I got a late start to Round 1, so while I was able to advance 15 teams, I didn't garner many high picks. I didn't have a single "top 30" pick and only once picked higher than 9th in any draft. However, with exactly 15 teams and 15 leagues, I got one team in each league, which was fun.
Per usual, I leaned hitting over pitching, and relievers over starters. With my later draft slots, that was exacerbated even further, as high quality starting pitching was clearly the most in demand. Of my 15 teams, I would say 12 or so are offense-heavy. I have teams in the Baker Bowl, Fenway, and even one in Coors.
It looks like 2/3 of Round 2 teams will advance to Round 3. I would be happy to advance 10 out of 15, given where I was drafting. I'll be lucky to get even half my teams through, but most of my teams will be fun to root for. Onto the picks...
League 1, Pick 13
1895-1896: Philadelphia Phillies - Pittsburgh Pirates (AL East) | Delahanty | Baker Bowl (HR LF/RF:2/1 1B:0 2B:4 3B:1)
This team is going to be so much fun. Best offense of any Lg01 options and I ramped it up to 100 by putting my Delahanty clones at SS and 2B. My worst starter, by far, is 3B Denny Lyons (.809 OPS#). All my other starters are over .900 OPS# with 4 over 1.000. Most teams in this era cannot field, but we REALLY will not be able to field. Delahanty clones will be D-/D- at both SS and 2B, making Lyons' D+/C- defense at 3B the highlight of my IF. The pitching isn't great, but isn't terrible, led by a 546 inning season from Pink Hawley. It's very likely we lead the league in most runs scored AND allowed. Just have to hope the offense is better than the pitching/defense is bad.
League 2, Pick 10
1899-1900: Pittsburgh Pirates – St. Louis Perfectos/St. Louis Cardinals (NL Central) | Burkett | Exposition Park (III) (HR LF/RF:-2/-2 1B:0 2B:0 3B:0)
Another team that will be more offense-focused, as most of my teams will be. A young Honus Wagner (pre-shortstop days) will man 2B as another D-/D- option. Two Jesse Burketts will roam the outfield. And John McGraw's .499 OBP# will lead off. The pitching won't be among the best, but Cy Young, Rube Waddell, Deacon Phillippe, and Sam Leever will handle most of the innings with sub-3.00 ERC#. Hopefully that's enough to let the offense win most games.
League 3, Pick 18
1921-1922: St. Louis Cardinals – Chicago White Sox (NL West) | Hornsby | Sportsman's Park (III) (HR LF/RF:0/1 1B:0 2B:3 3B:0)
This league straddles the deadball and liveball eras, but sits mostly in the deadball. Picking late, the top pre-1920 teams were gone and nobody had touched the 21-22 combos. I looked at a Washington Senators option with two Walter Johnsons but there was virtually nothing else. I spent most of my time looking at the two best 21-22 options, Yankees-Phillies and this one. The Yankees gets you two Ruths but the pitching wasn't great and neither was the balance between the two teams. This option gave me two Hornsbys, a few other good offensive options, better pitching, and good balance. I also ultimately thought that the Hornsby-led offense would have a better chance of surviving against the deadballers than the Ruth-led Yankees. For the 3rd straight league, we'll have one of the worst run prevention units but should be at or near the top of the league in scoring. At least the fans will have fun.
League 4, Pick 11
1929-1930: Chicago Cubs - Chicago White Sox (AL West) | Hack Wilson | Wrigley Field (HR LF/RF:2/2 1B:2 2B:0 3B:-1)
Going through this after the fact, I guess I went even heavier offense than I thought. This makes 4-for-4 on the heavy-offense teams. Again, I tried a Yankees team but they're just too top-heavy and the second team couldn't carry enough weight. Plus the pitching was even worse. This All-Chicago combo has a lot of mediocre pitching--basically the entire staff has an ERC# in the low 3s. The offense should mash. Other than starting 3B Willie Kamm (an A/A+ defender), the starting lineup is composed of stud hitters. SS Woody English is the next-weakest, but at .890 OPS# is fantastic for a shortstop. The rest are in the .900s or over 1.000 including a pair of Hack Wilsons and another Hornsby. The plethora of innings and at-bats means I can stick this team in Wrigley and just try to outscore everyone, without having to worry about fatigue.
League 5, Pick 23
1935-1936: Detroit Tigers – Brooklyn Dodgers (NL Central) | Gehringer | Ebbets Field (HR LF/RF:1/1 1B:-1 2B:1 3B:0)
Picking pretty late in this one, there was not much left. Per usual the pitching options go earlier, so I was left with mostly hitting options. Biggest decision here was who to clone, between Gehringer and Schoolboy Rowe. I went with Gehringer as I'll play one of them out of position at 3B and the other hot-corner options weren't very inspiring. The better Rowe and Van Mungo make up a decent 1-2 punch in the rotation. Again, the hitting is pretty good, but probably not quite as good relative to the rest of this league's options. Will hope to fight to near .500 with this group.
