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We’re two days into the 2022 season. Not surprisingly, with most teams running their top pitchers out there for their first game or two, pitchers seem to have the upper hand so far. In this next installment of the season preview series, we’ll take a look a three more teams that are projected to finish with nearly identical point totals. What perhaps gives these teams a small leg up on the squads covered previously is that none of them are slated to finish near the bottom of the league in batting or pitching points. That doesn’t mean they are without holes though. No team can make that claim coming into this season. Here we have a pair of strong hitting teams with reasonable expectations to have their best finish ever and a defending champion who hasn’t finished in the middle of the pack in almost a decade. Here are the team’s projected to finish in the third through fifth positions of the final standings.
Kat’s Komodos
Category – Projected Rank (2021 Rank)
- Batting Average – 4th (3rd)
- Home Runs – 6th (8th)
- Runs Batted In - 2nd (8th)
- Runs Scored – 6th (7th-T)
- Stolen Bases – 4th (1st)
- Earned Run Average – 8th (10th)
- WHIP Ratio – 10th (10th)
- Wins - 1st (6th-T)
- Saves – 5th (4th)
- Strike Outs - 7th (10th)
- Total Batting Points – 3rd-T (5th)
- Total Pitching Points - 7th (10th)
- Total Points – 5th (9th)
Summary:
Since joining the league in 2018, the Komodos have been looking to make their first run up the standings, having yet to finish higher than eighth place. This could be the year they do it. They have had a pretty strong offensive squad for a while now, but the pitching staff has been an anchor. While these projections don’t show the pitching to be among the league’s best, it does show signs of improvement. Let’s start with their strong batting lineup though. In the past two drafts, the Komodos have been able to add a pair of the most dynamic young stars of the game in outfielder Luis Robert and shortstop Wander Franco. Robert’s injury early last season set the Komodos back, but his return for the final two months launched the upward trajectory of this team. If he can stay healthy for a full season this time around, he could be a MVP candidate. Speaking of MVP candidates, Jose Ramirez has annually become one of those. This year should be no exception. He has probably become the most consistent producer of both home runs and stolen bases in the entire league. Franco joins Corey Seager to give the Komodos an enviable shortstop duo. The ageless Nelson Cruz moves over to first base for this first time in his DTBL career after playing in the field for the first time since 2018 for a single game last year. That shouldn’t be a problem for the Komodos though, as they were a little thin at that position anyway. Yordan Alvarez and Starling Marte are the other stars of the outfield besides Robert. An important player for this team will be Cody Bellinger, who has struggled mightily for a couple years since finishing third in the MVP race in 2019. Walker Buehler has been carrying the Komodos pitching staff for years. He might have some help now. Young lefty Shane McClanahan was a very nice second round pickup. Veteran Nathan Eovaldi is a reliable contributor as well. A pair of Astros pitchers, Framber Valdez and Luis Garcia, provide solid depth to the rotation. The bullpen looks very good as well, and got a boost last week when Craig Kimbrel was traded to the Dodgers. These projections don’t account for the fact that he should be a safe bet for a large save total. Aroldis Chapman and Mark Melancon make it very likely the Komodos will finish near the top of the league in saves. This is the highest the Komodos have been projected to finish since they joined the league. And looking at the roster, that checks out. This is their strongest squad yet.
