The Continental League comes to the MLB in 1961

[uruguru]

Still trying to fill holes at either 3B/SS, RF and SP. Lots of experimentation with Shop a Player. There are no quality SS to be found so I'm backtracking a bit and giving Brooks some experience at SS in the spring. Just in case.

Mar 13
We lose to the Mets, 4-1

Mar 14
We beat Buffalo, 5-0
The Tigers are willing to trade SP Frank Lary 6/6, and will accept 17yo SP Wilfredo Merced 1/7. I ask them to foot Lary's salary

Mar 15
We beat Texas in 10, 7-5
"NO WAY!" they say. They want us to throw in a better SP than Lary to make the deal. haha. I ask if they'll pay for 50%

Mar 16
No game today.
Tigers GM Rick Ferrell says "ALMOST!", so I throw in 19yo SP Jeff James 1/5 to seal the deal. Lary will be our #4 starter. Having tons of prospects rock. I didn't try to cheat, honest. I just sort of stumbled into it.

May 17
We beat Colorado, 7-0

May 18
We beat Atlanta, 6-0

May 19
We beat Toronto, 2-1
After a few days of negotiation, I move 3 more prospects: LF Lee May 3/10, SP Darold Knowles 3/8, and throw-in 2B Harry Land 1/5 for 31 yo SP Frank Sullivan 5/5. I think that 5/5 is a low rating because he had a 5.31 ERA over190 innings last year. Boston will also pay 20% of his salary. Sullivan now becomes our #4 starter, bumping Lary down to #5. I'm done with fixing the rotation.

hey wait.. I should look and see who is on the Trading Block

HOLY CRAP. Hank Aaron! haha no way. Let's try

[uruguru]

The Hammerin' Hank negotiations begin

May 20
We lose to Minnesota, 5-3

I have no idea what they want. I offer 22yo OF Tony Oliva 6/8 and 18yo OF Tommie Agee 3/10 for one of the greatest hitters of all time, in his prime. My Assistant GM thinks we should not do this? I told him and the other scouts, "Riiiiight.... Tell me, what do I pay you people for, honestly?" Then there was this awkward pause when no one laughed and I realized there's no way they would know who Dr. Evil is, so I just looked kind of like a jerk there.

May 21
We beat the Mets, 6-4

Milwaukee GM John McHale says "NO WAY!". Well "no way" unless I am willing to throw in 19yo SP Dennis Ribant 7/10 or 21yo SP Dave Giusti 6/10. I have a better idea. How about I throw in 19yo SP John Miller 4/6 and 18yo 3B Ken McMullen 2/10? You want to trade Hank Aaron. I have all the prospects. Let's make a deal.

May 22
We beat Buffalo, 6-2

I should not have kept calling Aaron "the greatest hitter of all time" in front of McHale, because he's not budging. He still wants Guisti or Ribant. ok, fine, let's pull McMullen and Miller back out and throw in Giusti.

May 23
We beat Texas, 6-2

McHale is cackling gleefully when he says "ALMOST!". For some reason, he wants to extract one more quarter-ounce of flesh in the form of 18yo OF Alberto Valdez 1/5. I do my best to fake a protesting reaction over the phone and then grudgingly agree as if I had just signed my mother over to be his maid for the next 5 years. After the deal is completed, I hang up the phone and then proceed to sprain my right wrist after repeatedly high-fiving everyone in sight. At first they have no idea what a high five is because it's 1961, but I explain that all the cool kids will be doing it someday before it gets passe. Then after my right wrist is sprained and blue, I then switch over to my left hand and continue high-fiving everyone until my left wrist is also sprained and blue. I think they just sort of humored me there because after all I did just trade for Hank Aaron.

However, this might put a crimp in my ability to do future deals over the GM phone. The fans in Houston, however, are ecstatic. Aaron is extremely popular and Fan Interest is up to 91.


edit: Silly time is over. I'm going to invoke the Hank Aaron rule and end the sim, and compose a post-mortem on what went wrong.

[uruguru]

ok, my kids are in bed so I have some time for a post-mortem

This sim was sort of a failure which is why I invoked what I have come to call the "Hank Aaron Rule". This is a rule that suggests it's time to quit, i.e. you've won, when you've acquired a player of the caliber of Hank Aaron in a way that is just too unrealistic. It means that the sim has transitioned from immersive to farcical. And it doesn't have to be Aaron.. it could be Mays, Koufax or some other 5-star superstar at their peak. In addition, their acquisition has to be too easy. If Willie Mays were a free agent and I outbid every other team to get him, that wouldn't qualify.

In this instance, I literally did get Hammerin' Hank for a handful of prospects that I acquired pretty easily earlier in the sim. And I haven't even played a regular season game yet!

So what went wrong?

Several things (three, in my estimation) in differing degrees.

#1 - The AI doesn't offer minor-league contracts with signing bonuses. What this means is if you have the foresight to offer signing bonuses to minor-league prospects, your offers are going to be effectively unchallenged. I created a systematic method for offering minor-league bonuses for all reasonable prospects specifically to avoid a lot of unnecessary back-and-forth negotiation. I fully expected to get outbid on some prospects and was willing to accept those losses. But what happened was that I won all of the prospects... and I mean all of them. None of the other 23 MLB teams signed a prospect with at least 2.5 stars potential until my rosters filled up. That gave me a tremendous arsenal of trade bait.

One could avoid this exploit by never offering bonuses with milb contracts, but that's basically an admission that a feature is so bugged that it shouldn't be used. Plus, avoiding this feature exposes the player to the annoying infinite loop of negotiations that sound like this, "You offered me a minor-league contract. What I want is a minor-league contract". Nobody wants that, either.

#2 - I, as the player, was able to blanket the entire market of prospects with offers in one day. When the off-season started, I methodically listed all of the available free agents and came up with a plan that resulted in me sending out just over 150 contract offers on the first day. The goal of this was to keep the AI from sniping good prospects by simply offering a free milb contract that gets automatically accepted by the prospect (this happens a lot). If they wanted a prospect, they were going to have to compete with me.

