About 35 games into the 2003 season, it’s time for this reporter to take a look around the league’s six divisions. Each division summary will be posted on the Millennium League Blog this weekend. Let’s begin with the Rust Belt.
Rust Belt Division:
After having the most difficult schedule in the MBL in the league’s inaugural season, the Detroit Buckeyes have waltzed into the playoffs the past two years. Last year, their competition in the division was so bad they were able to trade for two additional number one picks during the season, knowing that they would have an easy time making the postseason. Rather incredibly, the combined record of division rivals, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Philadelphia was 130-356. But the quest for a third straight division crown appeared, at least in the first 15 games of the year, to be a much tougher task.
New management in Cleveland has been quite strong. In fact, last year, despite the third worst record in baseball, Eric took home 15 total votes in the end of the year voting for GM of the year and finished fourth in that category. Amassing a boatload of #1 picks, the Rock N’ Rollers appear to be back as contenders, with an offense of future stars that include Vernon Wells, Carl Crawford, Mark Teixeira and Orlando Hudson among others. The question going into this year, however, was would it be too early for Cleveland to compete?
Early on it seemed like Cleveland might give Detroit a run for its money. They swept Cincinnati to start the season scoring 11, 8, 14, and 18 runs in each of the first four games. They then split with the Buckeyes and took 2 out of 3 against the Beaneaters. However, in recent weeks they have slipped a bit. They had a tough time in Washington, losing 5 out of 6 to the Tribe and Sens. Currently, they sit at 16-17, lodged solidly in second place but already 6 games behind Detroit. We will have to see if Cleveland is ready to aim for a wild card or even their second division title this year.
It will be a tall task to accomplish that feat given how strong the Buckeyes have looked. Detroit’s pitching has been top-notch. They have a 3.37 ERA overall, with some good young arms including Brad Penny and their former #1 pick, Josh Beckett. Penny is 4-1 with a 2.57 ERA and Beckett is 5-2 with a 2.67 mark. Longtime Buckeye Hideo Nomo also has a sub 3.00 ERA. Another former #1, Francisco Rodriguez joins Mike Remlinger and Paul Shuey in a strong bullpen.
The Buckeyes are no slouches at the plate either. They are currently third in the league in runs, with good speed, as always. A number of long-time franchise players like Jacque Jones, Luis Castillo, Placido Polanco and Derek Lee lead the way. All four of those stars have become household names in Detroit over the last four seasons. Raul Ibanez is also fourth in the league in batting at .360 and Scott Podseknik has already swiped 11 bags. Overall, however, this is a team effort. The Buckeyes do not litter the leaderboard with gaudy individual numbers, but as a unit, they are once again very tough.
The other two clubs in the division may have a long season ahead. Both GMs have admitted that 2003 is a rebuilding years. While Philadelphia’s fans may accept that given that they are still happy to have received a franchise last year when the Pittsburgh Crawfords moved to play in Shibe Park as the Firebirds, the Red Stocking faithful are getting restless after finishing with the league’s second worst record the last two years. While Cincinnati is improved at 12-21, their pitching appears to be in dire straits. They have the MBL’s worst ERA at 6.79 and rumor has it that their best pitcher Kyle Farnsworth is on the block. Cincy fans may have to think of brighter days ahead.
In Philadelphia, the Firebirds are also 12-21 and have clearly been more competitive this year. One can begin to imagine a strong club in the future especially when looking at Miguel Cabrera, the #1 pick overall in the 2003 draft. But Philadelphia will need to begin to amass some strong pieces around him if they are going to begin to compete in the Rust Belt.
Overall, my prediction is that Detroit is going to have a 100 plus win season and be a strong contender to reach their second World Series. Cleveland has very bright days ahead and should compete this year for a wild card. Philadelphia and Cincinnati should have high draft picks once again. If they can make those count and begin to assemble strong parts they could very well be strong players in 2005 and 2006 and beyond.
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