Season 15 previews-AL North

AL NORTH
This division keeps putting out phenomenal win totals and some of the best teams in Pine Tar. Led by the powerhouse Syracuse Snow Pirates, it seems like this division has at least 3 teams in the post season yearly. 12 times now this division has put a team in the ALCS. 4 times the division has put a team in the World Series. Twice the division has been home to the World Champion and each of those happened with in the last 5 seasons. Those numbers have set the standards pretty high in the North. Minnesota, a team in rebuild mode, has found it tough to even get back into the thick of things with now 4 straight 4th place finishes. Rebuilding in this division isn't kind to a team.

Syracuse Snow Pirates
Season 14 record-115-47(1st division, AL Champ)
5 year record-540-270

Offense- Average-2nd(.290), OBP-4th(.347), Slg-1st(.502), Runs-2nd(964), HR-1st(308), SB-16th(31)
Defense- Fielding %-1st(.990), Plus plays-1st(87), Minus Plays-3rd(20)
Pitching- ERA-1st(3.64), OAV-1st(.242), SO-5th(1056), Saves-1st(55/67)
Key Additions-None
Key Losses-2B Karl Shumaker(released), RP Bill Walker(FA)

Syracuse was a team on a mission in season 14. Putting up 115 wins and making a second straight trip to the World Series they fell just short of that mission. The team owner, prezuiwf, has now been in control of this team for going on 11 seasons and has taken this team to the top of the league. Unfortunately, a second straight trip to the top of Pine Tar wasn't to be. Losing to Scottsdale in the World Series left the team wondering what went wrong. Poised to make another run this season, the team stuck with what they had in place and chose to not sign any free agents or make a big trade to bring in a big name player. Why would they? I feel like it was a good decision to stick with what works and brush the World Series loss of and go for it again this season. After all, they do have a pretty young team that should be able to stay near the top for seasons to come.

Milwaukee Cream Citys
Season 14 record-100-62(Wild Card)
5 year record-487-323

Offense- Average-10th(.271), OBP-10th(.331), Slg-4th(.466), Runs-3rd(914), HR-3rd(253), SB-11th(109)
Defense- Fielding %-5th(.986), Plus Plays-4th(70), Minus Plays-5th(30)
Pitching-ERA- 6th(4.51), OAV-5th(.266), SO-10th(1015), Saves-1st(55/77)
Key Additions-RP Jayson Crawford(FA), IF David Bako(resigned), SP John Ashley(FA)
Key Losses-3B Hector Cairo(FA), RP Roy Hiatt(FA), RP Luis Seguignol(FA), RP Matthew Goodwin(FA), SP Vernon Hamilton(FA)

Milwaukee is a good team and has been for many seasons, so it's hard to criticize them. jquick1 has been around since season 3 and while it took a little while to get the team on track, he has done an amazing job the past 7 seasons. If I had to find one thing I didn't like about this team though, it would be the lack of a really good shortstop. The team doesn't have a lot of power but it's hard to say that about a team that finished 3rd in homers and 4th in slugging. They don't have a dominant number 1 starter, but they get every bit out of what they have. They lost some pitchers in free agency, but replaced them with a couple good pitchers. Overall though, this is a solid team that should put up a good amount of wins again this season.

Ottawa Otters
Season 14 record-98-64(Wild Card, ALCS runner up)
5 year record-507-303

Offense- Average-5th(.282), OBP-5th(.344), Slg-8th(.447), Runs-5th(899), HR-8th(221), SB-2nd(173)
Defense- Fielding %-6th(.984), Plus Plays-7th(55), Minus Plays-4th(24)
Pitching- ERA-2nd(3.83), OAV-2nd(.247), SO-3rd(1080), Saves-4th(45/64)
Key Additions-RP Emil Campos(tr-Sea), RP Felipe Lee(tr-Vanc), 1B Matty Coco(tr-Vanc), SP Bret O'Leary(FA), RP Zack Prince(FA), C Clay Henderson(Resigned)
Key Losses-SP Benji Crespo(tr-Sea), 2B Alfredo Colome(FA), DH Clyde Burns(FA), RP Robin Schalk(FA), RP Carlton Harding(FA)

As ewd330 heads into his sixth season as owner of this proud franchise, they have their sights set high. In 5 previous seasons he has led this team to 2 World Series with one title, and 4 ALCS appearances. With the only 3 losing seasons in their history coming way back in the first 3 seasons this franchise has only experienced success since. I don't think this season will be any different. While they did lose some good players in the off season, they also added some players that will help this team battle for a division title. While Syracuse still remains the team to beat in the division, Ottawa is a well put together team that can challenge them. They have the hitting, speed, defense and pitching that should make teams worry when facing them.

