2006 Midseason Review

The ABL Midseason Report

By: Alex Winter

Northern League

Team Batting Pitching Overall

Chicago Cardinals
The Chicago Cardinals has continued their reign as the best team in the Midwest division as having a 65-34 record, tied for 4th best in the ABL. Alfredo Aguilar and Luciano Alcaraz are leading this team with the help of good overall run production to another Midwest division title and hopefully again, the ABLCS. They are good in batting and also good in pitching, an even keel approach. A- A- A-

Detroit Bulldogs
The Detroit Bulldogs lead by their new owner Anton Massey have once again remained competitive in the Midwest division, but have kicked their game up a knotch to remain in a tight race in the division. Hopefully this will continue and be exciting once September comes. John Ploya and above average pitching have kept them afloat. They need to work a bit on their batting but their pitching is pretty good. B A- B+

St. Louis Stallions
The St. Louis Stallions have fallen a bit from last years pace, but still in well enough position to catch a playoff spot very easily. They started off sluggish, below even Indiana (though they started off well). They knew they had to step up their game to keep in the hunt for the playoffs and their pitching has skyrocketed them to that spot. JJ Biro is leading their batting but everyone else is really poor. C+ A B

Minnesota Monarchs
The Minnesota Monarchs, the surprise expansion team of last year has been better than last year at this point of the season, but looks like it will fall short yet again. I am not sure that Minnesota will have an amazing run late in the season like they did last year, but they will be pretty good. They have been lead by Augustine Reyes and their ace closer Ezio Mattimuro. The rest of the team does not live up to their standards though. B- C+ C+

Indiana Eagles
The Indiana Eagles are once again in the cellar of the Midwest, but surprisingly better than last year. They started off red hot and could have gotten a playoff spot if they kept it up, but a 26 game losing streak put them right where they belong. Their pitching and batting aren't good at all, but serviceable enough to get the team this far. C- C C-

Boston Bears
The Boston Bears have another excellent team, which is the best in the Northern League. Matt Mcgrath has lead his team to an amazing record with top-notch batting and pitching, only below Miami's. A great team which I think is the favorite to win the Northern League. A+ A- A

Connecticut Thunder
The Connecticut Thunder have another playoff run in them as they have an amazing record that would contend in any division. They hold T-4th best record in the ABL and their handy combination of good pitching and batting to get them there. They are even with Chicago's approaches and record, so they might be able to pull off the title this year, like Chicago did last year. A- A- A-

New York Bombers
The New York Bombers have lead their team to a decent record, better than last year, but worse than their division title years of 2004 and 2005. They are once again leading by their offense and dying by their pitching. The slugging team gets them the power that keeps their record palatable, but can never succeed well enough in their pitching to do better. A- C+ B

Philadelphia Demons
The Philadelphia Demons have struggled mightly this year from their stellar record of 88-76 to a lowly 38-61 (as of July 17th sim). They have had many injuries to their hitting that have caused them to rely on their pretty good pitching, but it wasnt good enough to get them that many wins. C+ B+ B

Cleveland Crusaders
The Cleveland Crusaders remain the doormat of the ABL as they did last year with an ABL-worst 17-82 record. There is really nothing that can go right for them. Their pitching is by-far the worst in the ABL and their batting is just the same. This team will always be a rebuilding project as the Colorado Rockies are in the MLB, nothing other than a few bright lights once every few years will ever happen to the team. F F F

Southern League

Team Pitching Batting Overall

Las Vegas Scorpions
The Las Vegas Scorpions have proven once again that they are the top dogs in the Southwest division, but this time, by a more distinctive margin. They are a team that is great on the offensive side of the ball and also in their pitching. They were meant to win the divison, the only fighting now is whos going to get the wild card. A A A

Los Angeles Lions
The Los Angeles Lions are again a good team, but a slow start has put them 6 games back of the division lead. They have a very good team with very good pitching and batting, but not up to par with the division leading Scorpions. A- A- A-

Dallas Rattlers
The Dallas Rattlers have fooled many people by being competitive for a playoff spot, though 4 games out now, they lead the wild card by 1 before the last sim (June 10th). Their homerun hitting team with a collection of pitching will keep the Rattlers in the playoff hunt in September. B A- B+

Houston Outlaws
The Houston Outlaws have had a season that has dissapointed most in the league. Them and Philadelphia surprised many as their as nosedive in the standings got rid of the sense of parity in this league. They have been not great in batting but even worse in the pitching. C+ C- C

