Hometown Teams 2014, All-Star Break Edition

Now that I've completed the majority of my midseason baseball research and compiled the results into a  sortable database, it's time to start organizing those stats into some virtual rosters. I've spent a lot of time talking about astrology teams these past two seasons and I did a feature on developed teams a few years ago, so the next logical step is to arrange players based on their hometowns. Well, to be fair, it's really based on their places of birth, because that's what's listed on MLB.com, but I'm sure a player's bond to the mystic portal through which he entered the world is strong enough to create some meaningful pattern to these rosters.

Through extensive research and numbers-crunching, I've identified 10 geographical areas that have produced enough players from which to pick a decent roster. First, the major breakdown: of the 1,152 major leaguers that have played before the break (there are actually a few more, but my database is admittedly not all-inclusive), 843 came from the US and 309 came from other countries (including Puerto Rico). The largest contingent from any single territory (to borrow a term from Risk) were the whopping 174 players from California. Must be something about the beaches, the sunshine, and the MLB leading five baseball teams that makes Californians flock to the diamond. The next highest is that baseball-lovin' island of the Dominican Republic with 121. Pretty impressive that those totals are so close given that the D.R.'s population is about 25% of CA's (as of the 2010 census the numbers were 9.4 million to 37.2 million, respectively).

The only other single territories to field full teams were Texas (95), Venezuela (81) and Florida (79). Four of the other five come from cleverly dividing the rest of the US into time zones: one team for combined Pacific and Mountain (and Hawaii, just 64 players total), one team for Central (140), and two teams for Eastern, divided by the Mason-Dixon line (North: 139, South: 132). The tenth and final team comes from grouping all the non-USA, non-Dominican, non-Venezuelan players together in a truly international milieu made up of 107 players from 18 countries, led by Cuba, Puerto Rico, Canada, Japan and Mexico.

Rather than just blasting all the lineups randomly over time, I've decided to set up a 10-team, double elimination bracket of sorts. And while I have no way to cheaply and easily simulate any results, the organization will make it easier to give some context to my upcoming analysis. I determined ranks by taking the fantasy point totals (as of the All-Star Break) of the top 40 scorers in each team (cuz, you know, 40-man roster), regardless of position. Since 10 team double elimination is kind of weird (but shout out to PrintYourBrackets.com for helping me make sense of it all), only the bottom four teams play in the first round. Below is the full bracket as it appears in round one, followed by the starting lineups for the very first matchup:

Starting from the bottom (now we here - sorry, I couldn't resist a line from a Canadian rapper in a post about hometowns) it makes sense that the team with the fewest players in its pool is ranked lowest. But that doesn't mean that the USA's West Coast team is full of scrubs by any means. The offense is led by Michael Brantley (WA), who is having a career year in Cleveland, Ian Kinsler (AZ), who is making Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski look like a genius for trading naked Prince Fielder for him in the off-season, and Jacoby Ellsbury (OR), who can lend stability to the top of any batting order. And don't forget that Hawaiian Kurt Suzuki was an All-Star this year. Taking the mound for game 1 is one of the most talked-about pitchers this trade deadline, Jon Lester (WA). He's followed by another headline maker in 2014, no-hitter author Tim Lincecum (also from WA). The starting pitching depth falls off a little after that, though, with only Baltimore rookie Kevin Gausman (CO) averaging higher than 30-something points per game. The bullpen is fronted by two pitchers who are kind of on the bubble between excellent setup men and proven closers in Mark Melancon (CO), currently closing for the Pirates, and Tom Wilhelmsen (AZ), who formerly closed for the Mariners. But the most interesting aspect of this lineup might be the wealth of impending free agents: in addition to Lester and Suzuki, four more of their west coast teammates are set to file for free agency after this season. Oh, and the surprising decline of Bryce Harper (NV).

The West will take on the best-of-the-worst Florida, a state known more for retirees than athletes, but that still has some star players on their roster. In fact, the first five players in their projected lineup were 2014 All-Stars, plus the first two starting pitchers in their rotation. Andrew McCutchen is obviously the cream of the crop (his performance is making me regret passing him over for Paul Goldschmidt with pick #3 of my fantasy draft this year), but Josh Donaldson, Dee Gordon, and Anthony Rizzo are all rising stars who have just begun to hit their strides. I did end up drafting ace pitcher Chris Sale for my fantasy team and did not regret it, despite a stay on the DL earlier this season, as he has the third-highest point-per-game average in the game (among pitchers with more than two starts *cough* James Paxton). I will actually be at Dodger Stadium tonight watching Florida's number two starter, as Zack Greinke takes on the Braves. If this team had one weakness it would be the bullpen, and I only say that because it lacks a "proven closer" who has been closing games for more than half a season. And in contrast to the West team, not one player on their roster is slated to become a free agent this year (pending options being declined).

Who will win? Tune in next time to find out. AND for analysis the second game in Round 1 as Texas takes on Venezuela! If only we could have seen matchups like that in the World Cup...