LG 6 – 1966 Giants / 1968 Tigers / 1966 Orioles
Pick 1 – None of the choices had two aces, so I took an ace and two below average SP (Marichal, Perry and Bolin). But it also came with McCovey and Mays. Haller and Hart were below average, but were there in case I needed them.
Pick 2 – McClain is the main reason since I needed another ace. But also Horton could hit (but not field well), McAuliffe is a mediocre 2B (there wasn’t a lot of good one in this era) and it allowed me to upgrade C to Freehan and PH extraordinaire Gates Brown.
Pick 3 – This was a back-to-back pick so since I knew my SPs were set, I could grab some more offense and great relief pitching. RF Robinson, DH Powell, 3B Robinson and SS Aparicio fit nicely. McDaniel, Drabowsky, Fisher and Miller are all excellent relievers that make up for the lack of quality SP on the 3^rd and 4^th starters.
Infield defense is excellent. I have 2 aces (though their HR/9 is not good) and two meh starters. Bullpen is excellent and lineup is strong.
Prediction – 87 wins

LG 6 – 1969 Mets / 1968 Tigers / 1969 Twins
Pick 1 – I don’t love this pick. Yes, the Mets have 2 aces in Seaver and Koosman. Cleon Jones is a stud, but after that, the rest are scrubs. This is a time where I question my SP priority in my first pick. The 70 Reds is a great pick for Footballmm1 if you can back-to-back it with some pitching, like he did. But I didn’t have one of those picks so I think I made a poor choice.
Pick 2 – I still needed more SP and I got McClain (again) and a DH, C and 2B (Horton, Freehan and McAuliffe).
Pick 3 – I still had lots of needs since I didn’t get much out of my 1^st pick. Luckily the Twins were still available. They gave me a lot of usable players and upgrades here (Carew, Reese, Killebrew, Oliva, Cardenas) and a 4^th starter (Perry). None of them are great and this is a quantity over quality pick.
Hitting is average at best. Defense (especially D+/D Killebrew) is suspect. I have 3 aces and an average 4^th starter. My bullpen is not very good.
Prediction – 78 wins

LG 7 – 1982 Dodgers / 1982 Angels / 1984 Orioles
Pick 1 – A questionable #1 pick but there were no standout #1 picks in this group. I just wanted to go first in an empty division so I chose what I thought would be the best pick. Valenzuela and Reuss are pretty good but not great. Welch is a emergency starter but I’m hoping I can upgrade further in the draft. Pedro Guerrero and Steve Howe are good. But there’s not much else.
Pick 2 – I love this pick. It’s a classic 2^nd pick in that there is tons of offense and no pitching. Most of the hitters are around the 120 OPS+ level. Reggie Jackson, Doug DeCinces, Fred Lynn, Bobby Grich. Bob Boone is not a good hitter, but he at least has an A arm which is important in this era. Mike Witt is a decent back of rotation pitcher.
Pick 3 – is back to back so I was able to pair the Angels with the Orioles to get Ripken and Murray in their primes. Storm Davis and Mike Boddicker are mediocre SPs, but will bump Welch out of the rotation.
This may be a .500 team. But it will compete well in the division, which is all I’m looking for. My lineup is good, and the bullpen is average and my pitching staff is average despite trying to go for pitching with my first pick.
Prediction – 82 wins

LG 8 – 1990 A’s / 1988 Red Sox / 1990 Reds
Pick 1 – not loving this pick either. It’s a weak first pick in a division. Sure I get Eck, Rickey, McGwire, Canseco and Stewart. There is only one usable SP, which is a problem. The 88 Reds and 88 Dodgers may have better choices and they were made #2 and #3.
Pick 2 – Again, not a great pick but it’s back to back with my 3^rd pick. It has am amazing Boggs and Clemens. Greenwell is good. Burks and Gedman are on my squad because I didn’t have better choices. Mike Boddicker and his 89 innings is my 5^th starter.
Pick 3 – This team works well with the 90 A’s as I saw schwarze has the same combo. I do like Larkin and Doran up the middle with Mariano Duncan platooning in there. Eric Davis is my 4^th outfielder and Hal Morris will bat against righties instead of McGwire. Jose Rijo is a legit ace and I will unfortunately use Jack Armstrong as my 4^th starter. I almost went with the 90 Mets instead for the three good SP instead. But a 5^th starter is not that important IMO and they didn’t have the offensive pieces that I wanted as well.
Schwarze is making me feel nervous after his writeup. I don’t think it’s as dreadful as he says, but this is one of my weaker teams. I really worry about the back of my rotation. I think the offense will be OK, but I’m playing in Oakland since I only have about 1480 innings. My bullpen is incredible with Eck and Dibble. But we know they will all blow games anyways.
Prediction – 78 wins

LG 9 – 2010 Phillies / 2009 Yankees / 2010 Cardinals
Pick 1 – I like this squad. Hallady and Oswalt are legit aces. Hammels is an average pitcher. So that’s gives me three starters. Werth is very good. Polanco are Ruiz are average good. Madson is solid in the pen giving this a solid first round pick.
Pick 2 – I need offense and I’m very happy that the 2009 Yankees dropped to me here. I got my whole infield in Jeter, A-Rod, Teixeira, Cano, and Posada. Add in ace Sabathia and closer Mariano Rivera and this is an excellent second pick.
Pick 3 – I need to fill in holes and this pick does nicely. First, Pujols is excellent offensively and defensively, so I can move Teixeira to DH. Matt Holiday and Colby Rasmus are good in the OF. Plus, I get league average Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright to round out my rotation, pushing Hammels off the roster. I also have four relievers with whips in the 1.01-1.08 range. An excellent third pick and one that compliments my other picks.
This is one of my better teams. Only issue is that I don’t have a true centerfielder so let’s see what Jayson Werth and his C- range will do out there. I have Victorino in reserve but I don’t expect him to play much.
Prediction – 92 wins

LG 10 – 2011 Phillies / 2012 Tigers / 2012 Giants
Pick 1 – I like this pick more than the 2010 Phillies. Halladay, Lee and Hammels are all aces. It’s crazy how good the Phillies pitching staff was that year. Victorino, Utley, Rollins and Pence are all at least average making this a fine first pick.
Pick 2 – I had back to back picks. Verlander gives me another ace. Miguel Cabrera gives me a legit MVP and knocks Placido Polanco to the bench. Prince Fielder and his bad glove but big bat are good at 1B. CF Austin Jackson is likely average but will leadoff and play great D. I get a couple of average but much needed relievers as well.
Pick 3 – since I had back to back, there was no guessing here. Posey is the best C in the league. Cain gives me five aces. Mad Bum will be my Long A and Romo will close. I also get a roided-out Melky Cabrera who was fantastic in 2012 as well as a partial wonder season in Marco Scutaro who will platoon at 2B.
The offense is not as good as my LG9 team, but the starting pitching is better. I didn’t need to have 5 aces, and would rather have 4 and a better offense, but I’ll still take it. I’m thinking one of them is bound to underperform so I can likely run with the best four.
Prediction – 90 wins.

