I think it's always fun and interesting to hear about others drafting strategies... what went right... what went wrong. How you feel about your roster, etc. This thread is dedicated to this topic.

Post your thoughts here.

League 2, NL (Braves & Reds)
Pick #6
Braves- 1953, 1999, 2019, 1899, 1960

I will start things off by analyzing my worst draft. The first thing that needs to be done for leagues with two franchises is to try and estimate how many teams will be selected from each franchise. There are 9 Braves seasons and 8 Reds seasons. I had pick #6 and the first 5 seasons selected were all Braves. It is clearly obvious that I should prefer to be the first Reds team than the sixth Braves team. I estimated 7 Braves and 5 Reds teams would be selected. Based on this estimate, I figured that I could grab the best SP from a weak pitching Group 2 (1953 Spahn) and still get a pretty solid Maddux season coming back. As the seventh Braves owner, redcped predictably selected '98 Braves next (which was almost my first round pick). With one owner still to choose his franchise, I was all set to take '95 Braves with my round 2 pick (since redcped had already selected that group), but DarthDurron messed up that strategy by becoming the eighth Braves owner and doubling up on both '93 and '95 Maddux.

Meanwhile, during the Reds draft, I noticed that my top Reds seasons were all still on the board in rounds 2 and 3. WTF? This Braves team is doomed. The Braves franchise doesn't have enough talent to support 8 teams. So now, it's the second round and I had a tough choice between 1999 and 2000. I had to take one of those two because they were the only two remaining years in Group 4 with a great starting pitcher. I decided 1999 (w/Millwood) because I already had '53 Mathews and preferred '99 Chipper (who will DH). Of course, somehow pedrocerrano gets 2000 at the end of round 4.

At this point, I will likely be the only Braves team without Maddux, so I needed to get as much pitching as possible. 2019 got me a couple of decent pitchers (Siroka, Greene), albeit HR-prone. Then I jumped on 1899 to get 732 innings of mediocre deadball pitchers who won't give up HRs, but will give up 15 hits per 9 innings. My last pick (1960) got me nothing of value (platoon catcher and some pinch hitters, spot starters in the OF).

This entire debacle started when I mis-judged the number of teams drafting from the Braves. I should have gone the Reds.

Prediction: This team will lose 90+ games and fail to advance to Round 4.

First thing that pops into my mind was selecting my Group Two pick in the Athletics draft. 1913 was my choice which I'm happy with (getting two great players in Eddie Collins and Frank Baker, as well as some decent deadball-era pitching) but by doing that, I miss out on several of the Jimmie Foxx/Al Simmons/Mickey Cochrane seasons that were all lumped into the same group.

Second was in the Yankees draft. Based on years selected, there were only two good deadball-era pitching teams available - but they were in the same group that had all of the great "Babe Ruth" seasons. Time will tell if that pitching was worth grabbing over a dominant hitter like The Babe.

I know there's more tough choices I noticed but I can't think of them right now...

League 1 AL - I had the 2nd pick and figured this would be a hitter-dominated league. RTG predictably took the 1927 Yankees with the first pick. I had done well in a previous franchise league using the 1937 Yankees, so I took them. Gehrig, Dimaggio and Dickey provided big hitting. Lefty Gomez provided a really strong pitching option (for the Yankees. He wouldn't be as valuable in a Dodgers draft). With the 23rd pick, I was pleased to snatch the 1958 Yankees with a really good Mickey Mantle and a solid Whitey Ford. The real surprise was in the third round. I had the 26th overall pick but was able to scoop up 1910 dead ball ace Russ Ford, arguably the most valuable Yankees pitcher (comparable to Jack Chesbro and Ron Guidry).

In the fourth round, I was looking to fill the hole I had at 2B. So, I was pleased to pick up a decent Robinson Cano. I also added a solid Mariano Rivera to my bullpen. I added Derek Jeter and another Mariano Rivera with my last pick, the 2000 team.

I think my pitching will be pretty strong for this hitters' league. I just hope that I have enough hitting to compete with all of the Ruth/Gehrig teams.

League 1, AL (Yankees)
Pick #5
Seasons - 1956, 1936, 1904, 1998, 2002

Going into a draft like this, one of the things I try to take into consideration is which group I can wait on. With the Yankees, it was clearly Group 1. I determined that I could get a stud Ruth or a stud SP later. So, in round 1, I passed on group 1 and instead went with 1956 (group 3) in order to lock up my catcher (Berra), my shortstop (McDougald) and a stud Mantle season plus '56 Ford isn't too bad of a SP for that group. When it got back to me in round 2, I knew I could wait another round for my Group 1 decision. But which direction do I go? If I am going to take a stud Ruth from group 1, I need more pitching. But there isn't a ton of good pitching left without sacrificing my offense. I realized only one other team at the top could take a season from Group 1 and since both Russ Ford and Jack Chesbro were available, I knew I would get a stud pitcher. So with round 2, I went all offense, tanking the pitching. 1936 provided me with a $10M Gehrig season, a solid 3B Red Rolfe (.319, B/A) and Bill Dickey (.362). Now I didn't need Dickey (I have Berra) but I figured I could DH him. Was happy Chesbro got back to me as he is essentially worth two SPs. Great start to my team.

Now with groups 4 and 5 still to come, the only offense I needed was a 2B, an OF and part-time DH. I needed more pitching though. One SP and some relievers. I really wanted 2002 for Bernie Williams, Soriano and Giambi, but had to take 1998 first to get a SP.... David Wells (yes, HR-prone, but only 1.05 whip and a lefty vs all these NYY lefty sluggers). 1998 also has a 578-PA stud Bernie Williams. And '98 Jeter is better than '56 MacDougald. Knoblauch is ok at 2B. Imagine my surprise when 2002 got all the way back to me. Even though I needed more RP, I couldn't pass up that offense. So Soriano replaces Knoblauch and I still get Giambi to DH, plus another Bernie Williams. A fantastic Yankees offense despite no Babe Ruth.