Minnesota PeaceFrog
Season 14 record-61-101
5 year record-391-419

Offense- Average-12th(.267), OBP-12th(.326), Slg-13th(.411), Runs-15th(697), HR-14th(182), SB-12th(100)
Defense- Fielding %-10th(.981), Plus Plays-8th(40), Minus Plays-13th(63)
Pitching- ERA-11th(5.01), OAV-11th(.285), SO-12th(1003), Saves-14th(31/55)
Key Additions-RP Jorel Austin(FA), 1B Frank Martin(FA), RP Jair Bonilla(Rule V)
Key Losses- LF Jerry Truman(released), Junior Brogna(released), SP Rob Murray(FA), C Jacque Chang(FA)

This is a team that has seen it's share of troubles over the past couple seasons. After dominating the division for the first 9 seasons of Pine Tar, the team has seen it's wins decrease in each of the last 5 seasons. Clearly in rebuilding mode, roundfrog who has been in control of the team since season 2, is hoping to see the losing ways end sooner rather than later. The team feels as though their pitching and defense will be improved over last season, but aren't too excited about the offense. Overall they are expecting a bit better season as they are expected to bring some of the younger players up and maybe next season a couple more of the bigger potential young guys they've picked up during the rebuild.

Predictions
I think Syracuse is the team to beat again this season in this division and possibly the AL. They are returning nearly the same team that ran through the competition last season. I expect Milwaukee to be a good team, but maybe not quite as good as last season as far as wins. Ottawa can make a push for the division title, but for now I'm predicting they won't. Minnesota continues the rebuild and finishes in the basement again. This is still a very tough division and probably the best in Pine Tar.

1. Syracuse
2. Ottawa
3. Milwaukee
4. Minnesota

Owner of the year-Season 14

Sorry guys about the lack of blogging lately. It's been a busy few months on the personal level and I've just struggled for time. Season 14 was another great season here in Pine Tar and quite truthfully, I'm kind of bummed that I didn't get more info on here about it. It really was quite a fun and shocking season for the world. Scottsdale winning the championship was just amazing to me. Fargo finally not winning the division? What the heck happened in the NL North? The NL South didn't have one team with a losing record and was a dog fight. Syracuse reeling off 115 wins, and Nashville wasn't too far behind with 110. Both had amazing seasons. Atlanta surprised the heck out of me with 104 victories. Just an amazing season for the world. With that being said, we need to vote on owner of the year. I'll keep the rundowns of each owner brief and to the point.

prezuiwf-Syracuse Snow Pirates(115-47, AL Champs)-prez continues to be an amazing owner and could possibly rack up a few of these awards. After winning the championship in season 13, the team returned to the World Series only to be upset by Scottsdale.

radkison-Atlanta Red Tide(104-58, AL East champs)-After 7 straight seasons without making the playoffs, this owner took his team to the top of the division and racked up 104 wins. That was a 27 win improvement over the previous season.

bnags-Nashville Nalas(110-52, AL South champs)-Nashville has improved in victories each of the last 7 seasons and made the biggest leap in victories last season by besting the previous season by 14 victories.

ewd330-Ottawa Otters(98-64, Wild Card, ALCS runner up)-ewd330 has Ottawa consistently around 100 victories each season and being a contender. 3 straight ALCS appearances and last season losing out to a very good Syracuse team.

moosedrool-Helena Ass Hats(92-70, NL North Champs)-Last season moosedrool steered this team to the top of the division to end a 13 season strangle hold by Fargo on the division title. The 92 wins put up last season was a 34 game improvement over season 13.

jbburner-Cincinnati Firestorm(93-69, NL East Champ)-jbburner led this team to their most wins in team history last season. They won the divison for the first time since season 5.

Starbuckdc-Fargo Wood Chippers(87-75, Wild Card, NLCS runner up)-Just when this owner made it look like there was no we to be included on this list, Starbuckdc goes on to make the NLCS and prove everyone wrong. They may not have won the division but they did finish runner up for the league title.

vector21-Scottsdale Scorpions(88-74, NL West champs, World Champs)-Taking over a team in turmoil back in season 11, vector21 has improved the team record every season since. 88 wins may not have been eye popping, but this team went on to win the World Championship.

Pine Tar News

With another season winding down, I figure it's time to do another league update. Another fun and exciting season is just a couple weeks from being over. A couple things I want to go over are the league rankings, replacement owners and the league Hall of Fame.

Hall of Fame
While I know that the world has only been around for a fairly short time, my concern is that their aren't very many owners that even care enough about it to vote. The whole thing is obviously cosmetic and really means nothing in overall value to the league. It is another thing that adds a little bit of fun to the game though. To have one of your players in the hall is about the same as having one of your players win the MVP or any award. In my personal opinion, I see at least three players that I feel like are worthy of making the Hall of Fame.
 OF Bob Wood, played 11 seasons and was a very well rounded player. He was a member of the 40-40 club once, had 5 seasons over 40 homers with a 61 home run season. He hit 385 homers in his career and stole 275 bases. He also had 9 seasons of 100+ rbi's and had 203 in season 6. He also had 8 seasons of 100+ runs scored. He was a 4 time all star and a one time silver slugger left fielder.
SP Rich Meyers, played 11 seasons and was a very good starting pitcher in that time. He finished his career with 170 wins and only 55 losses. He also had a dynamite ERA of 3.08 for his career. He never had a season with double digit losses. He was a two time Cy Young winner and six time all star.
RP Moises Bennet, only played 6 seasons but was dominant in his short time. He saved 244 games and only blew 26 saves in that time. He pitched 311 games and had a 2.94 ERA. The thing that stands out with Bennett is that he won the Fireman of the Year award 3 times, was an all star 5 times, and won a world series ring twice. In the post season he had 17 saves in 20 opportunities. He pitched 22 games, but had a 6.48 ERA in those games.

