OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - The Montreal Expos... Exposing the New MLB?

Griever20 · 08-08-2025, 04:26 PM

EL Wild Card Series:

Washington Nationals 9 - Houston Astros 0
WSH SP Jim Sherwood 7.1IP 5H 0ER 0BB 5K W(1-0 0.00)
Washington leads series 1-0.

Washington Nationals 6 - Houston Astros 11
HOU 3B Jose Martinez 4-5 3R 3RBI DB
Series tied at 1.

Washington Nationals 5 - Houston Astros 1
WSH SP Ian Munson 6.1IP 4H 0ER 2BB 2K W(1-0 0.00)
Washington wins series 2-1, advances to ELDS.

Cincinnati Eagles 5 - New York Mets 8
NYM 3B Ignacio Alfaro 2-4 R 2RBI DB HR(1)
New York leads series 1-0.

Cincinnati Eagles 4 - New York Mets 12
NYM LF Jay Blackson 1-3 3R 2RBI BB HR(1)
New York wins series 2-0, advances to ELDS.

WL Wild Card Series:

Oakland Oaks 2 - Denver Seahawks 4
DEN SP Danny Huber 7IP 3H 0ER 0BB 7K W(1-0 0.00)
Denver leads series 1-0.

Oakland Oaks 0 - Denver Seahawks 7
DEN SP Tom Frost 7IP 3H 0ER 1BB 9K W(1-0 0.00)
Denver wins series 2-0, advances to WLDS.

Los Angeles Angels 5 - San Francisco Red Devils 2
LAA SP Dylan Roberts 7IP 5H 0ER 5BB 4K W(1-0 0.00)
Los Angeles leads series 1-0.

Los Angeles Angels 4 - San Francisco Red Devils 0
LAA SP Dickie Bartyzel 7IP 3H 0ER 1BB 6K W(1-0 0.00)
Los Angeles wins series 2-0, advances to WLDS.

--

The New York Mets:

The inevitable. The second best team in the EL, 95 wins, and the fourth best in all of NMLB… and they won the season series 8-5 over us. Led by general manager Blake Larson, a former minor league player in the Oakland org, he has managed the team into the playoffs for the second time in the last seven years, the last time in 2020… which was a fluke, framed within 92 and 85 loss seasons.

The 85-loss season saw a change at the helm as 42-year old Nathan Sandlin became their new on-field manager after that loss. Bounding back from a 90 loss year in 2022, Sandlin won over the clubhouse with his personable style, and baseball fans with his sabermetric approach to managing.

And the clubhouse is formidable. Phenom CF Abel Lemke(25, 4.5*) was the 6th overall pick in 2020, made his MLB debut after the All-Star break in 2021, amassed 5.1WAR in 2022 and is a likely candidate for EL MvP this year, batting . .324-16-94 .877OPS 1116R 204G 48DB 70/78SB 8.5WAR. THAT IS 70 STOLEN BASES. Also still there is 2x batting champ 1B Bernie Castillo(27, 4*) only batting .312 with a .826OPS and 2.9WAR. Oh, and February 2020 minor league free agent signing Alejandro Cantu(25, 3/3.5*) provides the power, batting .291-31-93 .875OPS 1.9WAR in 146 games.

Oh, and don’t forget C Mario Toscano(26, 5*, .278-19-77 .832OPS 3.8WAR), an elite defensive catcher that led the EL in OBP in 2020 and 2021. What I am trying to tell you is… they have the best offense in baseball tied with the Vancouver Canadians, 870 runs scored in 162 games.

Their pitching… is beatable and we would’ve had the way better rotation with Hinton and Asselin on deck… but so, the group around RHSP Hector Tinoco(27, 3*, 11-9 3.48 178K 2.7WAR) and RHSP Zach Laurents(29, 3*, 15-7 4.36 185K 2.7WAR) is pretty much equivalent to ours.

