Season 36 (2054) - Discussion Thread

[mcdog512]

Originally Posted by HelpDodgers

Belfast is off to their usual slow start. Last year's league MVP Ruth has decided to not hit early and John Clarkson is off to a very slow start. Losing our first 4 out of 5, we are lucky to only be 1 game out of AC Central. Yelich and Joe Jackson are on fire and are carrying the team.

Some really good pitching in this league so Belfast is going to swing for the fences on anything over the plate, look for walks to keep them (Ed Welsh, Tim Keefe) honest and run run run...

This is going to be tough to make playoffs.

(bonus, anyone remember the card in my avatar and why is it epic?)

It's kinda small but it looks like a 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken. I assume it could be considered interesting as he switched his number 7 to honor Cal Senior. I have the Topps 1989 set but not 1989 Fleer.

[HelpDodgers]

Originally Posted by mcdog512

It's kinda small but it looks like a 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken. I assume it could be considered interesting as he switched his number 7 to honor Cal Senior. I have the Topps 1989 set but not 1989 Fleer.

You are right on it... do you know what is writing on the bottom of his bat?

[brrrdt1]

Originally Posted by HelpDodgers

You are right on it... do you know what is writing on the bottom of his bat?

You trying to get people banned from the forums?!?

[mcdog512]

Originally Posted by HelpDodgers

You are right on it... do you know what is writing on the bottom of his bat?

Actually I had forgotten about that card. Two variations of that are worth north of $50 book value.

[Catchthedamnball]

The team sits at 19-27 and continues to get worse. Selling Griffey Jr. brought in Brandon Woodruff and Sonny Gray in packs, but they have pitched no better than the rest of the LIVE garbage in the rotation and the bullpen. His replacement at DH, JD Martinez, isn't hitting worth a lick. Nor is anyone else aside from Garry Maddox who's at .349 on the year. The thought of selling him creeps into my mind every so often, but there's no player I can think of who contributes as much as he does for 18k after tax, and the odds an upgrade or overall team improvement even after his subtraction arrives via 18 packs is small.

[HelpDodgers]

Originally Posted by brrrdt1

You trying to get people banned from the forums?!?

I don't want them to say it

[HelpDodgers]

Big series for Belfast coming up. Dolphins in a four game at home. Dolphins swept Belfest in their 3 game series in Somerset where the Dodgers scored a full 6 runs total.

[HelpDodgers]

well they tried but they didn't knock me out of first . But losing 7 in a row to them doesn't help. 15 runs in 7 games... ugh.

[brrrdt1]

Originally Posted by HelpDodgers

well they tried but they didn't knock me out of first . But losing 7 in a row to them doesn't help. 15 runs in 7 games... ugh.

I mean, I'd say I'm sorry, but that wouldn't be entirely true. You're still in 1st though, so there's that.

[JasonC23]

P420 All-Star standings are below; textual recap is as follows:

Huntley had an incredible 26-3 record at the end of April; since then, the Red Raiders have come back to Earth a bit, with a 48-20 record from May through the All-Star break. Overall, it adds up to an NC-best 74-23 record, a 16.5-game lead in the NC Central, and a 19.5-game lead in the race for the #1 NC playoff seed. Naturally, the teams leading the Wild Card hunt are from Huntley's own division, so the Wild Card matchup might feature not 1, but 2 teams vying for the coveted Wild Card Team That Finishes Far Behind a Dominant Regular-Season Huntley Team But Then Nevertheless Beats Them in the Division Series playoff spot. To foreshadow, here are Huntley's records for the 3 teams currently battling for the 2 NC Wild Card spots:

Huntley vs Tokyo Sparrows: 6-4
Huntley vs Stockholm Swedes: 10-0 (!)
Huntley vs Stellenbosch Maties: 5-5

I'll say it again: There is still hope, fellow NC Central inhabitants!

Over in the AC, the Pawnee Harvesters dominated for most of the first half, but a surge by the Hickory Crawdads ( extra space ) gave them the best record in the league at the All-Star break. These 2 teams, along with the Red Raiders, have established themselves as the favorites thus far:

P420 Runs Scored Leaders:
Pawnee, 626
Hickory, 612
Huntley, 608

P420 Runs Against Leaders:
Pawnee, 277
Huntley, 286
Hickory, 296

Good luck to everyone in P420 in the second half of the season! And Happy Thanksgiving to all!

[Catchthedamnball]

Well, the Mashers are 42-61 and firmly in the relegation zone. It seems I finally ran into the tough league that would send me spiralling back down to gold. That, combined with the subtractions I made to the roster without being able to add much. Ah, the folly of packs. The lineup sorely misses the bat of Ken Griffey Jr. and, surprisingly, Aaron Judge. The core players Colavito and Maddox are chugging along as usual, and historical pack addition Biz Mackey has hit respectably, but everybody else is predictably/uncharacteristically bad.

