Hey, there is a real MLB game today! As we get ready for the official start of the 2026 season later this evening, let’s take a look at the next set of teams in our DTBL season preview series.
As is custom, I’m not going to show the full projected standings until the final segment of this series. However, here is a bit of a spoiler. There are two teams that are head and shoulders above the rest, to go along with the two teams already covered that are a fair distance behind the pack. That leaves six teams closely bunched together in the middle. Those teams that will be covered in the next two articles are separated by a total of just nine points in the total standings. So you could very easily shuffle them up and pick them out of a hat in any order to come up with a reasonable prediction for this season. With that said, we will now take a look at the three teams in the bottom half of that group. It contains one team that is projected to improve greatly over their ’25 finish and two teams that are once again tied in the standings just like they were at the conclusion of last season. Only this time, it is a coupe spots lower in the standings. Here are the teams projected to finish sixth through eighth (or rather, tied for seventh) this year.
Charlie’s Thunder Choppers
Category – Projected Rank (2025 Rank)
- Batting Average – 4th (7th)
- Home Runs – 9th (9th)
- Runs Batted In – 9th (5th)
- Runs Scored – 8th (5th)
- Stolen Bases – 2nd (2nd)
- Earned Run Average – 6th (5th)
- WHIP Ratio – 6th (5th)
- Wins – 8th (5th-T)
- Saves – 5th (2nd)
- Strike Outs – 2nd (5th)
- Total Batting Points – 7th-T (5th)
- Total Pitching Points – 5th (5th)
- Total Points – 7th-T (5th-T)
Summary:
The Choppers were about as average as you could get last year, finishing in fifth place in batting points, pitching points, total points and in six of the ten categories. Unfortunately, they took a massive blow to one of the areas where they were above average, in the saves category, when Emmanuel Clase got himself embroiled in a gambling scheme that will likely end his big league career. With one of their most impactful players off the roster, they put their primary focus on filling that gap using their first two draft picks on closers: Devin Williams and Daniel Palencia. Even after doing that, they are still slotted to drop a few points in the saves category this year. Robert Garcia, Clayton Beeter and Paul Sewald are all candidates to add to that save total though, making it a reasonable gamble to at least hold serve in the bullpen. The problem is they had to allocate so many resources to plug that hole that other spots on the roster have been left dangerously thin. The rotation should be pretty good though if they can stay relatively healthy. They are led by a pair of Mariners aces, Logan Gilbert and Bryan Woo. Woo was one of the breakout stars of 2025. You just never know what you are going to get in any given year from Dylan Cease, except a reliable number of innings and loads of strikeouts. Blake Snell and Eury Perez are strikeout artists as well, but not as reliably healthy as Cease. Snell will open up this season on the shelf with a worrisome shoulder injury. Overall, the pitching staff should be good enough to keep the Choppers in contention. The question will be if the offense can do the same with few upgrades made to last year’s squad. It would certainly help if Adley Rutschman could return to form as an elite catcher. His new Orioles teammate, first baseman Pete Alonso is the standout of the Choppers infield. WBC MVP Maikel Garcia anchors the other side of the diamond. Nico Hoerner, CJ Abrams and Trevor Story make up a reliable, if not flashy middle infield. Youngster Sal Stewart and veteran Jorge Polanco are the newcomers on the infield. The outfield is also mostly reliant upon returners, led by slugger Kyle Schwarber. Wyatt Langford was solid for the Choppers in his DTBL rookie campaign and could be ready to take his game to another level this year. Lawrence Butler and Steven Kwan are the other reliable returners. The main newcomer to the outfield is Daylen Lile who was one of baseball’s surprise rookie stars a year ago. There is enough upside on this roster for the Choppers to easily exceed these projections. We will see if the bullpen focus in the early part of the draft pays off.
