Season 40 (2058) - Discussion Thread

[acclaim99]

I know no one is paying attention to me, but this is crazy.

Of the 4 way tie, with 3 games left, all 4 teams dropped the first 2 then won the last one... Do 4 teams are still tied for the last wildcard spot.

What is the official tie breakers for that?
1v2, 3v4, then two winners face off? Then that winner faces the other wc team lol.

[Jackgoboom]

Originally Posted by pappyzan

Nah, this team is only friends with the other 4 teams. My FTP team is living the loner life and friends with no one, attempting to win a WS on their own in PL. Just fate we are with the last bastion of OL teams this week.

That's a shame then... They certainly added an interesting element, just as we probably presented more of a challenge for them.

The valid point they made about inexperienced and autopilot managers facing teams like ours, certainly also applies when these teams face lefty or righty cheese. As unlike us they can't or don't realise they need to readjust. So I hope the OL guys have enjoyed playing us.

[Jackgoboom]

Originally Posted by acclaim99

I know no one is paying attention to me, but this is crazy.

Of the 4 way tie, with 3 games left, all 4 teams dropped the first 2 then won the last one... Do 4 teams are still tied for the last wildcard spot.

What is the official tie breakers for that?
1v2, 3v4, then two winners face off? Then that winner faces the other wc team lol.

I know I am

[Jackgoboom]

Originally Posted by old timer

The final standings... First time I've ever seen 4 teams in 1 division with over 100 wins, though we did come close a few seasons ago in another division of doom. Pretty cool!

The three way tie at the end of that season was unique and pretty cool though Fond memories, despite Walsh letting me down in a playoff game again

[acclaim99]

Originally Posted by Jackgoboom

I know I am

Unfort I can't wait around an hour to see who makes it, need sleep have work in 5 hours.

Ive just never seen a 4 way tie for 1 spot.

These types of situations should have less sim time.

Ill check when I wake up.

[pappyzan]

Originally Posted by acclaim99

I know no one is paying attention to me, but this is crazy.

Of the 4 way tie, with 3 games left, all 4 teams dropped the first 2 then won the last one... Do 4 teams are still tied for the last wildcard spot.

What is the official tie breakers for that?
1v2, 3v4, then two winners face off? Then that winner faces the other wc team lol.

Dunno how the game will handle a 4 way tie like that. From what I've experienced, the game is consistently inconsistent when it comes to handling tie breakers of greater than 2 teams. Good luck!

[Jackgoboom]

A fun season. Despite being third in our division after the first month and two bad months overall, a division win. At one stage we were eight games under our Pythag, but finished up just four.

Our division series against the Generals will be tough, as they just completed a three game sweep of us, but hopefully a few adjustments to combat their righty team and stadium will see us through to a showdown with one of the other OldTimer five, in the conference series.

[Catchthedamnball]

We have a wild finish to Diamond 377!

My Mashers led the NC West for a majority of the season, before the owner of the Columbia Odyssey made a significant PP investment in their team and sent them on a hellacious tear that saw them go 10-4 in the second half of August and then 24-6 in the months of September and October to finish 91-71 (they were 57-61 before that hot streak! ) and tied for a share of the division. And so, we proceeded to a game 163, except with an added wrinkle: the loser then played a game 164 against the Tampa Red Birds, whom I believe belong to the same person that runs my aforementioned divisional adversary. This tiebreaker scenario is similar to what nearly happened a couple years ago irl in the National League.

The Mashers having spent 100 Rube Waddell in a losing effort in one of the two games that could have clinched the division outright with a win, they turned to SE Vida Blue at home against the Odyssey's weakest starter, Robin Roberts. This seemingly favorable matchup, however, did not go as planned.

The Mashers drew first blood in the bottom of the 2nd. After a double play erased an Al Simmons leadoff single, Rickey legged out a worm-killer and advanced to third with aggressive baserunning on a single up the middle by Garry Maddox. Eddie Collins then knocked a sharp line drive up the middle to score Rickey. Joe Cronin followed with a smash to left center that certainly would have scored both Maddox and the speedy Collins with two out, but Richie Ashburn made a fine diving catch, one of several time he would flummox Medford defensively.

Robin Roberts settled down again and kept the bats quiet until Al Simmons once again spoke up in the 7th with a screamer into the right field corner. Cecil Travis drove one through the hole on the right side, but Simmons held at third, being that he is slower than the coffee maker on a Monday morning. With no out, Rickey fanned, Travis got picked off of first base, and Maddox grounded out to second, ending the threat.
Vida, for his part, was brilliant. The only hit he allowed through the first eight innings was an opposite-field double to the Odyssey's Maddox, and he struck out the formidable triad of Sherry Magee, Dick Allen, and Mike Schmidt in the 4th inning on 13 pitches. But in the last frame, the Odyssey got good wood on the ball. On only Vida's 82nd offering, the pinch hitter Alex Bregman skied a HR 400 feet over the left-field fence, tying the game. And so, Vida was hooked, and Kirby Yates came in and promptly retired the side in order. So much for implementing slow hooks on my starting pitching.

