Developed Teams 2015 Series

11/10/15
I've revived my Developed Teams project, starting with each team that participated in the 2015 postseason. Modeling myself after the incomparable MLB Trade Rumors, I'm compiling links to all the articles in this handy post, which will be updated to include all the teams (hopefully, eventually).

12/1/15
As it looks less and less likely that I'll continue posting developed teams recaps outside the context of a larger simulation project, I'm amending my divisional list to include fantasy point totals for each of the teams. This could help narrow things down into a playoff situation so I don't have to slog through a whole season's worth of simulations. But maybe I'll do things the long way, depending on how well the progress goes with my Arkhkam Knight Let's Play project. For now, let's see if the numbers tell us anything interesting:


AL East

• New York Yankees - 31,548
• Boston Red Sox - 28,896
• Tampa Bay Rays - 24,636
• Baltimore Orioles - 21,147
• Toronto Blue Jays - 20,032

AL Central

• Minnesota Twins - 30,939
• Kansas City Royals - 27,483
• Cleveland Indians - 24,993
• Chicago White Sox - 22,402
• Detroit Tigers - 20,343

AL West

• Los Angeles Angels - 32,506
• Texas Rangers - 30,762
• Seattle Mariners - 30,524
• Oakland Athletics - 26,371
• Houston Astros - 22,522

NL East

• Atlanta Braves - 32,273
• New York Mets - 30,148
• Miami Marlins - 25,937
• Washington Nationals - 25,663
• Philadelphia Phillies - 24,677

NL Central

• St. Louis Cardinals - 32,726
• Pittsburgh Pirates - 27,402
• Cincinnati Reds - 26,916
• Milwaukee Brewers - 26,225
• Chicago Cubs - 20,757

NL West

• Arizona Diamondbacks - 35,806
• Los Angeles Dodgers - 30,888
• Colorado Rockies - 23,990
• San Diego Padres - 23,410
• San Francisco Giants - 21,641

As of today, these teams all have corresponding rosters in my copy of MLB 15: The Show, ready for some simulations! Based on these numbers, we could project a group of playoff teams based on the 30,000 point threshold, which would allow us to see some of the top teams play each other without having to simulate an entire lengthy season. Even though these results can be skewed by either a) a few extraordinary players or b) a glut of depth that wouldn't contribute to a playoff roster, I'm assuming this is what's happening, because I don't think I have the wherewithal to withstand the rigors of a full 162-game season, even though all the teams have a representative.

This method would give us two league leaders from the west coast: the Angels and Diamondbacks. This is somewhat surprising, not just since neither of these two teams made the playoffs, but also because the D-Backs are one of the two newest teams in baseball, which means they've had the least time to develop players. But adding a perennial Cy Young contender like Max Scherzer to a roster that already includes perennial MVP contender Paul Goldschmidt (plus adding in the breakout performance of A.J. Pollock and the typical solid production from Carlos Gonzalez, a player who I was THIS close to rewarding to the A's, along with pitcher Brett Anderson) gives this team the punch it needs to contend. The only standout performers on the Angels are Mike Trout and John Lackey, who helped the team win a world championship in 2002, but solid numbers all the way through give the Halos a surprising advantage.

That means the ALDS would feature the East champion Yankees, who, as a 2015 playoff team, were profiled earlier in this series of posts, and the Minnesota Twins, who actually came relatively close to a wild card berth last year behind the last season of hometown hero Torii Hunter, who nonetheless figures to play a significant role on this team. The two NL teams to meet in the first round are the St. Louis Cardinals (another 2015 playoff team) and the Atlanta Braves, a team (like the Twins) without a single 2,000 point scorer on the roster (Craig Kimbrel and Jason Heyward help though).

That leaves the Wild Card games, which in the NL takes the form of a rematch of last year's NLDS between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Mets. How sweet does a Kershaw/deGrom one-night-only event sound? Meanwhile, the AL Wild Card game mirrors the situation we saw in the NL last year, where both teams come from the same division. I already gave a sneak peek of how Seattle's fortunes might look, and I'm not necessarily tempering my high expectation for this club, especially given that King Felix can start the one-game playoff. But the power potential of the Rangers lineup means they've got a legitimate chance to go far, even if their pitching strength is more wide than tall.

Look for some combination of recaps with screenshots and videos in the near future, as I'll need a fix of baseball to get through this long and arduous offseason.