Post by Reddington on Jun 7, 2023 18:16:58 GMT -5
The Month of May has come to a close and now it is time to dissect the stat of HoFfbl and see whats what and who is going where.
We will start in the National League for the first time ever since these started.
Over in the NL East the Braves have opened up an eleven game lead and are doing their best to weather the storm of Smoltz being out injured for 5-6 weeks. Washington is looking like they have just a little more juice than the Philly’s this year, but not enough to quite challenge for the lead in the East. While Philly has a lot of talent on the team, they are currently a shade below 500. They started May 8-4 but then went 5-11 to finish the month 13-15. New Yourk and Florida round out the division looking like they are going to have a top 6 pick in the upcoming draft.
The Central is not quite the blood bath this prognosticator was expecting, thus far. Pittsburg has a six game lead heading into the summer, though they did just lose one of their best pitchers for 2 months. Peavy should be back at the end of July for the post season push. StL and the Cubs are both six back and do not seem to be themselves. As the StL GM exclaimed the other day, the team is being inconsistent, and when you look at both teams on paper, it’s quite surprising that it is not a three way tie at the top of the division. The Reds are only two games behind the Cubs and StL, but they just do not have the lineup to compete. Not having a GM in place for the offseason really hurt their chances to compete this year. Eddie Flash needs to do something to pick up some wins for the Brew Crew so they qualify for the lottery. Houston is winning just enough to be a contender for the Draft Lotto. Full rebuild also going on there.
The West is shaping up to be the nail biter that this prognosticator expected. Both the Dodgers and the DBacks are tied with currently the second best record in the league. Current prediction is both make the post season, and the winner of the division will have < a 5 game lead when it is all said and done. Colorado is having another fine season, and still looks like a team that will finish in the mid 90s for wins. Sadly they are not in the AL West as they would have a chance to compete in the off season.
Speaking of the AL West…
It looked like Seattle was going to walk away with the division, however they decided to pace themselves and Texas has taken up the task of saying, that the division is not free to win just by winning 83. The Angels still have a tad too much talent for their rebuild and look to have no chance of getting in on the draft lottery. Oakland is again having a poor season, but will end up with some draft nice draft picks to continue to restock their organization.
The Twinks are starting to walk away with the Central opening up a six game lead on the Tigers. They had the pitcher of the month for May, but but also have had a couple injuries on the starting lineup. Detroit is tied for the 5th best record in the league, but is competing against the Twinks that have the best record in baseball. Surprisingly in their hitter friendly park, the team is only 11th in total Homers on the season. So far their young’un Verlander is getting lit up and has an above seven era. Kansas City is also hanging around and will be there to pounce if Detroit falters at all. They will easily win 90, and might get close to a triple digit win season. Chicago also looks like a probably 90 win team, showing how insane the al central is with a team in full on rebuild on pace to have the same record as the winner of the AL West. Cleveland continues their pace for being a contender for the lottery.
Last we come to the sad AL east. The Yanks traded away Nomo, and now are in a slight free fall of playing five hundred ball, and hoping they can hold off the Orioles and the Red sox that are barely over 500 teams. Since opening the season 4-9 the Orioles are 25-16, and look to be the team that will put the most heat on the Yanks. Toronto is in a great spot for the Draft lotto and is still rebuilding their organization. Tampa’s GM looks like he finally woke up from a coma and is trying to right the ship so that they can even qualify for the lotto, and not be destined to be like the Brewers of last season that were forced out of the top 3.
Well that is it for the May roundup of the league, and as always please send me any and all comments to my email, skip@idgaf.com
Until next month… that’s alllllll folks