San Diego Pelicans
The San Diego Pelicans are the 2nd best expansion team, but thats all the praise they can get because they are still an up and coming team that will take some time to build, but are bad in both pitching and batting, but especially batting average, which has always been their achilles heel. C- C- C-

Miami Talons
The always powerful Miami Talons have yet again taken a commanding lead in the ABL. They are the tops at every category and will continue that way and will again have the best shot at the ABL title. A+ A+ A+

Carolina Cobras
The Carolina Cobras have the 3rd best record in the ABL, but will always be delegated to the wild card spot because of Miami's dominance. Carolina is always having good seasons and Carolina will get to the playoffs with a great offense and very good pitching. A A- A

New Orleans Colonels
The Colonels are falling in line to where they usually are, on pace for 60 something wins and now a constant for a while will be them finishing 3rd in the division. Always staying the same and thats good, but their team isnt the greatest. They have a good offense, but their pitching is bad, so they counteract, not to the extreme, but they do. C B+ B-

Atlanta Sun Devils
The Atlanta Sun Devils are once again having a bad record with bad batting and pitching creating a race with Tampa and San Diego for the worst record in the Southern League. D D D

Tampa Tigers
The newly owned Tampa Tigers are the worst team in the Southern League, but have promise in their minors. That is the only complement because both their batting and pitching are horrible and will take a while to fix. D F D-

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Team	Batting	Pitching	Overall
Chicago Cardinals The Chicago Cardinals has continued their reign as the best team in the Midwest division as having a 65-34 record, tied for 4th best in the ABL. Alfredo Aguilar and Luciano Alcaraz are leading this team with the help of good overall run production to another Midwest division title and hopefully again, the ABLCS. They are good in batting and also good in pitching, an even keel approach.	A-	A-	A-
Detroit Bulldogs The Detroit Bulldogs lead by their new owner Anton Massey have once again remained competitive in the Midwest division, but have kicked their game up a knotch to remain in a tight race in the division. Hopefully this will continue and be exciting once September comes. John Ploya and above average pitching have kept them afloat. They need to work a bit on their batting but their pitching is pretty good.	B	A-	B+
St. Louis Stallions The St. Louis Stallions have fallen a bit from last years pace, but still in well enough position to catch a playoff spot very easily. They started off sluggish, below even Indiana (though they started off well). They knew they had to step up their game to keep in the hunt for the playoffs and their pitching has skyrocketed them to that spot. JJ Biro is leading their batting but everyone else is really poor.	C+	A	B
Minnesota Monarchs The Minnesota Monarchs, the surprise expansion team of last year has been better than last year at this point of the season, but looks like it will fall short yet again. I am not sure that Minnesota will have an amazing run late in the season like they did last year, but they will be pretty good. They have been lead by Augustine Reyes and their ace closer Ezio Mattimuro. The rest of the team does not live up to their standards though.	B-	C+	C+
Indiana Eagles The Indiana Eagles are once again in the cellar of the Midwest, but surprisingly better than last year. They started off red hot and could have gotten a playoff spot if they kept it up, but a 26 game losing streak put them right where they belong. Their pitching and batting aren't good at all, but serviceable enough to get the team this far.	C-	C	C-
Boston Bears The Boston Bears have another excellent team, which is the best in the Northern League. Matt Mcgrath has lead his team to an amazing record with top-notch batting and pitching, only below Miami's. A great team which I think is the favorite to win the Northern League.	A+	A-	A
Connecticut Thunder The Connecticut Thunder have another playoff run in them as they have an amazing record that would contend in any division. They hold T-4th best record in the ABL and their handy combination of good pitching and batting to get them there. They are even with Chicago's approaches and record, so they might be able to pull off the title this year, like Chicago did last year.	A-	A-	A-
New York Bombers The New York Bombers have lead their team to a decent record, better than last year, but worse than their division title years of 2004 and 2005. They are once again leading by their offense and dying by their pitching. The slugging team gets them the power that keeps their record palatable, but can never succeed well enough in their pitching to do better.	A-	C+	B
Philadelphia Demons The Philadelphia Demons have struggled mightly this year from their stellar record of 88-76 to a lowly 38-61 (as of July 17th sim). They have had many injuries to their hitting that have caused them to rely on their pretty good pitching, but it wasnt good enough to get them that many wins.	C+	B+	B
Cleveland Crusaders The Cleveland Crusaders remain the doormat of the ABL as they did last year with an ABL-worst 17-82 record. There is really nothing that can go right for them. Their pitching is by-far the worst in the ABL and their batting is just the same. This team will always be a rebuilding project as the Colorado Rockies are in the MLB, nothing other than a few bright lights once every few years will ever happen to the team.	F	F	F