Chicago Fire (12-8, On Road: 4-5) @ Los Angeles Lakers (11-6, At Home: 4-4)
Nothing is certain yet, of course, but that didn’t stop the clubhouse attendant from stashing 15 cases of Champagne in the training room… that I found it is a problem – but, don’t worry, I instructed some of our interns to stash it in my office before the players arrived. I’ve done good work here – saved us from a real, “seeing the bride before the walk”, situation. We can’t give in to illusions of grandeur when we have, potentially, two games left against a club that is rumored to have ties to the Sicilian Mob with death on the line…
WS Game 6: Jake Payne (3-1, 3.54) @ Nat Millard (2-2, 6.00)
Win, 5-0! As it turned out – I did save the day… of course, that I waited for Barbaccia to get the final out before texting my head intern to break out the champaign was just a mere formality – he was, surprisingly, good for it. Nat pitched like the version of himself we traded for, and, was often unable to be in 2076 – 7 innings, 2 hits, and 6 K’s for our Ace, Ethan put in some work – 2 for 3 with a double and two RBI, and PEPPER went 2 for 3 with 2 runs in our FIRST WORLD SERIES WIN in franchise history. Otto went 0 for 3 in the win – a real nonfactor throughout this series… not sure what I will do with him, a trade would surely net some good returns. This WS win is something of a surprise – I really thought that Philly would run roughshod over all comers – and when we had to go through Phoenix to even make it to the Series, well, I thought we’d be cooked for sure – forced to watch my Ex go on to achieve all of her hopes and dreams… but, it was our year – turbulent at times, often inconsistent, and, well, really great. To have this result so early in my tenure makes me ponder what else there is left for me to do in LA… some big personal and personnel decisions are in the cards, for sure. For now, though, I’ll just savor this hard-earned victory and enjoy the view from the top of the mountain.
Some notes:- LF Lonzo Gonzo permanently etched his name into the hearts of the Laker faithful with a World Series performance for the ages – 10 for 27 with 3 RBI… wait, what? Whatever. He’s your World Series MVP and you’ll like it.
- Our owner, Phil Murray – the Galactic Commando from Outer Space – extended my contract – 2-year extension for lots of money. It was his right – he had the clause in my contract, but I don’t know where my head is at yet… I mean, rumor has it that Shawna may have a GM opening in Minnesota soon (and I’m hearing that her marketing teams are cooking up something sinister for the 2077 campaign) … so, who really knows what this means.
- We have 7 guys eligible for arbitration – survey says… we’re about to be strapped for cash.
- Mario Marshburn and Lonzo Gonzo both won Gold Gloves & Otto won a Silver Slugger – so, that’s pretty rad.
Your major award winners are as follows…- AL Boyce Rigg (MVP) – 2B Heathcote Kinton (LAG) - .321/22/88 (1st)
- NL Boyce Rigg (MVP) – LF Palmer Parker (PHI) - .380/37/115 (1st)
- AL Pacheco – SP Bradley Hughes (SEA) - 13-6, 3.15 (3rd)
- NL Pacheco – SP Landon Sampson (SF) – 17-7, 2.43 (4th)… note: Josiah came in 2nd in the voting.
Some dubious honors...- Orlando CF Masaharu Watanabe led the league with 203 strikeouts – yet, he didn’t even crack the top 50 all-time, and came in 50 K’s short of the all-time single season record holder, 3B Random Bondarenko (OKC), who, coincidentally led the league in K’s in 7 of his 13 MLB Season… he set the record of 253 K’s in 1999… while in OKC who would eventually move to Minneapolis… there’s a Prince joke in here somewhere, but I just can’t find it.
- SP Jake Payne, of the Chicago Fire, led the league in HRA at 36 – the single season record holder, SP Jajuan Ramos allowed 55 of them in 2022. Payne managed to only allow 4 homers in 40 IP’s during the postseason (and none in the World Series)…
In shortlist news.. a personal favorite of mine… RF Jules Winfield’s contract with Brooklyn is set to expire in the offseason. He only appeared in 37 games for the Citizens, 104 PA, 89 AB’s… and a .180 average. It seems like he’ll either head back to the Bush League or retire – it’s the end of an era.
And, on the future of Strangeverse… Not sure how I am going to move forward with this. Do I stay with the Lakers and make an attempt at putting together a long-term dynasty? Maybe, could be fun. Or, do I move to a smaller market team and try to navigate the challenges of not having money or talent? A long haul, for sure, but a fulfilling journey if I can achieve a similar result to the one we got here – Minnesota could be a good time. Or, do I follow a single player as he makes his way through College and into the Majors? I have found a kid on the MIT Equations that looks like a future star – and, I have, of course, changed his name and gave him a killer facegen (the return of Boogie Barnett) – so, maybe writing about him from college through his time in the bigs could be cool. Of course, that sort of thing could be accomplished in small updates in posts as I GM a squad. Or, do I step back into the mode I was in prior to taking over Phoenix, and just post high-level reports on Strangeverse as a whole? I do enjoy the “watcher” style of play – maybe something with monthly updates and a lot more detail could be fun (I recently read, "Big Hair and Plastic Grass", so maybe I could try to cop that style) – but, it would be hard not to run a club at this point. So… um, yeah… I have some choices to make.
HOWEVER… two things are happening in the off-season for sure… 1. I’m rebranding a club, though they will stay in the same town –
more on that later, and 2. I’m adding a 6-team AA League so that the
BIGGER clubs (plus Minnesota) can have a more extended development program than the rest of the league – in time all will get AA clubs, but I want to manage this in waves.