"Major League": The 1989 Indians

[jaa36]

This will be a quick dynasty answering the age-old question: how would the Indians of "Major League" do if they were plugged into MLB in 1989?

Here's the guts: I took the 1989 Indians and edited them to include the fictional roster from the movie. So the real Indians are no more, replaced by the likes of Willie Mays Hayes and Wild Thing Vaughn. Will this ragtag bunch really make it to the playoffs and save the team from relocation to (gulp) Miami?

I also added a few players on other teams, like Clu Haywood on the Yankees, Isuro Tanaka on the White Sox, and even a few from parallel MLB movie universes like Nuke LaLoosh and Billy Chapel.

I'll introduce the Indians roster in the next post.

[jaa36]

Entering the season, the Indians had not reached the playoffs in 34 years, and had posted a winning record in just 3 of the past 20 seasons. As a result, diabolical owner Rachel Phelps has hatched a plan: to field a team so bad that they will draw less than 800,000 fans, which will allow the team to escape from its lease and move to Miami.

As a result, Indians camp was a hodgepodge of no-name players without much of a reputation to precede them this year, a bunch of has-beens and never-will-bes. Among the biggest surprises on the roster is Willie Mays Hayes, a slap-hitting outfielder who challenges Rickey Henderson and Vince Coleman with his speed on the base paths. Similarly, Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn will join the starting rotation after spending last season in the California Penal League: he's got a blazing fastball, but a bit lacking in the control department. Roger Dorn is a solid hitter, but leaves a lot to be desired defensively at third base and lacks effort. Pedro Cerrano provides plenty of pop in right field, but despite his penchant for voodoo has never quite learned to hit that curve ball. Despite spending last season in the Mexican league, catcher Jake Taylor is the heart of the team, but his aging knees may not make it through the season. And starting pitcher Eddie Harris comes back for one final go-round, throwing a variety of vaseline and spitballs.

Little is known about the rest of the team, but the whole roster is summarized here- as accurate as I can get from extensive "research" of the movie.

[jaa36]

Managing is Lou Brown, a salty veteran of the minor leagues, having spent his managerial career with the Toledo Mud Hens. Charlie Donovan is the GM (whose hands are largely tied by management), and Duke Temple and Pepper Leach are also coaches.

Here's the lineup and rotation, then on to the season! I'll likely go a month at a time though will hone in on notable performances. Ask away if you'd like more detail on anything or anyone.

[jaa36]

If nothing else, the Indians started the season 1-0 by defeating the Milwaukee Brewers on opening day at home. The 3-1 win was paced by a two-run double by #9 hitter Malcolm Tomlinson and eight outstanding innings by starter Andy Keltner. Willie Mayes Hayes, Jake Taylor, Roger Dorn, and Pedro Cerrano combined to go 2 for 14.

[sflcat61]

Nice. I'll be watching this one.

[jaa36]

Ooog, it was a bad month. The Indians reeled off an eight-game losing streak after their opening day win and are now 5-19 overall. This has been a joint effort in terrible-ness, as the offense is 13th in the league (out of 14) and the pitching is dead last. Here's how the "stars" are doing:

-Willie Mays Hayes is hitting .290 with a .381 OBP and 13 steals, tops in baseball!
-Jake Taylor is hitting just .183.
-Roger Dorn leads the team with 14 RBI.
-Pedro Cerrano is hitting an abysmal .092 and has not homered.
-Eddie Harris is just 1-5 with a 5.23 ERA.
-Rick Vaughn is 1-3 with a 6.69 ERA.

Meanwhile, DH Mitchell Friedman paces the club with 5 home runs, and SS Manuel Reyna and 1B Preston Ward lead the team in batting average at .318 and .311 respectively. Reyna actually heads to the DL for two weeks with an injury. Everyone in the bullpen has been godawful. So far it appears Rachel Phelps may have her way.

Among other notable players, Oakland catcher Jack Parkman leads the AL in home runs with 8 and WAR at 1.7. New York's Clu Haywood is first in the AL in RBI with 25 and Milwaukee's Stan Ross is second with 23. Detroit's Billy Chapel went on the DL for 2-3 months with elbow soreness.

[jaa36]

May went much better, but was still pretty bad. The Indians went 12-17 and are now 17-36 overall, comfortably in last place in the AL East. The offense has come along and we are now 9th in scoring but still last in run prevention.

-Willie Mays Hayes raised his average to .310; his 25 steals are second to Rickey Henderson in the AL.
-Jake Taylor is hitting .181, and announced his retirement at the end of the season.
-Roger Dorn's average dropped to .225, though his 26 RBI are best on the teams.
-Pedro Cerrano had a much better month, hitting .265 with 7 homers and 19 RBI.
-Rick Vaughn improved his record to 4-5 but still has a 5.99 ERA.
-Eddie Harris has the best ERA on the staff at 3.50 but his record is only 3-8.

1B Preston Ward has been the team's best player, hitting .313 with 8 HR and 22 RBI. Closer Alan Stocker was stellar in May, not allowing any runs over 11.1 innings and saving 7 games. SS Manuel Reyna returned from injury, but starter Amos Schindler went out for the season with an injury.

Braves starter Nuke LaLoosh has had a tough rookie season, going 1-7 with a 6.10 ERA, but put it together in a shutout of the Cubs. Clu Haywood still leads the AL with 50 RBI. Bo Jackson has supplanted Jack Parkman as the AL home run leader- sweet.

[abefrohman]

Originally Posted by jaa36

This will be a quick dynasty answering the age-old question: how would the Indians of "Major League" do if they were plugged into MLB in 1989?

