Season 4 (2023) Thread - Top-Heavy

[Westheim]

Cole definitely wins "Best Hair" in that collection. It also masks his abnormally long giraffe neck very nicely.

[waittilnextyear]

The Frogs ended the 2023 season with a 143-19 record in B212. Narrowly avoided the horror of the previous season losing 20+ games. Would also like to avoid losing in the DS like last week. Hoping we face off with the team full of Bob's, with a team logo of Bob Hamelin, from the other conference if we get that far.

100 Clemens notched 4k PP on the final day of the season with a pitching triple crown. Clemens went 29-3 with a 2.11 ERA and 273 Ks. Too bad he lost his final start of the season, a 1-0 affair, in his failed bid to win 30 games. Not to be outdone, 100 Lefty Grove went undefeated for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. This time it was a whopping 27-0 record and narrowly missing the strikeout crown with 265. Grove's reward is being converted into a super stopper (142 stuff!) for the playoffs to make room for the 100 Kershaw that was pulled last night.

Offensively, the team's production ticked back up over 1300 runs after falling into the 1200's in last week's lost season. The Frogs slashed .323/.408/.555 as a team. 100 Gehringer won the batting crown (.376) as cheat-code-incarnate. You can see why they call him the 'Mechanical Man' when he's posted 11+ WAR campaigns three weeks running.

Reinforcements added to the team this week for the playoff run include the aforementioned 100 Kershaw, 100 Honus Wagner, and 95 Cristobal Torriente. Wagner being summoned from a pack yesterday means the end of Roger Peckinpaugh's reign at SS; Torriente spells the end of Mookie Betts in RF.

Good luck to everyone in the playoffs this week (unless you're also in B212).

[BigRed75]

Well, we managed to do it. In a challenging season, to say the least, the Secret Harbour Pirates managed to navigate a whale-filled division to finish in the second wild card spot *and* finish with a winning record to boot. In addition, we achieved our main mission goals by significantly improving our pitching staff with the addition of SE Bert Blyleven, Joe Nathan, Adam Wainwright and Eddie Plank. Randy Johnson won 20 games for us this season, and Jack Flaherty was a revelation in his first full season in the bullpen.

A pair of Rockies, SE Troy Tulowitzki and 100 Nolan Arenado, were our best bats this season. Arenado was the only Pirate to crack 20 homers, but Freddie Freeman, Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, Chuck Klein, Dave Winfield and Tulowitzki all hit between 16 and 19 dingers. Our greatest weak spot is the backup catcher. Jason Kendall is great, and will ultimately become the backup, but right now, it doesn't matter who is the No. 2 catcher. We tried three different players and they all hit below the Mendoza line.

The Arequipa Alpacas have shifted their focus to Bronze tournaments. With another win and a few more places this season they are getting better, but the all-pack ethos means they can't go out and get great Bronze tourney players like Don Newcombe. On the plus side, I did pull a Newk this week. On the minus side, it wasn't for the Alpacas.

Sadly, the Alpacas finished three games off a promotion spot, so they will remain in Bronze and the Pirates will sail off to Silver without their promotion partner. On thing the Alpacas do excel at is pulling Gold cards. They have 14 Gold/Diamond cards well beyond the odds. In fact, four weeks into PT21 they have just as many Diamond cards as my PT20 pack-only team did.

The Lynn Live Oaks may have finished 74-88, but it was a big season for them anyway as they have now collected all the Iron Live cards. They have also finished six missions (all finished yesterday) and are closing in on No. 7, the Mariners. The point-generating seems to work, so they are happy to spend another season in Stone. With the new additions, they should make the playoffs (and promotion) next season.

The San Antonio Missions didn't make too much progress on their main, erm, mission, but one interesting thing to report. They faced a team in Rookie that clearly is a new whale team about to start its way up the ranks. 99 Greg Maddux, for example, went 23-0 in Rookie. And 97 Jeff Bagwell hit .350/.436/.697 with 56 home runs and 173 RBI

The Bibra Lake Quendas also missed the playoffs (and promotion) but acquired four more Future Legends at reasonable prices. That makes nine cards out of 50 so far as we try to position ourselves for if or when a Future Legends mission drops. If the Negro League missions is any guide, we will need 30 cards out of the 50 to complete a potential mission. For now, we are having fun collecting the cards.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

The Frogs ended the 2023 season with a 143-19 record in B212. Narrowly avoided the horror of the previous season losing 20+ games. Would also like to avoid losing in the DS like last week. Hoping we face off with the team full of Bob's, with a team logo of Bob Hamelin, from the other conference if we get that far.

100 Clemens notched 4k PP on the final day of the season with a pitching triple crown. Clemens went 29-3 with a 2.11 ERA and 273 Ks. Too bad he lost his final start of the season, a 1-0 affair, in his failed bid to win 30 games. Not to be outdone, 100 Lefty Grove went undefeated for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. This time it was a whopping 27-0 record and narrowly missing the strikeout crown with 265. Grove's reward is being converted into a super stopper (142 stuff!) for the playoffs to make room for the 100 Kershaw that was pulled last night.

