Team of the Week: Jet City Junkballers

Jet City Junkballers

Reasons they will win:

Jet City comes into 2017 with very high hopes. They return their dynamic duo, Nate Arndt and Tony Koch from a season ago. Arndt led the league in 2016 in HR’s with 51 and RBI’s with 80, while Koch lead the league in batting average, hitting .587. Arndt was also very impressive on the mound, as he gave up just 108 runs in 96 innings pitched, earning him 2016 AL Cy Young. But what could possibly excite the Junkballers the most heading into 2017, isn’t what they have returning, but instead what they have acquired. Jet city got former Maple City Magic ace and journeyman, Shane Anderson, in a block buster free agency move. “Shane is arguably the best ORWBL pitcher ever” said former MVP, and teammate, Tony Koch. Anderson had a 6.75 ERA last year in just 32 innings pitched as Manager Alex Friedman opted to use Wes Ellis, and John Arndt on the mound more than expected. In a non camera setting, Anderson told us “(Jet City) has some young talent grouped with a few veterans which makes us a team to watch this postseason.” Jet City also made a quiet signing, but one they are very pleased about. They got Rookie Zack Smith, or the one they call “Ziti”, out of Indianapolis. They said he will play a few series and push for Rookie of the Year honors. Junkballers manager Nate Arndt calls it a “gem signing”. The 2016 AL West champions are also enthused that they get stud opposite field hitting expert Drew Luther for a full season in 2017. The Junkballers acquired Luther in a midseason trade last year from Maple City, giving up John Arndt to the Magic. If Jet CIty’s roster plays as good as it looks, they could very well be the team with the best chance to take down Maple City in the improved American League.

Why they can’t:

Jet city had a very good offseason but unfortunately for them so did the other two best teams in the AL. Hudson Lake picked up two of White Lightning's best players, Doug benner and Levi Miller, and Lynn Streets captain, Dustin Curl. Maple City also had a handful of pickups including the Reiff and Jonkman brothers and also get Brian Lockhart moving back from the West Coast in July. All of these pickups for these two teams just give us reasons for Jet CIty to fall short of a title again. Jet City will have to get through Hudson Lake before they even venture to try and dethrone the Magic as AL Champs. Hudson Lake also took down Jet City in the playoffs last year and have only improved in the offseason. Hopefully for Jet City, the addition of Shane Anderson will be enough to take down Maple City and Hudson Lake. Jet City has a tough road ahead of them, we will see if they are up for the task in hand. One things is certain, Jet City will be zoomin’ all summer long out at historic Old Rock Park!

Projected Record: 20-10

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