Chesbro did really well for me in one of thejuice6's early rounds last year. Hoping he does the same.

Prediction: I believe this is a playoff team and could push upper 90's in wins.

League 1N - Giants

Round 1 - 1909 - I desperately wanted an ace and Matthewson and his 1.59 ERC# was it. But the other 4 players are scrubs.

Round 2 - 1931 - to make up for my lack of depth in round one I grabbed 5 good but not great players.

Round 3 - 2012 - Really couldn’t pass up the best C in Giants history. I’ll get two decent pitchers as well.

Round 4 - 1962 - so that I can get one of those great Willie Mays seasons and I had a hole in CF.

Round 5 - 1967 - because I had a hole at 3B and 2B, and this fills my 3B better, plus it has 2 decent pitchers. Still looking for that 2B, it’s like trying to fill an inside straight.

My lineup and my grades for each position

C - 2012 Buster Posey - A

1B - 1931 Bill Terry - C

2B - 1909 Larry Doyle - F

SS - 1931 Travis Jackson - C

3B - 1967 Jim Ray Hart - D

LF - 2012 Melky Cabrera - C

CF - 1962 Willie Mays - A

RF - 1931 Mel Ott - C

DH - 1967 Willie McCovey - C

SP1 - 1909 Christy Mathewson - A

SP2 - 1931 Bill Walker - C

SP3 - 1967 Gaylord Perry - C

SP4 - 1931 Carl Hubbell - C

SP5 - 2012 Matt Cain - C

Bullpen - the meat of the bullpen will have an ERC# of about 2.8. Grade - C

In conclusion - There were a lot of choices to make between quantity and quality. More so than other drafts. I have 3 great players and a lot of mediocre ones. Between Larry O’Doyle D+/D- and Jim Ray Hart C-/C-, I’m worried about that defense. I hate this team: 75 wins. Larry O’Doyle Rules!

League 2A - Indians

Round 1 - 1906 - An easy pick. I get an ace, a stud 2B and 3 usable other players.

Round 2 - 1994 - It was a tough call between here and 2020, but I really like this offense and the pitchers are usable. It’s crazy to think about how good the Indians lineup was in the 90’s. It’s like they were playing with the cheat codes.

Round 3 - 1939 - It was the best of what was available in that group and it gave me a Bob Feller and what I thought at the time was my starting 3B.

Round 4 - 1950 - A stud CF, a 3B upgrade and a good RP.

Round 5 - 2000 - Couldn’t believe a >1.000 OPS# hitter was still around, and two good RP to boot.

C - 1994 Sandy Alomar Jr - C

1B - 1939 Hal Trosky - C

2B - 1906 Nap Lajoie - A

SS - 1906 Terry Turner - C

3B - 1950 Al Rosen - B

LF - 1950 Larry Doby - B

CF - 1994 Kenny Lofton - A

RF - 1994 Albert Belle - A

DH - 2000 Manny Ramirez - B

SP1 - 1906 Addie Joss - A

SP2 - 1939 Bob Feller - B

SP3 - 1950 Early Wynn - C

SP4 - 1994 Dennis Martinez - C

Bullpen - about an ERC# of 3. D.

Conclusion - I think it’s a pretty good team. Weak bullpen. Offensively and defensively strong. However, I never have luck with Feller and I’m half expecting an ERA of 6 out of him. 90 wins.

League 3A - Athletics - TBD

League 4A - White Sox

Round 1 - 1906 - two aces? Yes please! I don’t care if there are no usable hitters.

Round 2 - 1916 - one and a half more aces? And a 2B and OF too?

Round 3 - 1993 - needed some bats and got the Big Hurt and a bullpen arm.

Round 4 - 2006 - need more offense! Best bats available.

Round 5 - 1965 - couldn’t believe this bullpen was still available.

C - 1965 Johnny Romano - C

1B - 1993 Frank Thomas - B

2B - 1916 Eddie Collins - C

SS - 1906 George Davis - D

3B - 1993 Robin Ventura - D

LF - 1916 Joe Jackson - B

CF - 1916 Happy Felsch - D

RF - 2006 Jermaine Dye - B

DH - 2006 Jim Thome - B

SP1 - 1916 Reb Russell - A

SP2 - 1906 Doc White - A

SP3 - 1906 Ed Walsh - B

SP4 - 1916 Joe Benz - B

SP5 - 1993 Alex Fernandez - D

Bullpen - the four main guys have a combined ERC# of 2.05 - A

Conclusion - I think the White Sox teams will have strong pitching and weak hitting. Tiger teams will be the opposite. Mine is no exception. My hitting is not strong compared to Tiger teams, but can hold their own vs. other White Sox teams. My pitching is ridiculous. Prediction - 90 wins.

League 5A - Red Sox

Round 1 - 1901 - You know me and deadball ace pitchers. Especially those with 443 IP.

Round 2 - 1949 - I wanted that elite hitter. Also for those 2 infielders.

Round 3 - 1977 - Best catcher available before there was a run on catchers.

Round 4 - 2013 - Pickins were getting slim, but I got a stud RP, SP5 and a DH.

Round 5 - 1980 - The last pick in the group. Got a usable RP and OF4 but that’s it.

