Trojan Times: Confessions of a Tournament Grinder

[neugey]

6/15 - 6/21, Week 13 2032 Season, Gold League G311
This week I tried for more of a power-oriented lineup with high HR park factors. Jimmie Foxx did hit 38 HR's and was among the league leaders, but none of the other hitters did much this year and the wins didn't come. This next week I am changing gears and focusing much more on pitching and defense and adjusted the park factors accordingly. To help with this, I acquired 96 CL Bottalico as a setup man, 95 CF Mantle to allow Ichiro to move to RF and 93 3B Wallach who has a nice combination of power and defense and only set me back 10k PP.

On the tournament/pack front it was a good week. The mission demand on my gold pulls RF Dixie Walker and SP Glavine was high and I was able to sell them for 20k+ each. Those team of the decade missions are no joke!


Tournament earnings:
200 PP x 0
regular packs x 36
Gold packs x 0

Silver+ pulls:
80 1B Goldschmidt
82 RF Dixie Walker
77 CL Danny Darwin
83 2B Moustakas
77 3B Asdrubal Cabrera
78 RP Chris Martin
72 3B Eduardo Escobar
74 CF Drew Stubbs
71 CL Trevor Gott
78 RP Diego Castillo
78 RP Seranthony Dominguez
90 3B Kris Bryant
80 1B Rhys Hoskins
80 SP Tom Glavine
70 SP JA Happ
78 3B Tommy Glaviano
76 RP Sean Doolittle


League Results:
Team record: 75-87
Playoffs: no
promotion/relegation: staying in Gold
Achievement PP - 7190PP

Top 3 achievements:
Hi Def Inning - Lefty Grove 4 strikeouts - 2500PP
In The Wheelhouse - Jimmie Fox, 5 for 5 - 250PP
Bat A Bonds - Yastrzemski - 5 PA, 0 AB, 4 walks - 250PP

Awards: none
All-Star selections: CL Dibble

Featured Card of the Week:
84 One Hit Wonder 1987 3B Randy Ready, Padres
Randy was a utility/depth guy in his MLB career who had a pretty decent bat. His breakout year was indeed 1987 where he hit .309 for the Padres in 350 at bats, both career highs. In OOTP, his card sports some good offense for an 84 gold - especially his gap or eye ratings. His defense is nothing outstanding, but can play 2B, 3B and LF. Not a bad budget player to take a flier on if you have a starter who is really struggling.

[neugey]

6/22 - 6/28, Week 14 2033 Season, Gold League G317
The team had a nice bounce-back week and won the division and made the playoffs. Nearly got to the World Series, but lost in a conference game 7 that went 13 innings. A solid PP week but strapping up for what is sure to be a tough next week in Diamond.


Tournament earnings:
200 PP x 0
regular packs x 29
Gold packs x 0

Silver+ pulls:
84 SP Kevin Gausman
75 RF Alex Verdugo
89 SP Mike Soroka
90 LF Jesse Burkett
76 CF Jackie Bradley Jr
76 SP Jose Quintana
83 CF Brady Anderson
72 RP Tyler Duffey
79 RF Max Kepler
73 SS Miguel Rojas
71 RF Mike Tauchman
86 1B Pete Alonso
72 CF AJ Pollock
82 3B Bernie Friberg
79 RF Jorge Soler
85 3B Eugenio Suarez
70 RP Daniel Zamora

League Results:
Team record: 89-73
Playoffs: yes, won division, lost in conference series
promotion/relegation: promoted to Diamond
Achievement PP - 9890PP

Top 3 achievements:
Rout - 23 runs scored in win - 400PP
Throw a Maddux - Maddux - 400PP
Score at Will - Foxx - 400PP, 4 for 5, 5 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI

Awards:
All-Star selections: LF Yastrzemski, SP Gibson

Featured Card of the Week:
(busy week, taking a week off from this)

[neugey]

(Bump - added Tournament Bounty Board to the original thread)

[neugey]

6/29 - 7/5, Week 15 2034 Season, Diamond League D360

It was a successful week as the Trojans managed to narrowly win the division with a .515 percentage, but lost in the division series 3-2. But the big news this week is the introduction of the new Tournament Bounty Board, which I strive to work on for many weeks to come. In addition, this was a great week for pulls - netted 98 Negro League SS Pop Lloyd and then the next day followed it up with 96 CL K-Rod! Even though Lloyd is overpriced due to the Negro set, I'm electing to go with him rather than sell, at least for now.

