Team Projections

Last week I went to two baseball games and played one. On Tuesday, my dad took my little sister and me to the RoughRiders stadium to see a game. But when we got there, the traffic was really bad and we noticed that more people were leaving the ballpark’s parking lot than were coming in. It turns out that they forgot to cover the field the night before when it rained and the field was too muddy to play. So we went back the next night and saw them play. Doug Mathis pitched and he was great. He allowed no runs in 7 innings. Frisco won 2-1. Before the game, I tried to get autographs of the three players who joined the team since the last time I was there (Brandon Boggs, Bill White, and Jorge Vazquez). I got Boggs and White but a security guard wouldn’t let me ask for Vazquez’ for some reason.

On Saturday, I played a baseball game. I played third base the whole game. I caught two outs, tagged out a base stealer, and made no errors. I had two plate appearances. The first time I walked on 4 pitches with the bases loaded. The second time, I swung and hit the catcher in the arm with my bat, so I got to go to first base on catcher’s interference. So far this season, I have a 1.000 on base percentage. We won and are 2-0.

After the game, my dad and I went straight to the Rangers game. We got there during the first inning. It was Ian Kinsler bobblehead day and fortunately they still had a few left when we got there. Kameron Loe pitched well but the defense was very bad (3 errors) and we lost 6-3.

This week, I examined all of the teams in baseball and based on their current record and the strength of the rest of their schedule, I decided which teams I thought would improve their records, which would do worse, and which would stay the same. Below are the results of my analysis.

Going Up:
1. New York Yankees: The Yankees’ pitchers have gotten injured so much that it’s left their rotation a mess until the pitchers come back, and with the Yankees they’re not going to stay under .500 a whole season.
2. New York Mets: The Mets have one of the easiest schedules in baseball, along with maybe the best hitting in baseball. With a team that good combined with their schedule, there’s nowhere to go but up.
3. Philadelphia Phillies: You can’t have a team fighting for the wild card one year and not make many changes in the offseason with this good an offense do this bad the very next year.
4. Cincinnati Reds: Aaron Harang hasn’t been doing as well as he will yet and Adam Dunn isn’t hitting for much power. There’s no chance they’ll struggle this bad a whole year, and with the Pirates in their division they won’t stay in last place long.
5. Texas Rangers: A team can’t make three errors a game throughout a whole year. Plus, our hitters are coming out of their slump already.
6. Toronto Blue Jays
7. San Diego Padres

Going Down:
1. Kansas City Royals: The Royals have the hardest schedule in baseball, in my opinion, and are probably the worst team in baseball. If possible the way they’re playing they’ll plummet with that combination.
2. Pittsburgh Pirates: The Pirates have one of the hardest schedules in baseball, probably because they can’t play themselves, and are one of the worst teams in baseball. Like in the Royals case, that’s one of the worst combinations to have.
3. Tampa Bay Devil Rays: The Devil Rays have the same combination as the Pirates and Royals, and are in a tough division.
4. Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers have one of the toughest schedules in baseball and aren’t as good as their record shows.
5. Washington Nationals: The Nats have the same combination as the top three.
6. Boston Red Sox
7. San Francisco Giants
8. Baltimore Orioles
9. Chicago White Sox
10. Atlanta Braves
11. Los Angeles Angels

Staying the Same:
1. Detroit Tigers: The Tigers are probably the best team in the AL, and have an average schedule. There’s no way they go down, but they probably won’t go up with how good their division is.
2. Houston Astros: The Astros players are performing to the expectations and they still can’t win. They have a better chance of going down than up, but will probably keep playing like this.
3. Chicago Cubs: The Cubs have tried getting all these big stars in, but just can’t win with anybody. They’re probably not going to go anywhere but stay right where they are.
4. Florida Marlins: The Marlins aren’t good enough to do any better than they are now, but not bad enough to go behind the Nats. They’ve got an average schedule so unless the GM makes another decision that isn’t understandable, they won’t go down, but the GM isn’t good enough to get them players that will bring them up.
5. Oakland Athletics: The A’s talent is right where their record shows - around .500. Unless they get somebody good at the trade deadline they’ll stay just behind the Angels and just in front of the Mariners.
6. Milwaukee Brewers
7. St. Louis Cardinals
8. Cleveland Indians
9. Seattle Mariners
10. Minnesota Twins
11. Arizona Diamondbacks
12. Colorado Rockies

Result of last week’s poll:
Question: Who do you think should be the Rangers Cy Young winner so far?
Tejeda – 37%
Otsuka – 26%
Wilson – 16%
Benoit, Eyre, Loe, and Padilla – 5% each
Everyone else – 0%

Come back next week for an analysis of the All-Star ballot.