C - 1977 Carlton Fisk - A

1B - 1901 Buck Freeman - C

2B - 1949 Bobby Doerr - B

SS - 1949 Vern Stephens - B

3B - 1901 Jimmy Collins - B

LF - 1949 Ted Williams - A

CF - 1901 Chick Stahl - D

RF - 1977 Jim Rice - C

DH - 2013 David Ortiz - B

SP1 & 2 - 1901 Cy Young - A

SP3 - 1949 Mel Parnell - C

SP4 - 1949 George Winter - D

SP5 - 2013 Clay Buchholz - A

Bullpen - about a 2.5 ERC# - C

In conclusion - Good offense. Mediocre defense. Gonna take Cy Young down to that Old Town Road and “ride like I can’t no more”. I didn’t get a Clemens or a Pedro. Probably an average team. 82 wins.

League 6 NL - Astros

Round 1 - 2019 - after schwarze picked the DBacks, this was the most obvious choice here. I won’t even get to roster Zach Greinke and his 2.20 ERC#.

Round 2 - 1983 - I went for depth here and the other “old school” Astros squads didn’t have depth. Also got the best SS available.

Round 3 - 1998 - How could I turn down “Lima Time”, “Jurassic Carl” and “Operation Shutdown”?

Round 4 - 1995 - There are no good Astros catchers. This was the best I could do.

Round 5 - 2003 - two stud RPs.

C - 1995 Tony Eusebio / 1995 Scott Servais - D

1B - 1998 Jeff Bagwell - B

2B - 1998 Craig Biggio - B

SS - 1983 Dickie Thon - B

3B - 2019 Alex Bregman - B

LF - 1983 Jose Cruz - C

CF - 2019 George Springer - B

RF - 2003 Richard Hidalgo - B

DH - 1998 Moises Alou - B

SP1 - 2019 Justin Verlander - A

SP2 - 2019 Gerrit Cole - A

SP3 - 1983 Nolan Ryan - C

SP4 - 1998 Randy Johnson - D

SP5 - 1995 Shane Reynolds - D

Bullpen - B

In conclusion - it’s hard for me to judge this league because I didn’t really follow non-Astros drafts. That being said, I “think” I have a good team. 90 wins.

League 4, NL (Cubs / Pirates)
Pick #5
Pirates - 1935, 1992, 1908, 1972, 1905

There are 8 available Cubs seasons and 9 available Pirates seasons, so I assumed the distribution would be split (6 owners in each league). Going into this draft, I didn't have a specific plan. I wanted to see what was left. When it got to me, two of each franchise were taken. But I noticed that 1935 Pirates were still available. I did very little research and jumped on this. How can the Group 3 season with the best SP (Blanton) and best (most expensive) hitter (Vaughan) still be available? I knew I would probably still get an Honus Wagner, so Arky can DH.

So, round 1 ends and there are only 5 Pirates teams. Sweet! In round 2, it was tempting to grab some deadball pitching and a good Honus Wagner season but there was another steal waiting for me. The 2nd best Group 5 SP (Drabek) and best two hitters (Bonds, Van Slyke) from was sitting there so I grabbed 1992. In round 3, I grabbed 1908 (V.Willis and Honus' $10M season). Oh, 1908 falls into Group 2, so I can still get another deadball pitcher with my Group 1 selection. 1905 was still on the board in round 4, but I needed a C, a 2B and some RPs, so I took 1972 (Sanguillen, Cash, plus 2 RP with 1.03-1.06 whips). Lo and behold, 1905 was still there in round 5. So I get Deacon Phillipe's $9.8M season (1.01 whip) AND another stud Honus Wagner season. I may play him at 2B.

Projection: This is easily the best team I drafted. The 5 seasons I selected would have been my first or second choice in each group. Without sounding too cocky, I would be shocked if this team didn't make the playoffs and has a shot at 100+ wins.

I just managed to keep all six of my teams alive into this round, so I have one in each league. I had a difficult time assessing the quality of other owners' drafts, so I don't have many good predictions. I don't expect to match the 3 WS I got into last round, but if I can keep all six moving on that's a worthy goal. Great job by juice in designing this theme, which was a lot of work to research but fun too.

Where in the World is Bill Terry?
League 1N - Giants

Round 1 (Pick 3) - 1904 (Group 1)
The 427 innings of McGinnity and 385 of Mathewson here aren’t outstanding, but the quantity matters. That’s 800+ innings of sub-2.50 ERC# in a league where the offenses should be daunting. This allows me to draft other seasons for hitting only because I’ve locked up ? of my rotation. Best hitter is Mike Donlin (.884 OPS#), who might spell the other OF occasionally and pinch hit.

Round 2 (10) - 1963 (4)
This pick got me the rest of my rotation in Marichal and three big bats with 900+ OPS# in Mays, Cepeda, and McCovey.

Round 3 (3) - 2000 (5)
The best Bonds seasons had all been taken by this point, but this is still a 1.098 OPS# version and comes with huge bats in Jeff Kent and Ellis Burks to boot. We aren’t going to have the best defense, but we’ll have a deep lineup at least. Robb Nen gives me at least one good reliever, too.

Round 4 (10) - 1939 (3)
I had to decide here whether to take a chance on schwarze or mllama54 taking the team I wanted, as each had a spot to fill in a round I needed. I wanted the 1918 Group 2 team for Toney’s 112 innings to shore up a weak bullpen, but I also felt this ‘39 Ott was my best 3B option and liked Harry Danning at catcher. Schwarze usually steals the teams I want, so I took the 1939 first … and of course mllama54 took the 1918 squad. It looks like schwarze needed the Mays season and probably wouldn’t have taken ‘39, so I may have blown this choice.

Round 5 (3) - 1922 (2)
Best thing to come from this pick is the plus plays of Dave Bancroft at SS, and I get a fine Casey Stengel to split time with Burks and a .343-hitting backup catcher. Could be worse.

