2067 Sim 2

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Sim 2

The Best Juan - - Record: 16-12 --- Everything looks fine so far despite what some could consider a slow start overall. They're hitting the ball out like it's no tomorrow (53 HRs), creating plenty of runs to be driven in by the raw power of the Milton-Stanley Lumber Co. Oh and I forgot to mention Lindsay leads the entire league in RBI's, HA! A drawback from this past sim: their pitching staff seems to have lost themselves a bit. Broderick, Bolata, Kendrowski and Pinnick have combined for a 5.30 ERA in the first month of play, a number that will surely shrink, but does spell a tad bit of concern for the rotation after SP3. That leads us to a bullpen that without their closer's 3.2 IP, has a combined ERA of 6.37, which could explain their 2-6 record in games decided by one run. Good thing for Cincy fans is this is more than likely to work itself out, so just sit tight and let the Big Red Machine troubleshoot itself. -- Previous Rank: 1 -- L10: 6-4

#2 - :was: - Record: 18-8 --- The Nationals are off to the start they had hoped for out of the gate. They could be in first place over the Braves with the way they've played (Pythagorean agrees), and honestly they could've easily had the #1 ranking over the Reds. The power is powering, the aces are acing, and all that's left is to figure out the weak links in the pen and stay as healthy as possible until October. --- Previous Rank: 2 -- L10: 8-2

#3 - - Record: 17-10 --- The lower half of the order has been struggling to get it going, but the top half has had no problem pulling all the weight. Stripling is completely shredding bats and balls out there, and David Horn's 14 stolen bases leads all of FCM's speedsters. While their pitching staff looks like it's off to a slow start (33 HRs Allowed in a combined 234 IP), it still has one of the better ERA's in FCM. You simply cannot count on Marina, Herrod and Crowell to continue pitching this poorly. --- Previous Rank: 3 -- L10: 5-5

#4 - - Record: 22-5 --- Well I was right and wrong about this team. They are definitely a contender, and they CERTAINLY are flashy! Losing just one game last sim, their 1-6 has paved the way to the FCM leading offense in hits, giving the Bay area faithful a lot of exercise in the form of celebration. If the back 3 can figure it out, San Fran might just be a Gigantic steamroller. A word of caution, that bullpen has been getting tore up left and right. One must wonder if the relief can't get their act straight, will the Giants get as lucky during close games as they have been? The starters are doing their job and then some, so a turn around by the bullpen could spell trouble for any team that get's in their way. -- Previous Rank: 8 -- L10: 10-0

#5 - - Record: 18-8 --- The Tigers were eager to bounce back after sim 1, and bounce back they did! Despite losing Lou Cook for another 3 weeks after he took a rocket line drive to the knee in his season debut, the Detroit line up rightfully claimed their spot upon the throne as most destructive offense in the American League ("Mad" Max Ererra is simply not a human being right now, hitting .397/.506/.1.506 and 10 HRs in April), propelling what was a struggling pitching staff. The bullpen minus Flemming and literally two bad pitches by Harren has been fairly effective, and even though Cantrill still needs to work out some kinks in his off-day bullpen sessions, their pitching staff has been as good as it's been in any season. There are some doubts as to how the line up will continue producing the way it has, but the Tigers are still as much a threat as ever. --- Previous Rank: 4 -- L10: 8-2


#6 - - Record: 20-7 --- The Braves cooled off a bit the ladder half of April, going 8-6 last sim and losing some tough close games to the Phillies, Mets and Nationals. The bullpen shouldn't continue counting on Ward to save the day, and only time will tell if the top half of the rotation has built up enough strength to carry the rest of the pitching staff on it's back. One thing is for sure, these guys came to play. Holly, Axala and Vizcaya are looking like the scariest trio for a pitcher to face when starting a game, combining for 29 of the team's league leading 39 stolen bases along with 68 total runs scored. We haven't even started May yet! Even if you keep the ball in the infield, these guys create hits with their legs more often than The King of Pop did. If Wetmore and the 5-9 guys can continue to find their own ways to contribute, Atlanta will be in the playoff race despite the shaky pitching start. --- Previous Rank: 9 -- L10: 6-4

#7 - - Record: 19-9 --- It's time for all the Yankee fans to finally show their faces and vigorously claim they've been right by the team's side this whole rebuild....New York is in first! The line up has been a bit of a disappointment up until this point, and despite a couple of bad outings by Tallent, Cogswell and Fossett, this team is stringing together wins. Davenport, Hagen and Dolan are completely M.I.A. right now, so it is illogical to think the Bombers bats won't awake from their slumber. Same as it will be illogical for the Yankees to rely on that staff to continue lifting them through tough games. This team can pitch with the best of them, but having an 11-3 record in games decided by 2 runs or less is both delightful and horrific at the same time. Only so many times can you run a red light and JUST make it through safely before getting smashed by a tractor trailer. --- Previous Rank: 11 -- L10: 6-4

