The Ottawa Otters, an inaugural member of the Cyberspace Baseball Association, play in the Parker Division, Clemente Conference.  The team won the World Championship in 2001, five years after the CBA was formed.  That year, the Otters qualified for the play-offs as Wild Card team with a record of 82 – 80.  The championship team was led by Mark McGwire, who was inducted into the CBA Hall of Fame in 2013 along with the team’s owner, Jack Jung.

 The team has been built up through the draft.  Trades are few and far between (much to the chagrin of other managers!)  Top prospects are scouted early on in their careers.  Once drafted, they develop through the minors until they are ready to make an impact at the major league level.  Such players include future Hall of Famers Vladimir Guerrero and David Ortiz, as well as newer players such as Jason Heyward, Andrew McCutchen, and Mike Trout.  Players such as these will likely be Otters for the duration of their playing career.

 While the Otters were struggling in recent years, 2013 was a breakout year for the team.  It finished with a team best record of 97 – 65, and the second best record in the CBA that year.  Although it lost in seven games in the second round of the playoffs, the team is poised to do well in the future with a core of excellent young players.  With Heyward, McCutchen, and Trout, the Otters had what is arguably the best outfield in the CBA.

Ottawa Otters Team Outlook 2019

It was a disappointing 2018 season for the Ottawa Otters when they finished with only 69 wins against 93 losses, and a dismal 23 games behind Philly in the Schmidt Division.  Ottawa usually relies on the long ball to win games but only Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen had at least 30 homers that year.  The Otters finished in the bottom third of the league in terms of team hitting and pitching. 

Mike Trout won the Clemente MVP award in a close ballot, edging out Nolan Arenado.  The Otters were able to sign Trout to a new contract during the off-season with an eye-watering 12-year, $430 million extension to his existing contract that would have expired next season.  While Trout has been brilliant since joining the league in 2012, he has not had much team success in Ottawa.  The Otters made with play-offs just once during Trout’s career thus far when the Otters lost in seven games to Ohio in the second round in 2014.  There were rumours that Trout would be traded in the off-season, but the Otters decided to keep Trout on their roster and build their team around him.

A new season begins and the pre-season showed that the Otters may be able to climb out of the basement in the standings this year.  The team will once again be anchored by a stellar outfield with Trout, McCutchen and Jason Heyward.  Other key returning veterans include Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, and Kurt Suzuki.

The Otters chose to use most of their draft picks to upgrade their pitching for the new season.  Returning to the rotation are Joulys Chacin and Kyle Gibson.  Joining them are free agents Francisco Liriano, Ian Kennedy, and Chad Kuhl.  Brad Ziegler will continue as the team’s closer.  Starters Yu Darvish and Doug Fister are both on the disabled list for most of the season and are not expected to return to play until September.   Hopefully, the Otters will be vying for a play-off position when they return.

Looking even further ahead, key prospects for the Otters include outfielder Lewis Brinson and short stop Royce Lewis.  Brinson may be ready for the majors as early as next year while Lewis is still at least two years away.