The Home Run 2

[NYY #23]

#1-Barry Bonds vs. #1-Mike Schmidt



Barry Bonds came dressed and ready to go for his Elite 8 match versus Mike Schmidt. Bonds entered the match as both the heavy favorite and the one most people wanted to see lose the most.

Bonds did his part and hit 22 home runs, which would have topped either Berra or Aikens. But Bonds opponent tonight was neither, and he would be taking on Mike Schmidt:



The home run call to put him ahead could have gone something like this:
Musser & Schmidt - YouTube

Schmidt hit 25 for the round and will now advance to the Final 4.

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At this point I'll just say I'd be happy with any of the remaining six winning.

[NYY #23]

#5-Carlos Delgado vs. #4-Willie Stargell



It was a close one between Stargell and Delgado, but in the end Willie Stargell prevailed 24-21 to advance to the Final 4.

[Painmantle]

Originally Posted by NYY #23

#1-Barry Bonds vs. #1-Mike Schmidt



Barry Bonds came dressed and ready to go for his Elite 8 match versus Mike Schmidt.
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At this point I'll just say I'd be happy with any of the remaining six winning.

OMFREAKING. Thank you! This alone made it worth getting out of bed today!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by Painmantle

OMFREAKING. Thank you! This alone made it worth getting out of bed today!

Glad to help!

[NYY #23]

#1-Babe Ruth vs. #2-Jimmie Foxx



Another close matchup to determine the final Final 4 spot, and Babe Ruth comes out ahead, knocking off Jimmie Foxx 23-21.

Ruth will now advance to take on Willie Stargell, while Mike Schmidt takes on Yogi Berra.

[NYY #23]

I think that I said I was going to wait and follow the NCAA schedule, but with just three games (two years) remaining, I'm anxious to get this wrapped up. So with that being said I'm going to run the Final Four games today, and the final match either tomorrow or Thursday.

The first matchup:

#1-Mike Schmidt vs. #8-Yogi Berra



Mike Schmidt is one of two number one seeds remaining. While he started out strong and knocked off Carlos Gonzalez and Matt Williams in the first two rounds, his home run totals have been slowly dropping from 26/27 to 23/22 in rounds three and four. That was been enough to defeat Sadaharu Oh and Mickey Mantle though, and he rebounded to hit 25 and knock off Barry Bonds to advance to the Final Four.



Yogi Berra is the underdog entering as an 8 seed, but that hasn't hurt him in the past. Berra has already knocked off Howard Johnson, Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski, Ken Griffey Jr, and Willie Aikens. I've learned not to count Yogi out.

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But the magic that has been in Berra's bat finally ran out tonight, as he hit just 10 home runs. Mike Schmidt hit 19 to advance to the finals where he'll take on the winner of the Babe Ruth/Willie Stargell matchup.

[NYY #23]

#4-Willie Stargell vs. #1-Babe Ruth


Babe Ruth, one of the favorites of the competition put up big numbers in the first three rounds, defeating Joe Hauser 42-13, Darrel Evans 43-20, and Johnny Mize 34-19. His totals have been slipping though, defeating Willie Mays 28-18 in the fourth round and squeaking by Jimmie Foxx 23-21.




Willie Stargell started off slow, barely escaping the first round against Matt Kemp where he won just 20-18. His numbers were up and down throughout the tournament, winning 29-17 against Mo Vaughn, 26-22 against Gorman Thomas, 33-9 over Dave Winfield, and 24-21 over Carlos Delgado.

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Ruth hit 19 this round, his lowest total yet. Willie Stargell had never hit fewer than 20, and he didn't disappoint this round putting up an impressive total of 33 to advance to the finals.

I'm pretty surprised to see Ruth fall, but the final pairing will see Willie Stargell take on Mike Schmidt.

[NYY #23]

After all this time we're now down to the final 2:



#1-Mike Schmidt

vs.



#4-Willie Stargell

Both the full and Sweet 16 brackets are updated:

OOTP HR Derby - Home Run 2 Derby 2013

OOTP HR Derby - HR Derby Sweet 16



As for predictions, since nobody can get any more points the final prediction winners are:

Full:
SpaceMonkey13 - 135
Tony L - 132
Jack - 131
James - 127

Sweet 16:
James - 10
MarkCuba - 6
Tony L - 4

[illeracula]

This has been an awesome idea and a fun read... Going to be an interesting finale with some surprising stars.

I am torn on who to root for, since all my favs are gone... I look forward to seeing the final update and reading about it.

Thanks for following this one through!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by illeracula

This has been an awesome idea and a fun read... Going to be an interesting finale with some surprising stars.

I am torn on who to root for, since all my favs are gone... I look forward to seeing the final update and reading about it.

Thanks for following this one through!

Thanks, and thanks for following along too.

I definitely had a lot of fun with it, and I enjoyed going through the tournament. It's fun to try something different every once in a while. I've got the finals simming now, so the final results should be up shortly.

[NYY #23]

Before we get into the results let's take a look at each of the finalist's history.

#1-Mike Schmidt



Real life total - 548
Qualified - 480 (original), 412 (sequel), 525 (round three), 673 (round four)
Pre-tournament - Bye, 44
Tournament:
Carlos Gonzalez (26-19)
Matt Williams (27-22)
Sadaharu Oh (23-19)
Mickey Mantle (20-19)
Barry Bonds (25-22)
Yogi Berra (19-10)

#4-Willie Stargell



Real life total - 475
Qualified - 429 (original), 591 (round three)
Pre-tournament - Bye, 28
Tournament:
Matt Kemp (20-18)
Mo Vaughn (29-17)
Gorman Thomas (26-22)
Dave Winfield (33-9)
Carlos Delgado (24-21)
Babe Ruth (33-19)

[NYY #23]

We've now reached the end of the journey, and are ready to crown a winner.

With a 12 home run victory, Willie Stargell hits 29 home runs to defeat Mike Schmidt who finished with a total of 17.



Congratulations to Willie Stargell for his victory in the Home Run Derby!



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And with that it's time to wrap up this dynasty. I started the original in June of 2009 - http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...-home-run.html and had a lot of fun with the original and of course started round two in July of last year. Somewhere along the way I had the idea to go through history a third and fourth time and have a final tournament.

And while I am somewhat relieved that this is now over, I did have a lot of fun doing this, especially the final home run derby. I think it's a credit to OOTP that there are so many different ways of playing and you can make something like this work.

So thanks to everyone for reading, following along, and commenting. I definitely had fun doing this, and hopefully you enjoyed following along as well.

[illeracula]

I have to say that I am surprised that Willie was crowned champion. But that is what tourney's are all about.

Thanks again for following through it was fun to read through... reminded of that old Home Run Derby TV program. :-)

Time to get back to work...

[Painmantle]

This was totaly awesome to follow, and a very unique way to use ootp, nicley done!

[SpaceMonkey13]

Congrats, Pops! I started following baseball in the 70's, and was a fan of Stargell's Pirate teams. I think I had him going pretty far in my (winning ;-) bracket.

Thanks for sharing this dynasty with us NYY 23...it was great following along.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey13

Congrats, Pops! I started following baseball in the 70's, and was a fan of Stargell's Pirate teams. I think I had him going pretty far in my (winning ;-) bracket.

Thanks for sharing this dynasty with us NYY 23...it was great following along.

Thanks - and congratulations on the predictions.