Dynasty Baseball Start-Up League Review

Below are my thoughts on when 18 Jabronis (2 co-owned teams) get together and draft for the first-ever Dynasty Sports Empire (DSE) High Stakes Points League. A 16-team slugfest.

Pre-Draft Thought:

Before the draft order was set, I was hoping to land a top 5 FA pick or a top 2 rookie pick. Naturally, I landed pick the 1.5/4.12 slot. Honestly, this is about the last spot I would have chosen, but it is what it is.

My Pre-Draft Strategy:

Being in a draft with a lot of successful DSE owners, I was pretty aware for the most part of how most of the owners liked to construct their rosters. One thing I know is that starting pitching will go early and often. My plan is to go the best player on (my) board approach, which I expect will leave me leaning on pitching. I also want to build a younger lineup that is pre-prime since I think there will be several teams wanting to go in for this year and win the big o’ pot o’ gold. This is typically my approach in most DSE startup drafts. I’ll bet on hitting long-term, especially if I can get some young impact hitters. Having a high floor base for larger leagues I think sometimes gets overlooked.

Another thing I’m curious to see if pitching does go as it does is if there will be some cannibalization of talent; with just a bunch of teams stuck with mediocre pitching that was over-drafted. So maybe instead of ‘Keeping up with the Jones’ it might be more +EV to go a different route.

For the draft, I am sandwiched in between Conte (Team Conte) and Joe (Poon’s Posse). I have drafted a ton with Conte so feel comfortable knowing how he drafted. Joe was a wild card to me, I haven’t been in many leagues with him.

On to the draft.

Round 1:

Pick 1.5 target:
Grayson Rodriguez. I want a young arm since I probably won’t draft one high in FA rounds. Rodriguez or Baz are my targets here.

Here is how Round 1 went:

SS	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Bobby Witt Jr. – KC	1	1	LS
RF	Vancouver Canadians	Julio Rodriguez – SEA	2	2	LS
SP	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Grayson Rodriguez – BAL	3	3	LS
SP	Mr Poons Posse	Shane Baz – TB	4	4	LS
INF	The K/9 Unit	Spencer Torkelson – DET	5	5	LS
CF	Conte HS1	Riley Greene – DET	6	6	LS
C	Solebury Savages	Adley Rutschman – BAL	7	7	LS
SS	Boise Banghez	Oneil Cruz – PIT	8	8	LS
OF	Salamanca Hit Squad	Josh Lowe – TB	9	9	LS
SS	Pensky Material	CJ Abrams – SD	10	10	LS
SS	St. Clair Stallions	Anthony Volpe – NYY	11	11	LS
SP	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	George Kirby – SEA	12	12	LQA
OF	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Brennen Davis – CHC	13	13	LS
SP	New Jersey Capos	Cade Cavalli – WSH	14	14	LS
SP	Fontana Steelers	Jack Leiter – TEX	15	15	LS
CF	Riverdale Peegers	Alek Thomas – ARI	16	16	LS

Thoughts:
The first six picks went how I had them ranked. I ended up with Tork. I wanted Rodriguez or Baz but will settle for a hopefully a high upside corner bat.

Favorite pick:
CJ Abrams at 10. Big fan of Abrams, think his injury last season caused him to slip a few picks. I wanted to homer Bobby Witt here.

Riskiest pick:
Josh Lowe at 9. I just don’t trust the Rays giving full-time ABs to most of their exciting prospects coming up (outside of Wander). Talent is there, but will he platoon early on?

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Round 2:

Pick 2.10 Target:
Long wait so hard to nail down a target. Max Meyer and Corbin Carroll come to mind; Maybe Carroll will drop with injury last year.

