Capra Hardball Dynasty League

Flashback to Season 17. The young, upstart Seattle Picards are facing the mighty Cleveland Spiders. Cleveland is heavily favored, but the Picards scratch and claw their way to a deciding game 7. It's the bottom of the 9th and the Spiders are up by three runs. Cleveland brings in their ace closer, Slash Clay, to slam the door. It looks apparent that Seattle's dream season will come up just short. The Picards manage to get two runners on base, but there are two outs now and the Picards are down to their last breath. Quiet, steady SS Willy O'Connor steps up to the plate. All he wants to do is just make contact with the ball. Then, Clay offers up one of his signature fastballs. Willy swings with all his might. CRACK!!! The ball flies off the bat into the Cleveland night sky. The Spider fans stare in disbelief. The Picards dugout erupts in joy. IT'S A HOMERUN!!! The normally subdued Seattle announcer/android/bat boy Data begins to scream, "I can't believe it! It...

The National League should be highly competitive this year. As the season gets ready to kick off, there are no clear "rebuilding" clubs and several teams are hovering around the .500 mark talent-wise. All this should make S21 a fun season, full of surprise dark horse teams and down-to-the-wire division races. However, expect defending champs Tampa Bay, Anaheim and Louisville to stay well above the pack and go deep into the playoffs. NL West Prediction: 1.) Anaheim Anteaters (100-62) 2.) Vancouver Maintaineers (90-72) 3.) St. Louis Archers (81-81) 4.) Seattle Picards (76-86) Anaheim should be able to coast to the division title again. Vancouver looks primed for another playoff run. Seattle and a quickly improving St. Louis squad will likely battle it out for 3rd place. NL South Prediction: 1.) Jacksonville Bulls (83-79) 2.) Little Rock Travelers (79-83) 3.) Florida SunRays (79-83) 4.) Huntington Honey Badgers (76-86) The NL South is a wide open division. Any one of the four te...

Vancouver made significant financial commitments during the off season by signing pitchers R.J Gardner and Lon Lee and right fielder Ricardo Seanez to long term contracts. The continued emphasis is to keep talented farm products. The strength of the team is pitching. The challenge is for Hitting Coach Chad Reese to get more offensive production. If they can find 50 more runs scored in season 21, they will be poised to go deep in the playoffs. If not, they will be scratching for a wild card birth in a very completive NL West. Rotation The top four starters return, led by last year’s Cy Young candidate Jamie Bradley. His career record is 107-52. Gardner scored career bests in ERA and WHIP in season 20. Yorvit Molina had a rotation-best 1.13 WHIP. Lon Lee had 3.45 ERA as combination starter and reliever, expects to stay in the rotation. Lou O’Brien, the Über set up man, brings his .195 opponent average to the rotation. Bullpen This year’s pen i...

Overview After missing the playoffs last season, Seattle made a flurry of trades as S21 kicked off. Whether the new personnel help the Picards close the gap against superior division rivals Vancouver and Anaheim remains to seen. Starting Pitching The rotation should be the strength of the team. With newly acquired Brandon Groom (1.31 WHIP with Jackson) and the debut of 20 year old uber-prospect Junior Hernandez, the Picards hope they have a formidable 1-2 punch to build their team around. Solid vets David Armas (8-5, 3.46 ERA), Junior Funaki (1.18 WHIP) and Denny Martin (16-8, 2.81 ERA) round out the rotation. Bullpen Unhappy with Slash Clay's inconsistencies (3-10, 34 saves), the Picards signed ex-Anteater Sid Watson (1.50 ERA, 40 saves) to try to nail down 9th inning duties. ROY Pat McCullough, Harry Hammond (1.22 WHIP), Rolando Diaz (1.24 WHIP) and Clay give the Picards plenty of late inning options to get the ball to Watson. Catcher long-time backstop Julio Concepcion (.319 avg...

The Syracuse Sicilians returned to the playoffs last year, making that 4 appearances in 5 years (including 3 Divisional Championships) under the current GM. The Sicilians have perennially found their strength in pitching and defense, while they have struggled to find a consistent offense. In Year 19 they did show improvement at the plate, however, finishing 7th in the league in runs scored. This followed 4 years where they finished 14th, 14th, 12th and 14th in the same category. The Sicilian pitching staff stumbled slightly and gave up the 6th fewest runs in the league in Season 19. This followed 4 seasons where they were 3rd, 1st, 3rd, and 3rd in runs allowed. During the past 5 seasons the boys from Syracuse have flashed spectacular glove-work, finishing 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 3rd and 1st in fielding percentage. As a new Opening Day approaches Syracuse fans are optimistic that their teams pitching and defensive strengths will remain just that and that their offensive improvement will continue...

A few days ago we were treated to mfahie's exhaustive recap of all the HOF candidates, including his comments on a crowded field of first basemen. Mfahie pointed out the merits of Henry Menechino, Trenidad Prieto, Alexander Henry, and - to a lesser degree - Don Wilson. He ranked them in that order, singling out Menechino as a top-tier candidate and designating Wilson as a borderline case and the 22nd most deserving candidate. Crickett13 subsequently responded with a spirited promotion of Don Wilson's candidacy and has garnered some support for Wilson in the World Chat. We'll try to compare each player's career here. In a crowded field with a number of worthy HOF contenders, it is likely that an owner's ballot might contain room for only one of these contenders. For counting stats, we'll compare per 600 plate appearance to try to smooth out some of the issues with playing time. And finally, we'll provide the stats for two other comparable candidates. Hen...

After making their 3rd consecutive ALCS appearance, and celebrating 8 straight AL South division titles, Monterrey is back to compete for the title again. Monterrey said goodbye to two more of their longtime heroes, but hope with some new faces to make another deep run in the playoffs. Infield: Perennial All-Star Alfonso Cortez is back after signing a lucrative contract to anchor the Campéones infield. Vinny Holmes returns to man the hot corner. The right side of the infield is brand new, with defensive wizard Lance Plant at second, and rookie Juan Brogna at first. Veteran professional hitter Stan Lee will take time out from his budding career as a comic book artist to play some first base and help mentor Brogna. Ralph Daniels will hope to rebound from a very disappointing year last year, while Orlando Javier brings his stellar defensive skills and occasional pop back for another year. Ivan Soriano comes over from Madison to back up any and all positions. Javier Leon still owns a catch...