Tournament earnings:
PP x 950
regular packs x 32
Gold packs x 0

Silver+ pulls:
76 RP Blake Treinen
75 2B Jean Segura
79 SP Robbie Ray
79 RF Jorge Soler
98 SS Pop Lloyd (Negro)
74 SP Masahiro Tanaka
78 SP Ian Snell
96 CL Francisco Rodriguez (K-Rod!)
81 CF Byron Buxton
88 SP Mike Krukow
86 CF Harrison Bader
74 CF Lorenzo Cain
74 SP Zach Davies

Bounty Board - Tournaments Won This Week:
Quick Iron BO7 32 teams (4pack) - DONE 07/02
Quick Silver Non-Live Bo5 16 teams (2pack) - DONE 07/04
Quick Gold DOD 8 teams (200PP) - DONE 07/05
Quick Gold Live DblEF3 16 teams (2pack) - DONE 07/05
Quick Diamond 1625 Cap Bo5 16 teams (2pack) - DONE 07/05
Quick Bronze 16 teams BO3 16 teams (750PP) - DONE 07/05

League Results:
Team record: 84-78
Playoffs: yes, won division, lost in division series 3-2
promotion/relegation: staying in Diamond
Achievement PP - 7735PP

Top 3 achievements:
Throw a Maddux, Matt Harvey 400PP
Running Hard 4 SB's 200PP
XBH Machine Cano, 4 for 4 200PP

Awards:
All-Star selections: none
Great Glove: C Sanguillen, CF Mantle

Featured Card of the Week:
98 Negro League SS Pop Lloyd
Was so elated to pull this card this week. He is going to be a big asset for tournaments because he also has good 1B, 2B, 3B and RF position skills and is stellar at the infield spots. I won't get into trying to absorb and relay Lloyd's great Hall of Fame career or this could get really long. But suffice it to say he was one of the greatest shortstops ever, and probably one that is still underrated both in real life and PT. In PT his ratings are a bit like the SS version of Ichiro, so quite valuable.

[neugey]

7/6 - 7/12, Week 16 2035 Season, Diamond League D356
This week we landed in a much tougher division and no one was able to catch fire and help keep the team afloar. This was the first week with the Tournament Bounty Board theme and our focus is shifting to getting more good tournament pieces that are not overpriced, as opposed to trying to get more cards to try to reach Perfect this year. We are probably 5-8 150+K cards away from having a chance at Perfect, it isn't going to happen with this year's setup barring major, major RNG. It's more about having fun at this point and hacking away at the tournaments.

Tournament earnings:
PP x 1650
regular packs x 12
Gold packs x 0

Silver+ pulls:
96 SP Stephen Strasburg
80 RP Matt Barnes
82 SP Duane Pillette
81 CL Kenley Jansen
70 C Jason Castro


Bounty Board - Tournaments Won This Week:
Quick Silver DOD 8 teams (200PP) - DONE 07/06
Quick Bronze 16 teams BO5 16 teams (2pack) - DONE 07/06
Quick Open DOD 8 teams (200PP) - DONE 07/08
Quick Open Live DOD 8 teams (200PP) - DONE 07/08
Quick Open Live BO5 16 teams (2pack) - DONE 07/12


League Results:
Team record: 60-102
Playoffs: No
promotion/relegation: Relegated to gold
Achievement PP - about 4000PP

Top 3 achievements:
Home Run Champion (Foxx - 42 HR's) - 400PP
Walk Off Slam - Mike Trout - 400PP
Triple Dinger - Foxx - 400PP

Awards:
All-Star selections: none
Great Glove: none

Featured Card of the Week:
skipping this week

[neugey]

7/13 - 7/19, Week 17 2036 Season, Gold League G307
This week we managed to take the division as the rest of the teams in the division seemed to struggle down the stretch. The huge contribution this week came from Jimmie Foxx, who hit a whopping 49 HR's and 121 RBI's. If I'm looking at the Universe records correctly, Foxx's 49 HR's is an all-time best in the OOTP universe at Gold level! What a card! Will need to bask in that accomplishment as I expect things to get much tougher in Diamond this next week. It was an okay week for tournaments, just a grind to get over the hump with some of them.


