Season 5 Preview

We've got a new team ready to make its debut and nine new Hall of Fame players to add to the league! It's almost time to get rolling with Season 5 of my nineteenth-century Strat-O-Matic baseball league! Let's take a look at the teams...

Blue Legs

• Where They Stand: After a 6-14 season and a -33 run differential, this team has a long road back to respectability. They just suffered through the worst season in the brief history of this league.
• New Faces: Frank Chance, 1B; Pud Galvin, P
• Outlook: Galvin, the reigning Playoff MVP, slides in as a solid #2 behind Old Hoss Radbourn, giving the Legs a pair of battle-tested starters. Chance will provide much-needed offensive and defensive help. Even with these reinforcements, however, the Legs seem like a .500 team to me.

Canaries

• Where They Stand: The defending champions finished the regular season in second place with a 12-9 record, but their +27 run differential was the best ever, as was their scoring rate of 5.24 runs per game. 
• New Faces: Wilbert Robinson, C/1B; George Wright, 2B/SS
• Outlook: The addition of Wright makes the league's most dangerous lineup even more potent, but the Canaries lost a lot of their depth to the Resolutes in the expansion draft. Still, my money is on the Birds to win their second consecutive championship at the conclusion of Season 5.

Haymakers

• Where They Stand: They finished in first place for the third consecutive year, but fell to the Canaries in the championship series. These days, the Haymakers rely on their elite pitching, which managed to paper over the team's shoddy defense on the way to allowing only 3.57 runs per game -- the lowest rate in history.
• New Faces: Sol White, 2B/3B
• Outlook: Their stellar .619 winning percentage in Season 4 was driven largely by luck, as the team posted only a +6 run differential and had a .538 expected winning percentage. I anticipate some regression this year, but I think the Haymakers remain strong enough to finish in second place.

Resolutes

• Where They Stand: This expansion team is a unique mix of new players I've added to the league and bench players who never got a real shot with their previous teams. They haven't played a single game yet, but I'm already loving this ragtag crew!
• New Faces: See my previous post!
• Outlook: The Blue Legs set a new standard for futility last year. Can the Resolutes do better than 6-14? I...rather doubt it.