Season 15 (2033) General Discussion thread - Page 4

PocketsAintFull · 07-06-2019, 01:37 PM

^^ Yikes, poor AJ Minter

My Islanders and All-Stars are both double-digit games up in their divisions, and the Stunners are currently 2 ahead in a wildcard spot - I don't think i've had all 3 teams make Sunday before, hopefully should be a busy one!

Orcin · 07-06-2019, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josquin

You'll probably give up 10-15 extra runs due to Wagner's poorer defense, but overall it is definitely a significant upgrade.

The lost defense may have been an even bigger issue than you estimated, because I have a groundball pitching staff. My pitching has declined dramatically since Wagner took over at short and I have to think that it is not just coincidence. So for now, Rizzuto is back at shortstop and I am reviewing my options. I will have one or two people without a chair when the music stops, but that's ok for the rest of this season. I'll just play the hot hand (or sit the cold one). Fortunately, Wagner plays some other positions very well and he will stay in the lineup somewhere.

The Colonels will be in the playoffs again, but as a wild card. My record against the better teams in the league has been abysmal, so I still have work to do. That +500 run diff is a pipe dream at this point, but I will never give up.

waittilnextyear · 07-06-2019, 06:03 PM

The Frogs have a 1 game deficit in the division with only 9 games left to play. With an 11 game lead over the 2nd wild card team, it's just a matter of being the #2 seed with a guaranteed home playoff series against a very beatable team or being the #4 seed immediately tossed into a single elimination scenario followed by playing as visitor to the conference's lone whale.

The bullpen seems to have stabilized a bit, but now the team is struggling to get any quality from the rotation. Every SP not named CC Sabathia seems to be slumping at the same time. Sabathia has won 20 games once again so that's pretty cool.

Nomar Garciaparra has taken the entire season, his first full season with the team, to train at 3B, and he's still not maxed out yet (62 rating currently). However, he's having a good season with the bat--the .297/.321/.500 line is not incredibly inspiring but I love that he has 34 doubles, 16 triples, and 16 homers. He's hit 6 of those homers in the past 5 games. I love it less that he also has 19 errors and has grounded into 14 double plays.

mcdog512 · 07-06-2019, 07:10 PM

What a battle it's been......

mcdog512 · 07-06-2019, 07:19 PM

I did make a big move.....dropped 99 Joltin Joe for the 99 Say Hey kid.

PocketsAintFull · 07-06-2019, 07:54 PM

Late season trade deals - SE Robin Yount replaces Gold Robin Yount, Yasmani Grandal replaces Del Crandall at Catcher, both on All-Stars

(I like Crandall a lot but he's not playing great).

Bullet Joe Rogan enters at No.5 SP for the Islanders, replacing 89 Jose Fernandez - A trial run

On to the Playoffs!

Orcin · 07-06-2019, 10:02 PM

I have played five teams in my league with better records than mine. I am 9-33 against those teams. It doesn't bode well for the playoffs.

HRBaker · 07-06-2019, 10:22 PM

Conlon Collectors (2020-2033)

Closing in on my 11th straight year making the playoffs (with two Series wins). As you can see, it took me 8 seasons to get out of Iron, but once I did we put up some impressive numbers. This was a F2P team from the beginning; pulled King Kelly early - used him for a few years - then sold him to finance the team upgrades that got me where I am now.

However, I am a bit uptight about moving into Perfect, that is... if I make it. From everything I've experienced and read, the jump to Perfect is a reality check.

I only hope I do reasonably well...

waittilnextyear · 07-06-2019, 10:28 PM

Here we are. Game 162 for the division...

The Frogs (94-67) are tied for 1st in the division heading into game 162 (and potentially 163). Can't say I'm surprised--after playing 12-16 in August and 11-11 in September, it cannot be said that the team played division-clinching baseball down the stretch. Not by a long shot.

93 Adam Wainwright (4.57 ERA) was scheduled as my team's starter for G162, but he has a penchant for getting blown up. When it goes bad, it goes really bad for Waino. That coupled with my opponent being slightly susceptible to lefties made me plug 2013 Historical All-Star Clayton Kershaw in as the starter for G162 instead. Waino heads to the bullpen to get the 8-point stuff boost.

The strategizing could backfire if my opponent's lefty-destroying 99 Joe DiMaggio sinks his teeth into Kershaw. Otherwise, the lefty pitcher puts most of the others in the worse end of their platoon split.