But this problem has to do with the silliness of being able to send out 150 contract offers in a single game day. We don't allow more than 5 "Shop a Player" in one day, so it seems like contract offers should be gated as well -- at least any of those that have financial terms. If you want to send out a bunch of blanket milb contracts, that's one thing. But if you want to negotiate a signing bonus or a major-league contract, those should be gated. If, for example, the game restricted you to making no more than 1 (or 2) of those offers per day, then players would have to carefully consider the priority in which they make offers.

#3 - The Milwaukee Braves had prime Hank Aaron on the trading block. This made no sense. Extremely popular players make a lot of money for teams via ticket sales, and teams are businesses. But when those same players are also great at playing baseball, it seems like insanity that a team would actively attempt to trade them away. Of course, it's possible that these players could still be lured away with a sufficiently large bribe, but their popularity should make this much more difficult.

Envision a system where "Extremely Popular" players are effectively worth two more stars in a trade, "Very Popular" players are worth one more star, and "Popular" players are worth an additional half-star. This would suggest that Aaron (4.5 stars) would be treated as a 6.5 star player if anyone wanted to trade for him -- much more expensive than what I paid for. And any player who has a popularity-adjusted rating over 5 stars would never be on the Trading Block.

Anyway, those are the 3 things that sort of broke this sim in my view.

[Brad K]

You have a very well thought out concept that ran into problems because the game lacks features it should have. Guess its time for house rules.

[Pelican]

Playing using uruguru's sim, with a few modifications, I ran into some of the same problems.

[1] Check. I found that I could offer a $1000 signing bonus, and get my (minor league) guy every time, where the AI would not offer any signing bonus. The only (rare) exception was the minor league guy who got greedy and demanded more than the minimum salary. I ignored those guys. So did the AI. This was not a huge advantage for me, because I took my time with offers, and the AI poached some better players ahead of me.

[2] Not a house rule, but my methodical approach to minor league signings allowed the AI to get out ahead of me. As a result, my signings look a lot like those of the other seven expansion teams in the Continental League. I like the idea of limiting the offers per day. Which is odd, because I never liked the limit on shopping - particularly because it applies across various teams I might be trying to help. Why not an option to limit shopping - and contact offers - to five, ten, twenty a day?

[3] Lots of player movement in my version of the sim. Early on, I reduced AI trading frequency to "Very Low". But in the meantime, Hank Aaron (to SF for Bill Hands and Gene Alley!!) and Al Kaline (for both Alou brothers, Lee Thomas, Randy Hundley) were traded in suspicious deals.

[4] I think the AI was ill-equipped to deal with the sudden free agency of marquee players on November 11th. The bidding was exceeding some clubs' budgets, and I imposed a salary cap of $2.5 million. Ernie Banks signed with the Yanks for 7 years and $1.928 million. Willie Mays signed with the Pirates for 7 years and $2.074 M. The Yanks lost Elston Howard to the Giants for 2 years and $272,000; but signed CL Bill Henry for two years and $268,000. (Huh? I hope saving $4,000 was worth it.) Don Drysdale to the Red Sox for 6 years and $1.17M. Ken Boyer to the Yanks for 7 years and $1.848M. Frank Robinson to LA for 8 years and $2.24M. And Woodie Held (Woodie Held??!!) to the Pale Hose for 8 long years and $2.032M. In the midst of all this madness, I was able to sign Lindy McDaniel, arguably the game's best closer, to a five-year, $500,000 contract.

[5] Some of the deals for young guys were even wilder. Al Downing at age 19 to the Oakland Oaks (CL) for 3 years and $306,000. Another 19-year-old SP, Natividad Martinez, to the Pirates for 6 years and $960,000! The guy has 79/68/29 ratings and 63 stamina; but IRL he was playing in an independent league in a few years. The Phils signed Joe Moeller (18!) for 7 years and $1,63M. Based on a glowing scouting report and 83/69/50/98 ratings. There are many other examples. It is as if the established teams reacted to competition from 8 new franchises by going on a spending spree to lock up prospects.

[6] The real issue is, what is the effect of all this wheeling and dealing, in terms of parity and the new teams? A useful measuring stick for the established teams is found at the "Offseason Center" tab under MLB, and "Offseason Summary by Team". This lists the changes, by WAR lost or gained, for each of the now-24 teams. Not surprisingly, the Continental League teams (starting at 0), lead the list:

Texas Rangers = 13.2
Houston Colts = 11.7
Montreal Mounties [me!] = 11.5
Atlanta Peaches = 9.9
Oakland Oaks = 8.8
New York Metropolitans = 6.1
*New York Yankees = 5.8
Minnesota Twins = 5.6
San Diego Friars = 3.3
*Los Angeles Dodgers = 2.0
*Baltimore Orioles = 1.0

Everybody else lost total team WAR, and some of the losses were - or will be - catastrophic:

Boston Red Sox = -0.8
Cincinnati Reds = -2.2
Philadelphia Phillies = -3.8
SF Giants = -5.4
KC Athletics = -5.6
Cleveland Native Americans = -6.6
Pittsburgh Corsairs = -7.4
Milwaukee Braves = -10.1
Chicago Pale Hose = -11.1
Motor City Kitties = -12.0
Chicago Cubs = -12.5
Washington Senators = -13.1
St. Louis Cards = -18.2

[7] The total lost/gained fails to reflect all of the "churning" that was going on. Here are the totals for players (WAR) gained versus lost, for the established teams:

Orioles = 17(14.0)/34(-13.1)
Red Sox = 11 (15.5)/28(-16.3)
Pale Hose = 12(8.4)/16(-19.5)
Cubby Bears = 15(0.3)/26(-12.7)
Redlegs = 8(7.1)/22(-9.3)
Native Americans = 12(13.0)/20(-19.5)
Motor City Kitties = 16(7.1)/23(-19.2)
A's = 13(6.4)/20(-12.0)
Dodgers = 12(18.5)/22(-16.5)
Braves = 11(3.4)/27(-13.6)
Yanks = 17(22.8)/28(-17.0)
Phils = 8(0.2)/25(-4.0)
Buccaneers = 9(14.5)/24(-22.0)
Giants = 15(20.9)/29(-26.2)
Cards = 6(2.4)/21(-20.6)
Senators = 2(1.6)/16(-14.7)

Take the Giants as one absurd example. They acquired Aaron, Al Kaline, and Don Cardwell by trade, and signed Howard and Luis Aparicio as FA. They lost Mays, Camilo Pascual, Mike McCormick, Billy O'Dell, and Ed Bressoud as free agents. Three very good SP! Lost the best player in the game for #2!

