As part of the lead-in to Season 4, BBL News Center will provide previews of each division, doing analysis on each team’s 9-kid roster.

American League East

Boston Red Sox
Coach: gmchappe (Season 2 champion, Season 3 Backyard World Series runner-up)
Home Field: Playground Commons
First Draft Pick: Ken Griffey, Jr. (#20 overall)
Last Draft Pick: Jack Joseph (#212 overall)
Why they’ll do well: Strong bats and a strong defense. Chappe duplicated his big-hitting strategy from last season for the Red Sox, and while there are no 10 bats on this team, five of the players have hitting ratings of 8 or 9, and two more are solid pro bats. Chappe also has a team with very few holes in the defense, as only two players have fielding ratings lower than 7, and two average arms with a rating of 3 are the worst on the team. This team can hit well and they’ll be tough to score against.
Why they won’t do well: This isn’t a fast team – there are no players with running ratings higher than 9, and only four with running higher than 6. That’s going to make extra bases that much harder to snag and tracking down a ball that much longer of a process. The Sox also have no pitching depth – Matessa Sturges is an ace pitcher, but noboy else on the team has a pitching rating higher than 5. If opposing teams are able to crack Sturges, it could get ugly for the Sox.
The X-factor: Two players, Jack Joseph and Vic Soufle, deviate from the team’s pattern, as weak but fairly fast hitters. Will their lack of sync with the rest of the team cause problems, or will they prove a needed supplement to the high-power, low-speed rest of the team?

Detroit Tigers
Coach: DeshaunRayban (Season 4 newbie)
Home Field: Scrapco Field
First Draft Pick: Vicki Kawaguchi (#8 overall)
Last Draft Pick: Clarice Reid (#200 overall)
Why they’ll do well: A strong defensive core. Only one player on the team has a Fielding rating below 7, and six players have arms rated 4 or 5. With strong defenders like Mikey Thomas, Bobby Higginson, Vicki Kawaguchi, and DJ clone Wendy Parsons, it could be tough to accomplish much on offense against this team.
Why they won’t do well: The team is just average in a lot of areas without being particularly strong. Mikey Thomas is the only really strong bat on the team, with quite a few low-power hitters on the roster. Most of the team has pretty solid speed, but there are also three very slow players. There are two solid pitchers, but no really good ones. Even the defense has its weak points with a couple of sub-par arms.
The X-factor: The Tigers have this season’s lone custom player, Danny Green (no relation to Jay). Danny is a strong defensive player with excellent stamina, but is a bit weak at hitting to compensate. For most of us, this is a completely untested player, and as a Round 2 pick, how valuable he turns out to be could be a major factor in how the Tigers do.

St. Louis Cardinals
Coach: Jyknight (Season 4 newbie)
Home Field: Tin Can Alley
First Draft Pick: Lindsy Felgate (#7 overall)
Last Draft Pick: Uma Morris (#205 overall)
Why they’ll do well: Very good hitting coupled with a lack of glaring weaknesses. Jyknight went for mostly solid all-around players for his main team: nobody has running lower than 5 or an arm worse than a 3, and only one player’s fielding is below 5. However, a comon trend is strong bats – Nan Porter with batting of 6 is the WORST hitter on the team, and seven of nine players have 8 batting higher. Coupled with a home field of Tin Can Alley, this team should send the ball careening off the walls and on the dumpsters all the time, and with no painfully slow players, they’re in good position to capitalize on that.
Why they won’t do well: None of the Cards’ stats are exceptional except for hitting. While no players are painfully slow, they do have five different players with 5 running ratings, which could dampen their offense. Nobody’s fielding is higher than 7, six of nine players have 3-rated arms (with no laser arms on the team), and there are no pitching aces. This team’s defense will be solid and get the job done well enough, but it’s not going to be the most intimidating.
The X-factor: How those five 5-speed runners perform on the road. This team should do great at Tin Can, but in more open stadiums, fielders will be able to track down those strong hits much more quickly, and the low speed of many of the players could become a big hindrance in their effort on offense. They could also make the team more vulnerable to hits in the gaps, taking longer to get to the ball and not having the elite arms to fully compensate. The away games will be what makes or breaks this team.

Red Bombers
Coach: areyoutyler (Season 1 and 3 veteran)
Home Field: The Paveway
First Draft Pick: Pablo Sanchez (#6 overall)
Last Draft Pick: Mickey O’Connor (#192 overall)
Why they’ll do well: Like the Cardinals, Tyler’s squad has a focus on offense. Super-speedster Grace Tipton has the team’s lowest batting rating, and she’s joined by two 7-hitters and then six players with batting ratings of 8 or 10. There’s not a ton of slow players on the team, and the Paveway is another field that lends itself to scoring lots of runs. The Bombers also have a ridiculous number of potential pitchers, Pablo Sanchez being the only player with pitching lower than six, and with a lot of strong fielding ratings it looks like errors won’t be a big problem for the team.
Why they won’t do well: Lots of weak arms. The Bombers have the worst throwing in their division by far, with four below-average arms, two 3-rated arms, and just three players with a throwing rating of 4. As mentioned before, the Paveway lends itself well to offense, and the Bombers might have a tough time keeping their opponents’ offense under control, erasing the gains they make with their own rallies.
The X-factor: There’s not a distinct X-factor that stands out for this team. It’s going to be a simple case of answering the crucial question: Can the Bombers’ strong offense make up for their relatively weak defense?

Eauxps’ Predicted Division Standings

4) Red Bombers. The Bombers have a notably weaker defense than the other teams in the division, and I think that plus the home field of the Paveway will result in some big scores being racked up against them – scores that I don’t think their offense will be able to overcome.

3) Detroit Tigers. They don’t stand out as particularly strong in any way to me.

2) St. Louis Cardinals. I like this team a lot, well-balanced and very well-suited to their home field. They should do well, especially at home, but I don’t think they’ll be the best…

1) Boston Red Sox. Not only do the Red Sox have a set of arms that will be brutal to score against, coupled with good hitting that should drive runs in, but they’re also coached by gmchappe, one of the elite coaches in the BBL, which will likely result in scores beyond what many coaches will be able to put up. Without the Green Monsters in their division, I expect them to take the division title this season.