All Time Dodgers Roster

 Through 2023.

 Largely, this is a focus on career regular season value, due to time considerations.  I'm doing this with the idea of a possible tournament, so I'm not just putting together the best 26 players, I'm trying to construct a roster.  Every spot has a backup, 16 position players/10 pitchers.  Making platoon considerations, each team has 2 dedicated closers, each bullpen has a lefty.  

Starting Lineup v RH

C R.Campanella

1B D.Camilli (LH)

2B J.Robinson

SS PW Reese

3B R.Cey

LF Z.Wheat (LH)

CF D.Snider (LH)

RF D.Walker (LH)

DH M.Piazza

Starting Lineup v LH

C R.Campanella

1B G.Hodges

2B J.Robinson

SS PW Reese

3B R.Cey

LF P.Guerrero

CF D.Snider (LH)

RF C.Furillo

DH M.Piazza

Reserves

1B/3B S.Garvey

2B/3B/LF J.Gilliam

SS M.Wills

CF W.Davis

Dodgers have a deep bench, so some 30 WAR position players aren't here - Justin Turner is top of the list; with Garvey/Gilliam and Jackie able to play third base, he gets left off.  Lopes/Russell/Mike Griffin, all left off.

Starting Pitchers

C.Kershaw (LH)

D.Drysdale

D.Vance

D.Sutton 

S.Koufax (LH)

Bullpen

K.Jansen

E.Gagne

N.Rucker (LH)

O.Hershiser

F.Valenzuela (LH

8 top Fangraphs WAR and the two saves leaders.  

All Time Rockies Roster

 Through 2023.

 Largely, this is a focus on career regular season value, due to time considerations.  I'm doing this with the idea of a possible tournament, so I'm not just putting together the best 26 players, I'm trying to construct a roster.  Every spot has a backup, 16 position players/10 pitchers.  Making platoon considerations, each team has 2 dedicated closers, each bullpen has a lefty.  

Starting Lineup v RH

C J.Reed (LH)

1B T.Helton (LH)

2B R.McMahon (LH)

SS T.Tulowitzki

3B N.Arenado

LF C.Gonzalez (LH)

CF C.Blackmon (LH)

RF L.Walker (LH)

DH M.Holliday

Starting Lineup v LH

C C.Iannetta

1B T.Helton (LH)

2B DJ LeMahieu 

SS T.Tulowitzki

3B N.Arenado

LF M.Holliday

CF E.Burks

RF L.Walker (LH)

DH A.Galarraga

Reserves

SS T.Story

3B/SS V.Castilla

CF D.Fowler (SH)

The 14 highest b-ref WAR position players + 2 catchers.

Starting Pitchers

U.Jimenez

A.Cook

G.Marquez

K.Freeland (LH)

J. De La Rosa (LH)

Bullpen

B.Fuentes (LH)

S.Reed

J.Gray

P.Astacio

J.Chacin

It's the top 9 by B-Ref WAR (including Reed, a short reliever, who soaks up one of the closer spots) and Fuentes, the franchise save leader.  

All Time Reds Roster

Through 2023.

 Largely, this is a focus on career regular season value, due to time considerations.  I'm doing this with the idea of a possible tournament, so I'm not just putting together the best 26 players, I'm trying to construct a roster.  Every spot has a backup, 16 position players/10 pitchers.  Making platoon considerations, each team has 2 dedicated closers, each bullpen has a lefty.  

Starting Lineup v RH

C J.Bench

1B J.Votto (LH)

2B J.Morgan (LH)

SS B.Larkin

3B T.Perez

LF F.Robinson

CF V.Pinson (LH)

RF P.Rose (SH)

DH E.Roush (LH)

Starting Lineup v LH

C J.Bench

1B J.Votto (LH)

2B J.Morgan (LH)

SS B.Larkin

3B T.Perez

LF F.Robinson

CF E.Davis

RF G.Foster

DH P.Rose (SH)

Reserves

C E.Lombardi

2B B.McPhee 

2B L.Frey (L)

SS D.Concepcion

3B/2B H.Groh

Its the 15 top b-ref WAR Reds and the backup catcher, Frey gets the slot that Reilly or Kluszewski might get as the last man on the roster.  If a player averages 30 WAR when combining b-ref and Fangraphs, there's a presumption that they belong on the roster.

