Best of the 80's

[majesty95]

Ever wonder which team of the 1980's was really the best of the decade? Well, we're about to find out.

I took all of the World Series participants from 1980-1989 and put them in their respective leagues. I then took the next four best records of teams that lost in the LCS from each league and put them in their respective leagues as well. The result was a league that looks like this:



The league is set with all transactions, injuries and financials off. The league strategy, AI and modifiers are set to 1985. The designated hitter will be in effect in the AL.

The league schedule will be 156 games with a balanced schedule and average series length of 3 games. Interleague play is off. That should mean each team will play each of the other 13 teams in their league 12 times (6 at home, 6 on the road).

The playoffs will include each divison winner and two wild cards. The first round is the Divisional Series and will be a best-of-five. The second round will be the League Championship Series and the final round will be the World Series. The LCS and World Series will be best-of-seven.

Awards will be given for MVP, Cy Young, and Gold Glove.

Make your predictions now and follow along. There will be a prize for the most accurate predictions (Haven't determind the prize yeat but it will be nice)

Accuracy totals will be based off of standing predictions, playoffs and award winners. To be unbiased, there will be a points based scoring system. The points are as follows:

Correct place in standing: 5 pts
Correct season record: 5 pts
Correct divison winner: 5 pts
Correct wild card team: 5 pts
Correct Divisonal Series winner: 7.5 pts
Correct LCS winner: 10 pts
Correct World Series winner: 20 points

Perfect divisional standing: 25 extra points for each division correct
All four divisional standings correct: 100 extra points
Perfect playoff prediction: 50 extra points
All four divisions and entire playoffs correct: 250 extra points

Correct Cy Young winner: 25 points
Correct MVP winner: 25 points
Correct Gold Glove winner: 15 points each correct

Correct Cy Young and MVP: 75 extra points
All Gold Glove winners correct: 200 extra points

Correct batting title winner: 10 pts for each correct (AL and NL)
Correct HR champ: 10 pts each correct (AL and NL)
Correct RBI champ: 10 pts each correct (AL and NL)
Correct SB champ: 10 pts each correct (AL and NL)
Correct pitching wins leader: 10 pts each correct (AL and NL)
Correct ERA champ: 10 pts each correct (AL and NL)
Correct saves champ: 10 pts each correct (AL and NL)

Correctly picking champs exact stat (ex. .351 avg, 25 wins, 2.29 ERA, etc): 10 extra points each correct

Start making your predictions. You must select the year of the team and player in your predictions (Ex. 1981 Fernando Valenzuela, 1982 St. Louis Cardinals, etc.) All predictions must be made before I post my first update (probably 2-3 days).

Enjoy!

[bwhansen]

Sounds interesting.

I wouldnt expect the 1987 Twins team to do very well in this setup. They certainly werent better than the 88 Twins and maybe not even better than the 84 Twins.

For 50 points, I predict Bert "be home" Blyleven to have multiple neck injuries as he snaps his head around to watch the homers hit off him.

[majesty95]

Yeah, the "Miracle" Mets won 100 games in '69 but the lowly Twins won only 87in '87. That was the real Miracle!

[majesty95]

This is just a teaser, not an official update. You can still make your predictions.

One week into the sim and there are some interesting developments. One team is rolling along at 7-0 while its counterpart is 2-5 (can you guess which franchise?) There is one, one loss team and one, one win team. Interestingly, the only team that started out 0-5 has won two in a row.

Of the franchises that have multiple representatives, five pairings are playing rather similarly, while three are almost polar opposites.

One league has jumped out to a 80-34 lead in league wide home runs and has several guys flat out raking the ball. There are two teams (one in each league) that are homerless through seven games. Can you guess who they are? (One may surprise you)

There is a future HOer who was thought to be at the end of his career but is currently leading both leagues in OBP and SLG (and OPS obviously). Care to guess who it is?

One pitcher has started out 2-0 with two complete game shutouts but its not either of the guys your thinking.