I got a bad feeling about this series…

Eastern League Division Series Game 1:

October 9th, 2023

New York Mets - Montreal Expos @Olympic Stadium

NYM: SP Bubba Hubbard(R, 10-9 4.99)
MON: SP Sam Griffin(R, 12-8 3.56)

With their two top pitchers used in the Wild Card Series, we are faced by trade deadline acquisition Hubba Bubba…. Ehh Bubba Hubbard, an overpaid($12.6M) dude that was shipped out of - Portland with a 5.19ERA and hasn’t recovered since.

Both pitchers had some early traffic on the basepaths, starting with a leadoff walk to Benavides in the first, but Griffin successfully found the real trouble in the second. While soon-to-be-named MVP Abel Lemke hit a weak roller to short for the first out, Toscano singled himself on with a grounder up the middle, and the next hitter reached on a gruelsome error by Julian Hernandez who bobbled the ball twice before making no throw…

A fielders choice that advanced the runners followed… and a walk to switch hitting 3B Alfaro… bringing up the #9 hitter in second baseman Mario Garcia. The .269 hitter in the regular season got a hold of a curve… easy flyout to Ian Messer in right… PHEW! The bottom half was equally interesting as Perez singled, Talbert got him doubled up, Hernandez reached on an error by his counterpart… and a walk later, Rich Meilleur had two on with two out… and made it three outs.

We stranded two more in scoring position in the 3rd in what turned out to be a pitcher’s duel through five innings until V-Rod and Messer were at the corners in the bottom 5th with a walk and a single and one out… end of the day for Hubba Bubba, 4.1 scoreless 4H, 4BB, 4K.

They brought in 34-year old veteran of many battles Ron Millett and he came out, throwing strikes… which we were not used to, and eventually left the two runners stranded… Grok and Perez with the two outs.

Knowing what offense we were facing, this felt like dancing on an active volcano, and the first spurts of the volcano hit us when Rich Meilleur injured himself on the first out in the sixth… and was replaced by Robby Weltzer. He would’ve had no shot in doing anything on the next play anyways… as Abel Lemke deposited one in deep right center for the first run and home run of the series… NYM 1, MON 0.

Griffin gave the New York Mets their money’s worth but left in the 7th with two on, a mess that Pablo Mendoza cleaned up. We were looking for a pitcher we could hit… found two as Robby Weltzer doubled off Trevor Vega, who only faced three batters as they brought in lefty David Honecker to face the lefty Ian Messer with two outs and a runner at second… and Aaron McCreery decided to leave the .263 hitter against LHP in the game… and got rewarded… line drive… BASE HIT INTO RIGHT… TIED BALLGAME!

It became a tied bullpen game as we were not able to add on and ourselves brought in Mitsuyasu Kai for two scoreless to sent this game… into extra innings. The war of nerves continued on and on as both bullpen’s were flawless through the 10th… and 11th… until a walk and a blast happened… Martin Cutelos, their .368OBP shortstop walked, and left fielder Jay Blackson, another trade deadline acquisition, worked himself into a 2-2 count before tomahawking a Freddy Silva fastball, NYM 3, MON 1, Top 12th.

They left in their 2 inning old righty Bryan Chandler in the save situation and nearly got burned when Weltzer singled, one out later, Benavides hit a looong line drive into the right field corner… foul… nearly a one run game. Four pitches later, he hit into a double play. Game over.

SP Sam Griffin 6IP 5H 1R 1ER 1BB 6K ND PotG
RF Ian Messer 2-5 RBI
1B Dave Grochowski 2-5
2B Fernando Perez 1-5
DH Matt Talbert 1-5
SS Robby Weltzer 2-3 2 DB
HR NYM: Lemke(1), Blackson(2)
HR MON: none
W: Bryan Chandler(1-0 0.00) L: Freddy Silva(0-1 7.71) SV: Aaron Soderstrom(1 4.91)
NYM 3 MON 1(12) NYM leads ELDS 1-0
We held the fort against their high octane offense for 11 innings…

