Greatest Fictional Players Appreciation Post

[JasonC23]

A major milestone for one of the greatest players in my fictional league inspired this post. Feel free to share your greatest fictional players too!

On April 13, 2029, Fictional Baseball League celebrated as longtime Chicago White Sox ace Gabe Marguliz won his 400th game.

Originally signed as a minor league free agent out of Venezuela by the Seattle Mariners in 2002, Marguliz quickly outpaced scouts' modest expectations (it was said he "lacks drive" and had a Low Work Ethic), developing in leaps and bounds and eventually being named the #1 prospect in the league after the 2005 season. He made his debut with the Mariners in 2006 at the tender age of 20, coming out of the bullpen 8 times (without recording a victory). He began 2007 in the bullpen but quickly earned a spot in the rotation, setting the stage for 2008, his breakout age-22 season: a 2.35 ERA, league-leading 258 Ks, 168 ERA+, and 8.6 WAR.

After 5 more years as Seattle's ace, racking up 91 wins, 1,447 Ks, 41.6 WAR, a perfect game in 2010, a 16-K game in 2012, and third-place Pitcher of the Year finishes in 2008 and 2012, Marguliz signed with the White Sox in the 2012 offseason. It was an immediate perfect meld of player and team, as Marguliz won the Pitcher of the Year award in each of his first 3 seasons with the Sox (2013, 2014, 2015)--but that was only the beginning.

Over his (still active!) 17-year career with the White Sox, Marguliz would win 3 more Pitcher of the Year awards (2020, 2022, 2023); record games of 16 Ks (2015), 17 Ks (2014) and a league record-tying 18 Ks (2015 and 2017); throw a no-hitter (2022); and lead the league in wins 6 times, ERA twice, strikeouts 9 times, WHIP twice, K/9 8 times, and WAR 3 times.

In Fictional Baseball League history, among his many accomplishments, Marguliz is the first 400-game winner (next best: 305 wins) and all-time strikeouts leader with 4,953 and counting (next best: 4,161).

Who knows when the 43-year-old Marguliz will finally hang up his cleats for the final time--or what his career totals will look like then? After all, as the man himself said in the joyous locker room after victory number 400, "Now I got to get real busy--and start working on my next 400 wins."

[Vezna31]

I have 2 favorites: James Hoss and Rich Battle, both purely fictionally created.

James Hoss was a pitcher I traded for who wound up with 465 wins. The cool part is that all the stats prior to 1927 are OOTP 6.5, so this career was over many versions of the game. You have to excuse the strikeout numbers from 1928 to 1933. I had to do some major adjustments to the League Totals working with a new game engine, so my totals there are way off. It seemed like every AB in 1929 was either a strikeout or a HR. This was also the time-frame where I started a game hitting 6 HR's in a row. But the whole league is like that for those years, so it's all relative.

EDIT...I found the thread for 6HRs: https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...74#post2484215

The other is my long time Closer. I drafted the guy out of HS in 1942 and brought him through the minors. I tried so hard to get him to 1,000 saves, but i couldn't get him to continue 1 more year.

[eauhomme]

I'm playing a sim as the White Sox starting with their 41-121 season. I picked up a fictitious scouting discovery in trade and threw him in as my starting CF/RF and he won the Rookie of the Year and MVP as the White Sox went 98-64 and made it to the ALCS.

.297/.375/.558, 35 HR, 101 SB, and outstanding defense.

[JasonC23]

He just became the first pitcher in my Fictional Baseball League to reach 5,000 strikeouts!