My offense will be going against LIVE Corey Kluber.

The scoreboard watching will be the other first place team's perfect Nolan Ryan against the challenger's 95 Jake Peavy.

waittilnextyear · 07-06-2019, 10:42 PM

The Frogs take G162 by a single run, but the other team wins as well to force G163.

I think (hope) I can out-strategy this other team with an old trick. The game will be at their place with 10% boost to lefty batters and 10% nerf to righty batters. So I am plugging in a lefty RP as the "starter" (first time I've done this in a few weeks) to try to force more righty batters into the lineup. I also noticed my opponent plays .475 ball against lefty pitchers and .623 ball against righty pitchers, so this might work out.

Hopefully, I can out-strategy them while not being out-RNG'ed by the game in the process.

old timer · 07-06-2019, 10:48 PM

The Raccoons cooled off quite a bit, but that's not so bad with respect to the playoffs. We don't have the best record in the conference, but that's probably fortunate. That honor falls to the Space Cadets (.812 WPct to our .729). They'll have to play the WC winner which might be our division mates, the Red Baboon Butts. We've had a really tough time with them (10-8 with 1 to go) and so I'm glad we won't have to play them in the 1st round.

And so much for making it to +500 RDiff. The Raccoons had a poor (relatively speaking) August (16-12), but rebounded in September (18-4 so far). But still, our RDiff is at an all-time high of +441 with 7 to go.

99 Ted Williams has played excellently this year, which has been a nice surprise. I was afraid I had wasted PP on him, but he's done much better than 98 Williams ever did (maybe due to not being a pull hitter?) Last year the surprise player was 94 Ruth and so I rewarded Ruth by sending him to the reserve roster so I could play Williams in LF this year. [The 99 Williams isn't nearly as bad in LF as the 98 is.]

Magus978 · 07-06-2019, 11:01 PM

My Patriots have to be cursed, there's no other way to explain it now. The 2 month death spiral has turned into a 3 month death spiral and now we're in must-win territory to keep hold of the second wildcard. 29-48 since July 1st.

I'm rarely left speechless...but this is one of those times. I'm absolutely speechless at how awful we've become.

waittilnextyear · 07-06-2019, 11:08 PM

All the strategizing seems to have paid dividends for the Frogs as they notched a decisive 10-3 win in G163 to take the division outright. And send a very plucky opponent into a single elimination game for the right to play the conference's 119-win whale in the DS. The Frogs actually showed a lot of fight (as is their custom) over the final week of the season after playing themselves into a mess in the weeks prior.

EDIT: Interesting to see that my silver Hersh Freeman (previously banished to the reserve roster and failed to sell him a couple of times) was activated for G163 in place of a fatigued Ismael Valdez. I wanted either Waino or Steve Rogers (both 100% rested) to come on in long relief instead of a tired Valdez, so I made the switcheroo. Anyhow, Freeman ended up pitching 4 IP of scoreless relief to help nail the game down. Score one for STRATEGY.

Orcin · 07-06-2019, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old timer

And so much for making it to +500 RDiff. The Raccoons had a poor (relatively speaking) August (16-12), but rebounded in September (18-4 so far). But still, our RDiff is at an all-time high of +441 with 7 to go.

I'll take +441!

waittilnextyear · 07-07-2019, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orcin

I'll take +441!

No kidding! The Frogs were +149 and needed the help of a 163rd game to get there.

Still a personal best for this team at the rank of Perfect, so I can't complain too much.

old timer · 07-07-2019, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orcin

I'll take +441!

Me too! I'm very pleased, but it would have been cool to have reached that +500. We're close to scoring 1000 R for the 1st time, so that's still a possibility. One team, the Bronx Bombers, had an RDiff of +678 (!) in a (perfect) league I was in. I think they probably didn't belong in that league.

You know, the Raccoons were on a roll until I mentioned the rest of the league seemed pretty weak compared to previous seasons. Hmm... I don't think they appreciated that!

Orcin · 07-07-2019, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old timer

Me too! I'm very pleased, but it would have been cool to have reached that +500. We're close to scoring 1000 R for the 1st time, so that's still a possibility. One team, the Bronx Bombers, had an RDiff of +678 (!) in a (perfect) league I was in. I think they probably didn't belong in that league.