Overview: I fear all those Yankees teams we have to face interleague and worry this could hurt chances of moving on. I only really have 5 decent pitchers on this team and I have to hope those two SP at the top keep us in games. I’ve got almost 2000 innings with a .227 OAV and 1.09 WHIP, and that includes the guys who will only pitch when they have to. Offense is my best of the six teams (.314/.392/.521 raw stats, including all the bench players). Hoping for a lot of 3-run homers with this team. I hope we can win 85-90 games.

Where in the World is Warren Spahn?
League 2N - Bost/Milw/Atl Baseball Team


Round 1 (Pick 10) - 1998 (Group 4)
There had been 6 Braves teams and 3 Reds teams taken by this point. Clearly the Reds owners would get more choices, but I liked the depth of Braves options better, particularly on the mound. My season choice came down to 1995 to get the best Maddux season but very little else, or this one to get a 1.92 ERC# and also load up the lineup. I went with depth. I had four legit starters available and wound up with Chipper and Andruw Jones and Javy Lopez, leaving a potent Galarraga unused. Kerry Ligtenberg is a solid bullpen piece, too.

Round 2 (3) - 1969 (3)
The choices to secure a second strong SP weren’t exactly numerous. But the 285 IP from Knucksie here (plus another very good 78 from another knuckleballer, Wilhelm) fit the bill and came with a potent Aaron season and two nice part-time players in Rico Carty and Tito Francona.

Round 3 (10) - 1915 (1)
This pick was almost entirely for 299 IP from Tom L. Hughes (2.11 ERC#) to solidify the rotation. No one else left was near as good, so I’m happy to get him. The hitting choices are just a bunch of defensive substitutes and backups.

Round 4 (3) - 1955 (2)
Darth had two picks after me, and while I grabbed the better pitching option between 1915 and 1916, he got the better hitting season in 1959. I do get a superb Eddie Mathews (who ends up being my DH with Chipper a bit better with the glove), and the surprise is that though it’s not one of Aaron’s best seasons he does have an A+ range season at 2B here. As it happens, that’s a helpful fit as I have enough OF options. Johnny Logan is also my best SS, so I’m filling 3 big lineup spots here.

Round 5 (10) - 2018 (5)
There were 3 choices left, and it came down to a choice between relief depth from 2010 or 11, or the lineup. I went with offense first, getting Freddie Freeman to man 1B (thus leading Galarraga to the exit because I was too righty-heavy) and a solid 487 PA from Ronald Acuna that pairs well with Carty/Francona to cover LF and resting starters. I also get a 4th starter in Foltynewicz.

Overview: I don’t love this team, but I think the top 3 SP will keep us in the mix to advance. The lineup is still too righty-heavy with just two LH and one SH. And the pitching has just one LH, so it’s an imbalanced team. I’ve got 1,751 IP with a .214 OAV and 1.06 WHIP, including the 360 innings from the 1955 guys I will barely use. We’re above average defensively, though Aaron will make a lot of errors at 2B with his C- glove. Everyone in the order has power, which never hurts, but averages aren’t especially great. There are some weak bench bats, but overall we slash .290/.361/.494 even with them. Hard to guess how we’ll fare, but I think it’s solid enough to be above .500 with a shot at a playoff spot.

Where in the World is Stan Musial?
League 3N - Cardinals

Round 1 (Pick 12) - 1968 (Group 3)
After ‘68 Gibson just won me a WS in Round 2, I couldn’t let him stay on the board here. Plain and simple, he’s the best pitcher in the Cardinals draft. There really wasn’t a ton of great pitching available, and I know I would have regretted passing him up. I also got a nice 49 IP from Joe Hoerner but precious little offensively. Curt Flood could wind up playing CF occasionally, but more likely he’s going to just come in as a late-inning replacement.

Round 2 (1) - 2005 (5)
A bit more of a balanced pick, with a quality 242 IP from Cris Carpenter, 63 good relief innings from Al Reyes, a huge bat (with A+ range at 1b) from Pujols, and an A/A+ SS in David Eckstein. I thought I’d end up using Jim Edmonds as the third hitter, but once I chose 2001 later I wound up with a better version. Platoon 2B Mark Grudzielanek got the nod ultimately.

Round 3 (12) - 1899 (1)
I tried every combination out among remaining teams to see how to fill my need for more good IP and holes at C, 2B and 3B. I really wanted 1921 Hornsby, but taking two players who have no useful teammates in a league like this just shortchanges you terribly in other places. I decided to grab 399 decent IP from Cy Young and a .396 hitter in Jesse Burkett here instead. There was just no way to salvage the pitching staff if I took Hornsby.

Round 4 (1) - 2001 (4)
With the other pick here I needed to fill a few holes, and I got 3 more starters from 2001. I’ll be using a second Pujols to man 3B, plus the strong Edmonds likely in CF and Fernando Vina as the dominant half of a 2B platoon. Sure, Vina’s a far cry from Hornsby, but you can’t have it all. Also, he can field.

Round 5 (12) - 1939 (2)
I was pleasantly surprised to be able to land this premier Johnny Mize season along with a strong Ducky Medwick and a .399-hitting platoon catcher in Don Padgett. Getting Mize makes up for missing out on all the Musial seasons.

Overview: I was surprised all 6 Phillies spots got taken, so I actually had no choice on franchise when it got to me. I’d already decided to scout the Cardinals only anyway, so that worked out nicely. There were plenty of options in every group and I was able to test out the combinations at least. This will be my best defensive team and there’s a nice blend of contact and power (though the only real speed is a PR Brock). The slash is .310/.380/.478 including five fairly weak bench bats. I still ended up low on innings even with Young, at just 1,456, with a .223 OAV and 1.03 WHIP. You hate to risk fatigue in a league without a cap, but I’d have to give up a good low-inning guy like Max Lanier just to get a lot of lousy innings.

Where in the World is Luke Appling?
League 4A - White Sox


Round 1 (Pick 1) - 1908 (Group 1)
Duh. Ed Walsh. Frank Smith. 800 lovely deadball innings. Next.