I'll leave it at that for the first tease. Another to follow. The first official update will be at the end of the first month (1-2 days away). All predictions must be made by then.

Happy simming!

[majesty95]

Ok, time for a second teaser. Let's see some predictions! I want to give some stuff away!

Some more interesting stories are developing as I progress.

The previously mentioned undefeated team went 8-0 before dropping their first game. Surprisingly, their star closer cost them the game in extra innings. They wound up losing two in a row, both in extras. They are now 2-3 since ending the streak.

Two players have hit safely in all 13 game so far. Another hit safely in the first 12. Care to take a guess?

One future HOFer jumped out to a decided advantage early in the MVP race but has cooled off a bit gong 2-for-11 in his last three games.

There are currently three teams sitting at 10 wins, two from the same franchise. One team sits with 10 losses already. Can you guess the franchise and the 10 loss team?

Three pitchers are 3-0 already. One has a sub 2.00 ERA, the other is in the 2.00's and the other in the 3.00's. One of them is actually on a losing team and has accounted for half of his team's wins.

The previously mentioned pitcher who started out 2-0 with two CG shutouts gave up four runs on 13 hits in his next start.

There has been one 10 strikeout performance by a pitcher already. It is not a surprise but it is not who you think...

There have been two five hit games already but neither hit for the cycle.

One player who appears in the game on two different teams, occupies the top two spots in the OSA top 20 batters rankings. Know who it is?

Four players (two hitter and two pitchers) have two versions of themselves listed among the top 20 batters or pitchers. (That should be pretty easy to guess)

Ok, so that wraps up the week 2 teaser. Still a day or so left to make your predictions. I'm leaning towards a baseball card package including, but not limited to, some of the top players in this sim. If I can find a couple of rookie cards of these guys to throw in, I will.

Good luck!

[majesty95]

Well, the predictions are going over about as well as a bowl of warm turds. So, I will just post updates and let everyone follow along. I'll pull back the curtain on the posts above.

[majesty95]

Answers to Teaser #1

Originally Posted by majesty95

This is just a teaser, not an official update. You can still make your predictions.

One week into the sim and there are some interesting developments. One team is rolling along at 7-0 while its counterpart is 2-5 (can you guess which franchise? Kansas City) There is one, one loss team (1988 NY Mets) and one, one win team (1985 Cardinals). Interestingly, the only team that started out 0-5 has won two in a row. (Incorrect, the '85 Cards started out 0-5 then won two-of-three).

Of the franchises that have multiple representatives, five pairings are playing rather similarly, while three are almost polar opposites. (The Tigers, Yankees and A's franchise all have two teams playing very opposite of eadh other.)

One league has jumped out to a 80-34 lead in league wide home runs (American over National) and has several guys flat out raking the ball. There are two teams (one in each league) that are homerless through seven games. Can you guess who they are? (One may surprise you) 1989 A's and 1985 Cardinals)

There is a future HOer who was thought to be at the end of his career but is currently leading both leagues in OBP and SLG (and OPS obviously). Care to guess who it is? Joe Morgan

One pitcher has started out 2-0 with two complete game shutouts but its not either of the guys your thinking. Ed Whitson

I'll leave it at that for the first tease. Another to follow. The first official update will be at the end of the first month (1-2 days away). All predictions must be made by then.

Happy simming!

[majesty95]

Answers to Teaser #2

Originally Posted by majesty95

Ok, time for a second teaser. Let's see some predictions! I want to give some stuff away!

Some more interesting stories are developing as I progress.

The previously mentioned undefeated team went 8-0 before dropping their first game. (1985 Royals) Surprisingly, their star closer (Quisenberry) cost them the game in extra innings. They wound up losing two in a row, both in extras. They are now 2-3 since ending the streak.

Two players have hit safely in all 13 game so far.('86 Jim Rice and '87 Lou Whitaker) Another hit safely in the first 12.('87 Vince Coleman) Care to take a guess?