League 7, Pick 16
NL West, Pick 3
1978 Yankees, 1980 Dodgers, 1980 Brewers

This was my third team in the league and I was really hoping to get a team in the AL West (1984-86). I was one pick away, and there was one spot left in that division, but 84champs jumped in and grabbed the '86 Astros and '86 Mets. Damn it! So close. I really hate my other choices. I already had a team in the NL Central (1976-78) and AL East (1980-82). I wasn't going into the NL East and try to beat those '75, '76 Reds teams or barracuda's 75 Dodgers pitching staff. And the AL Central (1982-84) is so bad, that 3 of the last 4 league-7 picks ended up in that division. That left the NL West (1978-80) as the only realistic option.

The two teams selected so far in the NL West were the '80 A's (SteveIzzy) and '78 Brewers (redcped). Many of my top ranked teams were still available, including the '79 Astros, '80 Royals, '79 Orioles. Instead of selecting a team with more depth, I decided to get the league's best starting pitcher with '78 Guidry. This team also provided Graig Nettles, Thurman Munson, Willie Randolph, Lou Piniella and 134 solid relief innings with Rich Gossage. Only two pitchers! What was I thinking?

Oldtimer59 wisely grabbed two of my top teams ('79 Orioles, '80 Royals) with his double pick on the end. My '78 Yankees pick forced me to take the team with the best starting pitching depth with my next pick. The obvious choice was the '80 Dodgers, with Jerry Reuss and Don Sutton. N0t a great offense, but Garvey, Cey, Baker and a partial Reggie Smith are usable.

I have three of the division's top four starting pitchers, but the offense is pretty weak, with no real studs. I was in the passenger seat of the car, driving to a restaurant with my kids, trying to find some offense using my phone. Anyway, I badly needed a shortstop, so I landed on the '80 Brewers with Yount, Cooper, Molitor, Oglivie. Their pitching sucks but I have to use Moose Haas as my SP4 and will have to use their crappy RPs.

Prediction: 81-81
This looks like another team where I can't score runs and if I do, I won't be able to hold a lead. This team was poorly built with duplication at 1B (Garvey, Cooper), 2B (Molitor, Randolph), 3B (Nettles, Cey). Somehow - I don't have enough good-hitting OFs. And the bullpen (other than Gossage) is terrible. The defense is good and my top 3 starting pitchers will have to throw some shutouts for this team to win any games. Moose Haas will lose 20+ games.

League 10, Pick 17
NL West, Pick 3
2015 Cubs, 2016 Indians, 2014 Dodgers

Since I already have the 2016 Cubs and put them into the AL, I had to take a team in the NL. This was my lowest draft pick. I am starting to notice a pattern. When I have a low pick and there isn't an obvious strong team available, I tend to default to drafting the team with the best SP, regardless of what else the team has. My rankings did have the 2015 Cubs ranked pretty high. Besides Arrieta, I get a decent SP4 with Jon Lester, some solid RPs plus hitters Rizzo (1B), K.Bryant (3B), Fowler (OF), Schwarber/Montero (C).

I really wanted the '16 Dodgers but footballmm11 grabbed them and the '16 Nationals on the double pick. I almost grabbed the '14 Dodgers in round 2, but instead went with the '16 Indians, mostly because I like their switch hitters, Jose Ramirez (3B) and Francisco Lindor (SS). They also have a decent Corey Kluber season plus three decent RPs (Miller, Otero, Allen). I was surprised the '14 Dodgers made it back to me. I couldn't pass up adding Clayton Kershaw, a few RPs and some much-needed OF depth (Puig, Kemp). Justin Turner has a nice partial season and will play a little DH.

Prediction: 82-80
The pitching alone should be good enough to win 90 games, but the defense is below average and the offense is mediocre at best. Wait, somehow, Kris Bryant isn't on my roster. I need to double check on this. EDIT: I added Kris Bryant back onto the roster and removed a pinch hitter. The big question is which third baseman plays DH and which plays in the field --> J.Ramirez (A/D-) or K.Bryant (C+/C). Jose Ramirez has a bunch of "-" plays at 3B but doesn't commit a lot of errors. Also, I replaced Carrasco with Greinke. I like Greinke as my SP5 and I prefer Ryu as a long-reliever. I added one win back to the total with these changes.

Here is a summary of all my teams and the predictions...
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League	…	Team	…	Pick#	…	Div#	…	Proj Wins
1		1906 Cubs - 06 Browns - 08 Pirates		4		1		91
1		1902 Blues - 03 Pirates - 04 Cubs		8		3		92
1		1909 Cubs - 08 Pirates - 08 Tigers		13		3		84
2		1914 R.Sox - 15 Terriers - 15 Hoosier-Feds		2		2		82
2		1924 Senators - 24 Reds - 24 Giants		8		2		86
2		1918 Cubs -18 Senators - 20 Cardinals		16		4		71
3		1934 Yankees - 32 Reds - 34 Cardinals		5		2		88
3		1930 Robins - 28 Senators - 29 A's		16		3		86
4		1948 Indians - 46 Yankees - 46 Tigers		2		1		96
4		1944 Cardinals - 44 Red Sox - 44 Indians		6		1		92
5		1961 Yankees - 61 Orioles - 62 Dodgers		1		1		94
5		1956 Yankees - 56 White Sox - 55 Braves		7		2		78
6		1964 W.Sox - 64 Yankees - 64 Braves		4		1		90
6		1974 Reds - 72 LAD - 72 Chi		14		3		73
7		1981 Astros - 81 Angels - 80 Royals		1		1		85
7		1976 Reds - 77 Dodgers - 77 Mets		5		1		81
7		1978 Yankees - 80 Dodgers - 80 Brewers		16		3		81
8		1990 A's - 90 Reds - 90 Expos		4		1		70
8		1995 Braves - 94 Astros - 96 Mariners		10		4		69
9		1998 Braves - 99 D'backs - 00 Dodgers		4		1		84
9		2006 Twins - 05 Mets - 05 Cardinals		11		1		85
10		2016 Cubs - 16 Dodgers - 17 Yankees		3		1		83
10		2015 Cubs - 16 Indians - 14 Dodgers		17		3		82

Looking at the above table, I may be a bit biased toward the earlier years. Based on my projections, I never think my modern day teams look that good, and it seems that I always like the pre-expansion era teams. If I am way off on some of these projected win totals (which is almost a certainty), I would have to assume that I will be low on the projected wins for my modern-era teams and high on the projected wins on my pre-expansion era teams.