Round 2 (12) - 1920 (2)
I almost took 1994 here for the Biggest of the Hurt seasons but I opted for two high average guys to spark a lineup that is almost certainly going to be the weakest of my six. Shoeless Joe (.382) and Eddie Collins (.372) form a formidable top of the order, and I hope we find enough to put behind them. I was sure Charlie Sheen - I mean, Happy Felsch - would man CF as my third pick, but that plan changed later and I had to fish John Cusack (er, Buck Weaver) out of this roster to man 3B. I took 656 more innings here from Cicotte and Faber, and if they throw more than 50 combined I’ll be surprised. (Side note: Buck Weaver was a homely fellow with awful teeth who should be darn grateful people remember him as looking like John Cusack instead.)

Round 3 (1) - 1956 (3)
Freshly minted HOFer Minnie Minoso is one of my WIS favorites so I’m pleased to have him in the middle of the order. Bob Nieman is a solid OF/DH with a .918 OPS#. I pencilled Sherm Lollar in behind the plate pending a better option, but I wound up with one. That made room for a tolerable Larry Doby to grab the CF spot. SP3 Jack Harshman is an acceptable rotation capper, hopefully.

Round 4 (12) - 1990 (4)
The remaining Group 4 choices were deeply flawed. I was definitely considering the fine bullpen additions in 1967, but schwarze grabbed them just before me. That left a useless 1982, an OF-heavy 1977 I couldn’t use well, and this. I thought for sure at least one Frank Thomas season would still be left, but all I get are 240 PA of him. Carlton Fisk comes aboard to catch, along with Bobby Thigpen’s 57 saves. Best I could do at this point.

Round 5 (1) - 2010 (5)
I may not have gotten much of a Thomas season, but this darn good Paul Konerko (.965 OPS#) was left here to fill a middle-of-the-order spot. Alexei Ramirez snags the SS role, too. I could have had better pitching help from 2005 or 2021, but Matt Thornton and Daniel Hudson at least shore up the bullpen decently here.

Overview: This was the only Top 12 draft choice I had, and I rather blindly grabbed the ChiSox because the 1908 pitching looked significantly better than the other options. I didn’t really give the Tigers much of a thought either. With 6 White Sox teams, the talent ultimately spreads a bit thin and it’s tough to look at this team and think it’s all that great. We’ll go as far as Big Ed takes us, I suspect. Four very mediocre pitchers inflate the totals to over 2100+ innings with a .229 OAV and 1.10 WHIP. The batters check in at .306/.384/.451. If these pitchers keep the Tigers lineups in check, I feel like it’s a playoff team. If not, I still think it’s good enough to be over .500 and advance.

Where in the World is Ted Williams?
League 5A - Red Sox


Round 1 (Pick 2) - 2000 (Group 4)
I was a bit surprised Pedro grabbed the 1890s Orioles because I figured the clone limits would really hamper a roster from 5 consecutive seasons. I know he’ll wind up spanking all of us with it, though. But speaking of Pedros … how do you not take the unreal 2000 season? Plus he comes with a mighty Nomar and a better-than-you-remember Carl Everett. Lots of other great options with the Sawx, but I just couldn’t resist this one.

Round 2 (11) - 1904 (1)
With Pedro out of the draft, these became back-to-back picks for me. I needed a lot more IP from the deadballers, and Cy Young and Bill Dineen bring 754 of them. The hitters will just be reserves.

Round 3 (2) - 2011 (5)
This team has five legit lineup contenders, and I had to leave Big Papi and the Greek God of Walks behind. Adrian Gonzalez’s best season, Jacoby Ellsbury mans CF with his probably-shoulda-been-MVP 30-30 year, and Dustin Pedroia brings a fine glove and solid bat at 2B. I also got two fine relievers in Papelbon and Bard, though Group 5 did have several better ones I had to pass up.

Round 4 (11) - 1938 (2)
I assumed I’d end up with my Ted Williams season here, but first marketing grabbed 1948 and then my heart broke a bit when kstober took 1947 with the last Group 2 pick before mine. So it came down to taking a lower PA Williams season just to have him, or finding the best set of players in the group that worked in combination with a Group 3 team I’d be taking. As it happens a 50-homer 1.136 OPS# Jimmie Foxx helps you forget your lost Ted fairly well, and I had to roster Joe Cronin because he is by far the second-best hitter here. Of course, I have no DH spot available with Gonzalez and Foxx rostered, so … it’s time to stick Cronin at 3B a few seasons early. Just have to hope the defensive hit isn’t too bad there, but there’s just no better pick in the groups I have left. Also, I’m forced to take two pitchers. Eeek.

Round 5 (2) - 1978 (3)
I can’t complain about landing a pair of starters in Jim Rice and Carlton Fisk at this pick. Fred Lynn will be the 4th OF, too. No room for a guy with A- range and .872 OPS means you’ve got some solid guys out there. Two more pitchers required. Double eeek.

Overview: This is a loaded lineup with a dominant ace and a couple innings eaters to hold down the fort. But it’s not a deep pitching staff at all with 1,632 innings that feel barely enough with these offenses in Fenway. I’ve got no useful lefty arms to throw at guys like Speaker, Williams, Boggs, and Ortiz. The OAV is 2.28, with a WHIP of 1.04. But boy if Bob Stanley or Reggie Cleveland gets into any game that’s close we’re not going to enjoy the results. The lineup has power 1-9 (slashing .311/.385/.511), and the Monster will get pummeled with doubles. Gonna have to win a lot of 10-8 games on days Pedro doesn’t pitch. I have no idea how good we are relative to other teams in the league. A lot might hinge on whether teams hit .300 off Cy Young, which feels like a high probability frankly.