#8 - - Record: 18-9 --- The 'stros are back, baby! Sporting the #2 offensive attack in the American League to go with some strong pitching outings from their stallions, Houston has exceeded some expectations going into this season. The line up 3-6 has been doing most of the damage, excluding Tyron's poor start, and Leoniedas is looking at his first All-Star game appearance if he can keep up the good work. Riggle is looking nice even if he hasn't put up nice numbers. Rarely do you see a guy drafted less than 12 months ago produce the way he has. The one-two punch of Velcasquez and Toledano can carry the rest of the rotation as long as the pen can get themselves under a tiny bit more control and start mowing down hitters on a day to day basis. Of course that's easier said than done, but I think the Astros are going to be the Best in the West for quite a while if Velca and Tole can stay consistently healthy. --- Previous Rank: 15 -- L10: 8-2

#9 - - Record: 15-12 --- These Metropolitan's haven't been so amazin'. Overall their pitching staff has been He Man strong, with the bullpen being as good as expected and the best rotation the FCM has seen this year. Their line up's 2-5 is doing it's job, featuring a great first leg out of the very early MVP candidate Ezra Vidavrri. However, they seem to be having trouble finding offense around the heart of the order. Is that why they've been underachieving? Maybe, although one could also say the culprit is just lady luck dishing out some hard love. When you consider that this team would be 17-10 while winning 7 of their last 8 if not for two horrendous blown games by Gremades, the benefit of the doubt becomes a much more comfortable feeling. -- Previous Rank: 5 -- L10: 6-4

#10 - - Record: 15-13 --- Playing the Cubs pitchers is like playing Russian Roulette. You could face Stone Cold Salano, or you could run through one of the four pitchers with a 5.90+ ERA. Cincinnati is going to wake up soon, if the Cubs continues to lose games the way they have, they can kiss the playoff race good bye. The good news is the rotation has been hitting it's mark, so if Ryan Travis and the 4-5-6 guys can find their swing Chicago should be in line for some wins. Key word, SHOULD be. -- Previous Rank: 7 -- L10: 4-6

#11 - - Record: 16-11 --- The A's make their power rankings debut. They have carried some of last season's late magic into the early stages of the new year, and even without actually being a true threat this team is always ready to impress. Oakland doesn't look like a ball club that should be ranked, but a 29 -11 record in your last 40 regular season games cannot go unrecognized. Rookie Tyler Eamigh (4-1, 39 IP, 1.85 ERA plus an opponent OBA of .187 in 5 starts) and the pitching has surprised many, with their offense's ability to get on base they should have plenty of chances to win games. Houston will come out on top in this division, but if by some miracle the Astros implode, expect Fred to be grinning his way to another division title. -- Previous Rank: / -- L10: 5-5

#12 - - Record: 13-14 --- The Dodgers just can't seem to shake last season's woes. When you look at the offense you see exactly what you expected to see, one .400 hitter and four .300+ hitters, so we don't have to look too far to find out why this team is under .500 to start 2067. Having the worst rotation ERA of any ranked team, Los Angeles has found themselves wondering what's going on with Collins, Marquez and Christiansen. They've gotten demolished for a combined 6.78 earned run average, racked up 13 HRs in 103.2 combined IP, and to top that off opponents are hitting .321 against them. The 'pen has done well considering the lack of talent, giving hope that if the rotation can find itself the Dodgers are a much more complete team than most. I see this first month as a hangover hiccup from 2066, and I hope very much that they've drank enough lemon water with salt to show up for May. Otherwise, SXR might shoot everybody and clean the blood off the locker room floor. -- Previous Rank: 6 -- L10:3-7

#13 - - Record: 17-10 --- Overachieved a bit last month, even with my line up lost for most of the last 2 sims. Jeremy Huey leads the league in ERA, so that's nice! Where my team ends up all depends on how well the Yankees continue to play and if Boston will have one of those pre-break rampages they are notorious for going on. Sim's 3 and 4 are big ones for the Rays. -- Previous Rank: 14 -- L10: 7-3

#14: - Record: 14-13 --- Cleveland has one of the better pitching staff's in 2067. Besides a couple of rusty starts from Shultz and one bad game out of Dyer, most of the Indian's staff has shown up in great form. Kilby has earned every penny of his new $45M contract, David Askew has finally settled into his new 7 bedroom mansion 25 minutes from The Jake, and 23 year old freshman Marc Permenter is making his case for the closing role. Now if the offense can take lead from Dreiling (can't believe we would see the day where Dreiling's the leading man on an offense) and start scoring some runs, this Cleveland team might have enough in the tank to sneak up in the wild card standings. Take into account they've had sort of a rough schedule facing six ranked teams, we should see this team get further ahead of .500. That being said, their schedule doesn't get much easier until July/August, so we'll watch and observe how these guys play out. -- Previous Rank: / -- L10: 5-5

#15 - - Record: 14-13 --- Lord have mercy on that pitching staff. I don't even want to post the numbers out of respect. There are some bright spots in the pen with Sousa, Thompson and Kasper, but if that is what the rotation will look like all season, Mike will most certainly need to move Marin to maximize value for the future of his club. Offensively overachieving, this team is most likely over .500 due to a semi easy schedule. The road gets a little bumpier in May and then cools down tremendously when June hits. Safe to say we can make an accurate prediction on where this team ends up with the info we get from sim 3 and sim 4. -- Previous Rank: 13 -- L10 4-6