Season 8 (2027) Thread

[PocketsAintFull]

Play Ball

[mrbucket]

I got demoted from Diamond to Gold but the teams in my division are pretty good so it's not going to be the easy ride I thought it might be. Should be an interesting season.

[Warhawk]

White Tigers in D.359, inspired by the recent passing of Roy Horn, plus bolstered by some pitching additions, are leading the NC with a record of 20-5 with one more game left for the day. We've got the best starter ERA at 2.85 and are second in both runs scored and runs allowed. 100 Satchel Paige is 5-0 with a 2.38 ERA, 97 Addie Joss is 3-1 with a 2.15 ERA, and 98 Jim McCormick (who is new to the team) and 99 Greg Maddux are both under 3. 100 Bob Gibson (also new), while 4-1, is the odd one out, with a 4.09 ERA, but it's worth noting that he just had in a tournament a 1-walk no-hitter with 13 Ks.

Also added in the bullpen are 95 Rick Aguilera who has pitched 4 innings allowing 2 hits, 0 walks, and 0 runs, and 98 Greg Olson, 1 run in 2 innings so far early in his career. Meanwhile I've moved J.R. Richard to closer on a trial basis, so far he has 7 saves, allowing 2 runs and striking out 11 of the 28 batters he's faced.

Of course, after 2 seasons with an ERA over 5, former closer Lindy McDaniel has an ERA of 1.93, and after 2 seasons with an ERA over 6, former setup man Tom Gordon has allowed 1 hit (and no runs) in 6.1 innings.

[coslonghorn]

Gunnison Stoneflies Iron 174.

After being promoted two straight seasons, I think we might have a season where we struggle to get that advancement. We're going to do our best to keep our playoff streak alive(we haven't missed yet in 4 season), but I wouldn't be terribly disappointed if we have to repeat in iron. The team needs a lot of work to be competitive.

Randy Johnson was our big off-season addition and he's held his own. Bryce Harper and Yasmani Grandal need to pick up the pace or they might be looking for new work this off-season.

[Marleigh]

Paragon City Heroes are leading their division at 17-10 but it's very much a lead due to the weakness of my schedule, we won 7 games against the weakest team in the league and got swept by one of the stronger teams in the division and next month we get to play the 2 time champion 20-5 Pioneer Valley Warlocks. Maddux had a rough start but is turning it around, Halladay and Sutton have been solid, Blyleven is 10/10 as a closer

San Angeles 70s 17-10 3 games back. Willie Wilson is hitting .330 with 23 SB. Vida Blue has 2.84 FIP and 5.24 era a babip of .446. We are a team that has always been among the best in the league defensively, but we've had a a terrible start with the glove

Lowdown Lugnuts relegation hasn't stopped them being bad with a 10-17 start

Bay City Boomers 19-7 3755 PP earned 600 of that to Bagwell who just won batter of the month and is on a 20 game hitting streak while hitting 13 HR and driving in 32. Could definitely be a good week for earning that PP

Edit: at last the proper logo is showing for the 70s

[BigRed75]

And what a glorious logo it is Marleigh. Well worth the wait.

The Secret Harbour Pirates (13-14) began their debut Diamond season in D354. As far as Diamond draws go, I can't really complain. I've avoided the whaliest of whales (Tyto Albas with an .842 career winning percentage and titles at every level) and while the Cleveland Fossils may have jumped out to an eight-game lead over 2nd place us, their career winning percentage is comparable and it may just be a fast start. I have a decent PP balance, know I have three areas of need (SS, 3B and another decent starting pitcher) but it's pretty much just paralysis by analysis. I'm afraid of making the wrong move, so I don't make any moves at all. We are also just one game out of a WC spot in this early stage. And Maddux is doing Maddux things (5-0, 1.76 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 5.6 K/BB ratio)

The Arequipa Alpacas (12-17) picked up a tournament pack while I was sleeping last night. They sadly didn't pick up any while I was at work. Playing in B218, the Alpacas are three games out. I fear this is the season bad things will happen to them. I feel like this team has been underachieving for a few season now and it will soon come back to bite them. Nine-game losing streaks certainly don't help.