Here is how Round 2 went:

OF	Riverdale Peegers	Seiya Suzuki – CHC	1	17	LS
SP	Fontana Steelers	Reid Detmers – LAA	2	18	LS
SP	New Jersey Capos	Hunter Greene – CIN	3	19	LS
CF	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Corbin Carroll – ARI	4	20	LS
P	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	Nate Pearson – TOR	5	21	LS
SP	St. Clair Stallions	Max Meyer – MIA	6	22	LS
CF	Pensky Material	Luis Matos – SF	7	23	LQA
SP	Salamanca Hit Squad	Matt Liberatore – STL	8	24	LS
SS	Boise Banghez	Noelvi Marte – SEA	9	25	LS
3B	Solebury Savages	Josh Jung – TEX	10	26	LS
INF	Conte HS1	Triston Casas – BOS	11	27	LS
SS	The K/9 Unit	Marco Luciano – SF	12	28	LS
SP	Mr Poons Posse	Joe Ryan – MIN	13	29	LS
P	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Nick Lodolo – CIN	14	30	LS
SP	Vancouver Canadians	Daniel Espino – CLE	15	31	LS
SP	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Roansy Contreras – PIT	16	32	LS

Thoughts:
I wasn’t in love with any options. Decided to go high upside and hope for a strong rebound season from Marco Luciano. In a pick range where I think it is worth a gamble.

Favorite pick:
Noelvi Marte. This seems like a home-run pick at 25. I had him ranked much higher. Really wish he would have fallen to me.

Riskiest pick:
Nate Pearson. High upside arm if he can ever put it together.

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Round 3:

Target:
The last rookie pick just wants to go high upside again. Targeting Jordan Walker. Was an option for me in round 2.

Here is how Round 3 went:

INF	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Nick Gonzales – PIT	1	33	LS
SP	Vancouver Canadians	Edward Cabrera – MIA	2	34	LS
SS	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Termarr Johnson – (N/A)	3	35	LS
SP	Mr Poons Posse	Bobby Miller – LAD	4	36	LS
3B	The K/9 Unit	Jordan Walker – STL	5	37	LS
SP	Conte HS1	Cody Morris – CLE	6	38	LS
SP	Solebury Savages	Mick Abel – PHI	7	39	LS
RP	Boise Banghez	Eury Perez – MIA	8	40	LS
SS	Salamanca Hit Squad	Orelvis Martinez – TOR	9	41	LS
SP	Pensky Material	Dylan Lesko – (N/A)	10	42	LQA
P	St. Clair Stallions	Aaron Ashby – MIL	11	43	LS
OF	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	Zac Veen – COL	12	44	LS
C	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Tyler Soderstrom – OAK	13	45	LS
SS	New Jersey Capos	Marcelo Mayer – BOS	14	46	LS
INF	Fontana Steelers	Nolan Gorman – STL	15	47	LS
CF	Riverdale Peegers	Robert Hassell – SD	16	48	LS

Thoughts:
Happy to land Jordan Walker. Big power bat, home runs are rewarded heavily in DSE. Ended up with 3 potential mashers. Definitely risk involved. No risk it, no biscuit.

Favorite pick:
Eury Perez. Hate to give Robert a big head with back-to-back props. I’ll bash a pick of his later to even it out. Perez seems polished for such a young pitcher.

Riskiest pick:
Cody Morris. Has a lot of helium, but Indians have a ton of arms coming up, I can’t see much that elevates him over others. Update: Balloon popped. Morris hurt. Conte will have to stash.

On to the fun rounds. The FA pool is now open.

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Round 4 (FA round 1)

Pick 4.12  target:
Wander Franco. Fits what I am hoping to do with my hitting. Will grabbed Tatis is injuries to scare off the first 11 teams.