League 6, Pick 11
1953-1954: St. Louis Cardinals – Boston Red Sox (NL Central) | Musial | Sportsman's Park (III) (HR LF/RF:0/1 1B:0 2B:3 3B:0)
This is a fun team. Two Musials and a Ted Williams in the middle of the lineup is a great start. The pitching should be serviceable, led by Harvey Haddix and finally we're getting into the bullpen years so I get four relievers with a sub-3.00 ERC#. Once again, though, we'll be looking for a top-5 offense and a hopefully-near-average pitching staff to get us our wins.
League 7, Pick 15
1961-1962: Detroit Tigers – Boston Red Sox (AL West) | Kaline | Fenway Park (HR LF/RF:1/0 1B:2 2B:4 3B:0)
Hank Aguirre anchors a solid staff with a couple high-quality relievers. Again, though, my offense will shine. We get the 1961 Norm Cash season plus a pair of Kalines and Colavito in the outfield. Put this squad in Fenway so we'll try to double teams into submission.
League 8, Pick 10
1971-1972: New York Mets – Atlanta Braves (NL West) | McGraw | Shea Stadium (HR LF/RF:-1/-1 1B:0 2B:-1 3B:-1)
One of my higher picks (I only had two single-digit picks, one #5 and one #9), but I didn't love many of the choices. A couple teams I looked at had stronger teams but got thwarted by the 10-player limit. This is one the rare teams for me that will be more pitching and defense focused. I had a decision on the clone between Tug McGraw and Tom Seaver, but Seaver's second-best season wasn't much better than Niekro and Matlack. McGraw gives me two elite sub-2.00 ERC# seasons, both with exactly 111 IP each. Those 3 pitchers give me 500 elite innings. The rest of my staff has ERC# below 3.00. Combine that with my defense--I'll start multiple A+ range guys and nearly everyone will have fielding and range at B or higher--and my run prevention should be strong. Aaron is my only elite hitter, but there are a handful of solid hitters and only a couple weak bats from the middle infielders.
League 9, Pick 5
1977-1978: Cincinnati Reds - San Diego Padres (AL Central) | Seaver | Riverfront Stadium (HR LF/RF:1/1 1B:-2 2B:2 3B:0)
My highest pick and the best team I have. I actually had this pairing rated #1 in League 9. Two Seavers sit atop the rotation with Gaylord Perry and Randy Jones. And finally, we're getting into the reliever era so there's a good bullpen backing them up, led by Rollie Fingers. The Padres brought a bunch of good players to supplement the Big Red Machine. Outside of the Seaver clones, I only added one other pitcher from CIN. That gave me 7 hitters from the Reds--Morgan, Griffey, Bench, Foster, Rose, Concepcion all made the cut. The Padres gave me George Hendrick, Dave Winfield, and Gene Tenace among others. Would hope this team tops 90 wins and contends for a World Series appearance.
League 10, Pick 24
1987-1988: San Francisco Giants – San Diego Padres (NL West) | Will Clark | Candlestick Park (HR LF/RF:0/0 1B:-1 2B:0 3B:-1)
For the last pick in this league's draft, I feel pretty good about this team. I had them loosely ranked around 10-15 among the Lg10 options. Will Clark is not the best clone, but what a sweet swing he has. Will play one of his seasons out-of-position in the outfield. The Clark clones plus a great Gwynn season, John Kruk, and even Randy Ready will provide pretty good offense. Rick Reuschel heads up what should be at least a decent staff. Low on starting pitching, but will have 6 pitchers with between 90 and 180 IP so will have to piece together 9 innings at a time. Probably won't be a playoff team, but hope they can compete for an advancement spot.
League 11, Pick 20
1995-1996: Colorado Rockies – Kansas City Royals (AL Central) | Appier | Coors Field (HR LF/RF:4/4 1B:3 2B:3 3B:3)
Another late pick that I feel decent about. A lot of things just fit nicely between these two teams. The Rockies had 9 slam dunk choices--3 relievers and 6 hitters--but no great clone options. The Royals provided the starting pitching (including a nice clone of Kevin Appiers), catchers, and shortstops. For my last Rockies choice, it was between a fourth reliever or John Vander Wal as a super pinch-hitter (went with the bat). I'm a little weary of sticking this team in Coors, but I certainly couldn't put them in a negative-2 HR park in Kauffman Stadium. To get all the bats in my lineup and without a natural CF, we're going to stick Andres Gallaraga there. Yes, he's a 1B, but he has C/A+ fielding so maybe that's better than Ellis Burks' B/D+? If not, we'll move the Big Cat back to first and put Wally Joyner (A/A-) in a corner OF spot and just live with Ellis Burks in center. My last choice is going to be whether to go with the glove/no bat SS (Greg Gagne, A-/B+ with .661 OPS#) or the bat/no glove option (Jose Offerman, D/D with .758 OPS#).
