We are so back. The rBBL is gearing up for Season 14 - the Axeman season! And, as always, I provide pre-season predictions to give coaches bulletin board material and to see how good I am at guessing. Here are my predictions for the 2001 League, the league with the best of the best among the rBBL veteran coaches. There's a new twist this season, as there will be a mid-season trading period and a chance to edit your AI defense, two things which have never been offered before. However, I'm no soothsayer so I will predict as if teams will keep their rosters consistent the whole season.
AL West
# |
AL West |
Coach |
Record |
Two Sentence Prediction |
1. |
Sleazy Raccoons |
Vissery |
10-4 |
The monkey is off of Vissery's back after last season's World Series so now he can just play for the love of the game. Last time Vissery had Tonya Lesco she was all over the league leaderboards, and now he has two of her in Tonya and Jose Canseco. |
2. |
Mortal Wombats |
AnjouPays |
9-5 |
The Wombats are full of contact hitters and AnjouPays is famous for rarely striking out, two things that will help the Wombats keep rallies going. This team may have some defensive lapses, especially against teams that can drive it deep into the outfield. |
3. |
Spiffy Penguins |
George Bonouki |
6-8 |
The Penguins are built for speed and will play in the dirt at Dirt Yards (very un-penguin-like), looking to take advantage of wacky bounces. But their defense has to play there too, which could lead to some high scoring affairs with the lack of arms on this team. |
4. |
Mighty Melonheads |
HaloTW |
4-10 |
Coach Halo pulled off the never before seen move of drafting Derek Jeter AND his clone Marilyn McDonnell....to play at Parks Dept. #2 where grounders dodge infielders. I think this team may actually do better on the road at more defense-oriented fields. |
AL Central
# |
AL Central |
Coach |
Record |
Two Sentence Prediction |
1. |
Florida Marlins |
Loba |
11-3 |
Loba is one of those coaches that just tries to copy-paste his previous team into each new season. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it. |
2. |
Sugar Land Skeeters |
Cherry |
6-8 |
Coach Cherry knows what he likes, and he was able to build a team that is well suited for his favorite home park of Tin Can Alley. I'm a little puzzled that this team will have Randy Johnson as potentially the fourth pitcher in its AI rotation, but that also means that you won't face any slouches on the mound when you play them. |
3. |
Texas Patriots |
bobbyJONES |
5-9 |
It was incredibly risky to get picks 10 and 11 in the draft and take Pablo and Achmed, which may have set off a snowball effect with the early Amir pick and resulted in the Patriots not getting the squad they really wanted. I also think Tin Can Alley limits the strength of this team which is its four power hitters. |
4. |
Mojo Dojo Casa Houses |
mattitude |
2-12 |
Matt's theme of Barbie and all the Ken's (and a few friends) was fun up until people realized they actually have to play ballgames. Those three 9th round picks were absolutely brutal, and Sandy Flats is not going to do this team any favors. |
AL East
# |
AL East |
Coach |
Record |
Two Sentence Prediction |
1. |
Green Reds |
personizzle |
10-4 |
Like I mentioned earlier with Loba, personizzle also likes to draft the same exact team year in and year out. And I wouldn't be surprised if they lead the 2001 League in runs just like last season. |
2. |
Mystery Machines |
Heinz |
9-5 |
Adhering to his staunch anti-grounder philosophy, Heinz picked the least favorable grounder field, Eckman Acres, the only coach in the AL to do so. The Machines will have the advantage at home in low-scoring games, but once it turns into a slugfest, their line drive hitters will need to be on their best behavior to keep up. |
3. |
Atomic Oysters |
JR2604 |
8-6 |
JR and the Oysters got promoted after winning the 2002 League World Series in Season 13, and they brought face of the franchise Zenon Estrada along with them. JR's consistency in scoring runs should allow him to fit right in with the big shots of the '01 League. |
4. |
Sandy Baseball Team |
shrewsbury91 |
4-10 |
In homage to the infamous rBBL legend Guy Smiley, the Sandy Baseball Team is looking to be the Season 9 Bombers, but better. Although, if shrewsbury finishes one game without cheating, then that mission is accomplished. |
AL MVP: Fred Benson, Reds
AL Ace Wilson: Frank Thomas, Machines
AL Goldie Glove: Henri Deschenes, SS, Baseball Team
AL Best Team Defense: Skeeters
