Season 31 (2049) - The Thread

[steamrollers]

As we reach the all star break I checked to see if my closer got the most votes for his position. I rarely look at the updated voting so I was stunned to see in the final tally he wasn't even top 5 and somehow isn't even an all star.

All he did was convert 34/34 saves with a 0.47 era (gave up runs in just one game), 0.87 whip, 0 HR allowed, 14.6 K/9 and basically every other stat off the charts. He had better numbers across the board than every RP that made the team.

Looking forward to next year that may be a small little adjustment that could be made to PT. I know others have posted before about closers getting short changed on the all star selections while long reliever with middling numbers get picked ahead. Not really a big deal at all but some tweaks should probably be made so the top closers in leagues make all star teams.

Didn't realize when I first posted that he has an ERA+ of 821 But no all star bid lol

[Orcin]

The Colonels (83-14) placed a personal-best 11 players on the all-star team:

SP Walter Johnson 16-0, 2.20 ERA, 5.3 WAR
SP Pedro Martinez 14-2, 1.95 ERA, 4.1 WAR
SP Curt Schilling 17-2, 1.73 ERA, 4.2 WAR
SP Cy Young 14-2, 1.69 ERA, 5.6 WAR
RP Eppa Rixey 4-3, 1,23 ERA, 10 SV, 3.0 WAR
C Tim McCarver .277/.338/.487, 124 wRC+, 2.0 WAR
2B Jackie Robinson .269/.355/.482, 126 wRC+, 3.1 WAR
3B George Brett .315/.372/.543, 149 wRC+, 3.6 WAR
LF Mickey Mantle .305/.373/.487, 136 wRC+, 3.0 WAR
CF Willie Mays .288/.393/.485, 144 wRC+, 3.8 WAR
DH Babe Ruth .265/.384/.489, 143 wRC+, 3.1 WAR

We lead the league with a +406 rdiff but trail the Texas Texans by 1 1/2 games for the league's best record.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Orcin

The Colonels (83-14) placed a personal-best 11 players on the all-star team:

SP Walter Johnson 16-0, 2.20 ERA, 5.3 WAR
SP Pedro Martinez 14-2, 1.95 ERA, 4.1 WAR
SP Curt Schilling 17-2, 1.73 ERA, 4.2 WAR
SP Cy Young 14-2, 1.69 ERA, 5.6 WAR
RP Eppa Rixey 4-3, 1,23 ERA, 10 SV, 3.0 WAR
C Tim McCarver .277/.338/.487, 124 wRC+, 2.0 WAR
2B Jackie Robinson .269/.355/.482, 126 wRC+, 3.1 WAR
3B George Brett .315/.372/.543, 149 wRC+, 3.6 WAR
LF Mickey Mantle .305/.373/.487, 136 wRC+, 3.0 WAR
CF Willie Mays .288/.393/.485, 144 wRC+, 3.8 WAR
DH Babe Ruth .265/.384/.489, 143 wRC+, 3.1 WAR

We lead the league with a +406 rdiff but trail the Texas Texans by 1 1/2 games for the league's best record.

Will you please let the other kids play with the ball, too??

[BigRed75]

The Quokkas reach the All-Star break with a 62-35 record and a seven game lead. Not bad for a rebuilding team!

And they're winning big, too. I run a bullpen by committee, and even adding up everyone's numbers, out of the 62 wins, there have only been 20 save opportunities.

Our biggest win so far was a 30-6 drubbing of some team who I'm too lazy to go back and look. That was worth a cool 3,600 points all up. Enough for a Fernando Tatis Jr. Future Legends card (but sadly not a Fernando Tatis Jr Live card).

[FancySkunk]

Doing decently well this season at 55-41, but I wasn't looking good to make the playoffs earlier on this week. So, I figured I'd retool a little bit while I could afford to have B-Squad guys up on the roster without necessarily costing myself anything.