I didn't really pay much attention to them, but it turns out the San Antonio Missions (10-18) actually made the playoffs last season. They finished in the LCS and made their way out of Rookie for the first time. A combination of a healthy bank balance and a settled-down market meant I could really focus on some missions and build this team's roster up. Unfortunately, the pitching staff is suffering from an almighty run of bad luck in ST131, with 3/5th of my rotation boasting unsightly BABIPs north of .330 (to say nothing of the relievers). The hitters aren't fairing any better. Changes must be made or it's back to Rookie with the Missions. So I have made some changes. Sadly, those changes did not include 1994 Wade Boggs, as he was unavailable.

The Lynn Live Oaks (17-12) are in Iron for the first time. With two of the six divisions completed and more than 50% of all Live cards collected, I need to decide where I am going to focus my energies this time. I am leaning toward the NL Central. Lucas Giolito, making his Live Oaks debut in 2027, is pitching phenomenally. In a maxxed-out hitters park, he is 5-1 with a 1.70 ERA. Jeff Bagwell, fresh off an MVP season in 2026, is acting like he wants to go back-to-back. He has 9 HR and 14 SB in 29 games so far this season. It's an SSS, of course, but it projects out to 50 HR and 78 SB. One can dream...

The Bibra Lake Quendas (14-16) finally, just now, got their man. We proudly welcome Dustin May to the Quendas. It took patience, but he was finally available for under 10K and we won the auction to bring him to Bibra Lake. He immediately becomes our staff ace, and Sixto Sanchez will be sent to the bullpen to work out his problems. We will now build up our bank balance to go shopping again and hopefully not be relegated from I208.

[bailey]

The Tigers won 60% of their games in April and look to be in the hunt for a wild card spot. However, PP income is declining (not even 7K last week) and a promotion to gold won't help that. Therefore, I invested 2K in an iron team to compete in tournaments. In keeping with the theme of minimal time investment, it will only enter the dailies and the Saturday Iron Warrior. With the rest of my points, I filled out the bullpen with some golds: Mike Caldwell, Paul Derringer and Logan Gilbert (less than 5K for the lot). Only 2 bronze and 2 silver left to upgrade to at least gold.

The Magpies are in a short league this week, but qualifying for the playoffs will be no easy thing. As I was warned, Gold League is a tough cookie. The Detroit Fury is even stronger than the Soniqs from last week. Perfect Pedro, a 300k card, is in the bullpen. We play them 15 times, but so do the other teams in my division so my team is not at any disadvantage. I bought my most expensive player to date: Tim Hudson at 38K. Pitchers with equivalent ratings are selling for twice that. I don't know why anyone would bother to complete the collection and let that card go so cheaply. Currently in first place by a game with a 19-14 record while the Fury are 30-3.

[daves]

Gold seems to be the right fit for my Seawolves. Many similarly constructed teams at this level.

Of course, with any league, there is that one team passing by that is set for a perfect challenge. Motor City Magic is that team in the Gold 315 league. 18 of the 26 roster players are perfect non-live players including the Jackie Robinson card shown below.

[mayday10]

Zeniths have started 33-12 in the new league

[Warhawk]

So the White Tigers got to 25-6 before falling apart and starting on their current 6-11 run. Won the daily live double RR yesterday, then this morning I woke up to find I'd won the daily historical, which I didn't realize I had in my bag of tricks. In the semis of the daily historical cap today, after I, in rounds 2 and 3, blew a 3-0 lead before escaping with a pair of 2-1 wins in the game 7s.

[BigRed75]

Originally Posted by bailey

The Magpies are in a short league this week, but qualifying for the playoffs will be no easy thing.

My first Gold league was a short league, I thought I was on easy street. First season when I didn't get promoted in PT21.

Took for me to have a regular-sized league the next week, cruised to 111 wins. Sometimes you just need those games against the extra mediocre teams. Playing in a short league, you beat up on each other too much.

