It didn't take long to figure out how this season will play out. By our second or third series, it became crystal clear. We will hit the crap out of the ball, but we'll need to score double digit runs in order to win, because our pitching is worse than horrendous. I knew this coming into the season, but I was hoping maybe I would be wrong. No such luck.
We wrapped up the first chapter with a respectable 16-12 record, matching the heavily-favored Darien Blue Wave. Both we and the Blue Wave are five games behind the red-hot Flagstaff Peaks, who won 21 games this chapter. We posted a runs differential of +28 despite allowing a league-high (for now) 149 runs.
We hit .295/.357/.530 as a team, which is just insane. We also hit an insane number of homers: 52. And we scored 177 runs, which is second only to Flagstaff. That's 6.3 runs per game, which is unsustainable, obviously.
That is a shame, because we would need to sustain that pace in order to win any games, given the horrific state of our pitching staff. We posted a 4.95 ERA in Chapter One, allowed more hits (263) than innings (250+), and a whopping 50 home runs (1.8 per game.)
Our "ace," Shohei Ohtani, went 1-3 with a 7.99 ERA. Michael Lorenzen (6.67 ERA), Joe Kelly (8.59), Bryan Shaw (12.86), and Robert Stephenon (5.93) have all allowed at least half as many home runs -- ALREADY! AFTER ONE CHAPTER! -- as they allowed ALL of last MLB season.
The one bright spot on our pitching staff is Kutter Crawford, who went 3-0 with a 1.24 ERA and has a chance to win the OL Pitcher of the Chapter award. Unfortunately, we had to use him out of the bullpen once due to an injury to a starting pitcher, which jacked up his usage. We have major usage issues across the board in our bullpen -- already! The number of teams that needlessly horde relievers in the BDBL has made it all but impossible to field a team.
We may also own the OL Hitter of the Chapter. Last year, Ohtani couldn't hit for shit. This year, he's making up for it. He hit .368/.424/.772 on the chapter, with 10 homers, 10 doubles, 3 triples, and 29 RBIs. Aaron Hicks (.345/.367/.586), Wilmer Flores (.333/.407/.556), Adley Rutschman (.327/.380/.566), Jason Heyward (.324/.351/.608), Brandon Belt (.302/.402/.523), and Bryan Reynolds (.271/.331/.508) all hit the snot out of the ball.
I don't know what to do with this team. We're obviously not good enough to compete, but we're obviously too good to throw in the towel at this point. I was tempted to trade Trea Turner this past chapter, and nearly did so, but ultimately decided to wait another chapter. I have plenty of trade bait if and when the time comes to bail. We're probably one ace starting pitcher away from being a playoff-caliber team, but that would mean trading a top prospect. Which I refuse to do. So here we are.
