Season 31 - Power Rankings #1

We're a quarter of the way through Season 31 which means it's time for the first power rankings of the regular season!  And there's a new number 1, featuring a top 3 offense and pitching staff, Cheyenne takes the top spot in the rankings.  This is the first time since Season 20 that the #1 team hasn't been either Dover, Atlanta or Texas!  Speaking of Texas, they come in at #2, and off to a blazing start is Florida at #3.  The NL New York squad comes in at #4, followed by Salem at #5.  A hearty congrats to Charleston, who went from #31 preseason to vault into the top 10.  Now for the biggest climbers and biggest falls since the last rankings!

Biggest Climbers: #10 Charleston (+21), #11 Dover (+15), #12 Cleveland (+9), #23 Detroit (+9)

Biggest Falls: #30 St. Louis (-13), #26 Monterrey (-11), #28 Boston (-9), #15 Vancouver (-7), #16 New York - AL (-7)

Here are the complete rankings, good luck to all as the season continues to unfold!

					Pitching	Offense
	Team	W	L	PREV	Rank	Rank
1	Cheyenne	29	12	3	3	2
2	Texas	28	13	1	2	10
3	Florida	31	10	6	1	12
4	New York (NL)	26	15	11	4	5
5	Salem	24	17	5	11	7
6	Salt Lake City	25	16	7	4	17
7	Atlanta	23	18	2	17	6
8	Montgomery	23	18	4	18	3
9	Montreal	23	18	10	13	14
10	Charleston	22	19	31	6	16
11	Dover	25	16	26	23	8
12	Cleveland	22	19	21	8	22
13	Los Angeles	21	20	20	12	24
14	Buffalo	17	24	14	15	9
15	Vancouver	19	22	8	29	1
16	New York (AL)	20	21	9	14	25
17	Chicago	19	22	12	28	4
18	Las Vegas	20	21	13	8	29
19	Milwaukee	17	24	16	16	19
20	Charlotte	20	21	24	20	22
21	Colorado Springs	19	22	22	26	12
22	Pawtucket	18	23	18	10	31
23	Detroit	21	20	32	24	21
24	Houston	17	24	29	19	20
25	Seattle	16	25	28	7	32
26	Monterrey	15	26	15	32	10
27	Louisville	18	23	27	27	18
28	Boston	16	25	19	31	14
29	San Francisco	19	22	23	25	26
30	St. Louis	15	26	17	22	30
31	Trenton	14	27	25	21	27
32	Iowa City	14	27	30	30	28

Season 31 Preseason Power Rankings

With Spring Training wrapping up, it's time to unveil Season 31's Preseason Power Rankings!  We start with a familiar team at the top, for the 7th straight edition of the rankings it's Texas!  Last season's regular season powerhouse brings back a fantastic roster yet again.  Coming in at #2 is Atlanta.  Last season's AL pennant winners look tough again, particularly their lineup.  Rounding out the top 5 are Cheyenne, Montgomery, and Salem.

So yes, the same teams from last season's final top 5 are in the preseason top 5.  Will anyone be able to unseat them?  It will be interesting to see!  I'm sure the remainder of the rankings will provide some bulletin board material as inspiration to prove the rankings wrong, I wish you the best of luck in doing so!  Among the biggest snubs I see is my formula has defending champ Monterrey at #15 and 98-win Pawtucket at #18.  It's not a perfect science, so we could certainly be wrong.   Good luck to everyone in Season 31!  Here are the complete rankings!

				Starting	Relief
		Season 30		Pitching	Pitching	Hitting	Fielding
	Team	W	L	Rank	Rank	Rank	Rank
1	Texas	127	35	1	1	5	5
2	Atlanta	100	62	4	10	1	19
3	Cheyenne	101	61	8	27	2	3
4	Montgomery	110	52	16	3	3	5
5	Salem	96	66	2	8	7	15
6	Florida	89	73	5	7	4	10
7	Salt Lake City	80	82	9	2	13	2
8	Vancouver	73	89	11	14	6	13
9	New York (AL)	80	82	12	4	15	5
10	Montreal	69	93	6	5	15	27
11	New York (NL)	88	74	3	30	10	22
12	Chicago	77	85	7	26	11	31
13	Las Vegas	84	78	15	15	17	10
14	Buffalo	84	78	18	11	12	22
15	Monterrey	89	73	23	23	8	19
16	Milwaukee	68	94	24	12	14	10
17	St. Louis	80	82	17	13	19	15
18	Pawtucket	98	64	10	17	27	5
19	Boston	69	93	27	16	9	30
20	Los Angeles	79	83	21	9	23	22
21	Cleveland	86	76	14	19	28	3
22	Colorado Springs	81	81	30	6	22	1
23	San Francisco	75	87	19	18	26	27
24	Charlotte	52	110	20	29	24	25
25	Trenton	65	97	28	22	21	27
26	Dover	72	90	25	20	25	19
27	Louisville	83	79	29	28	20	9
28	Seattle	72	90	31	31	18	15
29	Houston	54	108	22	25	30	25
30	Iowa City	70	92	26	32	29	15
31	Charleston	70	92	13	24	31	13
32	Detroit	71	91	32	21	32	32

Season 31 Offseason Free Agency Tracker

We've rolled on to Season 31 and the Free Agent Frenzy is upon us!  Check back here throughout the signing period to see who went where.  Good luck to all in their Free Agency pursuits!