The Bucs signed Mays and Wally Moon and acquired Norm Siebern by trade; but lost Clemente, Virdon, Skinner, Max, and Wally Post. Whew!

[8] Finally the AI "Preseason Prediction" has the Yanks winning the AL by 9 games over the Orioles, 12 games over the Native Americans, and 14 past Boston. Those Giants are favored in the NL, but only by a game over the Dodgers and 2 over Pittsburgh. Those Mounties are tops in the CL, but only by a game over Texas, and 5 games past Oakland.

After all the many changes, there is still something like parity. Digging a bit deeper, looking at financials, the teams with bigger budgets, better revenue, or simply willing to spend made out. Some poor cousin teams did not benefit.

[Pelican]

Toward the end of Spring Training now, and all of the teams are in the process of paring down the rosters to the 28 players allowed through May 31, when it reduces to 25. This seems to present another chance for the weaker CL teams to pick up guys waived by the AL and NL teams. Also, a number of the many Rule V picks have now been released and returned to their original teams. The teams picking these guys simply couldn’t find a roster spot for the Rule V guys all year long. I had to drop one guy, good field in the IF but not hitting. I had a better experienced utility IF, and no room. Figured I’d release him now, to give him some shot at catching on elsewhere.

Mounties are only 11-14, playing CL teams except for games I scheduled against the Phillies and Orioles. The Orioles have the best Spring record, and we beat them.

Looking over my minor league system, I was shocked to see that my AAA team in Ottawa had zero pitchers. Not sure how I let that happen. They will get three or four guys from the Spring Active Roster, but obviously need more. So I went on a deep dive into the free agents who don’t have major league contracts (and thus don’t have to be on the 40-man roster). I used the filter to choose age 21-25, as likely AAA candidates. Then I toggled back and forth between overall pitching ratings and potential, individual pitches, and ranking by stuff, movement, or control. amazing that there were enough guys for a AAA team, rotation and bullpen.

I also realized that I had accumulated a surplus of RF and 1B, so i began shopping guys who won’t make the team. Managed to acquire Bobby Shantz from the Yanks, who apparently needed a 1B. Shantz has solid ratings as a RP and can be my specialist against lefty hitters. Great control, Gold Glove fielder, and a decent hitter.

My team is not hitting, and I hope it’s just that I am still spreading the playing time around, letting the young guys get some experience, resting the veterans. I’ve got rookie Don Mincher platooning with Frank Thomas at 1B, Jim Gilliam at 3B, Ruben Amaro at SS, Jose Pagan at 2B. Starting OF is (rookie) Tony Oliva, Curt Flood, and Tony Curry. Probably not enough power bats.

Rotation should be solid with Koufax (the early wild version), Frank Larry, Don Newcombe, and Johnny Podres. Bullpen is loaded, with Shantz, Lindy McDaniel, Hank Aguirre.

I have scheduled three final Spring exhibition games in KC with the A’s. I matched up the other CL clubs with AL or NL teams in their region, for the most part. The Oakland Oaks are playing the Giants. The Metroolitans are matched with the Yanks in NYC. You get the idea. This should give some idea how close the new teams are to the established clubs. My guess is, not all that close. Like typical expansion teams.

[uruguru]

Awesome! I have rebooted my save into what I call a "Draft Only" variant. In this type of save, I restrict myself to acquiring players only through drafts (First-Year and Rule V). This seems to be the only one of the three ways of acquiring players (Draft, Trade and Free Agency) that is not very exploitable.

I scheduled a 90-round free agent draft for the first day of the save and picked free agents until all that remained were half-star players, then I left my scout in charge and auto-completed the draft.

Unfortunately when you to build a 25-man roster from scratch with nothing but draft picks, everything really thins out after about 4 picks. This means that all 8 of the Continental League teams would have to fill out their active rosters via Rule V picks, meaning they would all be mediocre teams. However, they are all playing against each other in their own league, so it works out!

In the "Draft Only" system, I turn off the Waiver system because the AI makes too many unforced errors this way. To compensate for the inability to improve via waiver claims, I schedule a Rule V draft for the first day of every month on the off-season (Nov 1 to Apr 1). Although six drafts sounds like a lot, you're really not improving that much after the first draft, but it is too much fun to comb through the picks and try to find a gem, so I enjoy this setup.

In this setup, I do not trade with teams at all, although other teams are still free to trade around. This means all of my roster building has to occur in the preseason and as a result my active roster is fairly static the entire season. While I personally find this playstyle enjoyable, it's not really conducive to an interesting blog since there are so few GM decisions beyond drafting in the offseason.

By the time April 1st rolled around, 22 of the 25 players on my active roster are Rule V picks and the other Continental League teams are about the same. So we are all going to have fun competing for the Continental League pennant only to get smashed every year in the round-robin World Series until the talent levels eventually stabilize.

[Pelican]

Wow that is going to be a challenge; but the CL teams should be competitive with each other. I think I backed into a fairly balanced result in my version. The shifting of superstars through free agency was a bit alarming. But it may well be a fair representation of how teams of that era would react to the sudden free agency.

Rather than hijack your thread with my results, I should probably start a new thread with my approach using your creation. I’m at the end of Spring Training, with a weekend of CL teams playing NL and AL teams before the season starts. I am curious how this version will play out. Right now, waiting to see who becomes available as teams cut down their rosters and have to DFA some players.