After an overall horrible showing in Round Two, Round Three couldn't begin soon enough. I would hope that I'll have a greater percentage of teams advance to Round Four than I had advance to Round Three (6 out of 25 - a whopping 24% clip). Based on SCHWARZE's graph of "Winning % by Teams Selected," I'm holding out hope that it does mean something as eight of my ten teams have the highest winning percentage in their respective divisions. Then again, they have the same manager as the Round Two squads did, so...

My first pick: League 2 (5th overall pick) the 1919 New York Giants - I've learned after so many years of doing this that I do better with pitching-heavy teams than hitting-heavy teams. Not MUCH better mind you, but a little bit better. League Two is a league that stretched beyond that boundry where the pitching dominant teams gave way in the twenties to the hitting dominant teams. Therefore, I figured I would go for the division that spanned both periods - and that was the N.L. West from 1918-1920. I had the 1919 Giants and the 1919 Reds marked as the two best pitching squads in that division and I eventually went with the Giants simply because I love the thought of Art Nehf and that awesome 1919 season of his coming out of the pen. Once it got around to me making my second and third picks, I was shocked that the 1919 Reds were still on the board. Therefore, I decided to go for overkill on pitching and grabbed them. With only a few decent hitters rostered so far, I needed some offense. Lo and behold, the 1920 New York Yankees are just sitting there. I don't know if having the only Babe Ruth in the division will make a big difference but it sure couldn't hurt.

PREDICTION: Even though I've got SCHWARZE, PEDRO and CHISOCK in my division, I've got solid fantasies about this team winning this division and making the playoffs. I may come down to earth very soon but it never hurts to dream. I'm thinking we'll finish with an 87 - 75 record.

This was definitely more of a drafting challenge than I anticipated. I only had 7 teams and don’t know how some of you were able to handle 10, 12,… 23!?!?!? I am positive I made mistakes on this draft. Some of it I’ll blame on poor research. Others I’ll blame on drinking. Probably won’t have any playoff teams but hoping to put a few into next round. Well, here goes another exercise on how not to draft your teams… enjoy!
League 1 – Pick 15, N.L. West – Pick 2
1908 New York Giants – 1908 Boston Red Sox – 1908 Detroit Tigers
Polo Grounds IV

I am not very versed in eras before the 60’s and don’t feel very comfortable in the deadball era. Too many errors, not enough strikeouts, lot’s of runners caught stealing, lot’s of defensive errors, no HR’s, unbalanced walk/K ratio, …did I mention the excessive errors on defense???

I tend to draft for pitching so it’s no surprise I ended up in a 1908 division. I looked at The White Sox, Naps, and Cubs but ultimately felt the Giants gave me enough usable pieces to build around. Christy Mathewson and Hooks Wiltse give me two able starters and Red Ames will take a long “B” spot. Also picked up OF Mike Donlin, SS Al Bridwell, 2B Larry Doyle, and C Roger Bresnahan. Doyle’s defense leaves much to be desired but his bat is solid. We’ll need some defensive help. Art Devlin will be our defensive replacement at 3B. Buck Herzog rounds out our 9 and will be primarily a PH.

Coming up on my 2^nd pick, I realized I wanted another solid SP. Addie Joss and Mordecai Brown were both still available but they don’t come with a ton of offensive support. Boston was interesting and although they don’t have a ton of offense, they do play a little defense. We picked up Cy Young as our 3^rd starter and added Elmer Steele and Frank Arrellanes to the bullpen. Bob Unglaub will man 3B and Heinie Wagner will be our defensive replacement at SS. Doc Gessler, Amby McConnell, and Gavvy Cravath will pick up pinch hitting duties.

My last pick for this team needed to have some offense, something this era doesn’t have a lot of. Enter the Detroit Tigers. Not much for pitching but they do have the rest of the offensive pieces I need: Sam Crawford and Matty McIntyre in the OF, Claude Rossman at 1B, and Ty Cobb at DH. 3B Germany Schaeffer and C Boss Schmidt will provide defensive replacements. On the pitching side we picked up a set-up reliever and long reliever, George Winter and Bill Donoavan.

To try and take advantage of our pitching, we’ll play in Polo Grounds IV. That’ll stretch our 851 “good” IP’s a little further.

This team has a little offense, decent pitching, and crappy defense. We’re playing in a tough division. A 3^rd place finish would be a positive outcome for this team. Probably won’t win enough to advance but, it’ll be fun trying.

League 2 – Pick 19, A.L. West – Pick 3
1924 Washington Senators – 1925 Brooklyn Robins – 1926 Chicago Cubs
Griffith Stadium

Another era I’m not too comfortable with. Ended up in the AL West, right in the middle of the roaring 20’s. As usual, looked for best pitching available, which at 19, wasn’t much. But I did find the 1924 Senators and they would provide 5 of the 9 pitchers I end up carrying, including: Staff ace Walter Johnson, SP Tom Zachary, SP George Mogridge, and RP’s Curly Ogden and Ted Wingfield. Offensively we also received two starting OFer’s: Sam Rice and Goose Goslin. Also picked up 1B Joe Judge who will PH and be a defensive replacement at 1B.

For our 2^nd pick, I really wanted to get one more ace SP. Ideally, the ’24 Reds were my target but they were taken right before I picked. I went back and forth between the ’26 Athletics and ’25 Robins. Decided to go with Dazzy Vance and a bunch of offensive players: starters DH Zack Wheat, 1B Jack Fournier, and 2B Milt Stock. Also have platoon C Zack Taylor. OF Eddie Brown and SS Hod Ford will provide some defensive help and Dick Cox provides a decent bat off the bench.

We were still pretty short on offense and I decided I needed another SP so I wasn’t so dependent on my bullpen. This would be a pretty neat trick given that it’s the 3^rd round and I’m basically looking for a divisional 1^st round potential team. The SP that kept leaping out was 1926 Pete Alexander and he played on 2 different teams, the Cubs and the Cardinals. The Cubs offered some offensive positions we needed: SS, C, 3B, and OF. We ended up taking 3 pitchers: SP Pete Alexander, RP’s Guy Bush, and Walt Huntzinger. The offense was filled out with: C Gabby Hartnett, 3B Sparky Adams, SS Jimmy Cooney, OF Hack Wilson, and pinch hitters Joe Kelley and Riggs Stephenson.

I like utilizing pitchers parks so we’ll be playing in Griffith Stadium.

Offensively, it seems like this team has potential. League 2 goes from 1914-26, the transitional years from deadball to live ball. Not sure the pitching is good enough to get above .500 . This team sucks on defense, too. It’s possible this team gets us to the next round but they are not playoff contenders.