				Old	New	Contract
Rank	Player	Pos	Age	Team	Team	Amount	Years
1	Vic Park	2B	32	ATL	TEX	$52.5 M	4
	Comments:  Great all-around player who is still going strong at age 32
2	Artie Stone	RP	30	ATL	CSP	$64.0 M	5
	Comments:  Outstanding reliever with virtually no flaws in his ratings makeup
3	Ryan Fisher	SP	33	DET	DOV	$62.0 M	4
	Comments:  In a very weak SP free agent class, he stands out as the most solid
4	Donaldo Javier	2B	31	CLE	PAW	$33.3 M	5
	Comments: An MVP candidate last season, outstanding all around, but limited power
5	Erubiel Perez	3B	31	MNT	LV	$16.5 M	3
	Comments:  Plays a solid 3B and has a good bat that is solid, yet not spectacular
6	Alex Mercedes	LF	30	SLC	ATL	$40.5 M	5
	Comments:  Fantastic splits, great batting eye, nice LF, and can play 2B in a pinch
7	Alex Alfonzo	RP	37	STL	LV	$15.0 M	2
	Comments: A fantastic workhorse RP still, even at age 37, he still brings it
8	Walter Bird	SS	30	SEA	MIL	$24.8 M	4
	Comments: Very nice bat for a great fielding SS, but low durability is a slight concern
9	Steve Sheets	SP	28	BUF	FLA	$35.7 M	5
	Comments: Only 28 and looks solid all around, but prone to giving up flyballs
10	Louis Markakis	SP	34	CHA	LA	$23.0 M	3
	Comments: RH split is mediocre and lacks a dominant pitch, but all else is good
11	Michael Stokes	SS	29	DET	CHA	$16.8 M	3
	Comments: Nice power bat for either a passable SS or Gold Glove 3B
12	Tomas Bernadina	SP	29	VC	SLC	$26.4 M	5
	Comments: Age is a plus and decent enough, middle to end of the rotation type
13	Hideo Sakamoto	3B	32	SF	DOV	$20.8 M	4
	Comments:  Very good fielding 3B, with a very good bat, although low durability
14	Willie Moreno	LF	32	PAW	CHA	$10.4 M	2
	Comments: Speedster with nice hitting skills, although not much power
15	Aurelio Lima	1B	34	TEX	CHA	$10.5 M	3
	Comments: One of the best pure hitters available, but age and durability are a concern
16	Melky Martin	RP	28	VC	PAW	$10.5 M	3
	Comments: Solid workhorse RP with elite control and velocity, but no dominant pitch
17	Ronny Wilson	RP	31	LOU	SEA	$17.6 M	4
	Comments: Another solid RP who can eat innings and rates well across the board
18	Ugueth Guzman	RP	26	TEX	MIL	$10.8 M	3
	Comments: Young reliever with good pitches and velocity, good control, ok splits
19	Yordano Diaz	RF	29	CHR	SAL	$22.0 M	4
	Comments: Solid but not spectacular hitter, should put up some decent stats at the plate
20	Denny Haynes	C	31	MIL	BOS	$0.9 M	1
	Comments: Nice hitter, especially against LHP, defensive is iffy so maybe a DH
21	Douglas Banks	SP	37	CHY	LV	$16.0 M	2
	Comments: 2-time Cy Young winner is still good, but aging and huge injury risk lingers
22	Bob Bonds	SP	27	PAW	BOS	$19.6 M	4
	Comments: He's a decent back end of the rotation guy, splits are mediocre however
23	Brandon Sisk	RP	29	NY2	MNT	$4.6 M	2
	Comments: Tremendous ratings, except for splits, might be a nice closer for some team
24	Felipe Olivares	3B	34	TEX	CHA	$4.4 M	1
	Comments: Pretty good bat and decent in the field, but age-related decline is a concern
25	John Collier	3B	30	STL	BOS	$2.1 M	1
	Comments: Somewhat passable as a 3B, but nice batting eye/speed combo here

Season 30 Wrap Up - Monterrey wins it all!

Monterrey Pinxos (NL) POKEYSAN View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Monterrey is your Season 30 Champion!

It was an epic and improbable comeback, but Monterrey managed to come back from down 3-0 against Atlanta to take the Season 30 World Series title.  The comeback was sparked by a Game 4 no-hitter from Doug Lambert, which shifted the momentum in the series.   Although, Lambert didn't fare too well in his Game 7 start, the Monterrey bats saved the day leading them to a 10-9 win in the series clincher.  It seemed everything came together perfectly this postseason for Monterrey, as they got their clutch performances when at the exact time they needed them, despite pretty mediocre total stats for the playoffs (.713 OPS, 4.52 ERA).  The world series title is a particularly impressive feat for POKEYSAN seeing how just three seasons earlier, the team was run by the infamous hotdog.

Congrats to ekoontz on another great postseason run, despite falling just short of another title, this was his 7th Cobbfather World Series appearance!

Thanks to everyone for making it a great Season 30, we'll be back after a hopefully quick rollover for Season 31!