Tournament earnings:
PP x 1900
regular packs x 9
Gold packs x 0

Silver+ pulls:
72 C Alex Avila
75 SP Dakota Hudson
82 RF Jayson Werth
79 RF Max Kepler


Bounty Board - Tournaments Won This Week:
Quick Silver BO3 16 teams (750PP) - DONE 07/13
Quick Gold BO3 16 teams (750PP) - DONE 07/14
Quick Gold Non-Live Cap 1625 DOD 8 teams (200PP) - DONE 07/16
Quick Diamond DOD 8 teams No DH (200PP) - DONE 07/16
Quick Bronze 32 teams BO7 32 teams (4pack) - DONE 07/18


League Results:
Team record: 87-75
Playoffs: yes, lost in ALCS
promotion/relegation: promoted to Diamond
Achievement PP - 10395PP

Top 3 achievements:
HR Champion - Jimmie Foxx - 400PP
Most Pitching Wins - Maddux - 400PP
In The Wheelhouse - Bagwell - 150PP

Awards:
All-Star selections: SP Gomez
Great Glove: none
Great Bat: Foxx, Bagwell
Pitcher of the Year: Gomez

Featured Card of the Week:
79 Snapshot CL Billy Wagner, Phillies (2004)
This card IMO is a true budget beast in the bullpen. I won't hesitate to bring him up
from the reserves if other lefty diamond relievers are struggling. 89 stuff and 87 control for a silver card, especially a lefty, is pretty great.

[neugey]

7/20 - 7/26, Week 18 2037 Season, Diamond League D356
This was a strange week, as the team overachieved in close games and had a high
pythagorean number and led the division until around the All-Star break. But thngs
normalized a bit toward the end but the team still managed to stay above .500 in Diamond. Will lightning strike twice next week?


Tournament earnings:
PP x 1900
regular packs x 9
Gold packs x 0

Silver+ pulls:
72 C Roberto Perez
72 3B Eduardo Escobar
82 SP Brandon Woodruff
78 CL Archie Bradley
77 SS Buck Weaver


Bounty Board - Tournaments Won This Week:
Quick Diamond Live 1875 Cap DOD 8 teams (200PP) - DONE 07/20
Quick Gold Non-Live BO5 16 teams (2pack) - DONE 07/20
Quick Silver Live 16 teams RRF3 16 teams (1pack) - DONE 07/22
Quick Open Historical DOD 8 teams No DH (200PP) - DONE 07/23
Quick Gold Historical RRF3 16 teams No DH (1pack) - DONE 07/25
Quick Open Live BO5 16 teams (2pack) - DONE 07/26

League Results:
Team record: 83-79
Playoffs: no
promotion/relegation: staying in Diamond
Achievement PP - 5200PP

Top 3 achievements:
In the Wheelhouse, Suzuki

Awards:
All-Star selections: Foxx, Maddux, Gomez
Great Glove: none
Great Bat: none

Featured Card of the Week:
Skipping

[neugey]

Was on vacation this last week and without reliable wifi that would allow me to play OOTP on my laptop. Which got me to thinking - the game has become a grind (I've been going pretty strong at OOTP since the beginning of OOTP20) and I need a sabbatical. Might resume this in a month or two.

[neugey]

After some time away, I'm going to start dialing back up and try to knock out some tournaments on my list this week. After some time away, I do missing shopping for cards and trying them out for tournaments, that will be my focus for the rest of the year.

[neugey]

Since around October-November, I had barely been doing anything with PT, but I am really getting excited for PT22. To whet my appetite, I am going to try to knock out a few more tournaments from the bounty board and open some more packs before next Friday.

Stay tuned for my PT22 - I have some interesting ideas for my PT22 theme team that I am kicking around in my head, and will have to settle on pretty soon!