08-08-2025, 04:26 PM	#205
Griever20 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Dortmund, Germany Posts: 3,727	2023 ELDS Game 1 EL Wild Card Series: Washington Nationals 9 - Houston Astros 0 WSH SP Jim Sherwood 7.1IP 5H 0ER 0BB 5K W(1-0 0.00) Washington leads series 1-0. Washington Nationals 6 - Houston Astros 11 HOU 3B Jose Martinez 4-5 3R 3RBI DB Series tied at 1. Washington Nationals 5 - Houston Astros 1 WSH SP Ian Munson 6.1IP 4H 0ER 2BB 2K W(1-0 0.00) Washington wins series 2-1, advances to ELDS. Cincinnati Eagles 5 - New York Mets 8 NYM 3B Ignacio Alfaro 2-4 R 2RBI DB HR(1) New York leads series 1-0. Cincinnati Eagles 4 - New York Mets 12 NYM LF Jay Blackson 1-3 3R 2RBI BB HR(1) New York wins series 2-0, advances to ELDS. WL Wild Card Series: Oakland Oaks 2 - Denver Seahawks 4 DEN SP Danny Huber 7IP 3H 0ER 0BB 7K W(1-0 0.00) Denver leads series 1-0. Oakland Oaks 0 - Denver Seahawks 7 DEN SP Tom Frost 7IP 3H 0ER 1BB 9K W(1-0 0.00) Denver wins series 2-0, advances to WLDS. Los Angeles Angels 5 - San Francisco Red Devils 2 LAA SP Dylan Roberts 7IP 5H 0ER 5BB 4K W(1-0 0.00) Los Angeles leads series 1-0. Los Angeles Angels 4 - San Francisco Red Devils 0 LAA SP Dickie Bartyzel 7IP 3H 0ER 1BB 6K W(1-0 0.00) Los Angeles wins series 2-0, advances to WLDS. -- The New York Mets: The inevitable. The second best team in the EL, 95 wins, and the fourth best in all of NMLB… and they won the season series 8-5 over us. Led by general manager Blake Larson, a former minor league player in the Oakland org, he has managed the team into the playoffs for the second time in the last seven years, the last time in 2020… which was a fluke, framed within 92 and 85 loss seasons. The 85-loss season saw a change at the helm as 42-year old Nathan Sandlin became their new on-field manager after that loss. Bounding back from a 90 loss year in 2022, Sandlin won over the clubhouse with his personable style, and baseball fans with his sabermetric approach to managing. And the clubhouse is formidable. Phenom CF Abel Lemke(25, 4.5) was the 6th overall pick in 2020, made his MLB debut after the All-Star break in 2021, amassed 5.1WAR in 2022 and is a likely candidate for EL MvP this year, batting . .324-16-94 .877OPS 1116R* 204G 48DB 70/78SB 8.5WAR. THAT IS 70 STOLEN BASES. Also still there is 2x batting champ 1B Bernie Castillo(27, 4) only batting .312 with a .826OPS and 2.9WAR. Oh, and February 2020 minor league free agent signing Alejandro Cantu(25, 3/3.5) provides the power, batting .291-31-93 .875OPS 1.9WAR in 146 games. Oh, and don’t forget C Mario Toscano(26, 5, .278-19-77 .832OPS 3.8WAR), an elite defensive catcher that led the EL in OBP in 2020 and 2021. What I am trying to tell you is… they have the best offense in baseball tied with the Vancouver Canadians, 870 runs scored in 162 games. Their pitching… is beatable and we would’ve had the way better rotation with Hinton* and Asselin on deck… but so, the group around RHSP Hector Tinoco(27, 3, 11-9 3.48 178K 2.7WAR) and RHSP Zach Laurents(29, 3, 15-7 4.36 185K 2.7WAR) is pretty much equivalent to ours. I got a bad feeling about this series… Eastern League Division Series Game 1: October 9th, 2023 New York Mets - Montreal Expos @Olympic Stadium NYM: SP Bubba Hubbard(R, 10-9 4.99) MON: SP Sam Griffin(R, 12-8 3.56) With their two top pitchers used in the Wild Card Series, we are faced by trade deadline acquisition Hubba Bubba…. Ehh Bubba Hubbard, an overpaid($12.6M) dude that was shipped out of - Portland with a 5.19ERA and hasn’t recovered since. Both pitchers had some early traffic