Where in the World is Steve Rogers?
League 6N - Expos/Nats

Round 1 (Pick 6) - 2015 (Group 5)
My top choice after scouting the various franchises was the 2017 Nats … which of course Pedro grabbed just ahead of me. I regrouped and looked at the team options and decided to risk taking a second Expos/Nats team and hoping we would only have 2 owners or 3 at most dividing up the seasons. The last teams drafting would wind up having a lot of influence on the rest of us with so many teams to pick from.

I came very close to taking 1994 first, very much fearing a third Expos/Nats team would take that with one of the first two choices. But the pitching wasn’t as good as I’d thought to be my first pick, particularly with OF being the best hitters and fairly plentiful on this franchise. So I decided to get one of, if not the best hitting season in the league with Harper (1.109 OPS#) with a strong Scherzer to head the rotation. Felipe “I Like ‘Em Real Young” Rivero lands a bullpen spot, too.

Round 2 (7) - 1994 (3)
As fortune would have it (and schwarze would rue, rather demonstrably), no one else dipped into this franchise pool and left us the stronger for it. I felt ‘94 was definitely the best of the Group 3 teams, and the others had multiple options I liked. This isn’t quite vintage Pedro Martinez (2.69 ERC#), but he’s solid enough, as is John Wetteland. The stars here are the bats of Moises Alou, Larry Walker, and Wil Cordero. I wound up having to slide Walker to 1B, and I decided I needed a better defender at SS and bumped Cordero later.

Round 3 (6) - 1987 (2)
Pedro grabbed two teams I would have taken in 1982 and 2013, and at that point I could build the whole rest of my team with the leftovers. ‘87 was appealing for the top Tim Raines season and Tim Wallach’s best available. There were better SP on all the other teams in the group, but I think I filled my rotation well enough elsewhere. The bullpen got nice help with Tim Burke and Pascual Perez here, too.

Round 4 (7) - 1981 (1)
Though this landed me one of Gary Carter’s poorer seasons that I’m stuck with, I like Bill Gullickson in the rotation, the outstanding Reardon in the pen, and the studly Andre Dawson patrolling CF. I’ve got a Raines clone to PR but I can’t seem him cracking the lineup.

Round 5 (6) - 2003 (4)
The best hitter left at this point is a Vlad Guerrero I don’t really need, but neither 2012 nor 2014 interested me much so I’ve got a real surplus of outfielders now. I guess Vlad will take ABs away from Alou, because I can’t see Harper, Raines, or Dawson budging. Jose Vidro is a stiff at 2B but the Expos had a lot of lousy 2B and I wasn’t lucky enough to get one of the seasons Raines was useful there. Vidro hits at least. Orlando Cabrera lands the SS spot but he’s no Gold Glover out there either at B+/C+ … just better than Wil Cordero among my options. I rostered a halfway decent Javier Vasquez and a not-so-hot Livan Hernandez to fill out the rotation and throw long-man innings.

Overview: No doubt it helps to be splitting these groups of four only two ways and not three, so this team should be pretty solid. But I think I’ll wind up in the same division with Pedro, and that will counteract any advantage. I’ve got 1,500 IP with a .222 OAV and 1.05 WHIP that should be competitive. The lineup has a few heavyweights and should be potent top to bottom. Wound up with a .305/.381/.511 slash with this bunch. I think I’ll be in a loaded division with a couple Astros teams too, and it’s hard to predict how that plays out. I’m probably playing for a WC anyway.

I don't usually go into these with too much strategy because too much changes throughout the draft; I'm always adjusting on the fly. The two that were most crucial for me were the Athletics and White Sox/Tigers drafts because I had relatively early picks.

I started with the 1930 Athletics to get a good lineup core with Foxx/Simmons/Cochrane, and a solid Grove season. I know there would be some strong pitching options available in Groups 4 and 5 for the A's throughout the draft.

I really wanted a White Sox team, but with Walsh's 1910 season not even an option, I opted to go Tigers when my time came. I knew pitching would be hard to find, so I opted for 2011 to anchor my rotation (Verlander) and bullpen (Fister), knowing there was plenty of offense available in the first two Tigers groups. Bringing along Cabrera and Avila at C definitely helped though.

The most interesting draft for me was the Indians/Orioles draft. I was far down in the order, so opted to go Orioles to increase my options, but I'm not totally satisfied with my team. Even picking so late, I think Indians might have been the way to go. We shall see.

Overall strategy
We had to choose between Cleveland and the Browns/Orioles. I had the 7th pick and 5 of the 6 picks ahead of me took Cleveland. The 1969 Orioles were available with Cuellar and Palmer and 3 decent hitters. It was very tempting, but I doubted that I would be able to complete a good team with the paucity that this franchise offers, so I choose Cleveland, thinking this will only backfire if all 10 franchises are selected. Group 1 has 9 great pitching staffs and 3 stud seasons of Lajoie, plus 2 of Speaker and 1 good Joe Jackson. The best ones are already taken, so I decide to fade group 1, knowing I can get 450 good innings with the 9th best season. That makes for a great 5th round pick, but I have to sacrifice my chance at one of the stud Speaker seasons. I also will not get one of the best seasons of Joss, so I decide to get a stud SP from another group and try to get as many useful innings pitched as I can. That way, I can focus on hitting in the 2nd and 3rd rounds.

Round 1
I want the 2020 Indians but 1968 has Tiant and McDowell, giving me 650 innings, so I go with them, despite having no good hitters on the team. The worst part is this is the same group that has the 1999 Indians with three great hitters. I bite the bullet, figuring I will get my hitters elsewhere.

