The San Fernando Bears: A Team To Watch

[lordtoffee]

Over the past couple of seasons, the division that has been flying under the radar has been the Pacific. That has a lot to do with the Heartland really being deep, as well as the Johnson League having some competitive races in the Atlantic and Frontier. Well, the Pacific has become really interesting as a rival GM in the Johnson. The Mad Popes, Bears, and Lumberjacks are already staging an interesting race to win the division, and I expect all three to be serious Wild Card threats all season. The team among those three that really intrigues me is the San Fernando Bears. Let's talk about the Bears and why I think that they are going to be an interesting team.

GM Randy Weigand has had a good amount of success in the BBA, having won a Landis with Havana in 2034. Once the Sugar Kings moved to California, they reached consecutive Landis Series in the mid 2030's, but lost both times. Since then, the Bears have consistently fielded competitive teams, but have only won their division once, and have made the playoffs once since the last round of expansion and realignment into four divisions. However, this edition of the Bears has raced out to a 3 game lead in the Pacific over the Mad Popes.

The biggest reason for the hot start by the Bears and why this bodes well is the hitting. The Pacific has always had very good pitching, and in particular recently because of a couple of GM's I consider the pitching gurus of the BBA. Both Shoeless in Sacramento and Lane in Long Beach have always developed pitching in the minor leagues, and are often near the top of the ranks in all team pitching stats. What Randy has done is develop hitting in order to undercut the hitting, and the Bears offense has been dynamite in all the major hitting stats in the Frick. They are first in a number of slugging categories. What makes that even more impressive is that the ballparks in the Pacific tend to make it harder to hit into the gaps and hit for power than the league average, combined with having a culture of GM's that generally develop a lot of pitching. Of course, it helps that the Bears are scoring almost 6 runs a game, which almost half a run better than Madison.

Another key to the Bears having a hot start is that they have been dominant at home. They are winning almost 2/3rds of their games in San Fernando, which bodes well for the playoffs. They also have a winning record on the road, so there is no real penalty for traveling. One thing that a lot of BBA fans forget is that the Frick does play in 5 different time zones compared to the Johnson playing in 3 during the regular season. This is a similar phenomenon to the NHL. In the NHL, the Western Conference plays games against foes in their conference in 3 different time zones, whereas the Eastern Conference plays against other teams in the East within the Eastern Time Zone. The Bears also have to travel to play the Tropics as a divisional opponent multiple times a year, in addition to traveling to Louisville and Yellow Springs in the Midwest. In other words, don't discount the Bears having a great road record as trivial.

What these facts tell us is that the Bears are looking to be a serious threat to win the Pacific, and Randy deserves a lot of credit for the job he has done so far this year. He is my early pick for GM of the Year in the Frick, and I can't wait to see how they do the rest of the season.

[aaronweiner]

I have no idea how this team is in the top half of pitching staffs.

But I think they are going to beat my projection.

[usnspecialist]

I have no idea how this team is in the top half of pitching staffs.

But I think they are going to beat my projection.

I warned you not to underestimate my rookies....

In all seriousness I figured a fully healthy staff for me would be league average and my offense would score close to 1000 runs, which would put me in contention for a wild card. If I win the division I will be as surprised as anybody.

[StormZ_23]

I have no idea how this team is in the top half of pitching staffs.

But I think they are going to beat my projection.

I warned you not to underestimate my rookies....

In all seriousness I figured a fully healthy staff for me would be league average and my offense would score close to 1000 runs, which would put me in contention for a wild card. If I win the division I will be as surprised as anybody.

That worked for me in 2041, not so much after. I'm sure you can make the playoffs though.

[usnspecialist]

I have no idea how this team is in the top half of pitching staffs.

But I think they are going to beat my projection.

I warned you not to underestimate my rookies....

In all seriousness I figured a fully healthy staff for me would be league average and my offense would score close to 1000 runs, which would put me in contention for a wild card. If I win the division I will be as surprised as anybody.

That worked for me in 2041, not so much after. I'm sure you can make the playoffs though.

I have a rich and illustrious history of my offense carrying my pitching staff on its back to the playoffs and making deep runs, so why fix what isn't broken right?

[Lane]

I have no idea how this team is in the top half of pitching staffs.

But I think they are going to beat my projection.

It makes no sense that Randy's staff is doing what it's doing while my staff is shitting the bed.

[usnspecialist]

I have no idea how this team is in the top half of pitching staffs.

But I think they are going to beat my projection.

It makes no sense that Randy's staff is doing what it's doing while my staff is shitting the bed.

Ron would probably disagree with that based on this thread.

viewtopic.php?f=23&t=34553

Also I don't have to face my own offense (which helps).

[CTBrewCrew]

UH OH....



Better Double reverse Jinx this post quick!!!