"Hi Everybody!"
"Hi Beloved Commish!"
That was great. So, ya, here we are on the almost eve of Season 28. And it's time for the almost annual NL Preview. As usual I will start in the North. Never the strongest division in BPF's history, last season was no different. Looks like one team should be a playoff/divisional lock, notice the "should". Pittsburgh is that team. Years of blowing have swallowed up some fine young talent, and really little payroll. While there's some big talent roster, there's also not much support. Hoping we see some call-ups. The pitching on the ABCs AAA squad is mostly ML ready and would go a long way to putting this squad on top of it's divisional foes. Star of the team is Vic Hoiles, a fine player to be sure. The ace of the staff should be Livan Nunez...still in AAA. ML ready? Yes! Very solid defence up the middle, and the guys are good with a bat, too. Especially Francisco Ramirez. Wow, that is a very solid nucleus to any team. Definitely enough hitting, but it's the pitching that is a concern. But, again, with the arms in AAA it shouldn't be. Call-ups! Call-ups!
New to BPF is vincenzoR who takes over Philadelphia Philth franchise that hasn't seen a winning season since season 21. vince is in for a challenge. Pitching is most likely the strength of the team. Douglas Reynolds is definitely the ace. Offence, on the other hand isn't great. There's some power, but not much to go with it. I have an odd attraction to Pepe Castillo as a make believe ballplayer. Defence will help the pitching keep scores down but so will the Philth's hitting. They will be in a lot of games, but they will come up short most games, in this reporter's unerring opinion. Unfortunately there's nothing in the system to get excited about. Good luck.
Boom! It's the New Britain Rock Cats. I love cats. Recently had five, but one was old, and the other two decided to cross the highway, and met tragic ends. Anyhoodle, this team still boasts copious amounts of pop in the line-up. The issue being that there's no real elite type slugger. The hitters are a patient lot though, who will wait for their pitches and draw a fair share of free passes. The best all around bat belongs to Sherman Riley, who begins the campaign on the DL, which is a bummer. If only Vitas Fields could get 500 ABs. And Chief RunningJoke snagged another contract to continue his unsubstantiated career and 84 overall rating. Pitching, aside from the inningly challeneged Stephen Watson and a couple other guys, is meh to sub-meh. Defence won't help the pitching much. Let's see how much walks and home runs can carry a team...
And then we got the Cleveland Crime Syndicate. I've already used up the back.jack thing so I will mercifully skip that shtick. Already making a big splash in the IFA game with the very recent signing of Wandy Pimentel, who I have no idea how good he's projected to be because i have zip in advance scouting and he's just 18. My guess would be 80 something control and 70/70 something splits. oming off an off year is Chris Garcia, who has astonishing ratings, but not eye popping career numbers. good, but I would think his ratings would make him fairly close to unhittable. Rest of the pitchings boasts solid control and good splits, though not necessarily both for all pitchers. Still the best set of arms in the NL North. Pat Penny would look good in most team's line-ups, if not all, but beyond Ol' Copper, as we will pretend he is called, there isn't a whole heck of a lot to get excited about. Good players but not great, or even really good. Defensively, shortstop is covered, but not much else is. the pitchers will feel abundant imaginary frustration.
If Pittsburgh calls up the order of finish will be:
Pittsburgh 89-73
Cleveland 78-84
New Britain 77-85
Phillly 68-94
And the Northern Girls with the way they kiss:
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