[uruguru]

I'm glad that you are enjoying the save! It's too cool of a scenario for me to stop playing so quickly, I just needed to house-rule it into something that I enjoy playing. One thing that really breaks immersion for me is success that comes too easily. It's fun in the moment that it's happening but dynasties are extremely difficult to build in the real world for a reason.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by uruguru

One thing that really breaks immersion for me is success that comes too easily.

Bingo.

[Pelican]

[uruguru]

Very nice. My preseason prediction in the "Draft Only" sim is attached. I feel like I drafted well and might have something close to a AAA all-star team playing in an AAA league. But in a major league, this team would probably place last or close to it, lol.

Keeping in mind that I schedule monthly Rule V drafts, here is how I acquired my 25-man active roster:\

10/21/1960 - Free Agent Draft
The 8 expansion teams had the first 8 picks, I was #7 of those 8. I focused on starting pitchers because I know from experience they are always protected closely in drafts;

Round 1: SP David Busby (my #1 SP)
Round 2: SP Natividad Martinez (my #2 SP)
Round 3: SP Sammy Ellis (my #3 SP)
Round 15: IF Walt Hriniak (decent backup IF who is also emergency #3 C)

11/1/60 - Rule V draft
Once again, expansion teams got priority, and I was still stuck with #7 of 8. BOOOOOOO. Of my 19 selections, 10 were eventually returned. Here's the 9 I kept:

Round 1: C John Orsino (MLB, no-brainer as there was a huge drop-off in C after him)
Round 2: SP Pat Gillick (SP #4)
Round 3: RP Jack Kerrigan (reasonably high-rated RP who can start.. he's my #5 SP)
Round 4: IF Donald Domenichelli (a good defensive IF who can pitch poorly. He's my backup IF and mop-up reliever)
Round 7: OF Karl Kuehl (starting RF)
Round 9: CL Paul Erickson (my stopper)
Round 10: RP Dwight Siebler (extremely popular in Houston, middle-reliever who sells tickets)
Round 17: IF Chuck Hiller (actual ml'er, can't field that well. My backup 1B and 2B)
Round 19: CF Pete Whisenant (my starting CF)

12/1/60 - Rule V draft
Still some picks to be made here as off-season player movement is still shaking out. Draft order is now randomized. I had the 5th overall pick but, most importantly, the 1st for the expansion teams. Feels good.

Round 1: 3B Ed Olivares (my starting 3B)
Round 2: C Jerry McNertney (my backup C)
Round 3: OF Tom Umphlett (backup LF/RF)
Round 5: RP John Stokoe (my swingman, the #6 starter from the bullpen)

1/1/61 - Rule V draft
Getting harder to find picks since the active roster has fewer holes than can be filled. At this point I am aggressively scouting players before the draft in hopes of improving my chances of finding that gem. Unfortunately, the RNG gives me the #24 pick of each round...dead last among all teams, even though it's only the 8 expansion teams that are picking now.

Round 1: CF Bobby Balcena (he's 35, but I need a backup CF. He's the best available)
Round 2: 2B Julio Gotay (good pick! he's my starting 2B now, which allows IF Domanichelli to be available as a RP)

2/1/61 - Rule V draft
I had the 8th overall pick but was still 4th among the expansion teams. Still had some luck

Round 1: IF Phil Linz (reserver IF who is still decent)
Round 2: RP Pedro Perez (incrementally improving the bullpen)
Round 3: 1B Purnal Goldy (hits decent and can also play LF. Became my starting LF'er in late Spring)

3/1/61 - Rule V draft
Got lucky this time with 3rd overall pick, 1st among the expansion teams

Round 1: SS Tommie Aaron (the best SS available, now starts for me)
Round 2: RP Daniel Wooden (DFA'd by Boston on draft day, and he's now in my bullpen)

4/1/61 - Rule V draft
Mostly through Spring Training, really not much to choose from. I had the 23rd overall pick. gah.

Round 1: 3B Raymundo Garza (fragile and terrible defensively, but a decent hitter. I wanted his bat but not his glove, so I pulled a Jeff Bagwell and moved him to 1B. Honestly shocked at how fast he learned the position. He's now a great defensive 1B lol, but he's already missed 4 games to injury)

I'm not trading in this sim, but some of the other expansion teams have made minor trades with MLB teams. "Minor" because they don't really have much talent that MLB teams want. We are essentially an AAA league, after all, and whoever wins the pennant is quite possibly going to get embarrassed in October when they face off against the AL/NL pennant winners. It's going to take a few seasons to earn the respect of the other two leagues.

The regular season in April:

We lost our home opener to the Mets and SP Al Downing, who was the 4th overall pick in the draft and maybe the best SP in the league. But we rebounded to go 2-1 before heading to Minnesota.

The Twins beat us in their home opener in dramatic fashion. They built up an early lead and we kept getting close, but they would score more. We then scored 2 in the 8th and 2 more in the 9th to take a 1-run lead. With 2 outs and a runner on, Don Taussig was their last chance. I literally looked over to my wife, explained the scenario and said, "if he's out, we win. if he hits a homer, we lose". I then hit the spacebar for one-pitch mode and yes, he hit a home run to win it /facepalm

But after that, we went on a dominating 7-game winning streak (scores 5-3, 8-5, 7-1, 7-1, 7-1, 7-0, 8-1) to go 9-2 and move ahead of Buffalo for 1st place. I felt pretty good!

Then we lost 2 to Minnesota before salvaging a win to end the month and finish 10-4, a half-game behind Buffalo.

C John Orsino and 3B Ed Olivares are tied for the league lead with 6 homers apiece, although one of Olivares' was the inside-the-park variety. This lineup is the kind of lineup that I thinkwould finish last in offense in the MLB, but we are tied for 1st in the CL in runs scored. haha.

I am imagining the reaction if some Rule V draft pick somehow hits 61 homers against this league's pitching. He's better than Ruth!