Starting Pitchers

N.Hahn (L)

E.Rixey (L)

D.Luque

P.Derringer

J.Rijo

Relief Pitchers

A.Chapman (L)

J.Franco (L)

J.Maloney

F.Dwyer

B.Walters

The top half dozen B-Ref WAR pitchers are here; Derringer's the top in Fangraphs WAR, Maloney gets the last spot over Mullane. Chapman and Franco are 3-4 in Reds saves, they have solid ERA+ advantages over Graves; Franco/Cordero is essentially a tie and the lefty gets the slot.

All Time Cubs Roster

 Through 2023.

 Largely, this is a focus on career regular season value, due to time considerations.  I'm doing this with the idea of a possible tournament, so I'm not just putting together the best 26 players, I'm trying to construct a roster.  Every spot has a backup, 16 position players/10 pitchers.  Making platoon considerations, each team has 2 dedicated closers, each bullpen has a lefty.  

Starting Lineup v RH

C G.Hartnett 

1B C.Anson

2B R.Sandberg

SS E.Banks

3B S.Hack (LH)

LF B.Williams (LH)

CF G.Gore (LH)

RF S.Sosa

DH M.Grace (LH)

Starting Lineup v. LH

C G.Hartnett

1B C.Anson

2B R.Sandberg

SS E.Banks

3B R.Santo

LF B.Williams (LH)

CF J.Ryan

RF S.Sosa

DH F.Chance

Reserves

2B J.Evers (LH)

2B B.Herman (RH)

SS J.Tinker

RF B.Nicholson (LH)

Who is the backup catcher?  It's Chance, who caught a little less than 200 games with the Cubs; doing that allows for Billy Herman to make this roster, which is why there are 3 guys who can only play second base on this team - but Herman's got 40 career Cub WAR and given that the other best option is King Kelly as the backup catcher, this configuration best captures Cub history.  There's a lot of 30+ WAR Cubs not here: Anthony Rizzo, Phil Cavaretta, Ed Williamson, Bill Dahlen, Hack Wilson.  Wilson loses out to Gore to add Gore's left handed bat. 

Starting Pitchers

F.Jenkins

R.Reuschel

M.Brown

B.Hutchison

G.Alexander

Bullpen

L.Smith

B.Sutter

C.Griffith

H.Vaughn (L)

J.Clarkson

Top four starters have 40+ Cub WAR in both b-ref and fangraphs; Smith and Sutter lead in saves and Vaughn is the top lefty. That left multiple guys for those last 3 spots, just left off are Maddux, Charlie Root, Bob Rush, Carlos Zambrano, Claude Passeau.

Super Bowl 58 Prediction

I picked the 49ers before the season and before the playoffs.  The 49ers, by every advanced metric, were the better team this season.  I am a 49er fan and so even if none of that was true, I would still pick the 49ers in this spot - it's the Super Bowl, I'm picking my team - however, I pick this game every year and unless a significant countervailing issue makes the season totals not the single best predictor (variance is more important than everything, "any given Sunday" and whatnot; you throw the Bears into this game and 4 times out of 10 they win, don't overrate ability to predict the outcome of an NFL game), I pick the team who had the best season.  No - a couple of playoff games are not a significant countervailing issue - if Mahomes missed half the season or Trent Williams wasn't playing Sunday, that's what would be needed to buck the season long results.  

The 49ers run the ball - the Chiefs don't stop the run.

The Chiefs one skill position weapon is the tight end - the 49ers shut down tight ends.  

The Chiefs have an offensive tackle problem and Nick Bosa puts more pressure on the QB than almost any other pass rusher in football.  

If you're picking the Chiefs, and a lot of folks are, it rests on the distance between the quarterbacks and thats a reasonable call.  A different way to pick this game would just be to pick the better QB given the wildly outsized impact on winning that position has - Mahomes is a two time champion headed to the Hall of Fame and Purdy was the last pick in the draft and there were advanced analysts calling for him to be replaced by Sam Darnold before the 4th quarter of the divisional playoff win over the Packers.  

If I had Mahomes on my side, I'd pick him too.  

But instead - I have everything else.  

49ers 26

Chiefs 23

I'm going to throw in some props I like, I'll update this as it strikes me:

Eli Mitchell over 4.5 rushing/receiving yrds

Deebo Samuel under 2.5 carries

Brandon Aiyuk over 4.5 receptions

Kyle Juszczyk over 4.5 yds receiving