Sunday, February 17, 2013

Top 10 Dynasties through 25 Seasons of ARod (#6-10) by habslmets


Top 10 Hardball Dynasties through 25 Seasons of AROD.

In honor of 25 glorious seasons of AROD, I have spent the last week researching some of the top teams/owners in the history of the league. I've compiled all time records, and used win-loss records, winning percentage, playoff appearances, Hall of Famers, World Series, a trusty magic 8 ball and many other subjects of criteria while trying to create my rankings. In unrelated news I'm single. That being said, there were some notable omissions from this list. My apologies go out to the current owners gjd13, barjaz, dengodd2, bigparb13, langer1979 and rcf106, all of whose franchise deserve a lot of recognition. However there can only be 10 teams that make this list, so let's get this started so everyone can begin sending me their hate mail. Keep in mind that owners only gained credit for their work with one franchise. The top 5 will be released shortly.

Note: Bold lettering indicates the city where the franchise spent the majority of its history. Parenthesis is seasons played in AROD.

10. Jackson Colonials/Houston Oilers/Santa Fe Demons – ml4ku (10-23)

Ml4ku has only been gone from AROD for two seasons, and he definitely won't be forgotten any time soon. The barjaz/safetyman/ml4ku rivalry in the AL South was one of the best in the league for 14 seasons. The crowning moment of his dynasty came in season 20 in the form of a World Series ring, courtesy of a 112-50 regular season record, followed by an 11-2 in the postseason. The iconic player of the franchise over this stretch was legendary Reese Hemphill, who amazingly signed  20 million dollar contracts on back to back contracts. Hemphill, who got his big league start with ml4ku, is the franchise career leader in starts, wins, strikeouts and ERA. The man calling pitches during that stretch was Wes Dickenson, who made 8 All-Star games and won 4 Silver Slugger awards. In 14 seasons in AROD, ml4ku won 2 American League pennants and 4 division titles.

9. Monterrey Cervecos/Atlanta Brewers – milwaukee_al (7-11)

Milwaukee_al coached the least amount of seasons out of all the coaches who appear in the top 10 rankings, but his short reign was hard to beat. He qualified for the playoffs all 5 of his seasons with Monterrey, winning 100 games 3 times, two pennants and two world series rings in seasons 8 and 10. Keep in mind he did this all in the always strong NL South. The Cervecos were led by hall of fame pitcher Dan Stuart in his prime, who racked up his 2 world series rings and first of three Cy Young awards in his time in Monterrey. Possible future Hall of Famer Bronson Jiang gave the Cervecos one of the most devastating 1-2 punches in the league. That's all impressive, but milwaukee_al's most impressive stat: a career .642 winning percentage. His clubs just reeked of excellence during their far too brief history.

8. Colorado Ballvalanche/Boise Tatermashers/Tucson Toros Diablos – sarmos78 (6-13)

His run was short, but sarmos78 kept the AL West in his back-pocket for the majority of his career. The Colorado Ballvalance won at least 100 games in sarmos78's first 6 seasons, winning the division title every year during that span. His crowning moment came in season 7, winning the World Series with 118 wins in the regular season, winning 11 out of 12 playoff games and sweeping the legendary BIGTHUNDER in his last season in the league. If not for milwaukee_al and the Cervecos, the Ballvalance could have repeated in season 8. Sarmos was led by two of the all time AROD greats; Albie Villano, who won 3 Cy Young awards with the franchise, and Omar Castillo, who brought home two MVPs while calling Colorado home.


6a. Tampa Bay Don Ceasars – cebola (13-present)
6b. Iowa City Rounders – Ahsowhat (13-present)

I mean can you really pick one of these franchise from the other? Over the last 12 seasons, these teams have been almost identical stat wise, whether it be wins (1155 for Iowa City, 1128 for Tampa Bay), playoff appearances (7 each), and World Series wins (2 each). Ahsowhat and cebola have won the last 4 world series between the two of them, and look to be in good contention in season 25. Both coaches get the work done behind a stud pitching staff. It is crazy that Elrod Coke, Gio Hernandez, and Bruce Mullins were all homegrown players with Iowa City, and are responsible for their successes over the years. John Ueno also cut his teeth originally with the Rounders. Tampa Bay has had their own success with growing players. Right now their may be no better center fielder in the game than Hi Shouse, who has 5 All Stars, 3 Silver Sluggers and 2 Gold Gloves in his 6 years in the majors. Shouse along with Derrick Grissom has led the Don Ceasars in the field. The other owners of AROD have to look up at Tampa Bay and Iowa City if they want to be on this list in 10 seasons.

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