Offensively, the team's production ticked back up over 1300 runs after falling into the 1200's in last week's lost season. The Frogs slashed .323/.408/.555 as a team. 100 Gehringer won the batting crown (.376) as cheat-code-incarnate. You can see why they call him the 'Mechanical Man' when he's posted 11+ WAR campaigns three weeks running.

Reinforcements added to the team this week for the playoff run include the aforementioned 100 Kershaw, 100 Honus Wagner, and 95 Cristobal Torriente. Wagner being summoned from a pack yesterday means the end of Roger Peckinpaugh's reign at SS; Torriente spells the end of Mookie Betts in RF.

Good luck to everyone in the playoffs this week (unless you're also in B212).

Seriously

[Morug]

Tiger King: The team finish at the top of the league with a 104-58 season. Tony Cuccinello win the batting tille with .325. MVP for the team: Wally Joyner (.296, 22 hr, 107 Rbi). New addition this year (thanks to a 8.2K pp game) : Mike Mussina SE, Billy Hoeft, Freddy Sanchez, Bryce Harper and Ken Berry. Great season in general, the team finish first in batting average (.296) and bullpen era (3.02). Ready for the playoff and maybe a second participation in the World Series, like the previous season.

Expos: A 98-64 season for the Expos, forth best records in the league and best record of the National Conference. The team finish first in the league for stealing base with 167 and first in the NC in many offensive stats. Best pitcher is Steve Rogers(88) with 18-4, 2.88 season and best player is Andres Galaraga with a .285 35 hr 112 Rbi. New addition this year : Ellis Valentine, Pascual Perez, Woodie Fryman and Dan Schatzeder. Hope to play the World Series..but the American Conference are stacked with 3 big clubs...so a win in WS will be a big surprise here.

Angels: The team start the season correctly but have a big slump after the first month of the season. New addition of Lindor (100), Gregg Jefferies(77), Johnny Callison (83), Wilcy Moore(86) Vic Raschi (87), Billy Wagner (79) and Liam Hendricks (87) in the last month of the season help to team to be back on winning track (16-13) and finish the season with a 74-88 record. MVP of the team: Bill Spiers with a .308, 92 run, 57 double, 10 hr and 72 Rbi.

[Orion]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

The Frogs ended the 2023 season with a 143-19 record in B212. Narrowly avoided the horror of the previous season losing 20+ games. Would also like to avoid losing in the DS like last week. Hoping we face off with the team full of Bob's, with a team logo of Bob Hamelin, from the other conference if we get that far.

100 Clemens notched 4k PP on the final day of the season with a pitching triple crown. Clemens went 29-3 with a 2.11 ERA and 273 Ks. Too bad he lost his final start of the season, a 1-0 affair, in his failed bid to win 30 games. Not to be outdone, 100 Lefty Grove went undefeated for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. This time it was a whopping 27-0 record and narrowly missing the strikeout crown with 265. Grove's reward is being converted into a super stopper (142 stuff!) for the playoffs to make room for the 100 Kershaw that was pulled last night.

Offensively, the team's production ticked back up over 1300 runs after falling into the 1200's in last week's lost season. The Frogs slashed .323/.408/.555 as a team. 100 Gehringer won the batting crown (.376) as cheat-code-incarnate. You can see why they call him the 'Mechanical Man' when he's posted 11+ WAR campaigns three weeks running.

Reinforcements added to the team this week for the playoff run include the aforementioned 100 Kershaw, 100 Honus Wagner, and 95 Cristobal Torriente. Wagner being summoned from a pack yesterday means the end of Roger Peckinpaugh's reign at SS; Torriente spells the end of Mookie Betts in RF.

Good luck to everyone in the playoffs this week (unless you're also in B212).

My Mechanical Man got a mere 5.8 You still running with McCarthy? Mine had a superb season leading the league in BA.

[macacks]

Warbirds had very good season. We will leave at that.

Ghosts finished 2nd overall (125-37) but have the Washington Agents that are the class of the League in the same conference. Still happy with the Live only theme as it has been more than competitive in these early weeks.

Rockport got stuck in an 'future' perfect Gold league. They will not be promoted nor relegated.

[PocketsAintFull]

My Birmingham Bolts team in Bronze .219 had the kind of season I dreamt about as a baby manager in PT 19, finishing at 122-40 for a 4th consecutive division title to start PT 21. Completing the Live Missions Tuesday was a big achievement for me and has boosted the team on

The team were doing pretty great through July, and Carl Yastrzemski & Jeff Bagwell had seasons of 30+ HR and 130+ RBI, which is officially insane (paperwork pending). The additions of Christian Yelich and Mike Trout on unexpected deals, plus Greg Maddux returning Thursday, two days after initially being sold, pushed the team up to super gear. Hopefully they win a title but hey, it's all good if they don't

---------
My Uecker's Underdogs -BFF side had a competitive season in Stone .157, and managed to edge their division with a 92-70 record, after a long division battle which sees the two wildcards come from there too. Uecker's aren't the top BFF team in the league, but will try hard to push the playoffs as far as possible, and have at least recovered from last week's pounding in a Stone league of death The roster has some work to do, having been neglected in the Bolts' hunt for missions, but will get some needed attention and TLC for a few days.