[Pelican]

I always take those Preseason Predictions with a huge grain of salt. In my sims, they seem to have very little correlation with what happens in the regular season. One reason for that is they are done early, first day of Spring Training, and not updated. As in your sim, there have been lots of changes, particularly for the CL teams. Fro example, I somehow managed to acquire Frank Lary, who is predicted to go 18-5 for the Tigers.

Despite the lofty expectations, my Mounties went 14-21 in the Spring. I did schedule a few games against NL and AL teams (and went 2-5). The other CL teams went 4-17 against AL and NL teams. I played those games the last weekend of the Spring, which were open dates on the schedule. I figure that interleague competition would be a great annual event. The CL teams could host in their home stadiums (weather permitting). It’s pretty realistic, with all teams refining their lineups, and basically using their 2-3-4 SP to set up for Opening Day.

It still amazes me how the NL and AL teams have reshuffled, as a result of the sudden crop of free agents. All of those superstars in new venues! With eight new teams, most AL and NL rosters now have rookies and untested players on the bench, or in some cases filling starting roles. None of those teams will be as deep as in 1960. The CL teams did a much better job getting SP than position players. Nearly every CL squad has a decent rotation; although some went for those tantalizing high stuff low control no movement teenagers.

I still cannot quite wrap my head around the emergence of guys who either never played in MLB IRL, or only had a small cup of bitter coffee. Look at the projected top tens, and you see guys like Flachman (PHL), Muffet (BOS), Salvent (KC), Jensen (MLW), and Jones (SF). Okay, Jackie Jensen was a star in the Fifties, but then he quit rather than fly, and was never the same. There was a huge bidding war for Jensen and Slavent. I lost out for each.

I potentially have one of those unknown stars, McDaniel, a young OF with power and speed but contact issues. He hit under .200 in the Spring, and only made the team because I suspect the AI knows something that I don’t. He at least is a right-handed counterpart to platoon with Tony Curry or a young Tony Oliva. He isn’t going to move Curt Flood off of CF (although in this universe, Flood is coming off three mediocre seasons, and has little speed?).

My IF is a curious collection of Jim Gilliam (still a speedster and on-base leadoff guy at 34), Frank Thomas, Jose Pagan, and Ruben Amaro. As backups I have a young Don Mincher and an old (45) Luke Easter. At catcher, Carl Sawatski, and a young J.C. Martin (I had to change his defensive experience to make him primarily a catcher) as backup. Have you noticed that the defensive ratings for catchers are very low? I searched for a catcher with a defensive rating above 50, and there were only five in the game. Something wrong there.

So, I am looking forward to my Opening Day game with the Oakland Oaks (who have Al Downing in this universe), Don Newcombe going for Montreal. Actually, Houston already beat Texaś, 10-0, behind Tom Cheney, in the CL Opener, before a nice crowd. And the Senators beat the Orioles, 2-1 in the traditional MLB Opener. During the Spring, my pitching has been tremendous, including the bullpen, making it hard to make cuts there. The hitting has been underwhelming, and almost no power. Defense should be solid up the middle, where it counts. I can’t wait.

[uruguru]

Some relative excitement since the end of April.

For the May 1 Rule V draft, none other that Pittsburgh's Willie Stargell had become eligible. As the day approached and I began making offerings to the baseball gods for an early pick in the draft (order is randomized each draft), Pittsburgh instead wisely decided to protect him right before the draft started. Rats. Honestly, I should have expected that.

However, P Ron Nischwitz was DFA'd by the Tigers on draft day and I was convinced that he could be my new #4 or #5 starter. Definitely my top choice for a pick. Also, I desperately wanted to upgrade my 35-year-old backup CF Bobby Balcena (who was 0-for-14 for the season) and youngster Ty Cline looked like a worthwhile pick. Finally, the Yankees had exposed OF Elvio Jiminez so I thought I could upgrade my OF since my starter LF Purnal Goldy was not panning out with a sub-.300 OBP.

Colorado had the first pick for the expansion teams and took Nitschwitz. dammit. The Mets took a pitcher, and then the Bisons took Cline. dammit. Finally, my turn came and I picked up Jiminez. This would turn out much better than I realized later on.

For my #2 pick, I desperately looked for a younger CF who could play the position well. CF Carroll Hardy, 27 and a weak hitter, was available so I took him.

Jiminez became my starting LF, Purnal Goldy moved to backup and I released Tom Umphlett. I also released Barcena and made Hardy the backup CF and a defensive sub for my starting CF.

May schedule

May was a tough month. We went 15-16 and were 25-20 at the end of the month, 4 1/2 games behind Buffalo (28-14). The worst was an early 3-game sweep in Buffalo to make it clear who was the pennant front-runner. Normally I'd be happy with the team being 2nd in runs scored and 2nd in fewest runs allowed, but unfortunately Buffalo is #1 in both of those categories...

On the bright side, our 3B Ed Olivares won Player of the Month. He batted .318 with a .393 OBP, 4 homers and 22 RBIs. Similarly, our #3 starter Sammy Ellis won Pitcher of the Month. He went 5-1 with a 1.24 ERA, striking out 35 in 50 innings. He's 7-2 for the season and leading the league with a 1.76 ERA.

June

There was no one I wanted in the 6/1 draft. The pickings are pretty slim at this point although the other CL teams are still sifting through what's left. The team did a little better, going 16-12 to improve to 41-32. We even exacted a little revenge with a 3-game home sweep of Buffalo near the end of the month. Despite that, the Bisons are still 4 1/2 games up with a 44-26 record.

Our #1 starter David Busby won Pitcher of the Month honors for June, going 5-1 with a 1.38 ERA for the month. He is 9-5 with a 2.04 ERA for the season.

July

Once again, no picks for me in the 7/1 Rule V draft although a few other CL teams are sifting through it to fill holes. Even though it might initially seem overpowered to have one every month, the net result is that very bad teams reach a more consistent below-average-but-not-terrible state more quickly and that's about the end of it. I like the overall effect. It adds some interesting GM decision-making throughout the season without being exploitative of the AI like you get with trading. You can't even use it to fill out your organization because your picks must be kept on the active roster or returned.

