{"id":1153,"date":"2018-03-31T19:36:40","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T02:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/?p=1153"},"modified":"2018-03-31T19:36:40","modified_gmt":"2018-04-01T02:36:40","slug":"2018-season-preview-part-iv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/?p=1153","title":{"rendered":"2018 Season Preview:  Part IV"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a id='uuLvb018SLJVLQylYh_FJw' class='gie-single' href='http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/856772592' target='_blank' style='color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;'>Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'uuLvb018SLJVLQylYh_FJw',sig:'XzIIg1lymv2s4IukaWSb9u9slvVR9VdbWo1l4Cen6UM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'856772592',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><br \/>\nWe&#8217;ve reached the final portion of the 2018 DTBL season preview.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, the two teams projected to finish at the top of the standings are the same squads that occupied those spots most of last season as well.\u00a0 In case you are curious, they were not projected to finish first or second in this series last spring.\u00a0 Those spots belonged to the Kings and Choppers, who finished ninth and seventh respectively.\u00a0 So being tabbed a pre-season favorite most certainly doesn&#8217;t guarantee success.\u00a0 Having said that, it would be pretty surprising if these teams aren&#8217;t in the hunt again this year.\u00a0 They both added some exciting young talent to already loaded rosters.\u00a0 Not a whole lot separates these teams in the projections.\u00a0 One point, to be exact.\u00a0 One of them is projected to lead the league in pitching points.\u00a0 Its probably not the team you expect.\u00a0 Here are the top two DTBL Championship contenders.<\/p>\n<h2>Nick&#8217;s Naturals<\/h2>\n<p>Category &#8211; Projected Rank (2017 Rank)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Batting Average &#8211; 4th (4th)<\/li>\n<li>Home Runs &#8211; 6th (2nd)<\/li>\n<li>Runs Batted In &#8211;\u00a04th (1st)<\/li>\n<li>Runs Scored &#8211; 8th (4th)<\/li>\n<li>Stolen Bases &#8211;\u00a03rd (2nd)<\/li>\n<li>Earned Run Average &#8211;\u00a02nd (9th)<\/li>\n<li>WHIP Ratio &#8211;\u00a02nd (9th)<\/li>\n<li>Wins &#8211;\u00a02nd (7th)<\/li>\n<li>Saves &#8211; 8th (4th)<\/li>\n<li>Strike Outs &#8211;\u00a02nd (7th)<\/li>\n<li>Total Batting Points &#8211; 6th (1st)<\/li>\n<li>Total Pitching Points &#8211; 1st (7th)<\/li>\n<li>Total Points &#8211;\u00a02nd (2nd-T)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Summary:<\/p>\n<p>The overall projected ranking of the Naturals is about what one might have expected.\u00a0 But the individual category rankings are pretty shocking.\u00a0 Last year, the Naturals had the best offense in the league, but were ultimately unable to stick with the Mavericks because of a below average pitching staff.\u00a0 In this year&#8217;s draft, they continued to add pieces to the offense while only selecting\u00a0one starting pitcher in the first half of the draft (Garrett Richards).\u00a0 Yet now they are projected to lead the league in pitching points, with the bulk of that staff being the same as the one that struggled a year ago.\u00a0 The main reason for this is fairly obvious:\u00a0 health.\u00a0 Noah Syndergaard is the Naturals best pitcher, but threw just 30 innings a year ago.\u00a0 David Price was also hurt much of the year and finished the season in the bullpen.\u00a0 If those two are healthy all year, the Naturals are close to a lock to exceed their &#8217;17 pitching numbers.\u00a0 James Paxton and Carlos Carrasco carried the rotation last year and will be complementary pieces again this season.\u00a0 Felipe Rivero joins Raisel Iglesias to give the Naturals two excellent closers.\u00a0 I wouldn&#8217;t call the bullpen a strength, but it should be decent.\u00a0 The batting projections are slightly concerning as they don&#8217;t like the Naturals chances of leading the league in batting points again this year.\u00a0 But there are still some very high upside youngsters on this roster, including Yoan Moncada, Victor Robles and Lewis Brinson, who have all been among the top ranked prospects in baseball the past few years.\u00a0 Nolan Arrenado is projected to be their top hitter again this year.\u00a0 A healthy Trea Turner would be right up there too.\u00a0 Joey Votto, Justin Upton, Miguel Cabrera and Marcell Ozuna are among their dependable veteran bats.\u00a0 I think it is very likely the Naturals will exceed these offensive projections.