NL West
# |
NL West |
Coach |
Record |
Two Sentence Prediction |
1. |
Str8 Rippin |
Itaniium |
10-4 |
I'm so proud of Itaniium for maturing and drafting 3 people that can throw instead of just 1. This team will look similar to previous Itaniium offenses, but with only one pure power hitter, this team might hit into more double plays when the bases are loaded than they would prefer. |
2. |
Area 51 Greasels |
Nathan |
8-6 |
Nathan is an enigma in this league, as he is the only coach who has not participated in the rBBL before. However, he earned his spot here based on his great track record in the BBOL, and the transition from online to offline is not too bad, especially if you're a patient coach who can remember that the computer will throw you a juicy pitch much more often than a competitive human. |
3. |
Oregon Ostriches |
navycap115 |
7-7 |
I think drafting Curt too early stunted this offense's potential, especially at their offense-friendly home field at Parks Dept. #2. But navycap is a solid competitor and has big-game potential, like 20+ run kinda games. |
4. |
Sin City Dice |
whiffspree01 |
5-9 |
Grounder, I hardly know her! This team has maybe one person who might think about using the grounder swing, but teams who rely almost exclusively on the line drive swing are often the most inconsistent, and the Dice don't get the advantage of facing teams who can't score, like they did in the '02 league last season. |
NL Central
# |
NL Central |
Coach |
Record |
Two Sentence Prediction |
1. |
Round Trippers |
crazyei8hts |
10-4 |
I'm my biggest fan so it's never really fair to try and predict myself amongst everybody else. But with more than 100 "RP points" separate my first and second relief pitchers, my defense should stay intact for at least 10 runs which is no given at Sandy Flats. |
2. |
Crazy Beers |
hciii |
10-4 |
Hciii once again got a super-block of draft picks in the 4th round...but then blew it up anyway. After the dust settled, he's got a lot of pop in the bats and not very many holes in the defense, so this team will be very competitive. |
3. |
Indiana Pacers |
alex7456 |
5-9 |
The frenetic and haphazard trading that alex did after the draft is a tell-tale sign that a coach is not confident in his team. Also Omar Stephano subbing out to shortstop after pitching might be a disaster, we'll see if that's one of the first mid-season defensive adjustments in rBBL history. |
4. |
Elwood City Grebes |
Ferb Fletcher |
3-11 |
Ferb has put together another solid defense, but this isn't the 2002 League anymore. The Grebes have no power hitters and no speedsters, which severely limits their potential to score runs in big bunches. |
NL East
# |
NL East |
Coach |
Record |
Two Sentence Prediction |
1. |
Los Angeles Brats |
lillwaws26 |
11-3 |
The Brats are back and have some unfinished business after losing in the World Series a few months ago. This team is pretty well-rounded on both offense and defense, but their main selling point is coach lillwaws, who is 56-14 over his last five seasons. |
2. |
Green Monsters |
Yurya |
7-7 |
This team is interesting because they have 3 custom kids, 5 backyard kids, and "green" in their name but none in their uniforms. I think starting custom kid Daddy O and his 50% juice at catcher for the AI team could come back to bite the Monsters in the rear. |
3. |
Grand Salamis |
GSchlim |
5-9 |
Every season GSchlim drafts a bunch of bats with power in the low 80s, and every season he wants to quit by Week 10. For this team to hang around in the standings, Mark McGwire will need to lead the league in home runs and Pete Wheeler will need to lead the league in batting average. |
4. |
Wordly Warmups |
Chellow |
3-11 |
The Wordly Warmups have four bats that can't really hit it out of the infield....at the only home field where hitting it off the outfield wall is the best strategy. I think this team will have trouble keeping up with the offense-oriented teams. |
NL MVP: Leah Wayne, Beers
NL Ace Wilson: Rube Waddell, Monsters
NL Goldie Glove: Blue Bat, SS, Brats
NL Best Team Defense: Brats
Playoffs
AL
- Marlins
- Reds
- Raccoons
- Machines
- Wombats
- Oysters
NL
- Brats
- Rippin
- Trippers
- Beers
- Greasels
- Ostriches
AL Bracket
- 3. Racoons beat 6. Oysters
- 4. Machines beat 5. Wombats
- 1. Marlins beat 4. Machines
- 2. Reds beat 3. Raccoons
- 2. Reds beat 1. Marlins
NL Bracket
- 3. Trippers beat 6. Ostriches
- 5. Greasels beat 4. Beers
- 1. Brats beat 5. Greasels
- 3. Trippers beat 2. Rippin
- 1. Brats beat 3. Trippers
World Series