Round 4 picks:

RF	Riverdale Peegers	Juan Soto – WSH	1	49	LS
RF	Fontana Steelers	Ronald Acuna Jr. – ATL	2	50	LS
1B	New Jersey Capos	Vladimir Guerrero Jr. – TOR	3	51	LS
SP	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Shohei Ohtani – LAA	4	52	LS
3B	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	Jose Ramirez – CLE	5	53	LS
SP	St. Clair Stallions	Walker Buehler – LAD	6	54	LS
SS	Pensky Material	Trea Turner – LAD	7	55	LS
SP	Salamanca Hit Squad	Corbin Burnes – MIL	8	56	LS
INF	Boise Banghez	Wander Franco – TB	9	57	LS
SS	Solebury Savages	Fernando Tatis Jr. – SD	10	58	LS
SS	Conte HS1	Bo Bichette – TOR	11	59	LS
RF	The K/9 Unit	Kyle Tucker – HOU	12	60	LS
RF	Mr Poons Posse	Bryce Harper – PHI	13	61	LS
CF	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Mike Trout – LAA	14	62	LS
SP	Vancouver Canadians	Gerrit Cole – NYY	15	63	LS
SP	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Brandon Woodruff – MIL	16	64	LS

Thoughts:
Kyle Tucker is a boring pick, but love what he brings to the table. Hurt seeing the 2 picks before him; 3 picks out with Tatis and Bichette available gave me false hope.

Favorite Pick:
Bo Bichette 4.11. I have a hard time finding 10 guys I’d take before him.

Riskiest Pick:
Jose Ramirez 4.05. J-Ram is a beast. Didn’t really see any head-scratching picks this round, but don’t love the supporting lineup for Ramirez.

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Round 5

Pick 5.05 Target:
Sandy Alcantara/Shane Bieber. Will take one of these two arms. Hitters in consideration: Lou Bob, Devers, Albies.

Round 5 picks:

SP	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Shane Bieber – CLE	1	65	LS
CF	Vancouver Canadians	Luis Robert – CHW	2	66	LS
SP	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Julio Urias – LAD	3	67	LS
SP	Mr Poons Posse	Sandy Alcantara – MIA	4	68	LS
2B	The K/9 Unit	Ozzie Albies – ATL	5	69	LS
3B	Conte HS1	Rafael Devers – BOS	6	70	LS
OF	Solebury Savages	Yordan Alvarez – HOU	7	71	LS
SP	Boise Banghez	Jacob deGrom – NYM	8	72	LQA
SP	Salamanca Hit Squad	Aaron Nola – PHI	9	73	LS
SP	Pensky Material	Max Fried – ATL	10	74	LS
SP	St. Clair Stallions	Lucas Giolito – CHW	11	75	LS
SP	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	Alek Manoah – TOR	12	76	LQA
RF	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Mookie Betts – LAD	13	77	LS
LF	New Jersey Capos	Eloy Jimenez – CHW	14	78	LS
1B	Fontana Steelers	Freddie Freeman – LAD	15	79	LS
3B	Riverdale Peegers	Manny Machado – SD	16	80	LS

Thoughts:
F#%k, Joe doing his best Chris Kyle impersonation. Thought Alcantara would anchor my rotation. Ended up with Albies. 2B is a pretty thin position, so I like taking care of that with Albies. Hitting at top of a very good lineup.

Favorite Pick:
Alcantara. If he was pitching anywhere else, he’d get way more pub.

Riskiest Pick:
Max Fried. Good pitcher but feels a little high. Needs to log more IPs. Let’s see if he can break 180 IP this year.

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Round 6

Target:
Jarred Kelenic. Some risk but has pedigree and tools I think to make this a nice upside pick.

Round 6 picks:

SP	Riverdale Peegers	Max Scherzer – NYM	1	81	LS
SP	Fontana Steelers	Freddy Peralta – MIL	2	82	LS
SP	New Jersey Capos	Zack Wheeler – PHI	3	83	LS
1B	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Matt Olson – ATL	4	84	LS
CF	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	Cedric Mullins – BAL	5	85	LS
3B	St. Clair Stallions	Austin Riley – ATL	6	86	LS
RF	Pensky Material	Teoscar Hernandez – TOR	7	87	LS
SP	Salamanca Hit Squad	Jose Berrios – TOR	8	88	LS
SP	Boise Banghez	Casey Mize – DET	9	89	LS
1B	Solebury Savages	Pete Alonso – NYM	10	90	LS
SP	Conte HS1	Trevor Rogers – MIA	11	91	LS
CF	The K/9 Unit	Jarred Kelenic – SEA	12	92	LQA
SP	Mr Poons Posse	Robbie Ray – SEA	13	93	LS
SP	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Logan Webb – SF	14	94	LS
SP	Vancouver Canadians	Dylan Cease – CHW	15	95	LS
CF	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Aaron Judge – NYY	16	96	LS

Thoughts:
Landed target, so I’m happy with that. Probably should have gone Ray or Webb, but love Kelenic potential upside.

