Season 23 Preseason Power Rankings

Spring Training is under way and the regular season is right around the corner, so it's a great time to check in with the Preseason Power Rankings!  At the top for the third season in a row is Richmond, bringing back a very well balanced squad.  Close behind at #2 is defending champion Helena, with a most potent offense this season.  Rankings favorite Chicago checks in at #3, sporting our top rated Starting Pitching staff.  AL West squads Seattle and Boise round out the top 5, giving the division 3 of the top 5 teams, making the division look quite tough this season.  Of course, there is always a lot of shuffling from the preseason rankings, so it will be interesting to see how things will turn out.  It should be a great Season 23.  Good luck to everyone, here are the complete rankings!

				Starting	Relief
		Season 22		Pitching	Pitching	Hitting	Fielding
	Team	W	L	Rank	Rank	Rank	Rank
1	Richmond	100	62	3	6	3	5
2	Helena	98	64	5	11	1	4
3	Chicago	92	70	1	9	8	14
4	Seattle	88	74	6	8	11	5
5	Boise	88	74	4	23	2	27
6	Wichita	89	73	2	21	17	22
7	Detroit	82	80	8	4	14	30
8	Honolulu	84	78	15	13	10	12
9	Charlotte	78	84	10	26	9	14
10	Buffalo	88	74	23	3	4	19
11	Louisville	88	74	9	30	5	29
12	Syracuse	88	74	19	10	13	14
13	Las Vegas	81	81	17	1	20	12
14	Tampa Bay	82	80	7	24	22	5
15	Little Rock	55	107	30	5	6	22
16	Oklahoma City	84	78	31	7	7	22
17	Durham	79	83	13	27	15	11
18	Salem	72	90	11	2	25	19
19	St. Louis	84	78	18	22	19	2
20	Rochester	78	84	22	19	21	1
21	New York (AL)	73	89	28	32	12	2
22	Columbus	71	91	20	31	18	14
23	Washington	75	87	12	25	23	31
24	Mexico City	77	85	24	17	24	19
25	Nashville	75	87	27	12	27	5
26	New York (NL)	69	93	26	20	26	5
27	Oakland	72	90	16	29	28	22
28	New Britain	106	56	25	16	29	28
29	Trenton	80	82	14	15	30	5
30	Houston	75	87	32	14	15	22
31	Boston	74	88	21	28	32	14
32	Burlington	67	95	29	18	31	32

Season 23 Offseason Free Agency Tracker

Season 23 is now in full swing, and hot stove season is here.  Check back here to see where all the top Free Agents land this offseason!  Best of luck to all in their pursuit of that player that could put them over the top!