One future HOFer jumped out to a decided advantage early in the MVP race but has cooled off a bit gong 2-for-11 in his last three games. ('85 Brett)

There are currently three teams sitting at 10 wins, two from the same franchise. ('86 and '88 Mets and '85 Royals) One team sits with 10 losses already.('87 Twins) Can you guess the franchise and the 10 loss team?

Three pitchers are 3-0 already. One has a sub 2.00 ERA, the other is in the 2.00's and the other in the 3.00's. One of them is actually on a losing team and has accounted for half of his team's wins. ('86 Clemens 3-0 1.21, '85 Danny Jackson 3-0 3.24 and '87 Greg Matthews 3-0 2.35) '80 Gaylord Perry was also 3-0 with a 3.97

The previously mentioned pitcher who started out 2-0 with two CG shutouts gave up four runs on 13 hits in his next start. Whitson

There has been one 10 strikeout performance by a pitcher already. It is not a surprise but it is not who you think... ('88 David Cone)

There have been two five hit games already but neither hit for the cycle. ('82 Cecil Cooper and '86 Bill Buckner)

One player who appears in the game on two different teams, occupies the top two spots in the OSA top 20 batters rankings. Know who it is? ('80 and '85 George Brett)

Four players (two hitter and two pitchers) have two versions of themselves listed among the top 20 batters or pitchers. (That should be pretty easy to guess) (George Brett, Darryl Strawberry, Fernando Valenzuela and Dwight Gooden)

Ok, so that wraps up the week 2 teaser. Still a day or so left to make your predictions. I'm leaning towards a baseball card package including, but not limited to, some of the top players in this sim. If I can find a couple of rookie cards of these guys to throw in, I will.

Good luck!

[majesty95]

Well, we're three weeks into the sim and things are beginning to devlop.

It is becoming evident (as bwhansen suggested) that the '87 Twins are not of the quality of the rest ofthe teams. The Twins are moping along at 4-17.

The formerly 7-0 '85 Royals have cooled off a bit but still hold the AL's best record at 14-7.

The Mets are establishing themselves as the class of the 80's with the '86 and '88 teams leading the NL East (15-6 and 13-8, respectively).

'89 Scott Garrelts (2-3 2.50) had the pitching performance of the week tossing 8 innings of 1 hit baseball against the '80 Phillies.

There were two ket series this week as the '85 Blue Jays (10-5) faced the '89 A's (9-6) and the '86 (12-3) and '88 (10-5) Mets squared off. The Blue Jays were leading the AL East and the A's were second in the AL West while the two Mets teams were 1st and 2nd in the NL East.

The A's took games 1 & 3 to take the series while the '88 Mets shocked their '86 counterparts by taking games 2 & 3 by scores of 3-1 after losing the first game 4-3 in 12 innings.

Pedro Guerrero (5-5) and Wally Backman (5-6) each had five hit games on April 22. neither hit for the cycle however.

That's it for this week. We will return at the end of the month with a full month recap including screen caps.

[majesty95]

Alright, one month in the books and things are starting to shape up within the league.

The '88 Mets definitely look like the team to beat and the NL West dosen't look like they belong in the league. Here is a look at the May 1 standings:



'86 Wade Boggs is off to an amazing start. His .438 avg paces the league. '80 Oscar Gamble is turning heads with his league leading 10 HR, quite a start considering he hit 14 in 1980 in RL. Here is a look at the batting leaders:



Nothing super surprising in the pitching department except '80 Tug McGraw over half-way to his RL total save total in one month. Here's a look at the pitching leaders:



Taking a look at the batting projections, one thing really stands out. Take a look at '86 Wade's projected doubles!!!



Off to sim some more. Next update coming either half-way through May or at the end of May...

[skunkle333]

First time to catch this thread. Very interesting.

Glad to see my 83 White Sox are doing fairly well. Better than those Orioles that knocked them out of the playoffs in real life.

Sure are a ton of triples. Wonder why that is so high.

Nice read. Is there any chance down the road that you could share a template or whatever they call it so others could play this setup?

[majesty95]

I believed I saved it as a quickstart. I will likely release it when I'm done.

