ATL Team Preview: Newark Legion

The Newark Legion, managed by Matt Alphin, had the 2nd pick in the draft, leaving him with first pickings over everyone not named Babe Ruth. I should point out that this is Newark, DE (pronounced "New ark") as opposed to Newark, NJ. The nickname is both unique and an inside joke. Although Matt may not be quite as much of a sports nut as the rest of us in the ATL, he had the baseball knowledge to make some good picks. Also, I auto-drafted about half of his team.








This logo is very similar to one I used for our intramural basketball team's Facebook page a while back to add even more hilarity to our team. I'm rather pleased with my work here.
Team Colors: Blue and Gold
Home Stadium: YYCnasium. Don't bother asking where that came from; it's yet another joke within friends that made it into the ATL. All you need to know is that it's an homer-friendly stadium with a turf surface.

The position players: (click on picture to enlarge)
(Note: if you didn't read the team preview for any of the other teams, please disregard the stars on the right side; they're part of the game's internal "scouting" and should have no in-game effects)
This group of position players possesses good skill at every non-pitching aspect of the game. There should be power to go around on this team, Mays, Aaron, Gehrig, & Mathews likely will all hit more than enough longballs to strike as much fear as possible into ATL hurlers. There are no prolific base-stealers among this bunch, but Collins, Jeter, & others will do enough to have opposing teams respect their speed. Especially when Santo is playing, the infield defense is solid, with perhaps Jeter (sorry to Yankee fans, but I'm going by the numbers & metrics here) as a weaker link. Mays & Speaker should cover so much ground in the outfield that even a good outfielder like Aaron will have his workload lightened. Although they don't represent the best fielding tandem in the ATL, the Fisk/Simmons pair behind the plate should produce reliable hitting stats. Finally, as mentioned previously, Matt's home stadium should lead to more higher scoring affairs than usual.

The pitchers:
Projected Rotation: Alexander, Spahn, Walsh, Carlton, Perry
Another 11-man staff. Matt's the only Phillie phan out of the 6 of us, and he managed to choose the two best pitchers in the team's long history for his solid rotation. The Legion has probably the most finesse staff in the ATL; multiple pitchers on this team led their league in strikeouts, but without blazing speed on their fastballs, with the exception of probably Drysdale. Pirate Wilbur Cooper is faced with the task of being the primary arm used to shut down opposing lefties late in games. Looking at the bullpen, it might be a bit of an adventure trying to sustain leads into the 9th inning, but Wilhelm's amazing array of pitches should get the vast majority of those leads to hold up when they make it there. The Legion will be the opposite of the Sedohcs: should this team make it far, it will be on the shoulders of the old-timers in doing so.