The Bronx Bombers are in my conference this year. They currently sit at +638 with 4 games left. Another team in the conference (Santa Maria Ghost Riders) are +600.

old timer · 07-07-2019, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orcin

The Bronx Bombers are in my conference this year. They currently sit at +638 with 4 games left. Another team in the conference (Santa Maria Ghost Riders) are +600.

Oh my, lucky you! Well, that will be a tough road for you, but I'm sure you'll agree, winning it all in a league with competition like that would be even sweeter. Good luck to you in the playoffs!

Morug · 07-07-2019, 01:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

No kidding! The Frogs were +149 and needed the help of a 163rd game to get there.

Still a personal best for this team at the rank of Perfect, so I can't complain too much.

I just see that we play against each other in Division series..Good luck.

waittilnextyear · 07-07-2019, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morug

I just see that we play against each other in Division series..Good luck.

Good luck to you as well! Our teams played pretty evenly during the regular season. There didn't seem to be any correlation to which home field the games were played at. I'm not really seeing many advantages/disadvantages for either of us.

There's not a whole lot of overlap between our teams. The only cards in common on our active rosters are Darin Erstad and Will Harris. It looks like PEAK Al Kaline has been good for your team.

I like your odds in this one because I feel that my team has used up all of its luck in the previous 2 weeks while making miracle runs through the playoffs.

07-06-2019, 01:37 PM	#61
PocketsAintFull All Star Starter Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Birmingham, UK Posts: 1,868	^^ Yikes, poor AJ Minter My Islanders and All-Stars are both double-digit games up in their divisions, and the Stunners are currently 2 ahead in a wildcard spot - I don't think i've had all 3 teams make Sunday before, hopefully should be a busy one! __________________ ---------------- Bob Uecker, RIP

07-06-2019, 06:03 PM	#63
waittilnextyear All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 1,273	The Frogs have a 1 game deficit in the division with only 9 games left to play. With an 11 game lead over the 2nd wild card team, it's just a matter of being the #2 seed with a guaranteed home playoff series against a very beatable team or being the #4 seed immediately tossed into a single elimination scenario followed by playing as visitor to the conference's lone whale. The bullpen seems to have stabilized a bit, but now the team is struggling to get any quality from the rotation. Every SP not named CC Sabathia seems to be slumping at the same time. Sabathia has won 20 games once again so that's pretty cool. Nomar Garciaparra has taken the entire season, his first full season with the team, to train at 3B, and he's still not maxed out yet (62 rating currently). However, he's having a good season with the bat--the .297/.321/.500 line is not incredibly inspiring but I love that he has 34 doubles, 16 triples, and 16 homers. He's hit 6 of those homers in the past 5 games. I love it less that he also has 19 errors and has grounded into 14 double plays. __________________

07-06-2019, 07:10 PM	#64
mcdog512 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: Pack Robert Gibson; November 9, 1935 – October 2, 2020 Posts: 2,339	What a battle it's been...... Attached Images __________________

07-06-2019, 07:19 PM	#65
mcdog512 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2018 Location: Pack Robert Gibson; November 9, 1935 – October 2, 2020 Posts: 2,339	I did make a big move.....dropped 99 Joltin Joe for the 99 Say Hey kid. __________________

07-06-2019, 07:54 PM	#66
PocketsAintFull All Star Starter Join Date: Nov 2018 Location: Birmingham, UK Posts: 1,868	Late season trade deals - SE Robin Yount replaces Gold Robin Yount, Yasmani Grandal replaces Del Crandall at Catcher, both on All-Stars (I like Crandall a lot but he's not playing great). Bullet Joe Rogan enters at No.5 SP for the Islanders, replacing 89 Jose Fernandez - A trial run On to the Playoffs! __________________ ---------------- Bob Uecker, RIP

07-06-2019, 10:02 PM	#67
Orcin Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Indiana Posts: 9,851	I have played five teams in my league with better records than mine. I am 9-33 against those teams. It doesn't bode well for the playoffs.

07-06-2019, 10:22 PM	#68
HRBaker Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 2,369	Conlon Collectors (2020-2033) Closing in on my 11th straight year making the playoffs (with two Series wins). As you can see, it took me 8 seasons to get out of Iron, but once I did we put up some impressive numbers. This was a F2P team from the beginning; pulled King Kelly early - used him for a few years - then sold him to finance the team upgrades that got me where I am now. However, I am a bit uptight about moving into Perfect, that is... if I make it. From everything I've experienced and read, the jump to Perfect is a reality check. I only hope I do reasonably well... Attached Images __________________ *HRB* Last edited by HRBaker; 07-06-2019 at 10:36 PM.