* Sold my #5 starter - 94 Reuschel
* Bought a new starter who slots in as my new #2 - 95 Hooks Dauss
* Sold my DH, Gavvy Cravath
* Bought a new 1B - SE Keith Hernandez
* Ditched half of my old 1B platoon (89 Bagwell)
* Moved Rod Carew from 1B to DH
* Promoted Live DJ LeMahieu to the roster to platoon at DH for now

Next on the list is a more permanent answer at the DH slot, which is planned to be the SE Sisler assuming I can actually find him on the auction house when I have the funds available. I'd also like to upgrade in RF (currently running the gold Clemente), but most upgrades on the hitting vs. RHP side come with a huge net loss on defense; I might just try to move to Peak Clemente when the time comes because of the similar skillset.

[tallywood]

56-40 at the break, and 5 games ahead in first place.

Great Falls Dodgers All-Stars

• Anthony Banda, RP: 4-1, 2.70 ERA, 63.1 IP, 1.09 WHIP, 8.2 K/9, 0.7 WAR
• Carlton Fisk, C: .309/.362/.532, 14 HR, 3.2 WAR
• David Wright, 3B: .286/.397/.547, 20 HR, 9 SB, 4.8 WAR
• Francisco Lindor, SS: .290/.332/.491, 15 HR, 9 SB, 2.9 WAR
• Joey Gallo, LF: .262/.391/.488, 16 HR, 2.8 WAR
• Mike Trout, CF: .278/.410/.546, 24 HR, 9 SB, 4.9 WAR

[Westheim]

The Rebs pop live Keston Hiura from a pack, which actually adds a very lively bat to a lineup that hasn't that many; his 83 contact tie LeMahieu for most on the staff. Of course you have to DH him, because he is such a defensive train wreck. Giancarlo Stanton has to go. Under 60 contact just doesn't play at Diamond (not that I don't have more of his sort…)

While the Accountants are a dull .500 and unlikely to go anywhere, at least I made a quick 1,084 PP profit on a quick flip of a live Jeff McNeil (92) card (literally bought it for under 4,100 … what are people STILL thinking in this game??) over night, which soothes some of the pains I have from loading up on Silvers and Gold for the entirely wrong collections the previous week. Red Schoendienst will also sell, so that deals with the valuable Cardinals assets I had on that team.

The Furballs, who had seven All Stars, the weaklings, hit a bit of a rough patch in late July, causing their lead to melt from 18 games to just 15 1/2. Sweating. Big Walt's winning streak ended at 10 games, but Tom Seaver's is still ongoing and at 14 games, although he got no-decisions in his last two outings.

[waittilnextyear]

The Fighting Frogs are enjoying one of their better regular seasons in Perfect, playing .731 ball (79-29, +221). That's good enough for the best overall mark in P419. But, probably not for long as the Huntley Red Raiders have gotten white hot. The Red Raiders (77-30, +282) have passed Summit for the division lead as they ride an active 12-game winning streak. No matter what Huntley does in the West, the Frogs have the East sewn up already with a 22-game lead. The Santa Monica Beachgoers (69-37, +113) figure to win the Central. Whichever team gets to the PL series should be the favorite.

The Frogs are pacing the conference in several stats: 1st in OBP (.380), 1st in OPS (.831), 1st in batting WAR (31.3), 1st in wOBA (.367), 1st in bullpen ERA (2.22), 1st in pitching WAR (31.2). The unfortunate thing is being only 3rd in runs scored and 5th in runs allowed (whereas Huntley is 1st in both) despite the gaudy underlying metrics. The squad is still maintaining its good luck, 21-7 in 1-run games and 9-1 in extra innings although we're only 18-11 overall since the beginning of July.

The team placed 6 Frogs (Yelich, Rose, Chipper, Yogi, Smoltz, and Santana) into the All-Star game, but strangely Ed Walsh (13-3, 3.39 ERA) wasn't among them. Moving SE Vida Blue (15-2, 2.74 ERA) into the starting rotation has paid off. Plus, he's not blowing tons of saves in his new role.

Opened some more packs and am over the 4000 pack mark. Perfect card pulls have been right around the stated 1:1000 card ratio in this sample, and the LIVE:non-LIVE ratio has been true to form as well. Pack luck had been pretty poor since pulling a 100 Gehrig last week, but snagged 100 deGrom, 96 Clemens, and 84 Bando in the latest 50 packs or so. That should earn me about 75K in sales.