Triples and complete games are both high. Not sure if that is because better players or what...

[majesty95]

I have finished simming through May 15 though so here is that report...

'80 Shake 'n Bake McBride (.383 3 22) hit for the cycle on May 1 becoming the second player to do so ('87 Alan Trammell)

'88 Dave Stewart (2-3 3.53) threw a 1-hit shutout May 2 in a 3-0 win over the '89 A's.

A couple of key pitching matchups May 6. '83 Dick Ruthven (4-0 3.02) vs '86 Ron Darling (3-0 2.29) and '81 Doug Bird (3-1 3.54) vs. '80 Luis Tiant (5-0 2.36).

---Darling's '86 Mets beat the Ruthven's '83 Phillies 5-4. Darling's spread nine hits over eight innings (line: 8ip 9h 3r 3er 4bb 6k) to pick up his fourth win. Roger McDowell closed it out for his 10th save. Ruthven pitched the complete game (8ip 10h 5r 5er 3bb 2k) and picked up his first loss.

---In the AL, Tiant scattered 10 hits in eight innings (line: 8ip 10h 2r 2er 2bb 4k) as the '80 Yankess topped the '81 yanks 5-2. Gossage pitched a scoreless 9th for his 9th save. Bird also pitched a CG in the loss to drop to 3-2 (line: 8ip 9h 5r 5er 3bb 3k).

Another key pitching matup on May 10 as Bob Welch (5-1 1.42) led his '85 Dodgers (21-15) into New York to take on Dwight Gooden (3-1 2.68) and the '88 Mets (21-15).

---Gooden dominated as he allowed only six hits over eight shutout innings to pick up his fourth win in the 4-0 triumph (line: 8ip 6h 0r 0er 1bb 4k). Rick Aguilera pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation. In a trending fashion, Welch pitched a complete game in the loss to drop to 5-2. His line: 8ip 14h 4r 3er 2bb 3k. The win moved the Mets into a tie with the '80 Phillies for a tie for 1st in the wild card race.

Two more Cy Young candidates squared off on May 12 as Dave Stieb (5-0 1.78) led his '85 Blue Jays (21-17) into Kansas City to take on Bret Saberhagen (5-1 2.59) and the '85 Royals (22-16).

---Saberhagen out deuled his AL East counterpart, pitching eight innings to pick up his sixth win (4-2) (line: 8ip 8h 2r 2er 0bb 4k). Dan Quisenberry finished the 9th, giving up a run but preserving the win, to pick up his 10th save. In typical fashion, Stieb notched the complete game in the loss (line: 8ip 11h 4r 4er 1bb 6k).

'86 Wade Boggs went 4-for-6 with three more doubles on May 13th in a 10-3 win over the '80 Yanks. That gives him 24 doubles on the season and, although his paced has dipped a bit, he is still on pace for 94 on the season.

May seems to be the month of key pitching matchups as the '88 A's (22-19) and Storm Davis (6-2 2.00) traveled to Kansas City to take on Rich Gale (6-1 3.19) and the '80 Royals (23-18).

---The May 15th tilt ended in a 4-1 win for KC. Gale was splendid as he scattered six hits and an unearned run in eight innings for the win (8ip 6h 1r 0er 3bb 5k). Quisenberry pitched a scoreless 9th for his 11th save. Yet another CG loss as Davis gave up four runs on eight hits to fall to 6-3 (line: 8ip 8h 4r 4er 2bb 4k).

The '83 White Sox went on a tear, winning seven straight before dropping 2-of-3 to the '81 Yankees, improving their record to 26-16 and tying for the lead in the AL West ('85 Royals).

'83 Eddie Murray had a seven RBI game May 15 in a 16-8 win over the '84 Tigers. Murray went 3-for-6 with two homers and scored three times. The seven RBI are second only to '87 Lou Whitaker's 8 on April 28 against the '87 Twins. Whitaker went 4-for-6 with two doubles and a grand slam while driving in eight runs from the leadoff slot.

