In the coming days I'll be announcing the divisional alignments for the upcoming season. Last year if you recall we had a 4 division 24 team league. This ended up less than ideal, as 6 of the 8 races were decided by mid December, with the last two featuring an anticlimactic race with two teams fighting for two playoff spots.
This year I've decided upon a 6 division alignment. While we'll have the same number of playoff spots as last season, the extra division should ensure more teams in the playoff hunt as September comes to a close.
The one drawback is the schedule. A balanced schedule isn't possible in six division, 24 team league and as a result, each team will play more intra-division games than inter-division ones. This is ok, after all, it's how most professional sports league's do it too.
On to the AL East:
With more career wins then the other three teams combined, and one of just four owners with multiple World Series titles, Sean S is seemingly the hands on favorite for the division title. In ATB XIV he won 89 and a captured the division title by 7 games; in ATB XIII he went 87-75 but finished just outside the playoffs.
Still, a solid case can be made for the rest of the division. Matt B may have had an off year in ATB XIII (79-83) but he is just one season removed from a 90 win campaign (best Greg Maddux season ever!) and a post season appearance where he fought the eventual champions to 6 games in the 1st round.
Joe V is a sophomore owner and therefore past the hardest portion of the ATB learning curve. Other sophomore owners have added 15-20 wins compared to their first season, so the question for Joe is how long is his learning curve - one, two, or three seasons?
In four seasons Allen C has struggled, averaging just 59 wins per season. His career high came two years ago, but at 68-94 was still a long way away from a playoff birth. Allen has drafted Jimmie Foxx with a top-10 pick for time immemorial, and while I appreciate a good fielding power hitter as much as the next guy, it may be time to go in a different direction.
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