Burlington Free Press
In their announcement that the Lake Champlain Cannibals have brought another masher on board the St. Albans Messenger quotes quixotic LCC GM Steve Beard saying, "we felt our streak of 1000-run offensive seasons could be in jeopardy". The streak Beard is referring to now stands at two; while two is an impressive number, it's not the type of streak that can become a pop culture reference on its own.
LCC is entering its seventh full season as an NASBL franchise. In the previous six years, they have topped 1,000 runs three times, most notably on their World Series year of 2004 when they posted 1,124 runs on their way to a 109-53 season. Being too lazy to do any reaearch, I'm going to go right ahead on call the 1,124 and 109 numbers NASBL records - anyone proving me wrong can win a tasty treat.
In evaluating LCC's chances there is only one real tool to use, so that's exactly what we did. After consulting Mr. Beard's personal assistant for a projected lineup, we let the numbers crunch themselves.
The everyday lineup (vs RHP) is listed below:
1. JD Drew - RF
2. Curtis Granderson - CF
3. Chipper Jones - 3b
4. David Ortiz - DH
5. Brian McCann - Ca
6. Jason Giambi - 1b
7. Hideki Matsui - LF
8. Rickie Weeks - 2b
9. Edgar Renteria - SS
This lineup will produce 6.14 runs per game, or a total of 995 over the 162-game season. That's certainly in the 1,000 run ballpark, and given the LHP mashing options and a lineup full of dangerous pinch hitters Beard has at his disposal, it's safe to say it will be a busy season for the manual scoreboard operators at the Mistake by the St. Albans Lake this year.
With a pitching staff that can be generously described as, well, generous, it promises to be another exciting year of baseball in the City that Always Sleeps.
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3 comments:
Don't know how much credence to place in the tool -- but my projected line-up yields 1008 runs. My best line-up (which would lead off Carlos Pena) yields 1028. We should definitely have a few softball games again this season.
Brad - You're right, it's just one of the many of dozens of ways to pass the time and number crunch. Something I enjoy this time of the year!
FWIW the Sioux are projected for only 954 runs, looks like I have some catching up to do.
Interesting tool! I plugged in my preferred lineup and got 1047 runs over a 162 game schedule. According to this site, Manny Ramirez is better suited to hit leadoff than cleanup on my team! That and a couple of other changes cranks my RPG up to 6.641. You can't argue with his on-base average, but Manny probably won't see too many games at leadoff. The site wouldn't take into account that we only sign the best half of the MLB pitchers. Our batters can count on facing CC Sabathia more times than Carlos Silva. You'd also have to enter several lineups to account for rest. My preferred lineup includes Mike Napoli, who will play only half-time. Substituting a Ramon Hernandez type catcher costs me 23 runs over 81 games. That said, it's a pretty cool site.
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