So it's about 1pm here in Spain as I type this final preview, and I thought I would give you a look into my typical day here. Generally, I'm up and out of bed sometime between 8 and 9am, depending on what time the girlfriend has to head off to teach at school. Since I essentially sleep through 90% of the PM2 cycle, I try to get onto my iPad quick enough to make a few pitching changes before the AM cycle kicks in at around 10am local time. Meanwhile, I'm making myself some coffee, maybe some eggs and toast, something easy. I plop down on the couch, finish my PM2 changes, check out twitter to see what happened while I was sleeping, play some Clash of Clans, then jump back to HBD when the AM cycle starts to turn over. Depending on the day of the week, I might go for a run around 11 or noon, or just do some dishes and laundry and general cleaning. When the gf gets home from teaching at around 2pm, I'll make us some lunch, and again depending on the day of the week, we might head off to the gym around 3 or 4pm to workout. A quick shower, maybe an early dinner if we're hungry, and then I teach English from 7-9pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Yup, six hours a week. I also spend an hour or two doing planning on Monday morning for my week's classes. So let's call it eight hours a week. Phew. It's rough. But being a house husband is a hard job. I do so much cooking, I feel like Cam over here. Basically the same thing. I'll go to bed around 11 or midnight, depending on what's going on. If my Hokies have a night game, I might get up at 2am local time to catch what is an 8pm EST game. A few beers, another Hokie loss, and it's back to bed. Anyway, back to the preview.
Vancouver: 105 wins and an early exit from the playoffs. That's gotta be frustrating. Especially considering how much payroll is involved with this team. And this season, almost $20M in unused salary right now, which will basically go to waste if a trade isn't worked out at some point, unless it gets moved into the prospect pool and an $8-10M IFA can be found. Although, I would much rather spend my money on players that I can see on my roster, than on the hope and prayer that an IFA will show up, so two thumbs up to this approach. As per usual, the roster is loaded with studs. A more than sufficient defense, a shit ton of bats that (as mentioned earlier) led the league in HR's last season. The pitching is probably the "weak" point of this team, and they are no slobs. Everyone, act surprised when these guys are in the ALCS with Milwaukee, and then in the WS against some poor NL squad that will get swept. You read it here first.
Honolulu: It sucks when you win 93 games and don't win your division. It's a decent consolation when you then get a wild card spot. But then it sucks again when your 93 wins are only good enough for third place in your division. Still a decent consolation when your wild card spot is then the second WC spot. The biggest consolation is when you get farther in the playoffs than the two teams above you in the division. Good job, lepers. No big-name-high-profile guys on the roster, and the offense isn't going to make any pitchers shit their pants. But they have a ton of high-range guys with good gloves, along with an intriguing bullpen and an above-average rotation that I can picture winning a bunch of one-run games. Not like 8-7 or 10-9 type games, maybe more like 3-2 and 1-0. I like these guys, they've got spunk. Hopefully it's not on their faces.
Colorado Springs: 99 wins, second in the division, the first wild card spot, and an early exit from the playoffs. Five years in a row of high payroll and 90+ wins, eventually those teams have the floor fall out from underneath them, right? Right?! So how come this whole roster seems to be in their late 20's or early 30's? Well that's frustrating. I like the defense, they've got some good range and decent gloves, but the hitting doesn't strike me as the type that will dominate anyone, outside of a couple guys at the top. The bullpen is pretty elite, and while I would prefer some better splits out of the guys in the rotation, it's still a pretty formidable group from top to bottom. I'm not sure if they'll keep up with the Vancouver's and Milwaukee's of the league, but they're in the ballpark.
Anaheim: As much as it sucks being Honolulu, where you win 93 games and only get the second wild card spot, it's gotta suck even more to be these guys, where you win 85 games and are last in the division. I mean how many teams in all of HBD win 85 games and then get that 4th place credit from WIS? Anyway, greff has walked into a good situation, where the ML squad is actually pretty good, with a solid mix of vets and youth, payroll isn't out of control, and there are some good prospects waiting in the wings for the 30+ guys to leave. I like the defense, I like the offense, and the pitching gives me a bit of a boner. I can seriously see these guys jumping over Honolulu this year. And then when Vancouver and Colorado get tired of spending $100M just to lose in the first round, Anaheim will be there to take over the top of the division. Maybe not this year, but S28 or S29 are possibilities. Stick with it greff.
Prediction: Vancouver, CS, Anaheim, then Honolulu
I'm gonna go have some chorizo and a beer, fuck you losers. *drops mic on the floor*
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