Kevin’s Kings
Category – Projected Rank (2025 Rank)
- Batting Average – 10th (8th)
- Home Runs – 2nd (7th)
- Runs Batted In – 4th (6th)
- Runs Scored – 6th (4th)
- Stolen Bases – 9th (7th)
- Earned Run Average – 8th (6th)
- WHIP Ratio – 4th (4th)
- Wins – 6th (1st)
- Saves – 6th (5th)
- Strike Outs – 4th (3rd)
- Total Batting Points – 6th (6th-T)
- Total Pitching Points – 6th (2nd-T)
- Total Points – 7th-T (5th-T)
Summary:
I’m not sure the Kings have ever been projected to finish this low following a season in which they weren’t awful. But it’s not necessarily a huge surprise to see them here. Their roster is in a weird spot right now where they are probably as deep as all but a couple of the league’s best teams. However, they lack the truly elite talent needed to win championships. Gunnar Henderson is the only offensive player with a PAR projection over 3. So far, it looks like they completely whiffed on last year’s draft and are paying the price now as they had to try to upgrade some of the same spots on the roster again this year. There is some hope for strength in numbers with the bats though. A whole bunch of guys have solid projections and there aren’t any glaring holes. First round pick Ben Rice should give the Kings a leg up on most of the league at catcher, joining Will Smith at that spot. Time will tell if Rice is one and done at that position where he’s obviously more valuable than he would be at his primary position of first base. At the corner infield spots, the Kings will roll it back with the Braves duo of Matt Olson and Austin Riley, plus veteran third baseman Matt Chapman. Henderson and Mookie Betts anchor the shortstop position, with Ezequiel Tovar joining the fray as well. Bryson Stott is still around too. That’s seven infielders with solid projections. The outfield once again looks like a weakness though. Randy Arozarena leads the group. The Kings hope Jo Adell wasn’t a one year wonder. Second round pick Kyle Stowers is the key newcomer, but he will start the season on the IL. Much more alarming is that last year’s first round pick Dylan Crews struggled so badly this spring that he will open the season in AAA. Him figuring it out is absolutely vital to the Kings operation. They did bring back Heliot Ramos and added Alec Burleson as outfield insurance. The Kings brought back their entire top five starting rotation from last year. The problem is that the ace of the group Zack Wheeler’s ’25 season was cut short due to shoulder surgery and it remains to be seen when he will return from that and if he will still be the same dominant pitcher. Cole Ragans is also returning from a less serious injury. George Kirby is probably the safest bet of this group. Michael King, Ryan Pepiot and newcomer Emmet Sheehan provide decent depth here. The bullpen looks decent on paper from a saves projection standpoint, though Jeff Hoffman is the only one with a strong track record and good projections in the other categories. This is a strong roster from top to bottom, but several guys will need to join Henderson in elite status if the Kings are going to make run at the title.
Dan’s Diamond Dogs
Category – Projected Rank (2025 Rank)
- Batting Average – 6th (10th)
- Home Runs – 4th (6th)
- Runs Batted In – 3rd (8th)
- Runs Scored – 4th (7th-T)
- Stolen Bases – 1st (1st)
- Earned Run Average – 10th (10th)
- WHIP Ratio – 10th (10th)
- Wins – 7th (9th-T)
- Saves – 4th (7th)
- Strike Outs – 8th (10th)
- Total Batting Points – 2nd-T (8th)
- Total Pitching Points – 9th (10th)
- Total Points – 6th (10th)
Summary:
Here we have the first team projected to improve upon their 2025 finish, and in a pretty significant way. The Diamond Dogs are coming off of a disappointing last place finish, which came on the heels of their best ever fifth place finish in ’24. What immediately jumps out in these projections is the improvement on the offensive side where they are tabbed to be one of the league’s leaders in batting points after finishing among the back of the pack last year. First overall draft pick Nick Kurtz is the main reason for that. He has by far the highest Batting PAR projection of any DTBL rookie and should dramatically help the Dogs in four of the five batting categories. The only one he won’t help much in is stolen bases, where they don’t need any help as the reigning league leaders and projected to do so again. The middle infield, in particular, is filled with speedsters who happen to slug it pretty well too: Elly De La Cruz, Trea Turner and Brice Turang. Eugenio Suarez returns as the slugging third baseman. Steady veteran Willson Contreras joins Kurtz as the Dogs new first basemen. Ivan Herrera and Carter Jensen give them a solid young catching pair with plenty of upside. The outfield was a major weakness last year, but should benefit from Oneil Cruz shifting out there and away from their crowded infield. Julio Rodriguez is by far their best outfielder and a potential MVP candidate. Teoscar Hernandez is their other top returning outfielder. The Diamond Dogs hope last year’s first round pick Brenton Doyle has a much better sophomore campaign with them. But if not, perhaps his Rockies teammate Jordan Beck will give them a boost instead. On paper, this looks like the best offensive squad the Diamond Dogs have ever fielded. For them to make the leap all the way to contender status will require major improvement from the pitching staff too though, which doesn’t look as likely. Veteran Nathan Eovaldi had one of the most under the radar spectacular seasons you’ll ever see last year. The Dogs could use another one of those from him. He is joined in the rotation by a couple splashy young guns in Jacob Misiorowksi and Trey Yesavage, their second and third round picks respectively. Their staff will be heavily reliant on Orioles pitchers, three of whom are new to Baltimore: starters Shane Baz, Trevor Rogers and Chris Bassit, plus closer Ryan Helsley. They could really use a bounce back season from Sandy Alcantara who struggled in his return from Tommy John surgery last year. The bullpen could be excellent if Josh Hader recovers from the arm injury that currently has him on the shelf. Helsley and Trevor Megill will look to pick up the slack while he is gone. The pieces are in place for this to be a very good season for the Diamond Dogs. They shouldn’t be picking first again in next year’s draft.
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