Round 2
The risk paid off; only 9 Cleveland teams were chosen. That guarantees my 450 IP from group 1, giving me at least 1,100. I can safely take a hitting team with no pitching in round 2. However, the 2020 Indians are still there, and if I take them, my pitching will be elite with '68 Tiant, '20 Bieber, '68 McDowell, and '20 Plesac as my rotation. It's very tempting, but I fear my offense will be the league's worst, so I resist. 2001 has three good hitters, though no true studs. But Alomar at 2B is a great core player to build around. The bonus is that there are 2 stud RPs on this team, giving me the ability to close games out in the 8th and 9th innings. I feel good about this as I keep reminding myself that balance throughout the lineup is more important than 1 or 2 studs in the middle of it.

Round 3
I'm a little bummed because that great 1999 team with studs Ramirez, Alomar, and Vizquel is still available, but I already selected from that group. At least I got a comparable Alomar, but I am concerned that I will be left without a good SS. The $12M Rosen from 1953 is available, but there is no pitching on that team and I still need more innings. But the other pitching options aren't great, and if I don't take from group 3 now, I will be left with trash. Besides, Ray Boone and Strickland can play SS. Unfortunately one can hit and the other can field, but neither does both well. I take it anyway, convincing myself that the best SP on the team can be my LR.

Round 4
In round 4 I am left with the best team remaining from group 2. This is the weakest group, so everyone has been avoiding it, leaving me with a lot of teams to choose from. 1937 has a decent season from Allen, but only 187 IP, and I don't trust Feller. I don't see any good pitching options, so I will take a team that has good hitting as long as they have a SP who is not a complete dumpster fire. All I need is an OF and a DH, but if I can upgrade SS or C, I would be happy. I can't pass up a good Averill season in 1934, which also has other good options to round out my offense. I just hope Harder and his 2.91 ERC# will not be my undoing.

Round 5
Only 1907 and 1918 were available from group 1 when I made my round 4 pick (1919 was there, but they don't have good pitching). I figured the other team would take 1918 because it has 200 more useable innings, but they opted for 1907 and the last good Joss season available. The good news is I now have plenty of pitching; the bad news is that it is decent, not great. I would rather have had Joss than Covaleski's 2nd best season. I don't really trust Covaleski, but I am relying on him now. Also, 1918 has a good, not great Speaker, so he improves my offense.

Assessment
I have competitive pitching but I don't have a pitching edge on some of these other teams. At least my bad pitchers from '53 and '34 will barely see the field. My offense is balanced and I managed to grab one stud, so I think I will be fairly consistent. It all depends on Covaleski. I expect to win between 85 and 95 games depending on how good he is.

League 6, NL (D'Backs, Astros, Expos/Nats, Mets, Padres, Rockies)
Pick 8
Padres - 2007, 1998, 1978, 2010, 1989

One of the advantages to having so many teams is that I get to participate in every league. On of the disadvantages to having so many teams is that I have to spend hours upon hours researching every franchise in every league - and that has to be done PRIOR to the draft, since I had 3 of the top 12 picks. I had pick #3 overall. Pedrocerrano grabbed 5AL (1890's Orioles) and ronthegenius took 1AL (1927 Yankees). So now I have to choose a league.

My research started by using the database spreadsheet and isolating the top 5 most expensive hitters on each team, and also the best ERC# pitchers (top two pitchers with over 200 innings, plus the top pitcher with 100-199 ips, 50-59 ips and below 50 ip). So that's 5 hitters and 5 pitchers per team that I could quickly compare across a specific group within a specific league.

The easiest franchises to research were in League 6. I had built sample teams from the League 6 franchises with one or two max owners (Ariz, Col, SD, Sea, KC, TB). It was quickly apparent that the Diamondbacks were going to be my first selection and I grabbed them with pick #3. Since I have 18 teams advancing, I assumed I would get 3 teams in each league, which also meant I was likely to get a second team in NL6. I estimated that the franchise split in the NL would be 4-Hou, 3-NYM, 3-Mon, 1-Ariz, 1-SD... so I figured if still available, I would take SD with my second pick, which is what I did.

Then Chisock took a big fat dump onto my well thought out plan by immediately jumping in to the Padres mix. WTF? When I selected the Padres, I purposely choose 2007 because that year has two good starting pitchers (Jake Peavy & Chris Young). Surely, anybody else could see that there isn't enough starting pitching to support two Padres teams in this tournament. Oddly enough, Chisock did not take 1998 (Kevin Brown). He grabbed 2020 (obvious choice w/Lamet) and 1996 (Caminiti). That decision is the only thing that might have saved me. So I now grab 1998 and 1978 (G.Perry). I have 4 of the top 5 starting pitchers. The offense is below average for sure, but Chisock's pitching is going to be atrocious.

Prediction: This team has very little shot at making the playoffs. I would be thrilled if this team could get to .500 and advance to round 3, but 74-78 wins is more likely.

Having to research 6 more sets of teams would have killed me time-wise. As it was I sacrificed a bit of sleep to try to be ready on the drafts I had early picks in.

i tried to do some advance research before getting the league assignments but wasted a lot of time on Yankees when I didn’t end up in that league.

Picked 1931, 1939, 1962, 2017, 1995
Yankees draft

picked 12th so went with Ruth/Gehrig etc. and Lefty Gomez.
Not sure how normalization will affect this group.
Next pick was Joe D. And friends. Same as above.
1962. Should have/ could have picked a better Mantle (1955) but oh well.
needed a SS/2B, Tresh/Richardson. Plus Ralph Terry.
2017 was about getting a closer (Green) and Servino.
also Judges 52 homers.
switched to 95 to get a good Wetteland year. Gave up two .340 hitters in Mattingly and Winfield.
we will be all about power at Yankee lll.
could win 70 or get lucky and get a WC.
who knows?