League 6 – Pick 8, N.L. East – Pick 2
1964 Los Angeles Dodgers – 1962 San Francisco Giants– 1963 Chicago White Sox
Dodger Stadium

Finally getting into the eras where I am a little more comfortable. Not that being comfortable equates to being more competitive but here’s to hoping. It was hard to pass up the ’64 Dodgers with Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. So we started there. In addition to Koufax and Drysdale we picked up Jim Brewer and Bob Miller for the bullpen. Offensively we picked up starters: RF Willie Davis, SS Maury Wills, and C Johnny Roseboro. Frank Howard will provide some pop off the bench.

The goal in round 2 was to try and fill 3-4 position player spots and at least 2 usable pitchers. That turned out to be more difficult than I thought. I looked at a lot of teams for this pick, although I don’t know why. In the end, the 1962 Giants looked like the best fit for the moment. We netted: 1B Orlando Cepeda, LF Felipe Alou, CF Willie Mays, and platoon DH Willie McCovey. Harvey Kuenn and Jim Davenport will provide platoon-DH/PH duties as well as defensive 3B help. Tom Haller will provide a back-up catcher and LH power off the bench. The only pitcher we picked up was LH RP Billy Pierce, who will fill a long relief role.

Coming into the 3^rd round with only 5 pitchers and still needing a 2B and RH platoon C, as well as some defensive help, I wasn’t sure the best route to go. Pitching being the biggest calling, I seriously considered the ’63 Colt .45’s. But they offered no help on offense. Not that I needed much. The ’63 White Sox have some interesting pieces and they seemed to fit well. On the pitching side we picked up SP’s Gary Peters and Juan Pizarro. That rounded out the rotation. We then added Hoyt Wilhelm and John Buzhardt in the bullpen. Offensively, we got Nellie Fox at 2B and are starting Pete Ward at 3B over Davenport and Kuenn. Rather than picking up a RH C, we decided to stick with the LH platoon we had. Instead, we picked up 2B/3B Al Weis and SS Ron Hansen to pick up some innings and play some defense late in close games. Joe Cunningham will PH and upgrade defense at 1B.

We’ll be playing in Dodger Stadium and hopefully can take advantage of the HR’s and limited doubles and triples.

I like this team. Solid pitching and a little bit of speed and power. Good C and OF defense with good defensive additions off the bench. Wish we put more people on base, though. This team could make it to .500, and a birth into the 4^th round.

League 7 – Pick 3, A.L. West – Pick 1
1985 St. Louis Cardinals – 1985 New York Yankees – 1985 Kansas City Royals
Yankee Stadium (II)

This was my earliest draft pick and should be my best shot at a playoff team and advancing to the 4^th round. Statistically speaking, of course! So let’s see how bad I screwed this up. 1^st of all, why didn’t I grab the ’86 Astros and stud Mike Scott??? I’m guessing at the time I made my pick I was taking offense into account, too. And Houston, although they have a stable of usable players, Bass is probably their top offensive weapon. So welcome 1985 St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals give us our staff ace in John Tudor and we pick up Bill Campbell in the bullpen. Offensively, they give us 4 starters: DH Jack Clark, RF Willie McGee, SS Ozzie Smith, and 2B Tom Herr. We also get platoon C Darrell Porter who doesn’t offer much beyond taking up around 220 PA’s. Vince Coleman will handle PR duties and may play some LF.

The cool thing here is, I got my last two picks consecutively. I like that a lot! I made a lot of combinations but ultimately, it came down to a 3B. There weren’t many options: Wade Boggs, George Brett, and Mike Schmidt being the best options. Would’ve taken the 86 BoSox but they went right before I picked. I tried matching up the 85 Yanks and 85 Royals and all of a sudden, it appeared we had a viable team. The Yankees would add CF Rickey Henderson, 1B Don Mattingly, LF Dave Winfield, and platoon C Butch Wynegar. We would also add Ron Guidry to the staff and 4 RP’s: Brian Fisher, Bob Shirley, Rich Bordi, and Dave Righetti.

The 85 Royals add Bret Saberhagen and Charlie Leibrandt to round out the starting staff and add submariner Dan Quisenberry to the bullpen. 3B George Brett completes the starting line-up. Willie Wilson provides OF defense and another PR. Frank White provides defense at 2B. Steve Balboni adds some RH power off the bench and finally, Jamie Quirk will handle some spot LH PH duties.

This team will play in Yankee Stadium (II) and will hopefully give our pitchers their best chance to succeed.

I’m not sure how much I like this team. I like my offense. We have flexibility. We could play for power or switch up to a speedy offense with Coleman and Wilson replacing Winfield and Clark. Oh, the options… But I don’t like my pitching staff much. They’re not horrible but, they won’t lead the league in any major pitching categories. I would much rather have Mike Scott as a staff ace, especially in this league. Oh well. I do think this team can make the play-offs. Possibly even win the division. But I don’t think we have the pitching to go much past that.

League 8 – Pick 23, N.L. East – Pick 4
1986 Boston Red Sox – 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers – 1986 Toronto Blue Jays
Dodger Stadium

Well this was interesting. The downside here was we were picking 23^rd so we would be limited in our options. BUT, we also got two consecutive picks and could potentially set myself up well for the final pick. That was a bonus and I think I like picking 4^th better than 2^nd or 3^rd. I had only two options available to me: the N.L. East 1986-88 or the N.L. West 1990-92. I like the East a little more for the pitching options so let’s start there.

Obviously the 86 Astros were taken. Mike Scott is the CY award forerunner in this league and there are plenty of other usable players. But surprise, surprise… the BoSox are still available! I could build a team around Clemens. Let’s start there! We get ace SP Roger Clemens, set-up RP Calvin Schiraldi, and LH RP Bruce Hurst (initially this was going to be Mike Trujillo. I’ll explain later.). Offensively we bagged 4 starters: 2B Marty Barrett, 3B Wade Boggs, C Rich Gedman, and RF Jim Rice. The 8^th spot will be filled by defensive replacement and pinch hitter, OF Dwight Evans.

We tried quite a few teams paired up with Boston: the ’86 Mets and ’87 Expos were given serious consideration before selecting the ’88 Dodgers. The Dodgers have lot’s of pitching, and we took advantage of it: SP’s Orel Hershiser, Tim Leary, and Tim Belcher to go with RP’s Jay Howell, Brian Holton, and Alejandro Pena. Offensively we had to sacrifice a bit (not such a bad thing with the Dodgers offense). I would have preferred 2B Steve Sax over Barrett and would have liked to use Rick Dempsey as a RH back-up C to Gedman. But I needed to fill 1B and an OF spot. So, with our 2 remaining picks plus the 9^th pick, we drafted 1B Pedro Guerrero, 1B Mike Marshall, and OF Kirk Gibson.