Favorite pick:
Robbie Ray. Good value. Not sure I’d have taken close to 20 SP over him.

Riskiest Pick:
Kelenic. Mize a close second. Both carry risk, worry about Mize’s upside though. Seems a bit early. I probably could have landed Kelenic in round 7, but I worried Bill might try to pair him with Robert.

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Round 7

Target:
Probably need to grab an SP. Castillo, Musgrove, Gausman, Montas all options here.

Round 7 picks:

SP	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Shane McClanahan – TB	1	97	LS
SP	Vancouver Canadians	Luis Castillo – CIN	2	98	LS
OF	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Byron Buxton – MIN	3	99	LS
SS	Mr Poons Posse	Corey Seager – TEX	4	100	LS
SP	The K/9 Unit	Joe Musgrove – SD	5	101	LS
INF	Conte HS1	Xander Bogaerts – BOS	6	102	LS
3B	Solebury Savages	Alex Bregman – HOU	7	103	LS
SP	Boise Banghez	Ian Anderson – ATL	8	104	LS
SP	Salamanca Hit Squad	Carlos Rodon – SF	9	105	LS
2B	Pensky Material	Marcus Semien – TEX	10	106	LS
SP	St. Clair Stallions	Frankie Montas – OAK	11	107	LS
SP	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	Tarik Skubal – DET	12	108	LQA
SP	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Kevin Gausman – TOR	13	109	LS
SS	New Jersey Capos	Francisco Lindor – NYM	14	110	LS
SP	Fontana Steelers	Logan Gilbert – SEA	15	111	LS
LF	Riverdale Peegers	Tyler O’Neill – STL	16	112	LS

Thoughts:
Musgrove is boring but has seemed to figure it out. Would prefer him as SP2, but it is what is.

Favorite Pick:
Kevin Gausman. Honestly, no clear favorite pick this round. Good team, back to AL East though.

Riskiest Pick:
Tarik Skubal. Tiger pitchers going quite a bit higher than I expected. Think Skubal profiles more as a high K, #3 type. Worried he won’t go deep enough to cash in on a ton of QS.

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Round 8

Target:
Best available. Lowe, Castellanos, Correa, Ketel Marte.

Round 8 Picks:

SP	Riverdale Peegers	Lance Lynn – CHW	1	113	LS
2B	Fontana Steelers	Brandon Lowe – TB	2	114	LS
P	New Jersey Capos	Luis Severino – NYY	3	115	LS
SP	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Jack Flaherty – STL	4	116	LS
SP	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	Luis Patino – TB	5	117	LQA
2B	St. Clair Stallions	Whit Merrifield – KC	6	118	LS
SP	Pensky Material	Framber Valdez – HOU	7	119	LS
3B	Salamanca Hit Squad	Kris Bryant – COL	8	120	LS
RF	Boise Banghez	Nick Castellanos – PHI	9	121	LS
SP	Solebury Savages	Chris Sale – BOS	10	122	LS
SP	Conte HS1	Luis Garcia – HOU	11	123	LS
SS	The K/9 Unit	Carlos Correa – MIN	12	124	LS
2B	Mr Poons Posse	Jonathan India – CIN	13	125	LS
C	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Will Smith – LAD	14	126	LS
2B	Vancouver Canadians	Ketel Marte – ARI	15	127	LS
SP	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Blake Snell – SD	16	128	LS

Thoughts:
Correa should slot in the middle of a nice lineup. Just hitting his prime. Hope he can stay healthy. Should return value, if so.