Dom’s Demigods
Category – Projected Rank (2021 Rank)
- Batting Average – 2nd (4th)
- Home Runs – 8th (3rd)
- Runs Batted In – 9th (6th)
- Runs Scored – 1st (5th)
- Stolen Bases - 2nd (9th)
- Earned Run Average – 5th (7th)
- WHIP Ratio – 5th (7th)
- Wins – 9th (3rd)
- Saves – 7th (10th)
- Strike Outs - 3rd (3rd)
- Total Batting Points - 3rd-T (4th)
- Total Pitching Points – 6th (7th)
- Total Points – 4th (6th)
Summary:
The Demigods were a better team last year than their sixth place finish might have indicated. Unfortunately, one of the reasons why they fell short of expectations may be playing out again this year. Their best player, Fernando Tatis Jr, missed time during two stretches with a shoulder injury, yet still managed to finish in the top five in Batting PAR. This year, they will be without Tatis for a quite a while with him recovering from a broken wrist. Wrist injuries have a history of sapping players of power even when they do return. So that’s not great for the Demigods. On a positive note though, this team has plenty of other great hitters. Freddie Freeman moves to Los Angeles where he will be a key cog in the Dodgers juggernaut lineup, which also contains Demigods third baseman Justin Turner. C.J. Cron, Jose Altuve, Francisco Lindor and Josh Donaldson join them to form what might be the league’s deepest infield. If you include catchers in that, their standing is even stronger as Willson Contreras and Mitch Garver are among the best catching duos. The outfield doesn’t have quite as much depth, but there is upside there. People say this every year, but, if Byron Buxton can just stay healthy, he could be one of the best players in the game. Ketel Marte, J.D. Martinez and Austin Meadows are all solid contributors. While the Demigods may not be elite in the power categories, they are likely to finish near the top in batting average, runs and stolen bases. On the pitching front, the rotation welcomes AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray who has the benefit of no longer pitching in the AL East, as he signed with the Mariners this winter. Freddy Peralta jumps from the bullpen to a rotation spot. Aaron Nola, Max Fried and Joe Musgrove return to give the Demigods a full rotation of five pitchers with PAR projections north of 4. They are the only team in the league that can make that claim. The past two years, the Demigods have completely punted the saves category, recording a grand total of 18 over two seasons. That included two of the three lowest team save totals in league history. This figures to change this year with Gregory Soto likely to be the Tigers closer, David Bednar in the mix for the Pirates and Diego Castillo and Ken Giles both among the Mariners committee approach. The bullpen is still a weakness for the Demigods, but might actually earn them a couple points this year. The Demigods have an excellent shot at finishing in the top half for the first time since 2018 and could even win the whole thing for the first time if things break their way.
Kevin’s Kings
Category – Projected Rank (2021 Rank)
- Batting Average – 6th (8th)
- Home Runs - 3rd (1st)
- Runs Batted In – 4th (1st)
- Runs Scored – 5th (1st)
- Stolen Bases – 7th (8th)
- Earned Run Average - 3rd (2nd)
- WHIP Ratio – 4th (1st)
- Wins – 4th (1st-T)
- Saves – 8th (8th)
- Strike Outs - 5th (1st)
- Total Batting Points – 5th (2nd-T)
- Total Pitching Points - 4th (1st)
- Total Points - 3rd (1st)
Summary:
Since I never got around to writing a championship article for the 2021 Kings, let me quickly sum it up here. They were not a vintage championship squad. They took advantage of competition that was weakened due to injuries and other unfortunate circumstances. The Kings were by far the least affected team among the title contenders in those areas last season. Will they be so lucky again this year? Well, they are the only team in the entire league that is projected to finish in the top half of the league in both batting and pitching points. So on solid balance alone, they ought to have a shot. The Kings surprisingly led the league in the power categories a year ago. Don’t expect a repeat of that. The offense is pretty solid across the board though. The infield is led by three guys who changed MLB uniforms this off-season: Matt Olson, Marcus Semien and Carlos Correa. The breakout of third baseman Austin Riley was a key to the Kings title run. Josh Bell is the main addition here, in quest of holding onto the power category leads. Will Smith is one of the best catchers in the game, and hasn’t slapped anyone recently, as far as I know. Another major figure in the Kings ’21 breakthrough was outfielder Tyler O’Neil, who they picked up as an undrafted free agent early in the season. He and Mookie Betts have the Kings highest batting PAR projections. Randy Arozarena, A.J. Pollock and Dylan Carlson join them to make up a very good outfield. The Kings easily led the league in pitching points last year. That will be tough to duplicate. However, they used their first round pick on Trevor Rogers to provide support to Max Scherzer, Zack Wheeler and Frankie Montas. At some point, you have to figure Scherzer will slow down. He has held a spot as one of baseball’s best pitchers for basically a decade straight now. Wheeler appears ready to take the reigns as the staff ace if necessary though. This is still a very strong rotation, but perhaps not as deep as a few other teams. The bullpen is not great, as they have been scraping by without any elite closers for several years now. Not one of their relievers is on firm ground as a closer. Matt Barnes and Camilo Doval are the most likely to get saves. Paul Sewald figures to give them a boost in other categories. The past seven years, the roller coaster Kings have either finished in a bottom two spot or won the league every time. So will this version be a bottom feeder or a champion? There seems to be no other possibility.