)
Owners thoughts-My prediction is that I'll be fighting once again with Milwaukee for the AL North title. I think my team is better than last season's, although that doesn't necessarily mean 99 wins again. It's at least a 90 win squad though. We'll hit well. I traded for Boyer because I didn't have a dominant number one. I added 2 bullpen arms that should help too. My hope is that I can win the division again. After that, wow, it's going to take something special to stop jkenned. I ran the numbers and he's averaging 109 wins per in the last 8 seasons. He's won 4 of the last 6 pennants. So my goal is the same as any contender in the AL, try to wrestle the pennant away from him.
ghutton9's take-The Yardbirds feature an above average offense. They have some good hitters with good batting eyes and have some power. Eric Miller is a great 3 or 4 hitter to build a lineup around. They also have some speed, but I don't expect a lot of stealing to be going on with them. The defense is average and that's only because they lack a real shortstop. Louie Nieto can play the position but his lack of range will allow too many balls to get through that would otherwise be outs. Besides that, the defense is pretty solid at most positions on the field. The rotation is about average. Boyer is an ace type pitcher but his stamina isn't very good. The rest of the staff is made up of mid rotation type starters with a couple of guys pitching at the back end of the rotation that fit perfectly. Sean Shipley and Ricardo Johnson are the best pitchers in an otherwise below average bullpen. They'll bring this teams pen closer to average than they would be. I think this team is a contender for the division title, but I think the bullpen and lack of a shortstop with range will hurt them. I could see them around 90 wins and maybe upper 80's.
Milwaukee Magnitude(Owner horvie78-11th season)
Season 35/ 90-72(Wild Card)
Owners thoughts-We are going for it all this season. Yoshinori Zhou on a playoff rotation is enough to give us a decent chance. Also have some cap room to make a move mid season. I think we will win around 95 games. We improved the bullpen by adding Coleman and Blair. I'm hoping that our starting pitching stays strong. Three of them are above 35 years old, which worries me. Was hoping to add a stud bat in free agency, but was excited to settle for Gus Justice, who will be added to a lineup with Michael Chong, Vince Tollberg and Cookie Tapia. Our defense could struggle as SS Quintana is average at best and the corner outfielders lack range.
ghutton9's take-The Milwaukee offense is looking pretty strong this season. They have some really good hitters that can hit for average and draw some walks. They have some good power as well as some good speed. This is looking like a top 5 offense in the AL. The defense looks good to me. I think the shortstop position is average, but they have great to solid gloves at other positions. They definitely rank in the upper half of the league. The rotation looks pretty good as well. They have a couple pitchers that could be an ace on most teams. Then they have mid rotation guys filling out the other spots. The bullpen is looking above average. If anything the team might have some control issues, but the pitching staff is pretty good overall. I think Milwaukee looks like the favorite in this division and should win 95 to 100 games. I think they could challenge for the AL title this season.
Dover Dinklebergs(Owner tmfran-19th season)
Season 35/ 74-88
ghutton9's take-The Dover offense isn't looking very good this season. They won't hit for a good average and their batting eyes aren't very good either. The team has some power, but without guys on base it won't help much. They could rank near the bottom of the AL. The defense though is really good. They have multiple options at shortstop and they have good gloves to fill almost every position. This could be one of the best defenses in the AL this season. The rotation looks like they are going to struggle. They have serious control issues and the rotation is made up of back end type starters. The bullpen has the same issues. The defense could help out the pitching, but not enough to keep them from ranking near the bottom of the AL. I think Dover will drop down below 70 wins this season.
Chicago Black Sox(Owner skuff730-17th season)
Season 35/ 64-98
ghutton9's take-The offense in Chicago is looking about average. They have decent hitting and some solid contact and power. The batting eyes are a little low though and that could hurt. They have some really good gloves on defense though and even have a few options at shortstop. This could be one of the better defensive teams in the AL this season. The rotation is below average. They lack a top end starter. The staff is made up of middle tier starters and a couple back end guys. The bullpen is below average as well. The team will likely end up closer to average than it looks thanks to the defense. I think Chicago will move up in win total this season and I'd be surprised if they finished below 70 wins again.
Prediction
Milwaukee
Kansas City
Chicago
Dover
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