Friday, May 28, 2010

Season 15 Playoff Preview

AL Preview

#1 New Britain Johnnycakes 108-54 - mulder613 lead the 'cakes to their 8th division title in 15 seasons, their 8th time going over the century mark for wins and their incredible 15th consecutive playoff appearance. While leading the league in wins, New Britain ranked 7th in runs scored, 5th in team ERA and had the 4th fewest errors in the Majors. mulder613 will be seeking his 6th trip to the ALCS and hoping to add a 4th World Series ring. Alex Cedeno paced the offense coming in 2nd in the AL batting title with a .339 average while adding 30 HRs and 96 RBIs. Desi Romero was the Ace carrying a 20-5(lead AL in wins and career high) record in 221 innings(7th) with a 3.61 ERA(11th). The Johnnycakes have an candidates for MVP in Cedeno, 3 for Cy Young in Romero, Alvarez( 18-5/ 3.27 era) and Cairo(8-3/21 saves/1.83 era) and provided the AL with 4 All-Stars.

#2 Mexico City Midget Tossers 105-57 - After a 7 year drought, ronaldb03 fielded his 6th division title team and the 2nd best record in franchise history. The AL #2 seed finished 3rd in runs, 12th in ERA, and 11th in fewest errors in the Majors. ronaldb03 is looking for his 4th trip to the ALCS and that elusive first World Series title. Mexico City had the batting champ in Ronald Richardson(.342/29/91)(now only needs 22 HRs for 700) but it was Denny Knotts who carried the team hitting .299 while crushing a ML leading 59 HRs and 157 RBIs. This was Knotts' 7th year going 40/100, hit his 400th career bomb and he also won his 5th Silver Slugger and 4th Gold Glove in CF and quite possibly his 1st MVP. The rotation stared Williams(15-4), Javier(15-6) and Jackson(14-5) with Garcia adding 36 saves. The Midget Tossers added 5 All-Stars to go along with an MVP candidate in Knotts, Fireman finalist in Garcia, and Knotts' SS and GG wins.

#3 St Louis Peregrines 91-71 - St Louis won their 3rd straight AL East crown in Saffron's 9th season at the helm. After 6 consecutive losing seasons the Peregrines have now won 91 or more in 3 straight slotting 18th in runs, 4th in ERA and the 2nd fewest errors in Season 15. The story as usual in St Louis was the dominate pitching of Reagan Williams Jr. Williams Jr went 18-10 over 249 innings(2nd in AL) with a silly 2.05 ERA. At the plate, Sophomore Joe Gardner hit .300 while smacking 35 HRs and driving in a team high 93 runs. St Louis had Williams Jr as their All-Star as well as the leading candidate to pick up his 2nd AL Cy Young.

#4 Las Vegas Midget Strippers 81-81 - Like Mexico City, it was a return to the top of their division after 7 dry seasons. In 15 years kobylesky won his 7th division title and weighted in 20th in runs, 14th in ERA, and 14th in fewest errors. The Midget Strippers are looking both for their 1st pennant and World Series this season. David Guerrero was the offensive star batting .314 with 36 HRs and 93 RBIs while posting the 3rd highest OBP at .425. The 38 year old Jesse Kent logged an 18-9 record with a 4.04 ERA in 187 innings of work, bringing his career total to 229 wins(#1 All Time) and just 170 strikeouts away from 3,000. (Although after this season one can wonder if CRod may beat him to 3k) 2 AL All-Stars were provided by Las Vegas and Guerrero represents them as an MVP finalist as well as his 1st Silver Slugger award at 1B.

#5 Texas Express 90-72 - The title defense didnt go quite as planned as in the off-season goldenboy00 did some re-tooling and the team dropped off 17 wins from their Season 14 run. Texas was 4th in runs, 20th in ERA and 28th in fewest errors in a down year for a 4 time champ. This was Texas' 6th post-season appearance in a row and 10th in 15 years. The high powered offense was lead by Christopher Caruso (.307/47/127) as well as Kerry Locke ( .280/33/106) and Delino Valenzuela (.314/31/93). It was status quo in the closer role as Norman Wilson added 37 saves with a nasty 1.67 ERA, his 6th straight season of 35+ saves. The Express had 2 All-Stars, Wilson finished 2nd in the Fireman and is looking for his 2nd Cy Young, Shane Foster is up for ROY and Louie Navarre won his 2nd GG at 1B.

