It wasn’t immediately clear — to me at least — as the complex league got started in June, that the Giants’ two ACL squads were going to tread such diametrically opposed paths. There were differences in the roster, but they didn’t seem to be major — it’s not like the Black roster was obviously stacked!
If Team Black had high bonus IFA shortstop Anthony Rodriguez, Team Orange had high bonus IFA shortstop Diego Velasquez. If Black had intriguingly athletic but raw young IFA OF Mauricio Pierre, Orange had intriguingly athletic, but raw young high school draft OF Donovan McIntyre. Orange had a solid set of young pitching prospects, led by Mikell Manzano, and they had a lot of veteran presence. Orange certainly got plenty of help from rehabbing players from higher levels. They began the season with Jairo Pomares cracking homers in their lineup, and would later include such upper level players as Will Wilson, Adrian Sugastey, Jimmy Glowenke, Donnie Walton, Logan Wyatt, Wei-Chieh Huang and more!
And yet, day after day, Orange lost and Black won. If games were close, Black would find a way to score in the late innings and pull out a W, while Orange would fall in the final at bats. If opposing teams jumped out to big leads, Black would climb back in and complete a dramatic comeback and Orange would just sink further behind (or comeback, but not quite all the way). Black shot up to the top of the standings and stayed there, posting the league’s best winning percentage (.685) and run differential (+111 — a full 50 positive runs better than the next best team!), while Orange sank to the bottom, with the league’s worst winning percentage (.327) — only the third worst run differential, though (-48)!
Clearly, some sort of dark Picture of Dorian Gray magic was afoot here, which would keep everything pristine and beautiful for one squad, while the other withered away in the attic. From a development standpoint, there were certainly positive signs on both squads, but from a competitive POV, the summer was a very one-sided affair.
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