The '86 Mets continue to roll with no slow down in sight as they hold the ML's best record at 31-11 and a commanding six game lead in the NL East ('80 Phillies and '84 Cubs, 25-17).

The '87 Twins continue to prove they are overmatched as they have lost 11-of-14 games so far this month and are currently 11-31.

Odd note, '86 Bruce Hurst is 0-7 6.71 for the 23-19 Red Sox.

Next update to follow at the end of May. Now back to your regularly scheduled simming.

[actionjackson]

Majesty95, would you mind doing my OCDness a favour? Would you mind replacing that Jesse Barfield (one of my all-time favourites) photo with this one. That reverse Blue Jay is gonna make me puke if I look at it much longer. Thanks.

[majesty95]

I had to look at both pics several times before I got what you were saying. LOL

And because I'm a fan friendly dynasty poster....

[skunkle333]

Thanks majesty95...

I will look forward to picking up the quickstart down the road.

Go...White Sox...

[majesty95]

Two months in the books as we delve into our second full month recap...

May 17 featured two pitchers from the previously mentioned key matchups squaring off in a battle of Cy Young hopefulls. '80 Luis Tiant (6-1 2.72) led his Yankees (23-20) into Toronto to face Dave Stieb (5-1 2.08) and the '85 Blue Jays (22-21).

---Tiant continued to bring his best in the big matchups as he allowed only five hits and one earned run in eight innings for the 3-1 win (line: 8ip 5h 1r 1er 4bb 5k). Gossage picked up his 12th save in closing it out for the Yankees. Stieb was one out away from continuing the trend of complete games loses as he exited with with runners at the cornes and two out in the ninth (line: 8.2ip 6h 3r 3er 5bb 8k).

'88 Bob Ojeda picked up his first loss on May 24 in a classic pitching matchup with '88 Tim Leary. Ojeda and Leary both threw complete game three-hitters with the difference being a John Shelby leadoff dojuble in the 4th followed by a sac fly by Steve Sax and an RBI goundout to short by Kirk Gibson. Ojeda fell to 5-1 on the season and lowered his astonishing ERA to 1.43 (line: 9ip 3h 1r 1er 1bb 6k). Leary improved to 4-6 2.48 with the win. (line: 9ip 3h 0r 0er 2bb 0k).

The same day, '85 Danny Cox threw a one-hitter in a 3-0 win against the .82 Cardinals. Cox improved to 3-5 2.24 on the season.

'86 Nolan Ryan improved to 7-0 on May 29 with a five hit, five walk, seven strikeout performance in a 6-0 win over the '87 Cardinals. Ryan Improved his ERA to 2.28 to go along with his undefeated record.

Classic pitcing matchup on May 30 when '88 Dwight Gooden (5-3 2.76) switched dugouts to play as the "road" team against '86 Dwight Gooden (8-0 2.51). Neither Gooden fared well as each gave up four earned runs. In the end, the '88 Mets bailed out their version of "Doc" with two runs in the ninth off of '86 Roger McDowell to pick up the win. Ironically, McDowell's '88 twin picked jup the win and '88 Randy Myers notched his 14th save. '88 Gooden (line: 7ip 10h 5r 4er 3bb 6k)...'86 Gooden (line: 8ip 4h 4r 4er 2bb 5k)

On the last day of May, the Ironman, '83 Cal Ripken, Jr., went 6-for-6 in a 5-4 win over the '86 Red Sox. Ripken singled in the 1st and 4th, had an RBI single in the 6th, singled in the 8th, had a 2-run double in the 9th to tie the game and then doubled and scored the winning run in the 10th. Ripken is currently .303 2 25 on the season.

Here are the screens from June 1:

Standings



Batting Leaders

'86 Boggs still projecting 85 doubles, 28 more than '87 Gagne...



Pitching Leaders



AL Team Batting



NL Team Batting



May Award Winners

AL Batter of the Month: '88 Jose Canseco who hit .358 with seven home runs and 22 RBI. Canseco is hitting .325-14-42 on the season.