We entered the All-Star break 10 games above .500 at 46-36, still 4 1/2 games behind the 49-30 Buffalo Bisons. Two of our position players, C John Orsino and 3B Ed Olivares, were voted as starters. Orsino was the overall #1 vote-getter for good reason: he's batting .294 with 17 home runs, head and shoulders above other catchers in the league. Olivares is batting .286 and leading the league with 18 homers and 52 RBIS. Texas' Tony Oliva leads all majors with an eye-popping .375 average.

Our #1 starter David Busby was picked to start the game. His 10 wins are tied for the league lead and is 2.08 ERA also leads the league, just a hair below Jim Archer's 2.11. My #2 starter Natividad Martinez leads the league with leads all leagues with 109 strikeouts but did not make the ASG. #3 starter Sammy Ellis (9-6, 2.73) did make the team.

How did our 4 guys do? Orsino had a triple in 4 at-bats, scoring once and driving in 1. Olivares had 2 singles in 3 at-bats, driving in 2 and scoring 1. Busby started the game by walking Eddie Mathews and immediately giving up a 2-run homer to Mickey Mantle. He walked 2 more but got out of the inning with no further damage. Ellis pitched a scoreless 7th.

In the end, Busby was charged with the loss in an expected 10-4 beatdown of the Continental League All-Stars by the Major League All-Stars. No one in the media is treating the CL as anything more than a glorified AAA league at this point.

Race to the trading deadline

Although I cannot initiate trades, I can still accept trades from the AI, as is, but with trading difficulty set to maximum none of the few offers I've received were worth considering. My AI GM is an idiot, often suggesting I accept trades that clearly do nothing to help the team. It's part of the game.

Between the All-Star Break and the trading deadline, Houston struggles mightily, going 6-12, dropping to 3rd place and 8 1/2 games behind Buffalo. We are now just 4 games above .500. With no trading and no worthwhile Rule V picks, I'm beginning to feel like my hands are tied and all I can do is watch the ship sink.

But on 7/31, my fortunes change. Because I have trading volume set to "Low", I had set the Trading Deadline day to 20 rounds to really make the last day stand out.

On the 5th round of so, I get yet another forgettable trade offer for my backup catcher Jerry McNertney. Over the season, he is the only player who has drawn any AI interest... I think because his OSA scout rating is on the high side. I decline the trade.

Then, with all hope lost, I get an offer from the Cubs on the 19th round. They want to send me 34-year-old CF Walt Moryn for my 21-year-old LF Elvio Jiminez. My LF has done pretty well since he replaced Purnal Goldy on 5/1, but not that much better. And even though Moryn is 34, he's definitely better offensively AND defensively than my current CF Pete Whisenant. I pull the trigger on this deal, pretty happy that I have upgraded my CF position nicely with only a minimal downside in LF.

But that's not all. Suddenly the fireworks went off in the next round, the final 20th round, when the Cardinals made an offer for my backup C McNertney. Get this... they offer TWO players: 34-year-old LF Bob Nieman, who would be a significant offensive upgrade in LF plus 19-year-old catching prospect Tim McCarver. Are you kidding me? Nieman is literally batting .296 with a .366 OBP in the real major leagues. McCarver was just promoted to AAA and is batting .279 there. Plus he's 19. I absolutely 100% pull the trigger on this trade. McCarver is now my backup C, Nieman is my starting LF and I released backup CF Carroll Hardy to make room.

This is where I am at now. I stopped simming and went to bed, savoring the possibilities of these trade deadline deals. Can we make up 8 1/2 games? Maybe!

[uruguru]

August

For the 8/1 Rule V draft, the only player I would like is RP John Boozer. He would replace John Stokoe as my swingman out of the bullpen. Not game-changing, but a decent upgrade imo. RNG gives me the 15th overall pick. Boozer is taken by the New York Mets with the 12th pick. I leave the draft empty-handed for the 3rd straight month. The Texas Rangers are in last place with a 43-57 record, and they make 4 draft picks, so it is still serving a purpose.

For the month, we go 16-12 and are now 68-61. Unfortunately, we are also 9 games out and in 4th place, passed by the New York Mets. Buffalo enters September with a comfortable 7 1/2 game lead over the Atlanta Crackers.

The 7/31 trades worked out great, though. LF Bob Nieman is batting .330 with a .411 OBP and .587 SLG since arriving, a 175 OPS+, lol. This performance earned him CL Player of the Month honors for August. Welcome to the Continental League, Bob. CF Walt Moryan is batting .302 with a .368 OBP plus .462 SLG. That's a 130 OPS+. Welcome to the Continental League, Walt. I hope you both enjoy your stay!

Our #1 SP David Busby is leading the lead in wins (16), ERA (2.08) and 3rd in strikeouts (147). He won Pitcher of the Month in August with a 5-0 record and 2.20 ERA. It's the second time he's won the award and he's clearly the front-runner for pitcher of the year. This is the part of the season now where we start looking at individual player accomplishments as the pennant starts drifting out of reach. C John Orsino leads the league with 23 homers, ahead of 3B Ed Olivares (20 HR). Olivares is currently in the middle of a 4-week DL stint for plantar fascitis. I refuse to look up what that is.

Texas' Tony Oliva is leading the league with a .346 AVG, 84 runs, 269 total bases (a big lead) and enjoyed a 25-game hitting streak earlier in the season. Odds on favorite for the MVP, imo.

In the majors, with no expansion staffs to beat up on, Mantle is leading MLB with 41 homers, a far cry from his actual 1961 performance. Eddie Mathews and Billy Williams are close behind with 39 homers. Barring a freakish September, no one is going to hit 50.

September

9 games out, the chase is over so the 9/1 Rule V draft is a time to look to 1962. We only have to carry players for a month to keep them permanently, but there are absolutely zero prospects in the draft. Still I find two younger players I want to pick: SS Jay Ward and OF Chico Salmon. These are sidegrades or minor downgrades over IF Chuck Hiller and CF Pete Whisenant, but they are younger which is very important with the offseason looming.