Favorite Pick:
Brandon Lowe. A bit of a Lowe truther, but nice value for a power-hitting 2B.

Riskiest Pick:
All the Injury Prone SP. Severino. Flaherty, Patino, Sale, Snell. Think all worth gambles though, but the risk is involved.

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Round 9

Target:
Mahle or Pablo Lopez. Coin toss if both are available.

Round 9 picks:

Pos	Team	Player	Pk	Ov	Type
SP	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Zac Gallen – ARI	1	129	LS
OF	Vancouver Canadians	George Springer – TOR	2	130	LS
2B	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Jose Altuve – HOU	3	131	LS
CF	Mr Poons Posse	Bryan Reynolds – PIT	4	132	LS
SP	The K/9 Unit	Tyler Mahle – CIN	5	133	LS
CF	Conte HS1	Cody Bellinger – LAD	6	134	LS
SP	Solebury Savages	Pablo Lopez – MIA	7	135	LS
SP	Boise Banghez	Noah Syndergaard – LAA	8	136	LQA
LF	Salamanca Hit Squad	Randy Arozarena – TB	9	137	LS
3B	Pensky Material	Nolan Arenado – STL	10	138	LS
SP	St. Clair Stallions	Sean Manaea – OAK	11	139	LS
1B	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	Ryan Mountcastle – BAL	12	140	LQA
SS	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Trevor Story – BOS	13	141	LS
P	New Jersey Capos	Michael Kopech – CHW	14	142	LS
SS	Fontana Steelers	Tim Anderson – CHW	15	143	LS
CF	Riverdale Peegers	Starling Marte – NYM	16	144	LS

Thoughts:
Both Mahle and Lopez were around. Went with Mahle since he’s been a bit more durable and needs all the IP I can get at this point.

Favorite Pick:
Tim Anderson. Gets undervalued. Good player on a good team.

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Round 10

Last round by round breakdown. Target:
If I go pitching E-Rod, hitting I like Jesse Winker.

Round 10 picks:

SP	Riverdale Peegers	Justin Verlander – HOU	1	145	LS
SP	Fontana Steelers	Huascar Ynoa – ATL	2	146	LS
SP	New Jersey Capos	Eduardo Rodriguez – DET	3	147	LS
2B	HS1 Denair Donkeys	Jazz Chisholm Jr. – MIA	4	148	LS
RP	Jersey Shore Peg Legs	Josh Hader – MIL	5	149	LQA
P	St. Clair Stallions	Mike Clevinger – SD	6	150	LS
SP	Pensky Material	German Marquez – COL	7	151	LS
SP	Salamanca Hit Squad	Trevor Bauer – LAD	8	152	LS
LF	Boise Banghez	Jesse Winker – SEA	9	153	LS
SP	Solebury Savages	John Means – BAL	10	154	LS
SP	Conte HS1	Chris Bassitt – NYM	11	155	LS
OF	The K/9 Unit	Trent Grisham – SD	12	156	LS
1B	Mr Poons Posse	Max Muncy – LAD	13	157	LS
SP	Summit Scrappy Clowns	Sonny Gray – MIN	14	158	LS
1B	Vancouver Canadians	Rhys Hoskins – PHI	15	159	LS
INF	Detroit Megalomaniacs	Alex Kirilloff – MIN	16	160	LQA

Thought:
Both targets went. Grabbed Grisham to fit in with the rest of my team. Hope he keeps the leadoff spot.

Favorite pick:
Alex Kirilloff. If he stays healthy could return value this year. Should be a mid-order hitter for a long time.

Riskiest Pick:
Trevor Bauer. Waiting for consent from Chris and Dave before I post the reason. (Homerun hit if he is actually allowed to pitch).

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Rounds 11-20

I like to think of these as the money rounds. I’m just going to try and assemble my roster in these rounds. Looking for more high upside younger hitters and also some high upside SP.

