{"id":352,"date":"2012-06-24T09:37:23","date_gmt":"2012-06-24T16:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/?p=352"},"modified":"2012-06-24T09:37:23","modified_gmt":"2012-06-24T16:37:23","slug":"around-the-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/?p=352","title":{"rendered":"Around the League"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Moonshiners savior R.A. Dickey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We’re only in the last week of June, but I’m ready to declare that we have quite a pennant race brewing.\u00a0 At no point has any team in the league asserted its dominance, thus leaving us with a situation where seven out of the ten teams are in a very good position to win the championship.\u00a0 Those seven teams are all within 10 points of first place, with the top five separated by just four points.\u00a0 Somehow, the Mavericks have managed to hold the top spot most of the year, but it has been by the thinnest of margins at most times, including today when they are just 1\/2 point clear of the Jackalope.<\/p>\n

As we near the half way point of the season, I’m going to take a quick look at each of the ten teams, highlighting some of the key stories for each team.\u00a0 I will start with the three teams who are not currently in the thick of the race and then work my way up to the top of the standings.<\/p>\n

Darkhorses<\/strong><\/p>\n

Only a year and a half removed from four consecutive championships, it would be fair to say things have gone downhill since then.\u00a0 While last year was a shocking disappointment for the Darkhorses, this season has been an absolute nightmare.\u00a0 Injuries have been the story of the league this season, but no team has had their season completely ruined by injuries like the Darkhorses.\u00a0 They sit in last place with just 18.5 points, so they are in serious jeopardy of breaking the league’s all time low water mark of 20 points since the league expanded to 10 teams in 1998.\u00a0 If you look at their roster, there is no way they should be this bad.\u00a0 Besides the injuries, incredibly disappointing seasons from Adrian Gonzalez and Tim Lincecum haven’t helped either.\u00a0 If those guys can turn it around and Chris Carpenter, Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner return soon, maybe they can gain a little momentum and avoid a historically bad season.<\/p>\n

Gators<\/strong><\/p>\n

Still a work in progress, and not really a threat this year, but things are looking up for the Gators.\u00a0 Their ridiculously bad offense from ’11 has improved a bit and their pitching staff is respectable.\u00a0 But there is still a lot of work to do.\u00a0 Their huge pre-draft trade with the Mavericks hasn’t really worked out.\u00a0 Nelson Cruz has been so-so and Mark Reynolds has provided virtually nothing.\u00a0 They could have used those picks to improve in other areas, but what’s done is done.\u00a0 The first draft pick they did make, Melky Cabrera in round three, has been a huge surprise, currently third in the league with a .355 average.\u00a0 The Gators appear to be headed for another high draft slot next season.\u00a0 With some exciting young players coming into the league again next year, maybe they will have an opportunity to grab one of them.<\/p>\n

Demigods<\/strong><\/p>\n

The third team not currently in the title race is the Demigods.\u00a0 At the beginning of the year, they looked like a team ready to make a run at the championship.\u00a0 But like the Darkhorses, the Demigods have been sabotaged by injuries.\u00a0 One in particular:\u00a0 Matt Kemp.\u00a0 In April, Kemp appeared to be a shoe-in for his second straight DTBL MVP award and a possible Triple Crown.\u00a0 But since then, he has missed the better part of the last two months.\u00a0 Who knows what he will provide when he returns?\u00a0 But a healthy Kemp and Evan Longoria could get the Demigods back into contention.<\/p>\n

Cougars<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although they are only in seventh place, this is the best Cougars team in a long time.\u00a0 They are just 9.5 points behind the Mavericks and could get even closer if a couple of their pitchers turn things around.\u00a0 Josh Hamilton has carried the offense, despite slowing down a bit of late.\u00a0 Jason Kipnis has been one of the biggest steals of the draft, providing big time power and speed at a weak second base position.\u00a0 Many were surprised when the Cougars passed on Stephen Strasburg with the first pick of the draft.\u00a0 That may not have been a wise decision, but the Cougars made up for it by grabbing his Nationals teammate Gio Gonzalez in the second round.\u00a0 Gonzalez’s numbers are pretty similar to Strasburg’s and you have to figure the Cougars would not have taken Gonzalez if they had gone with Strasburg in round one.<\/p>\n

Choppers<\/strong><\/p>\n

The transformation of the Choppers has been quite remarkable.\u00a0 Last year they were all offense with a questionable pitching staff.\u00a0 This year, it is just the opposite.\u00a0 They are second in the league with 40 pitching points, but only have 20 batting points.\u00a0 One player is mostly responsible for the pitching turnaround:\u00a0 Chris Sale.\u00a0 Over the years, many teams have benefited from an extra starting pitcher in a relief pitching slot.\u00a0 But normally, that pitcher doesn’t put up All-Star caliber stats like Sale is doing this year.\u00a0 He’s keeping together a staff whose starting rotation is bandaged up with a bunch of free agent signings to fill in for other injured starters.\u00a0 The injuries to the Choppers rotation could be a huge problem in the upcoming weeks\/months.\u00a0 But there is certainly reason to believe the offense will pick it up.\u00a0 Jose Bautista is heating up, now in a tie for the league lead in home runs.\u00a0 He could help the Choppers pick up some offensive points to move even closer to first place.<\/p>\n

