The Boston Red Sox (14-4) won the Cactus League championship
by one game over the Texas Rangers and the Cincinnati Reds (12-6) took the
Grapefruit league championship by two games over the Tampa Bay Rays.
If spring training is any indication to the upcoming season,
Boston will punish major league pitching staffs like Sherman’s march to the sea
and the burning of Atlanta. The Red Sox led all ML teams during spring training
with 54 home runs, a 334 batting average, 162 runs scored, 1.053 OPS, 409 OBP,
and 158 RBIs. Wow!
The best pitching staff throughout spring training was the
Washington D.C. Nationals, which is McCabe Magazines choice to win the AL East
over the power hitting Red Sox. The Nationals finished the spring with the best
ERA 3.11, WHIP 1.15, OVA 239, and OBP 288. Washington opens the season at home with
a four game series against Boston. This is the series we’ll all be watching.
McCabe Magazine had plan to send several correspondents to cover the Boston @ Washington
opener, however we were denied press credentials by the league due to complaints
from a few Boston players regarding a beer and chicken eating incident that was
reported in our magazine two years ago.
The player to watch in the National League is Cincinnati’s Scooter Chamberlain. This season 15 All-Star Gold Glove Centerfielder is a former MVP
(season 7) and Silver Slugger award winner. At 31 years of age Chamberlain
shows no signs of slowing down. In 18 games and 80 plate appearances this
spring he batted .363 with 3 home runs and 20 RBIs which led the team. Some
here at McCabe Magazine question the length of the remaining years on his
contract which run through season 18 at $7.2 per season. We spoke to one GM who
told us to look for Chamberlain to put on the trading block if the Reds don’t
make the playoffs this season.
McCabe Magazine Spring Training Awards
Spring Training MVP: Boston Willie Silva (SS) 7 HR, 16 RBI,
.493 BA.
Spring Training Pitching MVP: Washington D.C. George Lieber 3-1,
1.26 ERA, 0.98 WHIP.
SPRING TRAINING FINAL STANDINS
| Cactus League | Grapefruit League | |||||||
| Rank | Team | Owner | W-L | Rank | Team | Owner | W-L | |
| 1 | Boston Red Sox | pat007ohmss | 14-4 | 1 | Cincinnati Reds | cincybang | 12-6 | |
| 2 | Texas Rangers | cboewiz | 13-5 | 2 | Tampa Bay Rays | rsskfs23 | 10-8 | |
| 3 | Minnesota Twins | winmyron | 11-7 | Colorado Rockies | axtell | 10-8 | ||
| Toronto Blue Jays | dimestoregin | 11-7 | Arizona Diamondbacks | yoker70 | 10-8 | |||
| Milwaukee Brewers | brentcnb * | 11-7 | Seattle Mariners | toothdoc7 | 10-8 | |||
| Washington D.C. Nationals | coachking97 | 11-7 | 6 | New York Mets | pete775 | 9-9 | ||
| Baltimore Orioles | bourboncask | 11-7 | Richmond Virginians | sylemark | 9-9 | |||
| 8 | Oakland Athletics | jefepwnzer | 10-8 | San Diego Padres | jgarron | 9-9 | ||
| 9 | New York Yankees | ARomano * | 9-9 | 9 | Pittsburgh Pirates | lefty32 | 8-10 | |
| Kansas City Royals | TenaciousTYT | 9-9 | Florida Marlins | brianmullins * | 8-10 | |||
| 11 | Chicago White Sox | kgrffth | 8-10 | 11 | Cleveland Indians | rooskie | 7-11 | |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 421werd | 8-10 | Chicago Cubs | optistrat | 7-11 | |||
| Los Angeles Dodgers | Arte | 8-10 | Philadelphia Phillies | bosco156 | 7-11 | |||
| San Francisco Giants | wylie715 | 8-10 | Atlanta Braves | Sandleaguer | 7-11 | |||
| 15 | Houston Astros | ajaxx88 | 7-11 | 15 | Detroit Tigers | patrickkm | 5-13 | |
| 16 | Anaheim Angels | captain10a | 6-12 | Rochester Broncos | coinguy | 5-13 |
TEAM BATTING
|
TEAM PITCHING
| Rank | Franchise | Owner | W | L | SV | ER | WHIP | ERA |
| 1 | Washington D.C. Nationals | coachking97 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 56 | 1.15 | 3.11 |
| 2 | Milwaukee Brewers | brentcnb | 11 | 7 | 4 | 59 | 1.38 | 3.34 |
| 3 | San Diego Padres | jgarron | 9 | 9 | 6 | 63 | 1.23 | 3.42 |
| 4 | Boston Red Sox | pat007ohmss | 14 | 4 | 4 | 62 | 1.39 | 3.49 |
| 5 | Texas Rangers | cboewiz | 13 | 5 | 5 | 73 | 1.52 | 4.04 |
| 6 | Richmond Virginians | sylemark | 9 | 9 | 4 | 76 | 1.31 | 4.14 |
| 7 | St. Louis Cardinals | 421werd | 8 | 10 | 5 | 76 | 1.44 | 4.28 |
| 8 | Baltimore Orioles | bourboncask | 11 | 7 | 6 | 77 | 1.35 | 4.29 |
| 9 | Toronto Blue Jays | dimestoregin | 11 | 7 | 7 | 78 | 1.37 | 4.36 |
| 10 | Arizona Diamondbacks | yoker70 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 83 | 1.45 | 4.38 |