\u00a0 If they do, they might be the championship favorites.\u00a0 At any rate, it would be surprising if they aren&#8217;t in a pennant race again this year.<\/p>\n<h2>Marc&#8217;s Mavericks<\/h2>\n<p>Category &#8211; Projected Rank (2017 Rank)<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Batting Average &#8211; 5th (8th)<\/li>\n<li>Home Runs &#8211;\u00a05th (3rd)<\/li>\n<li>Runs Batted In &#8211;\u00a03rd (6th)<\/li>\n<li>Runs Scored &#8211; 5th (6th)<\/li>\n<li>Stolen Bases &#8211; 4th (3rd)<\/li>\n<li>Earned Run Average &#8211;\u00a01st (1st)<\/li>\n<li>WHIP Ratio &#8211;\u00a01st (1st)<\/li>\n<li>Wins &#8211; 5th (1st-T)<\/li>\n<li>Saves &#8211; 10th (6th)<\/li>\n<li>Strike Outs &#8211;\u00a01st (2nd)<\/li>\n<li>Total Batting Points &#8211;\u00a03rd (7th)<\/li>\n<li>Total Pitching Points &#8211;\u00a03rd (1st)<\/li>\n<li>Total Points &#8211;\u00a01st (1st)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Summary:<\/p>\n<p>The defending champs appear to be well positioned to become the first DTBL team to repeat since the 2011 Darkhorses finished off their four-peat.\u00a0 But this is not quite the same Mavericks team that won it all a year ago.\u00a0 They still have an elite pitching staff, but may not be able to smoke the rest of the pack in most pitching categories again this year.\u00a0 On the other hand, they won it all despite having a mediocre offense last year.\u00a0 This squad looks much stronger with the bats, despite not being a priority in the draft outside of first round pick Ozzie Albies.\u00a0 Mike Trout and Aaron Judge pretty much guarantee that the Mavericks offense won&#8217;t suck.\u00a0 The Orioles infield duo of Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop are also the Mavericks top infielders.\u00a0 The outfield is in good hands with Trout, Judge, Andrew Benintendi and Nomar Mazara.\u00a0 While the Mavericks aren&#8217;t expected to finish at the top of the league in any of the batting categories, they also don&#8217;t have an obvious weakness.\u00a0 The pitching staff remains loaded.\u00a0 Clayton Kershaw, Stephen Strasburg and Yu Darvish have been carrying the rotation for years, and are back to do it again this season.\u00a0 Zack Godley is a nice addition as well.\u00a0 Perhaps the most intriguing pitcher on the roster is Alex Reyes, who they drafted in the second round with a pick they received from the Komodos for Aroldis Chapman.\u00a0 It isn&#8217;t clear what role Reyes will play when he returns from Tommy John surgery in May or June, but the latest word is that he will be a starter.\u00a0 That would be a huge boost to the Mavericks win and strikeout potential.\u00a0 The bullpen is full of power arms that may not accumulate a ton of saves, but will be a boon to the other four pitching categories.\u00a0 Not included in these projections is Keone Kela, who they recently signed as a free agent and appears to be the choice to close games for the Rangers.\u00a0 Also with Kenley Jansen, the Mavericks should have a decent shot of not finishing last in saves like these projections have them.\u00a0 They may not demolish the rest of the league in ERA and WHIP as they have in recent years, but this still looks like it could be the best pitching staff in the league.\u00a0 The Mavericks appear poised to finish in the top four of the league for the seventh straight season:\u00a0\u00a0a remarkable run of sustained success.<\/p>\n<p>Below are the full 2018 projected standings.\u00a0 As you can see, not a whole lot separates the Mavericks, Naturals and Kings at the top.\u00a0 Past seasons have shown these projections to be compelling, but certainly not infallible.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s see how it all plays out.\u00a0 Welcome to the 26th Dream Team Baseball League season!<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/e\/2PACX-1vQxBXWS5WKCfgbct1ZGYnCzTwNKyxzkIaY9Qn1SYjgqGWFglxiWFLVOSjGRrBQUSa4a5_hggde24SyR\/pubhtml?gid=13&amp;single=true&amp;widget=true&amp;headers=false\" width=\"450\" height=\"475\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images We&#8217;ve reached the final portion of the 2018 DTBL season preview.\u00a0 Not surprisingly, the two teams projected to finish at the top of the standings are the same squads that occupied those spots most of last season as well.\u00a0 In case you are curious, they were not projected to finish first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mavericks","category-naturals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1153"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1158,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153\/revisions\/1158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}