Hey, hey!
So the 'Glou are still in Perfect. 80-82 in 2077 was followed up by 84-78 in 278, then 90-72, 88-74, and 93-69. Interestingly while the 90-win and 88-win seasons got us wildcard berths the 93-win season did not.
This season we landed in the same division as the Tahiti Good Boahs, constant Perfect postseason contenders, and the Vlad News Bears, also constant postseason contenders. Both typically win 100+ games a season. We also landed in the same conference as the insanely good Gonzaga Bulldogs, who have won 110+ games a season every season since 2055, except for 2073 when they inexplicably went 107-55, and were coming off two 130+ win seasons. 3-time Perfect champions the Walnut Creek Geezers were also in our conference, as well as the Miami Jeters, who might not have won a perfect title yet but had 100+ wins in 5 of their last 6 seasons.
The goal this season for the 'Glou, therefore, was not a wildcard, but to play .500 ball.
And we fell short. 78-84 (1 game below pythag). SE 90OVR Larry Hisle started the season playing LF against lefties but didn't last long before being replaced by 93OVR Rookie of the Month Eloy Jiminez (a pull from a couple weeks back). He didn't last all that long either, getting sent back to the minors in favor of the always dependable 88OVR Roberto Clemente, who mashed .273/.280/.545 in 93PA over the last third of the season. Jiminez's RotM card has better offensive ratings but Clemente provides good defense to go with his swing-at-everything approach.
Gave SE 82OVR B.J Surhoff a go at catcher this week. He was mediocre. 87OVR Ernie Lombardi earns a call back up next week after a 5-season absence, 89OVR Carlton Fisk the primary catcher for the previous 4 seasons to this one.
Peak Pedro finished with the best pitching WAR (10.1) and most Ks (253) in our conference but only went 17-12, his rWAR the lowest of his career at 7.3. Peak John Matlack, a mission reward acquired at the end of the 2080 season, had another good year, going 16-13 with a 3.39 FIP and a 6.0 WAR (6.6rWAR, if anybody's interested).
Am closing in on completing the Houston Astros live mission, which will complete the AL live missions, which in turn will give me an automatic major bullpen upgrade and the opportunities a couple diamond packs offer. After buying the live Bregman I decided (against my heart because I'm no fan of cheaters) to swap him into the roster for Arenado. Arenado offers better defense but the Bregman card is undeniably more offensive (see what I did there?).
I had two really nice pulls this week. Like, really(!!) nice. First was 98OVR Hitter of the Month Austin Meadows. My lineup vs RHP isn't the greatest, in all honesty, so his 95 contact and 95 power vs RHP, and his 66 eye, will see him hit cleanup vs RHP for me going forward while camping out in LF. Interestingly, neither Meadows or Jiminez are included in the 2019 Players of the Month mission.
After that pull I didn't expect to see another diamond for a couple weeks. But today, from a batch of 5 tournament reward packs, I ripped...
Suddenly my rotation looks a whole lot stronger! Peak Pedro, Rixey, Matlack as my top 3, with SE Eddie Plank (whose FIP of 4.05 across 6 perfect seasons vs his ERA of 4.58 shows my defense has been letting him down some) at 4 and live deGrom at 5. It was a tossup between moving deGrom or SE Russ Ford to the pen. I decided Ford would give me better value in the later innings, but my mind may change midway through next season. Ideally I'd like to move deGrom off the active roster entirely but I don't have anybody good enough to replace him yet. SE Hippo Vaughn got sent to the reserve roster ahead of 89OVR Curt Simmons, who's been a reliever for the last 6 perfect seasons and been consistently excellent, going to 3 of the last 4 All Star Games. In fact this season was his worst, his FIP of 5.23 the first time his FIP has been above 3.69 in the pen at Perfect.
Waffle nearly complete! Roster snapshot below (I missed deGrom but can't be bothered redoing the pic):