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MightyVotto · 07-11-2019, 03:53 PM

I'm starting a historical replay of Mickey Mantle's career. I did this with Ruth, Gehrig, and Dimaggio (partially) from 1920 - 1940 in a replay league a few years ago and truly enjoyed it. The premise is to answer my curiosity for what it was like to follow these all-time greats as they played. Do they live up to their reputations? What will I learn that will surprise me if I follow them in this simulated day-to-day format? I developed appreciation for how great Ruth, Gehrig, and Dimaggio were by doing this in the past. I also, though, learned a great deal more about the rest of the league around them. It was also fun to follow a team that was good pretty much every year. My present team, the Reds, seems to be good once every five-ish years. I get my fill of mediocre-to-bad baseball in reality.

The Setup
- I'm using historical transactions and historical lineups. However, I'm managing the Yankees and setting the lineups myself each game. This gives me a little sense of actually participating in the season as opposed to being just a bystander.
- I started the league in 1901, erased all league history prior to that year, and simmed to 1952. I skipped Mantle's rookie season. He really isn't very good that year, and I have a hard time giving him much playing time versus the other outfielders on the team that year whenever I've attempted a sim for that season.
- Each year since 1901, I've restructured each league into 2 divisions and created a playoff format that included each division winner and one wild card team. The division winner with the lowest record hosts the wild card team in a 5 game series to open the playoffs. The winner plays the top division winner in a 7 game LCS. Then, of course, the winners of those series from each league face each other in a 7 game WS to determine the champion. I've been doing this for awhile now in many different historical replays since about 2012. It's really shown me how much an expanded playoff system creates greater variability in who actually wins a championship from year-to-year. Whether this is good or bad is certainly up for debate. I do believe, though, that it makes the postseason much more interesting than if just the league champions play one series each year.

Here are some interesting notes from the simmed alternate MLB history leading up to the beginning of my 1952 replay:
- The Yankees have still managed to win the most titles, but they aren't running away with that number as easily, yet. They've won 8.
- Cleveland, the Cubs, and the Cardinals are in second with 6 WS titles each.
- Only two teams, Cincinnati and Brooklyn, haven't won 1 WS title.
- The Red Sox are the reigning champs. They were unlikely winners in 1951 after earning the AL Wild Card and beating the favored Yankees in 7 during the ALCS.
- Babe Ruth is the single season HR leader with 64 in 1921. He's also the career HR king as usual, but only with 630. He had some surprisingly low HR numbers throughout his career. He only hit 40 in 1927. A little odd.
- The longest hitting streak is only 29. George Burns did it in 1927.

There are many more interesting points to highlight, but I'll touch on those as they pop up in a relevant way during my replay.

I'm going to play each game out and will try to provide updates at the beginning of each in-game week. I'll try to play approximately 2-3 games a day or a series a day depending on what time allows.

I hope I can stick with this as planned. I've never done one of these sim blogs but thought it would be fun. Hope you enjoy it!

07-11-2019, 03:53 PM	#1
MightyVotto Minors (Double A) Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 123	Mickey Mantle Replay (Beginning 1952) I'm starting a historical replay of Mickey Mantle's career. I did this with Ruth, Gehrig, and Dimaggio (partially) from 1920 - 1940 in a replay league a few years ago and truly enjoyed it. The premise is to answer my curiosity for what it was like to follow these all-time greats as they played. Do they live up to their reputations? What will I learn that will surprise me if I follow them in this simulated day-to-day format? I developed appreciation for how great Ruth, Gehrig, and Dimaggio were by doing this in the past. I also, though, learned a great deal more about the rest of the league around them. It was also fun to follow a team that was good pretty much every year. My present team, the Reds, seems to be good once every five-ish years. I get my fill of mediocre-to-bad baseball in reality. The Setup - I'm using historical transactions and historical lineups. However, I'm managing the Yankees and setting the lineups myself each game. This gives me a little sense of actually participating in the season as opposed to being just a bystander. - I started the league in 1901, erased all league history prior to that year, and simmed to 1952. I skipped Mantle's rookie season. He really isn't very good that year, and I have a hard time giving him much playing time versus the other outfielders on the team that year whenever I've attempted a sim for that season. - Each year since 1901, I've restructured each league into 2 divisions and created a playoff format that included each division winner and one wild card team. The division winner with the lowest record hosts the wild card team in a 5 game series to open the playoffs. The winner plays the top division winner in a 7 game LCS. Then, of course, the winners of those series from each league face each other in a 7 game WS to determine the champion. I've been doing this for awhile now in many different historical replays since about 2012. It's really shown me how much an expanded playoff system creates greater variability in who actually wins a championship from year-to-year. Whether this is good or bad is certainly up for debate. I do believe, though, that it makes the postseason much more interesting than if just the league champions play one series each year. Here are some interesting notes from the simmed alternate MLB history leading up to the beginning of my 1952 replay: - The Yankees have still managed to win the most titles, but they aren't running away with that number as easily, yet. They've won 8. - Cleveland, the Cubs, and the Cardinals are in second with 6 WS titles each. - Only two teams, Cincinnati and Brooklyn, haven't won 1 WS title. - The Red Sox are the reigning champs. They were unlikely winners in 1951 after earning the AL Wild Card and beating the favored Yankees in 7 during the ALCS. - Babe Ruth is the single season HR leader with 64 in 1921. He's also the career HR king as usual, but only with 630. He had some surprisingly low HR numbers throughout his career. He only hit 40 in 1927. A little odd. - The longest hitting streak is only 29. George Burns did it in 1927. There are many more interesting points to highlight, but I'll touch on those as they pop up in a relevant way during my replay. I'm going to play each game out and will try to provide updates at the beginning of each in-game week. I'll try to play approximately 2-3 games a day or a series a day depending on what time allows. I hope I can stick with this as planned. I've never done one of these sim blogs but thought it would be fun. Hope you enjoy it!