Imperial League
Seaboard
1. West Virginia - West Virginia opting for a retooling will still be in great shape for another seaboard crown. Young Javier Drake is on the inside track for Wunderkind.
2. Hartford - Hartford has put together a very solid off-season and used their cap space to round out a very solid rotation of Norris/McNeal/Lewis/Garcia. While none of these guys are bonafide aces, you wouldn't be upset to have any of them in your rotation. They have, of course, also signed the best free agent in German Hernandez to a very respectable 3 year deal. Assuming everyone stays healthy, Hartford is going to be in contention throughout the season.
3. Arlington - A solid team top to bottom that may lack the firepower to make it to the playoffs. Motoyuki Hatsutori strikes me as the difference maker for this team. if the 38 million dollar man puts together a good campaign, it can cover a lot of the blemishes. If he's hurt again, Arlington will probably be a seller at the deadline.
4. Manchester - Manchester will continue to build a deep farm system with good draft picks.
Dixie
1. Florida - In 2029, the Featherheads won their most games in the Hannahs era. I've improved the roster somewhat and we have some good rookies who look primed to make an impact shortly. I expect some regression from Hitman, but even in that case, I'm very excited for my rotation and bullpen in 2030. I'll have a lot of trade chips/depth stashed in AAA this year which may be important as we go down the stretch.
2. Kentucky - The 2029 IL participant in the Rodriguez cup, the team showed just how powerful it was in the last 2 months of the season. If they played like that the entire season, they would have undoubtedly taken the division. Their problem has always been consistency. A quiet off-season and 6 players lost in the Rule 5 draft may be worrying many Thoroughbred fans, though...
3. New Orleans - the Juan Hernandez acquisition may be one of the more under appreciated pickups so far during this off-season. A consistently effective high average, good defense player, Hernandez is a perfect fit for the otherwise homer-happy Trendsetters.
4. Charleston - Charleston continues with a strategy of rebuilding while putting a competitive team on the field. The 2030 iteration of the newest PEBA team has new faces, yet the outlook is the same. Strong free agent acquisitions puts Charleston in a position to make some money while allowing their farm the chance to mature.
5. San Antonio - A slow off-season for San Antonio may lead to another losing season for the Calzones. One thing you can say about this team is their coffers are filled to the brim, though. They can turn it around in one off-season if they put some of that money to use. At a payroll of just over 37 million, their entire payroll is less than Alex Bothwell and Motoyuki Hatsutori's annual salary.
Trans Atlantic
1. Havana - I wanted to make a hot take and take San Juan here, but I just couldn't do it. Havana looks ready to continue their dominance in the IL Trans Atlantic. Vazquez will continue to dominate IL lineups and their offense will continue to be good enough. I'm expecting one of these days Ogre is finally going to unleash his full potential and put up a Royal Raker caliber season. For now, he's not even the best short stop in the division.
2. San Juan - San Juan filled a lot of gaps this off-season with the value signing of LF Kelvin McDonald and pitchers Edgardo "Terror"Diaz and Jon Dalton. They also picked up elite RF Roberto "Fudd" Martinez. I like their balance, so I like them surprising people sneaking into the wildcard.
3. Scottish - It was a slow offseason up in Alba, save for 3 Rule 5 guys. The team is still fearsome with a core of Naomi Honma, Pat Barry, and Vincent Powell, the offense will again be productive, but the cracks that appeared at the beginning of the off-season don't appear to have been filled...
4. London - London has done some work this off-season. Inking Francisco Murillo to a 3 year contract could pay dividends -- especially if he has a rebound campaign after discouraging age 29 campaign in Fargo. London seems largely to be in a holding pattern until Megavolt is ready to make his way to The Show.
5. Amsterdam - The Imperial League Vail has a team with some good prospects, but looks to be lacking enough strong role players to make it all come together. Antonio Santos may be the most valuable trade chip in the game right now, should Ryan decide to deal.
IL Awards Winners
Royal Raker Winner: Bartolo Mora (KY) - Mora had a down year in 2029... I expect a pretty serious rebound in 2030.
Golden Arm Winner: Enrique Vazquez (HAV) - Maybe one day van Dam will have a shot at this... Vazquez is still impossibly dominant though.
Wunderkind Winner: Javier Drake (WV) - Doppler is a switch hitting right fielder who laid waste to AAA last year. I think he's going to do more than just fill in for Vazquez's vacated haunt.
Sovereign League
Great Lakes
1. Crystal Lake - GM of the year RJ Ermola continues his Great Lakes dominance
2. Duluth - Duluth's offseason acquisitions make for a formidable lineup. I look for them to surprise some people.
3. Fargo - Pat Watson will always be the wild card for Fargo. If he's healthy, the team is unbeatable... but his track record is spotty at best.
4. Kalamazoo - Juan Carlos Ornelza bursts onto the stage in 2030 and becomes the immediate face of the franchise.
5. Canton - The bright spot for Canton are their young pitching prospects that look almost ready to be installed in a rotation.
Desert Hills
1. Palm Springs - the slow burn Codgers are ready to take their place as Desert HIlls champions.
2. Bakersfield - Bakersfield looks primed for another good campaign. I'll probably regret not listing them first, but what is this for if not Hot Takes?
3. Aurora - Not as much offensive firepower as we're used to seeing, but their pitching is so dominant, they could sneak into the playoffs on that alone.
4. Reno - Huge signings of Ryan Lambert and Adrian Fuentes for Reno. Is it enough for them to reach the playoffs? Possibly, but they're still going to have to surprise some people to get there.
5. Yuma - constantly rebuilding Yuma could trade their draft picks for a bunch of good players and be competitive tomorrow, but they won't.
Rising Sun
1. Shin Seiki - the champs are looking great to repeat. As always. Their trades are always a marvel.
2. Neo-Tokyo - Tomas Martinez will carry the rest of his team to a strong second place showing.
3. Toyama - Young players who look almost ready. Their rotation is young, but effective. They will have a much better record if they didn't have to face the evil empire constantly. (as is true with all Rising Sun teams)
4. Okinawa - Very strong rotation... the rest of the team still has some growing to do.
SL Awards Winners
Royal Raker Winner: Tomas Martinez (NT) - Tomas Martinez may be the best offensive player in PEBA right now. He will dominate again -- even if he's facing the buzzsaw that is the Shin Seiki rotation.
Golden Arm Winner: Yakamochi Suitani - Suitani continues to rack up the hardware...
Wunderkind Winner: Ernesto Martinez (NT) - Neo-Tokyo wins 2-3 SL awards with both Martinezes going ham.
Postseason
IL Wild Card Winner - Top 3 seeds get a bye
Kentucky over San Juan in 4 games
SL Wild Card Winner - Top 3 seeds get a bye
Neo-Tokyo over Bakersfield in 4 games
IL Division Series Winners - Top 3 seeds vs. Wild Card winner
Florida over Kentucky in 6 games
Havana over WV in 5 games
SL Division Series Winners - Top 3 seeds vs. Wild Card winner
Shin Seiki over Neo-Tokyo in 5 games
Crystal Lake over Palm Springs in 7 games
League Championship Series Winners
IL: Florida over Havana in 7 games
SL: Crystal Lake over Shin Seiki in 7 games
PEC Winner
Florida over Crystal Lake in 4 games