Designated Hitter Zeke Bonura takes the plaudits, with a 40 HR, 127 RBI year, while lead-off man Tim Raines managed 'only' the 71 stolen bases this season after 90 last time. The bullpen had a mid-season facelift with the additions of Jeff Russell, Pedro Bourbon Jr., and Barney Schultz, and went from below average to No.1 ERA in conference by the end of September. The team's lack of collection missions, and the subsequent decision by management to not acquire SE's from the auction house either, have made progress slower, but it's a long, winding and beautiful road ahead of the Underdogs. At least, hopefully.

[BigRed75]

The Pirates did it - we took down a whale in the Wild Card round, not just beating the Winnipesaukee Lakers but shutting them out. Eddie Plank pitched a gem, and Joe Nathan, who was struggling all season, nailed it down in the 9th.

We knew we weren't going to get many runs against SE Randy Johnson given how good he's been for us this season. We only got one, but we only needed one. Knocking the Unit out of the game in the 7th, we touched up Sergio Romo for two insurance runs in the 8th.

Next up will be a five-game series against the Las Vegas Stackocakes. We'll have our own 20-game winning Randy Johnson rested and ready to go in Game 2. For Game 1? Just SE Bert Blyleven, whose numbers are just as good as Johnson's if you extrapolate them out to a whole season. This is why we focused on upgrading the pitching staff this season, and why we got better as the season went on.

[Westheim]

Eight solid innings by Jeff Tesreau and two Mel Ott homers push the Metsies through to the LDS, 7-2 against the Clown Town Bozos.

[RunninYakAngler]

The YakAnglers (94-68) win their wildcard game 3-0 against the Hayseville Mercury (95-67). 95 Spud Chandler pitched a gem, beating Perfect Dizzy who was great except one critical inning.

I had 5k this morning so I spent 2k on a RH DH and used the rest on 3 packs. The first 2 1/2 packs had me kicking myself until I pulled the aforementioned Spud Chandler. He's the first Diamond I've pulled through all 3 of my teams since the Marathoners got 98 Matt Kilroy. Of course the no-luck Battle Corgis bought 8 packs and got one live gold reliever, with the next best a 69 reliever. They're so overdue it's not funny.

[RunninYakAngler]

In a battle of nearly identical teams,both fueled by Live Missions, the Long Beach Waves take a 2 game to none lead against the Marathoners. Maddux pitches a near shutout for the Waves, mine gets crushed early and often. Carlton pitches another gem, and my 98 Whitney gets chased. Now we go to their house.

[RunninYakAngler]

Marathoners get swept by a combined score of 18-3. 119 wins and done.

[NDSox12]

Made the playoffs in a Stone league. Won the Wild Card game only to meet up with a juggernaut squad that entered the playoffs on a 33 (!!!) game win streak. Unsurprisingly, I got swept. But amusingly, all three games went extra innings.

[Marleigh]

A day off for me, all of my teams manage to finish below promotion places and above relegation. Happy with that as a couple were in well above their heads.

Made a few roster changes, opened some (80) packs and got absolutely nada (a live diamond and a few live golds). A typical day

[RunninYakAngler]

The Mizzou YakAnglers take out the 113 win Casterly Rock Imps, 3 game to 1. Three of the four games were decided by one run, with the other game being a 2-0 win by the Marathoners and Spud Chandler. I know how Casterly Rock feels.

[Caedus]

Interesting match up. Two best teams going up in the AC Finals, though I swept the Brazil 7-0 in the season series. That was the difference in our records, otherwise our stats are virtually identical and our teams are very similar, with some subtle differences.

We'll see if my 7-0 luck holds up.

[Warhawk]

Sun Kings win their wild card game and proceed to sweep the top seed in the divisional round. Late collection reward additions helped with that.

Black Knights also sweep their opponent in the divisional round.

@Marleigh, you guys kicked my butt in the wild card in PT20. Your Bob Lemon allowed 1 hit in 8 innings.

Meanwhile also in PT20 the Golden Lions are tied 2-2 in the divisional.

[Marleigh]

Originally Posted by Warhawk

@Marleigh, you guys kicked my butt in the wild card in PT20. Your Bob Lemon allowed 1 hit in 8 innings.

nice he does have some great games in him, he threw my 1st and only Perfect Game in 20 i got pummelled by the Pirates though, which was predictable

[Morug]

Expos advance to the next round, now lead 2-0 in the conference series.

Tiger lost in the division round, 3-1, 2 last game in overtime...lost last game 6-5 in 16th innings. Big deception here for this team.