I didn’t catch it at 1^st but when I was investigating my last pick, I realized that I didn’t have any LH pitchers (remember Trujillo over Hurst). This could be a problem. I’ve never experimented with an all RH pitching staff. And I really don’t want to now. So I would need to keep that in mind. In addition to LH pitching, I still needed a SS, OF, and DH or defensive upgrade for a filled position. I looked at the ’86 Yankees (who matched pretty well), ’86 Blue Jays, ’87 Reds, and ’88 Expos. The Yankees and Reds both helped the LH pitching issue. I liked the idea of having Mattingly and Henderson again. And I would love to try out Eric Davis and Kal Daniels. But neither team had a good SS (too early for Larkin’s good offensive seasons). The Expos offered no help for LH pitching. The Blue Jays were interesting. If I carry two LH SP’s as relievers, I could make this work.
The Blue Jays gave us: SP Jim Clancy, RP’s Mark Eichhorn and Tom Henke, and converted to LH RP, Jimmy Key. Dropping Trujillo for Hurst gave us our 2^nd LH relief convert. Offensively we filled all the holes except one, a RH back-up C. Oh well. Our pick ups include: SS Tony Fernandez, CF Jesse Barfield, and DH George Bell. Our back-up C will be LH Ernie Whitt.

I think we have enough offense to put this team in a pitchers park so we will be in Dodger Stadium.

In some ways I like this team. We have a strong offense with some power. Average defense and not much speed. But we only have 3 bench players so we are pretty committed to our starters. Other, than having no true LH RP’s, and the fact the two of them are probably our worst pitchers, I like this pitching staff. Our RH’s are strong, starting and relieving. We have far more innings than we will ever need but we didn’t draft ourselves too many options. For being a 23^rd pick, I think this could be a surprise team. A wild card birth is not out of the realm of possibilities. I think we will advance to the 4^th round. Time will tell…

League 9 – Pick 14, N.L. East – Pick 2
1998 New York Yankees – 1999 Atlanta Braves – 1999 Texas Rangers
Turner Field

We got a middle of the road pick here and I think this was the night I was drinking. I only say that because I somehow drafted the 98 Yankees with my 1^st pick. Really? The Yankees? I hate the Yankees. And I passed up a $19M Pedro??? Needless to say I was a bit shocked when I went to make my 2^nd round pick and realized I really did pick the Yanks. What was I thinking??? I guess I had better figure it out…

Well, the 98 Yanks aren’t THAT bad. I did pull my 25^th player from their squad and I did pocket 5 pitchers, including 3 of my 5 SP’s. The Yankees started us out with SP’s David Wells, David Cone, and Orlando Hernandez. Our two RP’s are LH Graeme Lloyd and HOF RH Mariano Rivera. No stud aces like Pedro but Wells is a 2 or 3 SP. Cone is more of a 3 or 4 SP. Hernandez is good but he only has 141 innings so he’ll man the 5 spot. We still need an ace and a 2 or 3 SP. Offensively we picked up 3 good starters: SS Derek Jeter, CF Bernie Williams, and RF Paul O’Neill. The 9^th spot was given to PH extraordinaire, RH OF/1B Shane Spencer.

We probably would have gotten the same from the BoSox teams except more RP’s and only Pedro and Saberhagen for SP’s. With as much available offense as there is in this era, I think I should have grabbed the 2000 Red Sox. Oh well…

Our 2^nd pick had us looking for a staff ace. Could go with the Big Unit, Kevin Brown, or Millwood. Or 98 Clemens. They were all pretty close but the Braves not only gave us an Ace, they also gave us a 2 or 3 SP and 3 more RP’s. So we now have our #1 SP Kevin Millwood and #2 SP John Smoltz. Our rotation is complete. For the bullpen we added RH RP Russ Springer and LH RP’s John Rocker and Mike Remlinger. That gives us 10 quality pitchers for 1286 innings. Not too bad. Our last 3 spots went to 3B Chipper Jones, 1B/OF/DH Ryan Klesko, and back-up RH C, Javy Lopez. That gives us 5 of 9 starters on offense. But pitching isn’t a concern.

I can’t help but try out teams with ace starting pitchers, even if I don’t need them. But my reasoning for looking is if I can upgrade David Cone, then I could replace his Yankee position with 2B Chuck Knoblauch. So I again looked at 98 Toronto, 99 Dodgers, 00 Diamondbacks, 98 Phillies, 98 BoSox, and 98 Mets. The Dodgers and Blue Jays were given serious consideration. But I just didn’t feel that the pieces were the right ones. Clemens sure would have been nice on this team…

I took a look at a few offensive teams and was really pleased with what I could get from the Rangers. We kept Cone as our 4^th starter and added RH RP Jeff Zimmerman and LH RP Mike Venafro. That gives us a solid pitching staff that is well balanced. Offensively we added 4 starters: C Ivan Rodriguez, 1B Rafael Palmeiro, 2B Mark McLemore, and LF Juan Gonzalez. In addition, we added OF/DH Rusty Greer who will PH, DH, and provide defensive relief for Gonzalez. Our 8^th spot was taken by 3B/DH Todd Zeile who will provide RH DH and PH duties as well as relieve Jones at 3B for a defensive upgrade (not that great of an upgrade but it is an upgrade).

For starting with a team I despise, this didn’t turn out too bad. We should have a competitive offense and if our starting pitchers can keep it close, our bullpen might be able to close them out. We are in a tough division and will face Pedro and Brown a lot. I think we’ll play close to .500, the over/under at 2 games. Then again, if the pitching totally implodes, this team could easily drop to 90 losses. Sounds like a lot of fun!

League 10 – Pick 24, A.L. East – Pick 4
2017 Los Angeles Dodgers – 2017 Cleveland Indians – 2017 Miami Marlins
Dodger Stadium

My only league where I have the last pick. I was close to having 2 more with very similar draft positions but they fell a game short. 24^th means you don’t pick the shark cage you’re going in or the sharks who you will be swimming with. The fish have already been dumped and by the time it gets to me there is nothing but chum left. What a bloody mess. And statistically, as our friend schwarze has been so kind to point out, the lower your draft position is in these tournaments, the lower your chances of winning games becomes. BUT, I do get consecutive picks so MAYBE I can find a few good sized chunks left to give you guys a hard time and maybe even play a little spoiler.