[Marleigh]

Paragon City Heroes started the month at 17-10, dropped to 17-18 and recovered to end up 29-25. We are hitting for a higher average than previous year but with less power, only Stan Musial is doing well in that regard

San Angeles 70s 32-22 another solid season. Pitching is excellent led by Nolan Ryan 8-2 3.45 ERA, Vida Blue has a 2.95 FIP but 4.18 ERA and yet our defence is good so hopefully its just a bit of bad rng and will even out. Willie Wilson has 37 SB way ahead of everyone else in the league and he's been caught just 3 times

Lowdown Lugnuts are in a transition period, waiting for auctions to sell

Bay City Boomers 41-14 3530 PP earned. great season but annoyingly streaks keep being broken at bronze because those gold streaks can be big money

[bailey]

Tim Hudson was an inspiration for his new teammates in Collingwood. Since his debut on May 11, the team is 22-4 with an 8 game lead in its division. They even won 2 out of 3 against the Fury.

Meanwhile in Hamtramck, the brand new iron team played their hearts out through the night and won 1 pack.

[Tinkerman]

Originally Posted by bailey

Meanwhile in Hamtramck, the brand new iron team played their hearts out through the night and won 1 pack.

You'll have to take my word for it, but I predicted something like that would happen after I read your post yesterday .

[Marleigh]

Paragon City Heroes 40-40 tough season, starters struggling, bullpen ok, no power but decent average from the hitters

San Angeles 70s 52-29 a 20-6 month with Batter of the month performance from Boog Powell sees us reduce the gap in the division to 5. Every other season our defence has been exceptional, this season its our biggest weakness, 4th in runs scored, 5th in runs against and 20th in defensive efficiency. Willie Wilson moved to 63 SB and is no 1 in the league in WPA with 3.8, having an actual leadoff hitter that gets on base and steals bases has been such a huge plus

Lowdown Lugnuts are 20 games below .500 and heading for a 2nd relegation, I've bought most of the new team but they are playing horribly so far, will need a big turnaround and players to hit above .200

Bay City Boomers 59-21 only 2150 PP earned. despite being dominant we can't truly shake the 2nd place Death valley 49ers who are 7 games behind with the 2nd best record in the league. brought in a few relievers and starters converted to relievers to replace the live guys in the pen

[Westheim]

My teams ... suuuuuuck.

The Raccoons might actually come first in a shabby division this week, but the Mets are twice-relegated by now and are making a bid for three. You know, the major issue with the team's theme is that it is comprised of Mets of all ages and olden Dodgers and Giants. There must be zero players of gold+ with at least decent defense on a prime defensive position in the game that are eligible for the team.

They made absolutely no points for three weeks now and as a result even grinding out "Dem Bums" has grounded to a complete stop. No PP - No Mission.

[RunninYakAngler]

So we've brought in Deacon Phillipe, Hal Newhouser, Jerry Koosman, Mike Timlin, Dwight Evans, Garry Templeton, and Sparky Lyle to boost the pitching and add some defense. Trained Tulowitzki at 3B to help the infield D. The Results? Putrid. Templeton and Lyle are the only ones playing decent, heck Templeton is blowing 100 Cronin out of the stadium.

This Diamond League stuff is crazy tough and I'm out of PPs.

[JasonC23]

In D359 this season, the Huntley Red Raiders are struggling to reach .500.

Also in D359 this season, the Huntley Red Raiders are tied for first at the All-Star break.

[waittilnextyear]

After last week's HORROR of an 80-82 season, we are back at it for a sophomore Diamond campaign.

It's D361 this week and we're chasing Emmett's Maulers. Probably won't catch 'em (might even get mauled in the process), but we're chasing 'em anyway.

Season in a nutshell? Rollercoaster.gif

Started out hot in April (19-8).

Faceplanted in May (11-17).

Got hot again in June (18-7).

Still hot in July? (15-9).

Went on a collection mission binge and built SE Jackie Robinson, SE Luke Appling, SE Lou Whitaker, and SE Pee Wee Reese. Reese has already been sold. Whitaker might be next (he's basically a doppelganger of my 100 Gehringer that I fancy a little more). We're 31-13 since Appling joined the party and 21-12 since Jackie was mixed in.

Odds are looking good for my first Diamond playoff pip. Oh boy.

[bailey]

The Magpies have been in their worst slump ever. Lost SIX in a row. July was the first losing month EVER. The 12 game lead has been cut in half. Has anyone in PT ever blown a 12 game lead? (not counting the rare instance of an open wallet overtaking you).