League 3, NL (Cardinals & Phillies)
Pick 9
Phillies - 1894, 1981, 2008, 1952, 1905

I mentioned above that I had three of the top twelve picks. One of these picks was for this league. Although I hadn't completed my full research of every league, I knew that I wanted to draft either the 1985 Cardinals or the 1915 Phillies with my top pick. I honestly had not decided which direction I was going to go until the white smoke from the Vatican (i.e., thejuice6 announced the official draft orders). When I realized I was going to get two teams in this league, I decided on taking the 1985 Cardinals with my top pick, knowing I would be using my #9 pick on the Phillies. Why?

I really wanted one of those awesome 1890's Phillies years for the offense. Picking first and getting the stud Alexander would not guarantee that one of those Phillies teams would get to me. But if I drafted lower in the Phillies draft, I would get 1894 or 1895 and could still get maybe two of 1917, 1964, 1950, 1952 or 2008. And the plan almost worked to perfection. There are 11 Cardinals seasons to choose from and only 6 Phillies seasons. So I expected the distribution to be around 8-4 or 7-5. At pick #9, it was split 4/4. I still had my choice of 1894 or 1895. And 1917 was still on the board. Common sense says that I should probably just take 1917 (414 innings of Alexander) and even if somebody is crazy enough to take the sixth and last Phillies spot, I would still get my either 1894 or 1895. But nooooo... I had to be greedy and I slightly preferred 1894, so that's what I went with (I mean they do have three .400 hitters!).

Then out of the blue, parking31 comes in with 1917 Phillies. He didn't even realize that he was the last Phillies owner because he didn't make his second round pick until he was notified that he could pick again. I mean... c'mon! I make my decisions assuming common sense by others.... just like the Padres draft. Ironically both parking31's Phillies pick and Chisock's Padres pick happened within 30 minutes of each other. My head almost exploded.

Anyway, that being said, the rest of the draft worked out almost as well as I could hope for. I mentioned those other pitching years I was shooting for. Well, I ignored them and decided "what the f*ck", if I'm not going to win, let's at least have some fun, so in round 2, I went with 1981 just to see how many RBIs '81 Schmidt could accumulate batting behind Billy Hamilton, Ed Delahanty and Sam Thompson. Steve Carlton is good enough to allow fewer runs than my team should be scoring. Round 3 comes around and 2008 is still on the board, so now I get to add SP Cole Hamels along with my middle infielders (Utley, Rollins).

I still need a lot of usable innings. And miracle upon miracles, 1952 is on the board in round 4. So now, I can add 348 innings of 1.02 whip with Robin Roberts. And I also get my catching platoon of Smoky Burgess (.380 obp) and Stan Lopata (.395 obp). I am the last to get a Group 2 team, and I get "stuck" with 1905 which includes Tully Sparks and Kid Nichols (both with erc# below 2.90)... not great, but not terrible either. Oh and by moving Delahanty and his A+++ range to 1B, I can add another .400+ obp A+ range OF, with 1905 Roy Thomas.

Prediction: Not sure how this team stacks up with the Cardinals teams in the league, but I would be shocked if we weren't one of the top two Phillies teams in terms of W-L record. I say top 2, because of ronthegenius. I am a little annoyed that the other Phillies owners allowed 1893 to fall into ronthegenius' lap after he drafted '15 Pete Alexander with the 2nd overall pick (top Phillies pick). I think 86-90 wins is possible, albeit we'll probably be a wildcard team at best.

League 3, NL (Cardinals & Phillies)
Pick 1
Cardinals - 1985, 1943, 1952, 1922, 2021

There is lots of pressure to get the top pick in a league right. You've got to wait a bunch of picks before picking again. I went with 1985 because this year has a stud pitcher (Tudor) and three starting position players (McGee, Herr, O.Smith). I know Herr and Smith aren't great hitters but they fill positions that are often hard to fill in these types of drafts. Another factor in this pick was that I didn't think that Group 4 was very strong. So I will often pick a lesser year in a weak/shallow group than a stronger year in a strong/deep group.

Now ironically, my complaint regarding parking31 and the Phillies draft actually helps me out in this draft. Only 6 people drafting from 11 Cardinals years. It should be a lot easier to fill needs, which means I can emphasize quality over quantity. At the round 2-3 turn, my first pick was easy. There just isn't a ton of great pitching so 1943 provided me two good pitchers (Mort Cooper and Howie Pollet). Oh, and a $9.5M Stan Musial plus my starting catcher, Walker Cooper. With my second pick, I thought very long and hard on grabbing 1922 with the $16M Rogers Hornsby - but they have nothing else. So I played it safe and went 1952, which provided two more usable pitchers (Stu Miller 1.01 whip/93 ip and Al Brazle 1.07 whip/116 ip). Oh, and a $8.8M Stan Musial, plus $6.6M Red Schoendienst, who us a C-/A at 3B. The team is really looking good now. All I need on offense is 1B and DH. And one more ok SP and some an additional RP or two would be helpful.

And thanks to parking31 being the sixth Phillies owner, somehow, someway, 1922 Rogers Hornsby makes it all the way back to me. 1922 has nothing else, but I don't need much. How can I not have Musial, Musial, McGee & Hornsby in the middle of my lineup? My other pick on the 4-5 turn... 2021. Amazingly, that year fit perfectly, with 206 innings of Adam Wainwright (1.06 whip), 80 innings of what will be my best RP (Gallegos, 0.88 whip) and my starting 1B, Paul Goldschmidt.

Prediction. My Hornsby pick means only 8 usable pitchers, so I'm a little weak on my 4th SP (one of my 1922 bums will have to soak up about 150 ips), but I have really good RPs (both in depth and quality), and the offense will absolutely crush. This may not be my best team, but it will be close, and it will be fun reading the boxscores every day. I will temper my excitement and guess 92-96 wins, although I wouldn't be surprised if it was more.