The pitching has stabilized somewhat in recent days as soon as my red-lined pitching staff stumbles upon an off day. Pulling live Woodruff and Gray hasn't helped much, but I managed to turn a live Scherzer pull into POTM Wheeler and the live TOR mission. The diamond pack gave me Noah Syndergaard. My staff aside from Wheeler won't pitch that well, I imagine, but I have two Mets players on my 25-man roster now and my rotation looks prettier.
The additions of Ken Giles, Corey Knebel, and David Price to the bullpen seem to have bolstered that department as well. I'm skeptical of Giles's long-term viability but for now I will enjoy his success.

Upgrades to the lineup will arrive soon as I turn a more determined eye to collection missions. I think the rotation will hold its own for sure back in gold, and with an adjustment to park factors the lineup could provide enough run support until the cavalry arrives.

I'm going to miss the shiny turquoise banner in my signature.

[waittilnextyear]

The Frogs have been bolstered significantly with historical Yankees, Dodgers, and Brewers this week. What had been a pretty constant 25-man roster for some time now has a bit of a new look. My question is this: are you ready for a new sensation?

The new mix seems to be working as the Frogs (84-24) passed Long Beach-Compton for the division lead and also passed Fresno for best record in P414. The Frogs are +3 pythag and LBC is -7, so we've been a bit lucky. Nine more h2h matchups to go.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

The Frogs have been bolstered significantly with historical Yankees, Dodgers, and Brewers this week. What had been a pretty constant 25-man roster for some time now has a bit of a new look. My question is this: are you ready for a new sensation?

The new mix seems to be working as the Frogs (84-24) passed Long Beach-Compton for the division lead and also passed Fresno for best record in P414. The Frogs are +3 pythag and LBC is -7, so we've been a bit lucky. Nine more h2h matchups to go.

A new sensation? Right now?

I've been sitting on SE Ozzie Smith and SE Jim Gilliam for a few days now, agonizing over whether to replace two of SE Luke Appling (currently starting SS vs R and L), 98 Arky Vaughan (currently starting 2B vs R), and 100 Jackie Robinson (currently backup/spot starter vs R and starting 2B vs L) with them. Smith and Gilliam would give the Red Raiders a big defensive boost over my current trio and a big baserunning boost over Appling and Vaughan, but they very likely won't be as good offensively, and also I'm a sentimental old fool and Arky is one of my favorites, Appling is a White Sox and gives the Red Raiders a big offensive boost at SS over nearly everybody else, and Jackie Robinson...come on, it's Jackie Robinson.

Help me, waittilnextyear...you're my only hope.

[waittilnextyear]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

A new sensation? Right now?

I've been sitting on SE Ozzie Smith and SE Jim Gilliam for a few days now, agonizing over whether to replace two of SE Luke Appling (currently starting SS vs R and L), 98 Arky Vaughan (currently starting 2B vs R), and 100 Jackie Robinson (currently backup/spot starter vs R and starting 2B vs L) with them. Smith and Gilliam would give the Red Raiders a big defensive boost over my current trio and a big baserunning boost over Appling and Vaughan, but they very likely won't be as good offensively, and also I'm a sentimental old fool and Arky is one of my favorites, Appling is a White Sox and gives the Red Raiders a big offensive boost at SS over nearly everybody else, and Jackie Robinson...come on, it's Jackie Robinson.

Help me, waittilnextyear...you're my only hope.

Well that's the reason why I'm here.

What does your roster look like right now? Lots of options. Appling could DH or go to 1B/3B. Gilliam could train up to super sub status at each INF/OF position but not really be a "starter." It sort of depends on how you weight offense vs defense as to where you want to put everyone.

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

Well that's the reason why I'm here.

What does your roster look like right now? Lots of options. Appling could DH or go to 1B/3B. Gilliam could train up to super sub status at each INF/OF position but not really be a "starter." It sort of depends on how you weight offense vs defense as to where you want to put everyone.

I never want to put anybody in the field who is an impediment, but I have pretty consistently picked good defense + good-to-great offense over great-to-spectacular defense + decent-to-good offense. Here are my current lineups vs R and L; with the addition of SE Lou Boudreau this season, I've been training up Appling at 3B and Yelich at 1B in the vs L lineup (I wonder where I got the crazy idea that Yelich could be a good 1B option? ).