07-06-2019, 10:28 PM	#69
waittilnextyear All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 1,273	Here we are. Game 162 for the division... The Frogs (94-67) are tied for 1st in the division heading into game 162 (and potentially 163). Can't say I'm surprised--after playing 12-16 in August and 11-11 in September, it cannot be said that the team played division-clinching baseball down the stretch. Not by a long shot. 93 Adam Wainwright (4.57 ERA) was scheduled as my team's starter for G162, but he has a penchant for getting blown up. When it goes bad, it goes really bad for Waino. That coupled with my opponent being slightly susceptible to lefties made me plug 2013 Historical All-Star Clayton Kershaw in as the starter for G162 instead. Waino heads to the bullpen to get the 8-point stuff boost. The strategizing could backfire if my opponent's lefty-destroying 99 Joe DiMaggio sinks his teeth into Kershaw. Otherwise, the lefty pitcher puts most of the others in the worse end of their platoon split. My offense will be going against LIVE Corey Kluber. The scoreboard watching will be the other first place team's perfect Nolan Ryan against the challenger's 95 Jake Peavy. __________________

07-06-2019, 10:42 PM	#70
waittilnextyear All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 1,273	The Frogs take G162 by a single run, but the other team wins as well to force G163. I think (hope) I can out-strategy this other team with an old trick. The game will be at their place with 10% boost to lefty batters and 10% nerf to righty batters. So I am plugging in a lefty RP as the "starter" (first time I've done this in a few weeks) to try to force more righty batters into the lineup. I also noticed my opponent plays .475 ball against lefty pitchers and .623 ball against righty pitchers, so this might work out. Hopefully, I can out-strategy them while not being out-RNG'ed by the game in the process. __________________

07-06-2019, 10:48 PM	#71
old timer Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,278	The Raccoons cooled off quite a bit, but that's not so bad with respect to the playoffs. We don't have the best record in the conference, but that's probably fortunate. That honor falls to the Space Cadets (.812 WPct to our .729). They'll have to play the WC winner which might be our division mates, the Red Baboon Butts. We've had a really tough time with them (10-8 with 1 to go) and so I'm glad we won't have to play them in the 1st round. And so much for making it to +500 RDiff. The Raccoons had a poor (relatively speaking) August (16-12), but rebounded in September (18-4 so far). But still, our RDiff is at an all-time high of +441 with 7 to go. 99 Ted Williams has played excellently this year, which has been a nice surprise. I was afraid I had wasted PP on him, but he's done much better than 98 Williams ever did (maybe due to not being a pull hitter?) Last year the surprise player was 94 Ruth and so I rewarded Ruth by sending him to the reserve roster so I could play Williams in LF this year. [The 99 Williams isn't nearly as bad in LF as the 98 is.] __________________ Last edited by old timer; 07-06-2019 at 10:50 PM.

07-06-2019, 11:01 PM	#72
Magus978 All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Behind you. BOO! Posts: 1,894	My Patriots have to be cursed, there's no other way to explain it now. The 2 month death spiral has turned into a 3 month death spiral and now we're in must-win territory to keep hold of the second wildcard. 29-48 since July 1st. I'm rarely left speechless...but this is one of those times. I'm absolutely speechless at how awful we've become. __________________ Never forgive, never forget. http://twitch.tv/GanbaMagus

07-06-2019, 11:08 PM	#73
waittilnextyear All Star Starter Join Date: Jan 2016 Posts: 1,273	All the strategizing seems to have paid dividends for the Frogs as they notched a decisive 10-3 win in G163 to take the division outright. And send a very plucky opponent into a single elimination game for the right to play the conference's 119-win whale in the DS. The Frogs actually showed a lot of fight (as is their custom) over the final week of the season after playing themselves into a mess in the weeks prior. EDIT: Interesting to see that my silver Hersh Freeman (previously banished to the reserve roster and failed to sell him a couple of times) was activated for G163 in place of a fatigued Ismael Valdez. I wanted either Waino or Steve Rogers (both 100% rested) to come on in long relief instead of a tired Valdez, so I made the switcheroo. Anyhow, Freeman ended up pitching 4 IP of scoreless relief to help nail the game down. Score one for STRATEGY. __________________ Last edited by waittilnextyear; 07-06-2019 at 11:14 PM.