For our first pick I was really torn between the 2016 and 2017 Dodger teams. The 2016 Kershaw is by far the more superior of the two, as is Rich Hill, but taking the teams as a whole, I felt the 2017 Dodgers had more pieces to build around. So I decided to start there: SP’s Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, and Yu Darvish will take the 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th spots in the rotation. In the bullpen we added RH RP’s Kenley Jansen and Brandon Morrow. They are accompanied by LH Rich Hill. The last 3 spots are occupied by 1B Cody Bellinger, DH/3B Justin Turner, and SS Corey Seager.

I paired them up with a few teams who had ace pitchers: 2018 and 2017 BoSox for Chris Sale, 2018 Mets for Jacob deGrom, 2018 Rays for Blake Snell, 2018 and 2016 Nats for Max Scherzer, 2018 Phillies for Aaron Nola and 2017 Indians for Corey Kluber. I narrowed it down to Kluber, deGrom, or Sale. The Mets had nothing to offer on offense. The 2018 BoSox have very good seasons for Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez. Bogaert is a good SS option, too. But Sale only has 158 innings and I would rather have 200. That put us on the 2017 Cleveland Indians.

Besides ace SP Corey Kluber, we also picked up SP Carlos Carrasco for the 3^rd spot in the rotation. Both have 200 or more innings which helps us with the low inning Dodger starters. In the bullpen we added LH stud relief pitcher Andrew Miller and RH RP’s Joe Smith and Nick Goody. That gives us 11 pitchers at 1338 innings. It’s a little low for this league so I’ll need to add another relief pitcher or spot starter for the final pick. On offense we picked up 3B/2B Jose Ramirez, SS Francisco Lindor. And back-up C Yan Gomes for his A+ arm. Ramirez was initially penciled in to play 2B with Turner at 3B but that will change shortly. Lindor will provide an alternate plan if Seager falters at SS and could play some spot DH.

That brings us to the final pick of the draft. At this point, I needed another C and all 3 OF positions. I also need at least another 25 innings. We targeted the 2017 Yankees, 2017 Rockies, 2017 Marlins, 2017 Angels, and 2016 Rockies. The Rockies and Angels teams just didn’t mesh well. They fell short on innings and left holes in other positions. But the Yankee and Marlin teams looked really good. The Yankees would give me Luis Severino to replace Darvish. That would be a great upgrade. I would also pick up 3 more RP’s and we would have a very formidable staff. We would also pick up Gary Sanchez at C and Aaron Judge in the OF. There would be some other juggling but we could definitely put together a competitive team. It was close. But in the end…

Say hello to the 2017 Miami Marlins! I was able to glean 5 offensive starters from this team, improve my defense, and pick up the extra innings I needed. In the bullpen, we added LH RP Wei-Yin Chen. He gets us to 1371 which is at the bare minimum I’d like to run with this season. The staff is set.

On offense we added: 2B Dee Gordon who bumps Ramirez back to 3B. At C we picked up J.T. Realmuto. In the OF we picked up CF Christian Yelich, and the power hitting combo of LF Marcell Ozuna and RF Giancarlo Stanton. Filling out the last two spots are IF Miguel Rojas who provides some PH and defensive flexibility and 1B/DH Justin Bour who will PH and play some DH.

This team is in Dodger Stadium (surprise, surprise) which should help with pitching fatigue.

For being the last pick in the draft, I don’t think this team is that bad. The offense can score runs, the defense will get minus plays in the infield but shouldn’t make many errors, while the OF defense is superb. The question will be the pitching. Can we survive with less than 1400 innings? I’m a little worried about Darvish. He’s going to take up somewhere around 215-225 innings, around 15% of our season total. But if he gets shelled, He could be down to his real life numbers and that will put more pressure on our bullpen. Without a starting pitcher who can throw 9 inning games, our bullpen will fatigue quickly and blow any lead our starters give them. I think this team can also advance. Getting to the play-offs may be an impossible task, especially in this division. But if the pitching holds up, we could be a pain in the rear come season end.

I started this tournament with 12 teams and after 2 rounds we are already down to 7. It’s hard to say how well we will actually do, there are a lot of good owners and they all happen to have a lot more teams than 7. Statistically, the odds of advancing more than 3 teams are against us. But I’m going to try to take the optimistic road. I don’t have win predictions but for a more general goal, we are shooting for: 2 playoff teams, 4 teams over .500, and 6 teams to advance to the next round. Ha! Sounds like famous last words…

Good luck everyone!

Posted by schwarze on 3/30/2023 10:54:00 AM (view original):
Here is a summary of all my teams and the predictions...
.

League	…	Team	…	Pick#	…	Div#	…	Proj Wins
1		1906 Cubs - 06 Browns - 08 Pirates		4		1		91
1		1902 Blues - 03 Pirates - 04 Cubs		8		3		92
1		1909 Cubs - 08 Pirates - 08 Tigers		13		3		84
2		1914 R.Sox - 15 Terriers - 15 Hoosier-Feds		2		2		82
2		1924 Senators - 24 Reds - 24 Giants		8		2		86
2		1918 Cubs -18 Senators - 20 Cardinals		16		4		71
3		1934 Yankees - 32 Reds - 34 Cardinals		5		2		88
3		1930 Robins - 28 Senators - 29 A's		16		3		86
4		1948 Indians - 46 Yankees - 46 Tigers		2		1		96
4		1944 Cardinals - 44 Red Sox - 44 Indians		6		1		92
5		1961 Yankees - 61 Orioles - 62 Dodgers		1		1		94
5		1956 Yankees - 56 White Sox - 55 Braves		7		2		78
6		1964 W.Sox - 64 Yankees - 64 Braves		4		1		90
6		1974 Reds - 72 LAD - 72 Chi		14		3		73
7		1981 Astros - 81 Angels - 80 Royals		1		1		85
7		1976 Reds - 77 Dodgers - 77 Mets		5		1		81
7		1978 Yankees - 80 Dodgers - 80 Brewers		16		3		81
8		1990 A's - 90 Reds - 90 Expos		4		1		70
8		1995 Braves - 94 Astros - 96 Mariners		10		4		69
9		1998 Braves - 99 D'backs - 00 Dodgers		4		1		84
9		2006 Twins - 05 Mets - 05 Cardinals		11		1		85
10		2016 Cubs - 16 Dodgers - 17 Yankees		3		1		83
10		2015 Cubs - 16 Indians - 14 Dodgers		17		3		82

This is funny Schwarze. Just like in Spring training, every team thinks they have a shot. You only picked a small portion of your teams to not at least be .500. The data has shown over and over a Top 6-12 pick is materially better result than a bottom 12 pick. You also have multiple teams in some leagues so I would think you have a better shot of Winning more with at least one team. League 8 you were pretty pessimistic as both teams are expected to suck...while in leaugue 4 you are basically predicting both teams Win their division. This will be fun to see how it turns out. Thanks for the numbers insights on this tourney..I start reading them and cannot stop...and see what happens, I have to chime in.