[waittilnextyear]

Originally Posted by JasonC23

I never want to put anybody in the field who is an impediment, but I have pretty consistently picked good defense + good-to-great offense over great-to-spectacular defense + decent-to-good offense. Here are my current lineups vs R and L; with the addition of SE Lou Boudreau this season, I've been training up Appling at 3B and Yelich at 1B in the vs L lineup (I wonder where I got the crazy idea that Yelich could be a good 1B option? ).

Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen anyone use Yelich at 1B before.

Two ways of getting 100 Ozzie in there would be: (1) sub out Arky Vaughan for Ozzie and play Jackie Robinson at 1B vs LHP. (2) Move Appling to DH vs RHP and 1B vs LHP, Bonds goes to LF and either Yelich or Mantle plays RF.

At this point, you'd be giving up something (like power or OF defense) to get something (like baserunning or INF defense).

[JasonC23]

Originally Posted by waittilnextyear

Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen anyone use Yelich at 1B before.

Two ways of getting 100 Ozzie in there would be: (1) sub out Arky Vaughan for Ozzie and play Jackie Robinson at 1B vs LHP. (2) Move Appling to DH vs RHP and 1B vs LHP, Bonds goes to LF and either Yelich or Mantle plays RF.

At this point, you'd be giving up something (like power or OF defense) to get something (like baserunning or INF defense).

These are both excellent suggestions. And the rational side of my brain is saying, "Hmm, I hadn't considered either scenario; these could work! Thanks!"

But then my sentimentality is all like, "Sub out Arky Vaughan?!? But he's been with me since PT 1.0! (It's true!)" "Or sub out Christian Yelich?!? But he's been with me since 2025! And he's got 3,897 hits and 694 home runs for Huntley all-time! You would deny him such grand and inevitable milestones??? And here I thought there was nothing better we could do than live forever!"

I'm my own worst enemy sometimes. But hey, I'm only human; what can I do?

(I can stop being so ridiculous and get Ozzie's sweet, sweet SS defense and excellent baserunning into my lineup, is what I can do...)

[Westheim]

Pretty much the same as last week. The Accountants ended up in the middle of Nowhere, Nebraska, and struggle to find their way home. 74-88, just not good enough...

The 66-96 Rebs finished in the final safe spot in Diamond again, this time only two games to the good.

And the Coonie-Coons took in a wild card after putting up their best ever Perfect League showing, 107-55 (they won 111 once in Silver, many many many moons ago), 19 games behind the IB Breakers, and will face a barely-average team, the 84-78 Oregon Ducks, in the do-or-die mincemeater. Big Walt should be able to go on regular rest, unless the game ****s me over again on this as it did once before...

[old timer]

We finished with a tie for the best record and had the best RDiff, but we were swept in the final 3 game series by our possible 1st round opponent, our division rival, the Los Angeles Earthquakes. Also, we only went 9-10 vs LA which has me concerned. Each potential AC playoff opponent will be tough and the probable NC opponents are very good too.

Speaking of the NC, the 5 time perfect champs, the New Image Blaze, finished with a record that was 15 below their Pyt. That's the worst I've ever seen there. They were 2-9 in extras and 17-36 in 1-run games. So 58% of their losses were by 1 run and they lost more of these games than any other team in the league. Pretty impressive bad luck there! I hope we get to play them in the WS.

I sold my 99 Eck and keep trying to sell an SP that's in my bullpen, but each time I go and put him on the AH (3 times now), someone comes along and offers their card for much less. Now the going price for him has dropped by almost 50% since my 1st attempt to sell him. They're practically giving him away for free.

[JasonC23]

The Huntley Red Raiders finished the season at 131-31, the best record in the league and our second-best record ever. The only time the Red Raiders won more games, we lost in the Division Series in 5 to the team that finished in second in our division, 40 games behind us. So, naturally, this season's most likely opponent in the Division Series, the Tokyo Sparrows, finished in second place in our division, 39 games behind us. I'm not saying an epic upset is inevitable, but.... The other Division Series features a pair of 89-73 teams looking for their first Perfect championship, the Toronto Silverbacks and Joe Dec.

Over in the star-studded AC, the 2-time Perfect champion Hickory Crawdads seized the #1 seed at 128-34, forcing the 8-time champion Pawnee Harvesters, at 122-40, to settle for the #2 seed and a matchup in the Division Series with the surprise winner of the AC East, the Bagram Bombers (Iron, Gold, and Diamond medallions, but no Perfect championships). This also sets up one of the most decorated Wild Card matchups I've ever seen, the 8-time Perfect champion Denver Doggos (110-52) vs the Bronze/Silver/Gold/Diamond/Perfect champion Santa Monica Beachgoers (87-75).

Good luck to all in the 2054 P420 playoffs!