				Old	New	Contract
Rank	Player	Pos	Age	Team	Team	Amount	Years
1	Nicholas Miller	SP	32	NB	WAS	$51.0 M	5
	Comments: He's won back-to-back Cy Young awards, so he's probably pretty good
2	Rodrigo Toregas	3B	30	NY2	LOU	$79.0 M	5
	Comments: Unmatched power, great eye and plus splits, also an excellent fielder
3	Delino Santana	SS	31	TB	CHA	$61.0 M	5
	Comments: Elite batting eye and LH split and great fielding make him extremely valuable
4	Neil Cunningham	SP	31	HEL	SAL	$31.6 M	5
	Comments: Excellent across the board, except for LH split, still top end of rotation type
5	Tommy Stoddard	SP	34	HON	BOI	$45.0 M	5
	Comments: His ratings are 2nd to none, but limited DUR/STA a concern as he ages
6	Jose Reyes	LF	32	CLB	OK	$43.9 M	5
	Comments: Excellent power and batting eye as he has a .900 career OPS and owns LHP
7	Bob Patterson	LF	31	MC	DUR	$26.6 M	4
	Comments: Great power bat with outstanding track record and should tear it up in Durham
8	Victor Diaz	SP	32	DET	WIC	$42.5 M	5
	Comments: Plus control and splits, and his pitch arsenal is pretty good, solid starter
9	Brett Leach	1B	32	LV	SEA	$55.0 M	4
	Comments: Elite hitting ratings for sure, but power drop over past few seasons is a concern
10	Ricardo Guerrero	DH	28	TRE	WAS	$4.6 M	1
	Comments: Elite power hitter who can crush it, although not as effective vs. RHP
11	J.D. Willis	RP	35	WIC	OK	$20.0 M	4
	Comments: Excellent ratings across the board and has shown he can anchor a bullpen
12	Richard Tateyama	C	28	NB	LR	$19.2 M	4
	Comments: Decent enough as a catcher, nice bat with outstanding eye and is only 28
13	Randy Murphy	SP	26	SAL	NY1	$43.8 M	5
	Comments: Outstanding control, nice array of pitches, but none of them are lights out.
14	Marshall Hatfield	SP	30	LV	LV	$29.6 M	5
	Comments: Solid ratings all-around, keeps the ball down, and has done great in Vegas
15	Orlando Ortiz	RP	33	HEL	LV	$9.6 M	2
	Comments: Outstanding lefty reliever with great pitch command and a nice track record
16	Bernie Jackson	DH	36	WIC	SEA	$4.1 M	1
	Comments: He's getting up there in age, but still has a sweet bat, with a great eye
17	Geraldo Perez	2B	33	NB	LR	$11.4 M	3
	Comments: Plus splits and batting eye, nice career numbers, subpar put passable at 2B
18	David Frias	3B	35	RIC	HEL	$1.5 M	1
	Comments: The aging vet is still a pretty solid all-around player and could help a team
19	Alex Henley	RP	28	SAL	NB	$1.6 M	1
	Comments: Weak RH split is his only glaring weakness, could bounce back from off year
20	Jed McKnight	SP	29	NY2	HON	$14.6 M	3
	Comments: Pitches are tremendous, with plus control, but weak splits could hold him back
21	Rob Fisher	SP	29	ROC	NY1	$9.2 M	2
	Comments: Extremely strong pitches, but lack of control could lead to some rough outings
22	Cam Bleier	3B	30	LV	LV	$33.5 M	5
	Comments: Excellent defender and has a decent enough bat to not be a liability there
23	Kevin Duran	3B	28	HON	MC	$6.2 M	2
	Comments: All-around solid player, nice LH split, yet not really spectacular anywhere else
24	Perry Kelly	RP	29	STL
	Comments: Workhorse with mediocre splits his only downside, could be a decent RP
25	Darron Barker	RP	27	DUR	MC	$0.8 M	1
	Comments: Splits are ok, not great, everything else looks solid, could help a ML team

Season 22 Wrap Up - Helena Takes the Crown!

Helena Bighorns (AL) bluebaran View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Helena is your Season 22 Champion!

Helena made their mark on the Season 22 playoffs, running through the competition with ease, posting an 11-2 record in the postseason, sweeping Wichita in 3 games, taking out #1 ranked New Britain in 5 games, then defeating a strong Chicago team in the World Series, also in 5 games. The Helena pitching staff could barely be touched in the postseason, sporting an impressive 2.67 ERA and 1.13 WHIP, a major factor in them being able to cruise to the title.  The offense was adequate, and came through when needed led by powerhouse stud DH Nick Spence who hit .353 with 5 HR and 13 RBI this postseason, to go with a 1.097 OPS.  After a few down seasons, it looks like Helena is now one of Kenny Powers' elite teams that will be in the mix again for several seasons to come.  This is bluebaran's 3rd Kenny Powers title, also winning in Seasons 7 & 9, and the franchise also won the crown in Season 13, the season after he left the team for a quick break!

Congratulations to Helena and bluebaran on a great season.  It will be tough to repeat with so many solid teams in the mix.  See you back soon for Season 23, it should be an exciting one!

Season 22 Awards Recap

It's time to recap who took home the hardware as award winners in Season 22!

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League - Ken Ingram, New Britain - .293 AVG 51 HR 142 RBI 15 SB
It's the 2nd MVP trophy win for New Britain's Ingram, and his stat line indicates he certainly deserved it.  He lead the AL in Home Runs, RBI, Slugging, and Runs and on top of that won a gold glove!  He was also an All-Star starter, his 4th All-Star appearance overall.  Ingram did it all this season and at 27 years old, has many fantastic seasons to come.

National League - J.C. Ganzel, Honolulu - .334 AVG 48 HR 133 RBI
The ageless Honolulu slugger had another phenomenal year at the plate, good enough to bring home a record tying 5th MVP trophy in Season 22.  Ganzel led the NL in Batting Average, Hits and OPS this season.  He was an All-Star starter, making his 10th All-Star appearance!  And then matched it with a 10th Silver Slugger award as well!  Ganzel is truly one of the best hitters in Kenny Powers history.  It will be interesting to see if he can put together another epic performance forth in Season 23 at age 35.