Have been trying my luck as a collection mission price gouger and I have to say I'm not very good at it. Aside from the market having an extreme glut of sellers in it right now, I find it not as lucrative as I'd hoped. I've sold 2 silver Lou Brocks for 10K each, a silver Rudy York for 10K, and a silver Johnny Groth for 15K over the past 24 hours. What do you mean the market won't buy my PEAK Mark McGwire for 60K?

Lastly, the hated Costa Rica Dart Frogs (73-34) are running away with the AC. I have to assume they're up to no good over there and are probably cheating (tongue firmly in cheek, btw, trying to manufacture a rivalry here). It would be epic if both frog teams get to square off in the PL series. I bet the princess would rather kiss my team...

[Westheim]

Oh where to begin.

After whining in the Missions thread I kept poking around the auction house for stuff, didn't get anything done, and with 30k points in the bank after selling among other things a duplicate Tatis jr. recently, I got frustrated and bought 10k worth of lottery tickets, proclaiming that I would pull all the cards I needed for missions.

I didn't.

Instead, I pulled two golds. Kershaw I already have, so that's one pack paid for. Moncada is the most expensive piece missing for the live Gold Sox, so that's fine.

Oh, and I also pulled three diamonds. One was a duplicate Severino (so really 4k PP), and then there was 1990 Joe Hesketh and PEAK Frank Thomas.

I'm retiring on that one.

And here comes why I suck at this game. I suck at this game because I'm weak and a sucker. Because PEAK Frank Thomas is AWESOME. He should be labelled AWESOME Frank Thomas. But he has to be the DH because his defense is atrocious.

But Special Edition David Wright is my DH. … I can't take out Special Edition David Wright.

Of course I could move Captain Wright to third base (where his defense is again atrocious) and maybe keep Arenado around by moving him to second base, it's not like my first Tatis jr. is hitting the baseball or something. But Arenado's defensive profile does not play well with second base. Could I move David Wright to first base and... no, that's where Dan Brouthers plays, and he is better than all of them.

So I sighed, and gave up Frank Thomas for adoption into a forever home where he will actually be cherished and appreciated for what he is. AWESOME.

See, this is why after $260 (at least, who knows how many tenners I missed along the way because I suck) I am still stuck in Diamond. Because I'm weak and I suck. I SUCK.

Everybody who's followed the Raccoons at some point will know it already that I'm weak and I suck. I am emotionally attached to fake baseball players that don't feel, have no awareness for their surroundings, and don't love me back no matter how much I love them.

It's the Clyde Brady thing all over again. I hung with Clyde Brady for NINE seasons. Three were probably defensible because players don't always smash the leage when they're 24, he was a rookie, he was part of the David Brewer collateral, and we didn't have anything else after the 1990s championship train had derailed and crashed into a ravine with no survivors. The other six were not.

Clyde Brady was terrible.

Clyde Brady was always going to be terrible.

Years later, I dubbed him the Avatar of Losing. Because all nine seasons he played with the dynasty Coons, they posted a losing record. Not for him alone, but he sure had three out of four paws in it.

But I get emotionally attached, I make stupid decisions, I don't make changes when I should, and then I am left continually surprised that I don't get anywhere. I admire Mr. Orcin for his ruthless, roster-sized, mid-season comb-overs, that always leave a team for the better. He probably spent less coin on PT than me, and he (and others) has had infinitely more success. Years back, I followed every move Mr. Orcin made in the dynasty forums, and yet I learned nothing. The receptors are blocked. The student is a hopeless case.

I gave up Frank Thomas for adoption.

Because I'm stupid and weak, and weak and stupid.

I should have a little weep at this point, I think.

