1/20/2039
There are 6 teams in the IL Trans-Atlantic division and, right now, it appears that 5 of them are hoping to contend for a playoff spot in 2039.
London - The Underground sputtered around a bit in the first half of 2038, but eventually they figured out that since they're the most talented team in the division, they should start playing like it. I had a conversation around midway through the year with another GM and they suggested I had a good shot of taking the division. At the time, we had a similar record to London but I looked at their roster and just thought there's no way that we compare. On July 18 we were tied, and on July 31 we were still only a game or two back. We struggled more than I would've liked down the stretch and held on for the 3rd wild card, but it was clear to me that London was the class of the division even though they weren't quite showing it yet. I don't expect this year to be any different.
Scottish - The Claymores were sneaky good last season. I felt like we should've been able to hold them off for the 2nd wild card... felt like we weren't a worse team. Given that we finished just 1 game behind them you can chalk it up to bad luck (we were -7 in pythagorean record!). At any rate, they looked at last year and decided things were too close for comfort. They went out and signed
Tomás Martínez to a large contract.
Lorenzo Castanieda was a mid-season acquisition they've resigned. He was a big part of their second half surge. The outfield looks scary. Now they've traded for 2B
Eric Nelson, who's one of the best hitting second basemen in the league. FWIW, Nelson has been traded 3 times now and hasn't even reached 3 years service time. Seems like no one and everyone wants him.
Amsterdam - The Lions are paying former SP Iwao Maruyama $40M to sit at home this season, and as such don't have much money to work with for bringing in players, but we're not exactly throwing in the towel either. If we were a 99 win team by pythagorus last year, then surely with a bit better luck we can come close to that this year. The pitching staff doesn't have any superstars, but they manage. There is hope that
Richard Neely can provide some veteran presence to help the youngsters establish themselves. Offensively, the team has added 2B
Jorge Morán via trade. They may have paid a bit too much for him, but he can play solid defense, will draw walks, and most importantly comes with a league minimum commitment. More notable, perhaps, were the extensions for aging stars
Luis Cedeño and
Pedro Rodríguez. Rodríguez is 38 but aging nicely. He passed 2500 hits and 250 HR's last year. Cedeño is now 41, and he looks like he probably could've retired after last year, but the team chose to keep him in hopes that he sells more tickets and can stave off old age another season. He also passed 2500 hits last year. This team seems to be hoping to simply repeat what worked and still come out ahead. Quite likely a bit optimistic.
Havana - Havana has missed the playoffs each of the past 3 years, although their 93 wins in 2036 would've gotten them in as the 3rd wild card in the expanded format. They dropped below .500 for a year, then were exactly at .500 last year, and look poised to improve with some of the young talent they've got. Offensively, the lineup is strong. SS
Ricardo Mateo is the name everyone knows. 1B
Ramón Francisco hit 38 home runs last year. RF
Kolomon Amsel added 32 of his own. 3B
Antão Crilanovich might be one of the least well known players that everyone should know about. On the mound, there is a lot to like for 2039.
Volmer Buscher is the veteran leader. You can expect former 9th round draft pick
Masahiro Maruyama to take a big step forward this year.
Meiji Ishikawa will likely do the same.
Jack Sosa is ready and will certainly be contributing this year even if he's not up to start the season.
San Juan - The
Rory Soutar signing means that the Coqui add a 21 game winner to go with the one year contract they gave OF
Pedro Flores. These two will complement youngsters
Gerald Contaldo,
Juan Borges, and bullpen ace
Soseki Yokoyama, who was drafted just last June. The team still has
Dracula and
Adrián Fuentes in case you've forgotten. In the now wider opener wilder wild card race, it wouldn't be too surprising to see them in the mix.
Gloucester - The only team not making moves to compete this year. They''ll likely be content to rake in another top draft pick and build on their top 5 ranked farm system while the rest of the division beats up on each other.
The fun thing about about all 5 of these teams pushing for a playoff spot is that there's likely only 2 wild cards available. Kentucky will almost certainly get one of the wild card spots again. They were the 2nd best team in the IL last year, ahead of perennial powerhouse West Virginia, but with Florida in their division, they take a wild card. You also can't ignore potential wild card bids from the other two IL divisions. Hartford would be terrifying to face in the postseason if they can put enough offense to support the top 3 in their rotation and New Jersey never sits still. There's also the looming spectre of Charleston's farm system, which will arrive in PEBA eventually and start to disrupt all sorts of plans. At least a couple of Trans-Atlantic teams are going to go home very disappointed come next October.