CY YOUNG AWARD
American League - Nicholas Miller, New Britain - 24-3 2.28 ERA 176 K
Miller won his 2nd consecutive Cy Young Award in a landslide, and looking at his stat line, it's not hard to see why.  He was the league leader in ERA and Wins for the top regular season team, and made his 4th All-Star appearance.  At Age 32 this upcoming season, a run at a 3rd straight Cy Young seems plausible, although whispers of a rebuild in New Britain may decrease that chance, depending on if he is traded and where he lands.

National League - Justin Jordan, Salem - 22-4 2.10 ERA 186 K
Multiple time winners all around this season, as Jordan takes home his 2nd career Cy Young Award, also having won back in Season 17.  Similar to his AL counterpart, he won in a landslide, and led the league in ERA and Wins.  He made his 6th All-Star appearance this season as well.  He'll be Age 34 next season, but should be capable of another great performance, as he continues to rack up accolades throughout the latter part of his career.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
American League - Carlos Oliva, Mexico City - 19-6 3.31 ERA 129 K
Unlike most of the other award races this season, Oliva won the AL Rookie of the Year by a single vote.  With his impressive stat line, racking up 19 wins with a solid ERA, it's hard to argue he's not a deserving winner.  After 7 long seasons toiling away in the minors he finally landed a spot in the Mexico City rotation, and stepped up to the plate, or in this case mound, big time.  It will be interesting to see where the 25 year-old's career goes from here.

National League - Christopher Hamilton, Rochester - .294 AVG 41 HR 118 RBI
It was quite the debut for the #10 overall pick in the Season 19 draft, as the slugging RF for Rochester takes home the NL Rookie of the Year trophy.  On top of his stat line above, he also reached 200 hits and played in all 162 games!  Looks like he's a keeper going forward, with his splits being the only questionable part of his overall make up, his great contact, good batting eye and excellent power should help him overcome what he's lacking elsewhere.

FIREMAN OF THE YEAR
American League - Banjo Kemp, Boise - 3.62 ERA, 41 SV, 1st Win
National League - Rico Tejera, Salem - 3.60 ERA, 37 SV, 1st Win

SILVER SLUGGER AWARDS
American League

DH	Octavio Guerrero	Detroit	1st
C	Richard Tateyama	New Britain	2nd
1B	Wendell Myatt	Oakland	1st
2B	Sean Lewis	Helena	1st
3B	Andy Minor	Mexico City	4th
SS	Delino Santana	Jacksonville	4th
LF	Jose Reyes	Washington	4th
CF	Steve Miller	New Britain	1st
RF	John Greer	Washington	1st

National League

P	Alex Rosa	Chicago	1st
C	Jeremy Randall	Buffalo	11th
1B	Julio Park	Durham	1st
2B	Albert Valenzuela	Buffalo	6th
3B	Dingo Price	Chicago	3rd
SS	Darryl Matthews	Cincinnati	3rd
LF	Damon Duran	Honolulu	1st
CF	Banana Alexander	Richmond	1st
RF	J.C. Ganzel	Honolulu	10th

GOLD GLOVE AWARDS
American League

P	Carson Pressley	Boston	1st
C	Brace Durocher	New York	1st
1B	Diego Sanchez	Boston	1st
2B	Ken Ingram	New Britain	3rd
3B	Patrick Jefferies	Jacksonville	2nd
SS	Delino Santana	Jacksonville	3rd
LF	Al Hughes	Helena	1st
CF	Armando Vincente	Oakland	1st
RF	Walt Silva	Boise	2nd

National League

P	Alex Rosa	Chicago	1st
C	Curtis Gibson	Las Vegas	1st
1B	Vasco Correa	Chicago	2nd
2B	Saul Santos	Kansas City	1st
3B	Dingo Price	Chicago	1st
SS	Beamer Healy	Durham	3rd
LF	Domingo Iglesias	Tampa Bay	2nd
CF	Miguel Cruz	Burlington	1st
RF	Dean Mitre	Kansas City	1st

Season 22 Minimum Win Requirement Update

Our minimum win rule in Kenny Powers is 55 wins in one season (50 if you are a first season owner) and 185 wins over 3 seasons. You get 2 "strikes" against the policy, and on the third strike, you're out. If you don't earn any strikes over 3 consecutive seasons, all previous strikes are wiped out.

We had one strike earned in Season 22, msmsales unfortunately earned a third strike by failing to win 185 games over three seasons, and will have to sit out Season 23.   No remaining teams need more than 55 wins in Season 23 to meet the three season requirement of 185. 

victim exceeded the salary cap this past season, and per world rules has a $1 million cap penalty for Season 23.  New Britain paid their cap penalty for a Season 21 overage, and is squared away going forward.  

Here is the summary for Season 22.  