[tallywood]

So this happened :



His Pitchers:

• Luis Severino: 1.1 IP, 6 ER
• Triston McKenzie: 1.2 IP, 7 ER
• Sonny Gray, 0.2 IP, 4 ER
• Aroldis Chapman: 1.1 IP, 3 ER
• Dellin Betances: 2 IP, 0 ER
• Javy Baez: 1.2 IP, 5 ER
• Mitch Garver: 0.1 IP, 0 ER

[mcdog512]

Originally Posted by Orcin

The Colonels (83-14) placed a personal-best 11 players on the all-star team:

SP Walter Johnson 16-0, 2.20 ERA, 5.3 WAR
SP Pedro Martinez 14-2, 1.95 ERA, 4.1 WAR
SP Curt Schilling 17-2, 1.73 ERA, 4.2 WAR
SP Cy Young 14-2, 1.69 ERA, 5.6 WAR
RP Eppa Rixey 4-3, 1,23 ERA, 10 SV, 3.0 WAR
C Tim McCarver .277/.338/.487, 124 wRC+, 2.0 WAR
2B Jackie Robinson .269/.355/.482, 126 wRC+, 3.1 WAR
3B George Brett .315/.372/.543, 149 wRC+, 3.6 WAR
LF Mickey Mantle .305/.373/.487, 136 wRC+, 3.0 WAR
CF Willie Mays .288/.393/.485, 144 wRC+, 3.8 WAR
DH Babe Ruth .265/.384/.489, 143 wRC+, 3.1 WAR

We lead the league with a +406 rdiff but trail the Texas Texans by 1 1/2 games for the league's best record.

You got me by 3!

[Catchthedamnball]

In another otherwise mediocre season, I would like to salute the efforts of my closer Kirby Yates. Yates converted 27 consecutive save chances to begin the season before allowing the tying run in his 28th opportunity. His 1.81 ERA and .947 SV% are top-3 marks league wide among qualifying relievers, and his 1.05 WHIP comes in as a top-10 mark as well.

If only my team could score runs for him

[Izz]

July was disastrous and August looks to be more of the same. The 'Glou have slumped to 51-76, which is still somehow 5 games above the relegation zone, even in a 10-team league. We're mid-range (4th) in runs scored but terrible (9th of 10) in runs allowed. We're also 49 1/2 games behind division leader Buffalo Bulls, who are 101-27.

Last couple seasons I've had 3 starting pitchers in my bullpen. Next season, seeing as I'm gonna stick to a 5-man rotation for now, I might just go back to what I think my best relievers are.

The highlights: 89OVR Dennis Eckersley is on a 27-game save streak, and I packed 96OVR Greg Holland this morning - a pretty good addition to the bullpen.

[waittilnextyear]

The Frogs (94-32, +262) continue to pace P419 in overall record. I have not been keeping complete notes, but this could be the first time ending a season of Perfect with best overall record.

The biggest threat to this would be the powerful, Norm Cash-laden Huntley Red Raiders (89-36, +331). Huntley is actually 6 games ahead of the Frogs in an alternate, Pythagorean universe ruled by pure mathematics and geometry. However, the Reddest of all Raiders have dealt with a much tougher division. As you can see, Huntley has both Summit and Westchester to contend with. I mean, even the last-place Goon Island Hamburgers were a 101-win playoff team last week and they're getting slaughtered in that division so it's clearly tough sledding over there.

Also spotted an uber obvious tanker (11-115 record in a weak division) when looking around the league and thought it might be fun to post how this team--the LEIDEN SEA BEGGARS--have repeatedly tanked down levels and are back at it once again. This team tanked from Diamond to Iron over the 2032-2036 period. Then, they tanked from Gold down to Bronze over the 2040-2042 seasons. The poor dears made Perfect and, in their 2nd year at that level, have once again had enough. Reported!

Finally...is...is that? Is that Ed Walsh? Has he arisen from the dead to emerge as a contender for 3-peat PoY? After not even making the All-Star team?

[Orcin]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

Also spotted an uber obvious tanker (11-105 record in a weak division) when looking around the league and thought it might be fun to post how this team--the LEIDEN SEA BEGGARS--have repeatedly tanked down levels are are back at it once again. This team has already tanked down from Diamond to Iron from 2032 to 2036. Then tanked from Gold down to Bronze in 2040 to 2042. The poor dears made Perfect and in this, their 2nd year at that level, have once again had enough. Reported!

I don't understand why this is allowed to continue.