Next Season
As of right now, I haven't heard from anyone that they are not returning. If you are reading this and don't plan on returning, then let me know now. This is very important, so that I can find a replacement asap. These days, it is tough to find new owners that are willing to take on teams. Most people in the game that already have teams are not looking to add teams and new owners that have never played are really hard to find. Of course, I would love it if everyone was returning. That makes for a much better league and each team actually would have a direction. With new owners, you just don't know what you get and if they will do the right thing with the team. We have a great group of owners and it is very hard to find a world with so many good owners. If everyone stays then we will roll over to a new season just a few days after the World Series. That is why I need to know if anyone is leaving. I'd like to be able to do that after this season.

World Ranking
1.Syracuse Snow Pirates 93-36, 1st place AL North
2.Nashville Nala Bears 86-43, 1st place AL South
3.Atlanta Red Tide 84-45, 1st place AL East
4.Ottawa Otters 79-50, 2nd place AL North
5.Seattle Strikers 75-54, 1st place NL West

also receiving votes, Fargo Wood Chippers, Cincinnati Firestorm, Milwaukee Cream Citys

Close to Mid Season Report

With 65 games in the book, I figured it's about time to do a little report. I'm not going to review each team, but this is more of a league wide news. I want to go over a few things and let everyone know what is going on as to what I'm thinking.

-The first thing I want to go over is the poll's that I put up last week. The polls were mainly about tanking and how everyone feels about it. The first poll was to see what everyone feels that tanking actually is. I have my opinion on what it is, and others have theirs. In the majors tanking happens quite often as teams are trying to rebuild and want to get their young stars playing time in the majors to bring them along. In HBD it doesn't quite work that way. It puts teams in a position to dominate in future seasons if done correctly. The top of the draft is usually a sure bet, and teams can save money for the big International free agents, which isn't how real life works. So my question was, what is tanking. It looks like the ones that cared enough to vote think that it's not putting a competitive team on the field and not keeping guys fresh. I'll agree. That is exactly what it is. The next question was whether rules should be made to prevent as in other worlds. The reason I asked this question was because while I was looking for new owners in the off season, one of the complaints was that we didn't stop tanking in our world and teams were tanking over the past few seasons. Part of the problem in past seasons, wasn't so much tanking as it was bad owners that weren't planning on sticking around once they realized how hard it was to win it all in one season. I'm against tanking myself, but like most that voted I can live with it. My problem is when it is done over multiple seasons. In my opinion if a team isn't turning things around over 3 seasons, then they are going out of their way to put themselves in position to win things for a long time. When trying to find paying customers to take over teams, they don't want to come into situations where they have little chance of winning, and I'm not sure that is healthy for the world over the long haul.

-The second thing I wanted to put out there for everyone to know about is that I'm putting together a league committee. I've already put together some good owners and am thinking about how to go about making it work. I originally only planned on doing a few owners, but the more I look at the owners in this league, it makes it hard to leave some out. We have a great group of owners and not much turnover in the last 10 seasons. So what I'm going to do is have a league committee that is made up of the majority owners that care enough to be on it. If I have not sent you a trade chat and asked you to be a part of it, and this is something you want to be a part of then let me know via trade chat. The duties of this will be to help discuss things for the league to vote on as far as rules(if any are needed), vote on things such as a league hall of fame for the blog, vote on league rankings during the season, and be active in trying to keep this league as good as it is.

-Our league ranks as one of the top listening leagues for Knucklebones radio show that he does. Actually one of the top 4. For those of you that haven't checked it out or the web page dedicated to HBD click the link http://hbdnews.blogspot.com/. It's really good stuff. He works really hard at it and it's pretty cool. I've listened to a few of the shows, but they were for another world that I'm in. He says he'll be doing a review of our world soon. There is a chat room that you can get on while he is doing it and discuss things or you can call in. Tomorrow night Tom James, who does the rankings, is ranking all the private worlds that have done 10 seasons. He hinted that we were a top 100 which is disappointing to me since I would have thought it was at least a top 50.

-Here are my Pine Tar power rankings(done on my own) and AL dominated:
1.
         Syracuse Snow Pirates
         Record: 49-16,1st AL North

2.
         Ottawa Otters
         Record: 45-20, 2nd AL North

3.
         Atlanta Red Tide
         Record: 44-21, 1st AL East

4.
         Milwaukee Cream Citys
         Record: 44-21, 3rd AL North

5.
         Nashville Nala Bears
         Record: 41-24, 1st AL South