						Wins
American League					3-Season	Needed in
Team	Owner	S20	S21	S22	Win Total	S23 for 185
Boise Taters	bubbleboy	80	82	88	250
Boston SlamPigs	themarlyman	87	79	74	240
Charlotte StarLords	goodtymes31	50	72	78	200
Detroit FC Dinamo	lfkbibanul	90	94	82	266
Helena Bighorns	bluebaran	86	90	98	274
Jacksonville Landsharks	Frozenherd		85	82
Mexico City Borrachos Gringos	TAVoorhees			77
Nashville Neutron Bombs	Ghostrunner	74	78	75	227
New Britain Frothing Walruses	merott	101	109	106	316
New Orleans Zephyrs	msmsales	64	58	55	177
New York Yankees	grissom97			73
Oakland Invaders	jnosek	91	81	72	244
Seattle SuperSonics	alogman1	90	87	88	265
Trenton Witch Burners	themojoking			80
Washington D.C. Natty Lights	heelsfan0123			71
New York Yankers	jamesp469	79	82	89	250
						Wins
National League					3-Season	Needed in
Team	Owner	S20	S21	S22	Win Total	S23 for 185
Buffalo Tiny Chickens	AceCards	89	83	88	260
Burlington Giant Pumpkins	breezee	61	69	67	197
Chicago White Sox	slashtc	87	94	92	273
Cleveland Tribe	jslipford916		70	69
Durham Screwballs	oakman310	80	83	79	242
Honolulu Tiki Gods	dodgersrays	89	100	84	273
Kansas City Monarchs	dawgrod			75
Las Vegas Crap Shoot	pbsilver11	92	95	81	268
Louisville Sluggers	yanks21	74	82	88	244
Oklahoma City Bombers	tisi29	98	92	84	274
Richmond Manamfasha	TXLnghrn	88	97	100	285
Rochester Garbage Plates	jimt14120	69	74	78	221
Salem Ducks	trimhunter99			72
St. Louis Gunners Er' Back	cosborn	79	76	84	239
Syracuse Blizzard	groth911	85	65	88	238
Tampa Bay Gasparilla II	victim			75

Strikes in S18	Cause	Strike
msmsales	Failed to win 55 games in S18	1st
Strikes in S20		Strike
goodtymes31	Failed to win 55 games in S20	1st
msmsales	Failed to win 185 over 3 seasons	2nd
Strikes in S22		Strike
msmsales	Failed to win 185 over 3 season	3rd
Player Payroll Penalty		Penalty
victim	Exceeded player payroll cap in S22	$1 Million
merott	Exceeded player payroll cap in S21	Pd in S22

Season 22 League Leaders

Here's your recap of Season 22's League Leaders!

All-Time Top 5 Performances in Season 22
Shutouts - Nicholas Gil, Las Vegas - 5 - Tied for 3rd All-Time
WHIP - Nicholas Gil, Las Vegas - 0.89 - Tied for 4th All-Time
Wins - Nicholas Miller, New Britain - 24 - Tied for 4th All-Time

Multiple Category Leaders
Nicholas Gil, Las Vegas (NL) - 5 - K, WHIP, IP, CG, Shutouts
Ken Ingram, New Britain (AL) - 4 - HR, RBI, R, SLG
J.C. Ganzel, Honolulu (NL) - 3 - AVG, H, OPS
Delino Santana, Jacksonville (AL) - 2 - AVG, OBP
Wendell Myatt, Oakland (AL) - 2 - H, SLG
Ted Wagner, Oakland (AL) - 2 - IP, QS
Justin Jordan, Salem (NL) - 2 - ERA, W
Ben Shoppach, Boise (AL) - 2 - K, Shutouts
Alvin Gonzales, Seattle (AL) - 2, CG, Shutouts

