3. Although I don't really want to toot my own horn per se, but I feel this be the year of the Offensive Lineman. It is probably not so much that we (Offensive Linemen) are going to shine and standout, but rather it would be more based on which team has the better active user OL squad. The more human OL rather than bots but also balancing out which users are more active will be a base of which to gauge the team success in games (that is though not to say that OL bots are bad, but my understanding is that because they take up enough cap space on the roster, buying them when they're not necessary would tend to be more detrimental to the team rather than essential since that would be less space for more talent where it's more needed). Arizona and Austin are leading the pack with 4 linemen each. With Arizona winning this past Ultimas, it might be worth assessing how good of an O Line is worth to a team (not to disregard all of the other talent on the team). A real-life example would be the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers Super Bowl where the Chiefs had a super injured offensive line which was exploited in the championship despite all of the talent that was elsewhere in other positions on the Chiefs. However, Baltimore and Cape Town, the NSFC leaders last season, were also capable of producing strong squads despite having less applicable TPE in the OL position. This could also be a product that O Line could be adequate enough to produce results if there is sufficient talent across the rest of the team. Of course, we can't forget that Defense wins games. However, I based a lot of my predictions last season on whose defense had better applicable TPE; I was bested by that metric last season. I believe at the time, Berlin had the highest defensive TPE, yet they only made out with 9 wins, but did go on to the Ultimas. And then Austin, also a high TPE defense, also fell short last season not making the playoffs.
As for predictions this year, I would say Arizona, Austin, and Honolulu are going to stay near the top of their ASFC division as they all have great active squad members. The same could be said for Baltimore, Cape Town, and I would also put Berlin into this grouping. I had relatively high hopes for the Fire Salamanders last season, but I guess either I placed them a little too high on a pedestal, or they were smited down by the Sim Gods and did their best play for the season. Sorry New York, but I would put you guys in the middle tier of rankings for this upcoming season; you all must have gotten lucky last season. For my own San Jose Sabercats, although we are in the process of making some changes, I believe we are on a good path, but my conservative prediction will be that we will improve but stay in the middle of the pack; a more precise predictions being 8 wins 8 losses. Other teams rounding out the middle of the pack are Orange County, Yellowknife, Sarasota, and Colorado. Sorry, New Orleans, but extra help will be needed for you all to make you more competitive in the league. I believe Chicago has the highest chance of being the most wild-card of all of the teams this season. For some reason, my instincts can't pinpoint them down on how to rank them. I feel they definitely will rise up, but how far is unknown to me. Still being a little new to the simulation league and culture as a whole, I am unsure how big the Sim Gods come into play, so anything is still on the table, but I'm sure somebody here has it figured out... right?
As for predictions this year, I would say Arizona, Austin, and Honolulu are going to stay near the top of their ASFC division as they all have great active squad members. The same could be said for Baltimore, Cape Town, and I would also put Berlin into this grouping. I had relatively high hopes for the Fire Salamanders last season, but I guess either I placed them a little too high on a pedestal, or they were smited down by the Sim Gods and did their best play for the season. Sorry New York, but I would put you guys in the middle tier of rankings for this upcoming season; you all must have gotten lucky last season. For my own San Jose Sabercats, although we are in the process of making some changes, I believe we are on a good path, but my conservative prediction will be that we will improve but stay in the middle of the pack; a more precise predictions being 8 wins 8 losses. Other teams rounding out the middle of the pack are Orange County, Yellowknife, Sarasota, and Colorado. Sorry, New Orleans, but extra help will be needed for you all to make you more competitive in the league. I believe Chicago has the highest chance of being the most wild-card of all of the teams this season. For some reason, my instincts can't pinpoint them down on how to rank them. I feel they definitely will rise up, but how far is unknown to me. Still being a little new to the simulation league and culture as a whole, I am unsure how big the Sim Gods come into play, so anything is still on the table, but I'm sure somebody here has it figured out... right?
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![[Image: FiicE9O.png]](https://i.imgur.com/FiicE9O.png)