NL Batter of the Month: '85 Pedro Guerrero who hit .384 with five home runs, 22 RBI and 28 runs scored. On the season, Guerreo is hitting .366-7-32.

AL Pitcher of the Month: '80 Dan Quisenberry. "Quiz" notched a 2-0 record with 14 saves and a 1.42 ERA in 18 appearances. ON the season, Quisenberry is 3-1 with 18 saves and a 2.16 ERA in 25 innings. Stangely, he's only struck out three hitters.

NL Pitcher of the Month: '86 Mike Scott. Scott went 5-0 in six starts, posting a 1.66 ERA. To date, Scott is 6-3 with a 2.37 ERA in 95 innings.

[majesty95]

Update through June 15...

Key Pitching Matchup

June 2

---Ray Knight's bases loaded, RBI single with nobody out in the eighth provided the game's only run and the '86 Mets squeaked out a 1-0 win. Hershiser pitched a complete game in the loss, giving up seven hits and six walks. (line: 8ip 7h 1r 1er 6bb 1k). Darling fared far better as he spread seven hits through eight innings before giving way to Roger McDowell in the ninth, who picked up his 22nd save. Darling (line: 8ip 7h 0r 0er 2bb 8k)

On June 3, '88 Kirk Gibson hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to erase a 2-0 lead by the '86 Astros and hand Nolan Ryan (7-1) his first loss of the season.

Also on June 3, '89 Rick Reuschel threw a one-hitter to blank the '83 Phillies 3-0. Reuschel (line: 9ip 1h 0r 0er 2bb 2k).

'84 Dan Petry (10-2) became the league's first 10-game winner on June 9 by giving up three runs on eight hits over eight innings to defeat the '89 A's 5-3.

The following day, '87 Mark Portugal (1-9) notched his first win as his '87 Twins (20-46) recorded their twentieth win of the season (last team to do so) in a 9-8 win over the '87 Tigers (33-33). incidentally, Kirk Gibson was 4-for-4 with a double, a homer and three RBI in the loss.

On June 11, '86 Dwight Gooden (8-1) picked up his first loss of the season in a 3-1 loss to the '87 Cardinals. In the other league, '87 Darrell Evans went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a homer run and five RBI in an 8-3 win over the '83 White Sox. The homer was Evans' 20th of the season making him the first player to reach 20 home runs.

Key Piching Matchup

June 13

---Reuschel and Goose Gossage staved off a late rally as the Yankees held on to beat the Royals 4-3. Reuschel gave up 12 hits and 2 runs in the win while Gossage earned his 12th save. (Reuschel line: 7.2ip 12h 2r 2er 1bb 4k) Saberhagen continued a disturbing trend by getting the complete game loss and falling to 8-4. (Saberhagen line: 8ip 8h 4r 4er 2bb 5k)

On June 14, both '86 Roger Clemens (10-3) and '86 Ron Darling (10-1) picked up their 10th wins while '84 Mark Thurmond (2-10) suffered his 10th defeat. The same day, '87 Vince Coleman went 5-for-6 with a home run and four RBI in a 16-5 win over the '85 Cardinals.

June 15 was a day of offense with two players getting five hits...in the same game! Dan Ford went 5-for-6 with three doubles and six RBI while Ken Singleton went 5-for-7 with a double and a home run in the '83 Orioles 19-12 win over the '87 Twins.

[majesty95]

Here is the list of All-Stars. The schedule put them in mid June for some reason.

[Amazin' Blue]

Great league... great thread. I just found this, where are the updates?

For the record, I would have predicted the 1986 Mets to win it all. I'm not just saying that because I'm a Mets fan either. That team was ridiculous. The scary part was that they could have won even more games but they weren't the most (ahem) disciplined team to put in carefully.

Good to see my boy Bobby Ojeda (88) plowing forward. That 1988 team was a real heartbreaker for Mets fans. Was that the year Ojeda cut off the tip of his finger trimming his bushes?

Question: I noticed that there's at least three Keith Hernandez's in the sim. What player is the most represented?