MLB - Clinching on August 27th

[Squonk]

..

I clinched on August 27th in a standard 162 game season.

I wonder what the earliest in real life this was achieved?

Can anybody beat it?

Sq

..

[Klew1986]

The 1998 New York Yankees clinched a playoff birth on August 29 - the earliest date a team clinched a place in the major league playoffs.

They were 98-36, 18.5 games up on Boston in the East, 29 games ahead of third place Toronto. Plus, Boston was 8 games up on Texas in the wild card standings. Texas being 26.5 games behind New York.

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by Squonk

..

I clinched on August 27th in a standard 162 game season.

I wonder what the earliest in real life this was achieved?

Can anybody beat it?

Sq

..

Clinched on 21 August in my current MLB league.

Very thankful for the ability to backdate standings so that I could answer this question.

[Pineywoods OOTPer]

Originally Posted by JMDurron

Clinched on 21 August in my current MLB league.

Very thankful for the ability to backdate standings so that I could answer this question.

I'm more impressed by the fact the Yankees are really sucking....LOL

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by Da' Signalbrat

I'm more impressed by the fact the Yankees are really sucking....LOL

Playing with standard player aging settings, the Yankees always seem to go straight into the crapper in my OOTP leagues. In my historical league, the Yankees never throw as much $ around relative to the rest of the league as they did historically. In my current MLB league, once aging hits Jeter, A-Rod, Teixeira, and Sabathia, the team becomes a complete train wreck.

In my current MLB League, (starting in 2012), they've gone 83-79, 86-76, 73-89, 70-92, 71-91, 74-88, and finally 71-91 in 2018. Zero playoff appearances.

Between OOTP's tendency to apply a steep aging curve to post-30 year old players, the lack of any kind of "Go See Bartolo Colon's Dr in the Dominican then get caught with another Team after you've helped the Yankees" logic, and the general inability for any simulation engine to possibly emulate the megalomania that is typically exemplified by the Yankees' FO, it seems like the game is somewhat rigged against the current operating model of the Yankees.

[Cras]

I just had a season like this. It was like, the final stand for a lot of my club's stars. So I traded or a solid pitcher, got my stud 1B prospect, so the team was really loaded, but I over loaded and over spent with the idea of them being epic, and me then shipping a lot of them away after the season. I got that pitcher to replace my current ace, not to pitch along side him. So I was able to clinch the division in August. Only lost about 30 something games, I would need to double check the exact W-L record but they were the best team I remember ever building.

And now I am looking at letting go my 1B, who is the 2nd most prolific HR hitter in my league's history, my pitching staff I am looking to dismantle, they are all very old and I am not willing to go into another season with a bunch of geriatric starting pitchers.

It would have been fun to see what my team could do for an encore, but that is now how I had it planned out, and it would rather get rid of some of these guys and begin a sort of rebuild on the fly going rather than go on with the current roster.

[Squonk]

..

Very impressive, JMDurron.

Truly.

The Yankees kill me in my league. There's times I just can't get there from here (as in : "Those people have more money than Davey Crockett").

I have to back off sometimes because I get in that mode of "you rat bastards son of .. " and get in to VINDICTIVE mode against the Yankees about how they just steal players. I start yelling at my computer "I'm GONNA CRUSH YOU .. YOU PINSTRIPED LITTLE PANSIES .."

Then I listen to my voice bounce off the walls and I realize. "Oh Jesus, Dave .. it's just a friggin' video game".

:-)

Sq

..

[bly08]

Originally Posted by JMDurron

Clinched on 21 August in my current MLB league.

Very thankful for the ability to backdate standings so that I could answer this question.

What's your roster?

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by Squonk

..
I have to back off sometimes because I get in that mode of "you rat bastards son of .. " and get in to VINDICTIVE mode against the Yankees about how they just steal players. I start yelling at my computer "I'm GONNA CRUSH YOU .. YOU PINSTRIPED LITTLE PANSIES .."