Very late on all this due to a busy past couple of weeks, but I'll throw it out here anyway in case anyone is interested:

League 9, Pick 9 - AL Central: 2007 Red Sox/2008 Brewers/2007 Phillies

With just 1 team in the tourney, I had a moderately successful Round 1, then won the World Series in League 1 in the deadball era. Coming off a World Series, I did not want to fall flat in Round 3. I was hoping for a League 10 assignment, as I'm most active with watching more current baseball, but got a decent assignment with League 9. After looking into League 9, I knew I wanted to be in the American League, as I didn't want to get into the craziness with 1998-2004 featuring crazy homer totals and the insane Pedro/Bonds seasons. So in the American League, I glanced over some teams over 2004-2010, and really only liked the 2006-2008 teams.

So I knew I wanted to play in the AL Central, regardless of how it shook out. Barracuda took the 2006 Minnesota Twins first (which was the clear best team), but I thought there were enough good teams that I'd be able to still compete and maybe still sneak in another division title (or maybe even another World Series if everything broke right). After deciding on the AL Central, I had a lot of teams I was considering with the first pick. As a Phillies fan, I really wanted the 2007 Phillies, but they didn't have the pitching of a 1st pick in this format, and there were other offensive powerhouse options to be had later on. The 2007 Padres and 2008 Brewers both had the best pitching staffs in the league (probably even better than the 06 Twins), but I didn't like their offenses enough to go that route in Round 1. However, there was one team that really stood out:

2007 Boston Red Sox. This was a team I knew I'd have no trouble filling 9 spots, and really could have filled 15 with this fantastic team. They don't have many exceptional players, but the depth is just absolutely insane compared to the rest of the teams in the league. There was not a single position that this team didn't cover, and cover well. This team gives me some incredible versatility to just take the best teams available for the next couple of rounds, and not worry about the fit. The only thing this team lacks is a solid starting pitching staff, so I knew with my next pick I had to go either with the 08 Brewers or 07 Padres, if either of them fell.

2008 Milwaukee Brewers. gworear took 2 of my 5 favorite options, but I was lucky enough that the Brewers fell back to me. This had me feeling pretty good about my chances; I had the best versatility in the league with the 07 Red Sox, and I felt barracuda would struggle to get great pitching depth behind 06 Santana. The Brewers gave me clear pitching with Sheets/Sabathia/Bush to join Beckett, along with a good defensive catcher in Jason Kendall, a solid outfielder in Braun, and some decent depth behind them. As I mentioned before, I really wanted the 2007 Phillies, but elected to pick depth and pitching first. However, I knew barracuda was probably going to have to take teams with good starting pitching with both picks at the 2-3 turn, so I thought they'd come back to me.

2007 Phillies. Sure enough, they did! This pick had me thrilled with my team; from my rankings of this division, I had managed to seize my 2,3, and 4 ranked teams in this division. (The 06 Twins being 1, and then the 06 Yankees being 5 and 07 Padres being 6). This Phillies team just has the most phenomenal hitting repertoire in the league. This meant I'd have to use 4 of my 9 Red Sox picks to make a barely passable bullpen, and pass up on 07 Pedroia, but the 07 Phillies provide exceptional starters at 2B, SS and OF, along with several solid bench options. Hamels will round out my rotation, as well.

Overall, I was thrilled with how this team turned out post-draft. I was confident I had the best team in the division, and felt that I could definitely make the playoffs again in Round 3. I expected to have a phenomenal offense, with the pitching doing just enough to keep my team near the top of the division standings. Post-Draft Prediction: Division winner, 90-72.

Since I have the benefit of doing this 50 games in, I may as well reflect on the start of the season. I expected my offense to be great, but it's really only been solid so far. Jimmy Rollins has been absolutely incredible as he's right in the MVP race, and CC Sabathia is right there in the Cy Young, as well. However, the team just doesn't have the offensive firepower I was expecting. That being said, the starting pitching has been far better than expected, as they've been very strong. The bullpen lacks depth and it shows, but the team is hanging in there, and I'm excited with the success so far. Now, just hoping that the team can step it up and try to take a division where all 4 teams are within 3 games and anyone could take it!

League 3 (30 Yankees, 28 Pirates, 28 Robins) - Closest to fair draft I have gotten in this tourney and finally my teams are respectable. Probably not a threat to Win it all but should be in the running. Thinking was pretty simple. I drafted #4 in this division so the snake really helped level the field a bit. I took the 1930 Yankees first (Yes, 1930 doesnt normalize well but Ruth/Gehrig could not be passed up) along w/ 2-3 other strong average/OBP guys. With all the expected offense, had to at least get a dominant pitcher next and Dazzy Vance (1928 Robins) is about the only Top 5 in the era left so he brought along a few of his buddies (Watty Clark, McWeeney and a couple of catchers)...Surprised to see the 1928 Pirates drop back to me. Not only did the provide co-Ace Burleigh Grimes but the Waners and Traynor. .330-.370 Avg in 1928 is very good. So basically we have strong Average/OBP in 7 spots and have Gehrig/Ruth in the middle along w/ 2 of the Top 10 pitchers in the era...so this team is good enough to Win. However, it will be on paper cuts and not big thunder.

Posted by schwarze on 3/27/2023 1:46:00 PM (view original):
League 7, Pick 1
AL East, Pick 1
1981 Houston Astros, 1981 California Angles, 1980 Kansas City Royals

This selection was made with pick #6 in the "Top 20 Draft" and was my first team selected. I really love this team's awesome pitching. Ironically, my 1981-82 Astros/Royals team from round 2 just won the World Series. Anyway, getting four decent starting pitchers and two solid relievers (w/200+ innings) is obviously a great start. No idea what teams will be left, but I can certainly find enough hitting with my next two choices.

Well, a couple of the teams I was hoping would make it back did not ('82 Brewers was the 2nd team selected, '82 Angels got scooped up and both the '81 & '82 Expos got taken). The offense isn't going to be as good as I had hoped. I for sure was adding '80 Brett, and now had to figure out what team best fit. Although the '81 Angels don't have a lot to offer, I like both '81 Grich and '81 Burleson. I may even have to start a punch-less '81 Carew at 1B. The pitching the Royals and Angels added was mostly meaningless (Quisenberry & Aase both with 1.22 whips, ugh).

But this team does have four of the ('80-82) era's top 9 starting pitchers and awesome defense at six positions (A+ arm, B+/A, B/A, B/A+, A/A+, B+/A+ at catcher, first, second, third, short, centerfield, respectively). We're going to have to win a lot of 3-2 and 2-1 games.

Prediction: 85-77
This team's final record will be highly dependent on their record in 1-run games as I expect this team to lead the league in 1-run game%. pedro's team ('82 Brewers, '82 Expos, '81 Yankees) is a juggernaut so we'll be shooting for a wildcard spot.