on the basepaths, starting with a leadoff walk to Benavides in the first, but Griffin successfully found the real trouble in the second. While soon-to-be-named MVP Abel Lemke hit a weak roller to short for the first out, Toscano singled himself on with a grounder up the middle, and the next hitter reached on a gruelsome error by Julian Hernandez who bobbled the ball twice before making no throw… A fielders choice that advanced the runners followed… and a walk to switch hitting 3B Alfaro… bringing up the #9 hitter in second baseman Mario Garcia. The .269 hitter in the regular season got a hold of a curve… easy flyout to Ian Messer in right… PHEW! The bottom half was equally interesting as Perez singled, Talbert got him doubled up, Hernandez reached on an error by his counterpart… and a walk later, Rich Meilleur had two on with two out… and made it three outs. We stranded two more in scoring position in the 3rd in what turned out to be a pitcher’s duel through five innings until V-Rod and Messer were at the corners in the bottom 5th with a walk and a single and one out… end of the day for Hubba Bubba, 4.1 scoreless 4H, 4BB, 4K. They brought in 34-year old veteran of many battles Ron Millett and he came out, throwing strikes… which we were not used to, and eventually left the two runners stranded… Grok and Perez with the two outs. Knowing what offense we were facing, this felt like dancing on an active volcano, and the first spurts of the volcano hit us when Rich Meilleur injured himself on the first out in the sixth… and was replaced by Robby Weltzer. He would’ve had no shot in doing anything on the next play anyways… as Abel Lemke deposited one in deep right center for the first run and home run of the series… NYM 1, MON 0. Griffin gave the New York Mets their money’s worth but left in the 7th with two on, a mess that Pablo Mendoza cleaned up. We were looking for a pitcher we could hit… found two as Robby Weltzer doubled off Trevor Vega, who only faced three batters as they brought in lefty David Honecker to face the lefty Ian Messer with two outs and a runner at second… and Aaron McCreery decided to leave the .263 hitter against LHP in the game… and got rewarded… line drive… BASE HIT INTO RIGHT… TIED BALLGAME! It became a tied bullpen game as we were not able to add on and ourselves brought in Mitsuyasu Kai for two scoreless to sent this game… into extra innings. The war of nerves continued on and on as both bullpen’s were flawless through the 10th… and 11th… until a walk and a blast happened… Martin Cutelos, their .368OBP shortstop walked, and left fielder Jay Blackson, another trade deadline acquisition, worked himself into a 2-2 count before tomahawking a Freddy Silva fastball, NYM 3, MON 1, Top 12th. They left in their 2 inning old righty Bryan Chandler in the save situation and nearly got burned when Weltzer singled, one out later, Benavides hit a looong line drive into the right field corner… foul… nearly a one run game. Four pitches later, he hit into a double play. Game over. SP Sam Griffin 6IP 5H 1R 1ER 1BB 6K ND PotG RF Ian Messer 2-5 RBI 1B Dave Grochowski 2-5 2B Fernando Perez 1-5 DH Matt Talbert 1-5 SS Robby Weltzer 2-3 2 DB HR NYM: Lemke(1), Blackson(2) HR MON: none W: Bryan Chandler(1-0 0.00) L: Freddy Silva(0-1 7.71) SV: Aaron Soderstrom(1 4.91) NYM 3 MON 1(12) NYM leads ELDS 1-0 We held the fort against their high octane offense for 11 innings… __________________ The Montreal Expos... Exposing the New MLB? MLB 2015 - Being the Brewmaster(ended) MLB 2013: The Blue Jays That Never Were(concluded)