- MANAGER: Sparky Anderson
- HOME PARK: Qualys Field
- TOP POSITION PLAYER: 2B Nap Lajoie
- TOP PITCHER: N/R
- TOP PROSPECT: P Justin Verlander (24)
- 26TH MAN: Mookie Betts
Not quite sure what to make of this group. One thing’s for certain, however—they’ll do it tough in 1961. The tipsters have them in a three-way tie for 2nd / 3rd / last in the East Division but I think they are being overly optimistic. If forced to make a prediction about them it would be this: they’ll struggle to compete year in, year out; but then one season – sometime around the half-way point, I’m thinking – everything will come together and they’ll win it all, only to slip back into the nether regions for the remainder of this league’s duration. While Lajoie is undoubtedly a great player, I just don’t see him carrying the offence in this league like he’ll need to for the Arrows to win more than they lose. Later on Speaker will take over and guys like Edmonds and Betts will come into their own, but until then they’ve only really got slappy gappy hitters leading the charge, guys who are unlikely to put enough runs on the board to cover the weak pitching this squad has in these early campaigns. Not one of the group makes the Top 20 in this inaugural season. Even when it does develop, this staff really only has one headliner in Verlander, making it almost impossible to get a read on how they’ll perform when everyone in the league is reaching their prime. One other longer-term issue is that they are unfortunate enough to have two of the best shortstops in history – Smith and Bancroft – in their squad, neither of whom hits well enough to DH nor plays any other position. So they’ll have to figure out a way around that or they’ll be pretty much a man down for the duration.
1961 PREDICTIONS
RECORD: 80-88, t-2nd in East, 12 GB
HITTING: .251 / 81 HR / 709 R / 108 SB
PITCHING: 3.65 ERA / 721 K / 686 R / 391 BB