Missed that this thread had started, so I'll chime in briefly on my 4 teams. With two picks in each league, but none of them really high, my goal was primarily finding teams that could break .500 and get me a couple shots in the final round. Playoffs with more than 1 or 2 tops feel really unlikely, and I could even foresee getting shut out of the postseason. I decided if possible at all to take one team in the NL and AL in each league to spread things out, and hopefully I didn't overlook a much better team with one of my second picks.
League 1, Pick 11:
A.L. Central - Cardinals/Reds, 1941-1950
FA: 1942 Ted Williams
At this stage every division had at least one team, so I tried to avoid being a 3rd team in any division. One of the top two picks is in this division, which isn't too encouraging, but I have always found the 40s-era Cardinals to be strong in theme leagues. I actually liked the Red Sox-Giants in this division too, and I was pretty surprised they weren't taken at all.
The strength of this lineup is at 1B and OF, but none of the upgrades at the weaker positions felt as impactful as dropping a Ted Williams into the lineup with Musial. Schoendienst and Marion don't hit much, but they've got great gloves up the middle. Mize and Kurowski provide nice bookends at the corners, though.
I'm not exactly sure how I'll deploy some of these Cardinals pitchers who could be tandem pieces or just heavily used in the pen. Brecheen and Cooper will anchor the rotation, and Hearn will be the dominant reliever. The rest is filling roles. I'm playing in Crosley instead of Sportsman's Park because I don't think enough of my guys hit 2B to take advantage of that +3. So a fairly neutral park it is.
League 1, Pick 18:
N.L. East - Orphans-Cubs/Reds, 1901-10
FA: 1908 Honus Wagner
At this stage of a draft like this, you take what you can get and playoffs are just something you hope for. I definitely was staying in the NL to split my teams and focused on all the remaining options. The pitching here sold me, and I felt the other two remaining options in the division were much weaker.
This era Cubs teams at least offer some excellent SP, and they should prevent the later-decades teams from pounding out homers. A rotation of Brown-Reulbach-Overall should keep scoring pretty low, though there's really no great relievers to follow them. The 15 best pitcher seasons to choose from were all Cubs, so the Reds are mostly going to be wasted picks. I've got more SP than I have any use for and a ridiculous 2,591 innings with a 1.55 ERA!
The offense is led by Cy Seymour (.377/.429/.559) and Mike Donlin (.352/.420/.516), and we'll help them out with the second-best FA Wagner option. The lineup could have used a 2B upgrade too (and catcher, really), but Wagner was just a much better choice.
I thought about playing in Palace, but I actually think other teams would take better advantage of it as I don't have many 2B on the roster and my pitchers can take care of preventing HR on their own. West Side Grounds is just a basic neutral park instead.
League 2, Pick 6:
N.L. West - Athletics/Cardinals, 1981-90
FA: 1987 Tony Gwynn
So I built something like 12 teams to try to make the best choice here, and I still went with gut over some of the numbers. I was pretty surprised that the NL East already had 3 of the first 5 teams, which meant I needed to feel strongly I was taking a division winner here. I felt there were 3 choices in the NL Central I could be happy with (the A's-Dodgers pitching was extremely tempting, though it pains me as a fan who grew up loving those Dodgers that the lineup really left me unimpressed). On the AL side, the only division I would have wanted to pick in at this spot was the unoccupied East, but I liked 3 teams about equally there. And honestly, I liked a couple other teams a lot in the NL West too and just had to go with a feeling that the speed and defense on this team can be a difference-maker.
After Tudor the rotation is a bit less than overwhelming but all are solid. The bullpen is really good, led by the great 90 Eck. I've had some mixed results with 85 McGee, who is really the key guy in this offense. Clark and Canseco provide some power. Oquendo and Ozzie will grab everything up the middle. I went with Busch over Oakland Coliseum to minimize the homers on other teams that will have way more boppers than we do.
The guy I had no idea what to do with was '87 McGwire with his 49 homers and not much else. I would have probably used him at DH if I'd gone a different direction with my FA (a 3B upgrade over Lansford was definitely needed, but no one stood out once '81 Schmidt was gone). There were certainly much better hitting options at 2B or SS, but I was happy enough with the great gloves and switch hitters I had there. I figured Gwynn at the top of the order between Henderson and McGee promises to generate the best production with his average and speed. I hope my instincts were well founded on this team, which is supposed to be my best shot at getting into the final round.
League 2, Pick 13
A.L. Central - Braves/Twins, 2001-10
FA: 2005 Pedro Martinez
I wanted to split my teams again, so I focused on the remaining AL options at this spot. When schwarze took a third East team just before me, I ruled that division out. I had a lot of concerns about the remaining AL West choices (as schwarze has noted above, they lasted until picks 22-23), so I focused on the Central. I felt like the pitching staffs were similar enough, though passing on that Red Sox-Dodgers bullpen was really tough to do. I felt the Twins-Braves combo offered much better defense and speed with a nice balance in the lineup. I didn't need to fill any lineup holes, so I could just take the best FA pitcher, too.
The offense will be deep like the other teams in this league. The projected starters have just under 1.000 OPS, and everyone has power. The rotation after Santana isn't amazing, so hopefully Pedro plugs that gap well. It's not the insane Red Sox-Dodgers bullpen, but it's not too shabby. Playing in the Metrodome because it's a better fit than either Target or Turner for this squad.
I struggled a lot choosing my FA pitcher. I considered quite a few options, including schwarze's gleeful choice of Peavy right after mine. I might have blown that. Hopefully I've got enough for a team that advances even if the playoffs are a longshot.
Fun fact: Aside from the 1901-10 team laden with wasted salary, my other 3 rosters all came out between $143-144 million.