KPSL 2025 SIM REPORT: Reds and Nationals lead the pack in projections.
- Jim Santora
- Apr 1
- 3 min read
The Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals, two teams that made the 2024 Playoffs, look to be the tops in the KPSL in 2025.
The St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks round out the Top Six and projected playoff spots for the year. Again, these are only projections before the dice have been rolled so anything can happen.
Below is a recap of where all the teams landed.
1. Cincinnati – The top dog. They averaged scoring about 90 more runs per year than the next best offense – the Rockies. Also, they were the only team to never produce a losing season. They also won or tied for 1st place seven times and secured at least a share of the bye every damn year! And things get very spicy when we talk about Elly, which we will do later.
2. Washington – Year 2 and Jeff has this team up to second place in the SIMs. They ranked third best in runs scored and runs allowed. They’ve got pitching and hitting covered! They also were able to finish above the Reds in more than one SIM.
3. St. Louis – Todd has to be happy to see this. His Redbirds were mid-pack on offense but allowed the fewest runs of anyone, being the only team to average under 700 runs allowed per SIM. It worked for them. Like the Nats, even their worst season was basically a .500 season.
4. Los Angeles – Big Blue won just one more game than the Rockies over 1,760, but if you dig deeper their run differential suggests they were a little further ahead than that. Like the Rockies though, they threw up one real clunker (81-95). But they are going to do VERY well when we get to MVPs and the elusive “50/50” seasons.
5. Colorado – I am going to gripe for one sentence – “HAL” in his infinite wisdom used three key young guns on my team – Mike McGreevy, Landen Roupp, and Rhett Lowder for a combined total of 0 innings over 10 SIMs. Thanks HAL. Still, the Rockies performed well. We had one clunker season like the Dodgers, but we won plenty and were clearly part of the “Power 5” that ruled the SIMs.
6. Arizona – The Dbacks get an asterisk here because by runs scored/allowed they actually rank eighth, but then again they won league batting average in most seasons and notched three playoff appearances. Their Achillies heel was power. In every SIM the Dbacks were last in homers, often 50 or more taters behind whomever was ninth.
7. San Francisco – I’d say the Giants were definitely less lucky than a few of the teams behind them. They only notched two playoff appearances compared to five each for the Braves and Phillies, who both managed fewer total wins. But such is luck. The Giants, despite having Soto mashing the ball, struggled to score enough to make an impact in these SIMs.
8. Atlanta – I’m going to credit draft-day additions Teoscar Hernandez and Pete Alonso with seriously energizing the Braves offense, thus helping them reach the playoffs in half of the SIMs. The Braves had a negative run differential, but by that measure they were the 6th best squad. If Jordan can roll righteous, this is a playoff team!
9. Phillies – The Phils also made the playoffs in half of the SIMs, and in one crazy season finished second! Which, honestly, proves that they were likely the luckiest SIM team overall. This team had the league’s worst pitching, and honestly his best comp in this SIM is the Pirates, who only made the playoffs twice.
10. Pittsburgh – When the only teams you allowed less runs than are the Phillies and Rockies, and you don’t play in their ballparks, you know you have pitching issues! The defending champs were knocked around in these SIMs. Just playoff qualification and a lot of mediocrity.
11. San Diego – In SIM 2 the Padres won 95 games and snared the 4th playoff spot. They snuck in another time too, but more times than not they simply did not score enough to be competitive.
12. Brewers – Just one team never made the playoffs, and no one will be surprised to see it is this one. But this team is meaningfully better than last year. In last year’s SIMs, the Brew Crew was demolished, being outscored by an average of 218 runs per season. This year, that number is down to 123. I am predicting 30-35 wins for this team, and a lot more close games.
For the complete report, click the pdf file below.
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