RNG gives me the 17th overall pick, which does not bode well. However, only 3 players are drafted before my turn. The Rockies take Ward with the #3 pick, the Twins take SP Jim Bronstad with the #4 pick, and the Rangers take Salmon with the #11 pick. Geez! Going home empty-handed again. Thanks, RNG.

Sept 12. We win our 77th game of the season, starting the month at 9-2. This is significant because our only owner goal for the season was to play .500 and this win accomplishes that. We are now back in 2nd place and just 5 games behind Buffalo, as close as we've been in a long time. However, there are only 13 games left so realistic hopes are still slim.

Sept 16. After a disappointing split of our final 2-game series with Buffalo to remain 5 1/2 out, we sweep the Braves on a Sunday doubleheader on the same day that Buffalo is swept by the Twins in a double-header... now 3 1/2 out with 9 games to go! Still a longshot but no games left vs. Buffalo, but hope clings on!

Sep 20. Mickey Mantle just hit his 50th home run for the Yankees. Bad prediction on my part. SP Sammy Ellis has gone 4-0 this month and leads the majors with 19 wins. The top 3 strikeout pitchers in the CL are my top 3 starters. I feel good about that. We are currently at 81-65, 3 games behind Buffalo. Rally caps are on.

Sep 22. In an 11-1 beatdown of the Twins, S Sammy Ellis wins his 20th game. He's 20-9 with a 3.02 ERA. I still think Busby wins the Cy but you never know with voters. 20 wins carries weight and Busby would need to win both of his last 2 starts to get there. We're still 3 games out. Buffalo is not the powerhouse it was early in the season, but this may be too little, too late, for us.

Sep 23. The Milwaukee Braves are now 7 games up on the 1960 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates and have clinched the 1961 NL Pennant.

Sep 24. We take 2 of 3 from the Twins but drop to 4 behind as the Bisons sweep Toronto. They are refusing to play by the script we sent them, lol. With 5 games left, we are on the verge of elimination. We now require a total collapse by Buffalo, and that's not going to happen.

Sep 26. Ellis finishes his season with a 9 inning no-decision as we lose to the Mets in 14. The Bisons win, so we are 5 games out with 4 games left. Eliminated. Still, it was sort of exciting near the end. Now I can start planning for 1962.

Sep 30. The New York Yankees hold off a desperate, late-season rally by the Boston Red Sox, defeating them 7-3 in Fenway Park, to clinch the AL pennant with just one game left in the season.

Oct 1. In a shock to no one, SP Sammy Ellis wins Pitcher of the Month for September. He was amazing and a key part of the near-comeback by the team. He went 5-0 with a 2.12 ERA over 6 starts and finishes the season with a 20-9 record and 2.95 ERA. He'll get some Cy Young consideration, for sure. We have pitchers.

Oct 2. We lose to the Twins and finished the season at 84-70. Thanks to a massive late-season surge by the New York Mets, we finish in 3rd place and will pick ahead of them in the upcoming first-year player draft. Note that Mickey Mantle had an incredible last-month surge and finished with 56 home runs for the Yankees!

As I prepare the schedule the 3-team round-robin World Series between the Yankees, Braves and Bisons... I do have this small consolation:

[uruguru]

The 3-team World Series begins. It is basically a series of 2-games series where each team hosts 1 game with the other 2 teams. These series continue until one team loses 4 games. The remaining two teams then finish the playoffs until one wins a best-of-7 between them. There are a maximum of 11 games possible, and 8 games minimum. Top seed is the NL team since Pittsburgh won the World Series in 1960, so the Braves host the first two-game series. Bottom seed is the CL team; they host the third two-game series.

Oct 4, 1961 - Buffalo (Dave Giusti 17-10, 2.53) at Milwaukee (Bob Hendley 16-5, 3.08)

Braves win, 4-0. The Braves scored in the 1st and the game remained close at 1-0 until 1B Joe Adcock hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 8th against RP Chester Vincent. Hendley allowed 1 hit over 5 shutout innings to earn the win, and CL Cecil Butler struck out 4 in 4 scoreless innings to earn the save. The Bisons did not get a hit until the 5th inning and only once had a runner on 3B.

Oct 5, 1961 - New York Yankees (Bill Stafford 15-10, 2.42) at Milwaukee (Joey Jay 13-5, 3.50)

Yankees win, 7-3. New York punished Jay and RP Lew Burdette for 14 hits, capped by a 3-run homer in the 7th by Yogi Berra that broke a 3-3 logjam and ultimately gave the Yankees the victory. RF Hank Aaron and SS Ernie Banks both hit solo homers in a losing cause. Banks had been acquired in a blockbuster 3-for-1 trade at the deadline that sent SP Denny Lemaster, SP Tommy John and 2B Ron Hunt to the Cubs.

Oct 7, 1961 - Buffalo (Frank Baumann 9-2, 3.13) at New York (Early Wynn 18-3, 2.37)

Yankees win, 4-3. A game between cross-state rivals that started as a big mismatch on the mound ended up too close for comfort for Yankee fans. Wynn, the AL leader in wins and ERA, took the mound against Baumann, a journeyman who was picked up by Buffalo via the Rule V draft on 8/1 after being left unprotected by the White Sox. He pitched reasonably well, allowing 4 runs over 5 innings before leaving with his team down, 4-1. However, the Bisons knocked out Wynn in the 6th with 2 runs before both offenses were shut down by the bullpens. The Bisons represented themselves well in defeat, outhitting the Yankees 8 to 7.

Oct 8, 1961 - Milwaukee (George Brunet 11-12, 4.05) at New York (Ralph Terry 13-8, 3.78)

Yankees win, 7-2. The Bronx Bombers pounced on the Milwaukee bullpen, blasting 3 home runs en route to a 7-2 win. Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra all homered in their 12-hit attack. The Braves also collected 12 hits but left 12 runners stranded. Both starters were yanked after a 64-minute rain delay in the bottom of the 4th with the scored knotted at 1.