Then I listen to my voice bounce off the walls and I realize. "Oh Jesus, Dave .. it's just a friggin' video game".
..

Don't be too hard on yourself. This is ALWAYS the correct response to anything the Yankees do, either in real life or in a video game.

Originally Posted by bly08

What's your roster?

Almost entirely new/drafted players from a league that started in 2012. I think the only MLB notables left over from the real world are Julio Teheran, Jordan Walden, Eduardo Sanchez, and a few other young (when I started, anyway) relievers. I burned the original 2012 Red Sox roster to the ground and salted the earth beneath it.

Will post a screenshot when I get home this evening.

[r0nster]

You got me thinking hmmm ... shame I cant go back and check standings in previous seasons to see when the earliest for me. Unless there is a trick I am not aware of???

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by bly08

What's your roster?

Included a screenshot of my pitching staff, then all players with more than 1 PA for the position players. Jose Fuentes is my two-way player, so he's a legitimate hitter despite being my #5 starter. He's just not good enough defensively to play everyday.

Stats are complete for the regular season, I'm currently in the ALDS.

[jmarsh123]

Originally Posted by Squonk

..

I clinched on August 27th in a standard 162 game season.

I wonder what the earliest in real life this was achieved?

Can anybody beat it?

Sq

..

Just checked and I clinched on 8/25 once. I think overall that year I was 115-47 and everyone else in the division sucked. I actually won more games the next year, but had a wild card team from my division so didn't clinch as early.

[soxfan34]

Originally Posted by JMDurron

Included a screenshot of my pitching staff, then all players with more than 1 PA for the position players. Jose Fuentes is my two-way player, so he's a legitimate hitter despite being my #5 starter. He's just not good enough defensively to play everyday.

Stats are complete for the regular season, I'm currently in the ALDS.

Just curious, from your previous posts you'd stated you set cash max at like 1BB -- how are your salaries looking in 2018?

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by soxfan34

Just curious, from your previous posts you'd stated you set cash max at like 1BB -- how are your salaries looking in 2018?

On my team, or throughout the league?

I've found that league salaries have been quite reasonable relative to the kind of salary inflation for FAs that I expect with this CBA. Given more extensions and less ability to apply money to draft pick/international signings, the fewer FAs actually worth bidding on are getting short, but relatively rich deals.

For my team, I'm 29th in payroll, somewhere in the 60M range, with arb inflation expecting that to go up to 95+M in 2019.

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by soxfan34

Just curious, from your previous posts you'd stated you set cash max at like 1BB -- how are your salaries looking in 2018?

Hadn't actually looked at this report in a while, so I'm glad you prompted me to do so. 3 shots here. Payroll on the left in Pic #1, Budgets on the right in Pic #2, Highest Paid players should be self-explanatory.

Honestly, I expect to see this kind of salary inflation in the real-world MLB in the near future, but I suppose the cash limit could lead things to spiral out of control in the long run. We shall see.

[bly08]

thanks for the screenshots, surprised to see Brentz actually turn out decent.

[JMDurron]

Originally Posted by bly08

thanks for the screenshots, surprised to see Brentz actually turn out decent.

He got a massive talent boost sometime in 2013/2014, and became beastly in AAA. Unfortunately, this happened after I had adequately filled out the rest of the OF and DH, so he had to use up his options waiting on a starting spot to clear (at DH). Now, he's hitting arb1 at age 29.

His translated stats indicate a 1000+ OPS offensive player, and he's a RHH in Fenway Park, but he's slightly underperformed those projections. He's still been more than adequate, though, and just went into Beast Mode for the 2018 Postseason and an eventual World Series victory. I'm hoping to extend him while buying out zero FA seasons so he can go for a compensation pick once he hits 32. For whatever reason, talented OFers seem to grow on trees in my MLB league, but IFers are rare finds, so he'll be replaceable by age 32.