Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Meet the Owner w8tilnxtyr

W8tilnxtyr is a new owner to HBD with 3 partial seasons under his belt

Name/Marital Status: SEAN/married


Age: 47

Job: Environmental Specialist 2 (Ohio EPA - State of Ohio) -

Location: Columbus, Ohio   COMMISH EDIT: Columbus is one of my favorite random cities. As a Canadian I'm sure Columbus is in an uproar over the Rich Nash trade........crickets?

Favorite HBD Moment: Finishing my very first season (Pioneer League) 72-90, third place...NOT LOSING 100 GAMES! ;-)  COMMISH EDIT: If you go through your HBD career and never lose 100 games you'll have a very successful career

Favorite sports teams: Originally from Cleveland, so I'm a huge Cleveland sports fan...I guess you can call it a "genetic disorder"! Ha! Favorite teams...Indians, Browns, Cavaliers COMMISH EDIT: Being a Cleveland fan has got to be the toughest in all of sports fandom

Friday, November 23, 2012

Preseason S25 Power Ranks (1-5)

1. Salt Lake City

For the 2nd time in the last 4 years an NL team has brought home the WS title. I continually made jokes in the power rankings last year that if  step 1 in the SLC rebuild was a 20+ win (S23-24) improvement we should all be worried about Step 2. Well it turns out Step 2 was the Morman's 2nd WS title. Can't say I didn't warn you.

2. San Fransico

Six Straight 100+ win seasons, Best Record in Hunter the last 4 seasons, 3 WS appearances in the last 4............All roads to a title go through San Fransisco. If other owners are looking to nitpick for self-assurance, SF did ship off several key contributors from last year in the pre-season and lost Q. Lary to FA.  Also SF is 0-2 in his last WS appearances...........I would then remind everyone that Bjb's farm system is a revolving door of All-Stars


3. Kansas City

2nd Best record in Hunter last 3 seasons........ Zero divison titles.......such is the fate of those in the AL West. Ptowner got creative in the off-season to fix his salary concerns while minimizing the damage to his roster. Every pres-season I predict that KC will graduate from Bridesmaid to Bride, following Murphy's Law, the year I don't predicut it, it will occur.

4. New Orleans

New Orleans took a giant leap forward last year improving their win total by 16 games. Sometimes you can write off a large jump to being a fluke. However, when the owner tells you prior to the season not to forget him in the Power Rankings and puts me on notice that his team is ready to compete, you take notice. It looks like NO has inherited the SLC joke. If Step 1 is a 16 Win improvement and a trip to the NLCS what isStep 2?

5. Louisville

The S24 champs stumbled last year in the playoffs, after wrapping up the AL 2-seed we were bounced by the Smokies in round 2. The roster boasts ALL of the key contributors from the S24 title team but the depth of competition in the league continues to increase, while the Sluggers get slightly older. The greying of the Louisville beards pushes us out of the top 3 for the first time in a season and a half.

The top 5 are very similar to last season, however with all of the off-season movement expect to see some new names in Part 2 (6-10)