AL Team by Team Analysis for Season 6

Now that projections have been entered it is time for a team by team analysis of what to expect from each team, and off-season transactions that might have an effect on team performance.

AL North -(1) Kansas City Jayhawks (2) Philadelphia Phillies (3) Seattle Mariners (4) Milwaukee High Lifes

First Place - Kansas City Jayhawks

Kansas City Jayhawks (AL) dakar View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Last season the Jayhaws were projected to finish 3rd in the league and left out of the playoffs. At the end of the season, however, the Jayhawks finished with 100 wins and one of the best records in the league and easily won the AL North division. The second place team, Seattle, finished 23 games behind. The competition in the Division should be better this season, but so will the Jayhaws, and once again Kansas City should have no problem winning the AL North division. Once a team in "rebuilding" mode, owner Dakar has this team ready to compete for a World Series title after finishing last in the division for the first two years in the league. In season 5, Kansas City finished first in both team ERA and team Batting Average. The starting pitching is done by mainly 4 guys, all of whom won more than 15 games, including 20 game winner, Clint Averill. The Relief pitching is just as good, led by duo Pedro Candelaria and Jack Sierra. The offense is led by one of the top International Free agents from Season 1, Luis Concepcion who was aquired from Vancouver Spidermonkeys, when the team was in Montreal. This team is fairly young and could compete for years to come. Although Washington was selected as the favorite to win the AL, don't be surprised if the Jayhawks are the team that actually does.

Second Place - Philadelphia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies (AL) wholck View Hardball Dynasty Profile

In seasons 3 and 4, the Phillies took finished second place and took the Wild Card, and looked to be on its way to contending for the division title. However, in season 5, the Phillies were a disappointment, finishing 3rd in the division with a losing record, and out of the playoffs. One of the main reasons was the trade of pitcher Cristobal Taveras to Austin. Taveras won 18 games for the Phillies in season 4. Without him in season 5, Philadelphia went from 5th in total wins and 3rd best ERA in the AL to 12th in wins and the 5th worst team ERA in the AL. The offense was only slightly worse in season 5, ending with a total of 823 Runs scored and a .269 team batting average, down from .277 and 886 runs. With those numbers in mind, management went out and fixed the pitching problem, acquiring 24 game winner and season 5 Cy Young Red Howard from Rochester, and C.J. Caldwell from the World Series Champion Dedringers. To add some depth to the offense, the Phillies called up Mendy Robinson from Triple A. Robinson should be a good source of power especially against lefties. Those moves will pay off, and should catapult the Phillies right back into contention for the playoffs.

Third Place - Seattle Mariners

Seattle Mariners (AL) the_oat View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Seattle, once a lock to make the World series, finished 2nd last season for the first time since the league started. Season 5 was also the first time Seattle missed the playoffs and the first time the franchise didn't have a winning record. To be honest, its quite difficult to explain. Seattle's pitching finished near the top as usual, a 3.90 team era and the lowest OAV in the entire league. The only explanation is a slight decrease in run production and poor performance in 1 run and extra-inning games. This could possibly be an effect of the teams aging players. Coming into season 5, the Mariners had a record of 95-69 in 1 run games and were 30-28 in games ending in extra innings. In season 5, they were 19-27 in 1 run games, and lost 11 out of 16 games that went into extra innings. Runs were down, and Seattle only outscored its opponents 717 to 705 slipping down from a team Batting Avg. of 262 in season 4 to .251 in season 5. The majority of the line-up consisted of the same guys, but they were just a little older. Josias Cruz turned 35, Carl Walls turned 32, Harry Alvarez turned 34, and good old Davey Ramirez turned 37. There have been quite a few changes this season, including Cruz and Ramirez leaving via free agency as well as long time closer Randy Lowe, however, the replacements, Travis Johnson, Benj Riggs, Bob McFeely, Archie Lockwood, Travis McEnerney, and Dan Booker while a overall are few years younger, they are still aging. As usual in Seattle, the pitching will be strong, and the runs will be low. Seattle's success will depend on it's ability to endure to the end and grab a few more of those 1-run games and win some in extra innings. Some good young players could be the answer and look for the Mariners to be active if they are out of contention near the trade deadline.

Fourth Place - Milwaukee High Lifes

Milwaukee High Lifes (AL) m22pank View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Since making the playoffs as the Wild Card in Season two, the High Lifes have finished 4th in the division 3 years in a row, and it looks like season 6 will make a 4th. The team does have hope for the future though, with Jim Killebrew as its leader. Killebrew has hit 40 plus homeruns in each of his 5 seasons in the Major Leagues, including 3 with 50 or more. With Killebrew, the team finished with the 3rd most HR's in the AL, however, in most other major offensive categories they finished below the league average. The offense should show significant improvement in season 6 with Steve Jensen looking to build off of a decent rookie campaign where he hit .292 with 23 HR. The High Lifes are hoping he can help create more runs this season as the team's powerful leadoff hitter who has a legitimate chance to make the 40/40 club. The addition of Lew Davis and Sammy Ozuna should also help the hitting improve in season 6. The major problem is simply that they allowed more runs than they could score. The improved hitting will help narrow the gap and additions of Pitchers Randall Cooper, Hooks Johnson, and Tom McGuire should lead to a higher total in the win column. But with the strength of Seattle, Philadelphia and Kansas City, more wins in season 6 won't mean a better finish in the AL North division.