#6 Scranton Dunder Mifflinites 90-72 - Scranton snagged the final wild card spot for their 10th playoff season in the 13 with jmscher running things. In the 2nd year of the Post CRod era, Scranton turned to offense and improved by 5 wins while ranking 2nd in runs, 18th in ERA, and 26th in fewest errors. It was a 3 headed monster in Scranton's lineup with Albert Gabriel going .307/42/107, Wascar Frias slugging .286/41/122 and Harold Hawkins doing his usual .325/38/137. Gabriel now has 11 years of 40/100, this was his 9th batting at least .300 and is up to 588 career HRs(3rd All Time). Hawkins has 12 consectutive seasons of 30/100, 11 seasons batting .300 and is now only 46 hits from becoming Mr October's all time hits leader. Pablo Puente went 14-3 and Pujols added 32 saves for the pitching staff. The Dunder Mifflinites' had 2 All-Stars along with Gabriel going for his 4th MVP as well as being awarded his 8th SS at Catcher and Frias won his 2nd Silver Slugger and 1st at SS.

NL Preview

#1 Tampa Bay Gators 105-57 - With the rebuild complete Tampa made quite a few moves this past off-season and it payed off to the tune of a franchise record 105 wins which bested last years record by 17 wins. cdc80uf now has 2 straight NL South crowns and for the first time in franchise history they will play in a Divisional Series for the shot at their first pennant and/or World Series Title. With the added offense this season Tampa went from ranked 31st in runs to ranked 8th in runs, 3rd in ERA, and 15th in fewest errors in Season 15. The acquisition of the famed Carlos Rodriguez through free agency marked the turn in Tampa's future, and he has not let down. CRod re-wrote the record book in Season 15 posting a 21-4 mark with new records for era(1.31), OAV(.174), OBP(.223), SLG(.226) WHIP(.83) and Ks(279) breaking his previous mark of 278 in Season 13 with Scranton. Bubba Callaway added a 16-12 record and took the league lead in innings from Cruz with 281 and was 2nd in the Majors with 259 Ks in his league leading 39 starts(2nd most QS with 28). The Offense added was lead by Doug Mahay (.325/40/138), Louie Sivilla (.306/37/115) and Juan Alfonzo(.303/30/91). Mel Elder Tied for the NL lead in both HRs with 53 and RBIs with 147. Tampa sent 4 players to the All-Star game and have CRod vying for his 8th Cy Young and 2nd straight in the NL, while Callaway is up for the Cy Young as well, Walt Parker for ROY with Sam Gray, SS at 3B in Sivilla, LF in Elder, RF in Mahay, and Gray won his first GG in CF.

#2 Augusta Lobsters 103-59 - richelle too moved and shaked things up this off-season but brought in some pitching to build on last season's division title and pennant win by 15 games. Augusta too set a franchise record with 103 wins and recorded their 7th NL north crown as a franchise. richelle is looking to added the 2nd pennant and 1st WS crown this season. The Lobsters finished 14th in runs, 1st in ERA, and 1st in fewest errors in the Majors. Greg West paid huge dividends going 20-3 for his 1st 20 win season of his career in 180 innings of work with the 2nd lowest ERA in the Majors at 2.05. Kidd and Delgado added 14 wins a piece and ERAs at 3.16 and 2.99 respectively, while Cesar Ortiz won the Fireman with 42 of 48 saves. Cesar Sosa lead the bat attack going .306/28/98 in his sophomore season. The Lobsters tossed in 3 All-Stars, West's Cy Young campaign, Ortiz's Fireman win, and Andres Ledondo won the NL GG in LF.

