McCABE MAGAZINE SEASON 41 PREVIEW ISSUE

SEASON 41 MAJOR LEAGUE PREVIEW ISSUE 

And The Decade Being 

San Diego, CA (McC.com) – Welcome to another season in the Robert E, McCabe world of professional baseball. McCabe Magazine would also like to extend a warm welcome to our new owner’s. Our newest owner is dmann2158 of the Rochester Broncos; he has 49 Hardball Dynasty seasons that include 2 division titles and 4 playoff appearances. His best record was with the Pittsburgh Pirates 100-62 in the Erffdogg Memorial League. McCabe’s other new owner is fsubwj, he is a very experience owner with 208 total seasons under his belt, 22 division titles, 34 playoff appearances which includes one World Series title. He won that championship in the Majors world with the Los Angeles Dodgers. I hope you stick around long enough to turn my hometown team, the Cincinnati Reds into a World Series champions. Welcome aboard gentlemen, now LETS PLAY BALL!

McCABE MAGAZINE SEASON 41 AWARD WINNERS 

McCabe Magazine Season 41 Most Valuable Player

Matty Lopez Pittsburgh Pirates Age: 23 B/T: S/R Born: Moncion, DO Position(s): 2B/IF/OF/DH View Hardball Dynasty Profile

McCabe Magazine Season 41 Cy Young Award

Will Swindell Toronto Blue Jays Age: 30 B/T: S/R Born: Lincoln, NH Position(s): P (SP3) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

McCabe Magazine Season 41 Rookie of the Year

Darrin Bailey San Diego Padres Age: 23 B/T: R/R Born: Corinth, NY Position(s): 3B View Hardball Dynasty Profile

McCabe Magazine Season 41 Fireman of the Year

Andrew Campbell Atlanta Braves Age: 31 B/T: R/R Born: Vermilion, OH Position(s): P (ClA) View Hardball Dynasty Profile

SEASON 41 WORLD SERIES CHAMPS 

Last season we saw season 40 National League MVP Tucker Flores (2B) lead the Atlanta Braves (95-67) to their first world championship in team history. This team ran through two number 1 seeds Chicago Cubs (107-55), Oakland Athletics (103-59), a 100 win Colorado Rookies squad, and the 99 win Seattle Mariners to capture the Robert E. McCabe Trophy. This year the McCabe Magazine super-duper IBM monster computer nickname “BIG RED MACHINE” has the defending champs qualifying for the playoffs as a wildcard team. After running 1.5 billion simulations of season 41 Big Red has selected… The Pittsburgh Pirates as our season 41 World Series Champion. This talented packed squad will beat the Chicago Cubs 4 games to 3 in the league championship series and will take on the “worst to first” Anaheim Angels in the fall classic, taking the championship with a four game sweep of the up and coming Angels.

THE PITTSBURGH PIRATES 

The most frightening thing about this 103 win team from last year is none of the stars on this roster have reached the age of 30. The Pirates average age is 27.7 which make them the 5^th youngest squad in the National League. Pirates shortstop Bip Edgin, (last season 156 games 32 HR 115 RBI 297 BA) is 26 years-old, first-basemen Rusney Diaz (161 games 37 HR 113 RBI 243 BA) is 28, and Matty Lopez (158 games 26 HR 100 RBI 21 SB 324 BA) is only 23. Other players to keep an eye on are Alcides Diaz (RF) played in 161 games last season, 162 in S39, 162 S38, 160 S37 and 162 in S36. Josmil Benavente (3B) had 30 stolen bases in season 40 and batted 302 in 527 at-bats. And finally All-Star center fielder Joshua Andreoli, he has NO POWER at all, and is the definition of a major league singles hitter. Last season he batted 343 in 632 at-bats with ZERO (0) home runs, looking at this $6,500,000 arbitration awarded player we found only two (2) career major league round-trippers in 1006 games and 4052 at-bats.  

The best pitcher on the staff is 24 year-old Burke Blash a 17 game winner with 9 loses last season. Also on the staff is 29 year-old former Seattle Mariner and S38 Cy Young Award winner Don Swann (14-7 WHIP 1.27 ERA 3.98). This is his 2^nd season in Pittsburgh where he hopes he can redeem himself from a very poor postseason appearance against Colorado last year. In the Divisional round the second seeded Pirates were swept by the Rockies 3-0. In his only start Swann went 6 innings, giving up 13 hits, and 7 earn runs in the very embarrassing lost. The three time All-Star told McCabe.com he’s looking forward to another postseason run, and this time “it’s going to be different!,. I spent the offseason training with NFL star Antonio Brown working on our foot work.   His conditioning coach, Dr. Cuckoo has come up with a very unique procedure which helps professional athletes strengthen the foot and ankle areas.  The exercise helps me push off the mound which has helped me increase my velocity. The workout involves running up the Misquah Hills in Minnesota in subzero temperatures barefoot. It was absolutely painful but exhilarating, I had a blast.” As a side note, former Seattle Mariners Bullpen Coach Donaldo Martin has joined the Pirates as the Pitching Coach this season. He was on the Mariners staff when Swann won the Cy Young in season 38.

