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Originally Posted by waittilnextyear
The next episode of Everyone Loves The La Crosse Fighting Frogs (starring Ray Romano wearing "frog face") airs this week!
The Frogs have been placed ever so gently on the lily pad that is P448. There aren't as many familiar faces compared to last week, but we'll ribbit along sanguinely nonetheless.
Notable teams at first pass, that is, teams with shiny eye-catching PL titles that I can quickly gloss over--the Durham El Toros (3 titles) are in the AC West; the Amberg Legends (2 titles) share the NC West with said Frogs (2 titles); the Asbury Springboks (1 title) and Auburn Doubledays (1 title) coexist harmoniously in the AC East; the Summit Dirigibles (1 title) have the AC Central mostly to themselves; and the Michigan Stags (1 title) are in the NC Central. That's a total of 11 titles so it's not the strongest league ever but should make for good, wholesome competition. I estimate that the Frogs' worst-case scenario this week would be a Wild Card berth, but hopefully that's not a jinx. I owe myself a Coke!
No really amazing changes to the roster from last week to this week, except I'll get the first full week from 100 Ripken, 99 Berra, and 92 Rose--these fellows were all obtained from packs last week. Last week, they were just tadpoles, now we'll see how much they've grown.
Partly due to the acquisition of the aforementioned players, the Frogs find themselves with a bit more offensive firepower than usual. Accordingly, in a really Earth-shattering development the Frogs have upped their HR ballpark factors from .900 to .910 for this week. Massive! I feel like apologizing to my pitching staff, but maybe we generate a little bit more revenue with double dingers and so forth.
Lastly, on a somewhat poignant note, I notice that there are only 4 members of the "original" championship team from 2032 still on the active roster. Hurler CC Sabathia, infielders Lou Boudreau and Johnny Pesky, and designated hitter Harry Heilmann. The likes of Tim Raines, Dennis Eckersley, Garry Maddox, Richie Ashburn, Nomar Garciaparra, Mike LaValliere, and Tony Gwynn are all manning the reserve roster at this point. So poignant!
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Forget defense in this league, besides the Frogs suppression of homers this is a hitters park league. Here is my early season top 7 projection:
Summit Dirigbles
Durham el Torres
Amber Legends
La Crosse Fighting Frogs
Asbury Springboks
Auburn Doubledays
Michigan Stags
Summit has an amazing Negro league all star lineup. Durham has a lot of strength, but their biggest asset is their defense. Do not fall behind late in the game against the Legends, they have amazing depth in their bullpen. Frogs are not a long ball hitting but will most likely leap into the league lead in average with their high contact lineup. Right handed pitchers will struggle against the Springboks hard hitting lefties and their pitchers have the stuff to strikeout out opposing hitters. Doubledays are hoping to feast on these hitter friendly parks. Michigan stunned the Doubledays in the World Series last week and has a well rounded team that should make the playoffs but not sure if their good enough to beat the Frogs or the Legends in the NC Championship Series.
In the NC, the East is wide open but the two best team in the NC happen to be in the same division between the Frogs and Legends. I expect these two teams to be in a best of 5 clash in the division series. Michigan can surprise in the playoffs.
The AC has 4 strong contenders that are evenly disbursed between the 3 divisions. Asbury and Auburn should battle it out in the east, while Summit and Durham are heavy favorites in the Central and West respectively. All 4 teams have hitter friendly parks so keep an eye on the AC hitting leader board. It should be an interesting playoff with all 4 teams having a decent chance.