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EHCC Fact or Fiction
A brief look at the league's contenders and pretenders
By Pedro Gammo and Jayson Snark / EHSPN.com
Fact or Fiction: The Tokyo OujiaBoards don’t know what they’re doing.
Gammo: Fiction
The OujiaBoards have a plan—much like ML Carr once had a plan. They have 5 players on their roster who are not currently on major league rosters, and they’ve decided to forgo the recent successful models of Tijuana and Winston-Salem, opting to tank this season and build for the future. The Oujias know what they are doing. Whether or not it is the right course of action is the real question.
Snark: Fiction
The OujiaBoards have a game plan. However, that game plan appears to be to lose as many games as possible this season, stockpile major and minor league draft picks, and build a team that can contend 2-3 years down the road. Normally this strategy would be a clear blueprint for an expansion team. However, given the recent influx of dominant expansion teams (both Tijuana and Winston-Salem made the playoffs last season, with Tijuana finishing 3rd overall in the playoffs), this logic is being looked at with a more questioning eye. This being said, with the lack of great players available to the expansion franchises in this year’s expansion draft, it does seem that this may be the way to go. With the Gryphons taking a more “win-now” approach, we may not truly know which strategy is better for another year or two. But the OujiaBoards know what they are doing.
Fact or Fiction: The Piglets of Quebec City are the league’s biggest disappointment so far this season.
Gammo: Fiction
It’s hard to say that the Piglets are the biggest disappointment when they are still in 4th place; especially considering the fact that the perceived top 3 teams in the league (Las Vegas, Weymouth, and Quebec City) could have been interchangeable as the top 3. Are the Piglets a disappointment? Absolutely, but there have been extenuating circumstances. As of last week the Piglets had 6 players on the DL, including superstars Jim Thome, Scott Rolen, and Jason Schmidt. They should consider themselves fairly lucky that they are only 7.5 back of the Doggs and Shaddypoo.This being said, I would have to call the Hispanics the league’s biggest disappointment. Coming off an exciting post-season where they slipped past the mighty Piglets for 3rd place overall in the playoffs, the Hispanics had high hopes of contention and got off to a torrid start. However, they have since been crushed by the consensus contenders (Doggs and Shaddypoo) by a combined score of 15-2. After holding first place for much of the season’s first quarter, that was not the showing the Hispanics were hoping for against the teams they will need to beat in order to prove themselves true contenders.
Snark: Fact
Coming into this season there were 3 clear favorites to win the title: Weymouth, Las Vegas, and Quebec City. The Piglets appeared to be the best of the best coming into the season, returning most of a solid roster that had finished the last two regular seasons in first and second place, respectively, by wide margins and actually upgrading what was considered to be one of, if not the, best pitching staffs in the league. And in doing so the Piglets also kept an eye towards the future by getting younger (Bobby Crosby) and more powerful (Jim Thome). And with all these changes the Piglets have struggled to fourth place this season, 7.5 games behind the two teams that were considered their equals (at best) coming into this season.
Granted, there have been injuries, but there is no excuse for the Piglets’ dismal showings the last few weeks. Aside from the shellacking they put on the Swingers, the Piglets have struggled to get through the easiest stretch of their first half schedule, slipping by lightweights Winston-Salem and Bizton by scores of 5-4 and managing only a 5-5 tie against the lowly Bells. With games coming up against Rakeville, Las Vegas, and Tijuana, the Piglets can expect to only drop further in the rankings and will regret the opportunity they had to distance themselves when they had the chance.
Fact or Fiction: There will be a first time champion in the EHCC this year.
Gammo: Fiction
I haven’t seen any reason yet this season to think that anybody in the EHCC can compete with the Doggs and Shaddypoo. Period.
Snark: Fiction
If the first half of the year has shown us anything it is that the EHCC consists of the Doggs and Shaddypoo and then everyone else. There were high expectations for a number of teams coming into the season, but those expectations have gone largely unfulfilled as Las Vegas and Weymouth both laid beat-downs on Tijuana, and the Piglets have shown that the hammering they took at the hands of Weymouth in Week One was not a fluke. Mark my words: either Las Vegas or Weymouth will engrave their name on the plaque at the end of the season.
Fact or Fiction: An Expansion team will make the playoffs this season.
Gammo: Fact
Now, this is a tough question, because there are clearly two great teams in this league, then two or three very good teams, and then a handful of teams that range from mediocre to good in any given week. I think that two of those mediocre to good teams—either Golden or Bizton—have a decent shot at getting hot towards the end of the season and making a serious run at the playoffs. Both teams are flawed, but both also have some weapons that could propel them into the playoffs. Of the two, Bizton probably has the best shot despite their poor record at this point in the season.
Bizton has the big bats (Adrian Beltre, Richie Sexson, Milton Bradley) and the quality arms (C.C. Sabathia, Barry Zito, Andy Pettitte) to make a run. In fact, Bizton may have one of the most underrated pitching staffs in the league with the addition of Zito, giving them 8 quality starting pitchers as well as a solid relief corps when Percival and Affeldt get healthy. Bizton could certainly surprise some people later in the season, as they already have done to Quebec City, pulling to one run loss after trailing by 6 most of the week.
Snark: Fiction
But not by much. The fact is, the EHCC is filled with flawed teams. Rakeville and Winston-Salem are probably the two most borderline contenders, but it’s hard to see either Bizton or Golden overtaking either of them before season’s end (Tokyo is clearly going nowhere this season). It’s possible, but unlikely.
Of Rakeville and Winston-Salem, the Rockets are clearly the better team. In fact, the Rockets are something of a mystery to me. They have always had the pitching, and in recent years have added significant power with the addition of players like Miguel Cabrera, Hank Blalock, Justin Morneau, and David Wright; all players who, incidentally, should be the core of a very good lineup for years to come. I’m not terribly impressed by the Green Monsters roster, but they seem to have some kind of smoke and mirrors that are winning them games. On paper, it looks like Bizton has more star power, but Winston-Salem keeps every game close, and I have to believe that they have the experience and the personnel to eke out another trip to the playoffs.
Fact or Fiction: Bridgewater is for real.Gammo: Fact
But maybe for the last year. Bridgewater has consistently had a very good, but overlooked, team. They have the horses to compete in the regular season and hang with some of the better teams, but I’m not sure they’ll be able to keep with the best teams year in and year out. They have made some very questionable moves in the past that have left them older and not as talented. But in the end, they have the two best fantasy baseball players in the league in Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez, as well as a solid, if not spectacular, pitching rotation led by Roger Clemens and Roy Halladay. With those superstars the Weasels can continue to be one of the elite teams if they can hold together the rest of the roster; they might even be able to surprise some people in the playoffs. Are they a championship caliber team? Maybe. But will they mash with the best teams in the league and compete for the regular season title? Absolutely.
Snark: Fact
But it depends on what you mean by “for real.” Are they a real title contender? Absolutely not. Are they a legitimate contender for the 3rd place team (the spot they currently occupy, 4.5 out of first)? Of course. The Weasels have some solid players, namely Pujols, Rodriguez, Clemens, and Halladay. But beyond that their roster is old and thin. It is certainly a team that could make some noise in the regular season and undoubtedly break a few teams’ hearts along the way. But they cannot compete with the Weymouths and Las Vegas’s of the world.
Pedro Gammo and Jayson Snark write for EHSPN.com, and are known to occasionally shower together after long nights at the office.