Picks:

11.05 Adalberto Mondesi. My first homer pick. If healthy he’s a steal at this range.
12.12 Ke’Bryan Hayes. Hoping he is something in the middle of what he showed in ’20 and ‘21
13.05 Tanner Houck. Think he has a chance to break out. Should have the opportunity to prove it.
14.12 Alex Verdugo. Nice young, solid hitter. Not upside initially thought as a prospect.
15.05 Zach Plesac. See Hayes’s breakdown above.
16.12 Edwin Diaz. Need some pitching points, don’t usually take closers this high.
17.05 Eric Lauer. Put up solid ratios last year, would take that again this year, hopefully with 150 IP
18.12 Vidal Brujan. Elite speed and has shown more power. Just needs an everyday chance.
19.05 Ian Happ. Could hit 30 bombs this year if he can return to hitting .250-.260
20.12 Trey Mancini. Needed a 1B and think 2nd half slump was just wearing him down from being off a year

Thoughts:
160 players were taken in these rounds, queues were hammered. Built out most of my lineup and added a few arms to the rotation. Feel like a lot of SP went too soon, lot of value with bats that were drafted throughout these rounds for teams.

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Rounds 21 -25

This is the range where I like to grab a few arms and also stash a couple of prospects. I’ll probably be looking for guys closer to the majors since can’t attach credit to them.

Picks:

21.05 Dane Dunning. Has good stuff, hope he can develop into a good SP#4
21.09 Luke Weaver. Similar to Dunning. Have grabbed quite a bit of Weaver shares this year.
23.05 Jeremy Pena. Should be starting SS for the Astros. Org seems positive on his upside.
25.05 Bryson Stott. Grabbed another SS that should be close. Can always flip one later.

Thoughts:
Made my first trade. Traded back into round 21 to grab Luke Weaver. SP was getting even thinner. This got me to at least 7 pitchers who should log a fair amount of starts. Also liked the value on Pena and Stott at this range.

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Rounds 26 and on

Picks:

26.08 Gabriel Moreno. High-end catching prospect to stash. May debut end of year
26.12 Merrill Kelly. Just another arm to log innings. Should be a usable back end piece for Arizona
27.05 Joey Bart. Betting on the pedigree. 25 home run upside.
28.12 Gio Urshela. Multi-position depth
29.05 Trevor Larnach. Think he has the bat to play, needs to cut down on his K rate.
30.12 Jonathan Loaisigia. Probably the best arm in the Yankees bullpen. Hopefully option B.

I’ll end the pick breakdowns here.

Picks 31 through 53; this is like FA pick 450 and on. Not much to see. Will be some banger value picks and a lot of guys that will be cut to pick up someone else.

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Final Thoughts:

After landing in a draft spot that I wasn’t super thrilled with I wasn’t sure how things would play out. As I figured, I ended up with shallow pitching. I just couldn’t bring myself to reach for some of the guys that were going. Hitters also get points and hopefully I can have a fairly solid floor week in, week out. My lineup will be young, but a lot of the guys have already proven they can produce. I like the potential it brings.

I’ll be leaving some points on the table in pitching but looking through all the other rosters I believe several teams will be scratching to get hit points.

I’m not sure how well my team will perform this year, but I usually draft hoping my team really hits its stride by year 3. I like the lineup foundation I have built up.

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A quick look at teams I expect to contend this year:

Riverdale Peegers
Paul went all in here. Verlander, Scherzer, Lynn, Carrasco, Cobb, Abreu, Votto, Crawford, Starling Marte. A rounded team that should cause a lot of teams problems this year.

Summit Scrappy Do’s
It hurts to say, but Damian and Geoff built a nice team. Well rounded offense with some pitchers I was targeting like Logan Webb, Julio Urias, and Patrick Sandoval.

Vancouver Canadians
Another solid team for Bill.

Detroit Megalomaniacs
Chris loaded up on pitching. Will have a lot of bullets to use there. Getting Bobby Witt at 1.1 also helps his hitting, which will be a little shallow on depth.

So basically, what I’m saying is you should expect any one of the remaining 12 teams not listed above to win the league. This should be a competitive and fun league to follow this year. Thanks for following along. Play ball.