Oct 10, 1961 - New York (Bill Stafford 15-10, 2.42) at Buffalo (Dave Giusti 17-10, 2.53)

Yankees win, 4-1. Bill Stafford spread out 6 hits over 9 innings as the Yankees coasted to a 4-1 win over the Bisons. Three double plays by New York helped keep the Buffalo offense in check. Yogi Berra picked up 3 hits and is now batting .500 (8-for-16) in the Series with 2 home runs. With three losses, Buffalo is now facing elimination from the Series.

Oct 11, 1961 - Milwaukee (Bob Hendley 16-5, 3.08) at Buffalo (Rupe Toppin 6-2, 3.00)

Braves win, 10-6. Facing elimination, Buffalo turned to their 12th-round draft pick, Rube Toppin, for salvation. However, he was not up to the task and allowed 8 runs in 3+ innings. Even though Bob Hendley allowed 6 runs in 7+ innings, he picked up the win thanks to an offense that saw both Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks each hit their second home run of the series.

With the loss, Buffalo (0-4) is now eliminated from the series. The remaining games will be scheduled as a best-of-7 between the Yankees and Milwaukee, with New York already up 2-0.

Oct 13, 1961 - New York (Ralph Terry 13-8, 3.78) at Milwaukee (George Brunet 11-12, 4.05)

Braves win, 8-6. Down 2-0 in the best-of-7, the Braves delivered comeback magic by scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Yankees, 8-6. Eddie Mathews was the hero, delivering a game-winning two-run homer that drove the 45,000 hometown fans into delirium. It was his second home run of the game, stealing the spotlight from Yankee Roger Maris, who hit two home runs of his own. Maris now has 3 home runs in the Series.

Oct 14, 1961 - New York (Early Wynn 18-3, 2.37) at Milwaukee (Joey Jay 13-5, 3.50)

Braves win, 3-2. Calling upon comeback magic for the second night in a row, the Braves evened the series at 2 games apiece. With both Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron each hitting their third home run of the series, the Yankees took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the 9th. With one out, Denis Menke homered against RP Marshall Bridges to send the game into extra innings. But the game did not last long afterwards as Del Crandall singled to lead off the 10th and was doubled home by pinch-hitter Floyd Robinson to screaming cheers of 45,000 Milwaukee fans.

Oct 16, 1961 - Milwaukee (Bob Hendley 16-5, 3.08) at New York (Bill Stafford 15-10, 2.42)

Braves win, 4-1. Bob Hendley tossed 8 dominant innings and SS Ernie Banks hit his third home run of the Series to silence a crowd of 55,000 at Yankee Stadium. New York batters tallied 10 hits but could push only one runner across the plate as they stranded 9. Hendley has won all 3 of his post-season starts. Now up 3 games to 2, Milwaukee is just one victory away from the championship.

Oct 17, 1961 - Milwaukee (Hank Fischer 8-8, 4.53) at New York (Bob Grim 3-3, 5.73)

Yankees win, 11-3. In a battle of spot starters, the Yankees left no doubt there would be a Game 7, throttling the Braves in an 11-3 rout. Roger Maris hit a two-run shot off of Fischer in the 1st, and Mickey Mantle launched a grand slam in the 4th. Eddie Mathews and Ernie Banks both hit homers for the Braves, but both were solo shots.

Oct 19, 1961 - New York (Ralph Terry 13-8, 3.78) at Milwaukee (George Brunet 11-12, 4.05)

Yankees win, 13-1. In a rematch of mound opponents, the Yankees left no doubt that they were the best team in baseball, thrashing the Braves with a 16-hit assault in a devastating 13-1 beatdown. Bill Skowron's three-run homer in the 5th and Roger Maris's grand slam in the 6th contributed to New York's 12-0 lead in the 7th, leaving no room for late-inning magic by Milwaukee. Terry allowed just 4 hits in 8 innings to get the win.

Roger Maris batted .400 with 5 homers and 12 RBI over the 11 postseason games to earn World Series MVP honors.

The Off-Season now begins. A free agent draft will be scheduled for first-year players and I need to replace Hitting and Pitching coaches for each of my 4 minor-league teams. In addition, my owner wants me to find a manager with a better reputation, so someone is probably getting the axe and it won't be me.

[Brad K]

I didn't realize you weren't going to reset the wins and losses to zero after the first elimination. Interesting.

[Pelican]

https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...1&d=1689779757https://forums.ootpdevelopments.com/...1&d=1689780585

Much slower pace in this universe, playing them one at a time at this point.

Nice solid Opening Day victory. Don Newcombe reached back to earlier in his career, not dominant, but steady, bent but did not break. The bullpen did the rest.

But the big story of the day was Marvin Williams, at 41 years of age, in his first taste of the big leagues. A guy who started with the Philly Stars in the Negro Leagues in 1943, and never got a chance, despite superlative numbers. His first AB, there was a long, sustained standing ovation for him, and a few tears. Then, in the fifth inning, a long blast for a three-run home run. Delirium in Parc Jarry.

Curt Flood also hit a bomb to get the scoring started in the second inning. Both he and Williams gunned down runners at 2B. Jimmie MCDaniel and Jose Pagan had ringing doubles, and Pagan also had a triple. It's rewarding to see these guys from all over, young and old, begin to play together as a team. We'll see how long it lasts.

[uruguru]

Originally Posted by Brad K

I didn't realize you weren't going to reset the wins and losses to zero after the first elimination. Interesting.

I'm going by Branch Rickey's original proposal for the 3-team world series. There's no way to finish it in 11 games if you reset, so clearly they were intended to carry over.

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by uruguru

I'm going by Branch Rickey's original proposal for the 3-team world series. There's no way to finish it in 11 games if you reset, so clearly they were intended to carry over.

I'm not criticizing it. I think it might be workable with the current MLB six division setup. Get rid of the wild cards.