Current Overall Rank: 35th
Current Record: 91-69
League Hitting Rank: 8th
League Pitching Rank: 5th

As it turned out, I was right about the 1-run game comment. We led the A.L. with 46 1-run games and the 29-17 record in those games is the reason our Actual Winning% (.569) is higher than our Expected Winning% (.548). My '80 Brett leads the league with a 1.014 OPS but doesn't make the top 5 in MVP (probably due to only having 491 ABs). Due to depth in the bullpen, '81 Nolan Ryan pitched mostly in relief, but leads the league with a 2.77 ERA and is 18-8 with 6 saves and is ranked #1 in Cy Young. Overall, this team was one of my few successes.

Posted by schwarze on 3/27/2023 1:44:00 PM (view original):
League 5, Pick 1
AL West, Pick 1
1961 New York Yankees, 1961 Baltimore Orioles, 1962 Los Angeles Dodgers

This selection was made with pick #7 in the "Top 20 Draft". I hate most of the teams in the 1950's and early 1960's so I wanted to make sure I got a a strong team in this league. Based on my formula, this team rated as one of the best offenses and best pitching teams in the league, so it was an easy choice here. Mantle, Maris, the two catchers and four pitchers make up 1/3 of my roster.

Using my matrix, I searched for teams with strengths at 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF and provide as many pitchers as possible. Lo and behold, the '61 Orioles (Gentile, B.Robinson) and '62 Dodgers (Gilliam, Wills, W.Davis, T.Davis) was the exact perfect fit. Oh, and the Orioles provided some great relievers while the Dodgers give me Drysdale and Koufax. This team has 5 of the top 14 starting pitchers (180+ IPs) in the era (1960-62) with Koufax, Drysdale, Terry, Stafford, Ford.

Prediction: 94-68
With great pitching (for this era) and three of the top nine hitters (Mantle, Gentile, Maris), it would be an upset if the team didn't at least dominate the division. Not sure how they'll do vs the 1950's but mid-90's in wins feels right. This is one of my better teams.

Current Overall Rank: 140th
Current Record: 78-82
League Hitting Rank: 14th
League Pitching Rank: 7th

What a colossal disappointment, wasting a Top 20 pick on a below .500 team that barely advanced to round 4. '61 Gentile (2nd worst) and '61 Mantle (16th) were both in the top 20 in biggest underachieving hitters in the league. This team offense overall was the 4th worst underachievers. The pitching was ok, but not nearly as good as I expected. Whitey Ford finished 7-17, 5.81 ERA (he went 25-4, 3.21 in real life). Note sure what to make of the fact that the two best ERAs on my team were my two mopup guys.

I made a pretty big stink in my writeup about how cockamamie my research/ranking system was (in fact, entitling it "cockamamie system", or CS), but it ended up performing pretty well. I had 13 teams in this round. In the 9 instances where I chose the best available team in CS in the division with my initial pick, I finished in 1st place in 7 of them. In another I have the best Exp% by a margin of .556 - .531 and am 1 game out of the wild card with 2 games remaining. In the other I had the 2nd pick in the division and am currently in a tie for 2nd. Of the 4 times I went against CS, in one of them I ended up picking the best CS team with my 2nd pick, and that team came in 1st. Of the other 3, in 2 of them the team that was ranked higher in CS finished ahead of me in 1st place, so only 1 out of 3 times did going against CS help me. Perhaps it was not so cockamamie after all.

Posted by barracuda3 on 5/24/2023 11:02:00 AM (view original):
I made a pretty big stink in my writeup about how cockamamie my research/ranking system was (in fact, entitling it "cockamamie system", or CS), but it ended up performing pretty well. I had 13 teams in this round. In the 9 instances where I chose the best available team in CS in the division with my initial pick, I finished in 1st place in 7 of them. In another I have the best Exp% by a margin of .556 - .531 and am 1 game out of the wild card with 2 games remaining. In the other I had the 2nd pick in the division and am currently in a tie for 2nd. Of the 4 times I went against CS, in one of them I ended up picking the best CS team with my 2nd pick, and that team came in 1st. Of the other 3, in 2 of them the team that was ranked higher in CS finished ahead of me in 1st place, so only 1 out of 3 times did going against CS help me. Perhaps it was not so cockamamie after all.

I know the one where you're 1 game out of the wild card! I'm the team freefalling to make it interesting. Good luck in these next 2 between us!

Posted by schwarze on 3/27/2023 2:10:00 PM (view original):
League 4, Pick 2
AL Central, Pick 1
1948 Cleveland Indians, 1946 New York Yankees, 1946 Detroit Tigers

This selection was made with pick #14 in the "Top 20 Draft". Using my formula, I had this team rated way higher than any other team in this division, and the gap over the second best team was second only to the '27 Yankees gap. I gambled that one of the two '48 Indians would make it to me at pick 14, which is why I didn't pick them earlier. Not surprisingly, the other '48 Indians team also went in the top 20 (footballmm11 at pick #20). This Indians team fills five starting positions... 2B (Gordon), 3B (Keltner), SS (Boudreau) and two OFs spots (Mitchell, Doby). Pitchers Bob Lemon, Sam Zoldak & Satchell Paige aren't too shabby either. Now I just need to get some pitching depth with my next two picks. There's a good chance I will be able to add '46 Newhouser b/c those '46 Tigers don't have much.

I can't believe it, but the '46 Yankees make it to me (Chandler, Bevens, Bonham, Ruffing, Gumpert). I assumed that the '46 Tigers would make it and they did (Newhouser, Trout). Adding offensive players Greenberg (1B), J.DiMaggio (OF), A.Robinson/Dickey (C), Keller (OF) was an added bonus. I absolutely love this team. Even the defense is pretty good.

Prediction: 96-64
Not sure how my offense compares to the other teams, but I would expect my pitching to be near the top of the league. If my offense is league average or slightly better than average, and I don't get significantly unlucky in 1-run games, I think this is a 94-98 win team.

Current Overall Rank: 59th
Current Record: 86-74
League Hitting Rank: 8th
League Pitching Rank: 4th

This team clearly didn't perform as well as I expected. The main culprit is '48 Bob Lemon. The league's other '48 Bob Lemon is 20-14, 4.07 ERA, playing for a team with a worse record than my '48 Indians team. My '48 Bob Lemon is 5-11, 5.87 ERA and I had to move him to mop-up role midway through the season - not what I was expecting from a solid SP with 300+ real life innings. I also benched Larry Doby who batted .217 in 230 AB (the other Larry Doby is batting .250). The team is still good enough to advance to round 4, but is not making the playoffs.