Demigods outfielder Carlos Gomez
Now we’re starting to get to the teams that absolutely expect to contend for the DTBL title this year. The third part of the 2014 season preview is the one I’ve most been looking forward to writing. Here we will examine two teams who are both expected to make huge leaps over their 2013 performances. These were teams that finished in the bottom three of the league a year ago, but are projected to be serious title contenders this season. It often comes as a surprise when teams jump this many places in the standings, but neither of these projections are surprising to me. These teams had some very obvious, and easily remedied problems which should not resurface again in 2014. In fact, their struggles a year ago could turn into blessings in disguise because they allowed them to grab absolute studs at the beginning of this month’s draft. Here are the teams projected to finish fourth and third in the league this year.
Dom’s Demigods
Category – Projected Rank (2013 Rank)
- Batting Average – 3rd (2nd)
- Home Runs – 6th (7th)
- Runs Batted In – 4th (4th)
- Runs Scored – 7th (7th)
- Stolen Bases – 3rd (1st)
- Earned Run Average – 3rd (8th)
- WHIP Ratio – 1st (10th)
- Wins – 4th (9th)
- Saves – 7th (10th)
- Strike Outs – 7th (10th)
- Total Batting Points – 4th-T (2nd)
- Total Pitching Points – 3rd (10th)
- Total Points – 4th (8th)
Summary:
In my recap of the first round of the draft, I hinted at the Demigods being a potential sleeper team this year. I feel somewhat vindicated for that comment because of this projection. The Demigods had the worst pitching staff in the league in 2013, at least in terms of pitching points. But that was not truly indicative of the kind of talent on their staff. Yu Darvish was the staff ace, earning the DTBL Rookie of the Year award. The rest of the staff struggled due to injuries, poor performances and maybe some bad luck. With the third pick in this year’s draft, they added the young and exciting Jose Fernandez, immediately boosting the prestige of the pitching staff. He’ll join Darvish, Cole Hamels, Doug Fister and Johnny Cueto to create a rotation that will surely earn them a lot more pitching points this year. Unfortunately, several of those guys are dealing with injuries right now, but none appear to be too serious. Trevor Rosenthal gives them a possible stud closer too, something they didn’t have last year. The Demigods offense was actually quite good a year ago, so if they can maintain their form there, this should be a very good team. Carlos Gomez will attempt to build on his ’13 campaign which saw him become an elite fantasy player. This is one of the most talented squads the Demigods have ever put together. Let’s see if it pays off.
Jay’s Jackalope
Category – Projected Rank (2013 Rank)
- Batting Average – 5th (10th)
- Home Runs – 1st (10th)
- Runs Batted In – 2nd (9th)
- Runs Scored – 2nd (10th)
- Stolen Bases – 9th (7th-T)
- Earned Run Average – 5th (6th)
- WHIP Ratio – 3rd (7th)
- Wins – 6th (8th)
- Saves – 9th (4th)
- Strike Outs – 2nd (3rd)
- Total Batting Points – 3rd (10th)
- Total Pitching Points – 4th (5th)
- Total Points – 3rd (10th)
Summary:
2013 was a season from hell for the Jackalope. For quite some time now, they have relied on one of the league’s best pitching staffs combined with an offense carried by Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun. But with those two players being rendered nearly useless last year, the Jackalope had no chance of being competitive. Assuming those two are at least a decent facsimile of their past selves, last year should turn into just a blip on the radar of a perennial contender. Their prize for finishing dead last was Yasiel Puig. He will try to pick up some of the slack for whatever Pujols and Braun may have lost. The Jackalope are projected to make a worst to first jump in home runs, and nearly the same in RBI and runs too. Besides the players already mentioned, Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton are a big reason for that. This team has some serious star power. The pitching staff is definitely not what it was a few years ago, but it is still quite strong. Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee are two of the most dependable pitchers on the planet. The bullpen is a potential weakness though. Aroldis Chapman will likely miss the first couple months of the season after getting hit in the head with a liner during a spring training game. That leaves Jim Johnson as the only certain closer on the roster. This team has a lot of players who will be fun to watch. There is almost no chance of them finishing at the bottom of the standings again in 2014.