[ayaghmour2]

Baseball is back! The boys are in camp ready for another season of Cougar baseball that likely will end the same way as it did last season; hoping for next season. The all-knowing OSA predicts a 7th place finish for the Cougars, our 69-85 record better only then the last place Stars. That's no worry, I didn't expect us to contend with Brooklyn, Philly, or Cleveland. What is nice, however, is the appearance of the #6 and #10 top hitter and pitcher. On the batting side, it's projected to be sophomore Ray Ford and veteran Doc Love. On the pitching side, our 1-2 combo of Dave Rankin and Milt Fritz. Of course, Rankin is also projected to lose 27 games, which would be enough for his 3rd consecutive loss title, so I'm hoping I can salvage his winning percentage a little this season. Granted, he won't throw 411 innings, but it's quite clear who has the most stamina in the FABL. Fritz's 392.2 innings is actually second, so if they hit those totals, that's 58% of our total innings (assuming 9 innings pitched per game). Fun to see how wacky these things can be...

Of course, that's not to say these Cougars are going to have a fierce bite! We only have one top 5 position, John Lawson's third base, and there are some holes spread across the field. One of those is supposedly first base, but don't expect Ray Ford to end 1937 ranked as the 13th best first basemen. 13th best hitter? Maybe. But 13th best first basemen? This is the same guy they think is going to hit .314/.387/.444 with 13 homers and 75 RBI's. Of course, I expect a lot of roster churning throughout the season and I'm expecting Rich Langton to take the next step this season. I think we'll finish the season in the top half for offense, but bottom half for pitching. I like our pitching staff, but Rankin is the only arm I know I can rely on. Rankin and Lawson are both 12 of 20 in the top pitchers/hitters lists and our only representative for both. Of course, most of our love is in the farm system ranks, where we edge the Cannons by one point (205 to 204) for the top spot in baseball. We both have a pair of top 10 prospects, an exciting young pitcher (Papenfus vs Barrell) and a big league ready piece (Hunter vs Edwards). Edwards debuted last season and made the big league roster, so he'll graduate soon, and with the third ranked Dynamos top prospect also on their big league roster, we'll have a comfortable lead until Hunter eventually graduates. We have 12 prospects in the top 100, from Papenfus (3rd) to Ducky Jordan (79). Then from Tommy Wilson (103) to the newly acquired Luis Sandoval (192) 10 more. Lastly, from Yates (210) to Ralph Kendall (491) 25 more rounding out 47 in the top 500. Of course, these rankings mean little to nothing as there is no way that Pug Bryan (220) is worse then 200 FABL prospects and we do not have 50 prospects better then Henry Cox, who hit 30 minor league home runs last season. But they do make you feel better when your team's system is ranked #1!

A few last notes. Walker Pearce was returned by the Sailors, so the always injured former 2nd Rounder will rehab back in Chicago. He always finds a way back, first traded to the Chiefs in the Rankin trade, and now returned back. I didn't expect him to make the Sailors roster (they're about three to four times better then us), but I thought the injury could help him stick around a little. And speaking of Philly, they'll be in Chicago to start the season with a nice three game set. We'll go Rankin-Fritz-Bryan while they're likely to counter with Jones-Thomas-Newell. We don't have a single pitching advantage when you line up our rotations, so expect to start the season with losses. Then it's on to Toronto for three with the improving Wolves. I'm hoping we can steal a few from them, but they have given us trouble on occasion. Regardless of the results, I'm excited to have fake baseball to write about and I can't wait to watch it unfold.