Kings<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is hard to say that a team four points out of first has been a huge disappointment, but to some degree, I think that can be said about the Kings.\u00a0 The pitching staff has been atrocious as a whole.\u00a0 They are ninth in the league in ERA and near the bottom in WHIP and wins too.\u00a0 Justin Verlander needs some help.\u00a0 Recently, the Kings have done a poor job of rotating their extra starting pitchers into the lineup.\u00a0 In the last eight days, they missed out on a one hit shutout by Ervin Santana and seven great innings from Edwin Jackson last night.\u00a0 If they could ever start picking the right five starting pitchers for a given week, they could be on to something.\u00a0 For the most part, the offense has been great, leading the league in batting points.\u00a0 But the lack of production from two Nationals, Ryan Zimmerman and Michael Morse, has been troubling.\u00a0 The Kings are still in pretty good shape despite being in fifth place though.<\/p>\n

Naturals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Much of what I wrote about the Choppers also applies to the Naturals.\u00a0 They have transformed from an offensive juggernaut with a mediocre pitching staff to a team with a disappointing offense and the best pitching staff in the league.\u00a0 Matt Cain, Zack Greinke and David Price have been outstanding for the Naturals rotation.\u00a0 Jordan Zimmermann would be right there too if he would ever get run support and win some games.\u00a0 The Naturals have to be considered one of the most dangerous teams heading into the second half because you\u00a0 have to figure their offense will improve.\u00a0 Having said that, the recent injury to Troy Tulowitzki could be extremely costly.\u00a0 He’s expected to miss the next 6-8 weeks and they don’t have an obvious candidate to pick up the slack.<\/p>\n

Moonshiners<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Moonshiners are perhaps the league’s most intriguing team right now.\u00a0 They have suffered some very costly injuries to their pitching staff, with the most devastating one coming this past week when Brandon Beachy was lost for the season with a torn UCL.\u00a0 Beachy was leading the league in ERA and had a sub 1.00 WHIP.\u00a0 But one free agent signing may have saved their season.\u00a0 Since joining the Moonshiners a month ago, R.A. Dickey has not allowed an earned run.\u00a0 Read that again.\u00a0 Dickey has a 0.00 ERA, 0.495 WHIP, four wins and 42 strike outs in just 34.1 innings with the Moonshiners.\u00a0 The 37 year old knuckleballer has been the league’s best story this year and may have a huge say in determining if the Moonshiners can win their first DTBL championship.<\/p>\n

Jackalope<\/strong><\/p>\n

It really can’t get any tighter at the top of the standings.\u00a0 As of today, the defending champions sit one half point behind the Mavericks.\u00a0 Batting points:\u00a0 35.5 for the Mavericks, 35.0 for the Jackalope.\u00a0 Pitching points:\u00a0 both have 33.\u00a0 So both teams are holding their own in batting and pitching.\u00a0 The Jackalope got off to a bit of a slow start, but ever since their two biggest stars, Albert Pujols and Ryan Braun, have started to heat up, so has this team.\u00a0 I think they have to be considered the favorites at this point, especially if they are able to get anything out of Ryan Howard in the second half.\u00a0 Their dominating rotation from last year hasn’t been quite the same this season.\u00a0 But Felix Hernandez has been better of late, Cliff Lee will eventually win a game and Roy Halladay should provide he boost when he gets healthy.\u00a0 As long as they keep it close, I like their chances down the stretch.<\/p>\n

Mavericks<\/strong><\/p>\n

This has been a pretty remarkable season for the Mavericks, following two consecutive eighth place finishes.\u00a0 Despite the incredible tightness of the race, they have managed to hold onto first place most of the year.\u00a0 Their strategy of stockpiling draft picks is paying off.\u00a0 Their pre-draft trade with the Gators may alter the course of this league for years to come.\u00a0 The two players they acquired with the draft picks they received in that trade:\u00a0 Stephen Strasburg and Mike Trout.\u00a0 Strasburg leads the league in strike outs and is not far behind in ERA, WHIP and wins too.\u00a0 What the Nationals decide to do with him when he reaches that magical 160 IP mark could have a dramatic impact on this league.\u00a0 I’ll probably write about this more when that date gets closer because I have a strong opinion on the matter.\u00a0 Meanwhile, I’ll be honest, I thought Trout was a bit of a gamble in the early second round because I wasn’t so sure the Angels would be able to make room for him this season.\u00a0 Boy was I wrong.\u00a0 He is hitting .351 and will probably be leading the league in stolen bases before June is over.\u00a0 If Adam Dunn, Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Jones keep hitting home runs at their current rates, the Mavericks are going to be tough to catch, despite all the teams nipping on their heels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re only in the last week of June, but I’m ready to declare that we have quite a pennant race brewing.\u00a0 At no point has any team in the league asserted its dominance, thus leaving us with a situation where seven out of the ten teams are in a very good position to win the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,11,12,5,6,9,3,10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-choppers","category-cougars","category-darkhorses","category-demigods","category-gators","category-jackalope","category-kings","category-mavericks","category-moonshiners","category-naturals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=352"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":355,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352\/revisions\/355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dreamteambaseball.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}