Here's the guts: I took the 1989 Indians and edited them to include the fictional roster from the movie. So the real Indians are no more, replaced by the likes of Willie Mays Hayes and Wild Thing Vaughn. Will this ragtag bunch really make it to the playoffs and save the team from relocation to (gulp) Miami?

I also added a few players on other teams, like Clu Haywood on the Yankees, Isuro Tanaka on the White Sox, and even a few from parallel MLB movie universes like Nuke LaLoosh and Billy Chapel.

I'll introduce the Indians roster in the next post.

Awesome idea for a replay! You know, these guys ain't too freakin' bad! LOL

[The Game]

Are you using facegens? if so ever single player you mentioned has been done. FaceGen | OOTPMODS.COM
10th file down under Fictional. Celebrity facegen set. All are in Dreamteams set. Some are in the other 2. Waiting for ML4 to come out, so gonna watch this thread plus in my EBL vs MLB I have some of the stars (Dorn & Harris, CLE, Taylor,PIT, Brown MiLB MGR Columbus) of MLI in my game.

[Skitch929]

This is fantastic. Count me in.

[jaa36]

Originally Posted by The Game

Are you using facegens? if so ever single player you mentioned has been done. FaceGen | OOTPMODS.COM
10th file down under Fictional. Celebrity facegen set. All are in Dreamteams set. Some are in the other 2. Waiting for ML4 to come out, so gonna watch this thread plus in my EBL vs MLB I have some of the stars (Dorn & Harris, CLE, Taylor,PIT, Brown MiLB MGR Columbus) of MLI in my game.

Cool, thanks for the heads up! This would certainly add a veneer of reality to the whole thing.

[Skitch929]

"The ex-showgirl wife of Donald Phelps has no business being the owner of a Major League Baseball team."

[jaa36]

Stop the presses- the Indians had a winning month of June! They went 15-11 and are now 32-47 overall, just three games out of sixth place. The pitching has been the big turnaround, with the team now sixth overall in run prevention. The offense is still in last place.

Eddie Harris has been sensational over the past two months, posting a 2.03 ERA, though he's only 5-5 during that time and 6-10 overall. And Rick Vaughn had a terrific June, with a 1.78 ERA, though he still walked 27 against 34 strikeouts. Among the hitters, Willie Mays Hayes is hitting .290 and back atop the leader board for steals with 38. Pedro Cerrano had another 7-homer month but is still hitting just .183. Roger Dorn has slumped to .216 and is at -1.7 WAR due to his horrible defense. Jake Taylor is also hitting .216.

Indians closer Alan Stocker is cruising, with 18 saves and a 1.85 ERA. And lefty starter Steve Pearson has been solid with a 3.48 ERA. Preston Ward has tailed off to .262, but was rewarded for a good start with a three-year deal worth $4.5M. Shortstop Manuel Reyna has hit just .140 since returning from the DL, negating his hot start.

Clu Haywood is still tops in baseball in RBI at 72. Paul Molitor leads the AL in average (.367) and WAR (4.1). Mark Gubicza, Mike Witt, and Danny Jackson all have 14 wins already with the season not even half over. Eric Davis leads all of baseball with 24 home runs.

The San Francisco Giants have the best record in baseball at 55-24, and Kansas City is tops in the AL at 52-27. Toronto leads the AL East at 47-32, 15 games ahead of Cleveland. Can the Indians make up the deficit??

[The Game]

can ya post some screenshots, player profiles, standings, news?

[jaa36]

Originally Posted by The Game

can ya post some screenshots, player profiles, standings, news?

A couple of the screenshots, with your facegens. More up an update later.

[The Game]

what did you use for the ratings for these guys? This site has fictional BB cards for most of the team and I use some of their stats for my game but mostly I just clone real players. http://youhitlike****.wordpress.com/

[jaa36]

Originally Posted by The Game

what did you use for the ratings for these guys? This site has fictional BB cards for most of the team and I use some of their stats for my game but mostly I just clone real players. http://youhitlike****.wordpress.com/

I used the SWAG method. Really, I just thought about what a luckier-than-average replacement-level player might put together and went from there. I tried to make the team terrible, but just terrible enough that they still had a snowball's chance of winning. Just like the real Indians of that era!

[jaa36]

The Indians went 12-14 in July and are now 44-61 overall, good for sixth place in the AL East! We're out of the cellar! The offense is up to 11th overall, and the pitching is 7th. Good times in Cleveland.

Willie Mays Hayes is playing great, hitting .294 with a league-leading 47 steals. With a .374 OBP and stellar center field defense, he's at 4.1 WAR on the season. Jake Taylor has eked above replacement level, moving the ol' average all the way up to .223. Roger Dorn was not so lucky, as he tore his triceps on a defensive play (ha ha) and is out for the season, finishing at -0.7 WAR. Pedro Cerrano had another big power month with 8 home runs and leads the team easily with 22. In the rotation, Eddie Harris is only 7-14 but has a team-leading 3.21 ERA. Rick Vaughn leads the team in wins and strikeouts.

Among the rest of the team, starter Steve Pearson has rejoined the rotation but Amos Schindler will miss the rest of the season. 3B Rance Mulliniks was acquired in a trade to replace Dorn. Second baseman Stephen Larson is hitting .302 and is second on the team with 3.6 WAR.

Clu Haywood is still leading the league in RBI with 99. Billy Chapel has returned from injury and has a 1.89 ERA in five starts. Jack Parkman is third in the AL in home runs with 24.

[jaa36]

The Indians' first and possibly only complete-game shutout of the season belongs to the Wild Thing. Incredibly, he only walked two batters in the gem.

Also, a little snapshot of the season leaders in strikeouts in a single game and walks in a single game. Hint: every one was by one man.

[jaa36]

This was one I missed the first time around. How unlikely is it that Cerrano would get five hits in a game? That quote... classic Cerrano.