Rounding out the Bucs rotation is two 28 year-olds Dayan Duran (16-5) and Ace Alexi Solis (15-8). These two pitchers combined for 31 wins last season and should do the same this season. Big Red says the youth hurt this club in the postseason last year, however to quote Swann “it’s going to be different this year.”

THE AMERICAN LEAGUE PENNANT WINNER

Anaheim Angels led by season 38 MVP and former Rookie of the Year Shawn Camp (1B), five time Rusney Rosado (C), and rookie sensation Willie Jimenez (3B) will win the American League by beating the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 in the League Championship Series. The 30 year-old Camp as average 52.6 home runs the past 5 years, Rosado is a career 304 hitter, and Jimenez is a ROY candidate according to the Big Red Machine and Baseball American’s season 41 rookie rankings. The average age of the Angels is 29.9 years of age, which is the 4^th oldest team in the AL this season. Last season Anaheim finished the regular season with a 63-99 record. This season it will be an entirely different story. They will go from worst to first baring injuries to key personnel. This is why Anaheim will be the American League Pennant winners. The front office has done an outstanding job this past offseason pulling off some block buster moves. After lagging attendance and pressure from the fans owner captain10a has decided to handle the rebuilding of the Angels personally. After firing his son in-law who was the acting general manager captain10a made the following bold and exceptional personnel moves which reshaped the entire look of the team that finished dead last in the AL West.
All-Star

WHEEL AND DEAL 

 captain10a first move was to revamp the entire pitching staff by signing some key free-agents in the  offseason. We think the direction of the club has turned 180 degrees with the FA signings of top of the rotation man Omar Mercedes (P), and setup man Jose Gabriel. Pro Baseball Focus has ranked Gabriel (career stats 799 games 1.18 Whip 2.82 ERA) the number 3 reliever in the American League.

Then the aggressive owner traded for starters Darrin Barney and Miguel Mesa. These moves are in addition to the season 40 FA signing of SP3 pitcher Raul Escalona.

OTHER KEY ACQUISITIONS 

Traded with Seattle for backup catcher Phil Mills and longtime minor leaguer Raul Valdes. Mills played in 138 ML games with the Mariners last season hitting 290 in 412 at-bats and Valdes hit 44 HR 155 RBI and batted 329  at Tacoma Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League the Mariners AAA affiliate.

So BOOK IT, the Angels will win the AL Pennant and AL West division with a 92-70 record and get swept by the Pirates in the season 41 World Series.

THE PLAYOFF TEAMS 

Our division winners will be the Milwaukee Brewers, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, and Anaheim in the AL. In the NL the division winners will be the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh, Richmond Virginians, and the Seattle Mariners. Your wildcard teams will be the Toronto Blue Jays, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Braves.   .

   

SEASON 41 PREDICTIONS 

ML AL North					ML NL North
Team	Owner	W	L		Team	Owner	W	L
Milwaukee Brewers	cpintens	99	63		Chicago Cubs	rod33	100	62
*Toronto Blue Jays	dimestoregin	96	66		Cleveland Indians	CollegeBoy33	90	72
Chicago White Sox	kgrffth	90	72		Detroit Tigers	mrmich1	81	81
Minnesota Twins	optistrat	89	73		Cincinnati Reds	fsubwj	65	97
ML AL East					ML NL East
Team	Owner	W	L		Team	Owner	W	L
Boston Red Sox	pat007ohmss	86	76		Pittsburgh Pirates	sportbanker	104	58
New York Yankees	staeben	72	90		*Philadelphia Phillies	sbank65	98	64
Washington D.C. Nationals	Saffron	65	97		Rochester Broncos	dmann2158	90	72
Baltimore Orioles	kingkai53	64	98		New York Mets	gurubaseball	71	91
ML AL South					ML NL South
Team	Owner	W	L		Team	Owner	W	L
Texas Rangers	goldenbaer88	93	69		Richmond Virginians	spintens	93	69
*St. Louis Cardinals	slurie2001	92	70		*Atlanta Braves	franknterry	91	71
Kansas City Royals	TenaciousTYT	78	84		Florida Marlins	lido9613	79	83
Houston Astros	bballer2117	66	96		Tampa Bay Rays	rsskfs23	63	99
ML AL West					ML NL West
Team	Owner	W	L		Team	Owner	W	L
Anaheim Angels	captain10a	92	70		Seattle Mariners	mark3313	88	74
Oakland Athletics	ojinga	76	86		Colorado Rockies	axtell	87	75
Los Angeles Dodgers	Arte	72	90		Arizona Diamondbacks	Frozenherd	77	85
San Francisco Giants	wylie715	67	95		San Diego Padres	jgarron	69	93