[Argonaut]

This year I'm in Orcin's league for the 1st time, and I got lucky to win the season series 3-1 against the Colonels. The most interesting of the games was this extra-inning thriller, with a bevy of action in the 9th inning.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

The biggest threat to this would be the powerful, Norm Cash-laden Huntley Red Raiders (89-36, +331). Huntley is actually 6 games ahead of the Frogs in an alternate, Pythagorean universe ruled by pure mathematics and geometry.

On the one hand, it's been pretty cool watching the Red Raiders put it all together and surge ahead in the AC West. Early in the season, I had resigned myself to the Wild Card, hoping we could win it so the Division Series could be Fighting Frogs vs Red Raiders, Round 3. But the guys have really rallied and, apart from somehow earning the ire of Pythagoras, are now in great shape.

(An aside: yes, they're cards, but they're also my guys.)

On the other hand, it's completely in spite of their Brilliant Manager (BM). Let's review...

1. BM saves up points to acquire a big bat, like Ruth or Williams.
2. New collection missions are released. BM is distracted by shiny new object, completely shifts gears, and quickly completes mission to get Norm Cash.
3. BM vacillates between sending down Carl Yastrzemski and sending down Lou Gehrig, finally choosing to send down Yaz.
4. Gehrig's line after Yaz is sent down: .067/.152/.167
5. Cash's season line as of right now: .222/.328/.371

Now, to his (slight) credit, Brilliant Manager did admit his mistake, sheepishly sending down Gehrig in July and recalling Yaz, who is currently hitting .307/.430/.540 for what would be a career-high .969 OPS and 164 OPS+. And Cash's OPS has (agonizingly slowly) increased every month, from .653 in June to .687 in July to .771 (so far) in August. So that's cool. I guess.

Anyway, Huntley continues to sport the best run differential in the AC and also continues to be completely unable to catch La Crosse for the league's best record (currently 96-33, Frogs, to 92-36, Red Raiders). It might all come down to the very end of the regular season, which sees Huntley visit La Crosse for an epic 4-game regular season-ending series. Will the Frogs see Red? Or will Huntley find it's not easy beating Green? It's going to be a fun September/October in P419!

[FancySkunk]

Originally Posted by FancySkunk

* Ditched half of my old 1B platoon (89 Bagwell)
* Moved Rod Carew from 1B to DH
* Promoted Live DJ LeMahieu to the roster to platoon at DH for now

I thought about this move more and realized it made absolutely no sense at all:


(Bagwell vs. LeMahieu)

Thankfully I caught my faulty logic before Bagwell sold.

---

The new SE Keith Hernandez is underperforming a bit, but the Gavvy Cravath he replaced was never much to write home about, so I'm not worried yet.
Hooks Dauss has been rather up and down after picking him up, but again, not too worried because the card projects to be an upgrade and my team's defense can support groundballers well.

----

The Little League Champs went on a nice little run and are now only 2.5 games back of the division lead. The wildcard is out of reach, so hopefully we can end the season on a strong note and make the playoffs again (not that I have much faith in the squad to go all the way).

[BigRed75]

The Quokkas had a rough time of it (2-8 in their last ten games) but are still 25 games above .500 and have a 99.8% chance of making the playoffs. If you are going to re-tool a team on the fly, winning your division nips any talk of tanking in the bud!

We'll probably get smashed next season, but at least we will use the same lineup the whole time because I've been quietly putting all the pieces together this season.

At least Marcus Semien isn't our HR leader any longer

[Westheim]

The Raccoons have slowed down, you know, to get into that .500 groove right before playoff time, but still lead their division by 16 games and are a lock for the playoffs, really.

The Critters also have the top 3 batters in OPS, the top 3 pitchers in WAR (which is a useless stat, but move along swiftly here), and have two out of those three feature in the top 3 of every triple crown category, without getting on the same page as to who should lead all categories at the same time... you know, for honor!

And PP.

Rebs sit at 66-69, and are really just playing out the string here. They also don't make PP at all...

KC is hardly better; 68-65, but at least they are only two games removed from the wild card… yet sit sixth in the wild card table. It will take some major winning to get past the competition here...