Facing the Odyssey's formidable bullpen fronted by the likes of Brad Lidge and Jonathan Papelbon, the Mashers would have to grit their teeth and hammer out a run before Medford's rickety bullpen threw away the 2nd seed in the National Conference. They went to work. Facing Papelbon with the middle of the order due up, a walk to Rocky Colavito and Al Simmons's third hit of the day brought Cecil Travis to the plate. Jesus Armando Sanchez was brought in to pinch-run for the lead runner Colavito, and the new pitcher Lidge promptly put Sanchez on third with a wild pitch. Travis atoned for his mistake, punching a single into left field to score Sanchez and clinch the division in walk-off fashion! The Mashers will face 88-win Tuco the Outlaw in the division series, and will likely have Waddell on normal rest for game 1. I don't like not having Vida until game 3, but I do prefer being in the playoffs rather than out, and he kept me in the tiebreaking game against a team that was definitely better than mine on paper.

In game 164, Fred5152's Odyssey visited Fred1510's Tampa Red Birds, pitting Columbia's Harry Brecheen against Tampa's John Clarkson. It was not the pitching matchup it was cracked up to be, because Brecheen was gone after five innings having allowed four runs. Clarkson allowed four runs as well, but scattered them over seven innings, and benefitted from a Brad Hand implosion that netted four runs for Columbia. Hughie Jennings earned player of the game honors for the Odyssey, going 1 for 3 with 2 runs scored, 2 RBI, and 3 walks. Fernando Tatis and Garry Maddox played supporting roles, contributing a 3-run HR and a 4 for 5 day respectively.

And now, a moment for some Medford team accolades. Al Simmons hit .308 with 67 2B, 20 HR and 127 RBI, leading the league in doubles and RBI in addition to hits with 206. He and three teammates also posted OBPs of .360 or higher. Sadly, Simmons will probably not earn a silver slugger, because the New York Anarchy's Ted Williams had an even better season as a DH. Rickey Henderson and Eddie Collins stole 52 and 41 bases to pace one of the better baserunning teams in the conference. On the pitching side, there were a lot of half-seasons, but every October starter finished with an ERA below 4, something that hasn't happened for the Mashers in quite a few seasons. The starting rotation has suddenly become a strength with the completion of the A's team collection and one of the Mets missions. Incredibly, Rube Waddell posted 5.6 WAR in only 160 innings. Tom Seaver and Lefty Grove were the only starters to pitch the entire year; both finished with 200 innings and nearly 200 Ks. The difference between the two was that Seaver spun 5 complete games, 2 of them shutouts, while Lefty allowed a startling 26 home runs (Seaver allowed 20, but that's ok because he's Tom frickin' Seaver). Kirby Yates and Rollie Fingers formed a nice 1-2 punch on the back end, as Yates saved 26 of 28 opportunities and Rollie was capable until his BABIP ballooned into the .400s in the summer months, dooming him to a high ERA despite an admirable 3.11 FIP.

I hope your last few simulations were exciting as mine. Good luck in the playoffs, and perhaps we shall cross paths in PL soon!

[Westheim]

I almost had five playoff teams out of five entrants again this week (like two weeks ago). Almost!

The Critters ended up with a record of 111-51, beating their division by 24 games, their best ever Perfect League record by four games, and matching their best record *ever*, all the way back in Season 2 in Silver League. Also, no wild card shenanigans to soil the nest with! Best record in the league even, although that might not be a good thing, given there's a 2-time PL champ in the wild card bonanza.

Chattanooga won 93 in Gold, far from shabby, but came up second in the division, four games out. At least they got a wild card...

KC *also* won their Perfect League division with a record of 87-75, six games clear. This will actually be their second division title in Perfect, outranking the Raccoons there, but neither team has won anything at the top level. And while the Coons have *a* shot, the Accountants' path to glory very likely would require beating teams with 107, 125, and 132 wins. Nope, not gonna happen, but I'll take the 1k PP, thx.

And since the Sunday will be busy...:

The 19 Rebs won their Silver division with 109 wins. Randy Johnson won the triple crown and since I hadn't paid attention all week, they had 15 packs to open. They contained absolutely nothing to write home about!

The 19 Critters however finished only 81-81 in Diamond ... ONE game behind the division champs. No wild card for them either. At least Syndergaard pitched a no-hitter. Ah, PT 19 - when live pitchers were not complete waste...

[One Great Matrix]

Here's how things shook out in my galaxy. 43-38 1st half New York Mets. 59-22 2nd half New York Flyers. The Ice Princesses, they've won a PL. The Crusty Old Vets are the other team that won 110+ games... they haven't a PL title yet. A lot of great seasons, but I think they're young or something, in spite of their name & they haven't ...kicked the door down yet. John Olerud (Mets 96) was a hitting machine for us all season...I think 11 players with ties (actual playing time with) the Mets are currently active. So I did mix it up from the team from a couple weeks ago...which only included Carter, Hernandez, Henderson, Seaver & Gooden. And Santana. (6)...My dream is to beat the Ice Princesses on a game 7 18th or later inning home run. Or bunt.