League 12, Pick 23
1999-2000: Houston Astros – Anaheim Angels (AL East) | Bagwell | Enron Field (HR LF/RF:2/1 1B:0 2B:0 3B:2)
Another late modern-era pick. The issue with these is you really need to utilize all 25 spots given the presence of relievers and just fewer full-time players in general. That means you need to get full use of your 15 spots for Team #2, and that was tough here. This team ranks very highly on offense but quite poorly in pitching. Unlike my Lg11 pairing, these two teams don't fit as well together and I had trouble settling on which 10 Astros were most important. Billy Wagner and Mike Hampton were must-haves, as were two Bagwell clones and Hidalgo. I ended up using two of the remaining five spots on pitchers (one starter, one long reliever), but could have used a couple more. What really hurt me was having to burn two Astros on bad players, but the Angels options at Catcher and SS were just brutal. And they are the two positions you can't really play guys out of position at. Still this team (playing in Enron Field!) will score a ton of runs (top of the lineup: Erstad, Bagwell, another Bagwell, Alou, Hidalgo, Glaus). We will not prevent many runs, however.
League 13, Pick 9
2005-2006: Detroit Tigers - Florida Marlins (AL Central) | Cabrera | Comerica Park (HR LF/RF:-2/-2 1B:1 2B:-2 3B:2)
This was my 2nd-highest pick in any league and looking back, I'm not sure what I was thinking. Maybe there just weren't better options or maybe I should have looked harder. I will say that there were 8 picks before me and they took all of the top 7 on my list. The pitching and hitting both feel average. Some good news: the Marlins, as the #2 team in the pairing, provide the bulk of the pitching. Some of it is quite good--Dontrelle Willis, Tood Jones, a couple middle-rotation starters. They also give me my offensive clone in Miguel Cabrera, coincidentally in a pairing with both of his long-time teams. There is a fair bit of pop here but the pieces are ill-fitting. Figuring out the lineup and defensive positions was like a jigsaw puzzle--Carlos Guillen plays 1B and SS, Miggy plays 3B and OF, Josh Willingham can hit and play catcher, 1B and OF but none of them better than a D, and Placido Polanco plays all 3 infield positions (two of them very well) yet likely needs to play in the OF for me given the paucity of options out there. And to finish things off, the ballpark options were both negative for doubles and home runs, which doesn't fit this team. Don't have high hopes here.
League 14, Pick 17
2013-2014: Los Angeles Dodgers – Minnesota Twins (NL West) | Kershaw | Target Field (HR LF/RF:-4/-4 1B:0 2B:1 3B:1)
Probably the best pitching team I drafted. Happy to get them at pick 17. Easy decision to clone Kershaw and he gives me 434 outstanding innings atop the rotation, with ERC# of 1.61 and 1.72. I add to that five relievers all with ERC# under 2.00 as well, totaling 300 more innings. That's about half of my innings. The other half aren't too shabby--Greinke and Phil Hughes are the other two main starters, plus a couple more solid relievers. Kyle Gibson (3.64 ERC#) is the one sub-par pitcher, he'll hopefully mop up mostly low-leverage innings. Using 12 pitchers meant I had just 13 hitter spots to cover the at-bats needed. The main highlights here are Joe Mauer behind the plate and a 336-PA Hanley Ramirez partial. The rest are just making things work--I'll be playing yet another 1B (Justin Morneau, A/A defense at 1B) in the OF. The defense will be okay, but there's not much pop outside of Mauer, HanRam, and Justin Turner. We'll be in Target Field though, so maybe a lot of 2-1 victories?
League 15, Pick 20
2017-2018: Los Angeles Dodgers – Chicago White Sox (AL East) | Kershaw | Dodger Stadium (HR LF/RF:-1/-1 1B:2 2B:-4 3B:-3)
Unlike some of my other later picks, there were no options that stuck out to me. All of the best options were picked clean. I settled on another Dodgers pairing, though this time the Kershaw clone was not as beneficial. I had two big issues with this build--getting enough value out of the White Sox and getting enough PA and IP. At the end, I had to cut a reliever since I needed the extra hitting spot, so we're rolling with under 1400 IP in Dodger Stadium. Luckily the staff is pretty good, though the 10-player limit forced me to take two mediocre White Sox starters instead of better Dodger options like Rich Hill or Yu Darvish. I do get 1000 innings with pitchers under 2.60 ERC# including 3 stud relievers under 1.50, plus both my best Kershaw (175 IP) and Buehler (136 IP) give me over 300 innings of sub-2.15 ERC#. Figuring out the hitting puzzle was tough. I first had Yasmani Grandal, but ditched him since I needed more PA elsewhere so I added Bellinger's 548-PA season instead and went with a very poor Chicago catching tandem. Only Manny Machado and Jose Abreu give me full-time seasons and the rest of the White Sox options leave something to be desired. Still, the top of the order will pack punch--Muncy, Justin Turner, Bellinger, Machado, Abreu, and Avisail Garcia may never be in the lineup together but most nights will have 4-5 of them in there. Getting to .500 would be a success.