A Crude Ranking Of The Eight Hardest-Hitting Lineups

By Matt Eddy

This piece does not attempt to rank the best collections of position players in the MMDA, because defensive proficiency is not considered. Nor does it single out the best rate performers (always handy for the playoffs) or account for a lineup's strength versus lefthanded starters.

Anthony Rendon's emergence fortifies a Dodgers lineup
that already had Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera

This simply measures the quality (runs created) and quantity (at-bats) of offense produced by each team's projected regulars around the diamond. In other words, we would expect these lineups in a neutral ballpark context and against a standard percentage of righthanded starters to score the most runs over 162 games.

To measure offensive quality, I identified the probable lineup regulars for each team, then ranked those regulars by projected runs created. Because this is a crude measure, I used a Roto-style scoring system, such that teams received points based on where their players ranked among the 20 MMDA regulars.

For example, the No. 1 center fielder, Mike Trout, bestowed one point to the Dodgers. The No. 2 first baseman, Miguel Cabrera, credited Brooklyn with two points, and so on down line. The lowest point total for any player is 20. I then summed those point totals for all nine lineup regulars to arrive at a ranking, and here it is. Remember that lower scores are best.

1. Brooklyn Dodgers (Pacific)
Total: 67.
C—Dioner Navarro (9). 1B—Miguel Cabrera (2). 2B—Neil Walker (5). 3B—Anthony Rendon (2). SS—Jimmy Rollins (11). LF—Rajai Davis (16). CF—Mike Trout (1). RF—Jon Jay (12). DH—Hanley Ramirez (9).

The Dodgers scored more than 100 additional runs than any MMDA team in 2014, and expect them to repeat as the league's top offense this season. Cabrera and Trout continue to rank among the elite players in the, while 2014 first-rounder Rendon has supplanted Ramirez as the club's third banana. Extra RH bats: Trevor Plouffe, Collin Cowgill.

Top Eight Rotations You Want To Avoid In The Playoffs

By Matt Eddy

Nothing makes a manager's heart sink quite like the prospect of facing an opponent's stacked rotation in a short playoff series. The defense controls the ball in baseball, and the starter is the defense's most vital component.

The addition of Carlos Carrasco put the
Pilots rotation over the top

What follows are the eight most fearsome rotations in the MMDA, at least according to the on-base and total-base units on top four starter cards for each team. To arrive at this ranking, I took all starters with at least 125 innings (a group that numbered 120 pitchers), because 125 innings distills down to 13 innings in a playoff series, which is more than enough to cover two starts in seven games. Using my valuation formula, I then determined which teams could throw the four most-effective starters out there in a short series.

Drawbacks to this method: (1) strikeout chances are not considered, which is too bad because the strikeout is the ultimate neutralizing weapon; (2) some teams will rely on just three starters with an asterisk rating to see them through a seven-game series; and (3) a poor offense and/or low innings totals and/or poor No. 5 starters will almost certainly prevent some of the following teams from actually qualifying for the playoffs. Each pitcher's overall rank (by my formula) is listed in parentheses; an asterisk denotes a starter who can go on short rest in the playoffs.

Note that the Pilots (RHP Drew Hutchison), Stars (RHP Rick Porcello) and Lions (LHP Drew Smyly) had a fifth starter rank in the upper half of qualified starters, but those pitchers are not considered in the following exercise.

1. Rochester Pilots (Atlantic)
RHP Carlos Carrasco (2), RHP Jake Arrieta (4), LHP Jon Lester (12*), RHP Matt Garza (33)

The Pilots selected Carrasco 13th overall in this year's draft, about a year after they struck gold with a late-2013 trade with the Irish in which they dealt a fifth-round pick for Arrieta. Now, Rochester can turn to two of the top four starter cards up to four times in a playoff series.

Roune One: Northeast 4, West Side 1

Game recaps from the Strat-generated box scores. In this series, the No. 1 Northeast Huskies (115-47) had home-field advantage versus the No. 8 West Side Bluejays (87-75).

Game One
Huskies 6, Bluejays 4

Salvador Perez hit one over the fence and had 3 RBI as the Northeast Huskies outscored the West Side Bluejays 6 to 4.

In the bottom of the 6th inning Northeast scored 5 runs when they came up with 5 base hits. The crucial at-bat was provided by Perez who made the home-town crowd a happy bunch when he doubled scoring two baserunners.  Casey Janssen relieved and was untouched by West Side as he recorded the save, his 1st.

Adam Wainwright (1-0) got the win allowing 4 runs in 7 innings. Chris Sale (0-1) was charged with the loss. Northeast scored big getting 6 runs off him in 5 2/3 innings.

Huskies dominate regular season once again, but can they get it done in October?

The Northeast Huskies have done it again. John Tresca's club led the league with 115 wins during the regular season, landing in a familiar place: atop the Northeast Division (named for its geographic location, though it could just as well be in honor of its dominant team). This marks six consecutive seasons in which the Huskies have either won the division outright or tied for first.

Since bringing up the rear with a 54-108 record in 2007, the Huskies have gone 659-313, good for a .678 winning percentage. During that span they have posted the best record in the league three times (2009, 2012, 2013). For all that dominance, however, there is one thing that has eluded them: a title. Over the past five years the Huskies have advanced to the final series only once, falling to the Bulldogs in seven games in 2009.

Can they do it this year? Their road to the World Series runs first through division rival West Side Bluejays, who are making their first-ever appearance in the MMDA postseason. Vegas likes the Huskies here. Northeast led the MMDA with a 3.28 ERA and ranked third in runs scored with 891. By contrast, the Bluejays posted a 3.97 ERA (9th) and crossed the plate 784 times (6th). But as the Huskies have learned, these games aren't played on paper.

Jim Baker's Wilmington Razorbacks finished with the second-best record in the league, at 112-50, ending a postseason drought reminiscent of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Razorbacks were led by a stout offense that gets on base and scores lots of runs. They posted a .359 on-base percentage as a team, nineteen points better than the second-best club (Huskies), and scored a league-best 928 runs. Their pitching staff logged a 3.92 ERA, eighth best in the league.

The Razors will be going up against a playoff fixture, the Northwest Stars, who secured the No. 7 seed after losing the tie-breaker with division foe Spokane. The Stars are a balanced club that finished fourth in the league in ERA (3.63) and seventh in runs scored (769).

Spokane, the sixth seed, will face the third-seeded Mohawk Valley Crimson Lions, whose potent offense ranked fourth in runs (839) and pitching staff finished third with a 3.55 ERA. The Hooded Crows are a pitching oriented club. Led by ERA champion Clayton Kershaw (2.08), they finished second in the MMDA with a 3.35 ERA. Kershaw and his fellow rotation mates will have to shine, however, because Spokane's offense ranked just 15th in runs scored, with 679, the least of any playoff qualifier.

The final matchup features divisional foes Goldenrod and St. Louis. They met in the second round of last year's playoffs, with the Gators sweeping the Maulers on the way to capturing the league championship. The Gators, who won two more games in the regular season this year to take the division title, have the edge in both ERA (3.82 to 3.91) and runs scored (796 to 720).

Best of luck to all eight clubs and congratulations on advancing this far.