*This is before the Matsuzaka/Capps for Hunter/Lowry & Baldelli/Giambi for Teahen were processed.
1. THE KILLERS: No surprise here. Two time defending champion and a well-balanced team. If Street can stay healthy and Bonderman sort his problems out his team may reach it's full potential. Pujols and his elbow is the only thing that can deny Killers the #1 ranking. If Pujols goes down for any significant time he won't be a shoe in as the #1 ranking anymore.
2. LAAngels of SF: A teir below Killers, he looks for another chance at the championship. Fell just short last year, but still has the team to compete. Vlad, Soriano, and A-Rod will carry the team once more. Starting pitching will be the difference. If Cain, Weaver, Ervin Santana, and Zito can pitch like they are capable and get the stats we may have a new champion.
3. The Braves: Another very powerful team is The Braves. They are an older team so his window to win is now. Injuries could also sink this team, but he should hang around the top 5 all year once more. As LAngels pitching will be the key. If they can string together some solid weeks Braves will have a strong shot at the ultimate prize.
4. WMC: Talent wise WMC definetly has it. Consistency and injury prone have been his problems. Strong pitching and being able to find closers one way or another has been a key to his success. Offensively he has a few older guys and injury prone guys and if they go down he will have some major issues. Look for Check to slide a bit as it seems it is the inevitable that a key player will hit the DL at some point.
5. Fungus Cutters: As of now Fungus stands at #5. If his latest deal goes through look for him to slide to around seven or eight as he hitting can't really get any better outside of speed and his pitching will take a hit. One of the most potent offenses last year was Ballz Deep. Since then Fungus has taken over the team and hopes to make this offense even better (is that possible?). His pitching will become a huge question mark after this trade as it leaves him with Jones being his only closer and Penny and Hill his only playabel pitchers. Only time will tell how this deal plays out.
6. Bayside Sluggers: Like The Braves, Bayside's window to win is also now. Jones and Wells will be the difference. If they tank again this year Bayside will find himself struggling to get in. His pitching is very solid, but Smoltz being old and fragile at times brings a question mark. 3 young closers looks great right now, but can they handle heat?
7. BIG FLOPPY: #7 seems to be his favorite spot. He finished in 7th the past 2 years. Unfortunately, only 6 teams make the playoffs. Ray and Janssen are already out for the year, if not most. He will atempt to make another push for the post-season, but like Bayside his window to win is shrinking.
8. SoCo Nationals: Interesting team here. Nothing on his team really stands out. More of a team that just seems to grind it out. If Pena can repeat what he did last year SoCo will have a chance. SoCo is the recipient of a questionable deal made by Fungus. This will definetly bolster his team and could put him at #6.
9. NEEDLE JUICE: He took over the team next year and tried to mold it into a team of his liking. We will see if he succeded in that. He swapped Howard for Tex in the off-seaon giving him one less Phillie. His team is slightly above average, but he will need someone to step to put him over the top to seriousl be considered as a contender.
10. Vuj's Crew: This spot should belong to doggmeat1234, but it is the inevitable that he will go inactive, so I took a few pts off his team which dropped him a few spots. Anyways Vuj still has some notable wholes, but his team is good enough where he will not get blown out. Hopefully his team wil continue to improve and next year can compete for a championship.
The Rest
11. Aw Millrights
12. doggmeat1234
13. Slider
14. Springfield Isotopes
15. LPD's Dirty Sox
16. Anaheim Dreamers
17. Kunt Juice
18. Lords of Acid
19. San Marcos Sluts
20. Blownupdadiamond
Subject: Pre-Season Rankings 
Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:23 pm