#3 Kansas City Sluggerz - 94-68 - KC won the NL East for the first time in franchise history as brendon5 kept the playoff streak alive for the 4th straight season. The Sluggerz ranked 5th in runs, 10th in ERA, and 13th in fewest errors allowed and will attempt to regain their pennant winning form from season 12 and are still seeking their 1st WS ring. Alvin Bottalico was the story offensively for the NL this season just as Knotts was in the AL. Bottalico came .001 from claiming the NL Triple Crown in Season 15 going .339/53/147 while playing GG defense at 2B. After having 3 solid years to start his career Bottalico broke out in an MVP way setting career highs in ABs, runs, hits, 2Bs, HRs, RBIs, SBs, avg, OBP, SLG, and OPS while leading the league in runs, HRs, RBIs, SLG, and OPS. Ferguson did his thing with .279/36/136 and 48 SBs with Carl Rekar going .302/26/112 at SS. Fonzie Foster lead the staff with a 16-3 record in 185 innings and a 3.21 era. KC added 2 All-Stars to go with Bottalico's shot at his 1st MVP, Rekar's 1st Silver Slugger at SS as well as Bottalico's 1st SS and GG at 2B.

#4 Helena Bonham Carters 91-71 - While Tampa and Augusta were bringing in ML Talent in the Off-Season, it was sermonauthor who did the shipping out for prospects. The loss of Sivilla, West, and Frye showed with a 20 win drop-off in season 15. Although when you win 111 games that kind of drop still means a division title and playoff run for the 4th straight season for the franchise. Helena dialed up a ranking of 10th in runs, 6th in ERA, and 24th in fewest errors and they are looking for their first pennant and WS title in franchise history. JT Kroon had a big year going .297/45/107 but will miss the first round at least with an injury, to go along with Jon Wilson's .300/41/117, his 3rd season of 40/100. Alan West won 15 and Welington Beltran added a 14-9 record. The Bonham Carters had 4 representatives in the All-Star game, Wilson's 1st Silver Slugger at CF, and both Kroon and Josh Green won GG at RF and 1B, their first each.

#5 Cleveland Mudcats 92-70 - bigj316 increased his much improved win total by 9 more this season and scored the 2nd most wins in franchise history. Cleveland made the playoffs for the 5th time in 15 seasons and look to get by the division series for the 1st time. The Mudcats ranked 16th in runs, 9th in ERA, and 22nd in fewest errors in the Majors. Hector Pulido beat out Bottalico for the batting title going .340/19/101 and Wayne Latham hit .326/23/65 in his rookie campaign. Clyde Mottola took control of the rotation going 18-8 in 201 innings with 181 ks and a 3.93 ERA in a career year. Cleveland had 2 All-Star selections, Latham is up for ROY, and Don Loux won his 1st GG at Pitcher.

#6 Wichita Eagles 89-73 - The Eagles had a late season slide that kept them from their 6th division crown but did manage to nab the final playoff spot and their 8th straight appearance. Wichita is looking for their 3rd trip to the NLCS, their 2nd pennant and a very elusive 1st Ring. mike1184's offense continued to slip from 20th last year to 29th in runs this season, but their 2nd in ERA, and 3rd fewest errors kept the ship afloat. Always amoung the strongest of rotations, The eagles were as always lead by the 1b to CRod's 1a, Roberto Cruz. Cruz again showed he is one of the most durable top pitchers in the league tossing 2nd most innings with 280 while leading the Majors in wins with a 23-8 record and his 2.63 ERA was good for 3rd best in the NL. Davey Otanez went 19-8 with a 3.56 ERA over 250 innings and Juan Baerga posted 35 saves and a 2.97 ERA. Dicky Brown was the lone bright spot on offense hitting .305 with 45 HRs and 116 RBIs at 3B, his 8th season of 40/100 and 4th time hitting at least .300. Wichita piled on 3 All-Star selections, Brown's MVP candidacy and GG at 3B, as well as Cruz and Otanez named Cy Young Finalists and Baerga a fireman entry.