Richard Castle - contributing reporter
American League
- Houston - Two World Series appearances in two years, could have been three if Game 7 of the S58 ALCS went a little differently. Still a solid team that should continue producing.
- Atlanta - Never count this team out, could we see 15 straight division titles from them? More? Even though they've won no less than 103 games over the S50s. And honestly, I'd prefer the #2 seed in the AL anyway given how strong Huntington is in Wildcard #1.
- Huntington - Weiss and WYW will be back in the MVP race, but last year's team felt far from S58's 122 W team.
- Helena - The team is trending in the right direction but the top of the AL is loaded. They will likely back to playing Wildcard 2 in the AL Play In, and then Atlanta in the ALDS....again.
- Mexico City - The next three are tough and could end up in any order; with the winner claiming Wildcard 2 and the privilege to playing Helena in the playoffs.
- Tucson - A solid young team but they'll lose Laxton who hit .300+ and knocked in 100+ runs; so that production will need to be matched if they are not able to resign him in the offseason. And for that reason, we'll hold them below the cerveza drinking Frogs in Mexico City.
- Boston - The team definitely missed the bat of Juancito Martin but think they will eventually be okay if they have a strong post season. The division is Atlantas for the taking though. I'd expect another 80-90 win season.
- Philadelphia - The AL North finishes in the AL rankings as teams 9, 12, 14, & 15. We think Philly makes at least one more run with Al Cervantes, Josh Hunt, and Vin Pirela if not two before trading them for a rebuild.
- Jacksonville - They play in what the blog-o-sphere believes to be the toughest division in the league and have a huge hill to climb to make the playoffs. This will be the 6th season for rwings so I think the future down in Florida will be sunny before you know it!
- Augusta - Can they go for a 3rd straight 72-90 season? The rebuild continues...
- Colorado Springs - I'd expect another couple of seasons of adding protected picks 10-16 before "springing" into high gear and back competing for the AL title.
- Minnesota - They won the AL North last year with a sub .500 record - and the team hasn't had a winning record since S57; nor have they won more than 87 games since S49. In a league that is black and white on rebuilding and competing, Minnesota is one of the few grey teams operating in the middle zone.
- Anaheim - Durability seemed to be a problem for the ML team last year, but given a few trades that were made; I think it signifies a kick-off of a rebuild.
- Dover - Could this be the year the team wins more than 70 games for the first time since S53? We shall see, but unfortunately with the trades over the last few seasons, they are not stocked with prospects and will need to continue working through the draft.
- Fargo - Year 2 and rebuilding, Need to at least win 1 more game than last year but the team has its direction.
- New York - With a new owner now running the team, I'd expect a season to reassess what the previous was "building" but likely have a few seasons or adjusting the game plan.
National League
- Tacoma - with that pitching staff throwing half their games in an extreme pitcher's park; and a decently young team. I'd expect a run on a few key position players to boost their lineup and help support back to back NL MVP, Ernest Page.
- Santa Fe - With money to spend and an already potent lineup, it's hard to imagine them improving any more; but they will. They'll try to slug their way pass Tacoma.
- Salem - The new favorite in the NL West. Next push is further in the playoffs. Sadly the baseball team is about the only exciting thing to do in Salem or even in the state of Oregon.
- Montreal - The only part of Canada worth anything and they don't even speak English as their official language. Would be good to see an active year in Free Agency but budgets are tight.
- Washington DC - I think is the year they take the division.
- Columbus - The team is another year older and while I still expect them to produce, I think DC finally overtakes the division from them.
- Hartford - They had a solid run but lost the 3rd most games since jverrier took over? As a tradesman, I'd look for him to make some moves this offseason to see if they can get at least one more run out of the team. Afterall, they won the world series in S59!
- Oklahoma City - Another year older but plays in a weak division, which has now shifted to Salem's division to lose. But as long as there's a klown in charge of the team, you can expect good things. They've only had 4 losing seasons in the last 21 years.
- New Orleans - Trying to rebuild but Rookie of the Year Baker will have other plans. Sad to see his prime years spent with a team rebuilding. Perhaps they could move him for another pack of prospects that will meet their contending timeline.
- Buffalo - Hard to rank them here as it's rare to see Buffalo with a losing season. Is this going to be a long term rebuild or will they shift quickly and get back to Bison standard.
- Charleston - The franchise needs some wins and in a bad way. Opie has his vision, but let's see how it unfolds.
- Scottsdale - Year 2 of mini taking over the team. Year 1 was about clearing the books. Let's see what Year 2 has in store; but something tells me it won't be Wins.
- Austin - Feels like they've been bottom of the NL South for so long now, and they haven't won more than 70 games since S52. Their typical player will hit 15-25 HRs and steal 10-20 bases on a .250 AVG - but a team needs more than to win these days. Austin, I know you're weird; but let's turn this around.
- Chicago - Rebuilding, proving points, and taking names later. Could easily see them fall below Pittsburgh next season....as long as it's above 55 wins.
- Pittsburgh - The team has been so bad for so long, surely things are going to start looking up from here.
- Vancouver - If they could be lower on our list, they would be. This scene in Moneyball comes to mind when thinking about where to rank Vancouver. I don't care that they had 2 rookies in the award voting this season, the Silver Slugging CF Patsy Shipley, or #5 S60 Fireman of the Year Wandy Nunez on their team. They rank where they rank, and no SORee about it. What you call bacon is NOT REAL bacon!
There you have it, our completely wrong list of rankings that we hope inspire a generation of GMs.