1st Quarter NL North Review

So the first quarter of Season 5 has come and gone in No Quitters II. The biggest surprise so far, to me at least, has been that Milwaukee has been keeping pace with Scranton. Both Scranton and Milwaukee are leading the league in wins with 28 and 26 respectively. Cleveland has crawled its way back near .500, while Buffalo is already 15 games back from the leaders. Lets take a team by team look at what's happening.

Scranton SweetSwing'n AbbyMo's (NL) coonja76 View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Scranton has been dominate in every area of the game during the first 40 games. Going 14-5 at home and 14-7 away, they haven't been phased on the road. Leading the AbbyMo's have been preseason All NL North picks in Matt West and Chuck Parker. Chuck is absolutely tearing it up on the field, and is on pace to hit 68HRs and steal 73 bases. Possibly the first ever 60/60 guy? We'll see. As a team Scranton leads the NL in on base percentage by 15 points.

Their rotation has been just as dominate as their offense has been, as their top 4 pitchers have an ERA below 3.50. Carson Redmond has been having a season for the ages so far. Going 6-0 in 8 starts, he has struck out 53 while only walking 6. Douglas Dawkins has been consistent in the closers role so far, as he has converted 9 saves in 9 chances.

Despite having 3 players listed on the preseason All NL Defensive team, Scranton is dead last in last in errors allowed and fielding percentage, and consequentially are 2nd to last in unearned runs allowed. Although their defense has been trying their best to allow more runs to score, they are 3rd in the NL in runs allowed.

Milwaukee Timber Rattlers (NL) lccooler View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Milwaukee started the year with a 4 game sweep of Buffalo, and then promptly got swept by Scranton. So far this year we have been lead by minor league signing Preston Burkhart who is having an MVP type year so far. He leads all NL North hitters in RC/27 by almost an amazing 3 runs. Quinn Morgan is also having another fine season, posting a line of .365/.571/.936. Cody Relaford is in the middle of a sophomore slump, and has been relegated to the bottom of the batting order. Thankfully he hasn't forgotten how to play defense as well.

The Timber Rattlers have also been lead by the Big 3 as they have been the past 4 seasons. Ismael Torres has seen a return to his Cy Young season in season 2, while both Hugh Luebbers and Orber Gutierrez are holding their own in the rotation. Look for Milwaukee to replace a starter in the rotation by the all start break if the number 4 and 5 guys don't turn it around. Ted Alexander is following up his NL Fireman of the Year award from last year with another remarkable season so far. He started the season converting his first 14 saves without allowing a run, but gave up back to back solo home runs in his 15th save opportunity. He bounced back quickly saving the next game.

Milwaukee is also having a superb defensive season having only committed a total of 9 errors. This is second only to Las Vegas in the NL.

Cleveland Cuyahogas (NL) mytitan View Hardball Dynasty Profile

Cleveland has been having an up and down season thus far. They started out the season going 3-7, but have come back to a respectable 20-23. This is not that easy of a feat in the NL North with both Milwaukee and Scranton owning both the top two records in the NL. The Cuyahogas are having a great defensive and offensive season, and if their pitching would come around they could possibly compete for a wild card spot.

The Cuyahogas have been lead on offense by both Gary Crosby and Geraldo Chavez. Both are near the top of the NL North in offensive production, and each does it differently. Chavez is getting on base like no other, and is currently 3rd in the North, while Crosby is slugging the ball all over the place.

Pitching is a different story. While they aren't horrible, they is only one person on the team who is having an All Star season. So let's start with the good in Dennis Mercker. He's 5-1 in 8 starts and has 6 quality starts so far. Top prospect Jeff Gload, has been having a decent rookie season so far. While his ERA says otherwise, his WHIP has said otherwise. He's been respectable at home, but has gotten pounded on the road.

Buffalo Wings (NL) mdonegan View Hardball Dynasty Profile

What has gone right for Buffalo this year you may ask? Well besides Brutus Fleming there hasn't been much good news coming out of Buffalo. The wings are dead last in WHIP and ERA and 2nd to last in 1.8*OPS. The Wings have used a total of 14 different lineups on offense, and while they have used the same rotation since opening day, none of them is performing better than what a number 3 or 4 starter on any other staff would perform. Even the Wing's closer, Juan Perez, has a WHIP above 2.00.

It looks like mdonegan is going to need to hunker down for a long season, but as we've seen from the Top 100 prospect list, help is not that far away.

NL North 1st Qtr All Stars
C: Matt West - Scranton
1B: Quinn Morgan - Milwaukee
2B: Geraldo Chavez - Cleveland
3B: Brian Tomko - Cleveland
SS: Delino Martinez - Cleveland
LF: Chuck Parker - Scranton (Normally RF)
CF: Gary Crosby - Cleveland
RF: Preston Burkhart - Milwaukee

Starting Pitchers
Carson Redmond - Scranton
Ismael Sanchez - Milwaukee
Orber Guiterrez - Milwaukee
Dennis Merker - Cleveland
Dante Adkinsson - Scranton

Closer
Ted Alexander - Milwaukee


1st Qtr All NL North Defensive Team
C: Luis Oropesa - Milwaukee
1B: O.T. Wagner - Cleveland
2B: Geraldo Chavez - Cleveland
3B: Ramon Yang - Scranton
SS: Eduardo Rosado - Milwaukee
LF: Aubrey Goldman - Cleveland
CF: Gary Crosby - Cleveland
RF: Placido Ordonez - Cleveland