LEAGUE LEADERS

Offense
American League
Batting Average	Delino Santana	Jacksonville	.327
Home Runs	Ken Ingram	New Britain	51
	Octavio Guerrero	Detroit	51
RBI	Ken Ingram	New Britain	142
Stolen Bases	Pepper Simon	Boston	78
Hits	Wendell Myatt	Oakland	213
Runs	Ken Ingram	New Britain	129
OBP	Delino Santana	Jacksonville	.429
SLG	Ken Ingram	New Britain	.599
OPS	Wendell Myatt	Oakland	.967
National League
Batting Average	J.C. Ganzel	Honolulu	.334
Home Runs	Dingo Price	Chicago	57
RBI	Julio Park	Durham	136
Stolen Bases	Patrick Grieve	Louisville	65
Hits	J.C. Ganzel	Honolulu	211
Runs	Christopher Hamilton	Rochester	120
OBP	Jimmy Fox	Syracuse	.425
	Jeremy Randall	Buffalo	.425
SLG	Kyle Surtain	Salem	.618
OPS	J.C. Ganzel	Honolulu	1.020
Pitching
American League
ERA	Nicholas Miller	New Britain	2.28
Wins	Nicholas Miller	New Britain	24
Strikeouts	Ben Shoppach	Boise	192
Saves	Banjo Kemp	Boise	41
WHIP	Alberto Campos	New Britain	1.09
Innings Pitched	Ted Wagner	Oakland	252.2
Quality Starts	Ted Wagner	Oakland	28
Complete Games	Alvin Gonzales	Seattle	6
Shutouts	13 Tied		1
National League
ERA	Justin Jordan	Salem	2.10
Wins	Justin Jordan	Salem	22
Strikeouts	Nicholas Gil	Las Vegas	248
Saves	Rijo Tejera	Salem	37
WHIP	Nicholas Gil	Las Vegas	0.89
Innings Pitched	Nicholas Gil	Las Vegas	269.0
Quality Starts	Norberto Morales	Richmond	28
Complete Games	Nicholas Gil	Las Vegas	10
Shutouts	Nicholas Gil	Las Vegas	5

Season 22 Final Power Rankings

The regular season is over in Season 22 and before we get to the playoffs, let's check in with the Final Power Rankings.  Remaining on top for the third straight edition of the rankings is New Britain, who had the world's best record down the stretch.  Up to #2 is Richmond, who finished with the best pitching staff in Kenny Powers, and are looking for their 3rd straight title this postseason!  Checking in at #3 we have a very well-balanced Helena squad, followed by a rebounding Wichita squad and Chicago rounding out the top 5.  Now for the biggest climbers and biggest falls since the last rankings!

Biggest Climbers: #19 Oakland (+11), #11 Honolulu (+8), #14 Durham (+8), #24 New York (+7)

Biggest Falls: #28 Tampa Bay (-13), #20 Mexico City (-12), #12 Oklahoma City (-5), #29 Boston (-5)

Good luck to all of the postseason teams.  Will it be a Richmond three-peat?  Will #1 New Britain continue their regular season dominance?  Or will another team emerge?  It should be interesting, in the meantime here are the complete rankings!

					Pitching		Offense		LAST PER
	Team	W	L	PREV	Rank	Chg	Rank	Chg	W	L
1	New Britain	106	56	1	4	1	1	1	29	10
2	Richmond	100	62	4	1	3	13	1	25	15
3	Helena	98	64	3	8	0	3	0	23	16
4	Wichita	89	73	10	11	-2	7	3	25	15
5	Chicago	92	70	2	5	-3	5	-1	20	20
6	Louisville	88	74	5	18	-2	4	2	22	17
7	Syracuse	88	74	9	10	0	16	3	22	17
8	St. Louis	84	78	14	9	2	21	4	22	17
9	Seattle	88	74	6	3	-2	28	0	22	17
10	Jacksonville	82	80	12	13	4	10	-3	20	20
11	Honolulu	84	78	19	15	8	12	0	22	18
12	Oklahoma City	84	78	7	6	0	16	-3	18	21
13	Buffalo	88	74	17	15	8	15	0	22	18
14	Durham	79	83	22	29	1	6	3	23	17
15	Boise	88	74	11	22	-2	7	1	19	21
16	Rochester	78	84	20	6	1	27	2	21	19
17	Las Vegas	81	81	13	2	0	30	0	16	24
18	Detroit	82	80	16	17	1	21	0	19	21
19	Oakland	72	90	30	19	0	19	5	23	17
20	Mexico City	77	85	8	22	-8	7	-2	14	25
21	Trenton	80	82	21	26	0	20	-4	20	20
22	Charlotte	78	84	18	25	-3	11	0	14	25
23	Kansas City	75	87	27	14	1	31	1	22	17
24	New York	73	89	31	20	5	26	1	21	19
25	Washington	71	91	23	31	-3	2	-1	18	21
26	Salem	72	90	25	24	-3	14	3	18	21
27	Nashville	75	87	26	28	3	23	-3	20	19
28	Tampa Bay	75	87	15	21	-8	18	-1	15	25
29	Boston	74	88	24	30	-1	28	-3	16	23
30	Burlington	67	95	28	12	0	32	-1	13	26
31	Cincinnati	69	93	29	27	0	25	-2	15	24
32	New Orleans	55	107	32	32	0	24	-3	13	27