[Magus978]

Steelport played down to everyone below them this week, and are forced to settle for a WC1 with a 104-58 record. After going 58-22 from March to June, they went a pathetic (for my high standards) 46-36 from July to October. We will be forced to throw Ed Walsh (9-2, 1.96) in the wildcard game when ideally I would want him for game 1 in the LDS.

EDIT: Aaaaaand that's it. Walsh loses in the wildcard. Great job completely wasting my time boys. This is why I'll never win a PL title no matter what I do.

[JasonC23]

One of the "old timer 5" will be facing the end of the road as the 6-time PL champion Huntley Red Raiders face off against the 14-time PL champ Washington LyinCheatin Senators in the P466 NC Wild Card game. Washington won the season series 11-8 over the Red Raiders.

Huntley sends Roger Clemens to the Washington mound. In 4 starts against the Senators this year, Clemens had a 1.69 ERA, giving up 5 earned runs in 26.2 innings. There was definitely luck involved in that ERA, as Clemens' K/9 was only 6.4 versus a BB/9 of 4.4; the .211 BABIP is the chief architect of the 264 ERA+ the Rocket achieved versus the Senators. Of course, that luck was balanced out by Clemens going a mere 1-0 in those 4 starts.

Washington counters with (100) Walter Johnson, who went 2-1 with a 3.94 ERA in his 3 regular-season starts against the Red Raiders. The Big Train had a 6.2 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 against Huntley, but the .333 BABIP didn't do him any favors.

Who will take the Wild Card game and move on to face the Evergreen Forest Raccoons in the Division Series? The answer is moments away...

[Westheim]

YES!!

Hoby Milner!!

[JasonC23]

As expected, it will be those LyinCheatin Senators coming to the Evergreen Forest for the Division Series showdown. Good luck to old timer and Pappyzan!

[emilempenza]

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays get their first proper taste of Perfect League playoffs, thanks to an incredibly weak league and some inexplicably good hitting from pretty much everyone, all hitting probably 50-100 OPS higher than you'd expect.

As a result we are the top seeds and will face my brothers Edinburgh Diamond Devils in the best of 5 series to see who gets a shot at the only whale and remaining previous (four time) Perfect Champions, the Hickory Crawdads

The Diamond Devils are not to be overlooked though, having knocked out the 2 time Champions, QunataCondor's Golden Gophers in the wild card game, but either way it looks like being the best chance for a member of our family to maybe sneak a Perfect League win. Fingers crossed the OOTP gods feel like crowning a new winner, who needs a 5th Perfect League title anyway?

[Renfro]

The Norm Cash-led Xenos (Cash being the most popular player vis a vis ASG vote count) had an epic swoon in the last month of the regular season. We lost our last 12 games, including an unexpected and disheartening sweep by a relegation-eligible team (which finished 67-95), and the expected sweep by the best team in the entire league (The Berlin Crab Shuckers @ 122-40). Remarkably, the team trying to snatch the 2nd Wild Card spot lost their last game, too. So despite our 12-game losing streak to end the season, we're in the Perfect League playoffs for the 3rd time ever, this time qualifying with an 83-79 record. As of this writing, we've won our Wild Card game. Our reward: the Berlin Crab Shuckers.

The match-ups (theirs v. ours):

100 Schilling v. 100 Santana
99 Brecheen v. 98 Newhouser
100 Johnson v. 97 Gomez
100 Grove v. 94 Bridges
100 Hubbell v. 97 Martinez

End of season write-up expected soon.

[pappyzan]

Game 2 between Evergreen and Washington:Both teams used Seaver in mop-up relief.

Total combined Seaver results: 1.0IP, 4H (3 2B), 2BB, 0K, 6ER, 30PI

Series tied at 1 each

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by pappyzan

Game 2 between Evergreen and Washington:Both teams used Seaver in mop-up relief.

Total combined Seaver results: 1.0IP, 4H (3 2B), 2BB, 0K, 6ER, 30PI

Series tied at 1 each

Tom Seaver: Not a fan of the "old timer 5"!

[JasonC23]

Quick tour around P466:

- The #1 AC seed Minnesota Bold North swept the California Quantum Condors - OL.
- In the AC #2 vs #3 battle, home-field advantage has held, as La Crosse won the first 2, and Fargo bounced back with 2 wins of its own. Game 5 coming soon!
- Evergreen took game 3 in Washington, 6-5, to take a 2-1 Division Series lead.
- Jackson won its 2 home games, but Tassie fought off elimination with a 4-3 home win.

[old timer]

Charmed... The Raccoons got lucky and won the series vs the Senators, 3-1. In game 1, Suzuki (of all people) won it with a grand slam HR in the 5th (we won 4-3). We then got blasted in game 2, 13-6. After that we managed to knock out Walter Johnson early and held on for a 6-5 win. Finally, we won 6-5 again, but this time it took a comeback to do it. Down 5-1, we got 3 in the 8th and then 1 more in the 9th to force extras. An Appling single in the 11th was the deciding run. Boggs got the series MVP even though his only RBIs (3) all came on 1 AB in the final game, a 3-R HR off of Brecheen.

So now we await the winner between Tassie and Jackson who are tied up 2-2. We're hoping for a showdown with Tassie, though I still think Jackson will be the easier opponent.